4:59 The hearts and minds of faithful Jews across the globe are subsumed with the ongoing events in Eretz Yisrael but for those on the front lines it is a particularly agonizing experience. Consider those whose loved ones tragically perished, were severely injured, or are still mercilessly held hostage or missing in action. Last Friday, the staff and students of Yavne High School met fifteen year old Shira Perez, a resident of Yad Binyomin. A young tenth grader, the age of many in the audience, Shira described the ordeal as it relates to her family. Her older brother Yonatan, an officer in the paratroop unit, courageously responded to the national call on October 7th and is currently recuperating from a leg injury sustained in battle. Her second brother, Daniel, a tank commander based at Nachal Oz, is missing in action since that fateful day. The audience was inspired with a remarkable lesson in faith when Shira repeatedly expressed that, although agonizing, the only thing that makes her feel better is “that we have Hashem and we have each other…Thank G-d that we have Hashem in our lives so we can see things through a different lens.” Shira disclosed that she had “a two minute personal conversation with Hashem” asking for some sort of sign concerning her brother, Daniel. The next morning her friend informed her that she had a dream in which Daniel questioned her concern, after all he would be home soon. I couldn’t have been more proud of our Yavne students whose questions reflected empathy, sensitivity and percipience. For example: “How do you strengthen your emunah, faith? Was your connection to Hashem always this strong or did the ordeal strengthen it? Is there anything we can do as a zechus for your brother? What would be a greater chizuk, encouragement — to daven for your brother or to minimize personal satisfaction; for example denying myself the pleasure of my daily coffee to which I am accustomed?” One student realized that the random name for whom she had been fervently davening was actually none other than Yonatan. She was delighted to hear that he is recuperating. Although only fifteen, our guest succeeded in imparting a message loud and clear: The Torah grants us an opportunity to view things through a different prism. Perhaps the message finds expression in this week’s parsha when the Torah records: Velo shamu el Moshe mikotzer ruach u’meavoda kasha, Moshe spoke to the people but they failed to heed his appeal on account of the shortness of breath (spirit) and difficult work (6,9). Ohr HaChaim comments that perhaps Bnei Yisrael failed to heed the words of Moshe Rabeinu because their stresses weakened their cognitive ability. They suffered from kotzer ruach, narrowed vision or spirit, as they were not yet bnei Torah. They were missing Torah and the perspective that Torah brings with it. The study of Torah has a profound effect; it broadens hearts, expands horizons, and widens one’s perception of the world. נא להתפלל עבור דניאל שמעון בן שרון !Shabbos wonderful a Have JANUARY 13 Ladies Melava Malka 8:30 PM This Motzei Shabbos Klein Campus • • • • • • JANUARY 15 No Beachwood Bus • • • • • • JANUARY 18 Yavne Finals Begin • • • • • • JANUARY 20 Erev Shira Melava Malka Girls Elementary Grades 4-6 • • • • • • JANUARY 22 Junior High Boys Finals Week • • • • • • JANUARY 28- FEBRUARY 4 Mid-Winter Vacation • • • • • • FEBRUARY 5 School Resumes-Regular Start בס’’ד פרשת וארא | ב’ שבט תשפ''ד | 2024, 12 January Only at Plaza Leasing: Sales and Rentals simplified! All of your vehicle needs in one place! Call 216-707-9000 or email [email protected]
| | Early Childhood This week’s parsha is so exciting for the children. The makos came alive in every class through stories, creative games, activities, and fun projects. On Thursday, our kinderlach enjoyed singing, clapping, and dancing to tree and fruit music songs and fun movements during their music class with Morah Chani Gross. Morah Feifer and Morah Gitti’s kinderlach decorated beautiful tree-Rosh Chodesh hats and wore them proudly as they marched around singing A Gutten Chodesh. Morah Leah and Morah Rochel’s class learned about winter and snow. The kinderlach had so much fun creating snowmen with shaving cream. Kindergarten As part of a Shabbos unit in Kindergarten, some classes made Havdalah mats using different mediums to decorate them. Then, the mats were proudly brought home, to be used on Motzei Shabbos for Havdalah! Learning new letters and their sounds is such fun in Kindergarten! Morah Elisheva Auslander’s class has special visitors, Mama owl and her baby, Echo, who come to talk to the kindergarteners. This way, the kindergarteners can figure out what the new letter is, from the repeated beginning sounds of the words Mama and Echo use in their conversation.
| | Kindergarten (continued) Sometimes, 2 letters are introduced together. That is what happened with the letters p and j , which were introduced together, resulting in an exciting day for all: PJ Party day! The kindergarteners brought their pj’s to wear for the party. They heard a story about getting into pjs to get ready for bed. They also decorated their own Pillows with their initial. And, they enjoyed the party snack: popcorn and juice. Can learning letters get more fun than that? Yeshiva Ketana Last week, Yeshiva Ketana launched its Shnayim Mikra program covering all grades (1-6). It was wonderful to see how close to 200 talmidim chose to join this optional program. Every talmid who participated received a reward, while 3rd through 6th grade talmidim were also included in the weekly raffle with an opportunity to win a Target gift card. The winners for this week’s raffle (rewarding kriah for Parshas Shemos) were: 3rd grade: Ben Bulua, Dovi Cohen and Elie Covitch; 4th grade: Dovid Busel, Avrohom Yaakov Cohen and Dovie Lurie; 5 th grade: Yosef Axelrod, Yoni Domb, and Shlomo Peretz Nalick; 6 th grade: Yehoshua Adler, Aryeh Leib Neuman and Akiva Raher. Each week the boys will be coming home on Tuesday with a Shnayim Mikra card explaining all the rules, and what is expected of them. Looking forward to an even greater participation in the upcoming weeks. Mazel tov to Rabbi Thav and Rabbi Janowski’s second grade classes on the occasion of their siyum on Parshas Lech Lecha. The boys in Rabbi Thav’s class stood on their chairs to display their excitement and simchas haTorah and then danced together enthusiastically. The boys in Rabbi Janowski’s class listened attentively as Rabbi Sroy Levitansky related an amazing story while they enjoyed the siyum. May they continue to make many more siyumim in the future, b’ezras Hashem.
| | Yeshiva Ketana (continued) General Studies: 4th Grade Project Based Learning-States Fair: Our 4th grade boys are working diligently in completing their projects for the upcoming States Fair. The project includes writing, laser cutting, researching, typing, editing, and all with an added artistic expression for each student's work. The more avenues to produce work, the more avenues to build confidence, success and engagement. The boys are excited to invite you to see the fruits of their hard work in the coming weeks ahead. 5th grade boys, preparing special 'solar system' presentation: As a part of the upcoming exhibit, due to take place at the Evening of Inspiration, a select group of 5th grade boys have accepted upon themselves to expand their study of the solar system by delving into various halachic observances connected with the solar system. The boys met via zoom with Rabbi Dovid Heber, Rav of Khal Ahavas Yisroel Tzemach Tzedek in Baltimore, MD and a Director at the STAR-K to gain additional insights into their chosen topics. The topics include some daily halachos like the times of alos - dawn, neitz hachama - sunrise, the molad - new moon, monthly lunar cycle, Jewish leap year, and much, much more. These students are commended for their extra effort, especially in utilizing their General Studies knowledge to enhance their life as a Torah Jew. Looking forward to seeing you at the upcoming presentation. Junior High School Mazel Tov to Rabbi Chanina Dessler’s seventh grade talmidim upon their completion of the first perek in Gemara Makkos. The class celebrated with a pizza lunch at Milky Way. May they continue to learn and accomplish as they become bnei Torah. General Studies: Our Jewish History elective is completing the culminating art activity that will help end the semester in a strong manner. Thank you to Mr. Dier and Mrs. Chen for providing the boys with this opportunity. We hope to display their work at the Evening of Inspiration, 2024 coming in the months ahead.
| | Girls Elementary We were privileged to hear from Mrs. Naomi Spero (Talia and Amalia's Schur’s grandmother) who traveled from Eretz Yisroel and shared regards from the students of Ohel Tamar in Netivot. Mrs. Spero thanked the girls for being nosei biol and, specifically, for the generous gifts and letters we sent for Chanukah. She also shared the daily experiences of the families in Netivot. In conjunction with our middos program, grades 1-6 enjoyed an exciting activity. This month, we are focusing on seder venikayon, as the school is our palace and we want to keep it clean. Each class was given a bag of decorations and, using their talent and creativity, they decorated their classroom door, the door to their palace. Mrs. Goldbaum then introduced a new cleanup incentive where each grade will be competing against each other to see which class can earn the highest cleanup marks. We are hoping each girl will become the "queen of clean" and many points will be tallied. What a special week in kitah Alef! Mazel tov to our first grade classes on starting Chumash this week. Excitement was tangible as each girl joined together to read pasuk alef in Parshas Bereishis for the very first time! Thank you to our first grade moros for helping them reach this memorable milestone All of our third grade moros created an original version of the popular game, “Guess Who?”. The girls each designed their own boy and girl and hung them on the board to create a “Guess Who?” board. Using their wonderful Hebrew language skills, they did a super job playing this fun game. As a culmination to their Leil Shabbos program, the fourth grade classes joined together for a beautiful kumzitz. The girls sang meaningful Shabbos songs and an aura of Shabbos was felt in the air.
| | Girls Elementary (continued) General Studies: Mrs. Reinhardt’s first graders experimented with solid, liquids and gases in science class this week. Seeing changes right in front of their eyes as the gas fills the balloon definitely captivated their attention! Mrs. Kirschenbaum’s third graders finished multiple units this week! After creating ‘dream houses’ which completed their math unit on measurement, area models, and scales, the girls shared their houses including art rooms, ball pits, and many other 10 year old necessities! Mrs. Kirschenbaum’s class was one of the first to complete the first semester book reports. Sharing favorite books builds excitement and interest in reading across many ages and levels. All of the third graders finished reading a Wonders story about talent shows. The students designed and participated in their own talent show this week entertaining, both classmates and teachers!
| | Yavne High School This week, as we welcome Chodesh Shevat, our 8th grade G.O. heads, Elisheva Auslander, Aviva Bresler, Liba Gallor, Blumi Kutoff, Shayna Makalsky, Yocheved Mann, and Michele Nisenbaum, shared the story from the famous parable from the Gemara, which has become the well known song, “Ilan, Ilan…”. We invited talented music teacher, Mrs. Chanie Gross, who taught our girls two songs related to this beautiful message. Lastly, the girls enjoyed fruit smoothies in honor of Chodesh Shevat. Talented Yavne Junior High girls created stunning murals for the recent (Grand)mother/daughter evening depicting the themes of the performances. The 7th graders created a painting expressing the uniqueness of our nation, as Shir Hashirim describes how beloved we are to Hashem; a “rose among thorns”. The 8th graders created two paintings. One painting is based on the words from Tehillim (20:8) (paraphrased)The nations fight wars with chariots and horses, and we win the war, because we daven to Hashem… The other painting expresses the message said every week at Havdalah, that Hashem differentiated between holy and weekday, between light and dark, between Yisroel and other nations… Our bi-annual Shabbaton will take place on February 16-17 at the Bertram Inn Hotel & Conference Center. The theme this year is "Moneh mispar lakochavim, l'kulam shemos yikra"--Reaching for the Stars! Our Shabbaton heads, Eliana Friedner, Layla Goldberg, Shira Goldstein, Rochi Lapidus, Racheli Lebovics, Elisheva Leeson, Esther Leeson, Batsheva Neiman, and Miriam Nir, broke out Shabbaton last week with a dance and an exciting, interactive game. The student heads did a phenomenal job working together to make the program a success, and we look forward to an inspirational and meaningful Shabbaton!
| | Yavne High School (continued) Last Friday, Rabbi Dessler commemorated 2 important yahrzheits. He spoke of Rabbi Gifter’s incredible impact on Cleveland and his role in building the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland. He also spoke of his grandfather, the Michtav M’Eliyahu on his 70th yahrzheit, sharing a story that exemplified his incredible dedication to hakaras hatov. Our students were inspired by the lives of these two individuals who had such a profound impact on our community and all of Klal Yisrael. We were privileged to hear from Shira Perez of Yad Binyomin in Eretz Yisrael. Shira came and shared her personal story from the events of October 7th . She has 2 brothers who serve in the IDF, one was injured and one was taken hostage. Baruch Hashem, the brother that was injured has recovered and got married 10 days after October 7th . The students were extremely inspired by Shira’s incredible emunah, positivity and hope. A question and answer session followed her speech. The program concluded with Tehillim and the singing of Acheinu. Thank you to Mrs. Tami Goldberg for bringing in this very special guest who really brought the recent events in Eretz Yisrael to life. In honor of Rosh Chodesh Shevat, the High School had an activity where the girls competed against their mothers in fruit-related activities. Fruit flavored ices were enjoyed by all. General Studies: The 11th grade chemistry class observed the emission spectra of hydrogen, helium, neon, and mercury using diffraction glasses and then calculated the wavelengths, frequencies and energies produced. They also learned to identify elements using a flame test where they observe the colors emitted when the elements are burned in a fire. The students are loving the challenge and excitement in learning through discovery!
| | Kinnus Tefilah Approximately 1,000 Academy students, bli ayin hara, participated in the national Torah Umesorah Kinnus Tefilah last Thursday. The energy in our auditoriums and cafeteria at our three campuses was amazing and the experience was powerful. The program began with the inspiring words of Rabbi Elya Brudny, Rosh Yeshiva, Mirrer Yeshiva and member, Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and the Tehillim recited were both on the screen and distributed. Our talmidim and talmidos were incredibly sincere and rose to the occasion. May the zechus of tinokos shel bais rabban across the country bring the yeshuah b’karov! Camp S.T.E.P. Congratulations to Camp STEP’s amazing campers whose dedication and hard work this past summer raised $12,603.64 by participating in Chai Lifeline’s Chai-a-thon. By raising these funds, the campers of Chai Lifeline were able to enjoy a unique summer of camp with other sick children in a wonderful atmosphere of fun and friendship. Special thanks to Rabbi Avraham Matitia for organizing and overseeing this special mitzvah of tzedakah and chessed. RXG Winter Reunion 2024: The atmosphere was electric as friends, campers, and counselors gathered for the RXG 2024 Winter Reunion! Despite the chilly winter weather, the fond memories of summer warmed everyone's hearts. The turnout was incredible! The reunion had a captivating 'illumination' theme, featuring mesmerizing glow dancing, a highlight video showcasing special camp moments, and an exciting Chinese auction. Everyone left with a sense of joy and anticipation for the upcoming summer, eagerly awaiting the chance to be reunited at RXG!
Condolences to • Mrs. Jaimie Ballon on the loss of her mother, ה”ע המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים. | | Kollel Ateres Nochum Zev Yasher Koach to the members of our school based Kollel Ateres Nochum Zev and to their wives for hosting, thus far, the Junior High Oneg Shabbos each Friday night: Rabbi and Mrs. Zev Busel, Rabbi and Mrs. Yaakov Dovid Ausband, Rabbi and Mrs. Shmuel Dimarsky, Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe Meir Kurtz, Rabbi and Mrs. Yitzchok Leff, Rabbi and Mrs. Eliyahu Machlis, Rabbi and Mrs. Mordechai Sommers, Rabbi and Mrs. Aryeh Soroka and Rabbi and Mrs. Barak Strimber. Mazel Tov! • Mr. & Mrs. Meshulom Dier on the birth of a son • Mr. & Mrs. Yosef Aryeh Greenberger on the birth of a granddaughter to Yosef & Sara Miriam Davis Mazel Tov to Mr. & Mrs. Binyamin Greenberger. • Mr. & Mrs. Nissi Heifetz on the bar mitzvah of Menachem Mazel Tov to Mr. & Mrs. Jonathan Heifetz and Dr. & Mrs. Alan Schlesinger. • Mr. & Mrs. Sruly Kazen on the birth of a grandson to Sholom & Avigayil Kazen