This week’s Parsha discusses the gifts that were brought by the nesi’im, tribal leaders, during the dedication ceremony of the Mishkan. In this section, the Torah details the exact gifts brought by each leader. This extensive description is rather puzzling since each leader brought an identical gift. Why did the Torah not simply describe the specifics of the gift one time? Why go through the details of the entire gift for each Nasi?
One answer given, is that the Torah here is emphasizing the uniqueness of each gift, even though they all consisted of the same materials. The Torah is telling us that even though the gift was the same, each Nasi was able to imbue in the gift his personal feelings, emotions, and meaning.
On the surface, one can look at Judaism as a conformist religion where everyone is taught to look the same, think the same, and act the same. The reality is, that this is not the case. While we have certain tenets of belief that are unwavering, and certain practices that we all do, the goal is to take those practices and imbue them with personal meaning and make them uniquely our own. At Hillel Academy, we may follow formal math and science curricula and teach Jewish texts that haven’t changed in thousands of years, but our goal is to make each learner a part of the process of integrating the lessons into their everyday lives and persona. Summer can also be a unique time to cultivate these pursuits outside the context of the classroom. May we all use our summers to grow and enrich ourselves in all aspects of our lives.
Rabbi Sam Weinberg,
Principal
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As part of their unit on colonial history in America, Fifth Grade students researched a profession from the time period in order to have a deeper understanding of what it was like to live in the past, compared to modern times. Each student made a Google Docs slideshow and amazingly detailed dioramas and other projects based on their profession.
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The Fourth Grade boys visited the Tour Ed Mine following the completion of their book
City of Ember
, and celebrated afterwards at Milky Way.
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The Fourth Grade boys competed to see whose vehicle could travel the farthest carrying the most weight. Each vehicle was propelled with a mouse trap!
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The Fifth Grade girls made ruff collars as their end of the unit project for Social Studies.
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The Fourth Grade girls celebrated finishing Sefer Bereishis with a special dinner and presentation for mothers and daughters!
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Congratulations to our Eighth Grade Boys
on their graduation!
Kovi Biton
Toivia Schmuel Grossberg
Shmulik Eisenberg
Akiva Moshe Silver
Zalman Yehuda Rodkin
David Michael Eydelman
Mendel Wasserman
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Congratulations to our Eighth Grade Girls
on their graduation!
Katriel Isabel Baldel Camp
Leora Esther Goldberg
Talia Sarah Itskowitz
Naomi Leibovich
Shoshana Baila Levari
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On Wednesday Hillel Academy hosted the Morah Shirley Dorsey Middos Fair. This is a culmination of a year-long educational Middos learning program in memory of Morah Dorsey, who taught at Hillel Academy for over 60 years.
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The Tomchei Shabbos program is a vital part of giving back to the community which sustains us, and the families who benefit truly appreciate it; over the years Rabbi Wasserman has received letters from families expressing their gratitude. If you would like to help, please contact Mrs. Aronson at
saronson@hillelpgh.org
or 412 521-8131, or Dan Kraut at
dkraut@hillelpgh.org
.
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Follow the example of the Tiny Tots and read a new or favorite book over the summer — and don’t forget to HAVE FUN!
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It has been a wonderful experience covering all that goes on at Hillel Academy to bring you the Hillel Happenings every week! Thank you to all who contributed their pictures, stories, jokes, news, articles, word searches, and more. Thanks also to the journalism elective students who helped bring the community’s voices to our pages.
Sincerely,
Micki Myers,
Editor
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We are excited to open registration for Hillel Academy Summer Camps. This is our fourth year of offering summer camp, and every year is more fun and exciting than the last. This year we have four separate divisions ranging from ages three years old through Eighth Grade. Our most significant improvement will be the addition of Ms. Rebecca Huff to our team. As you know, Ms. Huff is the STEAM coordinator at Hillel and we will be incorporating various week long explorations into Robotics, Coding, Ecology, Fine Art, for out campers.
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Interested volunteers please contact
Dan Kraut
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When you #StartWithaSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. Bookmark the link and support us every time you shop.
https://smile.amazon.com/ch/25-1067130
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MISSION STATEMENT
At Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, we educate young men and women with unlimited capacity who compete in a superior manner in all challenges undertaken. Our students are Torah observant models of exemplary character, who love G-d, the Jewish people, and the land of Israel. To say that our students possess a love of learning, confidence and the ability to think critically, merely highlights the value of a Hillel education. What we ultimately achieve each day, and have been achieving for 70 years, is the gift of instilling each student with the foundation for a life spent actively serving and leading the Jewish community and society.
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Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh | 412 521-8131 | hillelhappennings@hillelpgh.org | www.hillelpgh.org
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