6:09 Benny Chasson survived the horrific Shemini Atzeres massacre. In an interview this week, he stated that the terrorists infiltrated the community of Kissufim, near the Gaza border, impersonating the Israel Defense Forces and, gaining their confidence, surprised them with their barbaric massacre. Benny and his wife remained huddled in their building’s safe room for twenty- two hours despite a grenade, which somehow failed to explode, being thrown at their home. When the Israeli soldiers finally arrived to rescue them, an understandably skeptical Benny tested them by asking them to complete the sentence of Shema Yisrael, to which they responded correctly: Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One. Benny knew that he and his wife were safe. This is not the first time that these timeless words, Hashem Echad, were invoked to prove that a Jew is a Jew. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, when the Ponevezer Rav, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt”l selflessly traveled from convent to convent to reclaim Jewish children who were held there, he encountered reluctance. When he was told that the site harbored no Jewish children, he requested — and was granted — the opportunity to briefly address the children. When he did, he cried out the ancient words proclaiming Hashem’s Oneness, Shema Yisrael, and many children tearfully finished the verse: Hashem Echad. Thus, many children returned, not necessarily home because so many of their parents had perished but at the very least, to their Jewish heritage. This week’s parsha, Lech Lecha, introduces us to our Patriarch, Avraham Avinu who was the first individual to accept the sovereignty of the Almighty as Hashem Echad. When Hashem appeared to Avraham expressing that He will gift the land to his offspring, the Torah states: Vayiven sham mizbe’ach l’Hashem hanireh ailav, Avraham built an alter there to Hashem Who appeared to him (12,7). The words “Who appeared to him “seem redundant, thus, writes Ohr HaChaim, that our Patriarch's primary sense of joy and appreciation was in the fact that Hashem appeared to him. That he had just been promised offspring and that his progeny had been promised the land paled in comparison with the ultimate tribute tendered: Hashem had appeared to him. Indeed, Onkelos, in his commentary, translates the term Vayera as v'isgili, a reference to the fact that the Almighty's appearance to Avraham was more than an appearance; it was a revelation, one which remains with us even today as it appears in various forms. Hashem's Presence remains with us as an absolute in our lives, both in the best of times and in the most challenging of times. The story of Benny Chasson is a reminder that while we are never privy to the ways of Hashem, nevertheless, Hashem is our G-d and Hashem is One. Regardless of the seemingly insurmountable hurdles or challenges we face, we always return to the same Source for strength, for salvation, for support and for comfort. Because Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. Have a wonderful Shabbos! NOVEMBER 6 Parent Teacher Conferences Junior High Boys 7th Grade 6:30-9:30 PM • • • • • • NOVEMBER 8 Parent Teacher Conferences Junior High Boys 8th Grade 6:30-9:30 PM • • • • • • NOVEMBER 10 First Early Friday Dismissal 1:15 PM (Early Childhood, Kindergarten, Grades 1-6) • • • • • • PICTURE DAY! November 28 Oakwood Boys Grades 1-8 November 29 Early Childhood & Kindergarten November 30 Taylor Road & Yavne בס’’ד פרשת לך לך | י”ב חשון תשפ''ד | 2023, 27 October 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 In conjunction with this week’s parsha and Avraham Avinu’s traveling, our kinderlach learned about transportation! They read books about cars, boats, trains and airplanes. Our three-year-olds used cars as paintbrushes to create tracks on their papers. They pretended to pack suitcases and go on trips. In Morah Gitty and Morah Dina’s class the kinderlach pretended to be passengers in different vehicles every day during story time. Mora Dina and Morah Chaya’s afternoon class learned about rain and enjoyed making clouds and shaving cream with blue food coloring. Kindergarten Kindergarten had a super busy week, with so much going on! In conjunction with a Brachos unit, Morah Katz’s class had a visit from “The Mezonos Man”! The kindergarteners were so creative in decorating him. And they are NEVER tricked by Morah’s Mistake – they know their Brachos! Morah Heigh’s class did a “Tree Unit”, learning about all the special creations of Hashem within the tree alone! They learned how Hashem makes tiny little seeds grow into a huge tree, and how Hashem makes the leaves change color and fall off with the change of seasons. They made a beautiful tree on the bulletin board in their classroom, and went on a “Tree Walk” to see and touch this wonderous creation of Hashem.
Kindergarten (continued) Mmmm. Learning letters is so delicious in kindergarten! For the letter M, the kindergarteners did a marshmallow-art activity, and for the letter N, they made colorful cereal necklaces. What a yummy way to remember letters and sounds! And, for the letter I, the kindergarteners did something really special, they colored pictures to send to the soldiers in Israel, to let them know we are always thinking about them. | | Girls Elementary The Girls Elementary Division wishes a mazel tov to Mrs. Goldbaum on the birth of a new granddaughter! Continued nachas! The 1st - 5th grade girls were in for a real treat on Friday when they walked into the beautifully decorated auditorium for the breakout of this year’s theme song. Dressed "royally," our talented sixth graders girls did a great job presenting this year’s theme, Banim Atem LaHashem. Everyone left the breakout in smiles and high spirits and feeling proud to be the children of Hashem. Thank you to our sixth graders for making the breakout as amazing as it was. Special thanks to Morah Zuckerman, Miss Elias and Miss Mann for spearheading such a fantastic opening event! The girls are using their creative talents to decorate chocolate bar wrappers. These papers will be wrapped around chocolate bars to distribute in Eretz Yisroel and hopefully give the soldiers and people there much encouragement. As an introduction to learning Shemone Esrei, the third grade classes gathered together for an assembly. Mrs. Goldbaum told them a mashal of someone entering a magnificent palace and trying to reach the King’s throne. She then explained to them that they have the opportunity every day to become closer to Hashem through this special tefillah. The girls walked away with a deeper understanding of Shemone Esrei. They ended off this special day with delicious cupcakes which were enjoyed by all.
| | Yeshiva Ketana The Yeshiva Ketana had an assembly this week which emphasized the importance of achdus. Rabbi Newman relayed some remarks from Rav Asher Weiss, in which he spoke about the similarities between the situation in Eretz Yisrael now and during the Six Day War. This was followed by an uplifting musical video featuring Benny Friedman which highlighted the many examples of achdus, throughout Eretz Yisrael, of people working together to do good things for everyone. May the achdus we are experiencing during this time be a zechus for all of Klal Yisrael. Mazel tov to Moshe Kohn on his siyum of Maseches Succah. Moshe’s Rebbe, Rabbi A.L. Mann, and his fourth grade classmates joined in congratulating him on his wonderful accomplishment. May Moshe grow in limud haTorah and continue bringing true nachas to his parents. This past Tuesday, our sixth grade talmidim began the Eretz Chemda Program. Eretz Chemda started 9 years ago. It is a program taught remotely from Yerushalayim every other week and helps connect our students to Eretz Yisrael and its land-related mitzvos. Eretz Chemda is now taught in countless schools around North America. Special recognition to the sixth grade talmidim who gave up their free time to set up the Bais Medrash for the assembly: Yossi Baum, Levi Yitzchok Fertel, Nochum Jacobs, Yitzy Kohn, Mordechai Ribiat, Menachem Tolchinsky, Dov Weinerman and Yaakov Zelasko. At right is Shlomie Neiman greeting Rabbi Shimon Alster zt”l at last years’s Ashreichem event. We join Klal Yisrael in mourning the loss of Rabbi Alster, Rosh Yeshivah of Cliffwood, who was niftar this past Friday. We received this email from Torah Umesorah: B”H we just received a very large box of beautiful letters written to the Israeli soldiers by the students of HAC. Creative, heartwarming - wonderful! They will be shipped very soon to the soldiers. Tizku l'mitzvos! General Studies: We have many curricular goals for the General Studies program at the Yeshiva Ketana. Following State of Ohio requirements, we always strive to create avenues for student engagement and significant learning experiences. The more motivated and enthusiastic the boys are, the more meaningful learning they will accomplish across the subjects. One of the core skills we work on is teaching the mechanics of and appreciation for reading. Some of the benefits of reading include nurturing imagination, creativity, expanding vocabulary and developing critical thinking skills. For the next few weeks, our 3rd and 4th graders will participate in our pilot program of, “Battle of the Books,” where boys will be incentivized to read and complete a book summary for points. Additional points will be earned for making BINGO through choosing different genres of books to read. LEAGUE points will also be offered for our 4th grade participants. The boys will have access to the books in their classrooms in addition to time in our school library. We shared the parameters of the program in an assembly with the boys and hope to continue finding outlets, in and out of the classroom, to generate enthusiasm for learning. Thank you for your continued support as we educate the future of Klal Yisroel, one precious student at a time.
| | Junior High School Rabbi Shlomo Eisenberger, Rosh Yeshiva, Telshe Yeshiva visited our school last Friday and addressed the Junior High talmidim. Drawing a life lesson from two parshios, Rabbi Eisenberger expressed that Avraham Avinu and Terach both had the desire to enter Eretz Yisrael. Why then did Avraham succeed and Terach did not? He explained that it depends upon the level of one’s desire. If the level of one’s desire becomes one’s mission in life then there is a far greater chance of accomplishment. General Studies: Junior High Student Council Kickoff Event: Student council is a wonderful outlet for the boys to learn responsibility and teamwork as they represent student issues and concerns with the administrative team. Working together, the goal is to add ruach and innovative programming to reward, acknowledge, and support the student experience throughout the school day. Congratulations to our Student Council: Benyomin Stern- President, Rafi Eleff-Vice President, Azriel Gancz- Secretary, Gavriel Popper-Treasurer. Our first two programs happened this week: First, recognizing all the students doing the right thing, doing well, is an important component of adding school ruach and pride. Towards this end, pizza tickets were awarded to the boys who have zero behavioral referrals for the entire year to date. Second, the student council arranged a “kumzitz” led by Rabbi Maimon and Rabbi Mann to increase student cohesiveness and support a positive feeling in general studies. The president, Benyomin Stern shared a dvar torah to kick off the student council program. Thank you to Rabbi Maimon for his divrei chizuk and for Rabbi Mann for being the staff liaison to the student council. The eighth graders have been learning about the laws of motion in science. To demonstrate, they worked in small groups to create the best balloon powered car. The winners of the car with the longest distance were Zechariah Rais and Dovid Blech at over 15 meters. Runner up was Yehuda Aryeh Thav at over 11 meters. The boys brought their cars into the Yeshiva Katana lunch room to test their skills. Great job to all the boys for weeks of hard work. Thank you to Rabbi Berkman for this creative means of teaching about motion.
| | Yavne High School Yavne Junior High’s assembly this week commemorating the yahrzeit of Rochel Imeinu, focused on learning from her midos. The girls divided into groups and played a “Priorities” game, deciding when it’s worth to “give up” something of lesser value, for something more worthy. Then, we had a heartwarming kumzitz, featuring Mame Rochel, Avinu Malkeinu, Acheinu, Yerushalayim; songs so meaningful in our current situation. The wafer snack, with the message “Make “way for” vatranus further drove the message home. Thank you, to our Cheshvan G.O. heads: Adina Dunoff, Rivkah Leibowitz, Orian Lisogorski, Nechama Leah Minkin, Rochel Romanoff, Laya Sturman, and Gavriella Weinerman, under Mrs. Schwartz’s direction, for the phenomenal planning and prep. On Thursday last week, we introduced our Tefilla Program. Rabbi Gershon Russell, parent of Shevy Russell, spoke to the students and left them with a powerful message about hakaras hatov in our tefillos and about working toward hoda'ah, singing songs of gratitude, even when we are experiencing difficulties. Student heads, Batya Admon, Ayala Bennett, Shevi Daitchman, Pessi Elias, Yehudis Mann, Yehudis Platschek, and Miriam Resnick prepared a beautiful song and dance to introduce the program, and students enjoyed a refreshing salad bar to help us appreciate the many colors and tastes that Hashem gives to us. Our tefilla program will focus on tefillos that express our appreciation to Hashem, specifically for global and personal miracles (Nishmas), for the privilege to be a Jew (Aleinu), for our physical sustenance and the gift of Eretz Yisroel (Birchas HaMazon), and for the many gifts in our personal life (Hashkamas HaBoker). Students will learn b'chavrusa about these tefillos. Our program will culminate in a musical production and classroom exhibits that will showcase all that we have learned. We look forward to sharing these components with the community!
| | Early Friday Dismissal Attention Parents of Early Childhood, Kindergarten and Elementary School: Please be reminded that the winter Friday dismissal will change for daylight savings time frame (from November 10th until mid winter vacation only) from 2:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. On those days, lunch and General Studies will begin earlier and the districts have communicated that they will provide transportation. Carpoolers, please pick up your children promptly. This schedule includes early childhood through grade 6 in both boys and girls divisions. Boys Junior High and Yavne High School Friday dismissals remain as they were this year. Parent Communication As technology grows at the Hebrew Academy and as we advance to meet its demands, we have made a recent change. We would like to introduce you to our new educational software ParentLocker for all divisions. This will be the new website for you, as a parent, to use for report cards, progress reports, parent-teacher conferences, as well as other educational information and interaction. Some parents may be familiar with this website as we piloted this program at Yavne this past year. Be on the lookout for an email from your division for more information. Yavne High School (continued) Yavne’s Mishmeres Breakout was a resounding success! The Mishmeres Program is a national program that Yavne is proud to be a part of. The theme T.S.A. = Think, Speak, Act – really resonated with the current climate. Our pasuk “Shomer Piv U’Leshono Shomer, Mitzaros Nafsho” brought out the point that we can help support the war efforts with the power of shmiras haloshon! We introduced a shmiras haLoshon Yomi learning program in an effort to S.O.S. = Save Our Soldiers. We are doing this program as a special zechus for all the soldiers related to Yavne families, “Close Your Mouth Over Here-Save a Soldier Over There”. The beautiful airport themed décor, uplifting song, inflight snacks and customized garment bags really made an impact. Kol hakavod to our hardworking Misheres heads - Miri Axelrod, Leeba Goldstein, Sara Kaliff, Avigail Kutoff, Gila Roth and Batsheva Shyken, a special thank you to our former misheres head, alumni and newest staff member, Rochel Leah Katz for all her guidance and support. Our Mishmeres heads are heading off this weekend to the National Mishmeres Convention, where they are sure to gain much inspiration for the year ahead.
Mazel Tov! 2024 Federation Campaign for Jewish Needs & The Israel Emergency Fund Please help us express our hakaras hatov to the Jewish Federation of Cleveland for their partnership with and support of the Hebrew Academy. We are a recipient of Federation funds and we partner with them closely on security issues as well. Their campaign helps to ensure that Cleveland continues to be a vibrant hub of Jewish communal life. Please join us in helping them reach their campaign goals by coming to a campaign outreach event on either Tuesday, November 28 | 6:30 – 8:30 pm (Giving Tuesday) or Sunday, December 10 | 9:30 am – 1 pm. If you are able to join us in this effort (for any amount of time) please RSVP to Mrs. Shirah Stern at [email protected] by Wednesday, November 1 st . Tizku l’Mitzvos. For the Safety of our Community Security continues to be in the forefront of our minds. Our school is pleased to maintain strong partnerships and robust relationships with the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s security team and the local police precincts. We have invested significantly in a security presence at our campuses, and staff were sensitized at the all staff meeting prior to start of the school year. Last week, Federation’s Mr. Jim Hartnett, Cleveland Heights Police Chief Chris Britton and others visited the Academy and provided a security briefing, including best practices, for administrators and receptionists. They also encouraged the community’s vigilance with the motto “If you see something, say something“. We thank them for their continued support and we hope to expand the police presence as well. Shomer pesaim Hashem. | | • Rabbi & Mrs. Yaakov Ausband on the birth of a son Mazel tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Eliyahu Ausband. • Mr. and Mrs. Rami Berner on the bar mitzvah of Yehuda Mazel tov to Mr. Shimon Fuchs. • Mr. & Mrs. Will Evans on the marriage of Ayelet to Mendel Bercovice Mazel tov to Mr. & Mrs. Ira Evans. • Rabbi & Mrs. Josh Finegold on the birth of a son • Rabbi & Mrs. Chanania Goldbaum on the birth of a granddaughter to Dovid & Nechama Gilbert • Mr. & Mrs. Daniyel Pister on the birth of a son Mazel tov to Dr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Gross. • Rabbi & Mrs. Chaim Boruch Zelasko on the forthcoming marriage of Shmuel to Tzivi Margolis
Yeshiva Ketana Gym & Preschool Cafeteria (enter through main entrance) 3's are invited to come play 2:00-3:00 4's are invited to come play 3:30-4:30 Moon Bounce Crafts Snacks The PTA proudly presents for the 3's and 4's Bring your child to play with their friends and get to meet other parents in your child’s grade! Please note that all children must be accompanied by a parent at all times. *Limited to children in the Early Childhood Division* Sunday, November 5th At the Klein Campus contact Leah Steinman with any questions 323-561-5344 Sunday Playdates
Want to Donate up to $1,500 to HAC for Scholarships Without it Costing You a Penny? Now You can! Want to Choose What Your State Taxes Support? Now You can! Use Your Tax Dollars to Help Our Families! YOU’RE DONE! IT’S THAT EASY! * The tax credit maximum is $750 per individual ($1,500 per couple) and cannot exceed a tax payer’s Ohio State liability before withholdings or estimated payments. Please consult with your tax advisor/accountant before participating. For More information or assistance, please contact Rabbi Moshe Marcovich at (216) 727-3008 or email [email protected] 3 EASY STEPS: 1) Make your donation* at everychildeveryfamily.org/donate. 2) Designate Hebrew Academy of Cleveland as your school. 3) Submit the email receipt to your accountant with your tax documents.
Community Vigil for the Hostages Please join us for a vigil for the over 200 innocent civilians who were taken hostage during the terrorist attack Hamas waged on Israel on October 7, 2023. This important program is designed to lift our voices as we pray for their safety and demand for their immediate return. Monday, October 30 6:00 pm Hebrew Academy of Cleveland Mendy and Ita Klein Oakwood Campus In the Simon And Rose Mandel Building Freschel Auditorium 1800 Warrensville Center Road Cleveland Heights, OH 44121 For more information, please contact Elle Henig at [email protected] or 216-593-2900 x180.