H eadlines
Perelman Continued from Page 1
Perelman job was also a
homecoming of sorts. She
started her career as a teacher
at the school, then the Solomon
Schechter Day School, in the
early 1980s.

At the same time, after
spending 10 years as a head
of school in North Carolina,
Groner was no longer just a
teacher. She knew how to run
a building — and it showed —
according to colleagues.

Several older teachers
retired in Groner’s first two
years back in Montgomery
County. Groner replaced them
with “a lot of really great staff
members,” she said, many of
whom were younger.

As the leader explained
it, the young teachers were
“digital natives who came in
with fresh ideas.”
“They brought energy and
a different type of training,”
Groner said.

Those new teachers viewed
themselves more as facilitators
to learning than as lecturers.

Projects, real-life issues
and current events became
bigger parts of Perelman
lessons. Students also got more
freedom to figure things out
for themselves.

The other day, when Groner
opened her office door, she
had to do it slowly. Otherwise,
she would have bumped into a
student who was working on
his iPad. Earlier this month, the
head of school walked down the
hall and asked a girl what she
was working on. She told Groner
that she was practicing a speech
on the genealogy of her family.

“Just laying in the hallway,
doing this,” Groner said. “The
teacher in front of the class-
room is not something one sees
often at Perelman.”
An infrastructure has
emerged around this new
method, too.

In 2015, Perelman opened
a “maker space,” as Groner
described it, in which students
could experiment on various
projects. One class involved kids
building code on their iPads to
program miniature robots.

The point, according to
Groner, was to allow kids to
tinker. She didn’t want them
to feel like they failed if they
didn’t get the project right the
first time.

“Knowing this is how far
they got and I’m going to try
again,” Groner said.

Two years later, the leader
introduced a Hebrew immer-
sion program, Ganon, for
pre-K students.

Judy Groner addresses the Perelman community during a COVID-era event.

Courtesy of the Perelman Jewish Day School
Judy Groner
Courtesy of the Perelman
Jewish Day School
Classes would have an
English-speaking teacher and
a Hebrew-speaking teacher.

During the Hebrew educa-
tor’s lead time, the teacher and
students would talk to each
other in the native language.

By the end of the program,
students could speak Hebrew
as a second language. It was the
action of speaking it, and not
just learning it, that helped the
language stick, Groner said.

“My son was in Ganon, and it
was amazing,” said Mindy Civan,
a Perelman teacher and parent.

“The Hebrew he came home
speaking, that was amazing.”
Perelman’s focus on immer-
sive learning and its use of
technology made the pandemic
shock a little easier to manage.

12 DECEMBER 23, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
Judy Groner expanded Perelman’s outdoor setup during the
pandemic. Courtesy of the Perelman Jewish Day School
In the spring of 2020, the
school was ready and able
to pivot almost overnight to
virtual, synchronous learning.

But it was what Groner did
the following fall that impressed
her staff. Unlike many schools,
she reopened — and was able to
keep her school open.

Groner has described her
approach to COVID as slightly
more conservative than the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention guidelines.

Students mask inside and
outside and eat lunch outside.

Vaccinated community
members who travel abroad
must take a test to return to
school. Unvaccinated commu-
nity members who travel
abroad must quarantine for
7-10 days upon returning.

The school’s relative success
during COVID is a result of
Groner’s willingness to make
tough, sometimes unpopular
decisions, said Leah Lande, a
former Perelman parent and
current medical adviser. At
certain points, Perelman’s
quarantine policy for close
contact students has been long.

But the school has not seen
any COVID case transmissions.

“During a crisis, you get
to see someone’s true colors,”
Lande said. “Judy has been
incredibly impressive.”
Perelman is now seeking
Groner’s successor. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
Schmear Continued from Page 1
cheese at all,” Kismet Bagels
co-owner Jacob Cohen said.

Cohen’s usual cream cheese
supplier hasn’t delivered cream
cheese to the wholesale bakery
in two weeks. He did not
disclose the distributors of the
brand of cream cheese he buys.

“It’s been wild,” Cohen
said. “I’ve made probably 10
different phone calls to different
purveyors and suppliers, just
trying to find anything I can
get, which I think everybody’s
doing.” Kismet Bagels isn’t alone;
Hymie’s Deli in Merion Station
and Schmear It, with locations
in University City and Center
City, have also had to adapt to
the shortage.

“One of our primary distrib-
utors is Cisco, and my rep said
that yes, indeed, their numbers
were concerning,” Schmear It
owner David Fine said.

Fine, who sells about 200
pounds of schmear a week,
started to grow more troubled
by the cream cheese shortage
when family and friends
started texting him several
weeks ago about the shortage
in New York. Even last month,
the shortage was not yet being
felt in Philly, Fine said.

“Perhaps it’s one of the better
times that New York was a little
bit ahead of us,” Fine said.

“Because it gave me a head start
to reach out to our distributors
and ask them if there was a real
thing that was going to, in fact,
be affecting us.”
Hymie’s owner Louis
Barson became suspicious of
the shortage after The New
York Times reported that
Zabar’s was having trouble
sourcing its schmear on Dec.

4, a canary in the coal mine for
Jewish-style delis.

Barson said that cream
cheese companies and distrib-
utors are prioritizing supplying
cream cheese for retail
purposes and then for whole-
sale, which is why bagel sellers
may feel under pressure.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Hymie’s owner Louis Barson can taste the
difference in brands of cream cheese.

Courtesy of Hymie’s Deli
Perrystead Dairy in Kensington produces its own
schmear. Courtesy of Perrystead Dairy
I’ve made probably 10 different phone calls to different purveyors
and suppliers, just trying to find anything I can get, which I think
everybody’s doing.”
JACOB COHEN
“In the order of importance
of the food chain, the Giants,
the Wegmans, the ACMEs
of the world are going to get
first dibs on their allocations,”
he said. “Then the Zabars are
probably next — the big guys
— and then the Hymie’s guys.”
According to
Jenna Thornton, brand public
relations and media director of
Kraft Heinz, the Philadelphia
Cream Cheese parent company,
the foodservice demand for
cream cheese has increased
75% in 2021 compared to 2020,
largely due to customers feeling
more comfortable leaving their
house to visit bakeries and
restaurants. Because of the growing
demand, Barson has paid 20%
more for Philadelphia Cream
Cheese. With that demand putting a
strain on production, businesses
serving the product are put in a
precarious position: try to source
their preferred brand with mixed
success or buy a cheaper brand
with greater reliability.

For Cohen, Fine and Barson,
their decision was unanimous:
always buy the higher-quality
product. “We take a lot of pride
in what we do, and I think
everyone has fallen in love with
us because of the quality that
we put out there,” Cohen said.

“I wouldn’t want to mess with
that.” Though Barson said most
customers wouldn’t be able
to taste the difference in the
schmear if Hymie’s were to
switch brands, the difference
to him is night and day.

“The consistency is not as
cheesy, and it’s a little more
gummy,” Barson said.

However, bagel businesses
believe that they likely won’t
have to make any tough
decisions about cream cheese.

Due to the product’s three-
month shelf life, they have
stockpiled cases of cream
cheese. Others have switched
suppliers or just waited out
weeks when there’s no cream
cheese being distributed.

And while Barson said bagel
businesses “have got to play
the game right now” regarding
supply chain shortages, other
local businesses are working to
create more sustainable solutions
to the cream cheese crisis.

Yoav Perry, the founder of
Perrystead Dairy, has developed
his own Real Philly Schmear,
JEWISH EXPONENT
“We can, with a national
distributor, have it all the way
from Maine to Virginia Beach
within 24 hours,” Perry said.

“And we’re talking three days
after the milk arrives.”
But the local sourcing of
dairy comes at a price for
Perry. He’s been slower to
expand because of the cost of
high-quality dairy, a calculated
decision for Perry, who believes
that the chemicals and cheap
milk used by large, commercial
dairy companies is yielding an
inferior product.

“We have to do right by
the farmers,” Perry said.

“Currently, cream cheese is
sold too cheaply, and we’re
seeing the results of that.”
The cream cheese shortage
has opened some business
owners’ eyes to this issue,
however. Though Fine is happy
to stick with Philadelphia
Cream Cheese, which he’s
used for the past eight years,
if he needed to switch brands,
he’d think beyond the other
common national brands.

“If I had to switch from
Philadelphia, then I would
definitely have a conversation
with the local folks first,” Fine
said. l
which he has begun selling
to local shops like Herman’s
Coffee in South Philadelphia
and Di Bruno Bros.

The Israeli-American cheese
virtuoso sources milk from
Pennsylvania grass-fed cows 40
minutes from his Kensington
facility. Because of the facili-
ty’s location on Interstate 95,
Perrystead Dairy products can
more easily be distributed up srogelberg@jewishexponent.com;
and down the East Coast.

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