Sharsheret Pink Day

Sharsheret Pink Day began with a presentation to 7^th and 8^th graders by Mrs. Bonnie Beckoff and Mrs. Yael Gevertzman, both who work at Sharsheret. They spoke about Sharsheret’s mission and how middle schoolers can get involved. Sixth graders heard an inspirational presentation by Coach Lauren Greene about how, as a breast cancer survivor, she joined Sharsheret in supporting others. She also talked about the importance of reaching out to others who need support.  

Middle School students decorated the the school in pink and ran a pink snack sale during lunch with all proceeds donated to Sharsheret. Chesed Team cupcakes, bracelets and keychains that were made the previous evening were sold. Thank you to Mrs. Limor Levy who oversaw the cupcake decorating. During the cake decorating event, Dr. Dalia Nagel and her daughter Yocheved shared how their sister/aunt Rochie Shortez started Sharsheret and described it’s impact. She also proudly shared that Yavneh was the first Middle/Lower school to participate in Sharsheret Pink Day. 

Middle School students also had the opportunity to shoot hoops and hula-hoop for Sharsheret, which raised just over $1,000 from parent sponsorships. All money raised will be donated to Sharsheret. Seventh graders coordinated the Hoopathon. The idea was inspired by a story they heard in Advisory about a middle schooler who raised millions of dollars for the needy through starting Hoopathons.

Thank you to YPAA for coordinating their yearly Pink Day shirt sale, raising $2500 for Sharsheret.

Mr. Michael Epstein, Holocaust Survivor, Addresses 7th Grade

This week, Yavneh Academy was privileged to welcome Mr. Michael Epstein to our school. Mr. Epstein, a Holocaust survivor, volunteered to be part of our YavnehConnects program. YavnehConnects, is a special program where 8th grade students are given the opportunity to interview Holocaust survivors, or their family members. After the interview, the students create a slideshow to honor the stories they were told. Each presentation will also include a narration of the story. The final product will be showcased at Yavneh Academy’s Holocaust Program on March 23rd. 

Mr. Epstein met with 8th grader Lila Montag and shared stories and pictures from his life before, during, and after the war. Mr. Epstein also spoke to Yavneh Academy’s 7th grade classes. They learned about his life in Poland, his family’s escape to Siberia, and Uzbekistan and his postwar life in a Displaced Person’s camp (where he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah). He then described his journey to America and the life he was able to build here. We were amazed to hear about his work as an engineer, with NASA. His career also included working on the navigation system that was used to guide space crafts and building a part of the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. He was most proud to show us pictures of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Epstein has spoken at a number of schools and told us about an amazing occurrence. Recently he had spoken at another school and showed a picture he had of himself at the Displaced Person’s camp, Feldafing. After the presentation someone approached him and told him he recognized that picture. Another survivor had shown the students the same image. Through happenstance and a little luck Mr. Epstein and the other man in the picture were able to connect. They plan to meet soon. 

Mr. Epstein represents 4 generations of Yavneh. His son-in-law, Mr. Daniel Jarashow attended Yavneh Academy in Paterson. The Jarashow children, including Mrs. Yaffa Moerdler, are all Yavneh graduates. Mrs. Moerdler's son, Alexander is currently a Yavneh pre-k student. After Mr. Epstein met with our 7th graders, the family enjoyed a multi-generational special visit with Alexander.

The morning was filled with many special moments and we all learned a great deal. Most poignantly was the way Mr. Epstein ended his presentation. He left us with a beautiful message. “G-d has been good to us.” He said, “I can’t complain.”

Imagine the Year 2,500 BCE... 

Student scribes have been practicing their cuneiform symbols for eight hours a day, seven days a week. With hundreds of symbols to master, their work seemed tedious and difficult. If you succeeded, you would rise to the top of Mesopotamian society. You were literate in a mostly illiterate world. You had knowledge, and knowledge was (and still is) power!

Yavneh sixth grade students enjoyed making their own clay tablets, getting a taste of the difficulties of working with clay and using a stylus to imprint cuneiform shaped words. After researching their actual initials in cuneiform, they signed their short stories and proudly displayed their messages.  

7th Grade Gets Dramatic

This week half of the 7th grade began an acting workshop as part of our Romeo & Juliet unit. We have been privileged to be led by two actors who perform in Shakespearean plays. This exciting activity was organized by Mr. Novick, who coordinated a three day workshop for each class. In our workshop, we practiced saying famous lines from the play, and worked on creating a tableau (motionless scenes using lines from the play) among other activities. We all enjoyed the activity and are looking forward to continuing next week with the other half of our grade.

Middle School Bracha Bee

Middle School students have been busy counting how many brachot they say a day, trying to reach 100 brachot. The week of counting brachot culminated with the Middle School bracha bee, with finalists from each grade. The energy in the room was great as students were called up to make brachot in between rounds and winners were drawn for the 100 brachot challenge raffles. Congratulations to all our grade finalists. A special congratulations to our middle school bracha champion, Robbie Heiss. Robbie went on to play "Who Wants to be a Brachannaire" and finished off the game with a perfect score!

Supper Quiz

This past Motzai shabbat, the YPAA hosted the annual Supper Quiz at Yavneh Academy This year the theme was 80’s, in honor of Yavneh’s 80th Anniversary. Parents and teachers gathered for a fun night of trivia, raffles, Chinese dinner and dessert. Over 100 community businesses donated to the raffle! All the monies raised from the raffle will be used to give back to the school and enhance programming at Yavneh! Thank you to Leah Gold and Shelley Lefkowitz for planning a fun night out.  

YAVNEH VIDEOS 5783

CELEBRATING 80 YEARS

COLOR WAR 5783

HOUR OF CODE

DRONE OLYMPICS

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DRONE OLYMPICS

YAVNEH HOSTS BNOT SHERUT LEUMI FROM ACROSS US

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL