Just thrilled

Just thrilled:  to have been present last Thursday evening for The Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys Night of learning.  Fifteen young men presented oral and written d’vrei Torah on topics that they have been learning lishma – on their own, outside of class, just to fulfill their yearning to learn Torah.  They learned with rabbis, community members, and members of the Yeshiva Gedola.  They brought scholarship and fresh ideas to their topics.  Their printed booklet and source sheets kept everyone involved.  It was a night to remember and to seek to replicate many times in the future.  click on the link below to see what  you missed!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdm6fg2Ji6L6C_eWk1YWoJCCQhhccWA7O

Just thrilled:  to have been invited to the Early childhood’s Pesach party where children and their parents and extended family had the opportunity to color, do crafts projects, play games, snack, and generally interact in a wonderfully positive way. Kudos to the teachers who designed and monitored the activities.  This was in addition to the model seders these children had early in the day.

Just thrilled:  to have watched the second grade Pesach play performed entirely in Hebrew. The students were wonderful.  They enunciated their parts with dramatic flare, and danced and sung with delight.  They were beautifully attired in bright costumes, and the scenery visually recreated ancient Egypt.  All in all a delightful event.     

Just thrilled: to learn that Dovid Yehoshua Samuels has had his sixth poem published this year.  Here is the link  http://www.freshinkforteens.com/articles/passover-free-verse

Just thrilled:  to learn that Sarah Broniscer’s Holocaust essay has won first place in this year’s Jewish Federation contest.  You can find a copy of the essay at metzuyan.blogspot.com

Walking through the magillah

What a fabulous surprise I had this morning!  As I walked down the front hall of the school, I walked through the Magillah.  The walls were totally covered with the text and the most gorgeous illustrations of the Purim story. This was the ingenious creation of our Bat Ami girls - Moriya and Naomi, with the help of the Torah Metzion boys.  We cannot thank you enough for all of this!

The Joys of a K-12 School

There is so much going on all of the time in all of the divisions of our school.  Not only is it a pleasure to be here.  It is just plain fun!!

Every division celebrated the New Year of trees with a variety of activities.  Morah Hemda, Morah Talya and Moreh Shimshon prepared wonderful sedarim for their students  that included: songs, biographical sketches researched by students and delivered in Hebrew, and plates full of the fruits from the trees of Israel.  The pre-k 4 celebrated by visiting Home Depot and touring the nursery there.  They learned about how trees grow, what kind of soil is necessary and what kind of fertilizer works best.  The staff of Home Depot was so impressed with our students that they offered to adopt us as a school, promising to send out a tree specialist to canvas our grounds and determine the best place to plant trees.  You can see a tree sample outside of the pre-k 4 classroom full of beautiful blossoms. 

While 10 of our high school students were in Connecticut participating in Yeshiva University’s Model United Nations, another 12 high school students were competing downtown in District Court against local schools in Mock Trial. 

I returned from Connecticut in time to catch a Friday assembly run by the RiverKings Hockey organization who came to present David Finkelstein and the sixth grade with a check and free game tickets for an award-winning essay and also to answer students’ questions about hockey.

Our Facing History leadership committee has again been at work running workshops for 7^th, 8^th , and 9^th grade boys.  The theme this year is bullying.  They adeptly introduce scenarios, run discussions and leave students with important messages to take beyond the classroom. 

 Adar was ushered in with a school-wide song and breakfast fest.  High school students accompanied early childhood, elementary, and junior high students to the gym where our school band was playing Jewish music and everyone caught the beat and started dancing.  We were treated to some humorous renditions of popular songs by Rabbi Gersten, some great costumes ( especially Rabbi Baldinger’s ), and a delicious breakfast prepared by Sandra Osdoba, assisted by Tonya and Steve,  and made possible through the generosity of Michael Schneider ( brother of our very own Francie) in memory of his parents, David and Rita Schneider z"l  and the Graber Family in honor of Evelyn Graber’s birthday.

Bluma Zuckerbrodt Finkelstein did an instructive and entertaining presentation to the upper school on the upcoming elections in Israel, highlighting the major parties, their representatives, and their campaign advertising.  Students were able to ask penetrating questions and make important comparisons to our own government and elections.

Students have been arriving in costumes all week – animal costumes, creative and silly hats, career day costumes and a wonderful tribute to Dr. Seuss on his birthday.  Children have been bounding out of their cars in the morning at carpool, anxious to see what their friends are wearing and to show off their own creations.  The mood has been enhanced by activities and decorations produced by our Bat Ami girls:  Moriya Ben Hemo and Naomi Tenenbaum, and the hallways are filled with the mouthwatering smells of freshly baked hamentashen. The fun continues with chagigot for the upper school packed with Purim shtick and carnivals on Shushan Purim.  Not to be forgotten, there are reminders in all divisions to remember to give tzedaka before Purim begins.

While some high school students are away at AIPAC, the rest of the upper school students watched Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, via live streaming, and followed this up with meaningful analysis and discussion. 

Meanwhile the high school girls have been doing a series of follow up activities based on the Shabbos Project of last fall.  They provided an enjoyable learning experience for upper elementary  students.   Watch the youtube link below to capture the essence.  Many thanks to Mrs. Malkah Harris for directing and facilitating this activity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbriv0kyp2o

They are continuing to volunteer with Special Olympics Bowling on Mondays.  In their free time, they are planning and preparing for their upcoming shabbaton and winter trip to St. Louis, while squeezing in rehearsal time for an upcoming play, soon to be followed by their annual gala dinner. 

  

The third graders are busy preparing for their Purim play, this Friday, under the able direction of Anat Kampf.  The first graders have just completed their Siddur Presentation, a sparkling array of songs and dances prepared by Yehudit Soleman, Linda Schlesinger, Ricky Kampf, and Shimshon Soleman. Every Friday there is an assembly before dismissal featuring a d’var Torah by one class and a short presentation by another class.

Learning outside of the classroom continues for our high school boys.  There are mishmar nights twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where boys select what they want to learn in a beit midrash environment. There is additional learning  and Kiddush after davening on Shabbat mornings.

May we all be blessed to continue with all of these endeavors in the future. What a fine place to work!!

YUNMUN XXV

This is perhaps the twentieth time that I have accompanied students from the MHA to Yeshiva University’s Model UN.  I still have vivid memories of Howie Knopf representing Iraq in the Security Council when a fabricated crisis in February of 1990 had Iraq invading a neighboring state, a very prescient fabrication indeed.  This year 10 students, 5 high school boys and 5 high school girls have accompanied me to the twenty-fifth National Model UN conference.  The students represent Mexico and New Zealand and are placed on 10 different committees helping to resolve some of the world’s most serious crises.  They  have researched, written about, and now are speaking about their plans for the resolution of these major problems. It is a wonderful intellectual activity.  In so many ways, it gets to the heart of what twenty-first century learning is all about – comprehending the issues, collaborating, being able to communicate ideas in multiple venues, carrying out independent research.  More than that, it allows the students to do all of this in an Orthodox atmosphere where davening and benching, are just as important as writing a resolution, where there are opportunities to attend shiurim and to learn from outstanding international personalities, where there are 450 Orthodox young men and women from North America, South Africa and Brazil.

All of the participants had the very special opportunity to hear a speech by Rabbi Saul Berman, who seamlessly connected a d’var Torah about the attributes of Moshe Rabbeinu and chapter 3 of the Rambam's Moreh Nevuchim to his own personal experiences during the Civil Rights movement in Selma, Alabama. In Selma, Rabbi Berman was arrested twice in one week. He was first arrested on T’aanit Esther, and found himself reading Megillat Esther in prison, Because of his refusal to ride a bus on Shabbat, he unexpectedly found himself the leader of his own march of 350 people, all of whom marched with him in solidarity with his observance of Shabbat, from prison to a meeting room, through the heart of a White racist neighborhood bent on violence toward Civil Rights activists. He left all of us with the inspiring and uplifting message that like Moshe Rabbeinu, sometimes we have to stand up and fight; sometimes we have to intervene in a tough situation in order to iron things out; and sometimes we have to be an upstander, not just for klal Yisroel, but for others.

Learning to give

The school has always been steeped in the tradition of giving to others and helping the less fortunate.  For years the girls in the girls high school have helped serve free Thanksgiving lunches to the homeless.  Both high schools use Rosh Hodesh as days to spend time volunteering around the city – working with Alzheimers patients, head start students, recovering alcoholics or visiting with patients at the VA Hospital.  High School girls participate in Special Olympics Bowling every Monday afternoon.  Our boys high school has helped people victimized by tornadoes and storms restore their properties.  High school students have participated in Habitat for Humanity projects as character- building activities.  Over the years students have spearheaded tzedakah campaigns for food banks, shoes and coats for needy Israelis, and collecting money for various charitable causes, including our local Federation, as well as Israeli programs.  But what has become some of the most noteworthy and commendable efforts,  have been the activities initiated and guided by Mrs. Sandra Gersten, Elementary Principal.  Last Thanksgiving the students loaded tote bags with toiletries they collected and personal notes they inscribed for the homeless, as they have done for a number of years.  Additionally, they made and distributed colorful flannel blankets.  All of this was done as part of the school’s annual Thanksgiving Day celebration.  Last Thursday, the elementary school students, in conjunction with volunteers from Plough Towers, made over 400 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to distribute to an organization which feeds the needy.  The experience was significant for the students as well as the volunteers.  Students continue to bring in nonperishable food items for a MIFA food bank.  The administrators and teachers do an excellent job in transmitting to our students the importance of lending a helping hand in as many ways as possible, to as many people as possible, within and outside of our community. Kudos go to those people who have made this all possible and to our wonderful students who understand first- hand the importance of helping others.

Getting Into the Classroom

 Earlier this year I directed my teachers to think about times in which they could invite parents into the classrooms in order for the parents to get a feel for what actually is transpiring and to get parents to have access to our school during the school day, so that they can look at our displays and classrooms, pick up on the excitement and enthusiasm, and appreciate the level of the work that our students are producing.  I did not want this to be a “show piece” that required hours of work, preparation, and rehearsals on the part of the students or the teachers.  That would prove to be counterproductive.  What I wanted was for the parents to see what the students normally do and how comfortable they are with their required work, and how excited they are to share it with others.  These visits should be on a small scale, so that parents, grandparents and relatives can share the time in a meaningful way with one child, and not feel rushed or conflicted about which child gets the parents’ undivided attention

Brittney Friedman's first graders have been working on a habitat project, and this morning they got to share those projects with their parents.  Each student had selected an animal to research. Brittney had prepared worksheets for the children to complete as they were researching their animals.  From the information on their worksheets, they created sentences and paragraphs about the size, diet, life span, and environment of their animals.  They wrote out these answers by hand into individual booklets, which they all read perfectly, and accompanied their written explanations with their own drawings.  Finally, they all created individual dioramas of their animals in the appropriate habitat.  All this work was accomplished in school, without the input of the parents.  This project incorporated many of the best practices in twenty-first century education – higher order thinking, even for first graders, researching with technology, expository writing which includes correct grammar, handwriting, and artistic creativity, as well as the ability to articulate the information they had uncovered. The children were absolutely delighted with their own work and the work of their classmates.  Not only did they become experts on one particular animal, like tarantulas or river otters, but they quickly integrated all of the vital information from their classmates’ projects, as well. That made them experts on nine different animal species. The entire presentation took just under 20 minutes!

 

 Throughout the year, parents and family members will have opportunities to share the educational experiences of their children in a variety of different venues and formats.  Look forward to a sophisticated project coming up in sixth grade next week and our Chumash presentation in December.

Who Will Live and Who Will Die?

This morning the junior high students and the 11^th and 12^th grade girls had the privilege of hearing from Leah Kaufman and Helen Yermus, two Holocaust survivors and long time friends, who each shared their unique stories.  Leah was born in Rumania, while Helen was born in Kovno, Lithuania.  Both were very young children at the time of the NAZI conquests of their native countries, who witnessed first hand the unspeakable brutality of the Nazis and their supporters.  They spoke with great emotion and quiet eloquence about their earliest memories, their fear and hopelessness, their yearnings and sufferings, about finding themselves orphaned and alone in the most treacherous of all circumstances.  They shared with their audience those few words or unspoken signs that forced them onward, that kept them from surrendering to the fate of their friends and family.  Their childhood was abruptly stolen from them. Overnight they learned to live by their wits and cunning, in order to survive.  Like so many other survivors, they were plagued with questions like, “Why was I spared?”  Both women, whose experiences were so different, yet at the most basic level, so similar, came to the same conclusion.  We were spared to speak the truth, to tell our stories, to keep alive the memories of our past, of our loved ones, of our tradition and heritage, to educate the next generation of Jews.  We are that next generation.  It is up to us now to deliver those messages.

Leah Kaufman’s experiences can be found in her profoundly moving autobiography, Live! Remember! Tell the World! The Story of a Hidden Child Survivor of Transnistria.  Leah is the mother of Dr. Seth Kaufman and the grandmother of Jonah, Talya, Elaina, and Ariana Kaufman.  Both Leah and Helen are in Memphis to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Talya to Aryeh Sand.