Welcome to the Hillel Happenings!

September 15, 2017 - 24 Elul, 5777
Parshat Nitzavim-Vayeilech
Candle Lighting by 7:10 pm
Shabbat Ends - 8:16 pm

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DVAR TORAH

The month of Elul marks the time that Moshe Rabbenu spent on Har Sinai and received the second set of Luchot from G-d. When he came down on Yom Kippur, Bnei Yisroel  knew that their sin of the golden calf was forgiven. The month of Elul is therefore know as the Yemei Ratzon - the days that G-d wants us to do Teshuva. These are days in which we direct our thoughts and emotions towards Hashem through our actions, prayers, and learning. One prayer that marks the Teshuva season perhaps more than any other, is the 27th chapter of Psalms, Le'David Hashem Ori, which it is customary to read from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Shemini Atzeret. One of the most famous lines in the Psalm is Dovid Hamelech's request to Hashem in the fourth verse:
 
"If there is one thing I ask of the L-rd, this is what I would ask: that I sit in the house of the L-rd all the days of my life, to behold the tranquility of the L-rd and to visit in His Sanctuary."  
 
   The word "Le-vaker - to visit" in this verse is perplexing. Why does Dovid Hamelech request to visit the sanctuary of Hashem when in the very same line he also wants to "sit in the house of the L-rd all of the days of his life?" The word "visit" implies a fleeting pass through as opposed to a more permanent residence. A common answer for this question is that Dovid aspired to dwell in the house of Hashem with the excitement of a visitor. He yearned for the excitement with the exuberance of a visitor experiencing something for the first time. 
 
    With the start of the school year and the saying of L'Dovid coinciding, I keep thinking about Dovid Hamelech's request. As I watch our students arrive every morning, go to daven and learn Torah, it is obvious that they truly approach life with the awe of a visitor. Their level of excitement as they approach school and learning is truly awesome and inspiring. Our mission is to ensure that they keep this awe and will continue to inspire others as well. 
 
     On behalf of the entire Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh Family, may this coming year be one of growth and success for our families, our school, and our community. Shabbat Shalom and G'mar Chatima Tova. 
 
                        Rabbi Weinberg, Principal

NEWS & VIEWS

 
Yehudis Kanal displays a cupcake decorated by the Fifth Grade with help from the Bnot Sheirut 


Boys build brilliant buildings in SNAPOLOGY club using LEGO bricks.


Tali and Avigail  demonstrate how we can solve multiplication problems in different ways using arrays. Here with a simple multiplication problem that can be made even simpler, and thus easier to solve. The girls will use this strategy to solve more complex multiplication problems.


Girls baked Icing Sugar Cookies in the Bnot Sheirut's Cooking Club!


The Fourth Grade line up to select horns from which to make their own shofars!






Third graders, Caleb, Noah, Coby, and Hanana display their medals from   Sunday's  Winchester Thurston Cross Country Invitational at Schenley Oval. 
The meet included 13 other schools and included six races  from the novice race through varsity. 

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IN SECOND GRADE...


In Chumash this week we continued to learn in depth about the Torah She'baal Peh - the Oral Torah and the Torah She'bichtav - the written Torah. We learned about a Sofer Stam, a scribe, and we saw and felt all the materials he uses to write the holy letters of the Torah.

We learned about the new TalAm kids who journey with us throughout the program. We divided the boys and girls and we welcomed them with special songs.  We enjoyed a few fun learning games using our Chromebooks. We also enjoyed our daily calendar time and have added some Hebrew skills. We love to sing and talk and ask questions in Ivrit.

We started practicing in our Kriah books and we played some fun games to make it exciting and engaging. Ask your children about Morah Shternie's Bloopers and funny voices!! Sometimes the best way to learn and gain skills is to have fun!
We continued to learn about Chodesh Elul, the Shofar, and started with Rosh Hashanah. We learned all about the different minhaggim for R"H, and what we need to prepare for R"H and why, including craft projects. One of the highlights of the week is listening to the Parsha.

Have a wonderful Shabbos. 
Morah Shternie and Morah Tovi 

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GHS students participated in a two-day workshop about Communication. Dr. Becky Weinberg, a licensed clinical Psychologist, presented to the girls about positive and healthy communication - a critical skill to work on when improving our relationships Bein Adom L'Chavero. Through discussions and role play, the girls really gained a lot of skills and new insights from the presentation.

After a delicious brunch prepared by Mrs. Abraham, we took the main points about healthy communication that were discussed yesterday - Focus, Consistency, Perspective, and Reciprocity - and applied the concepts to communication Bein Adom L'Mokom - specifically through Tefillah.  Thank you to Mrs. Abraham, Mrs. Kurin and Mrs. Grossberg for leading discussions on this topic.

Following our Elul workshop, we spread out through the community to communicate that we care about those around us - by performing acts of Chesed. One group baked Yom Tov for Tomchei Shabbos at Creative Kosher Catering, one group visited Hadassah Gruen at Children's Hospital, one group painted with the residents at Weinberg Village and one group helped the Kane sisters in Squirrel Hill.  

By Mrs. Levari

The High School Girls enjoyed a special
Rosh Chodesh Elul program.

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Building A Strong Foundation 
for Jewish Education
 
The opening date for the Herman Lipsitz, z''l Building, the new home of the Middle and Boys High Schools on Bartlett Street, is fast approaching. Ninth grader Nathan Azagury says that he is excited for the new build ing because "it is a newer and better environment that is closer to the main building." The blueprints have been under development for years, and construction started earlier this year. It has been a long road to get to this point, with revisions to the plans, court hearings, and unexpected delays. Still, according to CEO Danny Kraut, "the project is moving along as expected, and will be a beautiful addition to the Hillel campus."

Although many of this year's students are looking forward to being in the new building, some students are unhappy that they will be missing out on the opportunity to experience a new learning environment. "I'll miss being in a building just for Hillel," laments 12th grader Yosef Cohen-Melamed. The new building will house the Donald and Chantze Butler Beit Medrash, a new teacher's resource room, a multi-purpose room, and a student lounge. "It's awesome! It (the lounge) will give us a place to hang out between classes," says 8th grader Eli Jacobs.

(If you are interested in the donor opportunities that are still available, please contact Mr. Kraut at [email protected].)

By Aaron Kraut and Reuven Kanal


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By The Numbers: Honey
 

25,000                  Species of bees worldwide.

6                           Sides of a hexagonal honeycomb compartment.

45                         Average lifespan, in days, of an adult worker bee.

99                         Percent of a bee colony that are females.

2                           Tablespoons of honey it would take to fuel a honey bee to circle the globe.

64                         Calories in one teaspoon of honey.

20 billion              Amount, in dollars, of the value of crops pollinated by bees in the US each year.

5                           Number of eyes a honey bee has.

17.1                      Percent of honey that is water.

INFINITY              How long honey lasts if properly stored.

2000                     Average number of eggs a Queen bee will lay per day.

55,000                  Miles that bees have to fly to produce one pound of honey.

2 million              Number of flowers visited by bees to make one pound of honey.

 
HALLS & WALLS ... & TABLES

 
A is for APPLE! Pre-K prepare for Rosh Hashanah with a sweet display!



Some  awesome  shofars  by the  Tiny Tots

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
PRE-K welcomes 5778 with joyous art and fantastic stickers!





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Tenth-Grader Elisheva Friedman uses Post-Its and charcoal
to make perspective portraits  on the big table in LL3

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT


RABBI OREN LEVY

                  What do your students call you?  
Rabbi Levy
 
                  Are you an alumnus of Hillel Academy?
Unfortunately, no.
 
                  How long have you been teaching at Hillel Academy?
I am entering my fifth year of teaching at Hillel. Crazy, no? 
 
                  What is the most rewarding thing about teaching your grade / subject?
Seeing the progress and successes my students have in their learning is truly the  most rewarding aspect of teaching.
 
                  What gadget do you rely on most when teaching? 
Air conditioning. Is that considered a gadget? Otherwise I would have to say the SmartBoard. 
 
                  What phrase do you find yourself using the most during your day?
"It's garbage time!" I think I might need to trademark that.
 
                  What three words best describe your class?
Riveting, spellbinding, inspiring.  
 
                  I wish my classroom had...
A view of Jerusalem. 
 
                  The most important thing I teach my students is:
How to haggle Israeli taxi drivers for a cheaper ride (confirmed by a former student of mine!).
But in all seriousness, the importance of being and behaving like a proud Jew in everything we do.
 
                  My students teach me...
The game Pinocchio. Apparently, the goal is to avoid having your foot stepped on by another player.  And I thought the hacky sack craze in the late 90's was weird. They also teach me Torah surprisingly.  Every year I am amazed by the new insights in Torah and thoughtful questions my students come up with.   
 
                  By the time they leave my class, my students know how to:
Push my buttons. And hopefully read and translate pesukim in Chumash! 
 
                  My favorite rainy day activity is:
Laundry.
 
                  What were you like when you were your students' age?
People might be surprised to know that I was actually an overweight, completely humorless nerd. Go figure. 
 
                  What is your motto?
"Tein chiyuch ben adam, hakol letova!" (loosely translated as "Give a smile, everything is for the good!")  
 
                  The most useful lesson I ever learned is:
Always stay positive and smiling, even when times are tough (from my 5th grade Rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Green a"h). 
 
                  The skill I would most like to have is:
General, around the house "fix-it-ability" is definitely a lagging skill of mine. Can't tell you how many conversations have started with "So I see you have a hard time figuring out how to fix things around your house. What's up with that?"   
 
                  The most amazing / odd / inspiring place I have been is:
Amazing: Seeing the Queen of England at Windsor Castle, outside of London. Ask the 4th         graders, they can tell you all about it! 
Odd: Lodz, Poland. It was very unsettling.
Inspiring: The Kotel in Yerushalayim and Me'arat Hamachpeila in Chevron.
 
                  Do you play an instrument? If so, what? 
As a kid I always wanted to play the violin. That's the closest I ever came. Wait, does a Shofar count? 

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APPLE FACTS
 
Malus pumila
 
Apples are members of the rose family.
 
The first apple to have its genome sequenced was a Golden Delicious in 2010.
 
Apples originated in Kazakhstan.
 
There are 7,500 known apple cultivars.
 
Apples are heterozygotes, meaning that each apple has unique characteristics; this means that apples humans find edible must be grafted rather than grown from seed.
 
Every apple you have ever bought from a store is a clone.
 
Apples are often stored for up to a year in controlled-atmosphere chambers to delay the production of ethelyne gas, which causes apples to ripen.
 
84.6 million tons of apples were produced worldwide in 2014.
 
All apples contain five seeds.
 
"Johnny Appleseed" planted apple trees on what was then the American frontier (Ohio) so that settlers could have apple trees with which to make cider, which was safer to drink than water. He used seeds from the cider mills of Allegheny County here in Pittsburgh.
 
                        Do not eat apple seeds: they contain cyanide, a toxin. 


Paintings by Mrs. Micki Myers
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Submit your answers and suggestions to [email protected]
or put them in our DROP BOX!

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ALUMNI NEWS
 
We'd love to hear from you!
Email us and join our Facebook alumni page!

Mazel Tov
 
to the Silver family
on the birth of a baby Girl 
to Bayla Malka Yelen (Silver) and Yesacher Dov Yelen 
in Yerushalayim
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Mazel Tov

to Chesky and Shana Dubin
on the birth of a baby Girl

Mazel Tov
 
to Yardena and Rabbi Smith
on the birth of a baby GIRL!!!

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ANNOUNCEMENTS




You can submit comments, suggestions, answers to the quizzes, and caption ideas using the Hillel Happenings DROP BOX  at the front desk!


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Price List
 
Apples Red Delicious                 3.99 / 3lb bag
Apples Red Delicious                 54.0 / 42 lb case
Apples Gala                                 4.50 / 3lb bag
Apples Golden Delicious           65.0 / 42lb case
Avocado                                      1.80 / pc
Beets With Top Bunch                2.5 / bunch
Cabbages                                     1.5 / head
Carrots                                          0.75 / 1lb bag
Cucumbers (English)                  0.99 / pc
Cucumbers (slicing)                    24.0 / 50 pc case
Eggplants                                     1.4 / pc
Grapes, Green                              4.50 / 2lb bag
Mangoes                                       14.0 / 10 pc case
Cantaloupes                                 1.99 / pc
Pears                                             50.0 / 135 pc case
Red Peppers                                 18.0 / 11lb case
Peppers, Mini                                0.99 / 1lb bag
Pineapples                                     1.2 / pc
Potatoes, Idaho                             4.75 / 10lb bag
Potatoes, Golden                          3.80 / 5lb bag
Daicon Radishes                          3.2 / pc
Butternut Squashes                     2.75 / pc
Starfruit                                          1.7 / pc
Tomatoes                                       22.0 / 25lb case
Tomatoes, Cherry                          0.99 / lb
Sweet Potatoes                              30.0 / 40lb case
Yellow Onions                                1.8 / 3lb bag
Romain Hearts                               2.8 / bag (3)
Pomegranates                               Please call Yamit  for pricing 970-989-2648
 
Please submit your order prior to 5pm on
Thursday September 14 to
 
Accepted forms of payment: PayPal
Check payable to Presman, or Cash







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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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 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.

Micki Myers, Editor | Hillel Happenings | 412 521-8131 | h[email protected] |www. hillelpgh.org