April 14th, 2022 ~ 13 Nisan, 5782 |
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A message from The Head of School |
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During Passover we retell our story of going from slavery to freedom. It was a difficult path, filled with challenges, conflicts, politics and courage. In the American experience, we also have gone through challenges, conflicts and politics on the road to freedom.
This year our school has joined the Alliance of Small Jewish Day Schools, a group of 6 schools from Birmingham, AL, Tulsa, OK, Hartford, CT, Greensboro, NC and Rochester, NY. Middle School students from these schools have been meeting weekly to learn different components of Social Justice. The 6th grade students study Civil Rights, 7th studies Advocacy and 8th studies Israel. Each grade has a keystone trip connected to their learning. The 6th grade and 7th grade classes had their trips last week, just before Passover.
Our 6th grade students took a very special trip to Birmingham, Alabama. This trip was a key component in their Civil Rights curriculum. The students explored the struggles, challenges and atrocities that those who fought for Civil Rights have encountered. They also learned about how those struggles continue today.
Our 7th grade students spent the week in Washington, D.C. In groups of students mixed among the schools, they researched various challenges, such as food insecurity and climate change, explored how political policies impact those issues and wrote White Papers to present to representatives asking for changes they feel are needed.
Just after Passover our 8th grade students are going to Israel. While there, they will not only be touring the country, but will be exploring how Israel incorporates Jewish values in the work that is done to improve both the Israeli society and the world.
As our Middle School students have experienced first hand, going from slavery to freedom has extreme challenges. The challenges change and persist as the work toward freedom continues. As we learn through the story of Pesach, the rewards for the work are incredible and can bring about a bright future.
I want to wish you and your family a wonderful Pesach, filled with the pride of freedom and, perhaps, the agency to continue to work toward making the world a better place.
Chag Sameach v'Kasher,
Samara
P.S. Please enjoy a Passover message from our first grade and all of the wonderful pictures at the end of our summary!
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1st Grade General Studies
Brandy Hurley
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First grade had a special visitor in class last week. Debbie Hervitz shared the book she wrote, Where I Live, a geography book for children. She taught the class how to make rocket ships and they launched them as she read her book. The kids learned about the location of Pennsylvania and where it is located on earth. They learned about continents and oceans and how to read a map. Then, the students worked together to build giant puzzles of space, the continents and the United States. It was a fun afternoon full of engineering, geography and games! |
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4th - 8th Grade Judaic Studies
Rabbi Gewirtz
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Haggadah “archeology”
Silver Academy students participated, through their pre-Pesach preparations, in 2 forms of Haggadah “archeology”.
The 5th and 6th graders studied the original Haggada text in the Mishnah of the 10th Chapter of Tractate Pesachim, (the Proto-Haggadah). They discovered that the “4 Questions” were originally intended as the questions a child would ask only if s/he couldn’t ask original questions. It was not a badge of honor to say “Mah Nishtanah”! They discovered that although the Mishnah permitted the “Cliff Notes” version of the Exodus story (from Deuteronomy 26 which is what our Haggadah has) it left the analysis up to each individual. Among the many additions that scholars added over the next 700 years to the Proto-Haggada to form our Haggadah was a skeletal analysis of that summary which was/is then interpreted in many different and creative ways by the tens of thousands (I admit it’s a guess!) of Haggadah commentaries published in the 1500 years since.
The 7th and 8th graders studied the Haggadah commentary of Rabbi Meir Leibish Malbim, the great Ukrainian/Russian/Polish (always in flux) rabbi and Torah Commentator. The “Malbim”’s Torah commentary is based on his careful analysis of the exact meaning of the text’s chosen words, especially where an alternative synonym could have been used. The Malbim Haggadah does the same thing. The Malbim also discovered the “Holy Grail” of Haggadah evolution: a simple yet compelling reason for why all the sections of the “Magid” portion were selected. I’m not giving it away! Either corner a Middle Schooler or click on the link! |
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- Mazel Tov to Alexa Kushner for winning the Better2Write contest that is part of the Better Together program.
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- Mazel Tov to Lillian Freeburn, Devon Blume, Shoshana Feig and Abie Schertz for finding the afikomen during our model seder.
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- Thank you to Debbie Hervitz for coming in last week to read her book, Where I Live, to the 1st grade class.
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- Thank you to Terri Travers for leading our April Rosh Chodesh Activity.
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- Thank you to Marcy Flicker, Emily Freeburn, Ricki Gold, Emily Halper, Marilyn Klein, Sharon Lindenberger, Ravit Peiffer, Sarah Richman, Bert, Jackie and Myrna Rubin for helping with our Model Seders.
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- Thank you to Maly Jackson for sharing her incredible story about her exodus from Ethiopia to Israel with our students during their Better Together program.
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- Thank you to the Graeff, Klein and Rubin families for providing Music Club snacks and thank you to Ortal Klein, Kimberlea Konowitch and Tammy Reid for volunteering during rehearsals and thank you to Tammy Reid for working on the costumes for the performance.
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- Thank you to our lunch volunteers: Kate Carpenter, Marcy Flicker, Ricki Gold, Cynthia Graeff, Debbie Hervitz, Ortal Klein, Kimberlea Konowitch, Myrna and Bert Rubin, Reva Schertz, and Eva Siegel.
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- We extend our condolences to the family of Harriet Parnes. May her memory be for a blessing.
- We extend our condolences to the family of Mimi Bernstein. May her memory be for a blessing.
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We have been working hard collecting articles and photos for the 2021-2022 Silver Academy Yearbook, Tradition! It is sure to be a wonderful keepsake to remember your child(ren)s 2021-2022 school year. Please use the yearbook order form below to order yours today!
The sale of advertisements is the most important fundraiser for the yearbook and the money raised helps to cover the cost of design and printing. See the Parent Ad Request Letter below to learn about how you can support our yearbook project.
The good news: If you send in one advertisement order, your child will receive his/her yearbook free! (Two ads for a family with two or more children, and all students in the family will receive their yearbook free). Please use the yearbook ad order form below to place your advertisement.
Don't forget to ask a local business owner you know if they would like to place an ad in our yearbook and give them a copy of the Sponsor Ad request letter and yearbook advertisement order form below."
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Easy ways to support The Silver Academy everyday |
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Giant Scrip
Susan Leviton has Giant gift cards. If anyone would like to purchase any she will sanitize them, put them in an envelope and do a transfer at her curb. No need to come to her door. Susan can be contacted at 717-608-0190.
Giant gift cards are also available in The Silver Academy Office. Contact the school at 717-238-8775 to arrange for pick up.
- Raise money for our school by using gift cards where you are already shopping! Buy e-gift cards, physical gift cards and reloadable gift cards at face value and use for your everyday shopping. Easily pay online and earn a rebate between 2%-16% that goes right to our school.
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Contributions to The Silver Academy are always appreciated and every dollar makes a difference for our students!
Looking for a way to celebrate a birthday or special occasion? Do you have someone you would like to honor? Do you want to make a donation in memory of a loved one? Consider making a donation to The Silver Academy. We will send them a lovely card to share with them that a gift has been made in their honor.
You may contact the school's office to make a contribution or do so online here.
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Mrs. Cherepinsky's Music Lessons |
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Challah With a Twist
Offers Weekly Challah Order and Delivery To Students and Teachers.
- Order your challah by 8:30 pm Thursday evening at challahwithatwist.com. The fresh baked challah will be given to your child to take home on Friday.
- To pay, please send an envelope with your name on it to the school office, including cash, or a check payable to Challah with a Twist, or use Paypal or Venmo.
Challah With a Twist, (a.k.a. Varda Challah), has been providing home baked challah to the Harrisburg community for over 24 years.
For any questions, please call or text Varda Gewirtz at 717-919-1358 .
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