On September 20, 2024, friends and family of Rabbi Everett Gendler gathered together at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts — where Everett served as the school’s first Jewish Chaplain from 1977 to 1995 — for the dedication of the Gendler Peace Circle. Following Rabbi Gendler’s death on April 1, 2022, former Andover students Joe Tatelbaum and Jana Paley began talking about a way they could honor the memory of their beloved rabbi and teacher, together with his wife of 58 years, Mary. They sketched out an outdoor space that could be used as a place of reflection, meditation, learning, socializing, and contemplation. When they proposed their idea to Andover leadership, they were met with enthusiasm and support — and alumni, colleagues, and other community members eagerly advanced the project, which has taken the form of an outdoor functional sculpture in a pine grove beside Cochran Chapel, underneath Everett’s former second-story office window. The Academy leadership, including Head of School Dr. Raynard Kington and Secretary of the Academy Thom Lockerbee, helped to lead a beautiful dedication ceremony, which also included remarks from (among others) current Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Joshua Greenberg and Everett’s daughter Tamar Szabó Gendler. This collective desire to name a space in Everett’s honor reflects what we all know about him — he touched the lives of those with whom he worked and interacted. The Gendler Peace Circle is visually beautiful, organically inspired, and will be used in practical application. For those who knew Everett, that’s an important and fitting combination.

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Read more about the Gendler Peace Circle

Read more about the dedication ceremony