I have three kids. At one point, all of them were teenagers. Now, they’re almost adults.

None of them attended Toronto’s only Jewish high school.

Like most Jewish parents, I assumed the kids would follow some predictable path through the institutional Jewish education pipeline.

I did.

But I found myself navigating a landscape where the available options didn't quite fit.

I'm not going to pretend this was easy or consistent with my values or profession. I'm a Jewish educator. This is literally what I do for a living. And yet, when it came to my own kids, even I found myself staring at a post-b’mitzvah desert with no clear path forward.

Sound familiar?

The Great Disappearing Act
Here's what I've learned watching Jewish teenagers across Ontario: the b’mitzvah isn't a coming-of-age celebration anymore. It's a graduation ceremony. The end of formal Jewish learning. For too many kids—including mine at one point—that Shabbat morning service marks their final interaction with Jewish text, tradition, and communal learning.

In smaller communities across this vast province, it's not even a choice. There's literally nothing available. Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Kingston, London, Windsor—if you're a Jewish teen in these places looking for substantive Jewish education, you're out of luck. In Toronto, options exist, but they’re either prohibitively expensive, or geographically challenging. or more of a social club than serious intellectual engagement. The assumption seems to be that Jewish teenagers either aren't interested or aren't capable of rigorous learning.

I reject both premises.

…And then there's Torah High.

Look, I need to be transparent here. Torah High offers Ministry-accredited courses. They emphasize their "fun, relaxed, stress-free" environment. They talk about students being "architects of their Jewish journeys." They feed your teens dinner at a half dozen convenient locations. All fine messaging. But here's what they don't advertise prominently: their partnership with NCSY—the National Council of Synagogue Youth, the outreach arm of the Orthodox Union.

If you're Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, or culturally Jewish without a particular denominational affiliation, understand this: Torah High's underlying mission is kiruv—bringing your teenager closer to Orthodox observance.

It functions, in effect, as a social club with an agenda. There's nothing inherently wrong with Orthodox Judaism (some of my best friends are Orthodox, as the joke goes), but parents deserve transparency. If you're sending your kid for a history credit, you shouldn't have to worry about the subtext.

Building Something Different
When I co-founded ADRABA with Frank Samuels and Sholom Eisenstat, I was thinking about my own kids. I was also thinking about the Jewish teenagers in Kenora and Sault Ste. Marie who have no access to Jewish learning. I was thinking about the intellectually curious teens in Toronto who deserve better than pizza parties masquerading as Jewish education.

ADRABA's mission is straightforward: we educate and nurture Jews toward deep literacy and engagement. Notice what's absent? No denominational agenda. No "role models" (code for religious influencers). No partnerships with outreach organizations. Just serious academic work that happens to be deeply, authentically Jewish.

When students take our Canadian History course, they explore how Canada came into existence through the lens of diverse communities—Indigenous, Francophone, immigrant, and yes, Jewish. We start at Vimy Ridge and end with COVID, examining how outsiders used sports to become insiders, how Canadians forged national identity, and how Jewish Canadians fit into that story. It's not Jewish history class—it's Canadian history that actually includes Jewish experience instead of pretending we were never here.

Our World Religions course completely reimagines the typical public school approach. Instead of the standard "two weeks on Buddhism, two weeks on Judaism" model, we trace how Judaism evolved alongside Christianity and Islam from the 2nd century through the 17th century. Students travel from Babylonia to Iberia, from England to Yemen, grappling with concepts like diaspora, martyrdom, the Talmud, and the Crusades. They analyze primary sources, debate controversial issues, and develop sophisticated historical arguments.

This isn't education designed to make students more religious.

It's education designed to make them more literate.

Five Things I Learned Building ADRABA (That Every Parent Should Know)

Geography shouldn't determine your kid's Jewish future.
My students attend class from Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Windsor, and everywhere in between. Classes meet twice weekly via Zoom, which means a Jewish teenager in Timmins has the same access to quality Jewish education as someone steps from Beth Tzedec in Toronto. For families in small communities, this is genuinely revolutionary. Your kid can stay connected to Jewish learning without you having to move.

Real credits mean real standards.
ADRABA is fully accredited by the Ontario Ministry of Education. I'm personally authorized to grant credits on behalf of the Ministry. Each course meets the full 110 instructional hours required for a high school credit—these aren't supplemental add-ons but legitimate academic courses that count toward your teen's OSSD. Torah High offers credits too, but our commitment isn't to making learning "stress-free"—it's to making it meaningful.

Intellectual rigour isn't the enemy of engagement.
I teach my students to analyze primary sources, evaluate historical evidence from multiple perspectives, defend arguments, and engage with controversy instead of avoiding it. This is the kind of thinking they'll need for university and beyond. Jewish parents tell me all the time they want their kids to be successful professionals. Those professions require critical thinking skills. We teach those skills through Jewish content at university-preparatory depth.

Pluralism means respecting where students are, not recruiting them to where you think they should be.
There's no hidden curriculum at ADRABA. Your Reform kid won't be pressured to keep kosher. Your secular kid won't be guilted about Shabbat observance. Your Conservative kid won't be told they're "not really Jewish" if they don't do things a particular way. Students explore tradition, values, texts, and history without anyone trying to change their level of religious practice. Because authentic pluralism isn't about tolerance—it's about genuine respect.

The question isn't whether your teen will continue their Jewish journey—it's whether they'll have access to education worthy of that journey.
B’mitzvah marks the beginning of Jewish adulthood, not the end of Jewish learning. Yet for too many families, there's simply no answer to "what comes next?" ADRABA provides that answer: substantive, credit-yielding courses that keep Jewish education alive during the critical high school years when identity formation really happens.

The Bottom Line (Which Isn't Really About the Bottom Line)
I co-founded ADRABA because I couldn't find what my own kids needed. I'm a Jewish educator with extensive networks, institutional knowledge, and resources—and even I couldn't find a good solution within existing frameworks. If it was this hard for me, what about families without those advantages?

Ontario's Jewish community is diverse, spread across a province larger than many countries, and includes families from every denominational background and none at all. Jewish teenagers in this province deserve educational options that reflect this diversity—options that are academically rigorous, geographically accessible, and genuinely pluralistic.

I'm not suggesting Torah High is terrible. For some families, it's great! But if you want your teen to earn high school credits while developing deep literacy in Jewish history, culture, and thought—without anyone trying to recruit them to a particular denominational camp—ADRABA is the clear alternative.

Because here's what I've learned as both a parent and an educator: Jewish teenagers are capable of sophisticated thinking. They can handle nuance. They can wrestle with difficult questions. They deserve education that challenges them intellectually while respecting their autonomy.

And they deserve not to have their Jewish journey end at thirteen just because we, as a community, failed to build something better for the years that follow.

I built ADRABA so my kids—and yours—would have somewhere to go.

This article shares INSIGHTS into the types of topics we teach in our online high school courses.

Have we peaked your curiosity to learn more about our virtual school?

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