About Us

History

Gesher was founded in 1982 by a pioneering group of parents and Jewish community members that included visionaries like Rabbi Sheldon Elster, Dr. Shulamith Elster, and Rabbi Arnold Fink. Led by Gesher’s first teacher, Susan Koss, they organized the first Jewish Day School program in Northern Virginia at Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Va., additional grades were added each year and the first sixth grade class graduated in spring of 1989.

As Gesher continued to grow in size, the school needed more space. In 1994 we relocated to the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia. Then, in 1998, Gesher again needed more classrooms and a satellite campus was established at the Chabad community campus.

In 1999, thanks to a grant from the partnership for excellence in Jewish education, Gesher was able to add a Middle School program with 7th and 8th grade. In 2002, the school acquired a beautiful 28-acre property in Fairfax, Va., then, in 2007 we moved into our current home at 4800 Mattie Moore Court.

Then, beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, we added a pre-K program affectionately called Gan Katan for 4 year-olds.