KOL ECHAD | Weekly Newsletter 

March 14, 2024

What Do My Gala Tickets Buy?

By Dr. Steven Lorch, Head of School

We’re two weeks out from the Casino Night Gala on March 31, and some families who are new to Kadima and to non-public schools have been asking why they should buy tickets and consider supporting the gala in other ways – purchase a package, buy a raffle ticket, pay for the ticket of a staff member, or make a direct donation. Here are three answers:

1) As you probably know, your child’s tuition is set intentionally low – about 40% lower than tuition at comparable Jewish day schools in the area. This means that what you pay for your child’s education – even if you receive no tuition assistance – does not pay for everything. It covers about 75% of operating costs, and we’ve estimated that, all up, there’s about $8,000 per student that Kadima needs to raise from other sources this year just to do what we already do.

Other sources – like what? We have a couple of revenue streams, such as renting out our facility, but the main other source, aside from tuition and fees, is voluntary donations, such as the gala tickets that you have already bought (thank you!) or are considering buying.

These voluntary donations make possible the program enhancements that make Kadima – well, that make Kadima Kadima:

• Teachers’ salary increases
• Security enhancements
• Tuition assistance for families with demonstrated need
• Technology upgrades
• Advanced training for teachers
• Sports equipment
• and much more…

If you think your child’s teachers deserve a raise next year (actually, if they deserve the raise they got this year), if you are grateful for the new fencing, additional guards, and other security improvements we’ve made, if you want your child’s education to continue to be enriched by a school-provided technology device – that’s why you should buy a gala ticket.

2) The gala is going to be the community event of the year! Exciting program, great music, yummy food, infectious spirit, irresistible buzz – you want to be there. No, you need to be there.

Most of the price of your ticket will go to pay for the cost of the gala itself. Less than half will support the important program enhancements listed above. That’s why we hope that you’ll also consider a package, or a raffle ticket, or an outright donation – so that even more of your donation will go to support the school.

3) Stop and think for a moment: How much would a Kadima education cost you if previous generations of Kadima families hadn’t bought our property and turned it into the school campus that it is today? The answer? A lot more! (That calculation is a big part of the estimated $8,000 that you don’t pay toward the cost of your child’s education.)

How does this relate to your gala ticket, or other donation? We are not asking you to pay for the building, and not even to pay anyone back for the building. That’s not what your donation goes to pay for. Instead, we are hoping that, just as a previous generation of Kadima families had the vision to secure the Kadima campus where your child goes to school, so too will you pay it forward and want to contribute towards the funds needed for Kadima’s future. Just as the burden of today’s costs doesn’t fall completely on you, your donation to the gala helps to ensure that the burden of future costs won’t fall completely on those families.

So this is what you will get for the price of your gala tickets:

• The program enhancements that tuition doesn’t pay for
• An evening to remember, and
• A share in Kadima’s future

See you at HaMakom North in a couple of weeks!

Shabbat shalom,

Dr. Steven Lorch,

Head of School

Important Dates

Monday-Friday, March 18-22

• Spirit week

Tuesday, March 19

• Field trip to the Jewish Home for the Aging (3rd-5th grades)

Thursday, March 21

• 1st grade field trip to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum

Friday, March 22

• Tropical paradise Purim carnival

Monday, March 25

• Purim celebrated at school

Sunday, March 31

• Casino Night Gala

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

NEW 2024-25 School Year Calendar

The 2024-25 school year calendar is now available. Please click here.

Casino Night

Sunday, March 31, 5:30 pm

Kadima parents, don’t miss out on your chance to win the jackpot! One lucky Kadima student will be awarded free tuition for a year at this year’s gala on Sunday, March 31st. 

To enter to win, just add a raffle ticket (or two) to your gala ticket purchase. There are only 100 raffle tickets available and they’re selling out quickly, so don’t miss your chance!

Purchase your gala tickets and raffle ticket today!

Spirit Week

Monday-Friday, March 18-22

Next week is Spirit Week The middle school student leadership group invites students in Kinder through 8th grade to get creative! Each day during Spirit Week includes a special theme, and a costume to match.

On Monday, show off your crazy hair or hat. On Tuesday, everyone should be able to get to school on time as it is pajama day, easy breezy morning routine. On Wednesday, students in elementary and middle school will dress in a cohesive class theme (teachers will send details of their class's theme in advance), while, in ECEC, children will dress up as their favorite superhero or Disney character. Also on Wednesday, volunteer parents will decorate each classroom door with the class theme. Thursday in Kinder through eighth grade is is v'nahafoch hu (opposite) day. Wear your clothes upside-down, backwards, or any other variation of your choice. The ECEC theme on Thursday is sports - channel your inner LeBron or Serena! Friday is our grand tropical paradise Purim carnival day. Dress in your favorite Hawaiian shirt, hula grass skirt, or other tropical-themed clothing.

On Monday, March 25, Kadima will be celebrating Purim with a mishloach manot exchange, costume parade, and m'gilah reading. On Purim, students should wear a costume of their choice (no weapons, please).

Purim Carnival Volunteers

Friday, March 22

Kadima's tropical paradise Purim carnival is in need of volunteers. The carnival will be held on Friday, March 22, with the following time slots for each division:

• ECEC: 9:00 - 10:30 am
• Kindergarten-2nd grade: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
• 3rd-8th grade: 1:00-3:00 pm

Elementary & Middle School Purim M'gilah Reading

Monday, March 25

Kadima will be celebrating Purim on Monday, March 25, with a special interactive reading of M'gilat Esther at 10:00 am on the Kadima yard. All elementary and middle school parents are invited to join us. Students may choose their own costumes to wear on Purim.

Have you seen our Kippot?

Many of our Kadima kippot have gone missing. Please ask your boys to check their belongings (in particularly their backpacks and pockets) and return any Kadima kippot to the main office. Starting Monday, families will be billed $6 per any kippah requested from the main office.

Reminder: Parents are responsible for sending in a supply of 10 kippot in a Ziploc bag and for replenishing the supply when a teacher contacts you to say it has run low.

Kadima Car Decal Policy

To ensure a safe and secure campus, a Kadima decal is required for all regularly entering cars on campus.

If you, or your designated drop-off/pick-up car, does not have a decal, please visit the main office at your earliest convenience to complete the proper form and collect one. Thank you for your cooperation.

In the Community

NEW DATE: Wednesday, March 20

Kadima cheer squad will be performing at this year's IAC Adloyada.

Come and support Kadima!

Top 10 Conversation Starters: Parashat P'kudei

By Dr. Steven Lorch



#10 - The parashah opens (Sh'mot 38, 24-31) with an account of how much of each metal was used in building the mishkan (the sanctuary). The utensils that the silver and copper were used for are specified - for example, the sockets for the boards of the mishkan were made with silver (38, 27), and the altar was made with copper 38, 30). But there's no mention of what the gold was used to build (38, 24). Why not?

#9 -The amount of silver used in building the mishkan (38, 25) is identical to the required amount collected in the census of the half-shekel coins. On the other hand, the gold and copper that were used came from voluntary donations (38, 24 and 29). Why is the amount of silver collected from voluntary donations not mentioned? If the silver that was donated voluntarily wasn't used to build the mishkan and its utensils, what was it used for?

#8 - In enumerating the utensils made of copper, the altar, the sockets holding the poles of the courtyard curtains in place, and the pegs holding the tent coverings in place are mentioned (38, 30-31). However, the sink, which was made of copper taken from the mirrors that women donated, isn't mentioned. Why not?

#7 - Another difference between the sink and all the other utensils: the dimensions of all the other utensils are specified, but the sink's measurements aren't given (38, 8). Why not?

#6 -The phrase כאשר צוה ה' את משה (as God had commanded Moshe) is mentioned 18 times in the course of the 92 verses of Parashat P'kudei. What is the point of the insistent repetition of this phrase?

#5 Small gold bells are attached all around the hem of the robe of the kohen gadol (high priest - 39, 25). Why is it important for every movement the kohen gadol makes to be heard?

#4 - When the mishkan and its utensils are being built, specific people are credited with the building. For example, Betzalel makes the ark (37, 1), and skilled craftsmen make the tent coverings (36, 8). Yet, when it's all finished (39, 42), B'nei Yisrael are given credit for doing the work (עשו בני ישראל את כל העבודה). Why?

#3 - When the building of the mishkan is completed (39, 43), Moshe blesses the people (ויברך אותם משה), and when he finishes setting it up (40, 33), the Torah says that he completed all the work (ויכל משה את המלאכה). When God finishes creation (B'reshit 2, 2-3), it says that God finished the work (ויכל אלקים...מלאכתו) and blessed the seventh day (ויברך אלקים את יום השביעי). Why are the same verbs used? Why are these actions performed by Moshe, and not God?

#2 - While Moshe isn't given a role in building the mishkan or its utensils (Betzalel and his workers are), and he also doesn't serve in the mishkan (his brother Aharon and Aharon's children do), he sets up the mishkan and puts all the utensils where they belong (40, 18-33). Why is he given this job and not the others?

#1 - When Moshe sets up the mishkan, all the furnishings are placed in the mishkan and then are put to use. For example, the table is set up, and then the bread is placed on it (40, 22-23); the menorah is set up, and then the candles are lit (40, 24-25). But the ark is different: first the tablets with the Ten Commandments are placed inside it, and only then is it set in place (40, 20). Why the difference?