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Friday LetterFriday Letter Archive | Friday Letter AlertsMIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS Candle Lighting - 6:41 pm Havdalah - 7:42 pm Parashat Ki Tisa A PENNY FOR YOUR SEARCH! Search the web with Yahoo-powered GoodSearch.com and they will donate a penny to Schechter each time you search! Also, shop at more than 600 GoodShop.com merchants, including Amazon, Best Buy, Macy's, Toys R US, to name a few, and up to 37% of the purchase price will go to Schechter! GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue to the charities its users designate. Just select our school by selecting "Schechter" from the list as the organization you want to support. Spread the word! COMING EVENTS Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTION OF PIPPIN Tickets to all performances of Pippin have been sold out!! YASHER KOACH Yasher Koach to all who participated in the First Annual Schechter Fine Arts Festival. It was a wonderful evening enjoyed by all. We look forward to many more years of this program. Special thanks to Naomi Bernstein, Elana Stern and Dennis Pettas for their active role in the planning and implementing of the evening. MORE YASHER KOACH & MAZAL TOV It gives me great pleasure to announce that juniors Jordan Dashow and Josh Rubin have been selected as Bronfman Youth Fellowship finalists! Wow!!! MIDDLE SCHOOL PURIM DANCE If you missed the dance on Wednesday, then you missed a BLAST!! There was a large contingent from Queens Schechter, and The Jewish DJ was excellent! His production crew transformed the gym into a magical space. Both Mr. Dalfen and Mrs. Hiltzik took to the dance floor because of the wonderful ruach that suffused the room, to the delight and amusement of everyone. ANNUAL BENEFIT DINNER DANCE This year we will honor Sheri and Ira Balsam, Manda and Leonard Kristal, and Marvin and Harriet Rosen at Light The Way Dinner Dance: Illuminate The Path For Our Children to be held on May 12, 2009 at East Meadow Jewish Center. Please click on the link below for all the details, including an Introductory Letter and Registration Form with all the information needed to sell journal ads, reserve seats, solicit prizes for the silent auction & raffles, buy raffle tickets, and underwriting opportunities. We look forward to your participation. If there are any questions, call Yvette Bergman at 516-656-5500 ext. 1220 or Elaine Dalfen ext. 1219. MARK-THE-DATES PA Pre-Pessach talk and recipe swap - Monday, March 23, 2009 - Please email ssdspa@gmail.com if you are able to host this informative and fun evening at your home. 6th Grade Day Trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - Wednesday, March 25, 2009. Salute to Israel Parade - Sunday, May 31, 2009 First Day of School for 2009 - 2010 - Wednesday, September 9, 2009 USEFUL INFORMATION The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) Talent Search is a great way to assess bright students' academic abilities. As part of the Talent Search, high performing students take an above-grade level test that reveals more about their academic talents than in-grade level tests. All students who participate and test receive a recognition certificate, invitations to academic conferences, and a report that provides statistical data on the performance of their gifted peers who also tested through the Talent Search. CTY is hosting weekly webinars (web seminars) on the benefits and programs that we offer students. Please visit our website for a list of CTY webinar topics and dates. CTY's Talent Search is still open and accepting students this year. Students are encouraged to apply online or use CTY's school online order form to request applications. You can email questions directly to CTY at ctyinfo@jhu.edu, or call CTY at 1-800-548-1180. CTY is accredited for grades 5 through 12 by the Commission on Secondary Schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. For more information about CTY's programs, visit the CTY web site at cty.jhu.edu. CONTEST!!! Your artwork could win you an iPod! METNY's 2009 Proud To Be Jewish Contest Submit your work today! Contest is open to all students in grades 3 through 12 This Year's Themes:
- Submissions can be essays, poems, prose, or flat artwork - Written entries should be no more than 2 standard pages in length - Artwork submissions should be no more than 8.5" x 11" - One submission per student please Everyone who enters will receive a Certificate of Participation and one winner from each age group will win an iPod Shuffle! Have You Entered Yet? Submit your entries to your Solomon Schechter principal by April 1st to be considered The Proud To Be Jewish Contest is sponsored by the Metropolitan New York Region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (METNY) TRANSPORTATION NEWS The deadline for submission of the District Transportation Application is Wednesday, April 1st. Thus far, we have transportation applications for the following districts: East Meadow (3 pages), East Williston (2 pages), Farmingdale (1 page), Garden City (1 page), Glen Cove, (1 page), Half-Hollow Hills (1 page), Herricks (1 page), Jericho (1 page), Levittown (1 page), Massapequa (2 pages), North Shore (1 page), Oyster Bay-East Norwich (2 pages), Plainview-Old Bethpage (1 page), Port Washington (2 pages), Sewanhaka (1 page), Syosset (1 page), West Hempstead (3 pages). If your home district is not listed above, parents should reach out to their district transportation office to request an application. We will update you if we receive additional applications from other school districts (please see link to transportation forms below). FRIDAY LETTER Parashat Ki Tisa Dvar Torah by Rabbi Moshe Schwartz For the past 3 months, I have been teaching 10th grade Bible while Ms. Becky Friedman is on maternity leave. Our class recently completed a unit that included selections from the Torah portion this week. This Dvar Torah is dedicated to my students for it is written in Psalm 119 "mikol melamdai hiskalti," I have learned from all my teachers (including my students whose questions on these verses initiated my further study of the chapter). This week's Torah reading is packed with excitement. We read the famous incident of the Golden Calf, Moses' smashing of the Tablets and subsequent carving of new tablets atop the mountain. We read the famous verses of the v'shamru and the 13 divine attributes of God. My favorite part of the parasha takes place immediately after the incident of the Golden Calf. Seeking a sign and perhaps some confidence after the people have sinned, Moses asks "God, let me know Your ways, that I may know You and continue in your favor." God responds by saying "I will also do this thing that you have asked." Moses responds with an additional request "let me behold Your presence (kavod)." God answers "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim you the name ADONAI....but you cannot see My face, for man cannot see Me and live." Moses is then placed in the cleft of a rock, and the presence (kavod) of the Lord passes over him. God says "You will see My back; but My face must not be seen." Wow! Amazing! As we studied this text in class, a student made the following observation: "If God has a back, as God says, then God must have a front [side]." "Of course" I responded. But then I paused to reflect. God seems to be implying that He can take on human form, but that nobody can see that form. It's as if God is saying "you can see the reverse of My manifestation, but not the front." A subsequent class discussion had us reflecting on the following two related questions: Why is it then that God refused Moses' final request and why is it that Moses is allowed to see God's backside but not God's face? Several students offered their own explanations and below are some additional thoughts and reflections. 1) One possibility that I came across comes from a Midrash in Shmot Rabbah 45:6. God said: "See, there is a place near Me. Station yourself on the rock." Rabbi Yose son of Rabbi Hanina said: It doesn't say "I am IN this place, but There is a place next to me." My place is secondary to Me, and I am not secondary to MY place." In Rabbinic literature, God is often called "HaMakom," THE PLACE. It seems that our Rabbis were imagining God saying: Even when I occupy a place, even when I have physical manifestation, it's only to show you human beings that I exist. But that place isn't ME. It's not my presence. It's secondary, a derivative of me. I am above the place, irrespective of the place because I AM THE PLACE, the MAKOM! 2) Another related possibility is that just like Moses, each of us seeks to understand and see God's presence in this world. Yet, perhaps seeing God's front side will not help us understand God any better. In fact, it may very well confuse us more. This is the very essence of the problem of seeing what we want to see. It affects our relationship with God. Perhaps we can understand this best through the example of a magician. Magicians have been on my mind this week as Neil, a close family-friend of my parents for nearly 30 years confirmed that he can come from Philadelphia to our son Elie's 3rd birthday party next month to perform a children's magic show. Neil, who is an attorney, just happened to try out his newfound magic hobby nearly three decades ago at my birthday party. Like Neil, magicians pull rabbits out of a hat or turn rocks into a dove partly because the audience sees what that want to see. This is fun as long as nobody gets hurt. Yet, we must remember how the magician carries out the trick. Without our (the audience) cooperation and without our seeing what the magician wants us to see (i.e. what we want to see), the magic act falls flat on its face. After all, we all hear what we want to hear, and see what we want to see. Two witnesses to an event will offer two different versions depending on their perspective and approach. Therefore, while none of us can ever know God that should not discourage us from trying to follow God's ways by emulating what we do know and by trying to derive lessons to apply to our everyday lives. This is precisely the struggle that is taking place in the classrooms of our school each and every day. The challenge in itself is divine. Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Moooooooshe [it's Shabbat Parah and I am still thinking of Purim jokes so I apologize for the pun!] Have a Shabbat shalom! Allan Dalfen Upper School Principal PDF filesKnicks vs. Nets Ticket Order FormAnnual Benefit Dinner Dance Forms Transportation Forms |
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