Senior Faculty

Rabbi Mordechai Besser
Principal
mbesser@mdsweb.org

Rabbi Besser is in his eleventh year at Manhattan Day School. Prior to that, he was principal of HAFTR and Program Director of Camp Morasha.

He holds degrees from Yeshiva College, Bernard Revel Graduate School, and Hofstra University Graduate School of Education, as well as Ordination from Yeshiva University.

Rabbi Besser is the recipient of the National Distinguished Principal Award from the United States Department of Education, and the Principal of the Year Award from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University.


 

Mrs. Judy Melzer
Associate Principal
jmelzer@mdsweb.org

Mrs. Judith Melzer, Associate Principal of Manhattan Day School, has been an administrator at MDS since 2000. She previously was an administrator at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns from 1987-2000 and at the Yeshiva of Belle Harbor from 1981-1987. Mrs. Melzer also taught at the Torah Academy for Girls from 1976-1981 and worked in the New York City public schools from 1966 until she transferred to the yeshiva world.

Educated at Brooklyn College on the undergraduate and masters levels, Mrs. Melzer has co-authored Horeini, a language-based Hebrew reading series for the young learner. Mrs. Melzer has also written numerous articles on the field of education, including “Developing Art and Museum Curriculum for Early Childhood Educators.”

She has a longstanding philosophy of education: maximize each child’s potential through self-discovery, innovative initiatives, and positive learning experiences. In addition, educational experiences must be a partnership with home and community to facilitate powerful learning and the personal growth of each child. She truly believes that “to teach a child is to touch a life forever.”


 

Rabbi Binyamin Yablok
Associate Principal
byablok@mdsweb.org

Born in Marietta, Ohio and educated primarily in New York yeshivot, Rabbi Benjamin Yablok has been working in chinuch for 35 years. Early involvement in Bnei Akiva youth groups and camps increased his appreciation for both self-reliance and group cooperation. Two years of work and study in Israel enhanced his Ivrit knowledge and solidified his love of Eretz Yisrael and its history.

Rabbi Yablok has taught in a variety of formal and informal settings, to Ashkenazim and Sepharadim, in high schools, day schools, and Talmud Torahs, in New York, Pennsylvania, and Seattle, Washington. He even had two short teaching stints in the Ukraine, on NCSY trips to the region of his grandparents’ origins.

Among the many areas of Limudei Kodesh study, Rabbi Yablok is particularly interested in accurate kri’ah, understanding of ta’amei hamikrah, the study of Rashi, and bei’ur tefillah. As a third generation cantor, accuracy and meaning in nusach hatefillah are of special significance. Rabbi Yablok has frequently combined his hobby of collecting Jewish historical artifacts with education by using them to teach various topics in Limudei Kodesh, and in fact is writing his doctoral dissertation on this technique.

Above all, it is the daily connection with Jewish children, the opportunity to guide them and learn from them, and the possibility of making a difference in their lives that are Rabbi Yablok’s chief missions and sources of satisfaction.


 

Mrs. Aviva Yablok
Director of the Early Childhood Department
ayablok@mdsweb.org

Aviva Yablok was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, where she first began her career in Early Childhood Education. She taught Kindergarten in Scranton, Pennsylvania, before moving to New York and Manhattan Day School in 1990. After nine years of teaching kindergarten at MDS, Aviva became the founding Director of the Silverstein Hebrew Academy Pre-School in Great Neck, NY. In 2002, Aviva returned to MDS as Director of the Early Childhood Department, a program which has grown and flourished under her leadership. Aviva is a respected and innovative educator and a frequent lecturer and workshop leader.

Aviva derives great pleasure “from seeing children entering the doors of MDS each morning knowing they are entering a place where they will be safe, loved, and well cared for. Our youngest students know that their teachers are waiting to see each one of them every morning and give them a meaningful day in which their individual needs are met and a classroom experience that makes them feel good. I know we are making a difference in the lives of our children – that’s what keeps me here.”


 

Ms. Sharon Miller
Director of the Special Education Department
smilller@mdsweb.org

Sharon has devoted her life to helping students with a range of academic and social needs obtain the Jewish education they deserve. With more than 18 years experience as an educator, director, counselor, and mentor in various settings ranging from kindergarten through high school, she has provided innovative and quality education to her students with a concentration on the continuum of special education.

Sharon received her BA from Stern College and her Masters from New York University. She started at Manhattan Day School in the enrichment program and has been the Director of the Special Education Department for the past five years. Before coming to MDS, she worked in special education as a teacher, school counselor, and mentor for students in elementary and high school. She also provided art therapy in the East Hampton Public School system.

Originally from Woodmere, NY, Sharon now lives on the Upper West Side. She is well-known for her philanthropy in Sha’alavin, YACHAD, and the Orthodox Union, Kharkov Center, named for her father Joseph K. Miller.