The Covenant Awards Celebration was held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City on Monday evening, September 15. The Celebration honors three Jewish educators annually for their outstanding contributions to the field.

SARAH ATKINS, Director, Camp Kadimah, Ontario and Nova Scotia, Canada; RABBI DIANNE COHLER-ESSES, Rabbi and Director of Lifelong Learning, Romemu, New York, NY; and RABBI MICAH LAPIDUS, Director of Jewish and Hebrew Studies and School Rabbi, The Alfred & Adele Davis Academy, Atlanta, GA, are the recipients of the 2025 Award.

“Jewish educators hold a sacred role,” said Barbara Goodman Manilow, President of The Covenant Foundation Board of Directors, during her remarks at the Celebration.

“Through the study of our texts, our history, our traditions, and the modern Jewish experience — including the story of Israel — they help students connect deeply to their identity, their community, and our collective memory. They help our children see that they are part of something larger than themselves — a people with a past, a purpose, and a future.”

The Covenant Foundation is a program of Crown Family Philanthropies, and members of the Crown Goodman family, including Danielle Rudas Goodman, Jordan T. Goodman and Sara Crown Star introduced the three recipients and presented the Awards, while Covenant Board Member Oren Kaunfer announced the names of the 2025 Pomegranate Prize recipients.

Each of the 2025 Covenant Award recipients received $50,000 and each of their institutions, $10,000.

Established in 1991 to honor and celebrate those who have made a profound impact on Jewish education, the Covenant Award is given to three educators every year after a rigorous selection process. Recipients have advanced the field of Jewish education in myriad ways, including environmental education, social justice, inclusion, early childhood education, technology, professional development, and much more.

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SARAH ATKINS has served as director of Camp Kadimah in Halifax, Nova Scotia, since 2017. In this role, Atkins is responsible for planning and implementing all camp programming and supervising all senior staff and specialists. Her most significant impact on the camp has been her infusion of Jewish learning and values into every aspect of the Camp Kadimah experience. In 2024, Atkins launched “Kadimah on Campus,” in which she and other senior camp leaders travel to university campuses across Canada to offer educational programs, gatherings, and social-emotional support to young adults in the Kadimah community.
Accepting the Award from Danielle Rudas Goodman, Atkins shared, “I am so grateful that the work I do with our team daily, at camp and during the school year, lays the foundation for future Jewish leaders, and helps produce decent, kind human beings, for the Jewish community and for communities in general. Especially in a world where we are so fragmented and isolated, being a part of something greater brings meaning and purpose.”

RABBI DIANNE COHLER-ESSES has served as a rabbi and director of lifelong learning at Romemu, a Renewal congregation in New York, New York, since 2012. In this role, Cohler-Esses is responsible for the visioning, design, and implementation of all adult education offerings. She serves as Romemu’s lead educator and teaches numerous classes, including the congregation’s signature Open Book program—a hybrid in-person and virtual weekly class on the parashah held before morning services and attended regularly by 80 participants from around the world.

As she accepted the Award from Sara Crown Star, Cohler-Esses remarked, “The Torah’s message is clear: choose life, so that you and your descendants can live. As we face forces of destruction, this is our mandate: Open a book. Have a sacred conversation. Raise up this broken world; hold one another amidst ongoing tragedy. Connect your own life with the collective life of our people and this wounded planet. Even now, this magnificent, fragile world can turn towards life and goodness.”

RABBI MICAH LAPIDUS has been the director of Jewish and Hebrew Studies and school Rabbi at The Alfred & Adele Davis Academy (Davis), the largest Reform Jewish day school in the United States, since 2008. In this role, Rabbi Lapidus leads a team of 10 faculty members in the creation of Jewish Studies, Hebrew, t’filah, holiday, and music curricula for the school. Rabbi Lapidus also leads the day-to-day teaching and religious activities at Davis; spearheads strategic initiatives as part of the senior educational leadership team; offers annual faculty professional development; and facilitates reflective learning opportunities for the school’s administrative team. In addition, Rabbi Lapidus has strengthened spiritual expression at Davis, orchestrating weekly t’filah services, organizing interfaith learning, and igniting social action through intentional service-learning.

Upon acceptance of the Award from Jordan T. Goodman, Lapidus said, “Life is precious. Every moment is unique. None of us knows the length of our days. But each day affords opportunities to be a blessing. And similarly, each day offers opportunities to be blessed by others. It’s up to us to choose to be generous or cruel, loving or small, resolute or flimsy, grateful or disappointed. When I don’t know what else to do, and even when I’m sure I’ve got it covered: Be Thou a Blessing.”