Denver Academy of Torah is proud to participate in the Jewish New Teacher Project, in which veteran teachers at our school provide mentorship to their colleagues.
In this video, Denver Academy of Torah community members join teachers from fellow JNTP schools in discussing the positive impact that the program has had on our educational team.
Dear Denver Academy of Torah Community,
I am thrilled to announce that, following a national recruitment effort, we have invited Rabbi Aviad Bodner to join our school community as the K-12 Judaic Studies Principal and School Rabbi. Rabbi Bodner will begin as of August 2023.
As the Judaic Studies Principal, Rabbi Bodner will oversee the Judaic Studies and Hebrew faculty and lead all aspects of our Jewish life on campus. His vision will ensure that the structures and systems of both our formal and informal programs support the school’s mission to provide a Modern Orthodox, co-educational, Torah-observant, Zionist education to our students.
Rabbi Bodner is excited to join the leadership team at DAT and is honored to work with DAT’s dedicated and talented educators and staff. “My goal,” he says, “is to help the already exceptional team provide our students with the tools they need to be successful, achieving excellence in — and bridging — our Judaic and General studies programs, while also fostering a deep commitment and love for Torah u’Mitzvot, the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and all of humanity.”
Rabbi Bodner, his wife, Lindsey, and their four children, Jonah, Natan, Barak and Rayna, will be moving to Denver this summer from New York City. He is currently the Mashgiach Ruchani (spiritual advisor) and Judaic studies teacher at Ramaz High School. Rabbi Bodner has been with Ramaz for the past seven years and works closely with the school administration on all matters of student conduct and Derech Eretz. Rabbi Bodner’s primary responsibility is to elevate the learning environment in the school, thereby ensuring all students engage their learning and community with dignity and respect. He is directly involved in shaping school culture to encourage students to love school and achieve their full potential.
When he is not at Ramaz, Rabbi Bodner is also the Head Rabbi at Congregation Ramath Orah in Manhattan. There, he is responsible for giving spiritual and halachic guidance for approximately 135 families of all backgrounds. He works with Bar/Bat Mitzvah students, officiates lifecycle events for members of the community and beyond, and teaches several weekly classes. As rabbi, he partners with local synagogues and leads family learning programs on Shabbat afternoons for elementary-school-aged children and their parents, as well as Friday evening programs for preschool-aged children and their families.
Raised in Israel, Rabbi Bodner served in the IDF in the Armored Corps and fought in the Second Lebanon War in 2006. His rabbinic ordination comes from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and prior to becoming an educator, Rabbi Bodner was a practicing attorney. His law degree is from Bar Ilan University with a focus on Jewish law and philosophy.
On moving to Denver, Rabbi Bodner says, “We are absolutely thrilled about the move. Aside from my work with the school, I am looking forward to hiking, spending quality time outdoors, meeting all of the students and families, and being part of this amazing Jewish community.”
Please join me in welcoming Rabbi Bodner to his new position. We look forward to greeting him in Colorado and to Denver Academy of Torah in the summer. We are certain that he will be met with much success.
Warmly,
Mrs. Lisa Stroll
Head of School
Truman Scholars Partner School: Denver Academy of Torah
Talking to: Mrs. Lisa Stroll, Head of School
Location: Denver, CO
About DAT: Denver Academy of Torah, now in its thirtieth year of serving the Colorado Jewish community, is a dynamic, K-12, Modern Orthodox, Zionist Jewish day school. Our purpose is to nurture students to be Torah-observant role models and future leaders. We achieve this by providing our students with an intellectually rigorous and innovative education imbued with a love of the people, land, and state of Israel.
Student body: We have 182 students enrolled at our school, including 43 in our high school. All of our classes are co-ed. Our average class has 14 students, and our student-to-teacher ratio is less than 7-to-1.
Pictured: Denver Academy of Torah's Truman Scholars participants and school leaders.
Tell us the history of DAT: Denver Academy of Torah was founded in 1993 by a group of Colorado families who were committed to Torah education and passionate about raising students to be pro-Israel, pro-America, and supportive of their local community. Originally a K-6 school, we added a permanent middle school in 2001 and a permanent high school in 2013. Our K-12 school now resides on a beautiful, unified, nine-acre campus in east Denver, within easy walking distance of eight Orthodox minyanim, two Conservative congregations, and one Reform temple.
Fun fact: It is now quite commonplace for Jewish families—particularly those tired of the smog and congestion of New York and California—to move to the fresh mountain air of Denver, CO.
But the Denver Jewish community dates back to the antebellum period. In fact, Denver Academy of Torah has taught the descendants of pioneering Jews—yiddin who came to the Mile High City in covered wagons!
What makes DAT special? Have you ever gone on vacation to a warm climate, left your hotel room balcony door open, and seamlessly walked between indoors and outside without experiencing a temperature change?
That’s what it is like for the 182 students who leave home each morning and arrive at Denver Academy of Torah. We are an extension of home—a true community school that cares deeply about each of its students and provides a personal approach to education. Most of our students and many of our faculty live within easy walking distance of school—attending the same neighborhood shuls on Shabbat, shopping at the same grocery stores, and playing touch football in the same parks.
Students of all ages—from elementary through high school—are excited to see their teachers and classmates at Colorado Rockies games on Chol HaMoed Pesach and go on hiking trips together to one of our state’s fifty-eight “14ers” (peaks that rise at least 14,000 feet above sea level). It’s no wonder that a national survey of high school students found that our few dozen had the best Covid-era educational experience of any in the country.
But what makes us truly stand out—as Mark Twain once opined about the Jewish people as a whole—is that our “importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of [our] bulk.” Yes, our students are at home in our nurturing environment. And, yes, we provide challenging college- and yeshiva-prep classes. But the end product is that we develop students who are resilient, who can problem solve, and who are ready for communal leadership roles.
Two years ago, one of our students was named NCSY’s international president, while another two were accepted to Binghamton University in slots reserved for the top 120 applicants (out of more than 40,000). Last year, a full fifty percent of our senior class committed to colleges where they had received merit-based scholarships or were attending honors programs.
Why did you want DAT to participate in the Truman Scholars Program? Denver Academy of Torah is committed to developing our students into the next generation of Jewish and secular leaders. As excellent as our in-school education and programs are, we recognize that we cannot and should not achieve our results alone.
In order for students to be true leaders, they must engage with people from outside their immediate community in a professional, focused manner, working to solve problems and debate important issues. We are constantly searching for opportunities for our students to participate in high-level youth organizations based on their interests. For some, that means taking on leadership roles in NCSY or their local synagogues. For others, it is volunteering with charity groups such as the Rose Youth Foundation (general chesed) or the Shalom Task Force (domestic abuse awareness).
For a distinct cohort of our middle school students—those interested in history, government, and literature—the Truman Scholars Program allows them to connect with peers who share similar interests around free-thought-and-speech principles that they hold dear. We are grateful that our students have the opportunity to participate in an intellectually rigorous program like Truman Scholars.
