Tova Shimon

Tova Shimon was born in a small village in Rumania. Since there were no Jewish schools in her village, her father hired an out-of-town melamed (Hebrew teacher) and started a cheder in their home. At the age of ten her family moved to Israel where she remained through her formative years. In addition to high school studies and special studies at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, she attended Hebrew University where she received her bachelor of arts degree in geography and Jewish history. She later earned a master of arts in Judaic Studies from Sir George University in Montreal and a master of arts in curriculum development from Concordia University in Montreal. Mrs. Shimon speaks five languages: Yiddish is her first language, her “mama lushen”; Rumanian is her second; Hungarian is her third; Hebrew is her fourth; and English is her fifth.

From 1972 to 1974 she was a Hebrew and Jewish history teacher at the Herzliah High School. She taught grades five and six at the Akiva School from 1975 to 1983, becoming principal in 1985. From 1981 to 1991 she taught “Methodology of Teaching Hebrew as a Heritage Language” at McGill University’s Jewish Teacher Training Program. Mrs. Shimon is currently Director of Curriculum Development and Implementation at the Jewish Education Council of Montreal. She developed and implemented the widely used Tal Sela Hebrew Language Arts Curriculum.

Among the honors Mrs. Shimon has received are the 1989 Safra Authors Award, granted by the Educators’ Council of America, in recognition of publications for the advancement of Jewish education. In 1979 she was the recipient of the J. I. Segal Award/the Jacob Zipper Award for Jewish Education from Montreal’s Jewish Public Library in recognition of her outstanding achievements in Jewish education.