Enjoy Kushner Connections Weekly Newsletter

February 22, 2024/ 14th of Adar I, 5784/ Parsha Tetzaveh

Candle Lighting: 5:22 PM

EARLY CHILDHOOD/LOWER SCHOOL

Click here to watch our second grade students recite the poem they learned to help them know when they need to regroup in subtraction.

President's Day was celebrated all throughout the division. First grade learned about our founding fathers including Thomas Jefferson and his home Monticello in Virginia. Students created their own version of Monticello based on their learning and put them on display for classmates.

Our Early Childhood and first grade students had the opportunity to participate in an interactive performance with musicians from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. The musicians described how music can show different emotions and feelings and illustrated those emotions while performing different pieces, noting the changes in tempo and volume, and eliciting reactions from students on how the music made them feel. Thank you to the UJA Benefit Concert Supporting Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Program and performance.

As part of winning this year's Lower School bracha bee, the first place students Gavi Engelhardt and Simon Jager won a bracha party for their classes. The parties took place yesterday, complete with foods selected by each winner. In addition to enjoying their treats with brachot, students also learned from Rabbi Srolovitz about different aspects of brachot including how we make a bracha on a whole item, which hand to hold it in, how to have intention making the bracha, what happens when you say the incorrect bracha and more.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Sixth grade girls took part in a meaningful Bat Mitzvah Week centered around this special time in their lives. The week began hearing from Mrs. Raizy Rubin from the Chabad at SUNY Albany about what it means to become a Bat Mitzvah, then created and decorated a spiritual bucket list. Morah Nechama Hendel who organized the week explained to our girls the importance of challenging themselves to each add a mitzvah at this age. We gave out mini metal buckets to decorate with their Hebrew names. Throughout the week students learned about different mitzvot and added it to their buckets. A different day they worked with Ms. Wasserman on the idea of your house as a foundation of who you are as a young Jewish woman, and thinking about all of the things we add to our house as metaphors for the influences in our life. The week continued with them breaking into groups to learn about the Imahot and Neviot in an escape-room style activity. By answering questions about what we learn from these role models, the girls figure out clues to opening the lock of the next box. Finally we get to make Torah bookmarks to add to their buckets. Incorporating chesed into the week, our students packed tzedakah pouches and created a Purim fortune teller with trivia to support Tzahal and their families. Morah Sharbat inspired students to create inspiration boards with the messages they want to take with them. They will make a collage of images that relate to whom they want to become and mitzvot they'd like to add in their lives as they get older. The week ended with a special concert featuring Mrs. Esther Freeman and it was in solidarity with our sisters in Israel. It was amazing to have our girls participate joyously by singing and dancing on stage!

Middle School students had the special opportunity on Friday to welcome Elad Avital, who has been serving in the IDF since October 7th (and is also Morah Wolf's brother). He is in the US on a brief visit and we were thrilled to be able to provide him chizuk and display our gratitude to him. Elad was ushered into the building with song and excitement. A program in the Klatt Beit Midrash followed where he was presented with a thank you card signed by all of the Middle Schoolers. Rabbi Rubin shared remarks and led everyone in tefillot. Click here to watch Elad's visit to JKHA.

Seventh and 8th-grade girls had the opportunity to participate in the International Day of Women and Girls in STEM. Former Middle School Science Department Chair Mrs Sri Sundaram brought the opportunity to our female students through TCS Ignite My Future which focuses on empowering educators and students on computational thinking. To inspire and celebrate the opportunities for girls in STEM, students took part in fireside chats over Zoom with women working in STEM. Our students asked many insightful questions to these female STEM professionals.

Students in Mr. Levine's fifth grade Social Studies class were learning about how Romans used coins and taxation to remind the people in Israel of Jewish persecution. Mrs Shanskhalil's husband actually owns the coin that Mr. Levine was talking about and brought it in for students to see the lesson firsthand!

HIGH SCHOOL

It's Career Week this week at RKYHS. All week long, RKYHS students were invited to hear from professionals in a wide range of fields. Students had the opportunity to expand their awareness of careers and organizations, and enhance their networking skills. Throughout the week, students had the opportunity to hear from and learn about the careers of Kirk Berger (JKHA '04/RKYHS '08), Counsel at the NBA Players Association, Jonathan Kushner (JKHA '91), of the KRE real estate group, Chesky Trenk, software engineer at Google (and JKHA parent); Arnold Adams, COS and Special Agent Holly Trask both at the FBI; and Dr. Madsen, pediatric neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital in Boston and faculty at Harvard Medical School. Students were engaged as they learned about careers they were familiar, and unfamiliar with as they began to think about their interests. They asked the speakers a wide variety of insightful questions including specific questions about their roles, how they decided on their particular careers, some of the steps they took to get to where they are and—for those it applied to—how they are able to balance their religious observance with their jobs.

RKYHS students participated in the next session of lunchtime roundtable discussion on current events. Students gather with Mr Cipriani periodically at lunch to discuss the current state of affairs in the country and around the world. The topic this week that was discussed was the US presidential election that served as a primer for what's going on and how things will proceed.

The B’Kesher Program was created by the RKYHS Chesed Executive Board to help the transition into high school for our 8th and 9th graders be a seamless process. At the b'Kesher program this week, JKHA 8th graders had an opportunity to hear from 10th and 11th grade students involved in the B'Kesher program about RKYHS and the groups of students made friendship bracelets together.

The RKYHS Jewish Life Committee provides opportunities for students at RKYHS to have additional enjoyable and meaningful spiritual experiences. A group of students through the Jewish Life Committee headed to Yeshiva University's seforim sale this week to peruse the large selection. It was a special opportunity for students to be exposed to the YU campus and get to see the tremendous array of books that can be found in one place. Students also heard a shiur from Daniel Rapp of Yeshiva University about the significance of Jewish months.

In the art studio, Seniors in their art class have been learning to render in graphite. They worked on this medium from a life size model of a skeleton.

SPORTS

Yashar koach to the RKYHS Wrestling team on finishing third in the country at the Wittenberg inter-Yeshiva wrestling tournament this past weekend. The tournament culminated the team’s season of hard work and tireless dedication. We are proud of our student athletes for their middot, as the tournament organizer wrote to us after the event "your wrestlers were such a nice group of teenage boys to work with. They were polite and considerate and very much impressed me. I've worked with teenage boys in various capacities over the years and I have honestly never had as pleasant an experience as I did in working with them on Wittenberg."

In addition to the team’s overall stellar finish, our students dominated the winner’s podium in their weight classes:

Aaron Epstein- 3rd place

Ilan Gutkin- 1st place

Matthew Krupnik- 4th place

Zach Lerman- 5th place

Matanel Sher- 1st place

Bryan Strub- 3rd place

Sam Tenneberg- 2nd place

Aidan Yarkony- 2nd place

Congratulations to the MS Cobra Boys Hockey team on a standout season, finishing their season as a #3 seed losing in round 2 of the playoffs this week with tons of heart and determination. We are so proud and wish our 8th graders Hatzlacha in their future hockey careers.

ALUMNI

Mazel Tov to Rachaili Hubsher (JKHA '10/RKYHS '14) on her marriage to Avi Hacker!

Mazel Tov to Alyssa (Stein) (JKHA '04/RKYHS '08) and Marc Dannenberg on the birth of twin boys!

Mazel Tov to Racheli and Andrew Israeli (JKHA '05/RKYHS '09) on the birth of a baby girl!

Mazel Tov to Reena and Jason Bloom (JKHA '02/RKYHS '06) on the birth of a baby girl!

Rabbi Schlusselberg visited with RKYHS alumni at YU last night!

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

COLLEGE CORNER

College Guidance attended Virtual CAJUE (Campus Advocacy for the Jewish University Experience) Meeting and a Vanderbilt Information Session.

Mrs. Michele Levine and Mrs. Cara Levine had a fantastic visit at Princeton this week. They visited with Admissions, stopped by the Hillel Building and had coffee with two of our Alumni; Kayla Jurkevich ('20) and Jacob Colchamiro ('21).

Other happenings in College Guidance:

The Senior class celebrated the submission of their college applications with a special breakfast.

The Juniors continued with their Individual College Guidance Meetings.

College Guidance attended a virtual session hosted by the OU on attending college in Israel.

Ms. Zygler and Mrs. Levine were present at the Monmouth University Counselor Appreciation Event.