תושדח Inside the Academy - Hebrew Academy of Cleveland

‫חדשות‬: Inside the Academy
February 19, 2016 | ‫פרשת תצוה | י' אדר א' תשע''ו‬
‫בס''ד‬
www.hac1.org
Educationally Speaking
Rabbi Simcha Dessler, Educational Director
Upcoming Events:
FEBRUARY 22
Yavne Production
“Almost Home”
7:30 p.m.
(see attached flier)
• • • • • •
FEBRUARY 24
Mrs. Tammy Karmel
Lecture for Women
(see attached flier)
• • • • • •
MARCH 13
HAC 73rd Scholarship Tribute
Dinner
6:00 p.m.
at Yavne High School
The story is told of a young (Rabbi) Chaim Shmulevitz who later became a world renowned
Torah personality. He entered the great citadel of Novardok and asked his uncle, the Rosh
Yeshiva, to identify the singularly most gifted student in his yeshiva.
His uncle pointed to one student, indicating that he is the most diligent of all. He identified a
second student as the most learned of all. He then selected a third student and commented
that he was blessed with a unique capacity for depth and understanding of concepts. “But,
who is the best talmid?” asked Rav Chaim. His uncle responded by identifying yet another
student explaining that he was in a league of his own due to his incredible desire for spiritual
growth. Indeed, that particular talmid was destined to become a giant of our generation, the
Steipler Gaon, Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel Kanievsky, zt”l.
In this week’s parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu is instructed to speak to the chachmei lev, wise
hearted individuals, who have been invested with a spirit of wisdom (28:3). How does one
become a chacham lev? Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz, zt”l, again, comments that to understand
the concept of chacham lev is to study the process of how Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of
all men, attained his insight. It was precisely Shlomo HaMelech’s extraordinary desire for
wisdom that enabled him to be granted the gift of unprecedented wisdom. Clearly, when an
individual strives for something meaningful, the Almighty becomes a partner in the worthy
endeavor and facilitates its pursuit and achievement.
An ambition to attain wisdom and understanding represents our first request, recited in the
daily Shemoneh Esrei. Rabbi Dr. Eli Munk in The World of Prayer (Feldheim) explains that
this desire has been the secret of Jewish strength through centuries of suffering and exile
and has been implanted deep within the consciousness of the neshama, the Jewish soul.
Ambition and determination have multiple implications. To the Jew, an ambition for wisdom
or for any element of spiritual growth is a fundamental ingredient in Jewish life. The dual
forces of challenge and opportunity in our society often cloud our perspectives. In fact,
those forces should motivate us to prioritize and focus on the meaningful aspects of our
lives, rather than the mundane.
Throughout the history of our people, our great sages have displayed ambition marked by a
greater sense of purpose. Their resolution, far beyond the physical and materialistic domains, represents a vision which has consistently served not merely themselves, but a collective klal Yisrael. It reflects an ardent desire to make the world a better, more secure place
to live in.
5:46
This is what Jewish life and Jewish education are all about. Our children, guided by parents
and educators, should be influenced and infused with a love and an appreciation of our
mesorah, our heritage and a burning desire to lead meaningful, Torah-true lives as productive and contributing members of society.
Have a wonderful Shabbos!
I NSIDE T HE A C ADE MY
P AGE 2
Yeshiva High School
This week the Rebbeim, Kollel and high school talmidim were privileged to get a glimpse into the life of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Baron as he
reminisced on his past on the occasion of his birthday. Following
divrei bracha from Rabbi Busel and dancing, Rabbi Baron spoke
about his bar-mitzvah in Lithuania’s Telshe Yeshiva. Rabbi Baron
shared the history of Telshe Yeshiva during the war years and some
stories about his Rebbi, the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Elya Meir Bloch zt”l.
It was a rare opportunity to connect first-hand with the history of the
previous generation and learn from their greatness. Rabbi Baron’s presence will be missed as he plans on
moving to Eretz Yisroel in the coming months but the standard and memories he has created will always remain.
In recognition of their excellence during davening, Rabbi Meisels’ shiur was rewarded with a lunch outing to
Issi’s Place. The Yeshiva prides itself on its standard of tefilah and works to inculcate the talmidim with an appreciation of the opportunity that tefilah affords to bond with Hashem. Congratulations to Rabbi Meisels’ talmidim for their efforts; keep up the good work!
Mazel tov to the latest winners of the bi-weekly Kesser Chazzara raffles, Yosef Rappaport and Menachem
Smilovitz. Review is the key to success and the Yeshiva is proud of the amount of talmidim participating in the
program. This upcoming week the Yeshiva will be administering a written test on all the material that has been
learned since the beginning of the school year. May the talmidim have much hatzlacha.
Yeshiva Ketana
A special mazel tov to Mordechai Blech in 4th grade (Rabbi Drazin),
Shlomo Aryeh Blech in 5th grade (Rabbi Klein) and Michoel Yuspeh in
3rd grade (Rabbi Matitia) who made siyumim this week in their classrooms for extra learning outside of school. Mordechai and Shlomo Aryeh completed Meseches Avodah Zara and Michoel completed Sefer
Tehillim. Many classes have been waiting for snow so that they could
go sledding at Cain Park. This week
proved to be just the right week as a lot of
Rebbeim have been waiting to take advantage of the wonderful incentive of sledding
for their classes! After an invigorating time going down the famous Cain Park hill,
the boys were treated to hot cocoa upon their return to school. Our lunchroom initiative continues to positively impact the talmidim who eagerly listen to stories told by
the Rebbeim. This week the three classes who earned the most points received
slices of yummy kokosh cake. A special trip is being planned for those classes that
have earned points during the last few months which will be announced soon.
Yosef Fertel, a talmid in Rabbi Klein’s 5th grade class, made a siyum this week on
Mesechtos Pe’ah, Shekalim and Chagigah to coincide with the Shloshim of his great-grandmother. May Yosef’s
hasmadah be an aliyah for Malka bas Shmuel.
P AGE 3
FE BR U AR Y
19, 2016
Girls Elementary Division
At right: Fourth grade Students playing “go fish” to review lashon
words.
We are working on savlanus, being patient, and shemira mikaas, not
getting angry easily. We heard how Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv from
Kelm had a special coat he would don every time he felt anger stirring and by the time he completed putting it on and buttoning all the
buttons many of those feelings had calmed down. We learned from
the Chasam Sofer how to stay calm and not allow anger to ruin the mitzvah of matzos on Pesach. We played a
game of guessing which characters in Tanach refrained from getting angry and which allowed their anger to
rule and the resultant damage that occurred. Be on the look-out for an original slogan contest in grades 4-6,
savlanus notes in the younger grades in addition to a variety of fun activities. Let’s see if we can exhibit these
admirable traits in school and away from school, in public and in the privacy of our homes!
Yavne High School
As everyone knows, Yavne is hard at work putting the final touches on what is sure to be a fabulous production - mark your calendars for this Monday, February 22nd. Doors open at 7:00 and the performance at 7:30.
The new directors, and our talented drama, choir and dance heads, are sure to give a fresh and modern influence on this production.
There are several fliers attached to this Chadashos that detail current Yavne initiatives and fundraisers. We
thank you in advance for your participation and support of these worthy endeavors!
Lost & Found
There will be a Lost and Found display in the girls dining room this Sunday from11:30-12:30. Many boys and
girls winter coats will be displayed. We hope these valuable items are reunited with their owners!
General Studies Division
Girls in Mrs. Martin's class celebrated
the completion of their information
books with a healthy publishing
party. The girls had a decorating contest using vegetables and hummus. Mrs. Greenberger provided delicious smoothies to toast their hard
work.
Continued on page 4
P AGE 4
FE BRU ARY
1 9, 2016
General Studies Division
Classroom Closeup from Ms.Schneider’s Kindergarten
Take a peek into Room #203 at any given moment and
you will see that it is always buzzing with excitement!
Our latest excitement? Over the first semester, we have
completed learning all the letters of the alphabet and
their sounds. We are now ready to be full-fledged readers! World of words, here we come! As soon as we got
back from winter break, we learned how to blend together cvc words (that's words that are comprised of a
consonant, vowel, consonant). Additionally, we are being introduced to high frequency words and sight
words. If that wasn't enough excitement, we have also
started reading from readers of the Wonders series.
Now that is what we call exciting!
In addition to reading, we are working on our writing skills. This is being done through the Writers Workshop program. Currently, we are
working on books with the subject
"How-to". Our first "How-to" book
was titled, How To Make A Sandwich and we all wrote about that.
We are now working on our second
"How-to" book, based on our own
decisions of what we think we are
good at and would like to teach others to do.
In math, we have learned to write and identify numerals
up to number 10. However, on an amost daily basis, we
count by 10s, 5s and 2s, when we review our 100 chart.
Did you know that we were almost at the 100th day of
school?!?!?
100 days of any grade can be quite an accomplishment.
But 100 days of kindergarten? Now that's quite a feat!
The annual President’s Day program occurred this
Monday with two separate performances. Rabbi Newman introduced the boys program and Mrs. Hefter the
girls program about having hakaros hatov for living in a
medinah of chesed where we can freely practice our
religion. Thank you to all the students who participated
in the program. The program was dedicated to the
memory of the unforgettable, Mrs. Sonya Feigenbaum,
the music teacher that first introduced the President’s
Day performance at the Hebrew Academy over 60
years ago. A special thank you to Mr. Yudi Silber for all
his work in making sure the program was a success.
Super Charged Dodge Ball!
What do you call a game that incorporates dodge ball, bowling, jumping
jacks, squats and sit ups? The 2nd
and 3rd grade students demonstrated their keen ability to follow directions to a complex new game, as
well as their impressive stamina,
when they were introduced them to
an innovative, fast paced game of an
advanced version of dodge ball. Rabbi Grodko particularly appreciated the persistence of a few of the boys
who did not, initially, fully comprehend the rules of the
game. Their resolve to work on clarifying the components of the activity
that they did not
understand
was
admirable. A special
thank you to Mr.
Bendzuck from the
Sapirstein campus
for
sharing
this
unique and fun filled
fitness activity with
Rabbi Grodko.
P AGE 5
FE BR U AR Y
19, 2016
General Studies Division (cont.)
Monthly Mindset Motivation
Sturman, Ruvain Busel Team Player: Eliezer Kaliff,
Congratulations to all of this month’s winners. We are Akiva Gecovich, Yakov Schlesinger
proud of the effort all of our students are putting in to Overall Academic: Shmuel Marozov, Meir Schnall, Ari
positive thinking, belief in themselves. And viewing Bernstein
difficulties as challenges to grow our brains rather than
Girls
unconquerable events.
Boys
1st Grade
Working Hard: Chava Levitin, Ahuva Malcmacher
Courageous:
Minna Halpern, Eliana Kupfer, Rikki
Working Hard: Meir Mann, Tzvi Yehudah Koval, Mendel
Friedman Courageous: Dovi Klarfeld Problem Solver: Lampert, Avigail Olgin
Shalom Zigdon, Shlomo Schwager Team Player: 2nd Grade
Aryeh Leib Goldbaum, Yitzy Silver
Working Hard: Toby Strauss, Miriam Soffer
Courageous: Sarah Matitia, Mariam Schottenstein
2nd Grade
Working Hard: Aviel Gottesman, Tuvia Borochovitz Problem Solver: Yehudis Fishman Team Player: Chani
Courageous: Gavi Krash, Eli Meir Rappaport Problem Sturman, Rochel Perman Overall Academic: Chayala
Solver: Avraham Weinberg, Doni Shawel Team Player: Maimon, Basya Greenberger
Avraham Mosenkis, Nosson Denton Overall Academic: 3 Grade
Chaim Tzvi Levitansky, Moshe Friedman
Working Hard: Racheli Boim, Goldi Aschkenasy
3 Grade
Courageous: Aviva Bonert, Penina Kaplan Problem
Working Hard: Avner Baskin, Akiva Kaye, Yehuda Solver: Adina Silver, Chana Levine Team Player:
Meystel, Yisroel Meir Smilovitz Courageous: Elya Eliana Friedner, Tzippy Fishman Overall Academic:
Cohen Team Player: Gavriel Taylor Overall Academic: Ahuva Schwartz
Moshe Yehuda Feldman
1st Grade
rd
rd
4 Grade
th
4 Grade
th
Working Hard: Chenya Silver
Courageous: Elisheva
Working Hard: Yisroel M. Borochovitz Courageous:
Yaakov Weimer Problem Solver: Zevi Modes Team
Player: Yehuda Zev Goldbaum Overall Academic: Ari
5 Grade
Shawel
Working Hard: Shaina Drazin Courageous: Devorah
5 Grade
Naomi Maimon Problem Solver: Riva Halpern
Working Hard: Aryeh Katz Courageous: Yehoshua Team Player: Oriya Baskin Overall Academic: Reena
Weimer Overall Academic: Benny Reich
Reichman, Avigayil Stelzer
Chafetz
Problem Solver: Yaeli Stelzer
Chana Friedman
Team Player:
Overall Academic: Dahlia Shtern
th
th
6 Grade
th
6 Grade
th
Working Hard: Yerucham Boim, Shauli Farkas, Eli
Kaliff, Yitzy Fleisher, Yehuda Goldstein Courageous: Working Hard: Rachel Leah Katz Courageous: Rena
Benjamin Choueka, Gilad Mosenkis, Tzvi Gutman Gunzburg Problem Solver: Rikki Kutoff Team Player:
Problem Solver: Mayer Greenberg Ezra Taylor, Shimmy Mindy Platschek Overall Academic: Rifky Spolter
P AGE 6
FE BRU ARY
1 9, 2016
Early Childhood Division
This week Morah Leah and Morah Rochel’s children learned the letter “zayin”
which begins the word zaidie. Zaidies were invited and Aron Klahr’s zaidie came
to visit. He explained to the children in detail how a CAT scan works, what the
machine looks like, what it does, and how it helps sick people. The children were
all fascinated by all this scientific information and Aron really enjoyed having his
zaidie be the center of attraction in his class. Also Mordechai Ribiat’s zaidie, Rabbi Meisels, came to visit in Morah Shani and
Morah Elisheva’s class. He asked the children what they were learning and about other words that begin with the letter “zayin.” We love when bubbies and zaidies and mommies and abbas come to visit and share their knowledge and
talents with us.
The ktan-tan children are learning about colors in Morah Nava and Morah
Dina’s class and in Morah Ronit and Morah Hadassah’s class. They
learned the color green and have been busy looking for objects in their
classroom that are green and also planting grass seed which will eventually
produce green grass.
Morah Chana and Morah Tova Chaya are talking to their children about the five senses and reading many books
that tell about seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. The children made their own binoculars and are
examining so many things, using their sense of sight. They also made a besamim ball using their sense of touch,
and now are smelling its lovely aroma.
Our four year olds have completed their unit on brachos and have held a special culminating event, an Amen
party. Each child brought in food upon which different brachos are recited. They all gathered downstairs in the
girls’ lunchroom and foods were distributed. Each class had a turn to recite each of the brachos and the other
classes answered amen after each bracha. Many of the amens were a zechus for a refuah shlaima for someone,
a shidduch, or parnassa. The children were encouraged to recite brachos out loud at home to give their family
members many opportunities to say Amen.
Registration has begun for the coming year. Please submit your paperwork to the preschool office as soon as
possible. If you need a registration packet please leave a message at 321-5838, ext. 132.
We keep asking for dessert recipes for our upcoming cookbook and, unfortunately, we still missing quite a few. If
you haven’t given in your recipe, please bring it in and put it on Mrs. Brocha Schiff’s desk.
To our preschool parents, we ask that you do not leave your car in the back of the building, on the playground,
after 9:20. The gates will be locked at that time.
Give & Get Program
Volunteers are needed for various upcoming projects. Opportunities are available for both men and
women, at home and in school. Please call Mrs. Esther Keller for more details at 216-321-5838, ext. 172.
P AGE 7
FE BRU ARY
1 9, 2016
Academy Hosts Dr. David Pelcovitz
On Wednesday, the Academy hosted nationally renowned author, lecturer and
psychologist, Dr. David Pelcovitz who provided professional development for the
entire spectrum of the Academy’s staff. In attendance were the Limudei Kodesh
and General Studies staffs of every division of the school. Dr. Pelcovitz, Professor, Straus Chair in Psychology and Education, Azreili Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration of Yeshiva University in New York addressed
the topic of The At Risk Child; Strategies For Working With Students Presenting
With Disruptive Behaviors, Attention Deficit Or Rebellious Behavior. At a separate session which was geared to parents and the community, Dr. Pelcovitz’s
topic was Raising Your Child To Be A Mentch. Both talks were most informative and enthusiastically received.
Stay Warm and Save Money !
HAC and CenStar Energy are partnering once again to save you money and help the Hebrew Academy raise
money. Find your Dominion bill and compare your rate! If you are paying more than $2.99mcf contact Mrs.
Suri Goldman at 216-339-2006 or email your Dominion bill to [email protected].
$50 Give n’ Get credit applies for each enrollment. Commercial accounts are welcome too.
Condolences to

Mr. Matt Kaliff on the loss of his father Mr. Mendel Kaliff, ‫ז‘‘ל‬.

Mrs. Peppi Weisz, Mrs. Linda Bookman, and Mr. Michael Weisz and families on the passing of their husband, father and grandfather, Mr. George Weisz, ‫ז‘‘ל‬.
.‫המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים‬
Mazel Tov! !‫ מזל טוב‬Mazel Tov! !‫ מזל טוב‬Mazel Tov! !‫מזל טוב‬

Mr. & Mrs. Dovid Chavkin on the birth of a son

Rabbi & Mrs. Chaim Feld on the engagement of Chaya to Ahron Tzvi Kasper of Passaic

Mr. & Mrs. Hershel Itzinger on the bar mitzvah of a great grandson

Rabbi & Mrs. Shlomo Moerman on the engagement of their granddaughter, Tzipora
Neuman to Nochum Tzvi Charlop of University Hts. Mazel tov to Mr. Lazer Neuman.
2/16/2016
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Hebrew Academy of Cleveland
Friday, March 11th – Sunday, March 20th
Sunday 11am-6pm & Monday-Saturday 10am-9pm
1471 SOM Center Road Mayfield Heights
4051 Richmond Road Warrensville Heights
‫בס"ד‬
$1.75 per card
20 cards for $30.00
benefiting
Yosef Feigenbaum Scholarship Fund
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Purim is on March 24th, be at your best
Call or EMAIL now and let us do the rest!
For more information
call 216/321-5838 ext. 124
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