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December 21, 2023/ 9th of Tevet 5784/ Parsha Vayigash
Candle Lighting: 4:15 PM
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We were so excited to have a visit from Sarah Silverberg (JKHA ‘11/RKYHS ‘15) who is visiting from Israel and was serving in the reserves in the IDF. The 4th graders had written letters to her while she was serving and were eager to hear about her experiences while defending and protecting Israel! Sarah and her sister Leana Silverberg (JKHA ‘10/RKYHS ‘14) enjoyed seeing and reconnecting with teachers in the lower, middle and high school and speaking to RKYHS students in various grades. | |
RKYHS received a call this week from a woman who had just returned from a trip to Israel with Koshertroops. She is not connected to our school, but called to give us a message. On one of the army bases she visited, an IDF soldier named Roei Levi found her and asked her to deliver a message to a Julia Szmigielski at Kushner when she returns to the US. Julia is a 10th grader at RKYHS and her letter made its way to Roei at his base. Roei is stationed in Sharsheret near Netivot. He is very brave as he brings supplies in and out of Gaza every single day. The message he wanted to deliver is as follows - He said to "tell Julia thank you for the letter. It means so much to him, and makes him smile every time he reads it." Roei was very specific about this message, and was determined to find a way to get back to her! | |
Early Childhood/Lower School | |
Third grade science has been working hard on learning about forces - gravitational, magnetic and balancing forces. As a culmination of their knowledge they created their capstone project - Paper Roller Coasters. They displayed their engineering design projects in the library for Lower school to come check out! | |
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Second graders organized toy drive to benefit children with cancer through Chai Lifeline and have been collecting unwrapped toys from the school community. The toys were picked up this week after being packed up by the second graders. Yashar koach to the students on this big mitzvah! | |
As the culmination to the fourth grade Native American unit, students exhibited their understanding of Native American culture in a special display. Students researched assigned tribes and created dioramas. They researched food, economy, geography, shelter, important leaders and relationships with European settlers. Students then created projects at home to demonstrate their understanding of their tribe. They were excited to present their projects to Early Childhood and Lower School. | |
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This week the Torah Bowl team traveled to Hillside to compete in the second meet of the year. Our students tested their knowledge of Parshiot Beshalach and Yitro with the commentary of Rashi against JEC, Bruriah, RPRY and Hillel. They enjoyed a delicious lunch and split their matches over the course of the day. We look forward to our next match on Mishpatim Teruma and Tetzaveh! | |
The excitement and intensity continued as 7th graders "competed" in the next round of the "Textbook Takedown!" The intense competition to finish is felt by all. The unit on slavery in the colonies included its development, description of the Middle Passage, and details of the enslaved person's life, culminating in the pooling of all information learned via notes, slides, video clips, class discussions, and specific textbook pages. Students have been preparing as teams all week, and need to answer questions using primary sources, maps, graphs, and text evidence. Both accuracy and speed are factors in determining the victors. Students can't wait to see who the winners will be! | |
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The 8th graders have been studying a unit on evolution unit in science. At the conclusion of the unit, Rabbi Greenberg came to talk to the class about science and religion and how to reconcile the two. | |
The week of Chanukah culminated last Friday in a Moadim L’STEAMcha Chanukah Parent Child Learning where students learned together with their parents about Chanukah and the connection and significance of candles, light, and fire in Judaism's celebrations and commemorations. The groups then worked on a STEM project together filling out a Chanukahcard to spread the light that they then illuminated with an LED light that they wired. Everyone closed out Chanukah at the program together with a communal singing of Chanukah songs in the Naomi Rosenfeld Kehilah Center. | |
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Congratulations to the Middle School Debate Team on winning first place school in their debate. JKHA hosted the debate and welcomed teams from HALB, Noam, and Yavneh. Four pairs of students from the JKHA Debate Team debated the resolution "The minimum age to own a smartphone in the United States should be 16." The teams were invested in their research and worked collaboratively to write speeches and practice debating with one another. The JKHA team worked hard on their arguments and met weekly as a team. In addition to JKHA placing as first place school in the debate, JKHA students took home two second place individual speaker awards (a tie) and first and second place team awards. As a host school, members of the Debate Team not actively debating today were able to take part in other roles throughout the competition. | |
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RKYHS was thrilled to host the 13th annual Rikudiah, the inter-yeshiva high school girls dance competition, and tzedakah fundraiser. In addition to RKYHS, female teams from Central, Hillel, Flatbush, Maayanot, Ramaz, HANC, Ilan, SAR, Frisch, HAFTR, and Magen David competed displaying amazing talent, creative themes, and innovative choreography. Three professional dancers judged the competition. Yashar koach to the RKYHS dance team for their performance showing talent and hard work. Over 700 women and girls were in attendance to watch the performances! The program began with a beautiful “Hatikva” all together followed by Tehillim for Israel. It is a beautiful scene to watch over 200 yeshiva high school girls from different schools dance and sing together to contemporary Jewish music. As first place winner, HAFTR will be choosing the tzedaka that the proceeds of the event will go to. A total of $3,500 was raised!
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One of the many Torah Lishma opportunities at RKYHS are Vaad learning sessions. Students spend time out of the classroom engaged in Torah learning joining small learning communities, led by our Judaic Studies teachers, to dedicate time each week for informal learning. The group of 10th grade boys who have been learning in a Vaad each week since their freshman year with Rabbi Erps enjoyed a Chanukah party the end of last week complete with food from Holy Schnitzel! | |
RKYHS students participated in the next session of lunchtime roundtable discussion on current events. Students gather with Mr Cipriani periodically at lunch to discuss the current state of affairs in the country and around the world. The topic this week that was discussed was the current situation in Israel and the American response, as well as a quick crash course in American-Israeli Relations over the past years. | |
Residents at the Care One facility enjoyed a visit from our RKYHS Senior Citizen Engagement Club. They brought joy to the residents by singing songs, and enjoying lively conversations with the residents. | |
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!During the SEED period this week, students heard from Michael Leviton. Michael is a Business Development Liaison for RWJBarnabas Health, responsible for raising awareness about blood and platelet donations in the State of New Jersey. Michael shared his personal story about the importance of blood/platelet donations, which served as a lead-in to today's Blood Drive.
Students from the RKYHS Blood Drive Committee held the first of their two blood drives for the year today. Students, teachers, parents, former parents and alumni came to donate blood and help save lives. In total 99 lives were saved! Thank you to all the donors and volunteers who participated to make this possible.
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Our Torah Bowl teams showed their knowledge at meets this week. The boys team was host to this week's Torah Bowl meet while the girls team traveled to Bruriah. The teams displayed mastery of information and poise as they competed.
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SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) met this week and heard via zoom from a speaker from Brain Injury Alliance. The group is working on determining their project to enter into the "U Got Brains" competition aimed at combating distracted driving, particularly among teens. | |
RKYHS Girls Varsity basketball defeated Golda Och Academy. The game was also senior night where we had a chance to celebrate the seniors on the team. | |
The JKHA Middle School girls basketball team defeated Golda Och Academy in two back to back games. | |
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The JKHA Middle School girls basketball team had their third win of the week with a win over Hillel last night.
The JKHA Middle School boys basketball team defeated RPRY last night.
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The JKHA Middle School boys basketball team defeated RPRY last night. | |
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Mazel Tov on the engagement of our newest Kushner Couple, Zoe Eisenberg and Sam Bernstein (both JKHA '13/RKYHS'17)!
Mazel Tov to Jodi (Bash) (JKHA '08) and Chezky Weinberger on the birth of a baby girl!
Mazel Tov to Lilah Zohar (JKHA '06/RKYHS '10) on her recent marriage to Adam Haas!
Mazel Tov to Ben Lewinter (JKHA ‘07/RKYHS ‘11) on his engagement to Naomi Metzger!
Mazel Tov to Sarah Leah and Josh Perlman (RKYHS ‘14) on the birth of a baby boy!
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This week the senior girls had the option to attend informational sessions from various seminaries in Israel. Two of the program representatives were graduates of our school! Rav Barry Goldfischer (JKHA '87) is Menahel at Machon Maayan and Rabbanit Sally Mayer (HYA '86) serves as Rosh Midrasha at Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Overseas Program. | |
The RKYHS college guidance department attended the Hofstra Counselor Breakfast and the Virtual Jewish NACAC (National Association for College Admissions Counselors) Special Interest Group Meeting. | |
RKYHS Juniors received mandatory training on SCOIR (our guidance program) this week to make sure they are prepared. | |
Faculty gathered during lunch for a book club study of Tal Ben Shahar's book Happier as a follow-up to the Quest Conference where Tal Ben Shahar was the keynote speaker. The group reviewed chapter 1 and analyzed quotes that had a meaningful impact on them. We are looking forward to meeting next month to review chapter 2. | | | | |
