“We had all the CJDS kids out with megaphones and flashlights looking for these preschoolers,” reported Art Teacher,  Susan Couden. “When none of them turned up, it suddenly occurred to me to think like a preschooler and I ran back to the music room and had the faculty help me turn every box of costumes upside down.”

After dozens of boxes had been strewn across the music room, and Jewish Studies Coordinator, Eran Rosenberg’s costumes were hanging from the Torah Ark, ceiling, and covering the piano, several fourth grade students accidentally dumped the two preschoolers out of a container filled with Queen Esther’s Persian dress and Mordehai’s beard.

When CJDS Alumni parent, Lori Cohen, celebrated her youngest son’s Bar Mitzvah, she was moved to reflect upon her experiences as a parent of three CJDS Graduates:

" Recently, my youngest child celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. He was great, and he worked hard. My children are now 13, 15, and almost 17, and all attended Columbus Jewish Day School.  

I had not considered the school until I began observing kids in their environments and making my own tough decisions of what I wanted my own children to experience. We have a great community in the Columbus area, but I wanted more for my own kids. I wanted more Jewish culture, the opportunity to connect Hebrew to their modern environs, and a chance that they could connect their Jewishness to the secular society in which they would be living. What my children got out of the Columbus Jewish Day School was far more than I ever expected.

When I attend parent/teacher conferences at my kids’ public schools now, I get the biggest confirmation of their attendance at CJDS. CJDS gave them so much more: an understanding of what being Jewish means and how it relates to the world around them. And most importantly, it provided them with a framework on which to hang their choices as they get older.

My kids are becoming better members of our society because their early years were in classes that were manageable in size, that allowed teachers to interact with them and communicate a more considerate world-aware message, to work with them closely to improve their academic studies, and to draw out and teach them how to communicate their own uniqueness.  In addition to their Advanced Placement classes and such, my teenagers now keep a compost bin, volunteer to help care for animals, actively study environmental issues, seek-out time to serve the homeless, assist older adults in learning technology, and above all, look for ways to help the world- Tikkun Olam. 

I want their teachers to know that the work is early and sometimes thankless, but the payoff is later. Thank you CJDS!”

-Lori Cohen

As of 2-21-17, we've updated our calendar. For the most up-to-date version of our calendar and a full list of CJDS events:  CLICK HERE!

Pictured above and below: Kindergarten had fun dressing up to tell the story of Purim this week!

Pictured above: 1st and 2nd grade student prepare for the Megillah Reading!

Pictured above 1st graders present a puppet show during Jewish Studies. 

Pictured above: 1st grade students noticing the signs of spring in the CJDS tulip garden. 

Pictured above and below: 5th graders proudly showing off their Mishloach manot bags sent all the way from the Brenner School in Kfar Saba, Israel!

Pictured Below: Queen Esther for today's Purim Carnival

Pictured above: 4th grade wishing you a Chag Purim Samech!

Pictured above: Some of the fun from our Purim festivities... More pictures to come next week!

Pictured above: The sixth grade students, and parents had a blast making Hamentaschen this past week. Here's the recipe!

For the Apricot Filling
1 medium seedless orange
8 oz dried apricots
Optional:  2 tbsp sugar (we omit it)
FYI:  16oz = lb     8 oz = ½ lb
Cut orange into quarters, but do not peel. Process half the orange in a food processor until fine, about 20 seconds. Add half the remaining ingredients. Process until fine 15-20 seconds. Empty bowl, repeat with remaining ingredients. NOTE:  ½ batch of filling provides enough for a double batch of dough.

(Fun Variations: as long as you keep the amounts proportionate, you can play around with different types and combinations of dried fruit! For example, in addition to dried apricots, we like using dried blueberries, dried cherries, and dried cranberries, separately and in combination with each other.)

For the Cream Cheese Pastry:
¼ lb butter cut into chunks (from the fridge, not at room temperature)
¼ lb cream cheese (also from the fridge, not at room temperature)
1cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
(1-2 egg whites for brushing on)

Combine all the ingredients into processor bowl.
Process until dough forms into a ball on blades: about 18-20 seconds.
Keep any dough chilled in the fridge that you are not presently rolling out and using, and take it out as you need it.
Roll out the dough, and use a round cookie cutter or the top of a cup (about 3-3.5” diameter) to cut circles out of it.
Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each dough circle and close up folding into a triangle:

Folding hamenstachen:
a)     Lift up the edges circle carefully, and only from the mid-point of the circle, pinch together the sides to one end, pressing them together, sealing off the inside of that half from view.
b)     Then pinch the remaining open “side” perpendicular to the straight line you just pinched, forming a sort of “T” with the two pinches.

• Some people like to fully close and seal the Hamentasch, while others prefer the slightly open look (then you can tell what’s inside, too). But we like the aesthetics and adventure of closed hamentaschen.
  

d)     Using a pastry brush, brush egg whites over each hamentasch before they go in the oven, for a glossy finish (and it helps prevent burning).
e)     They bake fast, so watch them closely at the end.  

Bake at 400 F for 10-15 minutes (or until they are slightly brown).
Makes about 3 dozen. (depending on how much raw dough has been eaten…)

Kindergarten: Stefanie Zelkind 

Grade 1-2:    Rayna Weiner and Adam Davis            

Grade 3:       Merav Dill and Bat-Ami Moses         

Grade 4:       Maggie Saracheck and Sara Zeigler 

Grade 5:       Alan Bassik

Grade 6:       Ruth Rubin and Jennifer Wasserstrom

CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER!

We have daily opportunities to help support our Hot Lunch Program. 

Lunch volunteers help set up and serve our catered hot lunch.