BJE Builder - Carla Adivi, Valley Outreach Synagogue

Jewish education provides our young people the space to learn about their heritage and culture, to understand themselves as individuals and as part of a larger community. This enables them to build their desire and capacity to serve others, to develop strong values that will allow them to make good decisions and develop healthy relationships in their lives, to build their leadership skills so that they may take an active role in making the world a better place, and to know that wherever they may be in the world, they have a community.

A Builder of Jewish education is someone who devotes time, energy, heart and soul to understanding and meeting the lifetime educational needs of the Jewish community; understands Jewish values, their basis in history and text, and strives to build an educational program where these values are front and center. A Builder understands that the Jewish community is not homogeneous in religious observance, attitudes, beliefs, or needs and sees the importance of reaching out to meet people where they are. A Builder of Jewish education knows that mistakes and failure are a critical part of the learning process. A Builder of Jewish education is a leader, someone who seeks to find the best in those they work with, and someone who knows that success will come only from the unified efforts of a passionate, caring team of people. Lastly, a Builder of Jewish education is always a learner. 

Carla Adivi is, in every sense, a Builder of Jewish education. Carla’s innovative spirit, creative mind, flexibility, and dedication to life-long Jewish education and values are her foundational “blocks” as a Builder of Jewish education. She creates forward-thinking programs at VOS that make living Jewish values accessible by meeting our community where they are and where they are headed. Carla uses her deeply held understanding of Jewish values as a foundation upon which she conceptualizes how these values can be taught in a modern world. Her selfless leadership and steadfast dedication to excellence are the reasons our teachers, parents, clergy, and staff trust her to make wise and thoughtful decisions for our learners.

Under Carla’s leadership, Valley Outreach Synagogue has provided home-based Jewish education for over 12 years, with kids going to a host home each week for Judaic studies and Hebrew instruction. After in-person events were suspended due to COVID-19, Carla had to quickly bring classes online so we could continue to provide quality Jewish education to our members. Carla knew that keeping our younger kids engaged would require some innovative thinking and flexibility to make our model more accessible and engaging in individual homes. She made sure that the online education model included the families of our students more than ever by leaning into Jewish values and encouraging more parent/family involvement in lessons. As a result of her flexibility and creativity, out of area and out of state families are attending our program online for the first time.

Carla Adivi is the Director of Lifelong Learning at Valley Outreach Synagogue.  She is being recognized at BJE's Out of the Box Gala on February 5th.  To find out more about how you can participate in this celebration, please go to www.bjela.org/gala.