Upcoming Events

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



• Monday, April 17 - Classes resume

• Monday, April 17 - ICJA's "Academy Sports Academy" begins for ages 10-17 (see flyer at bottom of newsletter for details)

• Tuesday, April 18 - Yom HaShoah program in school

• Monday, April 20 - Torah Awards 7pm

• Tuesday, April 25 - Yom HaZikaron program in school

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

• Tuesday, May 2 - Grandparents Day (Click here to sign up)

On Thursday, 8 ICJA alumni returned to learn about Pesach with current students.

Thank you to members of ICJA's class of 2020, 2021, and 2022 who returned to our school this week to lead learning sessions for each of grades: Carly Sorscher '22, Attar Benmelech '22, Lior Pinchot '20, Gilana Schwartz '20, Gavriel Engel '22, Isaac Geifman '21, Dani Siebzener '20 and Amitai Kakon '22!

Alumni shared insights and divrei Torah that our students can say at their Pesach seders next week, and also answered questions about learning programs in Israel.

Pictured above: Gavriel Engel '22 speaking with sophomore boys

Pictured above: Lior Pinchot '20 speaking with sophomore girls

Pictured above: Isaac Geifman ' 21 speaking with senior boys

Freshmen enjoyed a day of fun, culminating in beautiful Shabbat davening, dinner and an oneg.

Last Friday, ICJA's Freshmen enjoyed a day that was jam-packed with activities. Following davening and breakfast, boys and girls participated in grade-wide learning. Girls' teams then made cakes and boys' teams prepared cholent for an after-dinner competition.

Students then travelled to Ultimate Ninja Warriors in Glenview for an afternoon of fun. After preparing for Shabbat, students returned to school and enjoyed beautiful davening together, followed by a ruach-filled Shabbat dinner complete with singing and divrei Torah. Following dinner, students took part in an oneg Shabbat, and judged the cakes and cholent before walking home in groups.

Pictured above: Dina Gottlieb and Mia Weiss making cake

Pictured above: Akiva Wolkenfeld, Penina Benjamin, Natan Miller, Boaz Stopek, Eli Fretzin, Leah Jacobs, Ariella Pullin, Esther Fretzin, and Mia Weiss

Pictured above: boys learning session in the morning

Pictured above: enjoying Ultimate Ninja Warriors

Pictured above: Marayah Center, Alyssa Blumberg, Lily Douek, and Libby Bleichman

Pictured above: Yaffa Hoberman, Devorah Kaplowitz, Rivka Belsh, Dassy Belsky, Mina Brandes, and Benny Kalman

Students are planning and creating Pesach-themed animated movies - all in Hebrew.

This week, freshmen in Mrs. Dana Rubin's boys' Hebrew class watched videos to learn how to plan and create stop-motion animated movies, then created their own Pesach-themed movies, using only Hebrew throughout the process.

Pictured above: Avi Rubin and Elie Cherney creating the Yam Suf out of clay

Pictured above: Eli Fretzin, Aaron Koenig, and Yair Bell planning their makkot-themed movie

Pictured above: Aaron Katz and Boaz Stopek creating their directors' story board, all in Hebrew

Sophomores volunteered at the Chicago Park District Special Olympics on Tuesday.

Sophomores in Mrs. Arons's English classes have been exploring the challengers face by people with disabilities. They previously heard from ICJA former Board president and disability advocate Mrs. Michelle Friedman, and each wrote an essay after interviewing someone with a disability.

This week, eight students had the opportunity to deepen their understanding about the challenges posed by disabilities and had a great time too. ICJA volunteers travelled to Hope Academy, which hosted the Chicago Park District's Special Olympics, helping over 300 students to compete.

Pictured above: Elisha Shpayher with Hope students and Special Olympics participants

Pictured above: Avi Meyer with Hope students and Special Olympics participants

ICJA wrestlers celebrated a year filled with victories and personal growth.

The Wrestling Team conducted its annual awards presentation Tuesday night. Yasher koach to the entire team.

Senior Avi Zeller received the Most Dedicated Wrestler Award in recognition his four years of excellence in competition and for his outstanding middot on and off the mat.

Junior Gabriel Klein, a Wittenberg champion with a team-leading record of 25-5, won the Most Valuable Wrestler Award.

Junior Ari Klein, a Wittenberg finalist who posted a season record of 20-4, won the Most Improved Wrestler Award.

Junior Benny Lowenthal, with his 2nd place Wittenberg finish, won the David H. Kandelman, a”h, Award for the best tournament performance.

Seniors Sam Gurvich, Moshe Osgood, Menachem Reed, and Zeller (pictured above) received a special award noting their four years on the team through all of the tribulations and lost opportunities of the COVID period.

ICJA wrestlers distributed food to the needy ahead of Passover next week.

Last Sunday, ICJA's Wrestling Team participated in Maot Chitim, unloading and distributing food packages to an apartment complex in Des Plaines.

Pictured above: Coach Tommy Ferraro, junior Ari Klein, Coach Doug Klein, Sonny Ferraro, and seniorMoshe Osgood.

Pictured above: Coach Tommy Ferraro, sophomore Avner Frazin, and junior Ari Klein

Freshmen created an insightful new Haggadah.

The freshman class has published a Haggadah based on what they're learning in Sefer Shemot in their Chumash classes, incorporating their learning and original insights. 

The cover is designed by freshman Jessica Michaeli, and each freshman also contributed insights and divrei Torah. "It's a beautiful demonstration of the collaboration between all the students and teachers of all the freshmen classes," explains Tanach Chair Mrs. Lynn Kraft.

Click here to read this beautiful new Haggadah.

Pictured above: Esther Fretzin and Lilly Douek with the Haggadah

Pictured above: Yoshi Bernstein and Aiden Rich with the Haggadah

Students practiced portrait drawing.

This week, students in Mrs. Kathleen Kelly's General Art class practiced creating realistic, symmetrical portraits. Students cut pictures of faces in half down the middle, then worked on recreating the missing half.

Pictured above: sophomires Ami Czako and Gabe Aberman

Pictured above: sophomore Simona Fridberg

Students learned strategies for creating and enforcing healthy boundaries.

Students in Mrs. Julie Avner's Personal Growth and Reflection class learned strategies for setting and enforcing healthy boundaries.

After watching a video about different boundary-pushing situations, students discussed how to articulate the "why" of boundaries, and how to state their reasons for maintaining boundaries to others, even in difficult situations.

Pictured here: seniors Jordyn Baker and Gabrielle Rosenzweig writing about strategies they can use to set and enforce boundaries with others.

Students presented to two local schools, as well as a school in France, this week.

This week, students travelled to Loyola Academy and to St. Ignatius College Prep to speak to their peers about Judaism and living a Jewish life, and to answer questions about what it's like to be a Jewish teen today. Questions our students received included "Is it confusing to read both English and Hebrew when one goes left to right and one language goes right to left?" and "What if a non-Jewish friend asked you to make plans on Shabbat?"

One St. Ignatius student commented afterwards: "I liked how interactive the presentation was and how the students passed around different objects!"

On Thursday, students presented via Zoom to Lycee EPID, a high school in the French city of Dunkerque.

Pictured above: senior Rachel Adar, sophomore Maytal Needle, and junior Leeya Starck discussing bar and bat mitzvah at Loyola Academy

Pictured above: students at Lycee EPID during the presentation

Pictured above: a Loyola student looking at a replica of a Sefer Torah

Students visited a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Wilmette.

This week, students in Dr. Gavriel Brown's Architecture class travelled to Wilmette to observe Frank Lloyd Wright's "Frank J. Baker" house, which epitomizes many of the architectural innovations for which Wright was known.

Pictured above: seniors Sam Gurvich, Kenny Shapiro, Moshe Osgood, Caleb Gutstein, Yaakov David, Dr. Gavriel Brown, Ori Wasserman, Charli Enstein, Michal Bechhofer, Dena Simon, and junior Josh Mishie

Last Sunday, some freshman boys and their fathers davened Or Torah together, then enjoyed breakfast and divrei Torah.

Last Sunday, a group of freshman boys and their fathers, along with freshman boys' davening leader Rabbi Louis Fliegelman, davened together at Or Torah in Skokie. Following davening, they enjoyed breakfast and then discussed the Haggadah together, preparing for students' Pesach sedarim.

Senior Caleb Gutstein won a trip to Israel.

Senior Caleb Gutstein has placed in the Top-10 in the international Jerusalem Science Competition, a Walder Science program, for his research project on "Environmental Impacts of the Russo-Ukrainian War." Caleb wins a trip to Israel to study environmental zones.

(The Jerusalem Science Contest is an international competition sponsored by the Walder Center for 11th and 12th grade Jewish high school students who are interested in learning a cutting edge science topic and its Judaic relevance. Click here to learn more.)

ICJA's new Math and Physics tutor is available for complimentary tutoring three days a week.

Meet Alex Baker, ICJA's newest Math and Physics tutor.

Alex grew up in Grand Rapids, MI, and curently lives in Skokie; he graduated from Michigan Technical University in 2022 with a degree in Civil and Structural Engineering.

He is available for tutoring Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons in the Math & Science Commons. If you would like help with any Math or Physics questions, just stop by!

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!

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.

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.