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Meet Our Alumni
Tova Leibovic Douglas ’99: Rabbinic Intern
Tova Leibovic Douglas remembers the Torah. “It’s my first memory at Sinai Akiba: We each had a tiny one, and we would get to dance with it,” she says. “I especially liked it because it rhymed with my name – ‘Torah’ and ‘Tova’ went together!”
For Leibovic, that influence has been far-reaching: Today, she is in her final year of rabbinical school at American Jewish University, an ambition she attributes in part to the formative education she received at Sinai Akiba. “I was the kid in kindergarten who volunteered to lead services,” she laughs. “I was always really into Jewish education.”
It is a theme running through Leibovic’s life – finding ways to incorporate Jewish learning into her everyday experience. From Sinai Akiba, she went on to Milken Community High School. Then, after a year at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, she transferred to a joint program at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where she delved into Jewish women’s studies.
After college, she got a credential in special education and taught but found herself wanting to deepen her Jewish knowledge even further. Ultimately, she says, she wants “to help people using the Jewish tradition in some way.”
Tradition and community are, in Leibovic’s view, two of Sinai Akiba’s biggest selling points. For her, there was something incredible about a place that showcased “how beautiful Shabbat could be” and that offered “a curriculum that was based on serious Judaism. It was like a breath of fresh air,” she recalls.
She also felt embraced by a warm family feeling. “Because of Sinai Akiba, I felt like I had a million 'second' moms and dads,” she says. “It was the kind of environment where, when you were struggling, you had other people to turn to. It was really like we were raised by a village.”
Leibovic notes that the feeling is clearly a common one. “I was visiting with Shelly Lawrence, who was my second-grade teacher and was amazing; I loved everything we learned in that class. And she was listing all her former students who are coming back with their own children, and it just feels like family,” she says.
She leaves open the possibility that she will send her own two girls, Eve and Nora, to the school, as well. “It would be so special to give them what I had, and for my kids to have relationships with my friends’ children,” she says. “Sinai Akiba is definitely high on our list.”
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About Sinai Akiba Academy
Sinai Akiba Academy is a private Jewish day school in Los Angeles, serving students in Early Childhood through Grade 8. We also offer a variety of parenting classes and programs for children through our Parenting Center. A Sinai Temple school.
Notice of Non-Discriminatory Policy As to Students
Sinai Akiba Academy admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.