Israeli Vice Consul General in Chicago, Daniel Aschheim, Ph.D., with his family, Rabbi Matanky, and juniors Moshe Osgood, Sam Gurvich, Noah Fensterheim and Ori Wasserman

Rabbi Matanky and Dr. Brown celebrating in style

Freshmen Rachel Sommer and Dana Kalutsky showing off their Israel spirit.

Freshmen Zev Margolin and Avi Okner enjoying a camel ride.

Freshman Hadar Simkovich, junior Adina Margolin, junior Andrew Bersson, sophomore Yonah Rubin and freshman Simona Fridberg making Israeli-style juice.

Senior Hannah Stein encouraging students to write letters to lone soldiers in Israel.

Junior Gabrielle Rosenzweig creating a henna design for senior junior Bella Schwartz.

Freshman Dana Kalutsky learning how to tie a mitpachat from Mrs. Kochava Yitzhak.

Senior Jonathan Thomas makes a snow cone for sophomore Gabriel Klein.

Sophomore Uriel Kolom and junior Avi Okner savoring a quite moment.

Freshmen Sarah Levitt and Lauren Fensterheim enjoying a camel ride.

Freshman Daria Lennon preparing a snow cone.

Senior Aharon Bauman with Rabbi Michael Myers enjoying cholent, crackers and juice at the "Rebbe's Tisch".

Freshmen Lauren Fensterheim and Sarah Levitt and junior Kayla Kupietzky creating unique jewelry.

Junior Hersch Linzer playing an Israeli Wheel of Fortune game with Dr. Gavriel Brown.

Sophomore Jed Marcus tending to his homemade pita.

Senior Gavriel Engel shownig off an abstract painting he created.

Sophomores Adam Katz, Aryeh Neiger and Sam Gorenstein planting their own vegetables after learning about shemita from Rabbi Reuven Brand, Rosh Kollel of Yeshiva University Torah Mitzion Kollel of Chicago.

Freshmen Talia Linzer, Ella Perlman and Nina Ripstein, sophomores Shayna Weinstein,, Shuli Falk and freshman Eliana Ebert enjoying a ride in a mini-train during the morning's celebrations.

Juniors Toibeh Sarah Gersten, Michal Bechhofer and Carmel Schreiber show off their Israel pride.

Juniors Zach Miller and Kenny Shapiro get into the festive spirit at lunch.

Students enjoying a gala Israeli style buffet with chicken, pita, humus, tehina and Israeli salad.

Freshmen Allie Stein, Eliana Levine, Rachel Freed, Sarah Levitt, Meital Wittlin, Lauren Fensterheim, Tali Weiss and Hadar Simkovich enjoying lunch together.

On Wednesday morning, May 4, the entire ICJA student body came together for a somber Yom HaZikaron assembly.

On entering the gym, students walked past a wall of names of Israeli victims of terror attacks and war over the past five years.

Former ICJA teacher Rabbi Benny Pflanzer delivered a powerful presentation over Zoom: he spoke about his close childhood friend Eyal Levy, who was killed in an attack in Lebanon in 1993, along with eight other IDF soldiers.

Junior Charli Ernstein led the school in Tehillim. Senior Noam Braun led students in reciting Yizkor. Senior Amitai kakon led Keil Malei. Senior Noam Weissman led the Mi Shebeirach for Tzahal. Junior Sam Gurvich led Keil Malei. Senior Gavriel Engel led the program's final prayer, Tefila l'Shalom HaMedina. The program concluded with all students singing Ani Ma'amin together.

Yasher koach to Rabbi Yoni Fox and Mrs. Alissa Zeffren for organizing this meaningful event.

Pictured below: senior Noam Braun leading Yizkor; junior Sam Gurvich looking at the wall of names; freshmen Ella Perlman, Lea Ackerman and Lilac Marcus looking at the wall of names.

Students in Mr. Cooper's Economics class delivered presentations on major companies this week.

Students educated their peers about the history, market share, advertising strategy, competitive advantage, strengths and challenges of some of the country's most well known companies.

They then fielded questions about their companies and led discussions on business strategies.

Pictured above: senior Ariel Kahnrose discussing Hulu. Pictured below: senior Jonathan Thomas discussing Hasbro; senior Eliezer Zagorin discussing Microsoft.

Students in Mr. Olson's freshman pre-AP English class discussed The Odyssey this week.

They talked about Odysseus' position "between a rock and a hard place," as Mr. Olson put it as he negotiated the Straits of Messina.

On one side, students discussed, lay the six-headed monster Scylla. On the other side was a deadly monster named Charybdis which took the form of a whirlpool. Students discussed the divine nature of these creatures and how the Greeks' conception of "gods" differed markedly from our own today.

Students in Mrs. Wasserstrom's Accelerated Algebra class looked at conic sections in a whole new way this week. Mrs. Wasserstrom showed how a cone could come apart into different conic sections.

After turning out the lights in the class, students saw how a flashlight could be used to create ellipses, parabolas, and other shapes."

"I showed students how the cone is a basis for studying circles, ellipses, hyperbolas and parabolas." - Mrs. Wasserstrom

Students in Mrs. Friedman's senior girls' Jewish Thought class discussed Gittin, Jewish divorce, this week. Students participated in the classroom discussion in person and also, unfortunately, due to Covid-19, on Zoom.

Pictured below: Riva Weiss explaining the details of Gittin using the website of the Beth Din of America.

On Wednesday morning, May 4, students came together during breakfast for the first meeting of ICJA's new Sports Analytics Club.

Juniors Noah Strahlberg, Josh Kupietzky, Josh Felix and Zack Miller led the meeting, along with Rabbi Oren. The new club discussed the NBA playoffs.

(Photo courtesy of Zach Miller.)

"Ida Crown's amazing programs showed a huge positive insight into the IDF. Their Yom HaAtzmaut and Yom HaZikaron programs showed me how amazing it is to be a Jew in Israel, and it makes me proud that I'm now following the path of other alumni in defending our country."

- Pvt. Meir Cohen, '20

On Yom HaAtzmaut morning, ICJA students watched a short video featuring brief messages from three members of the Class of 2020 who are currently in the IDF: Ray Goltz, Ben Miller, and Yaakov Rosenberg. Thank you Rabbi Fox for coordinating and Dr. Brown for creating this moving video.

To watch the video, click here.

Meir Cohen '20

Tova Kahan '20

Yaakov Rosenberg '20

Ben Miller '20

Ray Goltz '20

Max Miller '20

On Tuesday, May 3, ICJA Academy Associates hosted a gala salad bar spread for ICJA teachers in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week.

Pictured here: Ms. Susan Sennett enjoying the delicious lunch.

My father, Paul Rosenberg, was president of the ATT (in addition to holding many other communal positions). He cared deeply about the Academy. (Both Paul and Doris contributed greatly to ICJA and to other Jewish institutions.)

We went to Israel after the 1967 War. We stayed in the Holy Land Hotel...there were still bullet holes in some of the windows from the fighting that had taken place. It was quite an experience.

(Sharon's parents were impressed with a model of the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Beit HaMikdash, located on the grounds of the hotel.) My father thought it was marvelous. He talked to the artist and asked if he could make a model and send it to Chicago.

In 1966, the owner of the Holy Land Hotel, Hans Kroch, commissioned the model in memory of his son Yaakov Kroch, z"l, who was killed fighting in Israel's War of Independence in the Battle of Kibbutz Nitsanim, where he lived.

At the time, the Old City of Jerusalem was cut off from the rest of Israel and was controlled by Jordan. Hans Kroch wanted Jerusalem's new city to have a significant tourist attraction that would lure tourists.

The model was made by Hebrew University Professor Michael Avi-Yonah. In 2006, the owners of the Holy Land Hotel donated the model of ancient Jerusalem to the Israel Museum. According to Wikipedia, the hotel spent $3.5 million on the move.

According to the Israel's Museum website, "Avi-Yona's reconstruction is based on descriptions from Jewish sources, particularly the Mishnah, and the writings of the contemporary historian Flavius Josephus. he also relied on archeological finds from Jerusalem and from other Roman cities."

The model that stands in ICJA is dedicated to Mark Lane Rosenberg ('64), Ira Donald Rosenberg ('66) and Sharon Ann Gertz ('69).

Sharon and her husband Seymour ('66) Gertz, along with the estate of Margalit bat Rav Shilem Gertz, z"l, sponsored last week's Yom HaShoah events at ICJA in memory of Rabbi Shlomo Hirsch Koller hy"d and his sister Etka Koller-Cykomiik hy"d. This week, the Gertz family generously sponsored ICJA's gala Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations in memory of Doris and Paul Rosenberg.

Thursday, Yom Ha'Atzmaut, the 4th of Iyar, 5782, May 5th, 2022, by Sara and David Makowsky and Ora, Gabriel and Tal Damelin, in merit of a refuah shleima for Avraham Lev ben Raiza.

Thursday, the 10th of Sivan, 5782, June 9th, 2022, by the Perlow, Shasha and Massey Families, for Dr. Baruch Shasha, to honor his upcoming 20th Yahrzeit on the 13th of Sivan.

For more information or to sponsor a day of learning, please contact our Director of Development, Deva Zwelling, at (773) 973-1450 ext. 115, or dzwelling@icja.org.

Sophomores & Juniors, we are excited to announce that this year's Sophomore & Junior Fridayton will take place on Friday May 13. The Fridayton will include a trip to Quad Indoor Sports as well as a Friday night Shabbat program, including davening, dinner, and oneg. Drop-off and pickup from school on Friday will be at regular times.

The cost of the event is $40- please sign up here by Monday, May 2. We hope that everyone can attend!

ICJA parents" join with other day school parents as we celebrate our unified commitment to Jewish education and come together in support of the 2022 JUF Annual Campaign. Click here to register.

IDP is calling all high school students: Bnei Akiva Chicago is flying to New York! For more information, phone Ari at 773-407-9628 or click here to sign up.

Over Chanukah, ICJA gave its Class of '21 alumni a Chanukah gift: a brand-new directory that lists ICJA alumni who live in Israel and have graciously offered to open their homes to recent ICJA '21 grads who are currently spending a gap year in Israel this year.

The directory was sent out to the emails of '21 grads that we have on file. If you have any questions or would like to update our contact information to help recent ICJA grads obtain a copy, please contact Dr. Yvette Miller, ICJA Director of Communications, at ymiller@icja.org.

We are still taking submissions from alumni who are willing to host, to include in future copies of this directory.

Win-win! You can support Ida Crown Jewish Academy, while shopping via Smile.Amazon.com