The groundbreaking for the new Herzliah High School was celebrated as a concrete expression of the Jewish community’s confidence in its future in Montreal.
“It will infuse new spirit, energy and passion into an already vibrant Jewish community,” said Monica Mendel Bensoussan, chair of the $50-million capital campaign, at the ceremony held at the site of the new school on what was a parking lot next to the YM-YWHA on Sept. 12.
She spoke of the project as “transformational,” not only for the 120-year-old Talmud Torah/Herzliah system, but for the entire community whose “landscape will be forever changed.”
The project, which Mendel Bensoussan said has been a dream for more than a decade, was officially launched in June with the announcement that the Azrieli Foundation is making the lead donation of $15 million. The construction cost is estimated at $30 million, and the remainder of the $50 million will go into an endowment fund.
The school’s communications director Tova Havis said more than half of the overall goal has been raised.
Scheduled to open during the 2017-2018 school year, the two-storey, 95,000-square foot building designed for 550 students will form the southern wing of Montreal’s Jewish Community Campus.
The location in the heart of community life was of prime importance to the school and its supporters.
The school will, in fact, be physically connected to the Y by an elevated enclosed passageway. The campus is the address of Federation CJA and its key agencies, such as the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, the Jewish Public Library, and Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors.
Herzliah is currently located a couple of blocks away on St. Kevin Avenue.
Mendel Bensoussan, a Herzliah graduate and immediate past president, envisions a “seamless” interaction between students and the users of all ages of these agencies. Youth will see what the leaders of today are doing for the community and, she hopes, will come to understand their eventual role in its continuity.
The Azrieli family has a long association with Herzliah. Naomi Azrieli, CEO of the Azrieli Foundation (and a friend and former classmate of Mendel Bensoussan) and her sisters Sharon and Danna are all graduates. Their mother Stephanie was a Talmud Torah librarian for many years. All were in attendance.
Naomi noted that her late father, real estate magnate David Azrieli, who passed away two years ago, was a teacher when he first came to Canada after the war and loved it.
Her parents instilled in their children that education is “not only for self-improvement, but a way to develop the community and society.”
The foundation’s $15-million donation is an investment in the students of today and the community of the future, she added.
The Talmud Torah/Herzliah will be renamed Les Écoles Azrieli Schools, but each section will retain its former name.
Raising money hasn’t been the only challenge in realizing the long hoped-for new facility.
The school had to work closely with municipal officials to iron out concerns expressed by neighbours in the area about a large institution moving in and other practical issues.
Mendel Bensoussan recalled “frustrating challenges and exhilarating triumphs” over the last couple of years.
Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce councillor Marvin Rotrand said the city realized how important it was for the community to have the school located on its campus.
But it was a “long and difficult process” to achieve “a harmonious integration of the project into the neighbourhood.”
Ultimately, the city regards this as “a wonderful statement of the Jewish community’s confidence in Montreal’s future… that it and future generations can live and prosper here,” said Rotrand.
The main entrance of the school will be on Mountain Sights Avenue, said architect Robert Libman, who has been working as a consultant. Access to the underground parking will be on Westbury Avenue.
This configuration, he explained, “separates the pedestrian/student circulation [from] the vehicular traffic.”
The Y said its underground parking will remain open throughout construction.
New details of the school’s features were revealed.
“The latest advances in educational technology are embedded throughout the school” and “flexible classroom spaces are designed to stimulate creativity and feed the senses,” reads a prospectus for potential donors.
There will be a multimedia centre with a 360-degree surround sound projection area controlled by the teacher at a central station. Walls will become interactive tools for collaborative work, using digital ink. Attached to the lab will be a studio for different types of digital learning from live-feed video to radio broadcasting.
An innovation centre will be equipped for the design of robots or building a circuit.
The school’s central focus will be The Cardo, named for the corridor that ran through the heart of ancient Jerusalem, where students can study and relax. The wall to an adjoining lecture hall will be retractable to create a large venue for gatherings.
On the roof will be an outdoor terrace with a garden for environmental studies, a visual arts workshop, and a beit midrash for prayer and Judaic programming, complete with an Aron Kodesh and chevruta-style seating for learning in pairs.