HAFTR Happenings 9-2020

HAFTR HAPPENINGS I S S U E

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WELCOME HOME HAFTR 2020-21 STARTS STRONG After long months out of our buildings, everyone at HAFTR was very excited to welcome our students back home.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Early Childhood News • P. 6

We worked so long and hard to get here, and it did not disappoint! It is so uplifting to have our buildings once again

Lower School News • P. 8

filled with children learning! As we walk the halls and stop into classrooms, we experience so many feelings, but mostly, just pure joy! Joy of seeing smiling faces, of friends reconnecting, joy at

Middle School News • P. 10

hearing the sounds of tefillot echoing through hallways that have been way too quiet for way too long.

High School News • P. 12

With many upgrades and changes throughout the buildings, meeting or exceeding all the new regulations, we are proud of the time, efforts, and finances that have been dedicated to accommodate our students in class!

It has been a truly incredible start to this school year. We are so proud of what we have accomplished together, and look forward to success, growth, health, and happiness!

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT M R .

N E I L

W I E N E R

WELCOME HOME HAFTR! We have waited many long months in anticipation to say those words to all of you. Despite the unexpected obstacles we faced, our incredible staff, faculty, and leadership have worked tirelessly throughout the summer to make the necessary preparations to get us back to school safely. Although some things are different this year, you will still find our same Hawk Nation spirit alive and as strong as ever!

HAFTR is committed to providing the best yeshiva education in a manner which regards the health and safety of our staff and students with extreme significance. In preparation for a safe reopening, we have followed, and in certain instances, exceeded, the recommendations from the CDC, New York State, and Nassau County, and as a result are thrilled to have resumed our in-person learning experience together.

Thank you to our HAFTR families that have entrusted our yeshiva to educate their children with the highest academic standards, and Jewish values. I also want to thank and welcome all the new HAFTR families, who have made the careful choice to be a part of our family, even during this time of uncertainty.

There are many adjustments that have been made to help keep you, our community, safe in the coming weeks and months. However, in the end, we as an institution, can only do so much. We are reliant upon the commitment and the adherence of everyone to follow the guidelines, wear masks, keep socially distanced, and practice good hygiene. Now, more than ever, we must practice what we preach, and hold each other accountable in this regard. I am confident that we will. The success of this year is dependent on the willingness of every member of the community following the health guidelines that have been outlined in the HAFTR Back to School Blueprint.

I look forward to seeing your children on our campuses this year. Like you, I will be wearing my mask, and grateful for all the opportunities that this new year presents.

Shana Tovah to you and your families.

DOWNLOAD THE HAFTR MOBILE APP HAFTRÂ has launched a mobile app for the school.

You can download the app from the App Store or Google Play for free by searching for HAFTR.

Customize your experience by selecting which groups you want to receive notifications from.

HAFTR.org/digitaldashboard

MESSAGE FROM HAFTR PTA The HAFTR PTA would like to welcome back all our students and staff. If you are new to HAFTR, we are especially excited to welcome you into our school family.

Although things look a little different as we enter this school year, the PTA is as committed as ever to supporting our students and staff throughout the year.

Reusable water bottles were distributed for students to use at the new water bottle fillers we sponsored, and mask holder bags were given out to start the year.

We are looking for volunteers to serve our school as part of the PTA. We can be contacted at

haftrpta@haftr.org .

Watch for information from us on a regular basis, as we look forward to an amazing year.

Candice Feiler & Tamar Scharf, PTA Presidium

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FIRST DAY MEMORIES

FIND MORE AT

EARLY CHILDHOOD APPLE EXPERTS

BEE WISE

The students of HAFTR's Early

The Early Childhood yeladim know that bees are the wonderful

Childhood division have been very

insects that make the honey for our Rosh Hashana table. They

busy preparing for Rosh Hashana,

learned that bees are yellow and black, they sting, they make

from learning about apples, to making

honey, live in a hive and make a bzzzz sound. The children learned

their very own shofars, and beautiful

that the bzzzz sound doesn’t come from the bee’s mouth but from

honey dishes to bring home.

their wings flapping really, really fast. They tried flapping their arms really fast but all that was heard were giggles! Ask your

Parents sent in an assortment of small,

medium, and large

children how to say Good Morning or Shana Tovah like a bee.

They saw images of hives where the bees live, and honeycombs

red, green, yellow,

inside the hives, where the bees make and store the honey.

and multicolor apples, enabling the

Honeycomb cereal was the perfect way to experiment with how

yeladim to expand their knowledge of

bees fill the

apples to become apple experts.

honeycombs with honey.

Did you ever wonder how tall you are

Don’t you love when our

in apples? The wonderful HAFTR morot

science and Judaic

are able to incorporate many lessons

curriculums collide!

into one subject. Touching on math in this unit; they cut apples and counted how many pieces they got from each apple, then the students calculated how tall they are, using apples as units of measurement!

With the help of their morot, the children crafted beautiful honey cups with a bee on top of it just in case you didn’t get the hint that honey

Of course the best part of this lesson

comes from bees!

was when we got to dip the apples in the honey...yummmmm!

DIPPING APPLES IN HONEY

SORTING APPLES

HOW TALL ARE YOU?

During Art with Morah Farrah, our Pre-K artists have been learning about color theory. They worked with primary colors, red, blue, and yellow, to experiment making secondary colors. They also saw how white makes a color lighter and black makes it darker. The story of Mix It Up by Herve Tullet helped the children visualize these concepts. September began the children's works for their “Self Portrait Studio.”

Before starting, they

discussed what a self portrait is, the different parts of their bodies, and that while each of us has two eyes, one nose, two ears, etc, not one of us looks the same because Hashem created each of us to be different and unique in our own special ways.

The final artist of the month was Josef Albers who is known for his homage to the square. Working with large, medium, and small colored squares, they created a masterpiece mimicking Josef Albers.

GUEST READER IN N4E

SUKKOT Our toddlers have been busy preparing decorations for Sukkot and a Torah necklace for Simchat Torah.

Each day they shake the lulav and etrog while singing Sukkot songs.

In music with Morah Leah, they have learned a song about the directions to shake them. It’s very much like another favorite song, ‘Hashem is here, Hashem is there’…upwards and downwards…. They also learned a song to the tune of The Trolley Song: Thank you Morah Cyndy for coming

Bang, bang, bang went my hammer

into our classroom to read two

Ting, ting, ting went the nails

books to us!

Up, up, up went my sukkah And I did it with a hammer and nails!

LOWER SCHOOL On Rosh Hashana, a well known Ashkenazi custom is to dip an apple into honey, followed by the recitation of a short prayer,

‫ שתהא שנה טובה ומתוקה״‬... ‫ ״יהי רצון‬,

may it be a sweet New Year. This year, more than ever, those

words were said by Jews around the world with even greater meaning. At HAFTR, we can honestly say, “How sweet it is!” How sweet it is to see students skipping into school. How sweet it is to hear sounds of tefilah and Torah learning! How sweet it is to see students choosing books to read; and how sweet it is to watch children play together. May this year, 5781, continue to get sweeter and sweeter!

This year, our school theme, Wellness, ties into a mitzvah in the Torah. It states one should safeguard their health".

‫" ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם‬

(Devarim 4:15). Our commitment to this mitzvah during this time is steadfast. Students

of all ages understand the importance of protecting their own physical well-being as well as others'. Our safety precautions are both natural and part of our daily routines, and we are proud to see our students following them regularly. Everyone is walking around with a positive attitude, grateful to be back at HAFTR. Rabbi Yosef Jacobs, a new member of our Guidance Department, has already begun his social skills series in the fourth and fifth grade classes, zeroing in on the cognitive model of thinking, which describes how our perceptions about situations directly influence our emotional and behavioral reactions. Scenarios were presented where children encounter the same situation and experience complete opposite reactions. Students shared their own stories when they experienced strong reactions and how they could have used this "model" (or way of thinking) to have a different reaction.

Wishing everyone a Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!

TZEDAKA

NACHAT NOTES

Each month

Parents have told us how proud they are of their children and their participation during the chagim. We are always happy to hear these firsthand reports

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Third grader Ari Hiltzik brought a tzedaka box to school to collect for Leket Israel, a charity and food rescue organization in Israel. His class began to fill that box, and the rest of the school will now join in his collection.

DID YOU KNOW THAT BEES GO TO SCHOOL?

SUKKOT PREP Students learned about Sukkot in

It is “bee school”

and out of the classroom. Lulav and

of course! Bees learn

etrog assembling demonstrations

to communicate through

and saw interesting sukkot from

“circle” and “crazy eight” dances.

around the world.

Morah Elka taught her students how the worker bees create wax in their stomachs to make their hive and that the honey bees gather nectar from flowers to take to their hives. Students “met” a beekeeper, who demonstrated how to put the bees to sleep in order to extract the honey. The young scientists continued to learn about the custom of apples and honey in a very scientific way. They observed a variety of different apples as they were exposed to air. They experimented by placing a slice of apple in vinegar, tonic water, Coke, milk, and lemon juice, and learned that two had acids and prevented the apples from turning brown. Ask the children to tell you which ones!

SHOFAR WORKSHOP

ONEG SHABBAT Each week's Oneg Shabbat is a creative and educational activity to learn about the Parshat HaShavua. Whether students are at Oneg in person with Rabbi Feigenbaum in the Beit Midrash,

SEFER SHEMOT

or on Zoom from their classroom, they participate in the singing and interactive games. The tradition of beginning Oneg with singing Shalom Aleichem and ending with our favorite song, “It’s Time to Say Good Shabbos,” continues, and makes us all feel the spirit of erev Shabbat even more.

Fifth grade students began the New Year learning a new sefer, Sefer Shemot. Morah Bashi, Rabbi Weiss, and their classes, relished the moment by learning the first pasuk together. Students commented that, “The story of Shemot is familiar to us from Pesach, but now we are learning so many extra details!”

Students look forward to beginning mishnayot after the chagim.

Fourth grade students learned hilchot shofar with Rabbi Feigenbaum, discerning the requirements of a Kosher shofar.

They looked at many different animals to determine if their horns could be used as a shofar, and which of those shofrot would be the most preferred. They discussed the necessity that a shofar be naturally hollow inside after the bone is removed, invalidating the horns of a deer or giraffe. They considered the fact that a shofar must come from a kosher animal; invalidating the tusks of an elephant or rhinoceros.

They learned that there are many kosher animals whose horns are hollow after removing the bone, such as antelope, oryx, ibex, gazelle, and the kudu, and are used by many Yeminite communities.

Students were intrigued to learn that many horns make amazing looking shofrot, but cannot be used for the mitzvah.

One such horn is the cow's horn. While it fulfills the physical requirements of a shofar, it reminds us of the Eigel HaZahav, which we do not want to remember at this time of year. Rabbi Feigenbaum and students ultimately concluded that the preferred shofar is a ram’s horn; evoking the merits of our forefather at Akeidat Yitzchak and because it is curved, reminding us to bow before Hashem.

MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

6TH GRADE TEAM BUILDING When students enter sixth grade at HAFTR Middle School, they are faced with many new challenges, from

Social and Emotional Learning is off to a

having a multitude of new teachers, to navigating a new

strong start at HAFTR Middle School! Led by

building, to trying to figure out the combination to their

Dr. Yali Werzberger, Director of Guidance

locker. It is important to HAFTR Middle School to help

and PPS, students are learning about

our students develop skills to successfully navigate their

managing the many emotions that one may

Middle School years and beyond. With this in mind, on

feel throughout the day. Through interactive

Friday, September 11, the sixth grade gathered outside

conversations, the boys and girls are also

for a team building activity. Students lined up by cohort

discovering the power of pausing before

between two buckets; one empty and one filled with

reacting. Mindfulness discussions and

water. They then worked as a team to fill the empty

activities teach the students that control over

bucket one cup at a time. The ruach and excitement

what we focus our attention on, is a powerful

that was heard as friends cheered each other on was

tool to promote well-being and study skills.

inspiring and uplifting. At the end of the activity, the

Interactive activities and videos make these

students spoke about the different challenges they

discussions tangible for students.

faced, and how by working together and communicating with their friends, they were able to succeed.

IT TAKES A TEAM...

MINDFULNESS WORKSHOPS

6TH GRADE TEAM BUILDING

...TO FILL THE BUCKET

YAMIM NORAIM PREP This has been a truly exciting and reflective time as HAFTR Middle School prepared for the Yamim Noraim of 5781. In preparation for the holidays, students were asked to bring in their machzorim. They created bookmarks in their Gemara classes as they studied the meaning and message of each tefilah, enabling them to follow along and maintain the appropriate frame of mind.

In Parsha and Halacha classes, students discussed the customs of the month of Elul including blowing the shofar, selichot, and recitation of

‫ לְ ָד וִד ה א ו ִֹר י‬.

In Chumash classes, students were taught the kri’at haTorah for

Rosh Hashana, studying the topics in depth, and reflecting on the connections between the stories and the themes of Rosh Hashana. Boys and girls classes took part in dynamic discussions relating to what we can learn from these stories, and how we can apply the lessons to our personal spiritual growth.

In preparation for Yom Kippur, students reviewed the account of Yonah, deciphered the deeper meaning of each perek, and considered how to internalize these messages on Yom Kippur. In preparation for Sukkot, students learned about the calendar, the arba minim, the Ushpizin and Megillat Kohelet.

PARENT ORIENTATION On September 10, HAFTR Middle School hosted its annual Parent Orientation with opening remarks by Mr. Gold and Mrs. Landau, as well as a social emotional overview workshop with Dr. Werzberger. Held this

SUKKAH WORKSHOP Every year, before Sukkot, HAFTR Middle School holds a special activity for the students to visit and ‘hop’ around Congregation Beth Shalom on a Sukkot Hop & Learn. Rebbe and Coordinator of Student Development at HAFTR Middle School, Rabbi Yisroel Moshe Siff, ran the program in a distinct way this year. He

year as a Zoom event, parents followed their child’s schedule with each of their teachers.

During each session, teachers reviewed the framework of their course, needed materials and objectives, and some

reviewed the halachot of the arbah minim, explained the different

forthcoming highlights. The

parts of the lulav, the correct way to assemble it, how to hold the

evening was very successful and

lulav and etrog together, and the correct shaking method. The

set the tone for what is sure to

students went over the halachot of building a sukkah that they

be a great, albeit different,

learn in Gemara. Bringing these lessons to life, the students are

school year.

excited to enjoy the chag, and the Rebbeim are so excited to hear about their Sukkot experiences.

HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2020 UPDATE The students in the Class of 2020, now proud HAFTR alumni, are still pioneering unprecedented new ways of doing things, including the Israel experience. Although they did not end their senior year the way they had envisioned it, many of the graduates still looked forward to their year in Israel. The yeshivot, seminaries, and programs have done everything they can to make this year happen for the students! The young men and women made their way to the Holy Land, and weathered their quarantines with flying colors. Some schools used their own facilities, and others rented alternative locations for the quarantine to make it more comfortable for the students. After the quarantine ended, students moved into their dorms and began forming friendships and experiencing the country for a few days before the lockdown, as almost every school was able to squeeze in their first tiyul. They have begun classes, and the feedback coming in is that they are loving the learning.

Rabbi Lewis Wienerkur, HAFTR High School Director of Israel Guidance, reached out to the graduates of the Class of 2020 in Israel before Rosh Hashana to give them a little perspective. “I am so proud of you all.

‫ קשות‬,

‫כל התחלות‬

all beginnings are hard. As I’ve told some of you, although this will not be the Rosh Hashana you have

always imagined experiencing in Eretz Yisrael, just remember that our great-great-grandparents would have given anything to live as free men and women in Israel, even in quarantine for two weeks, and could not even have imagined the country we have today. Use this time to reflect on how far you have come. B’ezrat Hashem, you will all learn a lot this month and this year.”

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LEARNING UNDERWAY

ALUMNAE IN ISRAEL

FRIENDS IN FLIGHT RABBI HAMMER

ASERET YEMEI TESHUVA SHIUR During the Aseret Yemei Teshuva, HAFTR High School was zoche to have Rabbi Shalom Hammer speak with the students. Rabbi Hammer, who has lived in Israel with his family for over 30 years, serves as a senior lecturer for the Jewish Identity Branch of the IDF and is the author of five books. Rabbi Hammer’s focus was hope and positivity, a theme throughout HAFTR High School this year. He discussed how hope and positivity can exhibit themselves in our tefilah, as well as other areas of Judaism. Rabbi Hammer tragically lost his daughter last year, and shared how he has been able to hope and find positivity again after such heartbreak.

His message was that the Aseret Yemei Teshuva give us an opportunity to strengthen our connection with Hashem and reinvigorate our tefilot.

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING Supporting the growth and development of the whole child, maintaining a sense of community and togetherness, and positioning students to be their best selves both inside and outside the classroom are priorities for HAFTR High School.To ensure a smooth transition back to a traditional in-person learning environment, the High School guidance team has planned a range of support services to enhance the social and emotional well-being of HAFTR High School students.

The first week back, teachers and students discussed what social emotional learning is and how to use it to help achieve academic and personal success. They considered self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Week two focused on giving students and teachers the space to get to know each other and build stronger classroom relationships by allowing teachers to explore commonalities with their students and using those shared interests to start conversations and connect. Week three provided students and teachers the time and space to reflect on their goals for the year and address their motivation to achieve those goals. The program as a whole stimulated students to speculate about the past, and what has motivated them to work hard and accomplish things that are difficult, as well as to give them strategies that can be implemented this year to help increase motivation.

VIRTUAL DEBATE Despite COVID-19, HAFTR Debate has resumed in an exciting new form. On Wednesday evening, September 24, the HAFTR Debate Team participated in their first virtual competition, with students from Ramaz, DRS, HANC, Kellenberg Memorial, and Chaminade participating from home over video chat. While the format of the debate has changed, the style and complexity of the debates did not. There were three events that took place: Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, and Extemporaneous debate.

Students debated an array of topics ranging from medicare for all, to voting, to the historical accuracy of art. There were two teams of winners for the Public Forum debate. With a 2-0 record were HAFTR juniors Lulu Morse and Hannah Goldenberg and HAFTR sophomores Deborah Becker and Meir Farkas. In Extemporaneous debate, first place HAFTR senior Daniel Singer came in with a 4-0 record, and with a 3-0 record, HAFTR juniors Jesse Muller and Luca Lemberger came in second place.

"The HAFTR Debate Team adjusted surprisingly well to the new online format," said Coach Alex Libkind.

"With less than a month to prepare, students jumped right into the new topics and showcased their abilities. I am extremely proud of all the students who challenged themselves to push our team forward. We look forward to an amazing season in debate, speech, and model congress.

"The success of the tournament has left Coach Alex Libkind and the entire team optimistic about an amazing virtual season. Even though the circumstances are less than ideal, the team is happy that debate can still take place. In the coming weeks there will be virtual model congress tournaments, since virtual debate was such a success!