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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 19 April 2026

Created: 19 April 2026

Last Updated: 20 April 2026

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(This is the opinion of Joanne Wallenstein, Publisher of Scarsdale10583.com)

I was heartbroken to learn about recent incidents of antisemitism in the Scarsdale Schools and sad to witness how mistakes made by teens can quickly be inflamed by social media. In no time at all a single event can make it look as if the entire community is coming apart at the seams.

What happened? As recounted by the SHS Principal, last week, “several signs advertising the Israeli Culture Club’s celebration of Israel’s 78th Independence Day were removed from hallway walls, and some of them were put in urinals in boys’ bathrooms. In addition, the School Government’s Instagram post advertising the event received two replies criticizing the event using vulgar language.”

The story has already hit the New York Post and national news, and a petition is being circulated asking for the resignation of the President of the Scarsdale School board. Is something rotten in the town of Scarsdale. Does this incident define us? Are there flaws in the fabric of our town?

Not in the Scarsdale that I know.

From where I sit I see a very diverse community centered on excellence in education, community and mutual respect. Residents hail from all over the globe, speak a multitude of languages, observe many different religions and hold disparate political views. How do I know? Because in the past few months we have covered everything from Chinese New Year, to Iftar and the publication of a beloved Rabbi’s new book. At each Scarsdale Village Board meeting the Mayor notes a long list of religious and cultural observances on the calendar for the month – reaching out to all groups to make them know they are welcome and important contributors to life in Scarsdale. Last year the school district made major changes to the academic calendar to accommodate celebrations of Eid, the Lunar New Year and Juneteenth.

In just the past two weeks, I attended three local events that left me moved by the depth of feeling for our community and the generosity of my neighbors.

On April 6th, our Village Historian Jordan Copeland presented a lecture on the History of the Jews to a packed room of Jews and non-Jews at Scarsdale Library. He traced the growth of the Jewish population in Scarsdale, noting their involvement in business, civic affairs, and the many contributions they made to life in Scarsdale. He also outlined the darker side of the story - how restrictive covenants prevented Jews from living in certain areas and how Jews were not welcome at local country clubs. But what did he conclude? After spending a year doing research he was actually heartened by the Jewish experience in Scarsdale and encouraged residents in the audience to welcome newcomers from other faiths and nations as they would have liked to be welcomed themselves.

That was just one event that made me proud to be here.

On Tuesday April 12 I participated in a focus group as part the development of a strategic plan for the Scarsdale Library – and sat around the table with a diverse group of Scarsdale residents, of all ages and races - most of whom I had not met before. They were asked to provide their thoughts on what they valued about the community and what could be done to improve it. Turns out, they were a happy group. A retiree said that after her children were grown she and her husband decided to stay in town – because everything they could want was here. They could walk to the Village, use the library and enjoy their friends and their golf game. Where else could match it? A more recent entrant said she felt safe at home, liked that her kids could hang out in the Village by themselves and was happy with the schools.

Struggling to think of what could be better, people mentioned more sidewalks and a supermarket, but quickly decided that all in all Scarsdale is well run and that’s why they’re happy here. Any improvements they could imagine were already in the works.

Then I had the pleasure of attending an event at Westchester Reform Temple, where former Rabbi Angela Buchdahl was in conversation with current Rabbi Jonathan Blake about her new book documenting her path as a Korean-American female rabbi and cantor. She was thrilled to be back in a place she called home, where she felt the acceptance and love of a congregation who embraced someone who broke all previous notions of what it means to be Jewish.

Referring to a recent article in The New Yorker, Rabbi Blake asked, “Are synagogues coming apart at the seams about Israel?” She provided a calming, rationale and reassuring response. She said, “You’re seeing extreme emotions over this. It has never been harder to talk about Israel and I did not want to lose people in my community over Israel. But I don’t think our community is falling apart at the seams…. We are a spiritual community and we are still taking care of each other. We see each other as good human beings. We have to be decent to each other. We are serving something higher – bigger than ourselves. When we pray together and sing, when we lift our voices, when we help someone who is ill, the kindness transcends Israel – and disagreement. We can keep our caring community at the core.”

I recount these stories to put the incidents in the news into the proper perspective.

To me this event is not a symptom of larger problems simmering beneath the surface. The incident was simply an attempt to grab attention by a few kids who have not learned how to engage in debate in appropriate ways.

I was impressed by the well thought out response from school leaders who clearly took these missteps seriously. The high school principal vowed to be “swift, decisive, and fair in responses to violations of the Code of Conduct.” The Superintendent said the district is developing “a clear, written set of guidelines regarding student speech and dress at school sponsored activities.” The Board of Education vowed to work in partnership with the district and the community to reinforce the values of respect, dignity and inclusion.” And the President of the Board, said, “As a parent, I will focus on healing my family. But as a school board member, my focus will continue to be on our students, our schools, and our educational program. I am fully committed to following through on our mission, which is to support each student's full development, enabling them to be effective and independent contributors in a democratic society within an interdependent world.”

Their words were thoughtful, empathetic and offered concrete steps to prevent future incidents and more forward.

In April and May Scarsdale celebrates our community with wonderful events that bring out people from all quarters. Last week it was a sold-out gala to support the library, this week, it’s the Scarsdale Bowl to spotlight community volunteers and in May, Scarsdale Family Counseling Service will honor those who support the community’s mental health.
These are opportunities to celebrate who we are.

I am not letting an ugly incident shake my confidence in an excellent community of caring friends and responsible leaders. I hope you will all reflect on what you value here and take steps to come together to further strengthen the fabric of the community we all love.

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Written by: Wendy MacMillan

Published: 02 April 2026

Created: 02 April 2026

Last Updated: 28 April 2026

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Long before she ever stepped onto the bimah as a professional, Cantor Laura Stein’s voice was already echoing throughout the spaces that shaped her: her family’s home, her synagogue, her schools, and the streets of Scarsdale itself. Singing came naturally. So did Judaism. What took time was landing securely where she is today, in a place where her musical talent, commitment to Jewish values, and pursuit of justice coalesce to define a career of using her voice for progress.

“I was always a singer,” she recalls—choirs, school plays, and the first 4th-grader to ever be accepted into all-county chorus. At the same time, Judaism was woven into her daily life. Her family nurtured a strong Jewish identity grounded in community, learning, and social justice. Synagogue wasn’t just a place you went on holidays; it was where relationships were formed, values were passed down, and belonging was solidified.

As a child at Westchester Reform Temple (WRT), she slowly became part of its musical life as well. Her passion for singing and her interest in Judaism began to converge, helped along by Cantor Stephen Merkel of blessed memory, who first took her under his wing. As she got older, that mentorship expanded. “It really felt like the ‘it takes a village’ mechanism kicked in,” she says. The clergy there, including Senior Rabbi Rick Jacobs, Cantor/Rabbi Angela Buchdal, and Rabbi Ken Chasen, recognized something in her and encouraged her to explore it.

Her Bat Mitzvah became a turning point. Learning to chant Torah, interpret tradition, and share it with the community was empowering in a way Cantor Stein hadn’t anticipated. “That was when I first understood what it meant to pass down Jewish tradition in a way that actually moves people, and maybe even helps make the world a little better.”

From there, she became deeply embedded in the congregation’s musical culture. She supported Cantor Buchdal on the bimah, subbed for her at teen events, and attended Kutz Camp, a Reform Movement leadership camp, where she learned to songlead. Surrounded by other young people dreaming of Jewish leadership, guitar in hand, she began to see a future where her voice could inspire others through prayer and music.

That sense of encouragement extended well beyond the synagogue walls, though. Growing up in Scarsdale, Laura experienced what she describes as a “360-degree” support system. Her parents moved to town when she was just two weeks old, and she went through the full K–12 Scarsdale school system. While not a small town in the traditional sense, Scarsdale felt intimate, with familiar faces in the village, neighbors and family friends who she spent holidays with, and a community invested in watching young people grow.

“The biggest thing that Scarsdale did for me was give me a home base,” she says. A place where the parmesan bread at Parkway Diner always tasted the same, Halloween window painting reliably arrived each October, and someone was always playing tennis (or paddle tennis) at the Brite Avenue courts down the street from where she grew up. That consistency created a container—a place from which it felt safe to take risks and explore new paths, and a place she could always return to, knowing she’d be welcomed back.

Cantor Stein’s musical and theatrical development was nurtured at every stage. Mentors like Fox Meadow music teacher Connie Rybak Shelengian, the Middle School’s music teacher Lorraine Brooks and Popham’s English teacher Kathleen Connon, and High School Choir Director John Cuk didn’t just instruct, they showed up. One even attended a singing performance while she was in graduate school for cantorial studies. “I think of Scarsdale as a place where I was supported at school, in the village, at synagogue, at home…everywhere. I was valued for my unique path.”

She still remembers a moment from 2004 that captured that spirit perfectly. After returning from Jewish songleading camp, the Scarsdale Inquirer ran a feature about her experience. Soon after, a non-Jewish parent of a younger student she only knew peripherally called her house just to say how impressed she was. “It really felt like people, even from totally different backgrounds, were rooting for me.”

That thread of community has never broken. When Laura would return home on breaks and was invited to sing at her home congregation, people who had known her since childhood would approach her. “I remember when you were ten and sang on the bimah,” they’d say. “We always knew you’d become a cantor! We’re so proud of you.” She pauses when she reflects on that continuity, tearing up. “I can’t tell you what it’s meant to have that thread woven through my entire life. It’s been the biggest blessing on my journey.”

Yet her path was not without struggle, especially when she entered seminary at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform Movement’s graduate program that trains cantors and rabbis. While cantorial school gave her theological grounding and liturgical skills, it fell short of what she hoped clergy training would provide, and its somewhat toxic culture challenged what she’d come to understand about justice during her Jewish childhood. “I wanted to learn how to minister to the whole person, and to do so in an environment that not only gave me skills but also lifted me up as a person, a woman, and most importantly, a Jew.” When that training and growth-oriented support didn’t materialize in her seminary, she sought them elsewhere, enrolling in NYU’s social work program part-time while also completing her cantorial degree.

That decision, she says without hesitation, changed everything. Through a field placement working with Jewish seniors living with hoarding disorder and an internship doing case management for homeless queer youth, she gained clinical skills that transformed her relationship to pastoral care. “My social work degree is the best thing I ever did,” she says. “It’s the reason I can show up as a cantor the way I do today.”

Now pursuing a PhD in Practical Theology at Boston University, with a focus on the psychology of religion, she is doing the integrative work she once longed for as a student. Her research explores clergy formation, justice, trauma, burnout, and flourishing—asking not just what spiritual leaders can do, but who they are becoming. Studying at BU’s School of Theology, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. earned his doctorate in theology as well, has only deepened her commitment to justice-centered work, which she names as her most important commitment.

At the heart of everything Cantor Laura Stein does is integration—between belief and behavior, spirituality and psychology, tradition and lived experience. “Flourishing isn’t about erasing differences,” she says. “It’s about stitching together wholeness.” That philosophy shapes her work with individuals navigating trauma, identity, and religious struggle, as well as with wedding couples and families looking to bring Jewish joy and meaning to their life transitions. It also informs how she understands mindfulness and what it really means to “live Jewishly”—as attunement to values in the present moment that help people connect to others and community.

Today, as a cantor, social worker, and psychologist of religion in training, her voice still rises in song on the bimah, during lifecycle moments, and in chaplaincy settings. But it also speaks in classrooms, therapy sessions, and in research and advocacy settings. She’s proud of how this journey has led her to where she is, and feels ready to start sharing what she’s learned with the community that formed her into the professional and person she is today.

Looking back, it’s clear that none of it happened in isolation. Family, temple, school, teachers, neighbors, and extended communal networks all played a role, and were patient as she explored her different passions before finding a path that would combine them. “I am so grateful,” she says, “to have been championed by so many people who saw potential in me and wanted me to thrive.”

And in many ways, they still do…cheering her on, just as they always have. But now, she feels, it’s time for her to rise to the occasion of this next chapter.

“I’ve been in school, deepening these various passions and in this pursuit of integrating them for so long, but it’s finally coming together. It’s time to start giving back and to hopefully be someone who inspires another little girl in Scarsdale to follow her dreams. I remain very connected here! My parents still live in the house where I grew up and WRT, where I now work part-time to support congregants along their journeys, is still my spiritual home. What a privilege to still feel held by the community that shaped you. Not everyone has that. I feel so lucky.”

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 24 March 2026

Created: 24 March 2026

Last Updated: 24 March 2026

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(Here is a statement from the SMS PTA President Gina Chon, delivered to the school board on Monday March 23, 2026.)

Good evening. My name is Gina Chon, and I am speaking this evening in my capacity as President of the Scarsdale Middle School PTA on behalf of the Executive Committee.

The SMS PTA Executive Committee would like to thank the District Administration and the Board of Education for the opportunity to comment on the proposed 2026-2027 budget, and for scheduling forums that allow for community input.   After careful review, we are supportive of the proposed budget and appreciate the thoughtful consideration given to balancing districtwide priorities.

We understand that there is not sufficient room in this year's budget to support the hiring of an additional Special Education FTE, and while we are disappointed that this position cannot be accommodated this year, we hope it will be seriously considered in the near future. We believe the co-teaching model across all four core subjects in sixth grade is a valuable support for students, and we hope the district will be able to sustain and expand this level of support as students move into seventh and eighth grade.

Although not every priority could be accommodated in this year's budget, we remain appreciative of the district's commitment to the health, safety, and educational experience of our students. The SMS PTA Executive Committee supports the proposed 2026-2027 budget, and we thank the district for its openness to parent feedback and meaningful community engagement throughout this process.

(Here is a statement from the SHS PTA, delivered by Erika Rublin)

Statement for Budget Study Forum

March 23, 2026

My name is Erika Rublin and I am speaking on behalf of the High School PTA Executive Committee and Budget Study Chair. We thank Dr. Patrick, Mr. Lennon, others in the Administration, and the Board of Education for your hard work thus far on the Proposed Budget for the 2026-2027 school year.

We would like to begin by expressing our support for the proposed budget. We understand the BOE’s decision to prioritize budgeting to the tax cap, taking into account the capital spending requested for the upcoming bond and the Village pool project. Thus, we believe that the possible within this constraint.

While we support the proposed budget, we are disappointed that the current budget proposal does not include the previously recommended Math FTE position for the High School. You have heard from both parents and students, including the student board members, who have expressed how the large math and physics class sizes have negatively impacted the classroom experience and the ability of students to meet with teachers. The suggested alternative of eliminating sections of math electives impacts the programs of study available to our students, and we are concerned that it will not completely eliminate the class size problem.

It is clear that we are now at an inflection point where budgeting to the tax cap necessitates cuts to our current programming and hamstrings the District’s ability to deliver on Scarsdale’s core values of class size, appropriate level of instruction and a robust program of study. Since families move here for the schools, we believe that the community will ultimately support a budget that includes sufficient resources to preserve these values and to continue to offer a “best in class” education to our students. We recognize that this year is not the year, but we hope the BOE will prioritize the student experience and Scarsdale’s high standards in future budget decisions.

While this budget falls short of incorporating a highly valued addition to staffing, it reflects a thoughtful and deliberate effort by the administration to maximize existing resources within the current constraints. Not adopting this budget risks triggering significant reductions that would jeopardize the quality of our student’s educational experience. We encourage the community to vote yes for the budget on May 19.

Thank you again for your hard work.

Scarsdale High School PTA Executive Committee and Budget Study Chair

Erika Rublin, SHS PTA President
Megan Simon, President ElectKelli Halyard, Corresponding Secretary
Jenny Simon Tabak, VP of Directory/Membership
Melissa Brown Eisenberg, Recording Secretary
Tina Lin, VP of Programming
Radhika Dewan, Treasurer
Diksha Mudbhary, Budget Study Chair

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 17 March 2026

Created: 17 March 2026

Last Updated: 17 March 2026

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Students who graduated from Scarsdale High School or lived in Scarsdale during their high school years and who have completed their first, second, or third years of college are invited to apply to the Scarsdale Foundation for tuition assistance. For the 2026-2027 academic year, the Foundation awarded need-based grants totaling $229,000 to 48 students attending private and state-supported colleges and universities. 

Applications for the 2026-2027 academic year should be submitted online from the Scarsdale Foundation’s website: https://www.scarsdalefoundation.org/ (click on the College Scholarships link). Completed applications must be submitted by May 27, 2026. Questions should be directed to Scholarship Committee Chairs Seema Jaggi or Isabel Finegol at: [email protected]. 

The Foundation welcomes contributions from the community to augment the funds available for distribution each year. Contributions may be donated to a specially earmarked Scholarship Fund of the Scarsdale Foundation, enabling the Foundation to carry on the tradition of helping students 

in need to pursue a college education. Donations may be made online by visiting the Foundation’s website or mailed to the Scarsdale Foundation at P.O. Box 542, Scarsdale, NY 10583. 

The Foundation also hosts the Scarsdale Bowl Dinner where Scarsdale individuals are recognized for their volunteer service to the community. The Scarsdale Bowl will be presented to the 2026 recipients, Terri Simon and the Scarsdale Historical Society on Thursday, April 23, 2026 at the Mamaroneck Beach & Yacht Club.. 

For more information regarding the work of the Scarsdale Foundation, please visit its website: www.scarsdalefoundation.org.

CONTACTS:  Seema Jaggi and Isabel Uchitelle-Finegold:

[email protected]