After months of JDS conducting a search, multiple interviews and two trips to JDS, incoming Head of School Dr. Jonathan Levy is leaving his 17-year tenure at The Anne & Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (TananbaumCHAT) and joining the JDS community as Head of School. Levy is the current Head of School at TananbaumCHAT and will start his new job as Head of School at JDS in July 2026.
“[I am] thrilled that the committee wanted me, and the board wanted me, and this was really a school that I’m really very, very excited about coming to,” Levy said. “I’m making a change after 17 years, and I think I’m prepared to do that with JDS, because JDS has an international reputation as a place for academic excellence and Jewish pluralism.”
According to the JDS website, Levy has worked extensively in the Jewish education space, teaching at elementary, middle and high school levels and holds many degrees (B.A. in History from Concordia University, a Master’s in Social Work from Yeshiva University, and a PhD from McGill University) in Jewish education-related subjects.
“We call Jewish education in my family, the family business,” Levy said. “My mom was a teacher and a principal and a head of school, and and my dad is a professor of Bible and my in laws were teachers and a principal too. And my aunt was a teacher. My brother is a teacher. Even though I thought about going into a little bit of a different direction, my graduate degree was actually in social work. I right away found myself working as a counselor in Jewish schools. And what I loved about doing it was I loved seeing the breadth of the Jewish community.”
In addition to teaching at many different levels of Jewish education, Levy has taught at a wide range of Jewish institutions, from secular to Hasidic (Levy advised Hasidic community day cares on strategy and taught Hasidic men to be therapists). Levy said that he has a “passion for pluralistic Jewish education,” and intends to continue to prioritize pluralism as he leads JDS.
“I believe that JDS, like my school here, has a wide tent with lots of entrances, and there’s lots of room underneath for different kinds of Jews and different levels of observance,” Levy said.
Levy’s new role at JDS comes after Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus announced that he was stepping down by the end of the 2025-2026 school year. However, Malkus was not involved in selecting the next Head of School; instead, JDS formed a Head of School Search Committee and partnered with DRG Talent to conduct the search.
“That’s the best practice for the current Head [of School], to not be involved in the process,” Malkus said. “And my role is really now to help lead the transition so that Dr. Levy can be prepared when he comes in July, and just welcome him into the community. I care so deeply about the school, and I want to make sure that he’ll be successful when he starts.”
The transition process will happen from now until when Levy starts in July of next year. Malkus said that his priorities when helping Levy transition are to help Levy understand the school’s educational philosophy, finances and operations.
Levy said that he hopes to visit JDS in the coming year as the transition process unfolds; however, he is focused on the transition at his current school to ensure that he finishes his work at TananbaumCHAT. In addition to visiting the school, Levy said he also needs to visit the area as he is moving internationally.
“My priority at the beginning is listening,” Levy said. “I want to hear from students, teachers, families and alumni. I want to understand the strengths and the aspirations and the opportunities. I want to support staff and faculty so that there is a smooth transition. Change is always hard. Change is different, and I want to make that process as smooth as possible.”
According to JDS Board Chair Stacy Mensh Schlactus (‘87), the board has two main jobs: to hire heads of school and be the fiduciaries of the school. Therefore, it was her role to appoint the head of the search committee, JDS parent and Board Vice President Danielle Juda, and facilitate the search as a whole.
Schlactus also said that she ran Executive Sessions on the board where the professionals who attend regular board meetings leave, so that the board can discuss the Head of School search in a private session. Schlactus noted that community input was really important during the search, and the committee worked to incorporate the community’s feedback.
“The community had the opportunity to fill out surveys,” Mensh Schlactus said. “…That really guided our feedback. We really use that feedback to guide a lot of our conversations and our decisions, to shape what we were looking for in the next head of school. It helped us identify and set scales of priorities that the person the next Head of School needed to be, and that guided our search.”
As Levy thinks about his new role, he intends to focus on strengthening the school instead of changing the school’s mission. Levy intends to keep pluralism at the forefront of his executive decisions as Head of School and is excited about joining the JDS community.
“I’m excited to be coming because I believe that JDS represents the best of what Jewish Day School education can be,” Levy said. “It’s academic excellence, Jewish learning, student support, fabulous faculty and staff, and I’m thrilled to be able to be part of it. It’s a community that deeply values pluralism, relationships and meaningful learning. And these are the kinds of things that I’m committed to, and I’m really happy to be part of the future.”
