Welcome to
The Shalem School
The Depth of Tradition. The Rigor of Mathematics.
About Us
The Shalem School seeks to produce students that represent the ideal of the educated Jewish person of virtue: prepared for high-level intellectual work and steeped in the literature, ethics, and praxis of Jewish tradition.
Shalem sees the ultimate achievement of academic training as clarity of thought. To that end, its mission is to develop in students the intellectual creativity, incisiveness, and work ethic that have been the hallmarks of Talmudic scholarship for centuries and which form the basis of success across disciplines. It offers a rigorous curriculum with a special emphasis on mathematics and the classics of Hebrew literature from its inception to the modern period.
Shalem considers ethical behavior and discipline as essential to personal development. Students study how Jewish scholars have applied abstract notions of virtue to concrete actions and become familiar with the contours of Jewish living and practice.
Meet The Teachers
Dov Dukhovny
Head of School; Gemara
Dov Dukhovny studied at the yeshivos of the Mir (Brooklyn), R. Zvi Kaplan, and BMG, and has a BA in mathematics from Rutgers-New Brunswick. He moved to Palo Alto in 2017 to join the Jewish Study Network, and opened The Shalem School in the fall of 2020.​​​
Yonatan Banai
Gemara
Rabbi Yonatan Banai was born in Israel and pursued higher education in England, earning a law degree from Birmingham City University, and then spent nine years deepening his understanding of Jewish law and philosophy in a yeshiva setting. He is part of the Jewish Study Network in Palo Alto, and currently serves as the Director of the Campus Initiative at Stanford University and UC Berkeley. Rabbi Banai is passionate about fostering meaningful connections and building deep relationships with people from all walks of life.
Yitzchok Feldman
Intro to Judaics
Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman has been the rabbi of Congregation Emek Beracha in Palo Alto for 30 years. Originally from Evanston, Ill, he graduated with a degree in English literature from Yale College in 1985, and then spent 10 years in Jerusalem Yeshivot. He is the author of Shemen Zayis Zach, a portrait of one of his teachers in Jerusalem.
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Khyati Kapoor
Biology, Chemistry
Khyati Kapoor is an experienced scientist with a background in Biotechnology and a passion for education. She has a Ph.D in Life Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, and is excited to bring her expertise to the classroom and inspire the younger generation of scientists. Outside teaching she enjoys discovering nature hikes and spending time with her kid and family.
Shlomit Kelman Olami
Hebrew
Shlomit Kelman Olami holds a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and translator certification from Beit Berl College. She has extensive experience working with children of various ages and developmental conditions. Since relocating to California, she has been teaching at the Oshman Family JCC and translating non-fiction books. In her free time, she enjoys reading, taking care of her house plants, and going on bike rides with her husband and two kids.
Chris Ryan Lauer
English, European History, Intro to Humanities
Chris Ryan Lauer holds a bachelor's degree in arts, media, and entertainment from the University of Arizona and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. He is an author, artist, and academic with interests in the New York School literary movement, modernism, Romanticism, assemblage, montage, film d’auteur, visual culture, textual materiality, and intersection points between film, literature, and painting.
Greg Perry
Mathematics
Greg Perry studied mathematics, graduating with a BA from Harvard and an MA from UC Berkeley. Later, he worked as a software developer at Lockheed and EBay, and served a term on his local city council. He currently lives with his family in Mountain View and referees soccer games for fun.
Admissions
