HAFTR Happenings Issue 2 Volume 13 Mazal Tov Mazal tov to Kiki and Steven Goldgrab and to big brother Oliver on the birth of a baby boy. Shemot Candle Lighting 4:12 PM Dvar Torah Parshat Shemot by Rabbi Blumstein I recently googled "The Top 10 Crazy Celebrity Baby Names." To my surprise some of the names given were quite astonishing. HAFTR Early Childhood and Lower School Tours Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) and Sasha Czack named their child Sage Moonblood. Mia Farrow and Andre Previn chose the name Lark Song for their child. Who can forget the amazing name Frank Zappa chose for his child ... Moon Unit? If you have any friends who would like to learn more about HAFTR and may be interested in joining us for a tour or parlor meeting, please contact Leslie Gang at legang@haftr.org Can you imagine Moshe's first day in school, when his Egyptian teacher asks him his first name? I would like to add another to this infamous list: "For I drew you from water." Shemot, Perek Bet, Posuk Yud. "The boy grew up ... and she brought him to the daughter of Pharaoh and he was a son to her. She called him Moses, as she said, 'For I drew him from the water.' " What is the depth behind this name? What is the message the daughter of Pharaoh, Batya, is sending to Moshe and the world? May I suggest: Batya knew Moshe was special and was destined for great leadership. She was a great woman in the process of conversion to Judaism and she knew "Moshe was the future of Am Yisrael." Water is a symbol of peace. It flows undisturbed. Batya understood leadership, especially that this new emerging nation would be anything but peaceful. Moshe will need to be the antithesis of water. His life will be filled with great upheaval. He will have to be ready to devote his life to sacrifice. Things will not run smoothly all the time, and he will be responsible to lead. "Drew him from water" means that his life, in many ways, will be the opposite of water. Perhaps that is the way Hashem appears to Moshe as "fire" in a burning bush. Moshe's life will be similar to a fire. His life will be filled with a burning passion. He will need to burn through his adversaries with determination, to lead with guts and strength. It will not always be peaceful. Moshe can never forget this. As Jews, we will be called upon to emulate this fierce determination of Moshe as we involve ourselves in this world. To help make a difference we will need guts and confidence like Moshe. We need to learn from Batya. This is what we teach our children. Shabbat Shalom! Sponsorships Available! UPCOMING SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Early Childhood: Birthday Gift $25 Book-of-the-Month - $18 Shabbat Onegs $18 Lower School: Healthy Snack, Grades K-5 - $18 for one day Mishamar, Grade 5 Boys - $36 per week Book of the Month, Grades K-5 - $18 per class Chagigat Siddur, Grade 1 - $180 Evening of the Arts, Grade 4 - $100 Middle School: Mishmar Sponsorship: please contact Rabbi Klapper at yiklapper@haftr.org Va"ani Tefilliti- Siddur Sponsorship ranging from $250 and up. Please contact Rabbi Kupchik at dokupchik@haftr.org Tree Leaf for Etz Hachayim. Please contact Candice Feilercafeiler@haftr.org If you are interested in sponsoring the above activities or learning about additional opportunities, please e-mailcafeiler@haftr.org. Early Childhood Highlights Our two year olds have begun their unit on manners. Manners are more than just saying "please" and "thank-you". They are an important way of teaching children to be respectful and to show consideration of others. At school, the children learn to be polite as part of their everyday classroom experience. Our Morot are also making a point of noticing and commenting when the yeladim are polite, kind, and helpful toward their pers. By giving your child a foundation in basic manners, we are helping to ease his/her way, not just in the classroom, but in the wider world as well. No matter how small he or she is, a child can be mensch. Mensch is the Yiddish word that has come to mean a very good person, someone we admire because of his/her character. When we create opportunities for us and our children to do good, we are creating a better world. Beginning the conversation of what it means to be a mensch may be a difficult concept for a young child, nevertheless, it s incumbent upon all of us to plant the seeds so that we can grow a garden of truly lovely people. Our budding three year old artists have been busy at the easel. It is wonderful to watch the children as they create their very own masterpieces. Did you know that easel painting is a first step in the writing process? Perhaps there are no words on the paper, but your child is experiencing what it means to express him/herself on paper. He/she grasps the brush clumsily at first, trying one way and then another, until he/she develops control over its movement. As your child continues to paint, he/she gains a sense of him/herself as an explorer discovering subtle differentiations in color and texture. Many of our children love to do puzzles. Whether it is a giant floor puzzle or a table-top toy, our children are learning the difference between shapes as they match each piece to the space where it fits. They continue to do the puzzle even after it has been mastered. The sense of accomplishment and the fun of cooperating with their friends do wonders for everyone's self-esteem. This week, our four year old children studied the letter "O". Morah Perri's children had an especially yummy time learning how a certain word can begin and end with the letter O. Can you guess what word that is...hint: the word comes with a creamy filling? Morah Alissa's children had a tasting party with - you guessed it - olives! Next week, it is the letter Q's turn to be studied. The children will learn that Q always comes with a partner - the letter U. They also love to practice what they have learned in the writing center. They love to write their names and the names of their friends. They also love playing with the letter puzzles and matching letter games. During center time, all the children have a chance to practice their writing skills on the white boards. They love identifying letters and words on each day's morning message. You can catch them making letters with play-dough, craft sticks, blocks, and pretzel rods. They are very creative! Another skill that our four year old children are covering is in making and interpreting graphs. Yes, you read that correctly. A question is posed. For example: "how many types of leaves did we collect on our fall walk?" or "what kind of candle burns the quickest?" Once the question is formulated, the children get busy collecting, organizing, and displaying the relevant data to answer the question. By reading the information on the graph, the children develop and evaluate answers that are based on the data. We are also working on our measurement skills - how many unifix cubes does it take to be the same height as me?; how many paper clips laid end to end does it take to be the same size as my knapsack?; how many steps is it from my classroom to the music room? Our three year olds are also getting in on the math class. They are learning about big, bigger, biggest and its opposite: small, smaller, smallest. Comparing and contrasting is one very big grown-up skill! And speaking of opposites, the three's also playing lots of games while they learn all about opposites. This week, we started Sefer Shemot. All of the children know about Baby Moshe and can even sing you the special song. We learned about Moshe's upbringing and how he becomes destined to do great things. We are just as sure that all of our yeladim will grow up to be tzadikim like Moshe and will be destined for great things as well. Thank you to all of the Morot who instill a love of Torah in each and every child. Shabbat Shalom Cyndy Goldberg Early Childhood Director Lower School Highlights The Kindergarten students continued their Shabbat unit this week. They discussed what is done on ‫ליל שבת‬, and created beautiful candlesticks and a Kiddush cup. They learned that the candles represent our commitment to the "‫שמור‬," keeping the laws of Shabbat, and the"‫ "רוכז‬remembering that Shabbat is a sign between '‫ה‬and the Jewish nation. Students were interested in knowing that there are different customs people have when washing hands for Hamotzei. We are proud of our Kindergarten children who are connecting to Shabbat in so many beautiful ways. In support of our "All About Writing" in first grade, students read a non-fiction book. As a group, they wrote down all the new facts they learned. Then, students received a book and took turns reading aloud to their friends at their designated table. Each student had a chance to share with their friends something they learned. In the coming weeks students will have the opportunity to create books on a variety of topics and will select one for publication as a nonfiction chapter book. Third grade students are always doingchesed. However, since they are learning about the kindness that ‫רבקה‬bestowed to the camels of ‫ אליעזר‬in Chumash, they are concentrating on performing acts of kindness as never before. Talia Muehlgay of class 3A explains that students are keeping a diary of their ‫חסדים‬for one week. They even bring in notes from family members to share with classmates. "Matanel helped bring shopping bags into the house," "Jack played with his brothers," and Rachel walked her babysitter to the door," were some examples of kind acts children displayed proudly. There was even a note from a Zaidy that read, "Abbey helped her Bubby clean up after dinner. She put away the silverware into the drawer." Keep up the good work. This past week, the international correspondents of Class 3-4E experienced an "out of this world" special activity. They had the opportunity to Skype with some very special friends in Israel. Since last spring, the students in 3-4E have corresponded with pen pals who attend the Shalhevet school in Nof Ayalon, Israel. The correspondence was initiated by Mrs. Bonnie Wienberg, a teacher in Shalhevet Banot who designed this creative project to encourage her students to improve their English writing skills while having fun. It has been amazing to see how much the girls have in common with their pen-pals. The girls have made friends from abroad, while improving their writing. Class 3-4E recently mailed out their latest batch of letters and can't wait to hear from their pen-pals in return! It was wonderful meeting our parents at this week's Parent/Teacher Conferences. Ongoing communication between home and school is a most positive week to facilitate successful growth and achievement for our students. The Student Council's "HAFTR Gram" fundraiser was a huge success. Parents wrote letters to their children attached to a "goodie bag" and left it for their children. Students were pleasantly surprised to receive a "HAFTR gram" from their parents the very next morning when arriving in their classrooms. The Student Council will be selling their HAFTR Grams for $1.00 on Monday evening when additional conferences will take place. HAFTR students truly love to engage in reading activities. Students can be found reading independently, in partnerships or with a small group of friends. As teachers encourage students to think more deeply about a text, they facilitate conversations which nurture students' higher level skills. This week, Ms. Hammer's first grade book club discussed the book, Horrible Harry and the Purple People. Students learned that the narrator in the story is Harry's best friend, Doug. This lead to a discussion about point of view. Ms. Hammer admits this is one of her favorite times of the day and is excited to begin a kindergarten book club next week. At HAFTR, we enjoy every Friday because of our favorite M.I. Time session, Science! We conduct all kids of experiments. We learn a lot from this M.I. Time, and have lots of fun. Some of our experiments included: Ooblek, Glow in the dark silly putty, Colorful bubbles, Snow globes, Crystals, Instant snow and more. Thank you Morah Jen Stein! We recommend this M.I. Time to anyone in the future. -Grade 5 M.I. Time Scientists Mentsch in the Moment... As in many sports games, there is usually one team playing against the other. At the end of the game, there is a winning team and then there is the team that comes in last. Gavi Elkin, a K2 student, was on the winning team in a gym class this week. Gavi wanted to make his classmates on the other team feel good. Without any prodding from Mr. W., his gym coach, he gave each of them a "high five" as if to say, "You did a great job!" Kol HaKavod to Gavi for terrific sportsmanship. Congratulations to Ava Windholz on trading in her HAFTR Miles to call classes to the busses at dismissal time. Shabbat Shalom! Upcoming... Mon., 12/23-Parent/Teacher Conferences Wed., 12/25-No Transportation Thurs., 12/26-5A, 5B Trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Motzei Shabbat, 12/28-5th Grade Girls Melave Malkah Middle School Highlights Mock Bar Mitzvah Our number one goal in educating our students, in addition to book knowledge and skills, is for the boys and girls to behave like proper young men and women. As such we walk the students through a "bar mitzvah" celebration - pointing out to them how to enter a social situation, how to politely listen to speeches, how to behave in a Beit Knesset, how to do simcha dancing, how to sit at a table. Through a fun-filled experience the boys were taken through the paces as Shai Laniado, president of the GO, acted out the role of Bar Mitzvah boy, complete with speech and being hoisted up in a chair. Rabbi Kupchik was the "Abba" and Dr. Brand the "Ima". A really inspiring speech was offered by Rabbi Siff. Mock Brothers, Ben Austin and Joseph Stern, made the appropriately humorous sibling speeches. Thank you to Rabbi Klapper for organizing the logistics of the program and to Einat, our bat ami, for putting together an adorable montage of our boys growing up. Yediat Ha'aretz In Mrs. Rabinovich's sixth grade Ivrit class the students are doing research into different places in Israel. The students are creating poster board displays with the history and highlights of the various towns and cities. We feel the earth move under our feet: Mrs. Shteingart's sixth grade science classes learned about the movement of the earth's mantle and built models of tectonic plates as they studied all about Earthquakes. In class the students built simulated seismographs from shoe boxes, markers and paper cups and a great deal of imagination. Students were able to 'measure" the movement of the earth as it quaked around them. And the Genie is out of the Bottle... Playing the role of Aladdin will be Drew Korn, Jasmine is Lea Karasanti, Jafar- Itzik Rauchwerger and the Genie is Arieh Chaikin. Our actors are supported by a full array of dancers, townspeople, skeltons and acrobats. Thank you to Ms. Jen Winkler for including all of the students who tried out ...we look forward to seeing the incredible production presented by The HAFTR Jr. Players. Additional roles are the Sultan (Elijah Gurvitch), Iago (Rachaeli Gottesman), the Lamp Salesman (Mikayla Schein), The Belly Dancer (Suzanne Horowitz), the Juggler (Gabriel Gononsky) The Magic Carpet (Emily Zrihen), The Head Guard (Kenny Rosenfeld, Tiger God (Jonathan Boxer), Guard I (Tamar Vandervelde and Guard II (Zachary Kaufman). The performance is scheduled for May. Torah Bowl: The Boys teams and the Girls Teams both won one of their meets at HANCon Thursday. Kol Hakavod, keep the Momentum going. Mazal Tov to: Elliot Ottensosser on his Bar Mitzvah Ben Waxman on his becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Rebecca Wenger celebrating her becoming a Bat Mitzvah. Mark Your Calendars December 25th - No Transportation - Dismissal for MS is at 4:00 pm January 1st - No Sessions January 8th - 7 pm - Science Fair - projects presented by the sixth and seventh grade January 15th - Last day of Fall semester! High School Highlights Being David Senesh: Hannah Senesh's Nephew Reflects his Aunt's Legacy by Sara Scheidlinger "It's not a simple story, there are many ways to look at it," began Dr. David Senesh, as he addressed the girls' senior Zionism class of HAFTR High School this week at the offices of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Manhattan. Dr. Senesh is the nephew of inspirational Zionist role model and hero Hannah Senesh z"l. He is a world-renowned clinical psychologist, based in Israel, specializing in trauma therapy. For those who are not familiar with his aunt, Hannah Senesh, here is a little background. She was born into a Hungarian-Jewish family in 1921 in Budapest. Surrounded by anti-Semitism, Hannah discovered a fervor for Zionism. She was adamant in her beliefs, and she ultimately decided to leave her family to help cultivate a land in Palestine to continue the Jewish legacy. After living on a kibbutz where she epitomized the typical Israeli "Sabra," Hannah realized she wanted to be of greater assistance to the Jewish People left behind in Europe. She accepted an invitation to join an elite unit to parachute into Europe, her essential goal to rescue her family and others. Her courage continued when she parachuted into Yugoslavia, but she was eventually stopped by Hungarian authorities who incarcerated her. As a true hero, she never faltered. She was tried for treason and unfortunately executed. It was fascinating to hear raw personal anecdotes from inside this famous family. On the subject of his famous aunt, he questioned what qualities made her so inspirational. "Her diaries weren't meant to be published," observed Dr. Senesh, "but were a way for Hannah to let her passions and desires come to life through poetry and prose." Thankfully they were published and widely taught and circulated, so we, as the next generation, can get a feel for what she was going through before and during the Holocaust. "Hannah was a gift after the Holocaust," he asserted. Her spiritual and stirring poetry has been translated into over twenty different languages, even Japanese! "One is thrown into situations one cannot predict," Dr. Senesh declared, as he described the mental, physical and emotional roller coaster that he and Hannah shared. He too joined the army, where, during the Yom Kippur War he was captured as a prisoner of war and spent forty days incarcerated in Cairo. No one in his family was informed about his whereabouts. He kept himself sane by thinking about his family, specifically the courage and fortitude of his aunt, and thinking about what the future would hold. Movingly, Dr. Senesh talked about what psychologists refer to as the "complicated bereavement" of both his father and grandmother. He mentioned that the tragedy for his grandmother Catherine was that, not only did she have to undergo the trauma of a "reverse-order death," but she lived to a ripe old age in the shadow and light of her daughter. She was never able to overcome the tragedy and focus on the world around her. Dr. Senesh's father, Giora, also lived to be a nonogenarian and was deeply affected by the early death of his beloved sister. He spent the rest of his life lecturing about her in the many languages in which he was conversant, and building an archive to preserve her legacy. When David was captured during the Yom Kippur War and his whereabouts were unknown, his father was deeply distressed. Giora remarked that he had already lost his sister to the Zionist dream and now his son was MIA. He asked how much one family could bear. Hannah Senesh was a "person of many colors," stated Dr. Senesh, and will surely be remembered as one of the most faithful and daring advocates of Zionism for many years to come. We thank Dr. David Senesh for dedicating his time to come speak to us, as well as Mr. Tuvia Book, our Zionism teacher, for organizing and coordinating this event for us. Mrs. Parmet Attends Advisory Meeting at Hofstra University Mrs. Joan Parmet, Director of College Guidance, recently attended the School Counselor Advisory Committee meeting at Hofstra University. Hofstra has many new programs, internships and career opportunities available for students, including a medical school as well as business and engineering programs. An interesting fact is that 95% of graduates have secured jobs and the connections students make at Hofstra have enabled them to find employment in their respective fields. The university will also be helping to develop a new college town with stores as well as housing above those establishments. Finally, there was considerable discussion about the Honors College as well as signature events to take place in the near future. Technology Take-Over by Dena Gershkovich Let's face it - technology has become a crucial part of our lives. I'm not just talking about the typical, "Hi, how are you?" texts you send to your mother on a daily basis, or the continuous Facebook chat you have going with your camp friend from California. Making its way from Smartboards to online newspapers, technology has quickly invaded HAFTR High School. After a typical day, I come home to multiple HAFTR emails; some are about reminders for upcoming events, such as coat drives, school games, or volunteer work, and others are about summaries of lessons or due dates for assignments. Even report cards were recently moved to online-only files! Most textbooks come with online video tutorial codes, and everyone is expected to be registered with either Edline.net or Edmodo.com, websites that quiz students regularly on vocabulary, provide personalized testing calendars, and list contact information for teachers. Technology is an integral part of the school day for both students and teachers. My Biblical Literature class is based on videos narrated by Rabbi David Fohrman. After completing the block of videos on the Garden of Eden, my teacher, Mrs. Sori Teitelbaum, invited Rabbi Fohrman to come last Thursday, to answer any lingering questions. As a class, we were intrigued by Rabbi Fohrman's superior wisdom and accuracy, as well as his lengthy answers to our questions. Rabbi Fohrman encouraged us to analyze the text in a new way and question everything, including the obvious. The videos are designed to be entertaining, filled with graphics and real life analogies to hold the attention of students. "It was great to hear Rabbi Fohrman's ideas even though he wasn't there physically," said Aliza Lifshitz. "It's much easier to learn when it's interactive." Mrs. Teitelbaum also enjoys teaching the videos. "I truly enjoy teaching Rabbi Fohrman's program and it is definitely a different experience using the video technology. It took some adjustment and flexibility on my part, but it was well worth it!" said Mrs. Teitelbaum. Rabbi Fohrman's videos encouraged our class to be technologically creative as well. A few weeks ago, Mrs. Teitelbaum assigned groups of three girls to work on Glogs (online interactive posters) highlighting key concepts from the videos. "It was fun to see each group present their Glog. Each one was creative and original," said Renee Frenkel. After interviewing several students, I am confident in saying that new technology has been an overall boon to HAFTR High School. Although school can be stressful, the easy accessibility of assignments and test dates through online programs such as Edline.net help students organize themselves by getting ahead of their schedules. Students are fascinated by the attention-grasping Smartboards, and many have better focus in class as a result. Yonina Keschner, junior, along with several other students, believes technology is great as an in-class tool, however it should only be used at home as a supplement to the information taught in class. "I do not believe that Edline alone is a good way of informing students of upcoming events or information. Teachers should not fully rely on students remembering to check the website all the time to see the new updates," said Keschner. "However, in situations where students are initially informed of the information, and then it is posted online, it can be a good system." Despite the few doubts about technology, almost everyone can find something positive to say, students and teachers alike. I hope that as technology expands, it will continue to enhance the lives of HAFTR students. College Acceptances Congratulations to the following students on their recent college acceptances: Barnard College: Samantha Lish Columbia University: Yael Waxman Harvard College: Isaak Garber Hofstra University: Jacob Brickman (Scholarship), David Hirsch (Scholarship), Jake Levine (scholarship), and Olivia Rudensky (Scholarship) New York University: Justin Levy, Riva Neumann, Jason Sulzberger, and Matthew Sulzberger Parsons School of Design: Alexandra Feder Rutgers University: Haim Assaraf University of Massachusetts-Amherst: Joanna Greenberg (Scholarship), Max Grossman (Scholarship), Kevin Kramer (Scholarship), and David Stein (Scholarship) University of Vermont: Joanna Greenberg Yeshiva University: Lauren Pianko Shabbat Shalom! Visit the HAFTR Tattler Online at www.haftrtattler.com The new HAFTR Kippah's are here! See Sharon Fried in the business office to purchase one today. Don't miss out on the Early Bird Special now through December 1st. Click here for the application. Please call Sharon Fried 516-569-3370 xt. 101 with any questions. Lower School Sponsorship Opportunities: