By: Malkie Rivkin, Judaic Principal
Today marks 20 years.
Sunday night, August 28, rain and wind begins. Loss of power.
Early Monday, August 29th, storm makes landfall and rain continues until mid morning.
Tuesday, August 30th, levee breaks discovered, flooding and high water.
August 2005. I recall the fresh feeling of just having started the new school year at Torah Academy, the building expertly renovated by The Markovich family over the summer-time. Each classroom was beautifully decorated and perfectly arranged by the teachers, after hours and days and weeks of excited flurry of preparation. After a few wonderful days of school that first week, we left for Shabbat and the weekend. On Sunday came wind, rain, and loss of power. On Monday, high flood waters. This wrecked it all at school…furniture, papers, posters, books, toys strewn about…walls and ceilings all wet, damaged, and moldy. Mr. Morris Kahn, then Board President, went in after a while to check on the building, with the power still out and flood water still on the ground. He waded in the water and walked around with flashlights, giving an update on what was going on inside our beloved building. One of his astonishing comments was, “there are hundreds of pennies all over the place!” This was from the packs of coins that all the children bring at the beginning of the year, to use for daily Tzedakah throughout the coming months!
Memories…we were at the peak of registration at the time, with 60 precious students, Pre-k through 8th Grade. Later, after months of the community being separated, due to evacuation and families temporarily dwelling in other cities that so graciously welcomed them, Torah Academy re-opened in January 2006, with 26 children returning. The Gematria, numerical value of Hebrew letters, of the name of Hashem is poignantly… 26 ! (Yud (10), Hay (5), Vov (6), Hay (5) )
We posted a big banner and also placed onto our new letterhead stationery, the following phrase:
"Rebuilding Our Community One Child At A Time" ...with Hashem's help, and under the devoted leadership of Rabbi Zelig Rivkin. The students, staff, and Morahs who returned, such as Mrs. Bluma Rivkin, Morah Nechama Kauffmann, Mrs. Chanie Nemes, Morah Sara Chaya Pertuit, Mr. Wayne Arnold and myself, among others, felt empowered as real pioneers, but also encountered a longing for those students, staff, and community members who never returned. We wondered what the future would hold, uncertain of the ability for our school and community to be re-established.
We hung a huge encouraging display bulletin board with the verse from Shir Hashirim:
מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה-- Mayim Rabim Lo Yuchlu Lechabos Es HaAhavah /Mighty Waters Can Not Extinguish the Love…
We began putting up documentation and pictures of donations, letters, volunteer groups, and such, sent by Jewish communities from around the world, which felt like a giant hug.
Later, after realizing that there was still much heavy, structural damage to the building, even though we had makeshift re-opened, the process started to apply to FEMA to renovate and fix the building. The process was long and difficult, not to mention the complexity of the building ownership which was dealt with tirelessly and with much self-sacrifice under the devoted leadership of Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin, the School Board, including also dedicated local Chabad Shluchim and various community members on the board, such as Rabbi Yossie Nemes, Dr. David Kaufmann, Mr. Uzzi Kehaty, Mr. Gershon Schreiber, Dr. Harold Ginzberg to name a few, including taking huge loans to buy the property.
At one challenging point I wrote a heartfelt letter to The Rebbe and I opened up a book of The Rebbe's letters for guidance. The page I opened was to a school network in Israel, the Reshet, and the Rebbe writes, “the government will build your school a new building!” I was greatly encouraged and optimistic that we would merit this!
After tireless negotiations we packed up the entire contents of the school, putting most into storage PODS, moving out and setting up classes at a rented venue that we nicknamed "T.A. West". This was a large, two- story space on West Esplanade Ave. near Power Blvd.
Meanwhile, FEMA deemed our original building too damaged to repair, and razed it to the ground to rebuild it anew. After one school year in T.A. West, we packed up and moved once again this time to operate as a co-op school at Chabad Center Metairie. Torah Academy operated there for a few years, with Chabad so graciously sharing the space, under the devoted direction of Morah Nechama Kaufmann.
Of course, there continued to be lots of meetings with architects and builders, with the actual building process taking a few years....and finally the beautiful, new building was ready to move back into! The style and colors were so modern, bright, cheerful, and welcoming! It seemed so huge! Yesterday, 20 years later, in August 2025, I gave a tour and we saw how B”H we are now popping out of every space! We have added classroom areas in various sections of the Multi-Purpose room and the library. We now have 2 additional modular classrooms outside as well. We have an early childhood division, Jewish Preschool of the Arts, which boasts a 5-star rating! Thank you Rabbi Chesney & Rivkie Chesney for the dedication and efforts over the past 10 years, together with each and every one of the very dedicated staff, teachers and admin, current and past, such as Mrs. Chanie Nemes as interim Principal, Mrs. Naomi Smith, our devoted General Studies Principal to present, as I work alongside her as current Judaic Principal.
There is much to be grateful for!
The building still looks bright, cheerful, and welcoming… with the smiles of the over 100 children, thank G-d, adding the most brightness of all! The sounds of general learning, Davening prayers, chanting Alef- Bet, Torah study, laughter and friendship, continue to reverberate each day through the hallways.
We give eternal thanks to Mrs. Rosina Slater for her everlasting endowment gift in 2018, re-naming it Slater Torah Academy, a legacy for the generations to come, that she was able to enjoy seeing still in her lifetime.
20 years later, I reflect on the Divine blessings, the fortitude and perseverance, and the dedication of our community which pulled us through and brought us to the wonderful place, both literally and figuratively, that we are in today!
Looking forward to the future, I wish that we will very soon merit the time of world peace with the ultimate redemption. We will then greet our Righteous Moshiach, with the precious STA - JPA students at our side, and certainly this Slater T.A. building will have its place near the 3rd Beit Hamikdash in the enlarged holy city of Jerusalem!
200 students, teachers, and family members enjoying Thanksgiving dinner last November.