Zipora Schorr

Zipora Schorr was born in Jerusalem, a sixth generation sabra, to a family with Chassidic and Rabbinic roots. Early in her life, her family moved from Israel to Detroit, where her father served as a pulpit rabbi. One of eight children, Zippy remembers a Shabbat table alive with zemirot and Torah discussions with family and guests alike, actively involved in living Judaism.

When Zippy was ten years old, her father died, leaving her mother to raise the children alone. “Alone,” however, was not a word her mother, the Rebbetzin Kahana, would ever entertain. “Aleinu, nein-ich gei mit der aibishter bei mei rechte hant,” “Alone?” she would say, “Oh, no, I walk with G-d at my right hand.” That faith and unquestioning belief would shape Zippy’s life from then on.

Indeed, it was her mother, of blessed memory, who was the most profound influence on her life. From her, she learned not only faith, but dignity; not only belief, but strength; not only commitment, but substance; not only passion, but understanding. Her mother showed her how much a woman could do, and how much a woman could know, in a culture where women were not encouraged to do or to know.

Zippy began her teaching career at the age of twelve, teaching Sunday School for her big sister, the school’s director. From the Jewish day school she attended in Detroit, she went on to attend Wayne State University, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa at the age of nineteen. Throughout college, she continued to teach English and Math to High School students, priding herself on teaching her young charges to write poetry.

After graduating, Zippy moved to New York, where she attended graduate school at Columbia University and taught at Yeshiva University High School for Girls.

In New York, she met and married Nachum Schorr, a Talmudic scholar and clinical psychologist. They moved to Silver Spring, MD, so that Nachum could complete his doctorate in psychology, and Zippy’s life took a leap forward in two simultaneous directions — her family and her school. While raising her six children, she built Beth Shalom Pre-School and Hebrew School, taught high school and adult education classes, and began to train teachers — one of many areas in which she excels. The school grew to 250 students.

Seven years later, her family moved to Baltimore, MD. There, she became first the Assistant Principal and then Director of Beth Tfiloh Community School, and navigated the growth of the school from 350 students to over 1000, including the creation of Baltimore’s first coeducational Jewish high school. It was at Beth Tfiloh where Zippy found a partner in Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, the Dean of the school and a dynamic visionary and leader. Today Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School is a nationally recognized Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, which emphasizes Jewish values and K’lal Yisrael, academic excellence, technology, the arts, and athletics. Zippy’s vision and leadership at Beth Tfiloh has spurred model programs in professional development, academic support, educational technology, and adult and family education. Zippy has been recognized for her leadership in Jewish education by the National Council of Synagogue Youth, Bais Yaakov School, and the Baltimore Center for Jewish Education (2001 Birnbaum Award). Zippy is pursuing a PhD in Education at Johns Hopkins University.

Zippy is proud to work in a place that embraces Jews from all backgrounds, that celebrates Judaism and its many access roads, that glorifies Torah study and makes it available to everyone. Her mother would approve.