Hadassa Levenson Korn is a wife, mother and regional director for the Teach Coalition in Pennsylvania, a national organization that advocates for equitable government funding and resources for Jewish day schools and yeshivas.
She is a New Jersey native who taught public high school math for a decade in Florida before deciding that she wanted to work towards securing increased funding for Jewish day schools. She enjoyed living in Florida, but she said that moving to Bala Cynwyd has been a homecoming of sorts.
“There’s just something about the Northeast,” she said. “It’s the type of people, the culture that you’re around. I love being driving distance to my parents and sister in New Jersey, and I love how beautiful it is.”
While many East Coast Jews flock to Florida for warmth, Levenson Korn said that the weather wasn’t always for her. She laughed as she named what she loves about the climate of the Northeast.
“Seasons,” she said.
Levenson Korn looks back on her time in the public school classroom fondly, but she said that for her own children, the plan was always a Jewish education. She and her husband attended Jewish day school and that’s what they wanted for their kids, too.
“It was never a question in our mind,” said the Lower Merion Synagogue member. “Even in a community with such amazing public schools, there’s nothing that can compete with a Jewish education. We know we need help from teachers to instill some of those Jewish values. [Our kids] can do whatever they want later on, but let them start with these values.”
Those values were a large reason why Leveson Korn decided to pursue her current role with Teach Coalition. She started when she was still in Florida, working part-time with that branch of the organization. Leveson Korn would advocate for Jewish education to state representatives and encourage her neighbors to vote in local elections.
She found that work exceptionally rewarding and continued it in a full-time capacity when her family moved to Pennsylvania. She said when she, her colleagues and Jewish day school students go to the state capital to advocate for their mission, they are often met by people who aren’t familiar with devout Jews but who appreciate their devotion all the same.
“When we go to Harrisburg, we try to visit people across the state. It may very well be their first meeting with someone dressed modestly for religious reasons, and we love that we’re able to provide that opportunity,” she said. “This year when we went to Harrisburg in May, it was a little bit of a quieter day. Things were intense there and we had legislators comment to us on how refreshing it was to see the Jewish day school students wearing their yarmulkes so proudly around the building.”
Levenson Korn loves working in a role that allows her to directly impact Jewish education on a higher level while still being around schoolchildren, although she said that she “absolutely” misses being in the classroom as a teacher.
“Luckily, I have three of my own students under the age of five in my house,” she said.
Although she spends some of her time advocating in Harrisburg, Levenson Korn’s work takes her across the commonwealth. Earlier this year, Teach Coalition proposed a program that would offer state public school STEM teachers paid opportunities to teach more STEM programs in nonpublic schools, including Jewish day schools. She also works with nonprofits, helps organize and conduct security trainings and hosts donor events.
Through all that, though, there are still instances in which she gets to feel like a teacher again.
“One [moment] that was really exciting was in Harrisburg this year — we as nonprofits are always fundraising, but we’re also trying to figure out how to make things more affordable. So I had a team of high school students come and film the mission in Harrisburg,” she said.
“That was really exciting to be able to take students and actually put them to work and make a product. It was really exciting to see how high school students can produce some real quality work.”
She recalled one event in which the organization helped teach students how a bill becomes a law by asking them to propose one and advocate for it.
“One of the girls presented a bill that would eliminate income tax in Pennsylvania,” she said. “It was a great conversation, but it was also really funny because that’s where [some of the schools’] money comes from, so I was like, ‘maybe not that bill!’”
Between spending her days raising three children and advocating for thousands more, Levenson Korn is constantly busy. She said that her family “spends a lot of time on [their] feet” visiting parks, going for walks or something else active. Personally, she also loves yoga, cooking and baking.
Her work is constantly evolving, but Levenson Korn said Jewish parents in Pennsylvania are fortunate to be part of this community and commonwealth. The state cares about religious freedom and education and supports its Jewish families.
“We’re very lucky,” she said.
