KOL ECHAD | Weekly Newsletter 

January 4, 2024

How I Spent My Winter Break

By Dr. Steven Lorch, Head of School

Happy New Year! And welcome back to those of you who traveled near and far. I stayed home.

(But don’t worry, I have four upcoming trips between now and Pesach: two conferences, one school accreditation visit, and a concert at Carnegie Hall - where I serve as stage manager for hundreds of teenage singers in a Jewish choir organization on whose board I serve. I’ll be racking up my frequent flyer miles soon.)

Instead of traveling, I spent my break working on our Judaic Studies curriculum, and in particular on materials for teaching chagim (Jewish holidays) in the middle school.

Kadima’s chagim curriculum is unusual. In most other schools, getting ready for an upcoming Jewish holiday consists of reviewing basic information that students have studied in previous years, often adding a creative activity - a crafts project, a new song, or a script or play. We take a different approach, briefly reviewing the basics of the holiday and then introducing new content, in what’s known as a spiral curriculum. Across the nine grades of K-8, students study different holiday-related topics each year, encountering the same topic 2-3 times over the years, each time with greater complexity. One thing we seldom hear from students about their study of chagim is, “But we already learned that last year!”

For example, for the upcoming holiday of Purim, here’s the lineup of topics for in-depth study:

• Kinder: where is God in the Purim story? (a textual analysis of the m’gilah)
• First: Haman and the origins of hating Jews
• Second: plot analysis of the Purim story, using story graphs
• Third: the four mitzvot of Purim (text study of the m’gilah)
• Fourth: Amalek and Shabbat Zachor (text study - Torah and Rambam)
• Fifth: the half shekel and other mitzvot of Purim (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch M’kor Chaim)
• Sixth: laws of reading m’gilat Esther (Talmud)
• Seventh: mishloach manot and matanot la-evyonim (Rambam, Mishneh Torah)
• Eighth: laws of reading m’gilat Esther (Shulchan Aruch and Mishnah B’rurah)

This selection of texts and topics has been in place already for several years. So what was I tinkering with all break long? The texts for middle school students are quite complex, and both students and teachers over the years have asked for guidance in unpacking and understanding them. The study guides I just prepared for each spring holiday (Tu BiSh’vat, Purim, Pesach, S’firat HaOmer, and Shavuot) respond to that need.

For example, here’s the sixth grade study guide for Tu BiSh’vat, on the topic of the new year of trees, and other new years (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 and Talmud Rosh Hashanah 14a).

The chagim texts are no less challenging than they were before, but these study guides will help students and teachers navigate them confidently and successfully, enhancing their learning and their enjoyment of the holidays.

Shabbat shalom,

Dr. Steven Lorch

Head of School

Important Dates

Friday, January 5

• 9th annual alumni basketball game - 1:00 pm

Tuesday, January 9

• Rosh Chodesh staff lunch

Thursday, January 11

• PTO Meeting - 8:15 am, in the library
• Chai Club reception

Friday, January 12

• Kindergarten Shabbat creation celebration - 12:45 pm, in the beit knesset

Monday, January 15

• Martin Luther King Day - school closed

Wednesday, January 17

• Snack Shack

Friday, January 19

• Yom HaSafah HaIvrit (Hebrew Language Day)

Sunday, January 21

• A Taste of Kindergarten - 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Thursday, January 25

• Tu BiSh'vat
• Intergenerational Day

Wednesday, January 31

• Tuition assistance application (FAST) priority deadline
• 2024-25 admission application priority deadline

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

9th Annual Alumni Basketball Game

Friday, January 5, 1:00 pm

You’re invited to the 9th annual pep rally and alumni basketball game this Friday, January 5th, at 1:00 pm. Please join our coaches, Kadima alums, and the Kadima community in showing some Kodiak spirit! We can’t wait to see you there.

For further information, please contact Coach Dallas Perez.

Kindergarten Shabbat Creation Celebration

Friday, January 12, 12:45 pm

Attention all Kindergarten parents! Please join us on Friday, January 12, at 12:45 pm, in the beit knesset, for a special Shabbat service. Our kindergartners have been busy preparing for the celebration and cannot wait to perform and celebrate with you. We look forward to seeing all the Kindergarten parents.

A Taste of Kindergarten

Sunday, January 21, 10:00 am -12:00 pm

Attention all Gesher parents! Please join us on Sunday, January 21, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon for an engaging introduction to Kadima's kindergarten. Our morning will be filled with fun interactive activities, including mini-lessons led by our kindergarten teachers. Come and get a taste of what's ahead next year in kindergarten. Please RSVP to admissions@kadimadayschool.org.

2024-25 Admission and Tuition Assistance Priority Deadlines

The 2024-25 admission application priority deadline is fast approaching. To apply for admission to Kadima Day School for a younger sibling, please click here. The admission priority deadline is January 31.

Returning Kadima families will be receiving their re-enrollment contracts starting February 15. You will have two weeks to submit your signed re-enrollment contract to waive the enrollment fee.

The tuition assistance application priority deadline is January 31. All returning families who would like to be considered for tuition assistance, including those who have applied previously, must submit a 2024-25 FAST application. To access the tuition assistance FAST application, please click here.

Top 10 Conversation Starters: Parashat Sh'mot

By Dr. Steven Lorch

#10 - At the beginning of the parashah, "ויקם מלך חדש על מצרים אשר לא ידע את יוסף - a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Yosef" (Sh'mot 1, 8). What do you think happened to the previous king? And if Yosef had been such an important person in Egypt, how is it possible that the new king didn't know him?

#9 -  The new king is worried about B'nei Yisrael and tells his people that they are "רב ועצום ממנו - much too numerous for us" (1, 9). Were they actually more numerous than the Egyptians, or did the king just think they were, or did he know they weren't but just wanted his people to think they were?

#8 - The Egyptians made B'nei Yisrael work "בפרך - at crushing labor" (1, 13). Exactly what kinds of work would the Torah have referred to as "crushing"?

#7 - In order to prevent B'nei Yisrael from growing too numerous, the king orders that every baby boy be killed (1, 16; 1, 22). Why the boys and not the girls instead? Why not both?

#6 - Moshe's mother hides him for three months and then "ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו - she couldn't hide him any longer" (2, 2-3). Why not?

#5 -Moshe grows up in Pharaoh's daughter's palace, and then he goes out, sees an Egyptian taskmaster hitting a slave from B'nei Yisrael, and kills him (2, 10-12). Why does he kill him instead of just injuring him to make him stop?

#4 - The next day, Moshe goes out again, sees two Hebrews fighting, and calls out to the wicked one ("לרשע") to stop hitting the other one (2, 13). If both Hebrews were fighting, how did he know that one of them was wicked?

#3 - Moshe runs away and becomes a shepherd in the desert. One day he sees a burning bush that isn't consumed by the fire (3, 2). What does the bush symbolize to Moshe? What does it symbolize to us, the readers?

#2 - God tells Moshe to go speak to Pharaoh and tell him to let B'nei Yisrael go (3, 18), but then adds that "לא יתן אתכם מלך מצרים להלוך - Pharaoh won't let you go" (3, 19). If God already knows that Pharaoh's answer will be no, why does Moshe need to ask him?

#1 - Moshe doesn't want to go, claiming "לא איש דברים אנכי - I am not a man of words" (4, 10). Is Moshe really a bad speaker, or is he just lacking in confidence, or is he afraid, or humble, or does he just want to get out of it?