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his June, thirty-two students graduated from the Academy’s Beatrice Stone Yavne High School. All graduates plan to continue their education. The vast majority will attend seminaries in Eretz Yisroel. A capacity crowd watched the moving ceremony, ably chaired by Dr. Louis Malcmacher, member of the Hebrew Academy Executive Board and parent of one of the graduates. Rabbi Simcha Dessler, Educational Director, praised the graduates for their accomplishments and expressed that when they leave the nurturing atmosphere of the Academy, our graduates will have the ability to teach those around them by the example they present. Rabbi Dessler then awarded the prestigious Beatrice Stone Midos Award, which includes a full year scholarship to a teacher’s seminary in Israel, to Soroh Tova Greenfeld. Rabbi Naphtali Burnstein, representing the Vaad Hachinuch, exhorted the girls to continue the derech personified by their excellent mechanchim and moros. Rabbi Avrohom Schwartz, presented the Hendel Berliner Awards to Chana Hellman, Shira Shamovic, and Devorah Appel. The audience listened raptly as Rabbi Schwartz explained that the essence of this award is a tribute to his grandmother, Mrs. Hendel Berliner, who survived the Holocaust in Siberia and merited to raise a wonderful Yiddishe family in the United States. Hebrew and General Studies Valedictorian, Miriam Schonfield, expressed hakaras hatov to the Ribbono Shel Olam for the amazing world in which we live. Co-Hebrew Salutatorian, Chana Hellman thanked the teachers for years of devotion, explaining that just as the s’char for a mitzvah encompasses all those who impact the mitzvah, so the graduates’ future accomplishments in mitzvos and maasim tovim will be based on the foundation provided by Yavne staff. Shira Schamovic, co-Hebrew Salutatorian explained that the Bnei Yisroel needed the experiences of forty years in the midbar to prepare themselves for life in Eretz Yisroel, and the graduates needed the knowledge and guidance of their teachers to prepare them for the years ahead. Devorah Appel, the General Studies Salutatorian, concluded with a challenge to the students to continue their studies and dedication to becoming Bnos Yisroel. The ceremony concluded with the presentation of diplomas by Mrs. Neche Moerman, Principal of Yavne, Mrs. Lois Mager, Assistant Principal, and on behalf of the Board of Directors, Mr. Ivan Soclof and Mr. Reuven Dessler. The Beis Medrash/Junior High School commencement exercises were held at the Hebrew Academy Auditorium. Chaired by Rabbi Eli Speiser, each of the twenty-three graduates delivered a brief dvar Torah and expressed gratitude to the school. Awarding the diplomas, Rabbi Simcha Dessler charged the graduates to continue their commitment to Torah and its ideals. Rabbi Asher Newman and Rabbi Menachem Meisels recognized the achievements of the students and lauded the commitment of the dedicated staff of the Sapirstein campus. May our graduates continue to learn, grow, and serve as a source of nachas to their families and school. MAZEL TOV TO THE GRADUATES OF 5762/2002 2
Fourteen talmidim of the Academy’s Yeshiva Ketana Division traveled to Chicago and represented the school as finalists of the V’Dibarta Bam Mishnayos Program. This national program perpetuates the memory of the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust and involves rigorous exams on Mishnayos mastered during the after school enrichment classes offered throughout the year. Rabbi C.D. Keller, Chicago Telshe Rosh Yeshiva, and Rabbi Y. Shapiro, founder of V’Dibarta Bam, were very impressed with the boys knowledge and diligence. "The whole trip was a Kiddush Hashem," said Rabbi Hillel Drazin, Academy coordinator of this program. "The way the boys conducted themselves was an inspiration to me. On their own initiative they organized learning during the bus trip to Chicago, and took upon themselves to say Tehillim for Eretz Yisroel on the way back." V’DIBARTA BAM Israeli Minister of Health MK Nissim Dahan addressed the student body of Yavne High School encouraging the students to take full advantage of the excellent Judaic program offered at the school. (L-R): Mrs. Neche Moerman, Mrs. Dahan, MK Nissim Dahan, Rabbi Simcha Dessler, Rabbi Eli Dessler. The visit was coordinated by the Jewish Community Federation. 3 The construction of the new, state-of-the-art Beatrice J. Stone Yavne Building has progressed very well and is scheduled for completion by the end of July. The results are very impressive. We look forward to the community having an opportunity to experience this new facility! BEATRICE J. STONE YAVNE HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING UPDATE Excitement mounted as talmidim helped move tables, chairs, and shtenders to a magnificent, new Beis Medrash in the Yeshiva High School. Rebbeim and bochrim danced enthusiastically as they escorted the Sifrei Torah and Aron Kodesh to the new Beis Medrash. Rabbi Chaim Stein, Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe and Chairman of the Academy’s Vaad HaChinuch addressed a large audience of principals, Rebbeim, students, and guests. Rabbi Stein expressed his tefillah that the Junior and Yeshiva High School should continue to benefit from the Shechina which rests upon them, and the talmidim should grow mechayil el chayil. CHANUKAS BEIS MEDRASH AT SAPIRSTEIN CAMPUS
4 INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN THE CURRICULUM The Hebrew Academy recently held its third annual Technology Night. This program allows parents the opportunity to gather in the Computer Lab and watch their fourth graders demonstrate computer expertise as they enrich fine motor coordination, writing, spelling, reading skills, and artistic endeavors. The students deftly navigate through computer software and display the personal and professionalquality materials they created using Hyperstudio. Other grades have used the Inspiration program which involves concept mapping and organizing ideas as well as Microsoft Publisher which allows students a format to create brochures describing the countries they research in Social Studies. Technology remains an important tool for motivating, training, and providing skills to our students. The Sixth Grade Intergenerational Speakers Program featured grandparents and parents who spoke about growing up in distant places and often living through harrowing times. Each speaker vividly transported the girls to cities in Israel, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, and the former Soviet Union. The girls will long remember the incidents related to them, and the dominant message conveyed by each speaker – "Appreciate the freedom granted in the United States, and use this freedom to study hard in school, practice your Yiddishkeit as you should, and work on yourself to become true Bnos Yisroel." INTERGENERATIONAL SPEAKERS PROGRAM Beatrice Stone Yavne High School joined day schools around the country to rally in Washington, D.C. and show support for our brethren in Eretz Yisroel. In a related effort, Academy children, in conjunction with Magen David Adom, raised $1,600 towards a community-wide ambulance campaign.
The Phil and Mary Edlis Elementary School Science Fair showcased dozens of experiments carefully conducted by eager students who now fully understand the scientific method. Fourth graders delighted their parents with their knowledge of United States history and geography at the annual Fourth Grade States’ Fair. SCIENCE AND STATE FAIRS The third grade girls ended this year with an act of chesed. They traveled to a local library to stage a special musical performance for the Holocaust Survivors Group that meets there under the auspices of the Jewish Family Service Association. The girls presented ten songs which provided a musical review of the many important lessons they had learned over the year, with emphasis on Eretz Yisroel and the importance of tefillah. The senior citizens were visibly moved by the presentation and enthusiasm that the girls displayed. PERFORMANCE FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS GROUP Third grade girls speaking with Mrs. Shoshana Smilovitz of the Holocaust Survivors Group. 5 The school’s general dictum to promote midos tovos / character development, which is incorporated into the curriculum, was recently noted by the Character Education Partnership, a national group promoting character development throughout the country. The Hebrew Academy was awarded a National Schools of Character Practices Citation, to be presented at its national forum in October in Atlanta, Georgia. In the congratulatory letter sent to Rabbi Yitzchak Kasnett, MS, General Studies Principal at the Academy, the Character Education Partnership stated, "We are grateful that we will be able to share your exemplary program to serve as a model for others across the country to replicate and integrate into their own character education initiative." CHARACTER EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP AWARD Beatrice Stone Yavne High School students recently held their annual Shavuos Flower Sale. This year, Yavne students doubled their efforts and proceeds benefited the community of Tifrach in Eretz Yisroel. When is a cookbook more than a compilation of delicious recipes? When it is the 2002 Preschool Cookbook of HAC. Preschool teachers, parents, and students collaborated to create a delightful collage of recipes and memories. The cookbook was divided into categories for easy reference. Each section began with recipes from teachers. Each page featured the favorite recipe of a preschooler, a photo of the preschooler, and the preschooler’s comment on the recipe presented. This memory cookbook of over 120 recipes is a fine keepsake and a sweet reminder of the many interactive, hands-on activities that make preschool so outstanding. THE HAC PRESCHOOL COOKBOOK
6 Seventh graders of the Beatrice Stone Yavne High School piecing together a quilt for the HAC’s Chinese Auction. “United We Stand” as parents, staff, and friends of the Academy volunteered countless hours to make the annual Chinese Auction a resounding success. Truly, we can be proud of the partnership formed between branches of the Academy family dedicated to furthering the education of our children. Co-Chairs, Chaykie Mann and Rivky Wolf The Hebrew Academy Boys Choir Rabbi N.T. Baron, honored for four decades of harbotzas Torah at the Hebrew Academy, is recognized by (L-R): Mr. Ivan A. Soclof, Rabbi Eli Dessler, Rabbi N.W. Dessler, and Rabbi Simcha Dessler. Dr. Alan and Debbie Schlesinger, Dr. Howard and Suri Goldman, co-chairs of the 59th Scholarship Campaign Dinner. Chaim and Hali Gottesman, recipients of the Alumni Award, flanked by (L-R): Mr. Ivan A. Soclof, Rabbi N.W. Dessler, and Rabbi Simcha Dessler. 59TH SCHOLARSHIP CAMPAIGN DINNER HIGHLIGHTS CHINESE AUCTION
continued on page 8 ALUMNI NACHAS 7 DVAR TORAH FROM AN ALUMNUS Rabbi Zvi Einstadter, Ner Israel Rabbinical College Baltimore, Maryland Among the latter prophecies of Yechezkel that outline the dimensions of the Third Temple in the times of Moshiach - may it be rebuilt speedily in our days – is a prophecy regarding a miraculous spring of water that will flow from the Kodesh Kodoshim. The Talmud describes its supernatural quality thus: The spring, was the size of a nearly imperceptible locust’s beak. By the time it reached the gates of the Temple building, it had the thickness of a thread of a "shesi," a warp. Once it reached the outer hall, it became as thick as a thread of the "arev," a woof… The stream continued to widen gradually until it became a mighty stream through which Yechezkel could not pass, for the waters had swollen to form an impassable stream. In the future, the waters of this stream will sustain every aquatic species and will nourish every manner of tree and plant life whose fruits will yield medicinal cures for all the ills of mankind. Rashi explains that the leaves of these plants will open the mouths of the dumb and the wombs of the barren. Yechezkel states that these miraculous waters draw their curative powers from their source, the Kodesh Kodoshim, and therefore, whatever they touch is infused with purity; whatever they produce is blessed. All the creations of the universe, from the inanimate rock to man himself, will achieve physical and spiritual perfection once these waters have washed over them. This futuristic prophecy is a paradigm for every spiritual process, not only those that will occur in Messianic times. The nature of any and every spiritual endeavor is dependent on the two conditions that applied to the stream that Yechezkel describes: (1) its source must be from the Kodesh Kodoshim, and (2) in its initial stages, it is almost invisible to the eye of flesh and blood. All institutions and teachers of Torah must toil to become “Kodesh Kodoshim” so that from them may flow the pure and holy waters to the students of Torah. The students of Torah, though initially appearing to be little affected by their Torah education, as they progress, slowly but surely, the “locust’s beak” develops into an “impassable stream” until, when witnessing the gushing, swollen waters, one cannot believe that they were once a mere trickle. The hundreds of alumni of the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland are testimony to the truth of Yechezkel’s prophecy. We all imbibed our first drops of the sacred waters of Torah in the elementary school classrooms of the Academy, and now, years later, we are a mighty force serving as Rebbeim, Mechanchim, Heads of Torah-true households, Askonim, and Gomlei Chasodim – an impassable stream. May it be the Will of Hashem that our school, the spring that emanates from the Holy of Holies, never run dry, and that the knowledge of Hakodesh Boruch Hu will inundate the world, heralding the advent of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. ALUMNI CORNER ENGAGEMENTS AND MARRIAGES Naftali Greenwald to Giti Lefkowitz Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Yochanan Greenwald Ezra Bennett to Alanna Schwartz Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Bennett Eli Neuman to Shifra Weinreb Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Dovid Neuman and Mr. and Mrs. Lazar Neuman Noach Scheinbaum to Michal Rhein Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Leibel Scheinbaum Dovid Ireland to Gittel Mintz Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Gershon Ireland Shmuel Barkin to Rena Green Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Dovid Barkin Avromi Cudeck to Dina Davidowics Mazel Tov to Mrs. Penina Cudeck Ronit Gamzeh to Eli Pasternak Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Josh Gamzeh Hadassa Rivka Mann to Noam Kutoff Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Moshe Yehuda Mann and Rabbi and Mrs. M.Z. Mann Dina Koval to Aryeh Leib Freedman Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Mordechai Koval Chaya Liba Plotnik to Mordechai Cohen Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Naftoli Plotnik and Mr. and Mrs. Sol Abraham Esther Klahr to Dovid Farkas Hadassah Klahr to Chaim Weisberg Malky Klahr to Yossi Rennert Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Pinchus Klahr Dena Freedman to Yossi Modes Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe Freedman Yoni Kraut to Michal Harari Maael Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Klein and Mr. Arthur Kraut Dassy Levine to Shaya Shtern Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Arnold Levine and Mr. and Mrs. Simcha Roth Aliza Schwartz to Jeremy Cassius Mazel Tov to Dr. and Mrs. Moshe Berger Yonit Dickman to Yona Rothenstein Mazel Tov to Dr. and Mrs. Elliot Dickman and Mrs. Bertha Lautman Brocha Levitansky to Duvi Sauber Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Sroy Levitansky BAR MITZVAHS Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Greenfeld and Aryeh Mr. and Mrs. Zvi Feigenbaum and Yehuda Rabbi and Mrs. Simcha Mann and Yisroel Nosson Mr. and Mrs. Alex Jakobowitch and Chaim Dr. and Mrs. Nosson Goldfarb and Yehuda Leib Rabbi and Mrs. Chaim Feld and Shloime
NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID HEBREW ACADEMY OF CLEVELAND Hebrew Academy of Cleveland 1860 South Taylor Road Cleveland, Ohio 44118 Change Service Requested sbkchkes lubjv ,hc kfgraphics Design by KF Graphics • 216.421.8520 “A PEOPLE SURVIVES AS LONG AS IT TRANSMITS ITS HERITAGE FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT” Rabbi and Mrs. Avrohom Schwartz and Doni Dr. and Mrs. Stanley Warn and Avraham Dr. and Mrs. Baruch Gordon and Avraham Rabbi and Mrs. Menachem Meisels and Moshe Dr. and Mrs. Mark Winters and Herschel BIRTHS Rabbi and Mrs.Tzvi Yoel Dessler (girl) Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe L. Singer (girl) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Reuven Dessler and Rabbi and Mrs. N.W. Dessler Dr. and Mrs. Eli Feen (girl) Mr. and Mrs. Steve Bluestone (girl) Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Sruly Wolf and Rebetzin Anna Moses Rabbi and Mrs. Menachem Meisels (boy) Mazel Tov to Rabbi Yosef Meisels Drs. Eric and Jodi Eleff (boy) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Ted Cohn Rabbi and Mrs. Dovi Kutoff (girl) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Murray Koval Mr. and Mrs. Eli Gunzburg (boy) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Louis Schonfeld Mr. and Mrs. Levi Hodakov (girl) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Weiszner Rabbi and Mrs. Yisroel Yehuda Feifer (girl) Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Abish Feifer Dr. and Mrs. Alan Schlesinger (boy) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Klein and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Schlesinger Rabbi and Mrs. Benzion Pernikoff (girl) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Aron Bloch Mr. and Mrs. Yossi Hefter (boy) Mazel Tov to Mrs. Lillian Hefter Mr. and Mrs. Dovid Lando (boy) Rabbi and Mrs. Chaim Moshe Levy (boy) Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe Reuven Barkin Rabbi and Mrs. Pinky Friedman (boy) Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Elozor Mann and Rabbi and Mrs. M.Z. Mann Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Kaufman (boy) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Morton Kaufman Mr. and Mrs. Edward Moskovitz (girl) Mazel Tov to Mr. Aharon Moskovitz Rabbi and Mrs. Ari Fireman (boy) Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Wasserman (girl) Mr. and Mrs Bumi Goldstein (boy) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Yaacov Pollack Rabbi and Mrs. Shalom Ginsberg (girl) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Dovid Lipins Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Edelstein (boy) Mr. and Mrs. Heshy Neiman (boy) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Yossi Abraham Mr. and Mrs. Mordecai Matitia (girl) Mazel Tov to Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Matitia Give The Gift That Keeps On Giving Create an everlasting legacy with a gift or a bequest to the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland Endowment Fund. The Academy Endowment Fund insures Jewish continuity by providing a Jewish education to all children regardless of their financial capabilities. To contribute a gift, or to make provisions for a bequest represents a gift that keeps on giving. Additional dedications and opportunities are available. For further information, contact Rabbi Eli Dessler at 216-321-5838 Ext. 160 Give The Gift That Keeps On Giving Give The Gift That Keeps On Giving Hebrew Academy of Cleveland Dean: RABBI N.W. DESSLER IRVING I. STONE, k”z Board Chairman (1976-2000) IVAN A. SOCLOF, President MORRY WEISS, Immediate Past President MELVIN WAXMAN, Board Vice Chairman Educational Director: RABBI SIMCHA DESSLER Financial Director: RABBI ELI DESSLER Editor: MRS. SELMA HELLMAN HEBREW ACADEMY NEWS • AV 5762 / JULY 2002