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The first word of this week's parsha, also the name of the parsha, vayikra, is spelled in the Torah with a little aleph. Among the many explanations offered, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks shares a beautiful and timely idea. The letter aleph is not only the last letter in the word vayikra but it's the first letter of the word anochi which begins the aseret hadibrot. Rabbi Sacks teaches that the reason that the aleph is small is to show that Hashem's presence isn’t always felt. We just celebrated Purim, which is a holiday filled with nissim nistarim, miracles in which Hashem’s hand is not obvious. The miracles of Purim were numerous, but they were quiet – just like Hashem's day to day gestures.
Color War 2023/5783 broke out last Wednesday! Halfway through fourth period on Wednesday, the entire student body was ushered into the Beit Midrash to hear a speech from our very own Dr. Bob Issacson. Dr. Issacson spoke about the significance of the Ides of March. He claimed that he had a video to show us, but when the screens turned on we saw instead a video of Rabbi Wolk and Mrs. Hochner in the conference room, discussing how they were going to break out this year's Color War. The video was very funny, and it ended with the announcement of Color War breakout. The whole Beit Midrash erupted with excitement. Tenth grader Elisha Horowitz shared, “I was very excited when they officially broke out Color War because I knew it would be two and a half fun-filled days!”
The Color War festivities began with the announcement of the teams. The blue team was assigned the theme of “Nes Nistar”, which represents Hashem’s hidden miracles. The orange team was assigned the theme of “Nes Nigleh”, which means obvious miracles. These themes were very timely as we are currently in the time period between Purim and Pesach. Everyone got their special Color War shirts and the games began with the annual Tug Of War. The rest of Wednesday was filled with team meetings, games, and even a school-wide spelling bee.
On Thursday, students came into school decked out head to toe in their team colors. The day was filled with sports, shuirim, games, team meetings, and the annual Chidon Bowl. We were also treated to an ICEE Truck on our patio! We had the privilege of hearing two divrei Torah, from Zachy Gross (‘23) representing the orange team and Zachy Dennis (‘23) representing the blue team. In the evening, students had the opportunity to come back to school to play pickleball, decorate the school, and work on other various Color War projects.
On Friday, students took advantage of their last full day of competition. The ruach at school was palpable as students gave it their all at ultimate dodgeball and other amazing sports. Seniors also got the privilege of decorating the windows of our school building. Students finished learning their team songs, completed art projects, and perfected their Stomp routines. Then it was time for final presentations. Once again, KYHS students filled the Beit Midrash excited to see what their team had created. Color War recap videos, Stomp routines, a poetry slam, banners, and songs were all shared during final presentations. The room fell silent as winners were announced. While it was evident that both teams gave it their all, the blue team took the win! Students from both the blue and orange teams danced together as they all had an amazing two and a half days and it didn’t really matter who won. Senior Hila Blanka expressed, “This was the best Color War yet! From the slurpees to the final presentations and especially decorating (even though ours (orange team) fell apart overnight)!”
A huge thank you to the KOSL for their days and weeks of planning, and also to this year's color war captains who made this year's color war unbelievable:
Blue Team
Talia Distenfeld (‘23)
Ayden Frank (‘23)
Josh Haik (‘24)
Hannah Markovich (‘24)
Nathaniel Hoffman (‘25)
Eliyah Levy (‘25)
Avi Bloom (‘26)
Stephanie Reinhard (‘26)
Orange Team
Shuey Silkin (‘23)
Brianna Shammah (‘23)
Shaya Goldberg (‘24)
Mimi Pickholtz (‘24)
Jake Davidson (‘25)
Tamar Ganz (‘25)
Alex Eisenberger (‘26)
Orli Goldenholz (‘26)
As we read this week's parsha with the little aleph and reflect on last week's Color War where we learned about miracles both hidden and revealed, let's thank Hashem for the open miracles like those of Pesach and let’s keep an eye out for all the hidden miracles Hashem performs for us every day.
Shabbat Shalom,
Atara Keehn ('23)
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