Holy High: How Milwaukee Became Home to a Revolutionary Jewish Prep School - Rabbi Yossi & Ilana Bassman

00:00 Speaker 1 I was nervous, very lost, not sure what my identity is as a Jew.

00:05 Speaker 2 That's Gedalia Lieberman. When he was nine years old, Gedalia had to leave his troubled home in Borough Park, Brooklyn for Sacramento, California, along with an older sister and a younger brother. The first matter of business for his guardians was finding a school for them to attend.

00:22 Speaker 1 There was a public school right across the street. We could have gone there, but my grandfather decided not to send me to the public school across the street, rather send me to a Catholic school for some reason.

00:33 Speaker 2 Technically, it was a charter school, so Gedalia, who had had years of Jewish education in Brooklyn, was confused and deeply troubled by what he experienced from day one.

00:44 Speaker 1 Crosses everywhere. We'd do the Pledge of Allegiance, and then they would turn to the idol, and they would say a prayer. I would stay silent. I would get looks, and that came with the bullying, and it came with the name-calling from students, and it confused me 'cause I thought, "I'm Jewish." I thought, "This is just a regular school," and my guardians, they kept insisting that it's just a regular school. A few months in, the yarmulke went off, the payos went away. For me, my brother, and my sister, we just kind of assimilated.

01:17 Speaker 2 What Gedalia Lieberman really needed was a school where his Jewish soul could feel at home. I'm Gary Wolk, and this is Lamplighters: Stories from Chabad Emissaries on the Jewish Frontier. Life as a Chabad emissary is often joyous, but it can be unpredictable and even dangerous. Chabad has become a ubiquitous presence in every corner of the world, but behind every Chabad house are emissaries, regular people striving to transcend their circumstances, and the community that supports and relies on them. These are their stories. Here's a great opportunity for you. You rely on the Lamplighters podcast to bring you inspiring stories of Chabad emissaries all over the world. Now you can help keep our series going strong. To dedicate an episode, please email us at podcast@lubavitch.com to explore dedication opportunities. That's podcast@lubavitch.com. To subscribe digitally to Lubavitch International Magazine or to receive it at your doorstep, please visit lubavitch.com/subscribe. Yossi Bassman was born in Morristown, New Jersey. After a brief stay in his father's home of Des Moines, Iowa, the young family moved to Chicago.

02:58 Speaker 3 I grew up in a Lubavitch home and went to Chabad institutions, educational institutions in Chicago till I was 13.

03:06 Speaker 2 After three years of Mesivta High School in Monsey, New York, Bassman attended yeshiva in Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and Crown Heights, followed by outreach in Toronto and Melbourne, Australia, where he earned his rabbinic ordination. Like so many young Chabad rabbis, Bassman wanted to go out on shlichus.

03:24 Speaker 3 The single clearest factor is that I was looking for a challenge. I wasn't looking for anything, you know, normal or standard or boring. And I felt that I had the capacity to do something very impactful. What that would be, I wasn't yet sure.

03:39 Speaker 2 Elana Bassman's parents and four older brothers were born in Mexico.

03:44 Speaker 4 And eventually, my family came to Los Angeles, where me and three younger siblings were born, and we eventually integrated into the Chabad community.

03:57 Speaker 2 Elana attended seminary in Jerusalem and did some outreach at Chabad houses in California, Guatemala, and on the East Coast, but she didn't know if life as a full-time emissary would suit her.

04:09 Speaker 4 I was always terrified of shlichus, and I did not want to be a teacher.

04:13 Speaker 2 Some mutual friends recommended that she meet Yossi Bassman. They dated and were married six months later. And yes, there were discussions of going out on shlichus.

04:26 Speaker 4 I do remember vividly looking at my husband and telling him like, "I cannot plan a program. I wouldn't even be able to make like a lesson plan. Like I, I can't even do that." And he looked me straight in the eye, and he said, "Yes, you could."

04:41 Speaker 3 We would be going on shlichus certainly.

04:44 Speaker 2 So what did you know about what that would mean and what that would look like?

04:47 Speaker 3 Very little.

04:48 Speaker 4 It was definitely discussed, but the world of shlichus is extremely broad nowadays. There's many different types of shlichus, many different frontiers out there. So I don't think I would say no off the bat because we have the whole world, the whole galaxy to conquer, so I'm gonna leave that door open.

05:07 Speaker 3 There were several opportunities, positions that we were hearing about. There was something in Hawaii, perhaps something in Atlanta. None of them developed to the second stage or third stage.

05:18 Speaker 4 That's where hashgacha practice comes in.

05:24 Speaker 2 Yossi Bassman had visited family in Milwaukee for years, so he was familiar with the community. In 2012, the first summer after the Bassmans were married, they worked at a day camp in Milwaukee. At the end of that summer, they met with Rabbi Mendel Schmotkin, executive vice president of Lubavitch of Wisconsin. They told him they were interested in shlichus. Schmotkin shared that he wanted a new school that would keep graduates of Lubavitch of Wisconsin's elementary school in Milwaukee.

05:55 Speaker 4 And I do remember hearing the word high school, and for some reason thinking, "Ooh- That sounds interesting

06:03 Speaker 3 That sounds very challenging

06:05 Speaker 4 To me when I heard high school Milwaukee shluchas, like whoa, a lot can be done there

06:11 Speaker 2 The Bassmans were hired in May 2013 as directors of Bader Hillel High. They got to work right away with a goal of opening in the fall. But where to begin? Of course, the Bassmans wanted a school that inspires students to have deep, meaningful connection with Hashem, Torah, and mitzvahs. But they also decided that their new school demanded an innovative, creative approach.

06:36 Speaker 4 There was a lot of, like, idealism. There's no, "It's always been done like this," or, "We always do this." It was a complete open canvas.

06:46 Speaker 2 The Bassmans knew that there were many of what they call 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM yeshivas for boys, and equally rigorous seminaries for girls. So they focused on a new model: a school flexible enough to accommodate students with a lot of Jewish education, and students with no Jewish education at all.

07:06 Speaker 3 So the ideal Bader Hillel High student is a student that really wants to become the best version of themselves, so they're looking to grow, develop a deep and personal relationship with Hashem and Torah. So you can have students that are starting to learn their aleph-bets, and a student that has been in day school for eight years, but they're looking to grow.

07:24 Speaker 4 The American kid who's maybe been learning about Judaism, excited about Judaism

07:30 Speaker 3 Students not planning on going to Jewish schools

07:33 Speaker 4 That needed a little bit more room to breathe, to be themselves, to express themselves. Our graduates would be leaving with this internal pride and internal connection to Hashem, to know where to look once you leave high school for that connection.

07:51 Speaker 2 The Bassmans began getting the word out, distributing pamphlets in the Milwaukee community, and reaching out to Chabad emissaries across North America, asking if they knew Jewish kids who desired a strong Jewish education and environment. And they began formulating a curriculum.

08:08 Speaker 4 So for example, if we're looking for students that are completely new to Judaism, then you need a whole lot more introductory classes than if you're accepting students that have done five or six years of day school, and can read, and can translate, and who know who Avraham Avinu is.

08:25 Speaker 2 The Bassmans asked themselves a question

08:28 Speaker 4 How do we provide an inspiring Jewish high school experience for the teens here that offers quality general studies as well?

08:39 Speaker 2 They began with assembling a faculty that would be sensitive to the needs of what they anticipated would be a diverse student body. Rabbi Yossi would teach Chumash and Gemara. Ilana would teach Chumash, Ivrit, and Jewish prayer. In the fall of 2013, the Bassmans were ready to launch the first, and so far only, North American Chabad-run college prep high school for boys and girls. The separate campuses were located on Milwaukee's East Side, the girls above a paint shop, and the boys above a hardware store.

09:16 Speaker 4 That was our destiny. We're here to build, we're here to improve, we're here to create a home for God.

09:20 Speaker 2 And how did you develop the curriculum for that first year? What was offered for the girls and for the boys?

09:26 Speaker 4 We offered Chumash and Ivrit and Jewish history and Jewish philosophy, arts, and the general studies curriculum was completely offered through an online public high school. That was the same for both campuses for the first couple of years.

09:45 Speaker 2 In late summer 2013, it was time for opening day.

09:51 Speaker 3 So I don't know how much I slept the night before. I had many, many hats. I recall I was driving the van. We had some sort of orientation day planned. There was excitement in the air.

10:03 Speaker 4 And I remember walking out from the first day and just thinking, like, "Wow, this is an amazing group of students," and being on a high of what this year could possibly bring.

10:16 Speaker 2 The Bassmans stayed true to their vision of being student-centered, responsive, and innovative.

10:23 Speaker 3 I think there were probably four or five different reboots to our first year from an academic perspective. There was nothing about our initial model that was sacred. We were incredibly versatile, we were incredibly agile, and we really wanted to adapt and adopt to ensure that we were meeting our students' needs.

10:45 Speaker 4 And every so often we would ask students, like, what they would like to learn, and sometimes, you know, they would say, "We want to learn about Jewish women. We want to learn about certain mitzvahs." Then we would incorporate that into classes that we had. I think it was that approach that shaped our school.

11:03 Speaker 2 The Bassmans say that before long, the pioneering Hillel High students were progressing beyond anyone's wildest dreams. As for the boys...

11:12 Speaker 3 It started with one student, but eventually virtually all of the students were able to read from a siddur and to actually be the hazzan. And that achievement, that joy of being able to lead first perhaps Mincha, and eventually Shaharit for the entire school, the joy that a student had when he was able to decode their first passuk, and the empowerment that, "I can now do this," that is what education's about.

11:38 Speaker 4 There was definitely the moments throughout the first year where it was like, "What did we get ourselves into?" And there was also moments throughout the year that were very clearly, like, this is why we are here.

11:54 Speaker 2 The this-is-why-we're-here mindset is strikingly seen in the story of Gedalia Lieberman.

12:00 Speaker 1 I was raised in Borough Park, Brooklyn, you know, the heart of Orthodox, you know, Judaism. I grew up in a very Orthodox home I went to ultra-Orthodox schools in Brooklyn until the age of nine. I went to cheder, went to all that.

12:16 Speaker 2 Gidalyah seemed to be on a life path that would eventually lead him to yeshiva, but-

12:21 Speaker 1 At the age of nine my life kind of shifted very drastically. My parents, they were going through tough times, and my mother relocated me and my two siblings to Sacramento, California. It was presented to us as a summer vacation. At that time I had payos, I had my yarmulke, and that's all I knew, and now you're in a totally different environment, exposed to a lot of different things.

12:51 Speaker 2 Gidalyah's grandfather tried homeschooling him and his siblings, but that didn't work out.

12:56 Speaker 1 There was a public school right across the street. We could have gone there, but my grandfather decided, send me to a Catholic school for some reason.

13:05 Speaker 2 Technically it was a charter school, but whatever the label, it was a bad fit for Gidalyah.

13:11 Speaker 1 Crosses everywhere. We'd do the Pledge of Allegiance, and then they would turn to the idol, and they would say a prayer. I would stay silent. I would get looks, and that came with the bullying, and it came with the name-calling from students. There was one instance where a bunch of kids over there brought this bag of chips, you know. They gave it to me, and I was like, "You know, what could be wrong with chips?" And ate it, and then afterwards they were just mocking me, "Oh, that was pork rinds. The Jew ate pork rinds."

13:46 Speaker 2 Gidalyah got into fights. He says that he was always blamed for them even though he was never the instigator.

13:52 Speaker 1 A few months in, the yarmulke went off, the payos went away. For me, my brother, and my sister, we just kind of assimilated. Those were rough years.

14:05 Speaker 2 But that would soon change thanks to Rabbi Mendy Cohen at Chabad of Sacramento.

14:10 Speaker 1 When I was able to get out of the house, I would go to the Chabad House, um, on Shabboses. Depending if my grandfather was sleeping or not, I would be able to sneak out and go to the Chabad House, and there I did feel a sense of warmth. I felt a sense of care.

14:24 Speaker 2 In early 2014, Gidalyah celebrated his bar mitzvah there.

14:28 Speaker 1 And the summer of 2014, Rabbi Mendy Cohen in Sacramento offered me to go to a, it's called CTN Extreme, a summer camp, and that experience really lit a little bit of flame in me, and it was, it was beautiful. So there was two Shabbaton that we were on the trip for, and it was like I was back home. It was what I had as a child, singing L'cha Dodi. It was really emotional. For years I wasn't able to feel any emotion. I was kind of numb. When you're in an environment that's really intense and rough, you know, you numb out, and I remember for that two Shabbaton I really felt connected to my Judaism, and I ended up coming back from that summer trip. I expressed how much I enjoyed it, and Rabbi Cohen mentioned Bader Hillel High, this school out in Milwaukee. I'd never heard of Milwaukee. I didn't know what Wisconsin was.

15:25 Speaker 2 Gidalyah's mother agreed that he should attend Bader Hillel High.

15:29 Speaker 1 So I was nervous. I was nervous.

15:32 Speaker 2 He arrived in Milwaukee in 2015. Ilana Bassman remembers meeting Gidalyah for the first time.

15:38 Speaker 4 I remember him definitely being shy, and there's definitely this, like, period of not letting your guard down and not really trusting. Do they really care? Are they really there for me? Is this about them, or is this about me?

15:54 Speaker 2 Gidalyah moved into the home of Rabbi Levi and Rebbetzin Leah Emer, Yossi Bassman's sister.

16:00 Speaker 1 And it, it was a loving home. Seeing families together was something really, that really touched me. It would make me kind of, like, almost sad sometimes, like, yearn for that, and say, "Wow," like, "I didn't have that growing up." It introduced me to a caring and loving Judaism.

16:17 Speaker 2 And then there was the adjustment to Jewish academic life after five years without it.

16:22 Speaker 1 I had to learn the Aleph-Beis over again. At the beginning it was very slow, but the school, the administration, they were there for me, and I, I got the support I needed. I came into Hillel High with all Ds and Fs. 10th grade I ended up getting As and Bs.

16:39 Speaker 3 He was always incredibly conscientious. He worked incredibly hard. He never looked for excuses. He always looked for challenges to overcome.

16:49 Speaker 2 Gidalyah told me that he felt Bader Hillel High set him up for success in life. How does that make you feel?

16:56 Speaker 4 Uh, like I gotta keep giving it my all every single day. It's definitely encouraging to hear that because if I didn't hear that, I would be questioning what I'm doing with my life.

17:09 Speaker 2 Gidalyah Lieberman graduated from Bader Hillel High in 2019 with a 3.5 grade point average. He attended Maayanot Yeshiva in Israel for two years, and then community college for another two. He's worked as a mashgiach, and is now enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, majoring in social work and minoring in aging.

17:37 Speaker 1 I got about a year and a half left, and my passion is working with the elderly and geriatrics, and growing in my Judaism, and to give back ultimately. That's why I'm going into social work. It's something from the soul.

17:49 Speaker 2 For the Bassmans, a Jewish education is also about inclusion and acceptance. Leah Berens was born in Queens, New York. She grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, part of a Jewishly observant family. Leah had a strong Jewish day school education- Since she was used to small schools, Beider Hillel High seemed like a perfect fit. But Leah had had some negative experiences at sleepaway camp from girls who were mean to her for no apparent reason.

18:21 Speaker 5 When I had that negative experience with the girls in camp, I sort of, like, maybe turned it around on Yiddishkeit for a second. Like, "Is this what Jewish girls are?" Like, "This is not okay. This is terrible." Like, "I don't want a part of this."

18:35 Speaker 2 Leah arrived in Milwaukee in 2019, excited about the prospect of dorm life in a new city, but also concerned about how she'd be accepted by her new classmates.

18:46 Speaker 5 And so I arrived at the dorm in the morning, and I remember, like, I knocked on the door, and these two girls opened the door, and they just were like, "We're so excited to meet you. Hi, what's your name?" And they gave me a huge hug, and with that hug, there was no transition process. It was just like this is my place, and these are my people.

19:10 Speaker 2 Leah says that brief moment set the stage for her high school education. She studied Hasidus for the first time, which she says was a game-changer. Throughout her four years, she felt energized by the diverse and accepting student body.

19:26 Speaker 5 Total mixture. At that point, I think it was more non-religious backgrounds, but it was a total mixture. Everyone there was ready to grow and excited about everything that we were learning, and we were just all in it together. Like, it didn't really matter what our backgrounds were.

19:47 Speaker 2 Leah graduated in 2023. She now attends seminary in Jerusalem. She wants to teach and maybe even open her own Chabad house, where she can pay forward the love and acceptance she experienced at Beider Hillel High. Leah Berrent and Gedalia Lieberman each had years of Jewish education before arriving at Beider Hillel High. I asked Rabbi Bassman if he could give me an example of a student who hadn't.

20:19 Speaker 3 Yeah, I got an email from a mom in Germantown, Wisconsin, that her daughter, who was in eighth grade, was dealing with antisemitism in her school. She was the only Jewish girl in that school, and she came across our school. And the mom was asking somewhat apologetically, "I can't imagine that this is a school that would be appropriate for my daughter. We have no Jewish background. We haven't been involved with a temple since she's born. Is Beider Hillel High a school that is meant for her?" And I just responded, "Beider Hillel High was opened for a girl like your daughter, and that girl enrolled without any formal Jewish education awareness, and she graduated this past spring. And she grew in so many ways."

21:05 Speaker 2 Beider Hillel High has also grown a lot in 10 years. It now enrolls 70 students, and its campuses are no longer located above home improvement shops. But the Bassmans are looking for a new dedicated building. For now, their focus is on providing accessible, inspiring Jewish education.

21:24 Speaker 3 Often you see institutions that first build grand edifices and then work on creating the program. We've been exclusively focused on ensuring that our people and our program, our educational product, is incredible, and we're turning now towards ensuring that we have the home that is befitting an institution such as Beider Hillel High.

21:47 Speaker 2 As if that weren't a tall enough task, the Bassmans are raising five children and stay in constant touch with the ever-growing number of Hillel High graduates. Gedalia is still very close to the Bassmans.

21:59 Speaker 4 It's just so amazing whenever I see him. Like, his, like, his confidence, his, like, outlook on life, the work that he's done on himself, he's an incredible young man.

22:09 Speaker 1 We have a very close connection, me and the Bassmans.

22:14 Speaker 2 Rabbi Yossi and Alana check in with Leah regularly.

22:18 Speaker 5 It's amazing 'cause I'm not there, and they have a whole set of students that they should be looking after. But I feel just as cared for as I did when I was there.

22:29 Speaker 3 Going to alumni's weddings, hearing about children being born, being able to stay involved with them in a ever-deepening way is incredible.

22:38 Speaker 4 So just you wait. I'm telling you, these kids are gonna create opportunities and find methods and ways and people to reach that you and I can't fathom yet, Chabad of Mars.

22:53 Speaker 2 The Bassmans say their approach and their success are part of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's vision for the world.

23:00 Speaker 3 The Rebbe's impact on the world, it's growing, and the role that the Rebbe shlichim have in ensuring a strong and proud Jewish future is ever-increasing. And to me, it's so obvious that Chabad's leadership and innovation in the world of education, that's the next frontier. If we're stepping up and taking ownership of the future of Yiddishkeit, of the Jewish people, that begins and ends in authentic Jewish education. And authentic Jewish education is ensuring that every Jewish boy and girl has an appropriate educational experience that they feel is accessible. It's the mandate, and we need to embrace it. It's a critical, critical need.

23:51 Speaker 2 I'm Gary Wollek. Thanks for listening to Lamplighters: Stories from Chabad Emissaries on the Jewish Frontier. We welcome your questions and comments about what you've just heard on Lamplighters. Please email us at podcast@lubavitch.com. And if you know of a great story involving Chabad emissaries or the people they inspire, please let us know about them. That's podcast@L-U-B-A-V-I-T-C-H.com. To subscribe digitally to Lubavitch International Magazine or to receive it at your doorstep, please visit lubavitch.com/subscribe. This is a Lubavitch International podcast.