North Shore Hebrew graduates 10th class

Anthony Oreilly

The North Shore Hebrew Academy High School last Wednesday celebrated its 10th commencement ceremony at the John Cranford Adams Theater at Hofstra University with the graduation of 103 students.

“We are more than a school, we are a family,” principal of Judaic Studies Rabbi Noam Weinberg said.

Graduates of the Yeshiva school will go on to two or four-year colleges or continue their Judaic studies in Israel before entering college, school headmaster Daniel J. Vitow said.

“I am so very proud of all of you,” Vitow told the students. “You have proven to be a remarkable group.”

The high school, located at the northwest corner of the Long Island Expressway and Community Drive in Great Neck, opened in September of 2001 and had about 25 students transfer from other high schools to the institution’s 10th grade, he said.

The North Shore Hebrew Academy has an elementary and middle school, also located in Great Neck.

“The Great Neck community felt that they wanted to have a continuation of the school system,” Vitow said in an interview. “They felt that the community was ready for a high school.”

Yehuda Miller, a member of the high school’s first graduating class in 2004, told the graduates to take the lessons they learned at the high school and apply them both inside and outside the classroom. 

“The support and guidance that I had from the faculty as a student at North Shore led to a persistent demeanor that continues today,” Miller said. “Persistence is the key to success.”

After graduating from the high school in 2004, Miller continued his Judaic studies in Israel and then studied financial economics at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Miller said he was lucky to obtain an unpaid internship position at Cedarview after his graduation from Binghamton in 2009.

“It’s no secret that graduating in the spring of 2009, amidst the worst recession since the Great Depression, was a tough time to get a job, let alone in finance,” he said.

Miller said it was the lessons he learned in and out of the classrooms at the academy, along with a networking connection he made while in high school, that has allowed him to work for Cedarview for five years.

“I credit my education and experience at North Shore for helping me get to where I am today,” he said.

The school’s valedictorian, Emma Oberstein, said during her speech that the graduating class’ most distinct trait was the individuality of the students.

“Our individuality is what has made us the strong and interdependent group we are today,” said Oberstein, who will be attending Dartmouth College in the fall.

Oberstein also told her fellow graduates that they should treasure wisdom over material goods.

“Silver and gold are mediums of exchange. But wisdom can be shared,” she said.

Naomi Hakimi, the speaker for the class of 2014, told graduates that Wednesday’s commencement was not to be looked as something coming to an end.

“Graduation is not an ending, but rather it is a new beginning,” Hakimi said. 

William Helmreich, president of the high school, told the graduates to take a lesson from House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, who last week lost the Republican primary election against Tea Party candidate Dave Brat.

“If there’s one message, it’s that you should never take anything for granted,” Helmreich said.

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