Enjoy Kushner Connections Weekly Newsletter

February 15, 2024/ 6th of Adar I, 5784/ Parsha Terumah

Candle Lighting: 5:14 PM

The JKHA and RKYHS Drama Club has been rehearsing for weeks and was proud to present their production of Frozen Monday night in the Epstein-Stein Auditorium. They gave a sneak peek performance for JKHA and RKYHS students in the afternoon. The production brought together the entire Kushner community from Lower School through twelfth grade. The younger JKHA students focused on building theater skills and ensemble numbers. RKYHS students also assumed the roles of stage managers, sound engineers and set designers allowing them the opportunity to explore their interests in many different aspects of the stage and performing arts.

Early Childhood/Lower School

Lower School has been learning all about the country's Founding Fathers and culminated their learning in a big President's Day celebration in the Epstein Stein Auditorium. Adorned with patriotic colored necklaces, students were greeted by George Washington (aka Mrs Lundner) who was the master of ceremonies for the program. George Washington introduced Abraham Lincoln (aka Mr Plotsker) who shared some facts about his life with the students, and gave every student in the division a penny with his face on it to give to tzedakah. Gan came up on stage to sing a song that offered more information about President Lincoln. Next up was second grade who, along with Washington, expertly and theatrically re-enacted the story of the Colonies and Washington's presidency. EC4 aleph was up next with a song about the Presidents, followed by EC4 bet who regaled the audience with patriotic songs. Additional founding fathers Thomas Jefferson (Ms Klahr), John Adams (Rabbi Srolovitz), and Benjamin Franklin (Mrs DiGiovanni), along with George Washington (Mrs Weinberg) performed a skit to describe how the Declaration of Independence came about, creatively weaving all the middot from the year into the skit. The wonderful program concluded with a performance from the Kol Kushner choir followed by patriotic cupcakes! We look forward to seeing what the other classes have prepared on Friday!

Watch highlights from the President's Day assembly here!

Watch second grade's reenactment of the story of our colonies here!

Hooray for the 100th day of school! Early Childhood and Lower School students, many dressed as one hundred year olds, marked the day with a variety of learning opportunities in age-appropriate ways. Activities spanned across math, language arts, social studies, art and Hebrew as students solved different math equations and problems about the number 100, lessons on what life was like 100 years ago, graphing with the number 100, writing what they enjoyed learning the last 100 days, counting by 10's, counting to 100 in Hebrew, creating a 100 days museum where students brought in 100 items of their choice and put them on display for classmates to see, scavenger hunts for 100 items, STEM building projects with 100 legos and 100 paper cups, creating art pieces out of 1, 0, 0, a 100th day snack activity and more!

Early Childhood and Lower School students loved participating in their monthly Rosh Chodesh Shabbat assembly last Friday. The students enjoyed singing and dancing, hearing a story from Rabbi Srolovitz, and getting ready to usher in Shabbat together.

Before break, our JKHA fourth grade students welcomed a group of wiggly guests to their worm bins in science. Acting as a group of investigators, they set up a worm compost bin and maintained the bin. As a part of the adventure, the students have been learning about vermicomposting, the environment required for worms to live, the time needed for vermicomposting to occur, and how the worms convert food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer. They've also been observing the worms and studying their growth and population over a period of time. Students will harvest the worm bin over a period of months and will be using it to manure the JKHA herb garden. They completed Vermicomposting posters to show the foods, habitats and temperatures the worms need to create their super rich castings. Their finished products are proudly on display in the hallway.

Middle School

Seventh grade boys, many of whom have recently begun to wear tefillin, have embarked on a special study of tefillin in their tefillah classes. As part of a mini-series on tefillin, the students were fortunate to receive the sefer The Halachos of Tefillin which was graciously donated in memory of Moshe Raphael ben Yehoshua z"l, as personal gifts to our students in honor of their Bar Mitzvah milestone. The boys were all so excited to be learning about the meaningful mitzvah of tefillin which they have either begun to perform or look forward to perform very soon.

Dr. Isabela Dias-Freedman (JKHA parent) spoke to the 8th graders about how the material they have covered in class so far is applicable in the real world. Dr Dias-Freedman has a Ph.D in genetics: Wildlife Genetics and Conservation and a masters in animal breeding. She works to ensure that animal used for testing are protected. Dias-Freedman also spoke about the schooling she had to go through to get to where she is. The class has been learning about genetics and how traits are passed down to individuals, and also learned about the differences between artificial and natural selection and considered the ethical implications of artificial selection.

Eighth grade students are taking part in a series on Mondays where the classroom is set up for students to "mix and mingle" as they learn socializing etiquette, the importance of making eye contact, making small talk, public speaking and more.

The Bnot Sherut Ice Cream Shop is open for business! Middle School Ivrit classes enjoyed a special program with the Bnot Sherut as they learned how to order ice cream (with toppings!) in Hebrew, and enjoyed their treat. They also played a bingo game to show their knowledge of the Hebrew words surrounding Purim.

High School

For their SEED speaker this week, RKYHS students had the opportunity to hear from Harry Rothenberg, Esq., a partner at The Rothenberg Law Firm LLP. Rothenberg is best known for his successes in the courtroom on behalf of victims of catastrophic injury, as his firm is one of the leading personal injury law firms in the United States, but he is equally passionate about speaking on Jewish topics. Rotherberg spoke to our students about his career journey, and about being a visibly Orthodox Jew and how that affects all aspects of his career. He explained to students how every interaction you have whether professionally or personally is a non-stop opportunity to represent the Jewish people, especially in today's climate. Rotherberg detailed for students how to navigate the constant spiritual dilemmas that we face as well as how to go that extra mile for ourselves and for our observance.

After this week's SEED, students received a major surprise as Ms Gerson and Mr Berger announced that the school will be welcoming Ishay Ribo on Monday, February 26! The energy, exuberance, and enthusiasm in the Epstein-Stein Auditorium was palpable as students excitedly received the news. Ishay Ribo will be performing for RKYHS students and Middle School students in the afternoon on 2/26! We can't wait!!

This week RKYHS’s Model UN team travelled to Connecticut for the annual YUNMUN conference. Debating issues of cyber security, AI, UN Peacekeeping, Health Crises, and much more, our students did exceptionally well across the board. In particular, special congratulations to Samuel Colchamiro for winning Best Delegate in Security Council, Josh Kirsch for Honorable Mention in WHO, Aidan Korish for Honorable Mention in UNHRC, and Nomi Harel for Honorable Mention in CTC! Out of over 400 students from across the world, our students were consistently among the top performers. Each committee awards only one best delegate and two honorable mentions to the top delegates in each committee! We can’t wait to bring more awards home for Kushner next year!

The RKYHS Environment Club took a trip today to tour G&S Technologies- the North American leader in the removal, recycling, disposal and repair of transformers and other oil-filled electrical equipment. The trip enlightened students to different aspects of recycling and on a large-scale level. Thank you to Michael (JKHA '08/RKYHS '12) and Jonathan Lefkovits (JKHA '10/RKYHS '14) for showing the students around.

In addition to the weekly Zoom sessions that RKYHS students in the SOAR (seminar on antisemitism and racism) program participate in with students from St Benedict's Prep in Newark, the groups of students take trips together. This past week, they enjoyed the opportunity to continue to build their friendships as they joined together to attend a New Jersey Devils hockey game.

Congratulations to 11th grader Joey Plotsker on having his Gelli Plate artwork on exhibit at the

NJPAC in Newark.This competition is a quarterly event where the AENJ (Art Educators of NJ) choose 30 works to hang in the seasonal show. The exhibit is open to all students K-12 that go to school in NJ. Eleventh grader Aya East had a piece that just came down from the Fall show. This work will stay up until March 17. Here is a photo of his project.

SPORTS

The RKYHS Boys Varsity Hockey team's season came to a close last night at their playoff game vs HANC. We commend the team on their stellar season, finishing #2 in their division, playing with skill, passion, and heart all season long.

Congratulations to the RKYHS Girls Varsity Basketball team on their win in their last game of the season vs GOA.

DVAR TORAH

Click here to view this week's Kushner Comments

Click here for a printable version of the Kushner Comments

Click Here to Read JLC's The Schmooze

PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

KPAC

PARNAS HAYOM

February 16 - 7 Adar 1

Was dedicated by

Marci and Jeffrey Lefkovits and Family

in memory of

Blima bat Avrohom z"l

beloved great-grandmother of Michael (JKHA '08/RKYHS '12),

Jonathan (JKHA '10/RKYHS '14), Olivia (JKHA '14/RKYHS '18)

and Ethan Lefkovits (7th Grade)

in commemoration of her yahrtzeit.

February 16 - 7 Adar 1

Was dedicated by

The Larkin Family

in memory of their beloved grandmother,

Helen Grossman

Chaya Leah bat Yaakov Reuven

February 15 - 6 Adar 1

Was dedicated by

Judy and Doni Israeli

in memory of

Yaakov Israeli z"l

beloved father of Doni Israeli,

grandfather of Eric (JKHA '02/RKYHS '06) and Jen (JKHA '05),

Andrew (JKHA '05/RKYHS '09) and Racheli, Alex (JKHA '07/RKYHS '11) and Amanda, and Zachary (JKHA '13/RKYHS '17) and Zahava Israeli,

and great-grandfather of

Judah, Libby and Koby Israeli, Netanel, Yair and Avital Israeli, and Rivka, Tehila and Baila Israeli

in commemoration of his fifth Yahrtzeit.

February 14 - 5 Adar 1

Was dedicated by

Drs. Helen & Jeff Lichtman and Family

in loving memory of

Theodore Lichtman

Tuvia ben Shmuel z"l

father of Jeff Lichtman

grandfather of Daniella Esses (JKHA '97),

Jeremy Lichtman (JKHA '03/RKYHS '07)

and Adina Lichtman (JKHA '07/RKYHS '11)

and great-grandfather of Joey (7th Grade),

Sheryl (4th Grade), Ben (3rd Grade),

Hanna (3rd Grade), and Teddy Esses

in commemoration of his Yahrtzeit.

February 13 - 4 Adar 1

Was dedicated by

Naomi and Neal Auman

in memory of

George Auman

grandfather of Effie Auman (RKYHS '15)

February 12 - 2 Adar 1

Was dedicated by

the 7th Grade Families in honor of

Marci and Jeffrey Lefkovits

and

Dara and David Orbach.

Thank you for your beautiful hospitality opening your homes this past Shabbat to all of our 7th graders! Both of your families are simply exceptional and we are immensely grateful for your dedication to our students and our wonderful school now and always!

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