3 Adar, 5776 This Week at Rochelle Zell Jewish Studies News Photography in Hebrew AP Psychology Spring Shabbaton This Week in Sports Save the Date Community Events Alumni Trivia A Taste of Torah
Class Schedule Monday, February 15 No School Tuesday, February 16 C Wednesday, February 17
February 12, 2016
News from the Shtender Israel Seminars and Midrash, Inside Out
BB Thursday, February 18 C Friday, February 19 A
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Save The Date February 15 No School -‐ President's Day February 17-‐21 Girls' Basketball in Miami February 28 Musical Showcase March 2-‐6 Model UN Conference March 11 No School March 18-‐19 All School Shabbaton
This week we concluded our Senior Israel Seminar, a three-‐ week experience to explore the Israel climate on college campuses. At the center of this seminar, we are working with students to arLculate how they will tell their narraLve about Israel when they reach campus. On Tuesday we welcomed Emily Briskman, the ExecuLve Director of the Israel EducaLon Center of the Jewish FederaLon. Emily ran an interacLve program about the five most common aSacks on Israel that students hear: apartheid, colonialism, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against humanity. On Thursday, we welcomed Emma Pasternack and Isaac Johnston ('15) of the University of Chicago and J Street U to run a program about how students can tell their Israel narraLves. On Friday we concluded the three-‐week seminar by holding a conversaLon among our own students around the central topic “What is your Israel? How do you tell your narraLve to others?”
March 24 Purim New Electives Begin March 25 2:15 Dismissal Begins April 10
With the unit on Israel concluded, seniors will now be starLng new elecLves! Students can study Talmudic issues of body, gender, and sexuality in the Talmud with Ms. Tamara Frankel, who will be exploring such diverse quesLons as taSoos
ACT at Rochelle Zell April 14 Spring Musical: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
and body art, gender expression and idenLty, and the human body in the image of God. Rabbi Allan Kensky will be leading a seminar on biomedical ethics: issues of birth, life, and death, human choices and the divine imperaLve of dignity. Rabbi Judy Greenberg will be teaching midrash as an art form, exploring philosophical quesLons of life well lived and death well earned, the power of love and sacrifice, and conflicLng direcLves to be right and to be kind. Ask your favorite senior what they are learning!
STEM Corner Scholarship and standard applicaLons are now open for Camp Cardiac 2016! Run by medical students in 29 ciLes naLonwide including 2 locaLons in Chicago (Downtown and North Suburbs), Camp Cardiac is a 1-‐week summer day camp open to high school students interested in exploring careers in medicine. Click here to learn more and apply by visiLng the website.
Theodicy in MJT Rabbi Belgrad’s senior “Religious Quest for Meaning in Modern Jewish Thought” is reading Rabbi Harold Kushner’s When Bad Things Happen to Good People as part of their unit on theodicy. In one secLon of the book, Rabbi Kushner explores the strengths and weaknesses of 6 different theodicies – i.e., defenses of God in the face of evil and suffering – and individual students were responsible for teaching them to their classmates. In the following chapters of the book Rabbi Kushner establishes his own beliefs and, again, students prepared those chapters in order to teach their classmates. The last part of this unit features the film “ The Quarrel,” based on a novella by Chaim Grade, in which two survivors of the Holocaust argue about God’s existence and mercy.
Sophomore Talmud Adventures Rabbi Greenberg's tenth graders are watching clips from Disney's Inside Out as a midrash on the principles of gilu bira'ada—how Joy is not the only necessary component either in emoLonal life or spiritual life. The students are branching out from Brachot 30b-‐31a, wherein Rav Ashi, concerned with the riotous revelry at his son's wedding, smashes a crystal goblet to restore the spirit of solemnity to his guests. Personifying the emoLons of a troubled child, the movie shows the journey on which Joy embarks, with Sadness as her companion, to discovery the value of other emoLons as a person navigates this tough world in which we live; Joy must come to a more mature understanding of herself not as the best and most important emoLon in the mind, but balanced with consideraLon, understanding, and fear of God. Who knew? Silly puSy seems to really help some students focus on tefillah! Ms. Frankel's
sophomore Talmud students have been experimenLng with ritual objects in prayer as part of a deeper study of tefillin. Aler a panel on the content and meaning of the tefillin, students reflected on the meaning of the mitzvah in their own lives. Tefillin-‐wearing students brought family heirlooms, scarves, fidgets, and blankies to incorporate into their davening last week, while a few who had not considered themselves historically obligated tried the mitzvah for the first Lme.
Hebrew Class Studies Photography Hebrew Photo Contest Announces Winner Gvt. Cohen and Mrs. Snyder have been team teaching about photography in Hebrew! Gvt. Michal Cohen's class is learning about Dina Bova, first-‐place winner from over a hundred thousand entries in the worldwide Nikon photography contest. Aler Mrs. Synder's formal lesson in professional photography techniques, the Hebrew students had to talk about their picture and explain its composiLon, Ltle, and subject maSer. Gvt. Cohen reports, "The classes performed very well and truly rose to the challenge." CongratulaLons to Liam Lynch for his winning photograph of the stall pass-‐through!
Fun in Neuroscience AP Psychology Maps the Human Brain Rub-‐a-‐dub-‐dub, it's fun in neuroscience! Students in Mrs. Murphy's AP Psychology class used their knowledge and arLsLc skills to map out the four lobes of the brain, including the sensory and motor corLces, Broca's area, and Wernicke's area. The arLsLc medium of choice? The common shower cap! Ask your favorite senior for a biomedical tour-‐-‐but wait unLl they're out of the shower!
Spring Shabbaton Approaching Come Be a Part of It!
For the spring Shabbaton on March 18-‐19, in keeping with the spring theme and our new name, we will focus on the idea of New Beginnings. As we move into the home stretch of the school calendar, we will celebrate where we've been and look forward to where we're going. For the first Lme in many years, the Shabbaton will take place at the Perlstein Resort at Camp Chi. Want to help plan the Shabbaton? Come to meeLngs on Thursdays!
This Week in Basketball Tigers Persevere
The men's basketball team has had a busy week, taking on Ida Crown, Holy Trinity, and Vernon Hills! Monday night in the city, Felix Rosen scored 21 points and Dave Vayngart added 11 for the Tigers against Holy Trinity. The men's varsity basketball team has a rematch against Ida Crown this Saturday at 8 p.m. The women's basketball team leaves for Miami this upcoming Wednesday! They will be parLcipaLng in the 11th Annual RASGHA Girls’ Basketball Shabbaton. Nine teams from across the country are compeLng in this year’s tournament. And last night, Emily Reisler, Elliana Faletsky, Hadar Halivni, and Gabi Ecanow hit the court in the IHSA Three-‐Point Shootout at North Shore Country Day. Kol hakavod to Elliana Faletsky, decorated winner of the evening, and her teammate Emily Reisler, who also qualified for regionals! Go Tigers!
Alumni Trivia Gung hei phat choi! Heritage week conLnues in the Alumni Trivia! Which of our alumni is celebraLng her Asian heritage with the lunar new year this week?
Think Summer Summer Programs on College Campuses Summer will be here before you know it. Check out the programs posted on the bulleLn board across from room 215. Please see Mrs. Spielman in College Counseling for more informaLon.
Save the Date!
Save the Date P.O. Movie Night May 5 Join us for the Rochelle Zell Parent OrganizaLon movie night on May 5, when we will present the
movie Nicky's Family. This docudrama tells the story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II. Winton, who died last year at 106 years old, did not speak about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits would have probably been forgoSen if his wife, fily years later, hadn't found a suitcase in the aqc, full of documents and transport plans. Today the story of this rescue is known all over the world. Dozens of Winton's "children" have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things themselves. Following the movie, we will hear from Renata Laxova, one of the children saved by Sir Nicolas Winton.
Sponsored Breakfast Happy birthday, Owen Stern and happy half birthday to Maya Resnick! Thank you to their families for sponsoring breakfast this week, and thank you to Ms. Vanessa Averbach for sponsoring breakfast in honor of her father, Paul Anik. If you would like to sponsor bagels in honor of your favorite Tiger, contact Diane Zidman at dzidman@rzjhs.org.
Community News and Events
Presidents' Day Program Turn Your Day Off Into a Day On!
Moriah Congregation Art Fair and Fashion Event Sunday, Feb 28 11:00 a.m. | Moriah Congregation, 200 Taub Dr., Deerfield Please join us for an exclusive meet and greet with Sharon Tal, lead designer from Maskit, Israel's
premier fashion house -‐ and get an insider’s view of the fashion industry. Before joining Maskit, Sharon was head of embroidery for Alexander McQueen in Paris. $10 Admission -‐ Free Raffle Ticket with RSVP! Please respond to arvair@moriahcong.org. Parking and free shuSle bus service from Northbrook Court’s Lower Level, east of Neiman Marcus.
Alumni Trivia Aliza Hua Spicehandler ('10) is proud of her Chinese roots that have provided her with a rich legacy alongside her American Jewish family. Aler doing incredible work with her family, Aliza earned a bachelor’s in apparel and fashion design at Hampshire College and spent a year and a half studying design and markeLng at London’s University of the Arts. Lizzie is now a research assistant at the American Jewish Archives in CincinnaL, working with researchers’ queries as a document specialist, designing a virtual catalog of the ExecuLve Director's library, and coordinaLng public and arLsLc endeavors for the AJA. The most recent community art project Lizzie designed was, “Food for the Body, Food for the Soul,” highlighLng The Bake Shop, a liSle-‐known treasure of CincinnaL. Aliza reports, “ The Bake Shop served unemployed, disabled Jewish women by providing them with gainful employment baking for the shop. Run enLrely by female volunteers, it exemplified the highest order of Tzedakah: teaching skills towards self-‐sufficiency.”
A Taste of Torah: Rosh Chodesh Adar This Tuesday, we celebrated Rosh Chodesh Adar Aleph by liling each other up — literally! People were swaying arm in arm to the songs of Hallel, and in the midst of the niggunim, students liled each other in chairs. The Talmud (Ta’anit 29a) explains that “Mishe nichnas Adar, marbin b’simcha,” whoever enters Adar increases in joy. This year is a leap year, so we get two months of joy. How thoughvul of the Rabbis to double this parLcular month, one of celebraLon and happiness! In his commentary to the Talmud, Rashi explains that we celebrate parLcularly during Adar because of the miracles of Purim and Pesach, this month’s holiday and the one that will occur exactly one month aler Purim. During Adar, we become parLcularly aSuned to God’s presence in history. On Purim, we celebrate God’s hidden presence in our lives and on Pesach we celebrate the magisterial presence of God in history, represented most clearly by the spliqng of the sea. Only once we take stock of hidden, daily miracles, can we take note of our collecLve redempLon. SomeLmes it is difficult to turn the switch to the happiness of Adar. Each of us has our reasons for why it would be difficult to mandate happiness at any parLcular Lme. So how can I live this reality that the Mishnah states, that the one who enters Adar increases in joy?
It might be quite true that we are not able to make ourselves happy. But each of us can point out the small, hidden miracles in another person’s life. Each person can lil up the person siqng next to her. Each person can make somebody else joyous. And if every person is puncLlious about making the next person joyous, then we certainly will have a joyous community. We will sing with gusto, Mishe nichnas Adar marbin b’simcha. -‐-‐Rav Beit Sefer Zach Silver
1095 Lake Cook Road Deerfield, IL 60015 | tigers@rzjhs.org | 847.470.6700