Dear JCHS Community,

One piece of ancient Jewish wisdom has quietly guided my work as an educator. Ben Zoma taught: Who is truly wise? One who learns from every person. Who is truly content? One who is satisfied with their portion. Who is truly honored? One who honors others. (Avot 4:1) It is a declaration of high ideals and, I have always thought, a precise description of what JCHS at its best aspires to. For nearly two decades, I have had the privilege of living inside that aspiration as your Head of School.

And so it is with a full heart — grateful and wistful in equal measure — that I am writing to share: I will complete my service as Head of School at the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year. I am sharing this now with the lead time this school deserves to find an extraordinary successor — which I am confident it will.

When I arrived, JCHS was still a fresh start-up — an audacious idea that a pluralistic Jewish high school could draw students from across the denominational spectrum and invite them to think seriously about who they are as Jews and as human beings. That idea has borne fruit, year after year. 

By the time I hand over this role, I will have handed diplomas to more than 800 graduates on behalf of this community. Each diploma represents a young person who has wrestled seriously with what it means to be Jewish — and found, at least in part, their own answer.

Everything I am proud of here was accomplished together. The faculty and staff who have given their professional lives to this mission with intellectual seriousness and daily generosity have been my greatest teachers. Ben Zoma would approve.

The families who entrusted us with what is most precious to them, the alumni who carry JCHS into the world, the donors whose belief made the audacious possible, and the board leadership whose devotion and wisdom have been a constant — all of you built this school as surely as any of us who worked in it. Ben Zoma says the honored person is one who honors others. I have been surrounded by people who enacted that teaching every day.

None of this has been without difficulty. We have navigated a recession, a pandemic, the financial complexities of a small independent school competing among the finest in the country, and the ongoing heartbreaks of the Jewish world — felt with particular acuity over the last three years. What I witnessed in those moments was more than institutional resilience. It was an authentic community: people showing up for one another when showing up required something real.

As I approach my 70th birthday, I am drawn toward what is next — not away from what has been. We have grandchildren in four cities and a life that spans the Bay Area and Israel, and there is more of that life I want to inhabit fully. I am not stepping away from Jewish life or Jewish education. I am stepping toward more of it, on different terms. Ben Zoma says the content person is satisfied with their portion. I am. This work, this community, this mission — second only to Debby and our family — has been everything.

JCHS is strong. Our students are extraordinary. Our faculty is exceptional. Our mission — to educate thoughtful, committed, pluralistic Jews — has never been more necessary or more alive. This letter joins messages from our Board Chair and Search Committee Chair about the path forward. JCHS is in excellent hands — from our remarkable and resourceful professional community to exemplary and visionary board leaders like Raphael Edelman and Jessica Minkoff, whose letters accompany this one. I am committed to supporting them and this process in every way I can.

Thank you. For the joy of this work. For the privilege of your trust. For everything you have given to JCHS — and, through JCHS, to me.

With deep gratitude and enduring affection for this school community — 
L’Shalom — Toward Wholeness,

Rabbi Howard Jacoby Ruben
Head of School