Mission, Values, and Community
The Adelson School: An Education for Life
The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson School, founded by the peerless philanthropic family, is the jewel in the crown of Las Vegas Jewry. Established as a PreK-12 educational center in 2008 on the foundations of the Las Vegas Jewish Day School, our school, set on a stunning 13.4-acre campus, embodies the Jewish, American, and Zionist values of its esteemed visionaries.
An Adelson Education is proudly Jewish
The modern, young Jew must really own and internalize his or her heritage in a sophisticated, literate, and unapologetic fashion. This means, in addition to being familiar with the rhythms of the Jewish Shabbat, holidays and life-cycle, becoming intimately familiar with our Jewish literary and religious tradition, our bookshelf and repository of wisdom for our people and the world. And at the center of the Jewish bookshelf is Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, the book that launched Western civilization and continues to nourish all that is good, true, beautiful, and holy in the wider world we live in.
The Adelson student will begin his or her study of Tanakh in preschool with stories, plays, and activities, before being introduced to the actual biblical text in first grade. As the student advances through lower, middle, and upper school, vocabulary and syntax, themes and structures, will be introduced. Our graduates will have both a sense of the arc of the biblical narrative from Genesis to Chronicles, and a familiarity with the vital literary and theological themes—creation and revelation, covenant and redemption, war and peace, love and friendship, individual and community—that constitute the biblical and Jewish worldview. Additionally, students will be introduced to the rabbinic tradition and the Oral Torah as an expansion and elaboration of Tanakh. Adelson students will learn to think biblically, which really means to think Jewishly, in the spirit of our heritage and our people’s most cherished legacy.
An Adelson Education is proudly American
No human institution is free from fault. Nations, countries, and other institutions make mistakes, sometimes even grave ones. Having said that, it is also abundantly clear that America has been a great boon for Jews since before its founding—and until this very day. Religious liberty and the love of the biblical story of Israel has been the backdrop for Jewish flourishing in America from George Washington’s letter to the Newport Hebrew Congregation in 1791 to President George W. Bush’s historic address in 2005 in the Knesset.
The educational corollaries of this claim are clear: we must teach our children to be proud Jewish Americans, patriotic sons and daughters of this great republic. While America, over its long history of growth, conflict, and creative reformulation, is not without flaws, it is the most enduring and stable engine of liberty, freedom, and political wisdom and prudence the world has ever seen. An Adelson education, while fostering critical skills of analysis, argument, and civil debate, will never descend into the fever-swamps of ideology or deconstruction. The Jewish virtue of gratitude could never entertain a snide, subversive view of our country and, for most, of us, our very birthplace, always a source of meaning and thanksgiving.
An Adelson Education is proudly Zionist
We believe that the birth of the modern State of Israel is the most consequential event of the 20th century, perhaps even the most important event in world history over the past several centuries. And whether you take the creation of Israel to be an act of divine Providence or the result of Jewish, but distinctly human, genius and perseverance, the rebirth of the Jewish People as a political project commands our loyalty, attention, and action.
Our love for Israel is unapologetic, permeating our culture in countless ways, large and small. From the daily, public recitation of HaTikvah where students stand at attention wherever they are, to the regular announcements of news and history from our Shinshinim (Israeli interns on the campus and in the community), to the community-wide gatherings and events, Israel is a constant presence, a source of meaning and motivation.
In that spirit, the Hebrew language has a central place in our curriculum, and our renewed focus on fluency, even mastery, of Hebrew is something that expresses our vision in a tangible way.
Whatever we do at Adelson—from humanities and STEM, to sports, theater, robotics, and more, reflects the values of excellence and ambition, hard-work and a sense of purpose, that are the gifts and legacy of Sheldon, of blessed memory, and Dr. Miriam Adelson. Our age desperately needs role models who embody real virtue, not merely theoretical book-knowledge, and who can help point the way in this cynical and jaded era.
Come join us for an Adelson Education—proudly Jewish, American, and Zionist. An education for life...
The Adelson School admits qualified students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The Adelson School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.