At Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in Bryn Mawr, the importance of engaging people through dialogue and focusing on strengthening Jewish civic life and Jewish peoplehood is front and center, thanks to a new initiative.

As part of the Richman Fellowship, the school unveiled an array of impactful programming throughout this past academic year. Through the Elizabeth and Hershel Richman ’59 Klal Yisrael Fund, Barrack created “programs exploring Jewish peoplehood, the Jewish values of constructive disagreement and respectful discourse, the American values of religious pluralism, and the historic balance between a national homeland and a thriving diaspora,” according to a press release.

“The Richman Fellowship, thanks to generous funding from Hershel and Betsy Richman, provides students the opportunity to wrestle with big questions about Jewish peoplehood, disagreement and responsibility in a community that values both strong convictions and respectful discourse,” Rabbi Marshall Lesack, Barrack’s head of school, told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.

Two years ago, Lesack partnered with the Richmans to lay the groundwork for a new initiative that would focus on further deepening the school’s commitment to pluralistic Jewish life.

Through the Elizabeth and Hershel Richman ’59 Klal Yisrael Fund, the “Community in Conversation” project was launched, which featured “a cohort-based learning opportunity for parents and members of the Barrack community that blended diverse guest speakers with thoughtful dialogue around contemporary Jewish issues,” according to the school.

In its second year, the focus shifted to student learning and conversations around Jewish pluralism, peoplehood and respectful discourse. A cohort of Barrack’s ninth through 11th graders met eight times throughout the year for discussions on those important topics, in which they heard from rabbis, Jewish thought leaders and community members.

Among other sessions, they heard from Professor Sharon Musher about the competing conceptions of Zionism, as well as from Professor Ilana Horwitz ’99, who discussed Jewish demographics and their broader implications for contemporary Jewish life.

In addition, the students visited the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, “where they explored Jewish identity through the lens of the American experience and grappled with evergreen questions of belonging, integration, and assimilation” according to a press release.

“The overall goal of the fund is to advance programs on Jewish peoplehood,” Lesack said. “There are lots of different possibilities that we can dream about and build out that align with the goals of the fund.”

Barrack’s Richman Fellowship, which is set to continue in the 2026-2027 academic year with a new cohort of students, is an initiative that the school views as central to its commitment to the values of pluralism, Jewish peoplehood and constructive dialogue.

“I hope that students graduate from this Fellowship with a deeper capacity to listen and understand others, a recognition that differences of opinion are central to Jewish thought and practice, and a lasting commitment to help build a stronger Jewish community and a more thoughtful, compassionate world,” Lesack added.

The Richman Fellowship is not the only way that Barrack has sought to foster productive dialogue.

The school is also preparing students for a future in which they will have to engage with neighbors who aren’t Jewish. A new initiative through Barrack’s athletic program has created interfaith teams with nearby Catholic schools, the Sacred Heart Academy and the St. Aloysius Academy, through which the students had an opportunity to strengthen relationships with their non-Jewish peers.

The schools collaborated on middle school boys and girls lacrosse, and girls soccer and softball, according to Bob Dignazio, Barrack’s athletic director. The athletes practiced and competed together and, at the end of the year, visited Saint Joseph’s University’s Jewish-Catholic Relations Institute and Hagan Arena for a learning session led by Professor Adam Gregerman, co-director of the university’s Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations and a Barrack parent, and a tour that was led by Saint Joseph’s University Athletic Director Don DiJulia, who discussed what it takes to be a successful student-athlete.

“They’ve really formed connections with kids from other faith communities,” Dignazio said.

At Barrack’s athletic banquet this year, a community member told Dignazio that, to love thy neighbor as oneself, as the Torah advises, one must first know thy neighbor.

“With everything going on in the United States, I think a lot of Jewish organizations are thinking more intentionally about how we build bridges and build community with other communities,” Dignazio said.

The athletic director also spoke about what makes a successful Jewish leader in the United States, the type of leader, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, that Barrack has often helped mold over the years.

“When we see successful Jewish leaders in the United States now and in the last few decades, those leaders have been strong Jewish leaders in the Jewish community, but they also have been really successful in building relationships with communities outside the Jewish people,” he said.