Brandeis in Lawrence welcomes new rabbi

With more than 20 years of educational experience and familiarity with the Five Towns, Rabbi Nissan Goldberg has joined The Brandeis School mishpacha – which means family in Hebrew – bringing his unconventional learning methods.

“I have no set curriculum,” said, Goldberg, the Frost Lane school’s new rabbi. “I look at what the class needs,” pointing to his more than two decades of teaching special education. He has taught from nursery school to 12th graders. “It is to get their strengths out and diminish their weaknesses. Whatever it takes. As long as their learning, that is my responsibility, is done in a fun and caring way.”

Blending teamwork lessons such as tug-a-rope, showing the students that working together is better than working alone, to using popular and games to enhance the learning experience, Goldberg adheres to the old Confucius saying, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

Raised in Kew Gardens, Goldberg, 41, graduated from South Shore Yeshiva High School in Elmont and moved on to the Yeshiva Gedolah-The Five Towns in Woodmere and then Touro Graduate School, graduating with a degree in psychology and education. He also earned three master’s degrees from Touro: early intervention, special education and school leadership.

Further burnishing his Five Towns connections, Goldberg was the rabbi for Hillel Day Camp, this summer. “I love the Five Towns,” he said. “Hillel was an opportunity to be able to make traditional connections and this is an opportunity to teach our heritage in a fun loving way with real understanding of the connection to [Judaism.]”

His previous camp experience includes serving as a division head at Avnet Day Camp and Mesorah and Lavi sleepaway camps. He is the youth director at Young Israel of Great Neck. He lives in Great Neck with his wife, Bracha, and their four children.

Goldberg most recently was the Judaic and genera teacher at Ptach, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that aims to offer Jewish and secular education to children with special needs. He also has taught at the Yeshiva High School for Boys in Manhattan, known as the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy and Yeshiva University High School for Girls, known as Central in Queens.

In the school’s official welcoming letter, officials stated: “Rabbi Goldberg believes in an open door policy and has always encouraged students to visit him with any questions thy may have regarding any aspect of life. With more than three decades of working with children, Rabbi Goldberg understands first hand that each child learns differently and will succeed when given the opportunity to do so.”

“I’m excited for Rabbi Goldberg to join our mishpacha and looking forward to creating engaging and unique programs, activities and opportunities for our parents, students and staff members that bring the Torah to life in exciting new ways,” Brandeis’s Head of School Raz Levin said.

Using real world examples, Goldberg teaches the children about their Jewish heritage, their history and their significance as Jews living in this modern world. “I use current events without getting into politics,” he said. “We also use Jewish history. The Bible is a story to learn life lessons to tap into. The Torah is a living document and I teach it that way.”