Upcoming Events

• Monday, March 6 - Ta'anit Esther - 2pm dismissal

• Tuesday, March 7 - Purim - no classes (To order an Academy Associates Purim e-card, click here.)

• Wednesday, March 8 - Shushan Purim Program - trip to Whirlyball followed by faculty-student basketball game at ICJA, lunch, and Purim shpeil - Click here to sign up.

• Wednesday, March 8 - ICJA Takes the Stage girls' event: Annie at the Cadillac Theater, 7:30pm

• Thursday, March 9 - Israel Advocacy Meeting with Charlotte Korchak, Director of International Student Programs at StandWithUs Israel

• Tuesday, March 14 - National Honor Society induction, 7pm

• Wednesday, March 15 - ICJA Takes the Stage, Commemorating the Life of Batsheva Chaya Stadlan, z"l, generously sponsored by The Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts, 7pm - click here to reserve your seat

• Sunday, March 19 - Boys' Barbeque Party at ICJA baseball game, Caleb Field, 4:30pm

• Monday, March 20 - Junior and Senior Boys' and Girls' programs with Rabbi Daniel Mechanic, Founder and Director of Project Chazon

• Tuesday, March 21 - Springboard Chicago's celebration of 18 Under 18 (including seniors Hadassah Bernstein and Hersh Linzer) at Pinstripes in Northbrook - click here to RSVP.

• Wednesday, March 22 - Juniors SAT testing in school

• Wednesday, March 22 - YU Boys Basketball Tournament

• Friday, March 24 - Freshman Fridayton

• Thursday, March 30 - Pre-Pesach Program with YU Kollel in school

• Monday, April 3 - Sunday, April 16 - Pesach Break - no school



• Monday, April 17 - Classes resume

• Tuesday, April 18 - Yom HaShoah program in school

• Tuesday, April 25 - Yom HaZikaron program in school

• Wednesday, April 26 - Yom HaAtzma'ut in-school celebration

On Tuesday, ICJA girls engaged in a morning of learning in memory of Batsheva Chaya Stadlan, z"l.

On Tuesday, February 28, female students spent the first three periods of the day learning as part of the ICJA Takes the Stage program, in memory of Batsheva Chaya Stadlan, z"l. Batsheva's mother Marianne Novak spoke about her daughter's lasting legacy, and impressed on ICJA students that they can learn how to take charge of their own life stories and decide how they will choose to impact the world around them.

Afterwards, students divided into smaller groups according to grade level, and learned about the examples of Jewish women in the Torah who found their own agency and decided in what direction they wanted to live their lives. Students discussed the examples of Rivka, Rachel, Leah, Yael, Avigayil, and Esther.

Batsheva's parents Marianne Novak and Noam Stadlan joined students in the Yom Iyun, listening to student insights and contributing their own thoughts and teachings to the discussions. Thank you also to ICJA teacher Olivia Friedman for organizing this meaningful event. ICJA Takes the Stage is generously supported by the Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts.

Pictured above: Marianne Novak addressing students

Pictured above: the Yom Iyun's first session, with all ICJA girls together

Pictured above: sophomores Allie Stein, Meital Witlin, Hadar Simkovich, and Aliza Shyovitz

Pictured above: freshmen Jessica Michaeli and Esti Mora

Pictured above: senior Audrey Perlman, junior Taly Benzaquen, and senior Kayla Kupietzky

Pictured above: Noam Stadlan and Marianne Novak learning alongside students

On Tuesday, students faced a unique math challenge to enter their classroom.

Students wishing to take their seats in Mrs. Marlene Wasserstrom's Math 3 Core class on Tuesday had to first answer a question printed on a placard Mrs. Wasserstrom wore: "State the Quadratic Formula." Students seemed to enjoy the challenge; one student even requested Mrs. Wasserstrom's distinctive "necklace" to wear. (Mrs. Wasserstrom gave her the placard as a gift.)

Pictured above: juniors Elana Druk, Taly Benzaquen, Leah Zelden, and Leeya Starck

Pictured above: sophomore Ranon Ginsberg with Mrs. Wasserstrom

What are the rules for saying Mincha at work?

Are there ever any times when one should delay saying Mincha? Can you daven Mincha up in a tree if your job is picking fruit? How should one balance one's obligation to one's employer with one's obligation to recite the afternoon Mincha prayers? That was the subject of Rabbi Louis Fliegelman's freshman boys' Gemara class this week.

Students are learning Brachot, and delved into the details of how and when to say Mincha when one is at work.

Pictured above: Eli Gelb and Aaron Katz

Pictured above: Noah Lehrfield

Pictured above: Avi Rubin answering a question

Students discussed receiving permission to eat meat in the Land of Israel.

Juniors in Rabbi Shmuel Oren's honors Chumash class are learning about Hashem's promises to us when we entered the land of Israel. This week, they discussed the conditions governing "you shall eat meat whenever you wish" (Deut. 20:12).

Pictured above: Moshe Wiesenberg and Joseph Amrami

Pictured above: Adam Katz and Aryeh Neiger

Pictured above: Joseph Rothner and Jacob Friedman

Students completed skits from The Odyssey.

Freshmen in Mrs. Heather Hobbie's honors English class have been taking turns acting out different scenes from The Odyssey, teaching their classmates about their interpretations of the work and stimulating discussion.

Pictured here: Yehuda Goldstein and Rivka Belsh acting out a scene from Book 19, in which Odysseus returns to Penelope disguised as a beggar, and hears Penelope's plans to ask her suitors shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads to prove their fitness

Students bid on companies as they put on their own Hebrew-language Shark Tank show.

Seniors in Rabbi Shmuel Kurtz's accelerated Hebrew class held their own Shark Tank competition in class this week. While the name "Shark Tank" was transliterated from the English, everything else in these presentations was conducted in Hebrew, as students presented their business ideas and bid on each proposed company.

Pictured above: Sam Gurvich and Charlie Singer with their business plan of making trousers for horses

Pictured above: Ben Boyarskiy and Yaakov David presenting their business idea, a golf club that can double as a toilet

Pictured above: Gideon Miller and Hersch Linzer talking about their business idea, hippo and rhino rental service for birthdays and funerals

What does Divine authorship of the Torah mean for us?

Sophomores in Mrs. Kochava Yitzhak's AJSP class have been discussing the many approaches to appreciating Divine authorship of the Torah. The question they pondered this week was: "If Hashem really wrote the Torah, what does that mean to me?"

On Thursday, students watched a moving video, From India to Jerusalem, in which renown kiruv figure Rabbi Yitzchak Fanger described his transformation from an Israeli-born Buddhist priest to an Orthodox Jew, and how he felt compelled to change his life once he appreciated Hashem's authorship of the Torah.

Pictured above: Ariela Bielak

Pictured above: Nina Ripstein

Pictured above: Eliana Ebert

Students learned how to use online college resources.

Each year, ICJA offers mandatory classes for all juniors in applying to college; students learn how to select schools to apply to, work on their activity resumes, and hear how to craft their college essays.

This week, juniors practiced using online college ranking and resource systems to learn more about colleges' selectivity and Jewish life on campus.

Pictured above: College Guidance Counselor Ms. Susan Weiss helps students create accounts

Pictured above: Director of College Guidance Rabbi Louis Fliegelman shows one ranking system

Students acted out works of literature in different ways and discussed the pieces' changing nuances.

Juniors in Mrs. Marsha Arons's English class experimented this week with acting out pieces of literature in different ways, and discussed the varying nuances that each interpretation brought out.

Students could choose a poem, song, or piece of prose to recite. It was remarkable how different pieces could sound, depending how they were read.

Pictured above: Milo Benmelech and Josh Paskoff presenting the song Yesterday by the Beatles

Pictured above: Gabe Klein, Ari Klein, and Benjamin Baronofsky presenting the poem This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams

Sophomore Aidan Zukerman took 3rd place in regionals and qualified for Frosh Soph Sectionals.

Yasher koach to sophomore Aidan Zukerman! Last Sunday, Aidan (132) and freshman Michael Matveyev (126) participated in Frosh Soph regionals at Notre Dame High School in Niles.

Competing against first rate competition, Aidan took third place, defeating opponents from Morton, Fenton, Taft, and Fenwick on the way to the medal stand. He qualified for Frosh Soph Sectionals, this coming Sunday, March 5, at Evanston High School. Best of luck, Aidan!

Last Sunday, freshman boys and their fathers davened at Bais Menachem in West Rogers Park.

Last Sunday, some ICJA freshman boys and their fathers gathered together to daaven at Bais Menachem at Howard and California.

Following Shacharit, students and their dads went back to ICJA's Talmud teacher, Director of College Guidance, and freshman boys' morning daavening teacher Rabbi Louis Fliegelman's house for breakfast. There, students and fathers continued Rabbi Fliegelman's freshman boys' Talmud class's 40-day project "bensch like a mentsch," encouraging students to always using a bencher when saying Birchat Ha'mazon. (This was an outgrowth of an inspirational video Rabbi Fliegelman's freshman Talmud students watched in class and shared with their parents, viewable here.)

Pictured above: Rabbi Louis Fliegelman, Mr. Jonathan Stopek, Boaz Stopek, Dr. Robert Rubin, Avi Rubin, Rabbi Eliyahu Rapaport, Eli Gelb, Dr. Mike Gelb, Mr. Lev Katz, Aaron Katz, Mr. Howard Rosenburg, Ben Rosenburg, and Rabbi Baruch Epstein

Last Friday, Student to Student Chicago presented to 200 students at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights.

Last Friday, Student to Student Chicago gave presentations about Judaism and Jewish life to about 200 peers at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights. St. Viator students asked questions about our students' experiences, lifestyles, and opinions. A highlight was when ICJA students wrote St. Viator students' names in Hebrew.

"Every year, we at St. Viator look forward to hosting our friends at Student-to-Student, because our students can only listen to us teachers for too long. We greatly value the opportunity for our students to engage with their Jewish peers, who effortfully and lovingly share the beauty of their faith and culture." - Patrick McGarry, St. Viator Theology Department Chair

This week we caught up with ICJA's Tanach and Jewish Thought teacher Mrs. Kochava Yitzhak, and asked her a few questions about herself.

Mrs. Kochava Yitzhak teaches Tanach and Jewish Thought to ICJA girls (Pictured here: her senior AJSP class). This week, we caught up with Mrs. Yitzhak and asked her a few questions about herself.

Please tell us a bit about yourself: where did you grow up and where do you live now?

I was born in Vienna, and I grew up in West Berlin, Germany. I don’t have roots in either of these two cities. My parents lived in Israel prior to my being born. My father was in the Israeli army and fought during the Yom Kippur war. My grandmother was frightened for the lives of her 7 sons, and instructed all of her sons to emigrate. That is how my family ended up in Germany. 

My husband, Hertzel, is originally from Israel, and we have six children: Noam, Nava, Yedidya, Aharon Gavriel, Shmuel, and Yosef Chaim. We live in West Rogers Park.

How did you decide to go into Jewish education?

Growing up in Berlin, there were no Jewish schools available for me to attend. 

I guess that which one lacks in childhood, can easily become that which one is most passionate about in adulthood. 

When my family moved to the USA , I was enrolled in a Jewish Day School (Shulamith) and I feverishly tried to make up all that I lost out on. I don’t think that fever has ever left me! I had phenomenal role models in high school, real talmidei chachamim, who were so passionate and knowledgeable. I wanted to live up to that and become that. 

What do you love about working here at ICJA?

The professionalism, the educational standards, the sense of community. I have learned a lot from observing Rabbi Matanky for twenty years. His understanding of the individual needs of each student is astounding. 

Can you share a favorite ICJA memory?

One year, one of the guest speakers for my AJSP class was a giyoret (convert to Judaism), who shared with us her journey to Judaism. She was getting married in several weeks and, not having grown up Jewish, without a large circle of Jewish friends, she was worried there would be no one to dance at her wedding. My whole AJSP came to her wedding at KINS, and danced up a storm for her!

A year or so later when she spoke for my AJSP class, she had just given birth, and my class asked if we could cook her Shabbat meal. My class cooked up a storm here at ICJA and delivered it before Shabbat. It was beautiful to see the lessons that we were learning applied in a very real and impactful way. 

It was a coming together of Torah, chessed, and community. 

Do you have any hobbies?

I read a lot of autobiographical and biographical Holocaust literature. I know it sounds morose but I find it incredibly inspiring to enter the life story of a person or family who faced the impossible, and to see how they dealt with those challenges. 

I also like watching sunset on Lake Michigan. 

Is there anything that most people don't know about you that you'd like to share here?

I speak six languages: English, Hebrew, German, French, Russian, Persian. 

Watch this year's Open House video

for prospective students - and share it with people you know who'd like to learn more about ICJA!

Founded in 1942, ICJA is 80 years old this year. Please enjoy this 80th Anniversary Video which looks back on eight decades of excellence, close bonds, and memories.

Watch Rabbi Berel Wein's '50 inspiring remarks at the ICJA Israel Reunion, Jerusalem, November 2022!

Watch highlights of our inspiring Israel Reunion, Jerusalem, November 2022!

This week's sponsors include:

Monday, the 6th of Adar, 5783, February 27, 2023:

By Dana, Eddie, Isaac ('21) and Gabriella ('24) Zipperstein, in memory of Harriet Friener Beck, z''l, Reuben Friener, z''l, Henrietta Friener, z''l, and Gertrude Beck, z''l

By the Alter and Geller Families, in memory of Howard Geller, חיים דוד בן יהודה לייב, ז׳׳ל, to commemorate his 9th yahrzeit on the 9th of Adar

By Seymour and Sharon Gertz, in memory of Gwen Gertz z"l, Margalit bat R' Shilem

Tuesday, the 7th of Nisan, 5783, February 28, 2023:

By R’ Marianne Novak & Dr. Noam Stadlan, Zehavya (‘13) and Hillel (‘19) Stadlan, in memory of Batsheva Chaya Stadlan ('16) z’l and to celebrate the wonderful learning for ICJA Takes the Stage in her memory

By Howie Perlstein ('86) in memory of Helen Perlstein z"l,

שרה הינדא בת מאיר יוסף,

in commemoration of her Yahrtzeit, which is observed on ז' אדר

By Seymour and Sharon Gertz, in memory of Gwen Gertz z"l, Margalit bat R' Shilem

Wednesday, the 8th of Adar, 5783, March 1, 2023:

By the Rosenblum, Kirshenbaum, Bokor, and Garfinkel families, in memory of Rabbi Dov Ber Rosenblum z''l, to commemorate his 29th yahrzeit

By Seymour and Sharon Gertz, in memory of Gwen Gertz z"l, Margalit bat R' Shilem

Thursday, the 9th of Adar, 5783, March 2, 2023:

By Dana, Eddie, Isaac ('21) and Gabriella ('24) Zipperstein, in memory of Harriet Friener Beck, z''l, Reuben Friener, z''l, Henrietta Friener, z''l,; and Gertrude Beck

By the Alter and Geller Families in memory of Howard Geller,

חיים דוד בן יהודה לייב, ז׳׳ל, to commemorate his 9th yahrzeit on the 9th of Adar

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.

Be sure to pick up your updated ICJA Learning Commons passwords to access books and journals online!

In addition to many thousands of physical books and journals, ICJA's Learning Commons contains tens of thousands of online books, journal articles and other resources, including subscriptions to newspapers such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and more.  Students are able to access these resources through our portal.

Please stop by our librarian Mrs. Steinberg's desk in the Learning Commons or email her at  librarian@icja.org her to pick up your updated passwords to access our online material. ICJA's subscriptions are available at icja.libguides.com/home.

Do you have school-related news you'd like to see in this newsletter? Let us know!

If you have exciting ICJA-related news to share about classes, sports, clubs, or other projects, please tell us! Send news items and/or photos to Dr. Yvette Miller, Director of Communications at ymiller@icja.org. Your items can enhance our newsletter and ICJA's social media presence.

Support ICJA Academy Associates with your Mishloach Manot this Purim!

We have opened submissions for this year's edition of Charlotte's Web, and we want to hear and see your work. Our theme this year is Time: Past, Present, and Future. However, please submit any piece of prose, poetry, or artwork even if it does not align with the theme. We will do our best to incorporate at least a part of it.

Click here to submit artwork and writing. If you have any questions, please email charlottesweb2223@gmail.com.

Charlotte's Web is funded by a grant from The Susan and Joseph Ament Fund.

Student Internship Opportunities

The YU Torah Mitzion Kollel is looking to hire 2 interns: one to help with program logistics and general office work and one for technology.

Program Logistics Intern

Responsibilities include: grocery shopping for events, ordering food for events, and stuffing envelopes for mailings. The work will be on an as needed basis, generally requiring no more than 2 hours on any given week.

Intern will report directly to the Director of Operations, who will meet with the intern periodically to explain assignments.  

Intern must have access to a vehicle.

Technology intern

Responsibilities include: Editing Audio and video clips, uploading media to Youtube and Podcasts, possibly some data entry. This position will include approximately 1 hour of tasks per week.

Intern will report directly to the Director of Operations, who will meet with the intern periodically to explain assignments.  

Familiarity with any form of editing software a plus but not required.

For more information or to apply, please contact Tracy Schultz, Director of Operations, admin@torahchicago.org

Last summer, ICJA gave its Class of '22 alumni the second edition of our directory listing ICJA alumni who live in Israel and have graciously offered to open their homes to recent ICJA grads who are currently spending a gap year in Israel.

Thank you to the many alumni who have reached out to us, offering to host.

The directory was sent out to the emails of '22 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. Please contact Dr. Miller to be included.