I’ve written about this school before. Back when I spoke about Dr. Bob Schattner. 

If you recall, Dr. Schattner donated a ton of money (OK- $ 3 million – so, if it were in dollar bills, it would weigh THREE metric tons [or 3.3 tons]) to the Jewish Primary Day School (JPDS), here in DC. A school that many of my fellow congregants have decided is the one where their kids would obtain a sound foundation- both in religious and secular studies.

As an aside. I always recognized that donating money to get your (or your company’s or your parents’) name on the side of a building was a trepidatious activity. Because someone can always donate more money- and, voila- your choice of name disappears. (You do know that the Verizon Center is now the Capital One Arena, right?)

Well, that really didn’t matter to Bob. His name will remain on the North Campus building of the school. (This donation also will allow the school to grow from K-6 to K-8 over the next two years.)

That’s exactly how my yeshiva grew. When I first started going there, it was K-6. By the time I left, it was K-9. And, within two years, thanks to a slew of donations (and the abandonment of Mitchell Field by the US Air Force, which land was shared among  Nassau Community College, Hofstra university, and the hockey team- the Islanders, as well as my school), HANC became K-12.

But, the name of the JPDS did just change. Because another ton (figuratively) of money was donated, the school is now called the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School. And, that leads to the real topic of this blog.

I was lucky enough some 40+ years ago to join hands with a bunch of talented folks. We all were pretty smart (and pretty slick, I might add). One of us was among the leading industrial designers in the US. He was an adherent of the “father” of industrial design, Raymond Loewy, and his MAYA (Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable) principle. (His other principle is the title of this blog– Never Leave Well Enough Alone.)

And, over our friendship/partnership, I learned a great deal about the value of industrial design to creating the best products available.
As you see from the first picture above, the JPDS logo was cute- but not outstanding. If you know Jewish philosophy, you would recognize why a tree was the key image in the logo. We Jewish folks call the “Tora” our tree of life. Its roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit are allegories to the intricacies of the human experience.

But, with its new growth and expansion, the JPDS needed a new symbol to demonstrate its new position, a new logo. And, that design is totally in concert with Loewy’s principles of design. If you look carefully at the logo (above), you will notice that the Washington Monument (which my daughter always called the Washington Pencil) is at its center. Because the JPDS is centered in Washington, DC.

And, you can see the leaves of a book surrounding the central point. Not only because JPDS is a school (and what is a school without books), but because the Jewish people are known as “the people of the book”.

Yet, if you look at the logo as if from a distance, you can see that it is really a 7 branched menora. And, that has been the symbol for Judaism forever- which is why the menora is the icon for the State of Israel.

Now, that’s a beautiful design. May the school’s graduates serve as icons of the future.