Rosh Hashanah 5783 — The New Year

Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), begins Sunday night. The liturgy connects the holiday to the creation of the world: the phrase “Hayom harat olam, today the world is conceived/born,” is recited each time the shofar is blown in the musaf (additional) service. It is one reason we call Rosh Hashanah the birthday of the world.

However, there is a rabbinic opinion that the world is created on the 25th of Elul and Rosh Hashanah is the sixth day of creation, the day Adam and Eve are created (P’sikta d’Rav Kahana 23:1). This equates the birth of human life with the birth of the world and affirms the importance of our role as partners with God as stewards of that world. This explains why the Torah portion we read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah deals not with creation, but with Sarah’s birth of Isaac. The Haftarah (prophetic reading) describes Hannah’s birth of Samuel. Both are long-awaited births by barren women.

Conception and birth embody potential. They are the starting line; everything is in the future, and anything is possible. Isaac represents the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and is both an individual and a national beginning. But God tells Abraham, “ki b’yitzchak yikarei l’cha zara, for through Isaac will your offspring be continued” (Gen. 21:12). Isaac isn’t the end of the process, only the beginning (Babylonian Talmud Nedarim 31a). So, too, Rosh Hashanah offers each of us a starting line for fulfilling our promises to ourselves and to those around us. It will take the rest of the year to find out if we really mean them.

Shanah Tovah Um’tukah/A Good and Sweet Year

Dr. David Ackerman (Doc)

Please feel free to use our Rosh Hashanah blessings with Hebrew as well as English translation and transliteration to help you celebrate Rosh Hashanah 5783.

Torah Thoughts from Doc

Read a brief message about this week's Torah portion, Parashat Nitzavim. "It's never too late for things to improve."

Mark Your Calendars!

• Friday, September 23 - All-School Kabbalat Shabbat, 2:45-3:15 p.m., PARENTS WELCOME!
• Monday, September 26 - NO SCHOOL: Rosh Hashanah
• Tuesday, September 27 - NO SCHOOL: Rosh Hashanah
• Tuesday, October 4 - NOON EARLY DISMISSAL: Erev Yom Kippur — NO LUNCH
• Wednesday, October 5 - NO SCHOOL: Yom Kippur
• Thursday, October 6 - Instrumental Music Parent Info Meeting, 7 p.m. (details to come)
• Monday, October 10 - NO SCHOOL: Sukkot
• Tuesday, October 11 - NO SCHOOL: Sukkot
• Sunday, October 16 - Gradewide Sukkah Parties (information below)

View the full Heilicher calendar online

Key Dates for 2022-2023

Join Us for a Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah Celebration!

TOMORROW, the whole school will come together to welcome Shabbat and prepare for Rosh Hashanah at the first All-School Kabbalat Shabbat, Friday, September 23, at 2:45 p.m. Parents are invited to join. Come early and celebrate with us! We will sing Tzedek, Tzedek (Rise, Arise) and a beautiful Sephardic prayer of slichot (apology), among other prayers and songs.

Parents will be dismissed from programing ahead of the students to go through the pickup line as usual. Students will stay with their teachers until their names are called when you come through the pickup line. Thank you for helping us ensure the safety and security of our students.

Grades 2-5: Join the Heilicher Choir

In our choir, students in grades 2-5 have the opportunity to study vocal music and explore a variety of musical styles. If your child is interested in participating in the Heilicher choral groups, please read the Heilicher Choir Description and email Mr. Shaw with your student's and their homeroom teacher's names by TOMORROW, Friday, September 23.

The choir groups participate once per week during recess. Rehearsals begin the week of October 3.

Notes from the Parent Teacher Organization 

Thank you to those who have completed the PTO Engagement Survey. If you have not yet done so, please complete the survey by TOMORROW, Friday, September 23.

So far we know from the survey that there is interest in parent education courses. We are excited to soon offer the ISACS Parent Educational Speaker Series. 

The Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) has an educational webinar speaker series in the coming months covering topics such as the “Gift of Failure,” “Technology & Mental Health,” and “Boundaries without Battles.” We will share the series of six webinars as links in the Roar throughout the remainder of the school year. We will also have the opportunity to view a few sessions as a group with a discussion to follow. Please be on the lookout for more information in upcoming Roar newsletters.

Let the PTO know what events and/or committees you are interested in. When our parent community comes together, our whole school benefits — including the families, teachers, administration, and, of course, our students!

You're Invited: Gradewide Sukkah Parties Are Back!

Throughout the day on Sunday, October 16, various Heilicher families will host sukkah parties for individual grades, as well as a couple combined grades. By now, you should have received an invitation for the parties. If you have not, please see the Roar sent to your email for details. RSVP directly to your party host family so they can best plan for each party. Many thanks to the party hosts for inviting us into their sukkot!

Parent ID Card Hours

Please note that your parent ID cards give you building access through the main (south) entrance of the JCC during school and HaBonim hours only, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m, Monday-Friday.

Give to Heilicher When You Shop Amazon

You can shop Amazon and generate funds to help support Heilicher! Simply go to smile.amazon.com and choose Heilicher as your charity. For no extra fee, 0.5% of your payment on eligible products will go to Heilicher. It's a great and easy way to help the school.

Before Care is Available Monday-Friday

Before Care is now available as a free, drop-in program.

Before-care drop-off is from 7:30 to 7:45 a.m. No drops-offs are allowed from 7:45 to 8 a.m. (Heilicher’s normal drop-off window begins at 8 a.m.)

To drop off your student, use your parent access card to enter the building, walk your child to the Dining Room, and sign them into before care. You may not drop your child off outside the building, as we will not have staff at the entrance to ensure they get to the Dining Room.

As a reminder, we will not provide food during before care. However, you are welcome to send a dairy or parev (non-dairy/non-meat) breakfast for your child to eat before school begins.

Please email beforecare@hmjds.org if you have any questions.

Volunteer Opportunities

Sign up to help with All-School Lunch and/or All-School T'filah.

• All-School Lunch: Help set up and clean up our all-school lunch on Wednesday(s) in the auditorium 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

• All-School T'filah: Help us set up for all-school t'filah (prayer) Monday(s) in the theater 8:15-9 a.m. 

Grade-level volunteer opportunities will be sent out by room parents.

Share Grandparent Contacts

Grandparents are an integral part of our Heilicher community. Throughout the year, we invite grandparents to participate in school programs and activities, including the Yom Dor l’Dor program for grandparents and other special elders on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 22. We also send a grandparent e-newsletter called Roots & Wings.

If you haven’t already, please share contact information for your child’s grandparents. Thank you!

Read the Fall 2022 Heilicher Magazine

Read the latest issue of The Heilicher Magazine! In it, we look toward Heilicher's bright future, introduce new administrators, and highlight the Heilicher class of 2022. We introduce Heilicher alumn and Board member Gabe Segal and include the 2021-22 school year-end donor list. And, take a peek to see a montage of photos from last school year!

You should have received a copy in the mail, and you may read the magazine online or get a copy from the Heilicher office.