December 14, 2012 / 1 Tevet 5773
Happy Chanukah! In This Issue
Festival of Lights
Chanukah Adventures Chemistry Moles Susie Fishbein Webster Chanukah Party Tigers Score! Alumni in the News Exam Schedule STAND UPdate Alumni Trivia A Taste of Torah
Save the Date Sunday, Dec. 23 -
Performances, scavenger hunts, surprise donuts, random acts of kindness, and
Sunday, Jan. 6 Winter Break Sunday, Jan. 6 Thursday, Jan. 24 Senior Israel Experience Monday, Jan. 14 Friday, Jan. 18 Winter Exams Tuesday, Jan. 22 Second Semester Begins Sophomore Parent Meeting Sunday, Jan. 27 JNF Tu B'Shevat Fair
P. O. Corner
Hallel brought in another lively Chanukah week at CJHS! Many thanks to Ms. Frankel and Rabbi Robkin's freshman Talmud classes for their dramatic reenactment of "Adam HaRishon's First Chanukah" (Avodah Zarah 8a) and "Chanukah in Antarctica," to Ms. Katz the Chanukah Donut Fairy, to Ms. Spielman for the hidden candles, and to MC Complete (Mr. Daniel Libicki of Tel Aviv) for the "Mines of Dingledine" Chanukah rap. Thanks also to the rest of Team Chanukah: Ms. Murphy the puzzlemeister, guitar-slinging musical mystic Rabbi Feinsmith, Rabbi Belgrad the master of logistics, and Mrs. Eliaser, your faithful editor, scriptwriter, guest darshanit and enthusiastically incompetent rapper. So light a match against religious coercion And keep on searching for that internal bottle of light Keep up the fight, light the candles left to right Every Chanukah night!
Mole Winners 2012 Gelt Program The P.O. is pleased to once again introduce the gift card "Gelt program" to our families and we have made it much easier (look for upcoming email with details on how to register). Faculty and staff can also buy Gelt that will help to support programs provided for the school by the P.O. This program is designed to help families earn money toward their children's junior year Panim program and/or the Senior Israel Experience. The program is a passive earning system, in which you buy the things you ordinarily purchase anyway, and earn money which will be credited to your family for designated school trips. If you have any questions, contact Sheri Sandrof at ssandrof@cjhs.org or call her at 847.324.3723.
Community News and Events
The moles are here! The 9th Annual CJHS Mole Contest held in Mr. Urick's chemistry classes produced a fantastic bunch of "moles." Mr. Urick offers the contest each year as a bonus project and pun on the chemistry "mole," a standard measurement of molecular quantity in a chemical sample. Given a simple pattern, students are told to design a stuffed animal and develop it into a really good pun. The top mole and its related theme are judged on originality, wit, creativity, and quality of construction. This year's winners were "Moleton Lava" by Gavi Schankerman,
Kivunim! Does an academic year spent studying, traveling and experiencing international Jewish cultures sound incredible? Do you know someone that would be interested in a gap year? Have you heard of Kivunim? Do you know Peter Geffen and the wonderful youth educational opportunities he has founded for the Jewish community? If any of these questions have sparked an interest in you or someone you know, we invite you to join us to learn more about Kivunim and meets its founder Peter Geffen.
"The Moleshevik Revolution" by Noa Gordon-Guterman, and for a three-way tie for third place, Hannah Lynch's incarcerated "Mole J. Simpson," Linzy Upton-Spatz's "Mackle Mole," and Sari Mishell's "Marilyn Mole Roe." Congratulations to all the students who participated in the contest. All projects can be viewed in the library through next Thursday.
Save the Date
Tuesday, December 18, 7:00 p.m. The Spellman Residence 4 Bridlewood Road Northbrook, IL 60062 RSVP to 847.370.6644 or Melissawspellman@gmail.com.
Sponsor Breakfast What's better than a birthday celebration with friends? Celebrate your student's birthday or other milestone with a special breakfast at CJHS. For a donation of $180 (10x chai), bagels, cream cheese, and orange juice will be served to everyone. An announcement will be made in Tefillah and in the dining hall, and the occasion will also be listed in our weekly E-News. If you have any questions, please call 847.324.3713 or email idrazin@cjhs.org. Order forms are available online here.
The ever-popular Susie Fishbein is back at CJHS! Space is limited and the event is quickly filling up, so get your reservations in today. Email Melissa Spellman to register.
Quick Links
Webster Educational Partnership
Our Website
Online Calendar
Trumba Calendar Tips 2012-2013 Year Calendar Lunch Menu Join the Tiger Club
This Monday, 22 students from the Webster School in Waukegan arrived at CJHS to learn about the holiday of Chanukah, play dreidel games and devour some latkes. They were joined by 20 students from CJHS. Students also shared their insights into being a minority in America and some of the challenges they have experienced. Overall, the group focused not just on their differences but what they had in common. This was the second of four programs led by junior Jessica Hochberg and senior Miranda Smerling.
This Week in Sports CJHS Varsity defeats Holy Trinity!
The men's varsity basketball team continued their winning ways as they defeated Holy Trinity 72-58 and CICS Ellison 75-58. Josh Newlander was the high scorer for both games, bringing in 23 points and 27 points to spur the Tigers on to victory; many thanks to his dad, Coach Mike Newlander, for posting game footage on the new CJHS Tiger's YouTube channel! Tigers are now 4-0 and in first place in the Chicago Prep Conference. The sophomore Tigers split their games this week with a win against Holy Trinity followed by a very close 1 point loss to CICS Ellison. The freshman boys took on Ida Crown yesterday and are looking forward to next week's match against Christ the King.
Meanwhile, the women's varsity team rebounded from Monday's defeat to Lake Forest Academy with an overtime win over Our Lady of Tepeyac 44-42. Last night the Tigers lost a back and forth game against Cristo Rey, with high scorer Caroline Dreifuss bringing in a full 23 points for CJHS. Go Lady Tigers!
Alumni in the News
Yasher koach to Jeremy Hulkower ('09), front-page star of the Wisconsin State Journal, for his efforts and those of other Madison residents to do some "pirsumei nisa" and give the Chanukah miracle a higher profile in the wider community. Keep the lights burning, Wisconsin!
Alumni Trivia With all the surprise performances in tefillah this week, it has been suggested that CJHS needs a few more filmmakers on campus! Which two members of the class of 2008 are currently in the film industry?
Exam Schedule: January 14-18 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 8:30
Tefillah
9:30 English
Math
12:30 Spanish
History
Talmud
Science Bible
STAND UPdate STAND secretary Yadid Licht ponders, "In our tradition, it is said that we commemorate two great miracles during Hanukkah: the military victory and the lasting of the oil. As we light the candles, we remember how the Maccabees took a stand as they fought for their independence and Judaism. We recall how when their entire way of life was challenged, they did not submit to the invading forces, for only by fighting did they have a chance at repelling the Hellenistic Syrians. By taking a risk and standing up when no one else was, they brought about the chance for a miracle that otherwise could have never occurred. So too if the priests never scoured through the Beit Migdash in search for a pure jar of oil, and if they decided not to light the menorah expecting it to only last one day, the miracle of the oil could have never taken place. Thus, Hanukkah reminds us of the importance of taking action, that before every miracle there was a stance. The musician Matisiyahu takes this idea even further, as he said in his recent Chanukah address, '...Just maybe, the real miracle was the miracle of re-dedication, of starting over and starting again...The answer is: it represents something indestructible in us, something that hopes against hope, that gets up when all the evidence says that we'll probably just get knocked down again later! To live inspired by hope is a true miracle in our world.'
This Chanukah, let's rededicate ourselves to advocate and aid those in need throughout the world. Chag Sameach."
New Website is a Go! Congratulations to Ms. Seymour, the board of directors, the administrative team, and everyone who helped on the launch of the new cjhs.org on 12.12.12! In addition to the new look, now you can enjoy photo galleries, access to important documents, up-to-date CJHS news, and more. The height of the celebration came, of course at 12:12 on 12.12.12, when the website was unveiled to the sounds of cell phones beeping and cheers.
Submit to The Prints It's not too late to submit to The Prints! We accept artwork, poetry, prose, photography, you name it! The submission deadline has been extended, as per request, to January 28-- a week later for seniors. Start creating and submitting now! Submittotheprints@gmail.com; if your handcrafted work needs to be photographed, please contact Betty Shklover.
Alumni Trivia Movie buff Jeremy Frankenthal ('08) majored in theater and telecommunications at Indiana University, where he was a director at the Big Ten Network. Since then, he has read scripts and served as an intern in several production companies; he is now in Los Angeles at The Gersh Agency, where he is working in their talent department. Fellow classmate Chappie Bark-Huss ('08) has worked in the industry for the past 8 years, directing, editing, and doing freelance work. So keep your eyes on those credits, and you never know who you might see!
A Taste of Torah: Miketz
The light of Chanukah candles is particularly unique in Jewish tradition because while we kindle flames, we are specifically told that we are not to use them for our own benefit (for example, for cooking or reading). As my teacher Rabbi Danny Nevins has noted, Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (known as the Shelah after his most famous book) compares the lighting of a candle for no direct benefit to the first light of creation. It was not until the fourth day that the sun, moon and stars were created. But after the fourth day what happened to the original light? With this understanding, the Shelah suggests that the lighting of Chanukah candles brings out the primordial light of the first day of creation, the light of the Shechinah. There are many lights in our lives that we use to sustain ourselves physically, both to nourish ourselves and maintain our safety. But the Chanukah candles reach back to a time when lighting the world emanated for a purpose unto itself. May these lights give us the strength to reach outside of ourselves during these days of Chanukah and during the rest of the year, as well. --Rav Beit Sefer Zachary Silver
Shabbat Shalom Candlelighting this Friday night will be at 4:03 p.m. for the seventh candle of Chanukah and the Shabbat candles thereafter. Shabbat shalom, and Chag Urim Sameach!