KOL ECHAD | Weekly Newsletter 

August 24, 2023

Community Circle

By Cherie Friedman, Principal

Life is like a circle, whatever you give will come back to you someday.

At Kadima Day School, we want our classrooms to be a place where our students want to be, a place where they feel safe, loved, and valued. So with this in mind, we start each day with a community circle. This circle is a structured process for bringing people together. It is a place where our students get to understand each other, strengthen bonds, share and understand feelings, and solve problems. It is also a place where we create belonging and connectedness by building relationships. As educators, we can help our students process their thoughts and feelings so that they can better understand themselves and others. Community circles provide the students with the opportunity to feel comfortable expressing their thoughts in a nonjudgmental way. It also offers them the chance to create their classroom communities.  

Some of my most magical teaching moments have been in community circles. It is the place where I have watched our students learn and grow. It is also a place where I have witnessed our community growing stronger and closer. While preparing for our new school year, the teachers met in circles. As they got to know one another at Meet and Greet, our parents met in circles. As we begin a new and exciting year, our students are meeting in circles. From ECEC to 8th grade, they are stepping into these transformative circles and are building and strengthening the Kadima community. 

Shabbat shalom,

Cherie Friedman,

Principal

Important Dates

Tuesday, August 29 - Wednesday, August 30

• Middle School Retreat at Alpine Meadows, San Bernardino National Forest

Monday, September 4

• Labor Day - School Closed

Tuesday, September 5

• Middle School Back-to-School Night, 6:00 pm

Wednesday, September 6

• ECEC Back-to-School Night, 6:00 pm

Thursday, September 7

• PTO Meeting, 8:15 am, in the Kadima Library

Tuesday, September 12

• Elementary School Back-to-School Night, 6:00 pm

Tuesday, September 12 - Thursday, September 14

• High Holidays Food Drive

Friday, September 15

• Erev Rosh Hashanah - School Closed

Saturday, September 16 - Sunday, September 17

• Rosh Hashanah

Thursday, September 21

• Picture Day

Monday, September 25

• Yom Kippur - School Closed

Friday, September 29

• Erev Sukkot - School Closed

Saturday, September 30 - Sunday, October 1

• Sukkot

Thursday, October 5

• Sukkot B'Yachad - 5:30 pm
• 
  

Friday, October 6

• Hoshana Rabbah - School Closed

Saturday, October 7

• Sh'mini Atzeret

Sunday, October 8

• Simchat Torah

Wednesday, October 23

• Picture Make-Up Day

*For the full school year calendar, please click HERE.

Kadima Welcomes New School Staff!

Madison Shack - Fourth Grade Teacher

I am very excited to be a part of the Kadima community. Teaching is a passion of mine and I am looking forward to being a fourth-grade teacher this year. As a previous fourth-grade teacher, I want to continue to inspire my students to be their best selves. When I am not playing with my golden retriever puppy, I enjoy going on hikes and to the beach.

Lili Wiviott - ECEC Assistant

Hi everyone! My name is Lilli, I am 21 years old and a recent graduate of the University of Arizona. I am so happy to be working at Kadima this year and getting the privilege of meeting everyone! A fun fact about me is that I am the youngest out of four kids. I can't wait for this upcoming school year! 

Kayla Sawoski - Music Teacher

Kayla Sawoski, our new music teacher, brings energy and enthusiasm to Kadima. She is a graduate of California Lutheran University with a bachelor's degree in music, with an emphasis in vocal performance. She has been teaching for over eight years in classrooms, private studios, and music academies. She loves to sing and enjoys sharing that gift with others. This year she hopes to encourage students to develop a personal connection to music, and for students to enjoy music in and out of the classroom! 

Sedona Sauliner - ECEC Assistant

Sedona is an ECEC floating assistant joining our team after six years of working as a film and tv development, production and finance professional and seven years of working as a dance teacher and nanny. She is dedicated to serving and protecting children and families, nurturing and celebrating children’s strengths, providing a space for empathy, compassion and guidance, and building systems for community support. Sedona is engaged to our school’s finance clerk, Zachary Rutkin, and shares his passion for education and elevating family’s experiences.

A Warm Welcome to Our New Students!

Mazal Tov!

Please join us in congratulating Oshrey Diner, Natan Fridman, David Haiun, and Daniel Tzvi, and their families, on the occasion of their Bar Mitzvahs. Mazal Tov!

Lulav and Etrog Sets

We are now accepting orders for lulav and etrog sets. If you would like to purchase a set, please click here or on the flyer.

The deadline to order is Wednesday, September 13. Late orders will not be accepted. Order pick up will be at the main office starting on Tuesday, September 26.



Connect with Us!

Please be sure to join our Elementary School and/or Middle School WhatsApp groups to stay updated with Kadima events, announcements, and important information. Please hover over the QR codes below with your phone camera to join.

All ECEC parents should already be a part of the 'Kadima ECEC Parents 23/24' Whatsapp group. If not, please contact Alisha Sela, ECEC Director.

We are growing, and so is our social media, thanks to you! If you are not following Kadima on Facebook or Instagram, please be sure to follow, like, and share our exciting pictures and videos highlighting Kadima life and our school community. Feel free to tag Kadima and use the hashtag: #kadimadayschool. Click on the social media icons below to join us.

Top 10 Conversation Starters: Parashat Ki Tetze

By Dr. Steven Lorch

#10 - Parashat Ki Tetze commands that the inheritance rights of the firstborn son must be observed (D'varim 21, 16-17). But all three of the Avot, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov, violated this law and showed preference to a younger son. How did these violations affect their family relationships? Did they do the right thing, or the wrong thing, by showing favoritism to the "wrong" son?

#9 - The inheritance law is that the firstborn son should be given twice as much as each of the younger children receive. Is this fair? Or does it just replace the unfairness of the Avot (giving a greater portion to a younger child) with a different unfairness? Should all the children inherit equal portions?

#8 - The requirement to return lost property is first mentioned in Sefer Sh'mot (23, 4). Here (D'varim 22, 1-3) the Torah adds an additional expectation: that the finder watch over the lost property, keeping it safe and sheltered, until its owner can be found and the property returned. Whom does this requirement benefit most: the owner, the finder, society as a whole, the lost object, or God? Explain.

#7 - The reason for shooing away the mother bird before taking the chicks (22, 6-7) is almost identical to the reason for showing respect to one's parents: "so that you may fare well and have a long life - למען ייטב לך והארכת ימים." In what ways is this similarity surprising? (How are the two laws different?) In what ways is this logical? (How are the two laws similar?)

#6 - Several kinds of mixtures are prohibited in this parashah: mixing seeds of different kinds of plants (22, 9), hitching two species of animals to one plow (22, 10), and wearing clothes made of wool and linen (22, 11). What is problematic about these combinations? Who, or what, is harmed by each mixture?

#5 - Immediately after the prohibition of wool and linen together, we are commanded to wear tzitzit (22, 12). The rabbis say that wearing tzitzit made of the forbidden mixture of wool and linen is permitted. Why? We have a general principle that, if you violate a commandment and then use the product of the violation to do a mitzvah, the mitzvah doesn't count. For example, if you steal a lulav and etrog and then shake them, you haven't observed the mitzvah, and you have violated the prohibition against stealing. Why, here, is it the exact opposite: wearing tzitzit made of a forbidden mixture counts as a mitzvah, and doesn't count as a violation?

#4 - It's forbidden to charge interest to another Jew who borrows money from you, but you're allowed to charge interest to a non-Jew (23, 21). Why is this different from stealing or murdering, which you're not allowed to do to anyone, Jew or non-Jew? If collecting interest is wrong, why isn't it just as wrong to do it to a non-Jew as to a Jew?

#3 -  An agricultural worker is allowed to eat the produce that he is in the process of harvesting (23, 25-26), but he's not allowed to share it with his family members. Why is he allowed to eat his employer's crops? And why can't he transfer his rights to the produce to his wife and children?

#2 - This parashah states that parents should not be punished for their children's sins, and vice versa, but rather "איש בחטאו יומתו - a person shall be put to death only for his own sin" (24, 16). This goes against what we learned in the Ten Commandments (and elsewhere): God "visits the guilt of the parents upon their children - פוקד עוון אבות על בנים" (Sh'mot 20, 5). How can both statements be true?

#1 - In the last pasuk of the parashah, the Torah seems to contradict itself: first it says "תמחה את זכר עמלק מתחת השמים - you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven," and then it adds "לא תשכח - don't forget" (25, 19). But if you blot out Amalek's memory, that means that you and everyone else will forget about them. How can we be commanded both not to remember them and not to forget them? Explain what the pasuk means.