22 Av, 5776 This Week at Rochelle Zell
August 26, 2016
Welcome Back! Rochelle Zell Greets Class of 2020
New Class Enters New Staff Tekes Hachnasah STAND Update STEM Update This Week in Sports Students in the News Faculty in the News Alumni Aliyahs Mazal Tov Community Events Alumni Trivia A Taste of Torah
Class Schedule
Students walked through our doors on Tuesday 161 strong to start another incredible year! Among the familiar faces were scattered 45 new freshmen and six transfer students. Our newest members hail from 27 locations including Evanston, Highland Park, Deerfield, Northbrook, Skokie,
​Monday, August 29 A Tuesday, August 30 C Wednesday, August 31 BB Thursday, September 1 C - Special Schedule Friday, September 2 A
Quick Links RZJHS.org
Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and Chicago. They come from local public and private schools, Solomon Schechter Day School, Chicago Jewish Day School, and Hillel Torah and represent 39 different Jewish congregations. Older students have transferred in from Highland Park, Deerfield, and Aurora high schools. We are thrilled to have you as part of the Rochelle Zell community! Hats off to our 31 peer buddies who opened the building to reach out to our newest Tigers! Freshmen and their peer buddies scarfed down pizza together and found their way around the building, while transfer students and their peer buddies traveled to Mizrahi Grill for shwarma and falafel. Thanks goes to Ms. Riv Lynch, Rabbi Zach Silver, and Mr. Matt Cohen for helping ease everyone into their first day. With such a diverse student body, we are looking forward to an incredible year!
Calendars Lunch Menu Edline Give Now
Save The Date August 28 Sophomore Class Gathering
September 1 Student Activities Fair September 5 No School - Labor Day September 6 Back to School Night September 9-10 Freshman Shabbaton September 11 Senior Class Gathering
A special Tiger roar of welcome goes to new freshman Jonah Singman, who with his parents has moved from Detroit, Michigan, and to new junior Isaac Margulies, who has transferred from Metea High School in Aurora. Isaac joins our other boarders in the Rochelle Zell community from South Carolina, Arizona, and Madrid, Spain. Baruch HaBa--we are thrilled to have you!
College Visits CJHS is pleased to welcome admission representatives from over forty colleges and Israel programs this autumn! VIEW SCHEDULE >>
New Staff Members Rochelle Zell is delighted to welcome back math department co-chair Ms. Becky Charous, from a year's hiatus at her own company. We are also excited to see new biology teacher Ms. Lauren Pawlowski, new chemistry teacher Ms. Sarah Moyer, social studies teacher and MUN coach Ms. June Kramer, social studies teacher and debate coach Ms. Melissa Feinstein, Hebrew teacher Ms. Ayala Shahaf, Bible teacher Ms. Kayla Arons, Judaic Studies teacher Mr. Bini Cohen, student activities director and social studies teacher Mr. Matt Cohen, nurse consultant (and Rochelle Zell parent) Nina Black, and Tammy Brody, our new Assistant to Admissions and Development (and another Rochelle Zell parent).
Tekes Hachnasah Freshmen Begin Their High School Careers
On Sunday evening, 150 freshmen family members joined together for the first annual Tekes Hachanasah (Welcoming Ceremony). Designed to parallel the closing Siyum, the event provided a formal way to welcome our newest students into our school community. Head of School Tony Frank opened with words of welcome and explained the origins of this new tradition. Va'ad HaStudentim president, Bobbi Hochberg reflected on the questions she asked herself on the eve of freshman year, and was now ready to answer after three years of experience in the school. Rabbi
Silver offered words of Torah, asking students to continue the journey that others started for them. We concluded by welcoming the students under a chuppah, held by our teachers, for the Shehechiyanu. Thank you to the Parent Organization for co-sponsoring the dinner.
About her high school experience, Bobbi reflected, "The classes are thought-provoking and difficult, but when you are standing in my position, it is worth it. My brother and sister both graduated in 2012 and 2014 and they say that our school did not only prepare them to be proactive in the classroom, but to be advocates outside the classroom.... Rochelle Zell teaches their students to become intellectual thinkers, assertive students, and leaders. To get to the end of the tunnel, there are times where I was stressed or overwhelmed. At those times I needed someone to say, 'Do not panic!' Teachers at Rochelle Zell want you to succeed. They want you to know and understand the material being taught..... Do not be stressed. Enjoy every minute of high school. Go to basketball games. Be in every club on campus. Be involved in sports..." And enjoy every opportunity that comes your way!
STAND Update Human Rights Group Donates Last Year's Proceeds Senior Yoni Maltsman reports, "After a year's fundraising through popcorn and donut sales, STAND, the human rights advocacy club at Rochelle Zell, raised over $1,600. This money will be donated to the Karam Foundation, providing stipends to displaced families in Syria to assist them in sending their children to school. Many thanks to all of the students, faculty members, and parents who made this possible and to STAND board members for their hard work. All of you have assisted in the school's mission of pursuing Tikkun Olam and Tzedakah."
Fall Sports Kick Off Men's Soccer Scores Its First Win!
The first week of school saw season openers in our expanded women's volleyball team and men's soccer team. Coach Shannon reports, "We played our first match of the season this past Monday against an always tough DePaul College Prep team, who trashed us last year 9-zip! Our advantage this year was that they were bound to take us lightly, and we were ready to take advantage of that! We came out firing on all cylinders, and while DCP scored 3 goals in the first half, Eli Gurin, one of our fantastic freshmen, and sophomore Eli Simmons made sure we held our own. Simmons grabbed a deflected ball and hit Gurin with a perfect pass on the right side of the goal area, and Eli Gurin took care of business from there, hitting a sweet bender up and over the keeper's head into the side netting! GOALLLLL! "In the second half, we really buckled down on defense and dominated play." Eli Gurin scored his second goal of the game finishing a rebound off a Jonah Magill cross. Energy was running high in Thursday's match against Lake Zurich, where the team charged through to our first victory, with two more goals brought in by junior Eli Ecanow and freshman Jonah Magill. Coach Shannon is thrilled to pieces, "This was a great game, truly a complete team effort: we are deep and dangerous. Look out for the Tigers in 2016!" Fall Sports Photos Photographers, SnapChatters, assistant coaches, and proud parents: E-News wants you to share the love! Snap photos of your favorite game, match, or tee-off and send to Mrs. Shira Eliaser, your faithful editor, at seliaser@rzjhs.org. We're counting on you to make this season a great one!
STEM News QuarkNet Hits the Road
Senior David Weisskopf and physics teacher Mrs. Shira Eliaser met with a dozen other students and teachers from all over Chicagoland for a weeklong cosmic ray physics seminar. Assisted by GBN senior mentor Mr. Nate Unterman and Fermi Lab scientist Dr. Mark Adams, the two of them rehabbed our school's state-of-the-art muon detector. Friday afternoon after school, the Rochelle Zell student research team is wiring up our model, and we hope to be uploading usable data for the greater scientific community by next week. Stay tuned for
physics research updates from the front! And--stop the presses! The Rochelle Zell science students are going to Fermi Lab! In October, QuarkNet is sponsoring a field trip to Batavia to tour the inside of the Tevatron, the largest particle accelerator in the US. All interested science students should stop by the preparatory meeting this Tuesday at lunch in Room 314. Learn physics, view current experiments, and see the lab as you've never seen it before!
Students in the News Rochelle Zell Bloggers Abroad What did you do last summer? Senior Zev Mishell describes his moment of radical amazement with the Bronfman Youth Fellows in Israel: "My Bronfman experience was not strictly intellectual, and it was not just spiritual. Above all, the Fellowship appeared to consist of people willing to be amazed, not only through the intricacies of an academic problem or a yearning to stare into the abyss, but rather through constantly looking at the world and being astonished by the mundane. " READ MORE >> Further west, senior Emma Siegel was blogging from the Ukraine with her Ramah trip in a rather sobering moment of history. READ MORE >>
Mazal Tov Chattan, Kallah, Mazal Tov! The cheering, singing students of Rochelle Zell Jewish High School are thrilled to celebrate the engagement of tefillah coordinator and Bible/Talmud teacher Ms. Tamara Frankel to our Rav Beit Sefer Zach Silver. The happy couple assures the seniors that they bear them no ill-will for last year's Purim spiel, and in fact, they do make an extremely cute couple. Congratulations also to our education technology expert and rescuer of lost passwords, Ms. Abigail Kime on her summer wedding to Mr. Jonathan McDonald!
Faculty Alumni Babies Congratulations to former Talmud teacher and cult figure Mr. Joel Goldstein and his wife Rachel Jacobson on the birth of their little girl, Yahra Temima; reports indicate the infant already has
a firm grasp of Talmudic logic, expressed at 2 a.m. Mr. Goldstein is currently attending rabbinical school in Boston. Mazal tov also to ARK coordinator and former student activities maven Ms. Caroline Musin Berkowitz and her husband Neil on the birth of their son Eliezer earlier this summer. Eliezer joins his big sister Shira, to the intense amusement of our physics aficionados.
Faculty in the News JUF's 36 Under 36 Mazal Tov to our own Rabbi Zachary Silver on his recognition as one of the Chicago Jewish Community's distinguished 36 Under 36, a project of Oy!Chicago and JUF's Young Leadership Division. For the official announcement and to learn more about this honor and its recipients, click here.
Alumni Trivia How do fluid dynamics model the traffic flow when Dundee Road goes down to one lane? What is the optimal timing for a traffic light? One of our alumni should soon be able to give you an answer. Which white-haired AP Physics veteran wants to study transportation engineering?
Alumni News Wheels up and godspeed! Chazak u'varuch to Daniel Warshawsky ('11) and Sarah Comar ('16) who both make aliyah this August. Sarah will be attending Midreshet HaRova before completing her sheirut leumi, and Daniel is beginning his tour of duty in the IDF after finishing his B.A. at Indiana University.
Sponsored Breakfast
Happy birthday to Idan Chazan ('18). Many thanks to his family for sponsoring breakfast. To sponsor bagels in honor of your favorite Tiger, please contact Diane Zidman in the front office.
Baruch Dayan Emet Rochelle Zell extends our condolences to Rabbi Judy Greenberg on the loss of her beloved grandfather, John Reagan. The funeral will be over the weekend in Richmond, VA. May the Greenberg, Reagan, and Philips families find comfort, peace, love, and salvation under the wings of the Divine presence.
Community News and Events Candidate Forum 2016 Co-Sponsored by Rochelle Zell Jewish High School Sunday, September 25, 3:00 p.m. | Congregation BJBE, across from Rochelle Zell
Alumni Trivia David Steinberg (’15) is a sophomore at Northeastern University in Boston, where he is studying civil engineering with a focus in transportation. David reports, “I was in Israel the past summer and worked in an engineering firm through a program called Onward Israel. At the firm, I helped design drainage lines, sewage lines, and also helped with price estimates
for future construction projects. I had a great time, but I want to work with street design and mass transit systems as I progress in my studies. I am also on the Northeastern Hillel board this semester and am in charge of FYSH (First year students at Hillel). When I am not busy with my schoolwork, you will either find me in the Hillel building, biking, or exploring the city of Boston.”
A Taste of Torah: Beginning a High School Journey with Abraham Rav Beit Sefer Zach Silver welcomed our new freshmen this week with a look into the Abrahamtic journey: Today, on the eve of high school, students are now receiving a new call. You are being told: Lech Lecha. In Rashi’s words, you are being told, “Go farther.” In Ramban’s understanding, you are being told, “This time go of your own volition.” The central question that we seek to answer here at our school is, “Who am I?” Who am I as a Jew? An American? A global citizen? A teen? Who do I wish to be? We all arrive with different backgrounds and over the course of four years, by studying intensely and developing our interests both inside and outside the classroom, we become confident in the person we wish to be. We develop into the best version of ourselves. My message to the incoming freshmen on the eve of high school is, “Lech Lecha.” Go further. Go for yourself. Develop into your best self. READ MORE >>
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