5 Tishrei, 5777 This Week at Rochelle Zell
October 7, 2016
IFYC Kicks Off Rochelle Zell Welcomes Islamic Foundation School
IFYC Kicks Off Math Team Competes Politics Clubs Convene This Week in Sports Artists in the News Lulav and Etrog Alumni Trivia A Taste of Torah
Class Schedule ​Monday, October 10 A Tuesday, October 11 No School Wednesday, October 12 No School Thursday, October 13
For the first time ever, IFYC welcomed our Muslim colleagues from the Islamic Foundation School in Villa Park to school over lunch on Thursday. Fifty Rochelle Zell students joined their Muslim peers for discussions that centered around the new beginnings of the Jewish new year and the new beginnings of our year of learning together. This is the first full year
B Friday, October 14 A
that we will be learning and discussing together and the discussions gave students tangible ideas for the future and more importantly the opportunity to learn about our shared humanity as religious individuals in American life.
Quick Links RZJHS.org
Math Team Competes
Calendars Lunch Menu Edline Give Now
Save The Date October 11-12 No School - Yom Kippur October 13 9:45 Late Start October 17-18 No School - Sukkot October 19 PSAT October 20 Sukkah Hop October 24-25 No School - Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah November 1-6 Memphis Basketball Shabbaton November 1 Parent Teacher Conferences November 7 FermiLab Field Trip
Congratulations to our Rochelle Zell Math Team for a successful meet last Thursday! Oralist Gaby Ecanow earned first place with a total of 46 out of 50 possible points while presenting on the topic of number theory. The freshman and sophomore teams won first and second place, respectively, in their contests, and competing against Downers Grove North, Elgin, Loyola, and Morton East, the team earned second place overall. Go Mathletes!
Politics Clubs Convene USPC and Va'ad Israel Discuss Foreign Aid
November 10 Parent Teacher Conferences​
College Visits Rochelle Zell is pleased to welcome admission representatives from over forty colleges and Israel programs this autumn! VIEW FULL SCHEDULE >>
Last Friday, Va'ad Israel and the United States Politics Club teamed up for a joint session to discuss the recently approved aid package that the United States will give to Israel, $38 billion over ten years. Students discussed how this aid package is the largest aid package in the history of the relationship between the two countries and how this deal compares to those of other countries. The conversation gave students the opportunity to do some on-the-spot research about American foreign policy and how aid figures into the overall federal budget. The meeting modeled how two school clubs can join together for an engaging conversation across fields.
This Week In Sports Big Wins in Tennis and Volleyball, Golf Senior Night The Lady Tigers came dancing home last night with a smashing win in tennis against Deerfield! Coach Finfer reports, "We won in fantastic fashion, 10-1, which was especially nice for the girls who won their first match ever. Eliana Kaufman, Sophie Kaufman, Maya Scholder, Eden Kahn, and Abby Becker all won their matches, and Mollie Kramer fought like a Tiger. Great job by all the girls to pull out our first allteam win!"
The golf team closed out its season with Senior Night last week against Taft. Junior Ethan Laney and senior David Weisskopf took the lead; Ethan shot a 45 and David a 49. Seniors Oliver Friedman, Sammy Hoffman, and David Weisskopf were called up to be recognized for their years of devoted golfing on the team. Congratulations to all three of them, and we wish them luck in their future endeavors on and off the green! After a week off, the girls varsity volleyball team returned to action on Wednesday at Chicago-Quest Academy. The girls put up a dominating performance, winning 25-13 and 25-5. The team had 28 aces overall. Lucy Cohen led the way with 14 aces and five digs. Hannah Cohen added nine aces and four kills, while Dafna Stofenmacher had six assists and two digs. The girls' next match will be on Monday versus Cristo Rey-St. Martin. Come out to cheer them on! Boys soccer faced off yesterday against the Lake Zurich JV team. The reserves really played well, Coach Shannon explains, giving us a 2-0 lead early in the first half, with goals by Ari Rosen and Eli Simmons, assisted by Matt Weiss and Isaac Levitan. Late in the first half, Eli Gurin got his 11th goal of the season (and the game winning kick!), assisted by Josh Levitas. The final score was 3-2, as we held off a depleted but hungry Lake Zurich squad for the win! Coach Shannon continues, "There were some really solid performances by Henry Hoffman in goal, Matt Weiss at defensive mid, Josh Winick and Jonah Hammel up top, and Adam Budin and Evan Dayan were tough as nails back on defense! Our last game is next Thursday against Niles North. I'm looking for a strong finish to the season and one
more big win!"
Artists in the News Deerfield Review Profiles Sculpture Project "Zellish" is taking shape! Ms. Snyder's Studio Art class is hard at work on their life-size human sculptures. The exhibit will show Rochelle Zell students immersed in their daily routines: shooting hoops, studying, at prayer. The medium of choice? Packing tape! Junior Lucy Braverman brought the idea from Utah; sophomore Mayana Lifschitz tell the press that the material is both fascinating to work with and surprisingly responsive to form. Freshman Sammy Korol is suiting the medium to the message in his model of a boy at shacharit; for him, wrapping the packing tape of the sculpture resonates with wrapping the tefillin with which he centers himself every morning. READ MORE>>
Alumni Trivia Which of our alumni is happiest underwater? Hint: she's a member of her college diving team and is interested in marine biology, though neither one of those interests is reflected in her Jewish Studies major!
Sponsored Breakfast Happy birthday to Jonathan Rosenblum! Many thanks to his family for sponsoring breakfast this week. To sponsor bagels in honor of your favorite Tiger, please contact Diane Zidman in the front office.
Community News and Events Arba'at HaMinim Deadline: Monday, October 10 Purchase Lulav and Etrog sets for your family's use on Sukkot! We will purchase sets for our school tefillot and welcome and encourage students to bring their own to fulfill the mitzvah here in school. Family sets will be passed out at the end of school on Friday, October 14. To order, please fill out this Google form and bring a check to the office by Monday, October 10. The Basic Kosher Set is $50, the Standard Set is $65, and a Deluxe Mehudar Set is $75.
Alumni Trivia Accomplished diver and harpist Tziporah Ladin-Gross (CJHS '12) is finishing her bachelor's at Indiana University; she is graduating a semester early and hopes to get a marine conservation internship for the spring. Tzipi reports, "I'm majoring in Jewish Studies and minoring in Hebrew. I run Keshet through Hillel, our queer Jewish group. I also worked to start CATCH: Conservative and Traditional Community of Hillel." Good for you, Tzipi!
A Taste of Torah: In God's Image In Talmud class we learn that we, human beings, are made in God’s image, but why is this idea important? Who cares? We’ve been taught God is unique and unlike us. God is the holy of holies. But in Genesis 1 we learn that, God creates humanity “in our image”. Through this we see that we are created with that same holiness, with godliness in us. What does it mean to be created in God’s image or to be holy like God? To me, it means that as humans, it is our job to let this holiness shine through in all we do. It is our job to live our lives with respect, kindness and peace all around us. But why does any of this matter now? What does this idea mean to us, specifically as Jews beginning into the new year and heading into Yom Kippur? Every morning before we say the Shema, we recite the Ahava Rabbah. This tefillah begins with the words, “Deep is your Love for us, lord our God, boundless is your tender
compassion”. This tefillah reminds us each day- on days when we feel loved, on days we feel unloved, God is always here for us. God loves us unconditionally and gives us love and care when we are in need. In response to the shootings in Orlando, Rabbi Shai Held teaches us that every human is loved unconditionally. No human is lesser than another. No matter what, God will always love us. Held reassures us, “When your parents reject you, God loves you; when your friends or classmates make fun of you, God loves you”. This echoes one of the special prayers we add during the Days of Awe, Psalm 27. God loves us when we feel alone, even when we feel abandoned. Through these texts, we learn the values we must take with us in the following year. All human beings are equal before God, all are created in God’s image, and therefore we should treat everyone with the respect and kindness wish for ourselves. Even when it feels we’ve been abandoned by the most important people in our lives, God still cares. And maybe this is also a reminder that we too must also do our part to care for others. So how can you show people that you are made in God’s image? As we begin this new year, we give ourselves time to reflect in these few weeks around Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur. We ponder the ways in which we’ve grown, the friends we’ve made, the interests we’ve acquired and the skills we’ve accomplished over the past year. During this time we also reflect the ways in which we struggled. The ways we’ve felt hopeless, the bad days we’ve had, and the times in which we’ve been the lesser person we’ve hoped to be. But in all of these achievements and experiences, we have also learned what it means to be human, what it means to strive to be like God. God knows that we are humans, as therefore it is hard for us to get it right all the time. We make mistakes, we are not perfect. But what we can do is we take these thoughts and reflections, and translate them into our hopes and dreams of what will become of us in this intriguing new year. We can set goals for ourselves as we enter the new year. What an incredible opportunity! We have been granted with a new year. A clean slate, a fresh start. The pain that has burdened us can be thrown away. The stress of school, parents, and friends-- all gone. The ways in which we’ve sinned-- we’ve acknowledged and now we can let go of these misdeeds and start again. Let us throw away everything that holds us back from this past year and imagine the infinite possibilities that lie ahead. I hope that in this new year, we all take with us these values of the equality of all human beings, the holiness within each of us, and the respect, and most importantly, the love we deserve. Gmar chatima tova. Bea Triester ('18)
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