Friday Letter
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MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS
Parashat Vaera
Candle lighting - 4:36 pm
Havdalah - 5:27 pm
Please note: students received a "Backpack Express" packet this afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to peruse its contents.
COMING EVENTS
Friday, January 15 - Monday, January 18
Schechter Fundraising Partnership with Barnes and Noble (please scroll down for further information)
Monday, January 18
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - School closed
Wednesday, January 20
6th Grade Bar and Bat Mitzvah Parent-Student Workshop - Dinner served at 6 pm. Program from 6:45 to 8:15 pm
Motzei Shabbat, January 23
PA Annual Art Auction at Old Westbury Hebrew Congregation - Preview: 7:15 pm and Auction: 8:00 pm.
AFTER-SCHOOL ATHLETICS SCHEDULE
| Boys' Blue Basketball | Boys' White Basketball | Girls' Red Basketball | Hockey |
Monday, January 18 | SCHOOL CLOSED |
Tuesday, January 19 | Chalk-Talk, 4:00-5:30 | Chalk-Talk, 4:00-5:30 | Chalk-Talk, 4:00-5:30 | |
Wednesday, January 20 | | | Away game @ Holy Child, 4:00 | |
Thursday, January 21 | | Away game vs. St. Elizabeth, 4:30 | Away game vs. Lawrence-Woodmere, 5:00 | |
Friday, January 22 | Practice, 1:30 - 3:00 | Practice, 1:30 - 3:00 | Practice, 1:30 - 3:00 | |
REGENTS INFORMATION
Following are the dates for the June Regents:
Friday, June 18 - 12:30 - Integrated Algebra
Tuesday, June 22 - 9:00 - Earth Science
Tuesday, June 22 - 12:30 - Hebrew
SCHECHTER TUITION RAFFLE
Make a donation to our school and be automatically entered into the Tuition Raffle. Your donation may yield you up to $3,600 off your tuition payment (please see link below for informational flier).
PURIM MISHLOACH MANOT
The PA's annual fundraising campaign has commenced. Please click on the link below to download the order forms and kindly submit to the main office by Friday, January 29, 2010. Thank you for your participation in this joyous mitzvah!
NYSSMA NEWS
All NYSSMA Participants: Please see Mr. Pettas for your NYSSMA registration form. Completed forms should be returned to Mr. Pettas by Friday, January 29, 2010.
LUNCH PROGRAM
Registration forms for the second cycle of the lunch program are due Monday, January 25 (please see link below).
THINGS GO BETTER WITH COCA-COLA
Help Schechter by bringing in Coca-Cola and Coke products bottle caps with printed codes on them from the My Coke Rewards program. There are boxes to drop off your bottle caps in the Jericho and Glen Cove offices and also in the Lunchroom and Student Life Office in Glen Cove. Alternatively, please visit the SSDS My Coke Rewards web page to donate your points online. Thank you for your support!
SHOPPING FOR SCHECHTER
Your day-to-day purchases can benefit our school. Stop & Shop and Target stores have programs which designate a percentage of your purchase to your school. When you next visit a Stop & Shop or Target store, simply sign up for a Stop & Shop card or a REDcard at Target. Alternatively, follow these links online for all the information you will need: Stop & Shop Card and Target REDcard. Our Stop & Shop School ID is 07427 and our Target School ID is 116021. Thank you!
PARTNERSHIP WITH BARNES AND NOBLE
During the dates of Friday, January 15, 2010 - Monday, January 18, 2010, simply present the vouchers (please see link to vouchers below), or the school's ID # - 10082220 - to the sales clerk at any Barnes and Noble store in the country. Our school will receive a percentage of the net sales.
All merchandise including café sales are eligible. Barnes and Noble memberships and gift cards may be used to pay for purchases. EXCLUSIONS: vouchers are not good on the PURCHASE of gift cards or B&N memberships, nor are they good for online purchases or for purchases made at cafés operated by Starbucks.
SAVE-THE-DATES
SCHECHTER FINE ARTS FESTIVAL
Join the entire Schechter community for an enchanting Sunday of Arts and Entertainment on March 7, 2010 - Gallery Opening @ 1:30 pm and Performances at 2:00 pm - Glen Cove campus.
SALUTE TO ISRAEL PARADE
The annual Salute to Israel Parade will take place on Sunday, May 23, 2010. Details to follow.
FRIDAY LETTER
Parashat Vaera
Rabbi Scott Hoffman is Rabbi of Temple Israel of South Merrick and President of the Rabbinical Assembly of Nassau-Suffolk, the umbrella organization for Conservative Rabbis on Long Island.
When we read the story of the plagues of Egypt, the first seven of which are described in this week's reading Vaera, we tend naturally to be skeptical. Is there any way in which science can possibly account for these events? More than half a century ago, a writer named Immanuel Velikovsky attempted to demonstrate that portion Vaera could be explained with reference to the laws of nature.
The Nile River turning to blood is taken by Velikovsky to refer to the red tide, a changing of the color of river water which occurs when tiny organisms called dinoflagellates multiply too quickly. It is easy to see how an unsophisticated Egyptian audience might mistake this discoloration for blood. The red tide, in turn, poisons the water by producing certain neurotoxins, forcing amphibians to flee to dry land. This is the source of the frogs described in the second plague. When the frogs ultimately died, the decaying animals produced a noxious smell which attracted insects (the third plague) and vermin (the fourth plague). The vermin carried diseases of their own (e.g., rabies) which affected cattle (the fifth plague) and humans (the sixth plague, boils). As for the hail, according to Velikovsky this came from a powerful volcanic explosion, which also accounts for the ninth plague (darkness) related in next week's portion.
Is Velikovsky right? For the most part, his theories have been rejected by mainstream religious scholars and scientists alike. But if he is right, does it undermine our religious faith? I don't believe that it should. The important point of the story is that God remembered His people and redeemed them from slavery. If God chooses to accomplish this by reversing the laws of nature, we call that a miracle. But even if God chooses to act through nature, the juxtaposition of these entire phenomenons still produces the desired result - and is no less of a miracle for our being able to explain it.
Shabbat shalom, | Shabbat shalom, |
Allan Dalfen, Upper School Principal | Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, Director of Jewish Life |
PDF files
Barnes and Noble
Mishloach Manot
Lunch Program: Cycle 2
Tuition Raffle
