Chag Urim Sameach! 24 Kislev, 5774
This Week at CJHS
November 27, 2013
CJHS Welcomes Returning Alumni
Alumni Day Alumni Basketball Game CSI Deerfield Egg Drop Performances Sophomores See Macbeth DEAP Drive Policy Forum Mazal Tov STAND Update A Seasonal Taste of Torah Happy Chanukah
Save the Date Wednesday, Nov. 27
The cornbread is baking, the pumpkin sufganiyot are frying, and the alumni are back in the halls of CJHS. We were delighted to welcome
1:15 Dismissal Thursday, Nov. 28 Thanksgiving Break: No School Friday, Nov. 29 Thanksgiving Break: No School Saturday Night, Nov. 30 Alumni Basketball Game Friday, Dec. 7 Saturday, Dec. 8 STAND Sleep-In; Sunday, Dec. 8 Model U.N. Movie Night
over two dozen former students to school today, to offer their own Thanksgiving reflections at tefillah. In addition to being thankful for the balmy Chicago weather and the good fortune to get here before a storm hammers the east coast, our former students are grateful for the good friends and warm community they always know they can find at CJHS. Our collegiates report that CJHS has taught them time management skills, how to participate in class, how to make good use of office hours, and solicit help when you need it. They are grateful for MJT and other Jewish experiences that caused them to think deeply about their religious background and enabled them to have meaningful conversations about theology with members of other traditions, to participate in their local Hillels even if they hadn't been quite so Jewishly active in high school. They're even thankful for the CJHS workload, which instilled in them not only academic ambition, but the ability to handle a challenging courseload without breaking a sweat. You tell 'em, graduates! Welcome back, and see you at the game!
Big Game THIS Saturday Night! P.O. Corner The P.O. is pleased to continue 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.
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. Announcements 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.
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Come on out this motzei Shabbat to welcome back all your favorite alumni and former teachers! Suggested donation is $10 at the door. Each entrance donation will include a free travel mug from the Roar Store! To play in the Alumni Basketball Game, sign up here. For any other questions, contact Tara Seymour at 847.423.5489. See you this weekend!
CSI Deerfield Mrs. Murphy's anatomy class broke out the brushes and powders last week to try their hands at collecting forensic evidence from the integumentary system. Students became crime scene investigators as they dusted for latent fingerprints on various surfaces, such as glass, paper, and tables around the laboratory. Loops, arches, and whorls aplenty were collected and classified. We also used the superglue fuming technique to see how fingerprints can be developed on large or difficult surfaces. Students now have a much greater appreciation for the work of crime scene technicians. Although we had a few naturals, the class consensus was... "It isn't as easy as it looks!"
Coming Soon to a Physics Class Near You
Those pessimists who despair at the level of religious faith expressed by the average CJHS student may want to drop by physics class. Prayer is repeatedly applied as Mrs. Eliaser's students continue to progress in their design contest: to keep a raw egg safe throughout the 24-foot drop from the school balcony. This week, teams expressed their understanding of impulse-momentum and the physics of collisions through song, poetry, short stories, and film homage. This year's projects included three rounds of Impulse-Momentum karaoke, three rockin' Egg Drop raps, three picture books, a rather seasonal Egg Drop: The Greek Hero's Journey, and a script for Egg Drop: The Animated Holiday Special. Maya Behn and Dana Levin submitted "Egg Drop: The Sonnet," with characteristic side notes in Washington Square Press style, while Alex Cope reproduced an entire scene from The Right Stuff, elevating collision physics to the level of rocket science. Stay tuned for results from the great contest in early December!
Sophomores See "The Scottish Play"
The Class of 2016 is hitting the road this month in no small way! The sophomores met at at Northwestern University last Wednesday for a special screening of Kenneth Brannagh's production of Macbeth. "It was really good," report Melissa Levin and Sarah Levin over bagels at breakfast. "The setting was really original, and the witches were fantastic--they were so young!" Many thanks to Ms. Friedman for organizing the trip.
Alumni Trivia Two bundles of good news from Haifa this week! What are they?
DEAP Drive to Help Detained Immigrants CJHS Direct Service team is collecting canned & boxed food, toilet paper, paper towels, women's socks & underwear, and men's socks for the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants. We hope to help ease the transition for immigrants released from detention. Please bring your donations in and place them in the Drives box outside of the Beit Knesset!
November Policy Forum In this month's issue of the CJHS Policy Forum, senior Josh Aaronson and sophomore Jason Taitz discuss the National Security Agency and its controversial and highly secretive intelligence gathering tactics. Check out their articles here.
Alumni Trivia: Mazal Tov! Mazal tov to former Talmud and Bible teacher Ms. Stefanie Susnow and her husband Matt on the birth of teeny-tiny twins earlier this week! Ms. Susnow and her husband made aliyah and now reside in Haifa. Everyone at CJHS wishes them many hours of sleep and sanity, and sends prayers for the continued good health of mother, son, and daughter!
STAND UPdate Yadid Licht writes, "Thanksgiving season is a time of the year to express our gratitude for what we have, when the entire nation comes together to celebrate not only our family and health, but also the freedoms, liberties, and security provided to us by our country.
However, there are many places in the world where none of this is a reality, where populations are in fear of fellow citizens or their governments, and live lives of despair and sorrow. Let us express our thanks this year by standing up for what is right. Like the Maccabees who refused to accept their situation and resisted their Hellenistic conquerers, we must revolt against the status quo of injustice. On Saturday night, December 7, STAND, our school's human rights organization, invites CJ students and students from other local high schools to attend the annual STAND Sleep-In. The event will begin at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday and will end at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Participants will stay up all night and engage in a variety of educational, cultural, and advocacy activities concerning human rights violations around the globe. So this Thanksgivukkah season, give thanks, and express your gratitude as the Macabees once did-- STAND up."
A Seasonal Taste of Torah The rabbinical students at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America have a favorite debate whether or not to say Hallel on Thanksgiving, but this year, one way or another, we'll be singing! Everyone, it seems, is talking about Thanksgivukkah, that once-in-seventy-millenia event that has foodies everywhere drawing up fusion menus in consternation and delight. Various bloggers including some prominent Conservative rabbis have come down strongly against all this fuss, pointing out that Canadian Thanksgiving coincides with Sukkot on a regular basis, and no one in that illustrious nation thinks twice about observing the Jewish holiday in place of the national one. Is this another concesion to "gastronomic Judaism"? After all, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock were abandoning their home to begin a separate sect in a New World, while the Maccabees were fighting to defend their way of life within their own borders. Why do we feel so compelled to reconcile the two? Whence all of this hubbub?
Rabbi Joel Levy, USCJ Scholar in Residence and featured guest lecturer of last week, spoke strongly about the national identity and national pride that he observed among North American Jews in contrast to his experience as a Jew from Britain. Alone in the history of our Diaspora, modern North America has welcomed Jews without reservation into the highest levels of government and the most normative streams of pop culture. We ask openly for kosher meals, publicly wear headcoverings and other symbols of our faith, and place our chanukiyot in windows without fear of ostracism or reprisal. The freedom we feel as American Jews to integrate with the culture around us without losing our identity is no more apparent than during the "December dilemma" as we watch the characteristic American commercialization of the festivities being applied without discrimination to our own Chanukah miracle. We American Jews do not have to choose between being American and being Jews. To be fair, the history of American Judaism has not always been as rosy as this. In no small part, that is why this particular Thanksgivukkah is so important; in addition to having a calendar fluke of millenial proportions, American Jewish life in 2014 also stands out compared to Jewish life in America a hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago. We are thankful that we need not choose which of our two holidays to observe: in this golden age, we have both freedom from want and freedom from fear. We can publicize the Chanukah miracle while giving thanks for the blessings that we enjoy. Unlike Joseph in this week's parasha, who maintains separate Jewish and Egyptian identities and hides his ethnic origins even from his own servants, we can live unified lives. We need hide nothing and we need sacrifice nothing to celebrate a classic American Thanksgiving, even alongside our own religious celebrations. This is a national holiday which involves feasting and family: what could be more Jewish? --E-News Editor Mrs. Shira Eliaser
Happy Chanukah Chag urim sameach to all our loyal readers! Candlelighting for the first
night of Chanukah can begin as early as 4:03 p.m. May we all appreciate our blessings in this season of light!