It’s time for Page Two: News that might not make the front page for Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
People talk about schools the way they talk about consumer products. How is school going to help a student succeed? What kind of schooling will make someone a better reader or a better scientist?
Rabbi Mendy Greenberg wants more than academic success. The energetic co-chair of the Mat-Su Jewish Center encourages a different approach.
“Reading, writing, all these things are in order to get a child ready to be successful in a career,” he says. “Which in essence is not a bad thing,” he continues. But he pushes back on a culture that’s all about money and materialistic success.
Every year, Rabbi Greenberg participates in “Education and Sharing Day.” It celebrates moral and ethical success in education.
Education and Sharing Day falls on the birthday of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Greenberg considers Schneerson to be the greatest Jewish leader of the last hundred years.
Schneerson was recognized by Congress in 1978. Since then, every president has issued a proclamation celebrating Education and Sharing Day.
“The foundation of education must be before academics, before reading, before writing, before math, before science—before all of this must be a very, very strong, unchanging foundation of morality and ethics,” Greenberg says.
Rabbi Schneerson escaped Nazi Germany during World War II. He came to the United States. Greenberg points out that many Nazi leaders were highly educated doctors, lawyers, and knowledgeable people.
And yet, they conducted the greatest crime against humanity.
“What’s more dangerous, an uneducated terrorist or an educated terrorist?” Greenberg asks.
Greenberg celebrates Education and Sharing Day by passing out yellow charity boxes. He doesn’t tell people which charity to contribute to. The act of charity is the point. He compares charity to a muscle that has to be exercised for it to work. Greenberg says the act of giving everyday causes people to think in a different way. Generosity becomes a part of one’s life.
He tells the story of a public school in El Paso, Texas. Greenberg’s cousin gave out thousands of charity boxes to public school students. Students voted on a charity to donate to.
One student passed many poor people while going back and forth to his home in Mexico. He had ignored them. After donating coins to the charity box every day, his perspective changed. He began looking at a person less fortunate and said, “Oh my gosh.”
Education and Sharing Day falls on March 29. Rabbi Greenberg is preparing for the day. He talks to whomever will listen: the School Board, the Palmer City Council, the Wasilla City Council, the Borough Assembly, etc. He’s handing out yellow charity boxes and talking about kindness wherever he goes.
Greenberg is planning a big event with a renowned author and lecturer in April at the Palmer Depot. He isn’t announcing who is coming just yet.
The Palmer City Council meets tonight at 6 p.m. You can watch the video stream on bigcabbageradio.org.
The Mat-Su Transportation Fair is tomorrow at Raven Hall on the Fairgrounds from 3 to 7 p.m. The projects and programs displayed represent millions of dollars in public funds. Come see current plans and provide feedback to the design teams.
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This Page Two article was written by David Cheezem and read by Lee Henrikson. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Tuesday February 24, 2026.