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For Your Calendar
Monday, Dec. 14
Boys JV Basketball Home Game 3:45 pm
Girls Basketball Home Game 5:00 pm
Wednesday, Dec. 16
Third Grade Chumash Presentation
Wednesday, Dec. 23
Rogow Middle School Annual Ice Skating Party
Monday, January 4, 2016
Classes Resume
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
PA Meeting
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Join Our List
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Community Events
Sunday, December 13
9:00 am - 1:45 pm
Emanuel Synagogue
Blood Donor Drive
Please consider becoming a blood donor and helping as many as
three people with one unit of blood. To schedule an appointment you may call
1-800- 733-2767, visit
redcrossblood.org
and enter sponsor code EMANUEL or call Geri Kaizer at 860-205-0034.
The Nutcracker at the Lincoln Theater,
Hartt School, Univ. of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford.
Come and see Schechter students Daniella Medvedovski, Sivan Reznichenko
, Olivia Boustani, and Raviv Harel-Sibelman dance in this beautiful performance.
For Tickets:
Phone: (860) 768-4228
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Saturday, December 19
11:00 am-noon
Beth El Temple
Tumbling With Torah (up to age 5).
Come see why this is a hot place for tots. Children are invited for stories, songs and special activities.
Shabbat Family Experience (grades K-2).
This Shabbat service is filled with prayers, songs and stories led by Adrian Durlester, aka Mr. D. Parents are encouraged to join their children for a meaningful Shabbat experience.
Shabbat Zone (grades 3-6)
Experience Shabbat in a fun and interactive way. Snacks, prizes, games, and fun.
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Please save the date, January 24, 2016 for the Annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Click here for more information. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Anna Huttner
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JFS Community Discount Card
Looking for holiday gifts or ways to save money this season? For less than the cost of eating out, consider purchasing a JFS Community Discount Card and support the Anja Rosenberg Kosher Food Pantry and its clients. The $20 card offers discounts to 12 local restaurants
and stores. The deals are good through November 2016. You can use it as many times as you like, so take advantage of all the deals. Call or
email
Kim Margolis with questions. 860-236-1927.
Sake Cafe,
Subway,
Crown,
Lox Stock and Bagels,
AC Peterson Farms,
Bertucci's,
Carlos,
Blue Plate Kitchen,
Concetta's,
Little Marks,
Blue Elephant Trail,
Effie's Place.
Thank you for supporting the Anja Rosenberg Kosher Food Pantry at Jewish Family Services.
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Shabbat Shalom
Parashat Miketz
Candlelighting 4:02 pm |
December 11, 2015
29 Kislev 5776
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| A Message from Andrea |
Seeking Light in the Dark Moments
The news in the world and right here in the United States has been particularly challenging; the direction in which we are headed and the fear that is enveloping many of us is heavy. It is easy to lose perspective, to feel helpless, frustrated and sad. This range of emotions can hit us at various times; it can surprise us in its strength and it can lead to escalation and powerful reactions.
I find myself especially grateful for Chanukah this year. Amidst the actual light from the flames of the candles, there have been so many moments of symbolic light. If you find yourself needing some light, you can join me in gratitude for this particular season. I especially want to take some time to highlight and cherish these moments so that we can send out this light and beat back the darkness.
At Schechter we have gathered to light the Chanukah candles every morning. On Monday, many parents joined us right after drop-off in the front hallway. I watched and felt uplifted as our community was bathed in the morning sun, lighting a chanukiah built over 40 years ago, surrounded by the green of our growing potato plants.
We came together as a community to celebrate Chanukah on Tuesday night. We sat and cheered as the Schechter Singing Scorpions sang in Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish and English. Students from the fourth and fifth grades performed dances to Israeli music as the crowd roared. We were joyous.
On Wednesday, Schechter's youngest students gathered with their parents in the Beit Tefillah to sing, dance and light candles. Then as a community we ate and participated in a mitzvah project. We felt grounded and strong.
Families and students from kindergarten through second grade prepared latkes, sang songs and shared in a great Chanukah trivia game on Thursday. We felt focused and clear.
This morning at RELISH, we watched as three generations of one family  lit that same chanukiah from decades ago. We sang together and anticipated the double celebration of Chanukah and Shabbat. We further expanded the Schechter community by extending a welcome to Rabbi Tuvia Brander of Young Israel. We felt hopeful.
Tonight as you light candles for the sixth night, as well as the Shabbat candles, look around your table. Take in the light as it reflects off all those beautiful faces, and cherish it so that you can reach into your memory to seek the light when it is dark.
Hag Urim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom,
Andrea
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| Schechter Chanukah Bash |
 This past Tuesday evening, Jewish Family Services partnered with Schechter to host the annual Schechter Chanukah Bash. The doors opened to one hundred fifty students, parents, staff, and community members to celebrate Chanukah.
The evening began with latkes and
applesauce in the cafeteria. Adults and
 children were invited to create beautiful menorah posters made from torn pieces of watercolor-painted scraps to take home. Others could be found nearby learning to spin plates with Eric Schneider, husband of EC 2 teacher Bonnie Schneider. At a table across the cafeteria, Director of Institutional Advancement Jayne Rotter demonstrated how to make tasty edible dreidels from  marshmallows, chocolate kisses, pretzel sticks, frosting, and blue
sprinkles. There was a non-stop flow of children making these delicious treats (and quickly eating them). A new addition to this year's Bash was the Minute To Win It races. Michael Cunningham, Dean of Students, pulled off a series of hysterical races. One of these included sticking as many cotton balls to one's nose as possible using only a glob of Vaseline placed on
the tip of the nose. Another involved knocking over water bottles with a contraption of tennis balls inside
stockings, which were swung purposefully while attached to one's hat. Thanks to middle school students Maxx Smith-Rapaport, Zachary Sobel-Pressman, and Leo Gold for helping to run games and activities.
After snacks and games, everyone gathered in the auditorium for candle lighting, led by Schechter "Torch" Zachary Sobel-Pressman, and a delightful program of music and dance performed by many of Schecter's talented students.
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Schechter Parent Marc Cowan Visits the 7th Grade Class
by Sari Eisen (7th Grade Student) |
 The students in Mrs. Kurtis' seventh grade social studies class have been studying the ancient Greek civilization. Last Friday, Marc Cowan, father of Jamie (7th grade) and Romy (6th grade), visited the class and brought ancient artifacts that he found while working in Moresha, an excavation site in Israel. Mr. Cowan brought in objects such as oil lamps, drinking cups, bowls, and even an ancient perfume bottle. Some of these objects are over 2000 years old! Many of these artifacts date back to the time of the Jewish revolt and our celebration Chanukah.
Mr. Cowan also made a helpful PowerPoint presentation with photos that
showed how the Greeks got their water, an olive press, caves where they kept doves and pigeons (
columbarium)
, how they worked, and where they lived, and the technology of the day. From this, we learned that their lives were not that different from ours, except harder and without electricity and cell phones! They had to manually take buckets of water back to their houses for drinking. Stories and information about the people had to be hand-written on stone tablets. We saw a photo of a ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) written on a stone tablet that was found at the excavation site.
It was a very informative presentation. Holding those ancient artifacts really helped the students get in touch with people from so long ago. Thank you to Mr. Cowan for sharing these precious artifacts with the class.
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| EC 3 and 1st Grade Buddies are Spinning Dreidels |
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| Kindergarten and Grades 1 & 2 Celebrate Together |
On Thursday morning, kindergarten, first and second grades, along with  parents, grandparents, and one new baby sister, joined together to celebrate Chanukah. Everyone enjoyed reciting the blessings, lighting the chanukiot, singing songs, dancing and participating in a game of holiday trivia. In addition, there were several stations with Chanukah activities. Two of the most popular activities included latke making from scratch and painting wooden dreidels. However, the best part had to be eating the freshly cooked latkes made by the  students. Kindergarten student Noah Cruz said, "Those are the most yummy latkes I ever had. Can I have more please?" Second grader Anya Leshem asked, "Where is the second round of latkes?"
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2nd Grade Brings Chanukah Light to Hebrew Home
Residents |
On Wednesday, the second grade class shared the joy of Chanukah with
 the residents of the Hebrew Home by lighting candles, singing songs, and eating potato latkes. During the visit, the students and the residents colored candles of various shapes and glued them together, creating a long trail of light. The
students called it the "parade of light for
Chanukah." The residents also received Chanukah gift baskets and cards made by the students in
Early Childhood. At the end of the celebration, o
ne of residents exclaimed, "What a joy this was! Make sure to bring the children again."
 
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Susan Kurtis, Editor
Lara Lakenbach and Audrey Sobel, Asst. Editors
Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford |
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Chanukah. The first grade 
dreidels. The 
