The King David Victory Park Tribute video - Once a Parker always a Parker скачать в хорошем качестве

The King David Victory Park Tribute video - Once a Parker always a Parker

Although the King David Victory Park (KDVP) campus will be closing at the end of this year, the thousands who passed through the school “didn’t merely pass through the school; the school passed through them. They continue to carry the spirit and special ethos of Victory Park wherever they go. Once a Parker, always a Parker.” So said Barbara Wolf on accepting this year’s Mann Made Community Service Award on behalf of King David Victory Park at this year’s Investec Jewish Achiever Awards on 2 November. Though the award was for the school itself, the Wolfs were called to accept the award in its stead. “It’s a profound honour to stand here tonight as representatives of our school. A school which served not only the communities around the school, but the Jewish community as far afield as Florida and Krugersdorp,” said Barbara, “And as I reflect on our 30-year journey of the school, which became my husband’s magnum opus, I’m filled with immense gratitude.” Barbara and Jeffrey Wolf joined KDVP in 1969, and under their care, the little community school continued to grow from strength to strength, where it quickly became “the best little Jewish day school in Johannesburg”. “The closure of King David Victory Park for demographic reasons reminds me of the end of Johannesburg synagogues like the great shul in Walden Street; the Berea and Yeoville synagogues; great centres of the surrounding vibrant Jewish communities in their time,” said Jeffrey, “Sadness enveloped each of us just as the demise of King David Victory Park is heartbreaking for Barbara and me.” Barbara and Jeffrey say that they didn’t do it alone, there were many brilliant educators who were involved in educating “Parkers” through the years. “I pay tribute to the fine, loyal educators who taught the thousands of special souls that were entrusted to King David Victory Park. We gave them all, including our own three children, a home from home,” said Barbara. “We led by example; we encouraged them to express themselves politely; we taught them to think critically; we disciplined them; and then we sent them out into the world as decent, upright young men and women, proud of their heritage and with a love of Israel,” she said. Jeffrey said the roles of headmaster filled by his brother, Elliot Wolf, and himself, at King David Linksfield and King David Victory Park respectively, were simultaneous, and closely resembled the lives they both lived. “These appointments were in total accord with everything else which had happened before in our lives. I’m not talking about mistaken identity here, because that was a common occurrence as well,” said Jeffrey, “But we were always in the same class at school and cheder. We majored in the same subject at university. We played the piano and tennis together. We were members of the same Zionist youth movement. In fact, we shared everything in our lives, except, of course, my wife Barbara, but he certainly is the second father to our three children and all our grandchildren.” On the fourth anniversary of his brother’s passing, Jeffrey said, “The comforting thought is now so relevant for me as I consider the end of Victory Park, a high school he knew as well as I knew Linksfield, from our daily calls of the 30-odd years that we were together as joint heads. “The amalgamation of the two schools fits so neatly together with the completely shared past of our lupine era. For this reason, I have the feeling that Victory Park will be warmly welcomed and integrated as a twin brother in the new one King David for a shared future. This is my comfort.”