Rabbi Joshua Greenberg along with other speakers dedicated the newly constructed Gendler Peace Circle outside Cochran Chapel in a ceremony.
Resting beneath swaying pines next to the Cochran Chapel, the newly built Gendler Peace Circle celebrates the legacy of Rabbi Everett Gendler P’83 ’86, who served as Andover’s first Jewish Chaplain from 1977 to 1995. The school hosted a dedication ceremony on September 20, formally opening the stone monument to the Andover community.
Gendler was a trailblazer both within and outside of Andover. As the Jewish Chaplain and an Instructor in Religion and Philosophy, Gendler fostered community on campus while promoting his values of empathy and compassion. Throughout his life and career, he advocated for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King Jr., pioneered Jewish environmentalism, and promoted nonviolence. Jana Paley ’81, who led the initiative to create the monument with Joe Tatelbaum ’78, described Gendler’s commitment to building human connection.
“[Rabbi Gendler] was really a cultivator of community. He always said to me, ‘Big world, small circles, and you have to bring people together in small circles so they can get to know one another, trust one another, get to know who they really are.’ I’d like people to remember that about him. Andover is a very special community, and everybody’s part of different circles in it, but it all comes together and all weaves together. He was always big on teaching that to all of us,” said Paley.
Placed on the grass lawn between Main Street and the Chapel, the Peace Circle offers a space for personal time and student relaxation. The central stone, sourced from Rabbi Gendler’s house in the Berkshires, acts as the focal point around which people can sit and gather. Tatelbaum, who designed the circle, explained the meaning and intention behind the monument’s unusual shape, highlighting its structure as a way of promoting community.
“The circle, which is a place for gathering and looking each other in the eye, is also a universal symbol of the sun… It’s a circle to be part of, but it’s also the sun radiating out. It was always meant to be a place where people could sit together, and if people want to have a dialogue, like a class. Everybody can sit in a circle around the speaker on the main stone. Let’s say you two just want to have lunch: then just go sit next to each other, either on the big stone or on the sides, and you’re facing each other, you’re not in a row,” said Tatelbaum.
Despite having never met Gendler, Rabbi Joshua Greenberg, Andover’s current Jewish Chaplain, expressed how the dedication ceremony inspired a closer feeling of connection to Gendler. Greenberg spoke on his expanded awareness of Gendler’s lasting influence.
“I learned about Rabbi Everett Gendler because I’m a rabbi, and my teachers were his friends or his colleagues. I knew there was a connection to PA., but I didn’t feel as connected to him as a chaplain at Phillips Academy as much as I felt connected to him as a Jew, as a rabbi… In the lead up to this past Friday and certainly after it, it’s very, very, very easy to see his impact here. I feel much more aware of his presence on campus, [how he] paved the way for the current iteration of the chaplaincy that we have now,” said Greenberg.
The circle, as a symbol of connection and community, reflects the strong network of people Gendler cultivated throughout his life. Miklosh Frusztajer ’26 highlighted the significance of this dedication and his appreciation for being able to feel touched by Gendler’s impact.
“I was really lucky that his circle was able to reach me. It’s a testament to his character that he was able to keep such a network of people around him, and the circle is a very fitting representation of that. Also, people were saying these sorts of contributions are usually reserved for former heads of school… Rabbi Gendler was certainly impactful enough to so many people to merit a contribution of this scale,” said Frusztajer.
Another speaker at the dedication ceremony, Ella Kowal ’25, President of the Jewish Student Union, thanked Gendler for shaping Andover into a home away from home for Jewish students. To pass his legacy on, she hopes that the circle will inspire students to explore his story and values.
“There has to be some way to project his values onto more people, rather than just the small community that might still know his name… My hope is that people will walk by the circle and ask themselves, ‘What’s this? Why is he here?’ and search for the story. In finding that story, they will gain all these values that were so important to Rabbi Gendler,” said Kowal.
