From Waldorf to Memphis 28 Cheshvan, 5774
This Week at CJHS
November 1, 2013
Women's Volleyball Serves Up Glory
Volleyball Wins! Cooper Invitational Tournament The Beetles Are Back MJT Welcomes Peter Geffen Spirit Week Engineering Club New Trophy Case From the P.O. USCJ Scholar in Residence Guest Speaker STAND UPdate Alumni Trivia Baruch Dayan Emet A Taste of Torah
Save the Date Wednesday, Nov. 6 2:00 p.m. Dismissal -Conferences Thursday, Nov. 7 10:30 a.m. Late Start Friday, Nov. 8 1:15 Dismissal Begins Sunday, Nov. 17Wednesday, Nov. 20 Panim Trip (juniors) Monday, Nov. 18 PLAN Test (sophomores) Friday, Nov. 22 No Classes: Professional Day
P.O. Corner
Women's volleyball is putting CJHS back on the map! Tuesday night, our the Lady Tigers defeated Waldorf 18-25, 25-23, 25-20, with incredible plays by senior Jackie Geraty and junior Carly Silvers, to move on to our second IHSA Regional Championship game. School spirit was running high despite the torrential rains as we headed into the regional finals against North Shore Country Day. Senior Carly Rubin reports from Winnetka, "Alana Spellman was just on fire! Diving after the ball when no one else could get it, you'd just turn your head and it was as if she was flying across the court. Everyone played a really good game last night." Congratulations, Lady Tigers, on a fantastic bid for glory, and good luck to our rivals from North Shore Country Day as they move on to IHSA sectionals!
The P.O. is pleased to offer the gift card "Gelt" program. This program is designed to help families earn money toward their children's junior year Panim program and/or the Senior Israel Experience. Faculty and staff can also buy Gelt to support programs provided for the school by the P.O. By buying things you ordinarily purchase anyway, you can earn money which will be credited to your family or class for designated school trips. Contact Sheri Sandrof at ssandrof@cjhs.org or call her at 847.324.3723.
Community News and Events JUF TOV Teens: Monthly Teen Volunteering Looking for a volunteer project made specifically for teens and their families? JUF TOV Teens offers Monthly Teen Volunteering (MTV) opportunities for 6th-12th graders in the Jewish community. Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (K.E.E.N.) Working with individuals with developmental disabilities in sports activities UIC Sport & Fitness Center Sunday, November 10 3-6 p.m. Click here for more information and to sign up!
J2J Business Networking Wednesday November 6 7:30 p.m. Congregation Chovevei Tzion, 9220 N. Crawford, Skokie The guest speaker with be Phil Gafka, Certified Business Coach, executive coach and principal of LEAP Associates, Inc. Join us for this excellent learning and networking opportunity! The Real Self-Leadership
Cooper Invitational Basketball Tournament
Challenge: Thriving in Today's Challenging Times presented by Phil Gafka This presentation will explore the self-leadership challenge and guide you to create a compelling vision of leadership for your business, your career and your life. No matter what point you are in your professional journey, you need to know and understand how to develop your leadership possibilities.
College Visits CJHS is pleased to welcome representatives from the following schools this season:
College Date Michigan State 11/5/13 University 3:30 PM Virginia 11/12/13 Commonwealth 10:52 University AM Harvard 11/14/13 University 3:30 PM Midreshet Ein 12/2/13 Hanatziv 3:30 PM Yeshivat Maale 12/2/13 Gilboa 3:30 PM
"O-o-o-o-ohhhh!" rang the cheers as last year's champion basketball team boarded the bus to Memphis for this year's Cooper Invitational Tournament. The #1-seeded CJ team arrived in Memphis in a blaze of glory to defend their crown for a second time; pre-game coverage already contained speculations that we might be the second team in history to win a double title! Most of the school watched the streaming video in the Beit Knesset to cheer on our boys as they beat back the Yeshiva Atlanta Lions on Thursday.
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.
2013 Cooper Invitational Seeding Broadcast: CJ at 13:56
Tani Finkelstein reports from Memphis, "Chicagoland was in control the whole entire time, though midway through the second quarter, Atlanta managed to get it to within seven. Chicagoland finished the half on a good note, hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer, extending their lead to 19. Chicagoland's strong defense proved far too much for the Lions to handle and the team was victorious, winning 6449." Senior Jeremy Goodman scored 12, and junior Josh Newlander scored 11 points against Atlanta.
An announcement will be made in Tefillah and in the dining hall, and the occasion will also be listed in our weekly E-News and on the school announcement board. If you have any questions, please call 847.324.3713 or email idrazin@cjhs.org. Order forms are available online here.
Our Website
Friday's game pitted our team against the Yavneh Academy of Dallas, with a close-fought victory of 65-56. Shmuel Meir Perl reports, "Josh Newlander scored four points on the other end to push the lead back out. Yavneh came back with a 6-0 run to make it a five point game. Both teams scored two more times, but an Avidan Halivni free throw with 45 seconds left sealed the game. The CJHS Tigers now advance to the Tier I semifinals. The high scorer for CJHS was Josh Newlander with 26 points." Meanwhile, senior Joshua Silverman is leading the pack in today's 3-point shootout, with 16 baskets to his name, and we're cheering him on for the next round after Shabbat.
Online Calendar
Tune in motzei Shabbat at http://www.cooperinvitational.com as our team advances to the semifinals of the Tier I Championship. Go Tigers!
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Return of the Mighty Beetles It was "Man vs. Beetle" in Ms. Murphy's Anatomy class this week as students and arthropods battled it out in the annual body weight tug of war. Students calculated the pulling power of bess beetles by having them pull pennies in a Petri dish. Next, the students used a giant rope to pull each other down
the halls of CJHS.
In the end, it wasn't even close. A 6legged victory was claimed by a beetle named Marshon, who had a pulling power of 52 times his own weight. Marshon easily defeated human tug-champion Fede Romano,
who was able to drag 6.5 other students down the hall before falling over. Well, score one for the bugs!
MJT Welcomes Peter Geffen Peter Geffen, Founder of the Abraham Joshua Heschel school in NYC, and Founder and Executive Director of KIVUNIM, a gap-year program combining an academic-year-long residence in Israel with five international study missions to ten countries from Morocco to India, taught the senior MJT classes about Abraham Joshua Heschel's vision of dissent. In addition to offering Heschel's compelling view on the necessity and tradition of Jewish protest, Geffen read from a typewritten, unpublished text marked with the hand-written edits of Heschel himself.
Spirit Week at CJHS!
Next week is Spirit Week at CJHS! Trot out those footie pajamas and blue face paint as we welcome home our victorious Tigers from the road!
Monday: Pajama Day Tuesday: Hippie Day Wednesday: Patriotic Day Thursday: Ugly Sweater Day Friday: Tiger Pride Day
Spirit Week will culminate with Homecoming on Saturday night, November 9. Tickets may be purchased for $20 throughout the week. As a part of Spirit Week the Spirit Club and Va'ad Hastudentim will also be hosting an all-school pep rally on Thursday, November 7 during 7th period to recognize the accomplishments of all of our
fall sports teams. Go Tigers!
Lights, Camera... Alumni Trivia! Which CJHS alumnus did you catch a glimpse of on Sunday, shooting footage for a documentary right here at CJHS?
Rube Goldberg Machines Engineering Club held its first annual Rube Goldberg Build-Off this week, the exciting culmination of a month's worth of designing. Two teams competed to build the best design to pop a balloon in five steps. After two exciting lunch periods of spinning marbles, flipping platforms, toppling dominoes, and spring-loaded dart guns, the contest actually ended in a draw! (Apparently, a flying leap by Jack Rubinstein does not count as an official "step.") The Engineering Club's next venture will be model rocketry, designing rockets to launch with Mr. T's amazing air compressor. The club meets most Tuesdays during lunch.
New Trophy Case
הביאו את היום--י !אל תגידו יום יבוא When the free-spirited class of 2009 decamped from our halls, they left behind them a brand-new trophy case--and strict instructions for their successors to fill it to bursting! And now, less than five years after their class gift was bestowed, our athletes have brought home so many trophies of success that the old stand could not hold them all! But now, when our men's basketball team returns victorious from Memphis with more hardware on their shoulders, they will find the new trophy case ready and waiting! The next time you walk into the Caplan Gym, be sure to stop just outside to view the beautiful design installed by Jacob Shapiro of Sharchitecture to showcase the many accomplishments of our CJHS athletes. GO TIGERS!
From the P.O. Cindy, Ari, and Jason Taitz hosted a way fun evening for the entire sophomore grade this past Sunday. Our sincere thanks to the Taitz family for opening their home to our community! Grade-Level Gatherings are invaluable community building opportunities. The CJHS PO would like to thank all of the families who attended these events and to once again express our appreciation to the Dayan, Hochberg, Wolf, and Taitz families for there most generous hospitality! The CJHS Parent Organization also invites you to contribute to our annual Faculty & Staff Hanukkah Gift Fund Checks must be received by Thursday, November 21, but are welcome sooner. Suggested contribution is $18 per student, though any amount is greatly appreciated! Please send cash or check made out to "CJHS PO" to the CJHS main office in an envelope labeled: CJHS PO Hanukkah Fund with your student(s) name(s). Contact AnneMcDonagh@comcast.net. Interested in getting involved in the PO? Drop us a note at po@cjhs.org.
USCJ Scholar in Residence CJHS and USCJ are delighted to welcome the dean of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem: Rabbi Joel Levy "Keeping Shabbat in the Desert: A Wilderness Story that Reveals Hidden Layers in the Theory and Practice of Shabbat" Thursday, November 21, 2013 7:00- 8:30 p.m. CJHS students and faculty will also be invited to hear Rabbi Levy in a special lunch-and learn on November 14 entitled, "An Eye for an Eye and Tooth for a Tooth - the Rabbinic Insistence on the Power to Thoroughly Re-read Difficult Texts."
Guest Speaker: Rabbi Charlie Schwartz On Monday, CJHS was pleased to welcome Rabbi Charlie Schwartz, director of the Bima and Genesis High School Summer programs at Brandeis University. Rabbi Schwartz taught an invigorating session on "Death By Mosquito: How the Rabbis Killed the Emperor of Rome." In addition to the provocative title, Rabbi Schwartz spoke about how the Rabbis used Greek mythology to craft a message about power, freedom and independence.
STAND UPdate Yadid Licht reports a new news source! "Nuba Reports is a Sudanese new organization that presents credible news coverage of the conflict in Sudan, specifically in the Nuba Mountains. This video shows the effects the Sudan's aerial bombardments on its own people. Check it out here."
Alumni Trivia Josh Perry ('12) is working on a documentary about Skokie (from the 1978 Neo-Nazi trouble to today's changes) for which he interviewed junior Ethan Herman, a Skokie resident. Josh is now majoring in film at Northwestern University. He reports enthusiastically, "I'm trying to create my own TV show about life at Northwestern, I'm writing in a sitcom group, and I'm editing skits for the sketch comedy group NSTV. Over the summer, I interned at a video production company in Chicago where I worked on a major motion picture Jupiter Ascending. I even got to talk to Channing Tatum for a little bit!"
Baruch Dayan Emet We regret to announce the passing of Louise Licht, grandmother of senior Yadid Licht and alumni Iszy Licht ('11) and Aitan Licht ('13). Hamakom Yinachem Etchem B'toch Sh'ar Avalei Tziyon V'Yerushalayim. May God's presence comfort the Licht family among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Sponsored Breakfast Happy birthday to Elan Karoll. Many thanks to his family for sponsoring bagels.
A Taste of Torah: Toldot
Many of the seniors in Modern Jewish Thought have just completed reading the powerful and challenging depiction of humanity in Joseph Soloveitchik's The Lonely Man of Faith. One aspect we have grappled with is Soloveitchik's understanding of prayer: to "stand before God," a silent communication, an intimate colloquy with God (The Lonely Man of Faith, 54). Liturgy, the ritualized words of Jewish Tefillah, a secondary outcome of true prayer, cannot replace the crying out to God of prayer to emerge from the depths of the human awareness of one's existential uniqueness, and thus vulnerability and loneliness. Prayer, however, must necessarily be communal in awareness, for true prayer emerges out of awareness that one is not alone in one's loneliness and suffering. Prayer on behalf of only one's self is the service of one's self. Rather, reaching out to God aware that one is not alone in one's loneliness, that is, the service of God, is prayer. This week's parashat Toldot, read through this lens of Soloveithchik, illuminates his understanding of prayer as well as the humanity of Yitzhak. Unlike Avraham or Yaakov, in the face of the barrenness of his wife Rebecca, Yitzhak prays. "Isaac pleaded with the Lord on (lenokhakh) behalf of his wife, because she was barren..." (Gen. 25:21) Yitzhak's prayer highlights the absence of such prayer in the case of Avraham and Yaakov. Not only is Avraham silent in the face of Sarah's barrenness, but he agrees to build a family through Hagar. Seemingly angry in response to Rachel's despair over having no children, Yaakov questions "Can I take the place of God, who has denied you fruit of the womb?" (Gen 30:1-2). In contrast, Yitzhak prays "lenokhakh his wife," and as Rabbi Shai Held notes, the word "lenokhakh" can be translated as "in the face of" or "in the presence of." In other words, true prayer in the presence of another, emerges out of awareness and empathy, as Soloveitchik says, out of an "all-embracing sympathy" where "one lonely soul finds another soul tormented by loneliness and solitude" (40). Perhaps as a result of the trauma of the Akedah, Yitzhak knows all too well the vulnerability of life, and thus possesses deep empathy for the pain of others, empathy at the core of prayer. Aware of his wife's pain, Yitzhak is the only patriarch to pray. May we be blessed to learn from the deep humanity modeled by Yitzhak our forefather. --Dr. Rebecca Schorsch
Shabbat Shalom Candlelighting tonight will be at 5:28 p.m. Shabbat Shalom and Go Tigers!