9 Iyar, 5777
This Week at Rochelle Zell
May 5, 2017
69 Years for Israel
From Yom HaZikaron to Yom HaAtzmaut
69 Years for Israel News From the Classroom Track Team Wins Big Mazal Tov Alumni Trivia A Taste of Torah Community News
Class Schedule Monday, May 8 BB Tuesday, May 9
C Wednesday, May 10 A
Thursday, May 11
B ‐ Extended Tefillah
The placement of Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day) on the calendar draws aĥenĕon immediately to the sacrifice that Israelis make on a daily basis to ensure the vitality of the state. In a country with a mandatory military dra├, every family in Israel knows somebody who died fighĕng for the country, bringing parĕcular meaning to the day. On Monday, we commemorated Yom HaZikaron with a memorial ceremony composed of Israeli
Friday, May 12 CC
songs, poems, and animaĕon, telling the stories of individuals and their families. We capped the program by hearing from our Head of School Tony Frank, who served in the Israeli army during the First Lebanon War. To read his moving words, click here.
Quick Links
RZJHS.org Calendars Lunch Menu Edline Give Now
Save The Date
May 1‐12 AP Exams
May 17 Physics Expo
May 18 Grandparents Day Open Mic Night Athleퟣ�c Night
We changed the tenor dramaĕcally on Tuesday, with raucous celebraĕon of Yom HaAtzmaut. Senior Yoni Maltsman set the tone for the day with his energeĕc leadership of Hallel, which conĕnued during our lunch of Mizrahi shawrma and Moroccan chicken, and the programming led by Va'ad Israel. Since it was too cold and wet to even consider our annual soccer tournament, Va'ad Israel sought to bring Ahad Ha'am's dream of Israel as a cultural center to Rochelle Zell, featuring several cultural contribuĕons of the State. Bobbi Hochberg and Meira Levine led cinematographic teams in creaĕng Israeli music videos; Sophie Wolle, Ariel Saxton, and Molly Copley led Israeli dancing. Idan Chazan and Gaby Ecanow helped replicate the murals in the Machane Yehuda shuk as students spray painted their own designs onto T‐shirts. With fond thoughts of Marzipan rugelach and taking a cue from Holla for Challah, Lexi Levin and Ethan Laney led a baking workshop in our model shuk in the dining hall. Thank you to everyone for their hard work in celebraĕng the modern miracle of the state of Israel.
May 19 Last Day of Classes All‐School BBQ
May 22 No School
May 24 Senior Siyyum / Graduaퟣ�on
May 23‐26 Final Exams
News From the Classroom Spanish, Global Studies, Psychology, and Judaica
Despite the menace of AP exams everywhere, plenty of Rochelle Zell classes are mixing things up with some revoluĕonary new lessons! Mr. Maĥ Cohen reports, "In
Honors Global Studies, we are staging a Café Liberte, a French Revoluĕon era café where the students take on French personas, pour over documents wriĥen by real revoluĕonaries, sip café laĥes (okay, more like vitamin water and OJ), and discuss how the revoluĕonary efforts are affecĕng them. All of this to provide a personal lens into just how transformaĕve was the revoluĕon in the daily French individual’s life." Santé, freshman Frenchmen! !Feliz 5 de mayo! Both Sra. Weisman and Sra. Eisenberg's Clases de español II made guacamole in celebraĕon of the Mexican win over the French in the baĥle of Puebla‐‐and in order to pracĕce following wriĥen and oral direcĕons in Spanish! Qué delicioso! Students in AP Psychology have completed their exam and can now breathe a sigh of relief! "So, Ms. Murphy," the seniors inquire, "What are we going to do in class now?" This a├ernoon, students started invesĕgaĕng rare and unusual psychological condiĕons such as Alien Hand Syndrome, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, Walking Dead Syndrome, and Jerusalem Syndrome. Ask a senior to explain one of these very interesĕng phenomena! Dr. Schorsch just completed a two year collaboraĕon to develop a compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for the study of Rabbinics in Jewish day schools. Under the auspices of JTS, Rochelle Zell Jewish High School (represented by Tamara Frankel, Rabbi Silver and Dr. Schorsch) joined with a select number of Jewish schools from around the country, including Shalhevet in L.A. (Modern Orthodox) to Heschel in N.Y (pluralisĕc) in the iniĕal cohort of school's mapping the field of Rabbinics educaĕon. This second year, a small working group of K‐12 faculty‐‐scholars of Rabbinics and educaĕon‐‐ formed a small writers group, meeĕng three ĕmes to conĕnue the groundbreaking work of the first year. Dr. Schorsch represented one of three Jewish high schools as part of this smaller group. For Dr. Schorsch, "the work was fascinaĕng, important, and intricately and beauĕfully collaboraĕve. It was a privilege to join such a sĕmulaĕng group of dedicated educators."
Spring Sports in the Field Track and Field, Tennis, and Volleyball
Our newest sport is in the field! The Rochelle Zell track team parĕcipated in school's first track and field meet on Monday, going straight for the kill in the Metro Prep Conference Championship. RZJHS sent a conĕngent of eight runners: four girls and four boys. All eight track and field runners came home with medals, for a grand total of eleven in the school! The 3200 meter relay team of Hadar Halivni, Ariana Handelman, Dina Barrish, and Elitsa Sklar zipped ahead to win the gold in an exciĕng come‐from‐behind finish. Jonah Magill thoroughly dominated the 110 meter high hurdles to also take home the gold! Well done, track and field runners!
The tennis team fielded another great match Tuesday night against Beacon Academy! Our boys had an outstanding showing, and we took four of the seven matches. Every match was really close, and the boys exerted a tremendous effort to bring home the victory. We want to thank captain Zev Mishell's family for coming out and supporĕng the team on Senior Night. We wish Zev good luck at Princeton and thank him again for being a diligent captain and leader for the team!
A├er two tough losses to Cristo Rey, the varsity volleyball team finished the week strong with a big win at Northtown. Our leaders for the week were Ben Hirsch with 30 assists and five aces, Eli Nasaퟣ�r with 20 kills, 11 digs and five blocks, and Sammy Hoffman with 15 kills and a perfect 25‐25 on his serves. We finish our regular season with two home games for Senior Night against Chicago Hope on Monday and at Chrisĕan Heritage on Wednesday. Our JV squad had a good week, beaĕng Cristo Rey with help from David Levin and Joey Schrayer, and dropping behind Northtown despite good plays by Guy Ostroff and David Levin. The JV boys finished their conference season 5‐1 and will finish their regular season on Wednesday at Chrisĕan Heritage.
Alumni Trivia
Where is our resident five‐star chef these days‐‐the one who's not going into the hospitality
industry, but is working his tail off at a California campus known as "the Farm"?
Mazal Tov
Congratulaĕons to Ms. Lena Averbuch, our stalwart math teacher, her husband Denis Masyukov, and proud big brother Benjy on the arrival of liĥle Charles Nate Masyukov last week. Strapping baby Charlie weighed in at 8 lbs 8 oz and is pracĕcing his cube roots already. Mazal tov to the whole family!
Sponsored Breakfast
Happy Sweet 16 to Noa Alscher and many happy returns to Maytal Meisler; many thanks to their families for ending the bagel drought!
To ensure that your favorite Tiger must never pine away for their morning roll with a hole, call Diane Zidman in the front office.
Alumni Trivia A├er a year on Kivunim in Israel, porĔolioed chef Jonah Glick‐ Unterman (CJHS '15) is exploring his opĕons at Stanford, where he has just wrapped up a successful campaign to become president of the rising sophomore class! Jonah writes, "I've been preĥy involved in the Jewish community here, serving as the organizer for the freshmen, and, next year, I will be in charge of outreach; I'm currently planning a black and Jewish Shabbat dinner with the black community! I'm thinking of studying economics and staĕsĕcs or mathemaĕcal and computaĕonal sciences, but I'm also loving philosophy and the humaniĕes‐‐I can't make up my mind! I'll be here [in Palo Alto] this summer doing research on nuclear policy, then doing some traveling." Good for you, Jonah!
A Taste of Torah: AchareiMotKedoshim
Parashat Kedoshim features the heart of the ethical consciousness for Jewish religion, perhaps for ethical monotheism more broadly. At the center of Chapter 19, we read: “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor,” (Vayikrah 19:16). As Rabbi Donniel Hartman stresses, this law suggests that “any danger or injusĕce threatening one’s neighbor, whether within the public or private domain, is one’s business. If it is within one’s power to eliminate this injusĕce one is obligated to do so. We are all our brothers’ keepers” (Pu扊�ng God Second, 31). In his chapter enĕtled “We are
all our brother’s keepers: The Religious Ethics of Nonindifference,” Hartman builds the case both through Biblical narraĕve and religious law that Jews must see the other in front of us. This is the legacy of Avraham and S’dom, Rivkah feeding Eliezer’s camels, and Moshe stepping forward when he sees the Egypĕan striking the Israelite slave. Hartman conĕnues by ciĕng Maimonides, who states the converse of this, as well, “Whoever is in a posiĕon to prevent wrongdoing and does not do so, is responsible for all the iniquity of the wrongdoing he might have prevented” (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah 6:7). What is nonindifference? At its core, stands Judaism’s belief that every person must see people in front of them, however different they are than them. This consciousness brings compassion to every person who partakes in the faith community.
Rav Beit Sefer Zachary Silver
Community News and Events
1095 Lake Cook Road • Deerfield, IL 60015 • ĕgers@rzjhs.org • 847.470.6700