8:45 A disobedient elementary school student was once again summoned to the Principal’s office. As usual, the Principal met with him and lectured him on the school’s behavioral expectations and standards, but this time it was different: The very next day there was a noticeable transformation in his attitude and behavior. Indeed, the student soon made a complete turn-around and became an exemplary student who excelled in academics and behavior. Everyone wondered what occurred in the Principal’s office that day. At a faculty meeting on the last day of school, one teacher finally summoned the courage to pose this question to the Principal. The Principal responded, “We had the same discussion that we had numerous times in the past. I truly cannot explain the sudden change in his behavior.” When the child himself was approached, his explanation was a life lesson for children and adults alike. In fact, he had no recollection of the discussion on that day because he paid little attention until the conversation was interrupted by the buzz of an intercom. The secretary announced that the Principal had a phone call. The Principal responded that he couldn’t speak now because he was meeting with someone very important. “I left the office with a sudden realization that ‘the Principal thinks that I am important’! For the rest of the day and from that day forward my life was changed. I was important. I began school each day with confidence and enthusiasm. I guess the rest is history.” Our generation requires greater connectivity with its youth. Our young people – like most adults – deeply crave a sense of belonging but, more importantly, they crave the feeling that they are valued; that they are important. In Parshas Behaaloscha, Moshe Rabbeinu was instructed: “Aseh lecha shtei chatzotzros kesef, Make for yourself two silver trumpets for the summoning of the assembly and to enable the camps to journey” (10,1-2). Rashi comments that the trumpets were hidden prior to Moshe Rabbeinu’s passing. His successor, Yehoshua, was not able to use them (Rashi: Parshas Behaaloscha, Parshas Vayelech 31,28). Why not? Rabbi Yechezkal Abramsky zt”l, one of the most preeminent twentieth century Dayanim explained that while the objectives of all of Klal Yisrael’s leaders parallel those of Moshe Rabbeinu, the manner in which to communicate with each generation differs. Moshe Rabbeinu was to use those trumpets to address that particular generation while the next generation might well require a different means of communication or focus upon a different message, thus they were not to be used by the next generation. In our generation, perhaps more complex than any other preceding era, the communication required to connect with our children is a communication based on love and logic, warmth and validation. Parents can provide this by listening to their children, reading to them, spending quality time with them, praising them, offering them choices, becoming genuinely interested in their interests, celebrating their strengths and lauding their successes. Empowering children with a sense of accountability and responsibility is critical. Yet, making children feel that they are important and that their world is important fosters a sense of confidence and security as they mature into adulthood. Have a wonderful Shabbos! JUNE 23 Third Grade Boys Siyum Sixth Grade Girls Brunch • • • • • • JUNE 24 Last Full Day of School Grades 4-6 Dismissal 3:30 PM 11th Grade Holocaust Museum Yavne HS Graduation 8:00 PM • • • • • • JUNE 25 Last Day of School Dismissal 12:00 PM Junior High Boys 8th Grade Graduation 8:00 PM בס’’ד פרשת בהעלותך | ט”ו סיון תשפ''ד | 2024, 21 June Only at Plaza Leasing: Sales and Rentals simplified! All of your vehicle needs in one place! Call 216-707-9000 or email info@plazaohio.com
| | Early Childhood This week, the remaining of our four- year-old classes celebrated their graduations with joy and enthusiasm. Morah Feifer and Morah Gitti’s kinderlach marched in excitedly, donning their capes, ties and bejeweled hats. Their program began with Morah Gitti explaining their graduation theme; Each child is a precious jewel to be treasured and care for. The children delighted the audience with songs and skits about shalom and seiver panim yafos. Morah Bluma, Morah Sarah and Morah Chana’s “bakers” marched onto the stage proudly wearing their chef’s hats and aprons. Their graduation them was “All the Ingredients for a Sweet Torah Life.” The children sang songs about the” ingredients” that are helping them to grow up to be “Good and proud Jewish People!” Parents and grandparents of Morah Chani and Morah Devorah’s kinderlach brimmed with pride as they watched the children perform songs they learned throughout the year, including those related to the weekly parsha, morning davening, Shabbos, yomim tovim, and the Alef Bais letters. The class also performed an adorable music and movement song. We are so proud of our pre-k kinderlach, their accomplishments, and the beautiful performances they delivered at their graduations. We wish them continued growth as they move on to Kindergarten, and much nachas to their parents and families! Kindergarten What better way is there to spend the last week of the school year than going from Siddur Party to Siddur Party? The Moros really outdid themselves in joyfully preparing the kindergarteners for this momentous occasion. All the kindergarten classes performed beautifully, bringing us and their parents so much nachas!
| | Girls Elementary One of our third grade highlights is mastering Shemoneh Esrei. The girls learn a beautiful song with the meaning and translation of Shemoneh Esrei — all throughout the year. On Monday, they presented an inspiring and heartfelt performance on the meaning of this tefilla. The costumes, decor and magnificent slideshow added to this event and all in attendance walked away with a deeper appreciation for davening. Thank you to our very dedicated third grade Moros, Miss Levin, Miss Libersohn and Miss Schneider for devoting their time toward this incredible performance. Thank you to Mrs. Sauber for all your help! As a culmination of learning all 39 melachos, our fourth grade classes worked together to create a beautiful Lamed Tes Melachos Fair. Each group was assigned a melacha and presented it to the girls in a creative and hands-on way. We were all amazed not only by their incredible displays but also their knowledge and clear understanding of all the melachos. Thank you to our very dedicated fourth grade Moros, Mrs. Ribiat, Mrs. Reznick and Miss Lax for giving the girls this wonderful experience! Kindergarten (continued) They are truly ready to daven from their siddurim… and Meir Saroka proved it! While his class went to lunch after their Siddur mesibah, he sneaked back into his classroom to lovingly hold and read from his new Siddur. As a culminating activity for learning digraphs, Morah Shuli and Morah Mindy’s class had so much fun playing Digraph Bingo. Once they recognized the digraph in the word Morah said, they colored the coordinating digraph on their Bingo page, and the game progressed until some kindergarteners had a full line, and called out “Bingo!”
| | Yeshiva Ketana Mazel tov to Rabbi Drazin, Rabbi Morris, and Rabbi Mann’s 4th grade classes, who made a beautiful siyum together with Morah Burnstein’s class on the entire Sefer of Tehillim. To mark the culmination of the yearlong Kriah project, the classes took turns presenting some thoughts on selected perakim followed by the entire assembly singing those perakim together in unison. Seated in an impressive circle, it was a ma’amad to behold. After the last perek was recited, everyone was treated to a professional who played a playlist of nigunim on a large harp. Trying to be the first to identify the words of the tune, everyone eagerly sang along and the ruach of neginah blended with the power of Tehillim, combining to create a truly beautiful atmosphere for all those in attendance. The program concluded with a question and answer session as the boys quizzed the harpist, asking relevant questions and being mekadeish Shem Shamayim with their exemplary midos tovos. Thank you to those who made this memorable event possible. The proud talmidim in Morah Burnstein’s class after receiving their long-awaited, magnificent Tehillim. Each boy enthusiastically took his sefer, with the strong desire to start it anew and finish it once more, b’ezras Hashem. Girls Elementary (continued) General Studies: Our 3rd graders spent a week studying Israel’s geography, culture, and history utilizing a few local speakers. Batsheva Hanfling, a 6th grader who recently moved from Israel was our first guest speaker. Batsheva, who has a sister is in 3rd grade, shared an intriguing presentation on what life is like for a school aged girl living in Bnei Brak. Mrs. Elkan, whose daughter is 3rd grader Chana, shared her experiences as a professional tour guide in Israel. In addition, Mrs. Bacon, Esti’s mother, shared her experiences living in Israel. Thank you to the kitchen staff who helped our girls experience some of the typical Israeli food as a culminating activity to our learning!
| | Yeshiva Ketana (continued) Mazel tov to Nosson Tzvi Rothenberg on his siyum of Maseches Pesachim. His father joined together with his classmates and his Rebbe, Rabbi Ruck, in celebrating this wonderful accomplishment. His great uncle, Rabbi Newman, joined in the simcha, as well. May Nosson Tzvi grow in limud haTorah, and continue bringing beautiful nachas to his entire family. This past week, Rabbi Elias’ fifth grade had the zechus of hearing words of Torah and chizuk from Rabbi Yonah Rosner, Rav of Shomrim Laboker, Montreal. Rabbi Rosner is the grandfather of Dovi and Elchanan Rosner, cousins and classmates in Rabbi Elias’ class. Rabbi Rosner spoke about the yom tov of Shavuos and regaled them with fascinating stories of his distinguished father. Mazel tov to Yisroel Mann, son of our Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Lipa Mann, on his siyum of Meseches Ta’anis. His grandparents, parents and brother joined together with all of his classmates in Rabbi Janowski’s class, to celebrate this wonderful accomplishment. May Yisroel follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and become a true talmid chacham. Avraham Shmuel Domb, joined by his parents and grandparents, conducted an impressive siyum on Mishnayos Meseches Shabbos to the delight of his Rebbe, Rabbi Janowski and his second grade classmates. Mazel tov to Levi Schwartz and his family (including his brother, Yossi) on his upsherin in Rabbi Thav’s classroom. Rabbi Newman placed honey on the letters of the Alef Beis and Levi dipped his lollypop in the osiyos while saying them out loud as he tasted the geshmak and mesikus of the Torah Hakedosha. The talmidim sang siman tov together, enhancing the simcha tremendously. May the simcha and the mesikus of Torah last a lifetime as he provides nachas to all, b’ezras Hashem. General Studies: The 4th Grade BBQ, carnival and raffle was a success! Students enjoyed hotdogs, hamburgers and fries grilled by HAC's very own Jr. High students! After the BBQ, they headed to the Gym for carnival games like a cake walk, bean bag toss and pick a pop. Students had the opportunity to earn more tickets from games, on top of the ones they earned for their positive behavior over the past three weeks. Special congratulations to Moshe Greenberg who guessed closest to the number of jellybeans in the jar. He was only off by 6 jellybeans! Following the carnival, we had a raffle where 4th grade students won over 15 prizes, including basketballs, footballs, games and even a field trip to Mrs. Drucker's pool! We're so proud of the 4th grade for the amazing behavior exhibited over not just the past 3 weeks, but throughout their 4th grade year. We can't wait to see all the great things they do in 5th grade! This week, the 5th and 6th grades took field trips to Topgolf as a reward for their positive behavior over the last month with our “Middos Challenge.” We're proud of these students for their hard work both academically and behaviorally not just during the middos challenge, but throughout the school year.
| | Yeshiva Ketana (continued) This week, the 5th and 6th grades took field trips to Topgolf as a reward for their positive behavior over the last month with our “Middos Challenge.” We're proud of these students for their hard work both academically and behaviorally not just during the middos challenge, but throughout the school year. The trips were a resounding success! Students enjoyed honing their golfing skills, engaging in friendly competition, and fostering meaningful connections with their peers and teachers. Congratulations to the 5th and 6th grades for a successful year. We can't wait to see all the great things you do in 6th grade and in Jr. High! Peter Drucker is a famous management consultant who said, “what gets measured, gets managed.” In school, this loosely translates to, “what we notice has a higher probability of happening.” Our 4th grade students recently participated in a raffle highlighting all the positive behavioral choices our students have made over the course of the last month. One raffle prize was a “pool party” at Mrs. Drucker’s private pool. 15 lucky raffle winners, supervised by Rabbi Grodko and Mr. Dym (a licensed lifeguard), participated in the event. The more we notice the good, the more the boys will focus on making smart behavioral decisions. Mendel’s Meaty Incentive: Effort, perseverance, never giving up, and working hard are all characteristics we hope all of our children will develop over the course of their schooling. Members of Mrs. Ritchie’s 6th grade class have shown fantastic progress both academically and behaviorally. The proud students are modeling belief in self, trust in their teacher, and a willingness to push beyond what they thought possible and that deserves to be noticed. Congratulations to all the boys and Mrs. Ritchie for all their efforts! HAC Robotics Tournament 2: Twenty 6th grade student participants competed against each other at our end of year Robotics tournament. Parents, classmates, and all Oakwood divisions watched our boys persevere, work hard, and compete (like a mensch!). Congratulations to our Winners: First place-Hillel Feit and Tzvi Jacoby; Second place-Eli Makalsky and Yaakov Zelasko; Third place-Binyomin Bacon, Betzalel Chapley, and Aryeh Leib Neuman. Thank you to Rabbi Tolchinsky for teaching the robotics skills and mentoring the teams throughout the entire process.
Junior High School Many of our talmidim were afforded an outstanding opportunity to hear Rabbi Elya Brudny, Rosh Yeshiva, Mirrer Yeshiva when he was in town for Shabbos prior to Shavuos. They gathered around him during a Shabbos Seder and he spoke to them about limud haTorah, underscoring that as an upper elementary school talmid begins to delve into Gemara it can require much effort and perseverance to be successful but when a talmid tastes that success there is so much satisfaction to be gained. The message was that one should never give up. As another productive school year comes to an end, we express appreciation to Rabbi Boruch Hirschfeld, Rav, Congregation Ahavas Yisroel and Rosh Kollel, Kollel Torah Life for volunteering to address our talmidim every Thursday. In addition to his weekly inspiration, our boys have taken advantage of the opportunity to ask questions and discuss topics important to them. We thank Rabbi Hirschfeld for sharing his knowledge and precious time with us. General Studies: Our Junior High celebrated all of the wonderful behavior that has been witnessed over the course of the year. Almost 40% of our students earned a special award for having less than three behavioral referrals for the entire year. It is truly and incredible feat and one that must be recognized. Developmentally, the middle school years have so much turbulence surrounding internal growth, questioning of authority, challenging status quo, and figuring out life-a chaotic time under the best of circumstances. Yet, these budding b’nei Torah have inculcated the messages of their rebbeim on the importance of learning AND acting like b’nei Torah throughout the school day. Congratulations to all! | | Yavne High School Our amazing Chesed heads, Rochie Freedman, Miri Kaplan, Tehila Keller, Ahuva Schwartz, Leah Spolter and Shalva Taub headed by Mrs. Chavy Meisels and Ms. Buvie Meisels, ended the year on a very sweet note. The girls were treated to a choice of ice creams from an ice cream truck with our very special chesed heads serving the ice cream. Our Yavne Senior class experienced an amazing senior trip this week accompanied by Mrs. Steinfeld and Mrs. Weinberg. They started their adventure kayaking on the Cuyahoga River where they were treated to beautiful scenery, unique wildlife, and gorgeous sunshine! After a picnic lunch, they traveled to a luxury home where they enjoyed the pool, tennis and pickle ball courts, air hockey, table pool, ping pong and other amenities. The students prepared and grilled dinner complete with grilled corn and delicious s’mores. The evening was filled with camaraderie, laughter and fun! Before going home the seniors went on a ropes course complete with zip lines down from the platforms. Everyone went home exhausted and joyful. A tremendous thank you to the students, staff and parents who helped with the planning, preparation and work on the trip!
PTA Corner Teacher Appreciation: Hakaras hatov, gratitude, is a foundation of yiddishkeit and we were delighted to hold Teacher Appreciation luncheons or dinners in every division. We thank the dedicated individuals for stepping up to the plate to properly honor our heroes and heroines, our Rebbeim, moros, teachers and support staff and to ensure the success of all the events. At the Klein Camups General Studies luncheon tribute was tendered to Mrs. Gayle Fink who has chosen to retire after a most accomplished 32 years at our school. We wish Mrs. Fink well in the next phrase of her journey! | | Yavne High School (continued)
Condolences to • Mr. Elozor Rashidi, Mrs. Chaya Soroh Winkler, Yosef Rashidi and Pinchos Rashidi on the loss of their wife and mother, Mrs. Shulamis Rashidi, ע״ה המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים. | | Mazel Tov! • Rabbi & Mrs. Moshe Gancz on the bar mitzvah of Azriel Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Sholom Ber Chaikin. • Mr. & Mrs. Barry Goldman on the bar mitzvah of Nosson Mazel Tov to Mr. & Mrs. Sruly Kazen. • Mrs. Chaya Gitty Kohn on the birth of a grandson to Ari & Ahuva Gestetner • Rabbi & Mrs. Yosef Koval on the birth of a granddaughter to Yoni & Dassi Koval Mazel Tov to Mr. & Mrs. Murray Koval. • Mr. & Mrs. Heshy Platschek and Mr. & Mrs. Yossi Kornfeld on the engagement of Moshe to Rochi (Toms River) Mazel tov to Mrs. Hentscha Jakobovitch and Mrs. Patti Pollack. • Dr. & Mrs. Yonatan Spolter on the engagement of Rivky to Yehuda Bachrach (Passaic) • Dr. & Mrs. Avromi Warn on the birth of a boy Mazel Tov to Dr. & Mrs. Stanley Warn. • Mr. & Mrs. Max Winters on the birth of a son Mazel tov to Mr. & Mrs. Yisroel Mendenhall and Dr. & Mrs. Mark Winters. Lost & Found at Oakwood All divisions on the Oakwood Campus have consolidated their lost and found to the coat room inside the Yeshiva Ketana entrance. If your child is missing something, please come check the lost and found by next week Tuesday, June 25th. After Tuesday, all lost and found items will be donated or discarded. PTA Corner (continued) Thank you to our bakers Mrs. Perel Domb, Mrs. Sorah Murray, Mrs. Chany Klein, Mrs. Shalva Klein, Dr. Rachel Salamon, Mrs. Batya Sussman and Mrs. Shirah Stern. The desert reception was beautiful, delicious and abundant! Thank you to those who ran errands and helped with set up and clean up of the 4 staff appreciation events: Mrs. Perel Domb, Mrs. Chany Klein, Mrs. Aliza Koval, Mrs. Devora Kurin, Mrs. Yocheved Neeland, Mrs. Rachel Schloss, Mrs. Rivki Silver, Mrs. Numi Stern, Mrs. Batya Sussman, Mrs. Malky Traube, Mrs. Daniella Weinerman and Mrs. Ruti Wolf. None of the events could take place without the incredible behind the scenes support. A special thank you to Mr. Duvy & Mrs. Ranya Greenberger, Mr. Yisroel Freilich, Mr. Moshe Greenberg, Mr. David Wren, Rabbi Yechiel Friedman and their amazing staff.