5685 Beacon Street | Pittsburgh PA, 15217 | (412) 521-8131
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Parshat Tetzaveh
Shabbat Zachor
March 10, 2017 - 12 Adar 5777
Shabbat Candle Lighting - by 6:03
pm
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DVAR TORAH - Thoughts from the Principal & Educational Director
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The haftara for Shabbat Zakhor is taken from Sefer Shemuel I (chapter 15), and tells of Shaul's violation of the prophet's command to completely destroy the nation of Amalek. When Shmuel, approaches Shaul and reprimands him for his disobedience, Shaul excuses himself and claims that it was the people who decided to keep the cattle of Amalek and use them for sacrifices to G-d.
Shmuel responds to Shaul's attempted justification by declaring, "For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and 'haftzar' is like the iniquity of 'terafim' (idolatry)" (15:23). Different interpretations have been suggested for this verse. The Malbim claims that the verse here distinguishes between "meri" - disobedience itself, and "haftzar" - which he interprets to mean "persistence". Disobeying G-d's commands may be likened to sorcery in that the sinner places his trust in means other than Heshem's word. But even worse, explains the Malbim, is "haftzar" - which he explains is insisting on one's piety and refusing to accept criticism and acknowledge wrongdoing, which the prophet equates with idolatry. Shmuel indicates to Shaul that G-d could have perhaps forgiven him for his disobedience, but Shaul will not be forgiven for his denial of guilt and attempts to justify his conduct.
Perhaps this Malbim can explain why Shaul's punishment was so severe, in that his family lost the kingship of Israel. He is not guilty of what Shmuel terms "haftzar", stubborn insistence on the correctness of one's actions. Hashem does not demand perfection, however, he does demand that we acknowledge our imperfections and make sincere efforts to correct them. For us to truly succeed as individuals and as a people we must always be willing to look inwardly at our imperfections and be willing to grow and become better people through our mistakes. In a weird way, Purim is a time of introspection. It is a time when our inside feelings should be worn on our sleeves and we take stock in our lives and our blessings.
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Thanks to the feedback from our readers, we have added an interview section. This week we sat down with Rena Goldwasser (4th grade) and Ezra Mandelbaum (2nd grade).
Q's
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Rena
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Ezra
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If you could go to lunch with anyone who would it be? |
Daniel Radcliffe & Emma Watson |
Gabriel Elvgrin and my sisters |
Ice cream or cake?
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Ice cream |
Best part of Shabbos? |
Friday night dinner |
Lunch |
Abba, Tatti or Dad?
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Dad |
Abba |
Favorite color?
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Turquoise |
Purple |
Favorite sport?
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Gymnastics |
Kickball and football |
Scariest animal?
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Dinosaurs if they were around, but I will have to go with lions. |
What did you recently learn in Chumash class? |
Yosef's brothers return from Egypt and wanted to take Binyamin back with them but Yaakov would not allow it because he was already missing one. |
Hasehm appeared to Avrom and He said, "Walk before Me and you will be complete." |
What technology have you most recently used?
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How to use Scratch Jr.
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Chromebooks |
What are you looking forward to in 5th/3rd grades?
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My own locker |
Being challenged |
Anything else you want people to know about you?
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I usually like to lie down and read a book or play outside.
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I am a huge Harry Potter fan. |
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Over 300 people came to see this year's production, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory put in by the 5- 12 graders at the JCC Katz Theater. "
Tonight's performance was amazing!!! It was easy to see the hard work, talent, and dedication these girls brought to this production. What a wonderful way to spend and evening!" said Kim Adams.
It all began as an idea and then a script and with the help of many of the teachers and the productions heads, the dream became a reality. "
My daughter loved the performance!" said Pam Kohenbash.
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Time Sunday morning of the family Megila reading here at Hillel.
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Oppa Loompas in Hillel's rendition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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Baby gerbils born in the third grade.
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120
Days until the first day of Camp Hillel.
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150
People who attended opening night of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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306
Purim baskets packed!
Check out the Facebook live video by clicking
here.
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Packing Purim Baskets
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Violin Duet
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Tech Shop Club
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Co-teaching
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Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University
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On Tuesday, February 28, Kayla Frisoli, a doctoral student in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University, came
to talk to Mrs. McDougall's AP Statistics class. Ms. Frisoli told us about some of the interesting projects that she has personally worked on with different companies as well as some of the ones her classmates have worked on. One of the projects she shared with us is her ongoing project with the Census Bureau in data matching. Data matching is a way of coding to match different entries that might actually be the same by using a computer instead of doing it by hand. For example, Mike Harris may be the same person as Michael Harris. Ms. Frisoli is working on a computer program that matches data that are very similar in multiple ways so that she can work with data over different years and find patterns. She also brought us t-shirts, magnets, and travel mugs from Carnegie Mellon University's Statistics Department! Next month, we will have a doctoral student in Astrostatistics come in to discuss his work.
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In Language Arts, third grade has been exploring everything adjectives. We began practicing with our new game called: "My neighbor's dog." Each student was able to remember, find or create an interesting adjective using the letters of the ABC. We have definitely expanded our knowledge and skills in this area. We look forward to applying this skill to our biography projects. Most of us are on Stage #2 or #3 of our project: rereading our book and taking simple notes. Many of us are beginning the early stages of paraphrasing our notes into detailed and coherent sentences. We will continue to keep you updated about this exciting project.
Don't forget to ask a third grader about
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What was their most interesting adjective or name in our game?
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What booth/activity are they working on for their Purim museum?
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What is their new job?
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How many lines of the megillah have they read so far?
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The dental hygienist stopped by school this week to teach the importance of flossing and brushing.
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Honestly, we are not really sure what is going on it. Probably a science project having to do with their Gemara shuir.
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T
he fourth grade mishna students each designed a sukka base on various mishnas they learned in class. Each student detailed if the sukka they built was kosher or pasul and the reason for their determination. They also were instructed to reference which mishna they used to design the sukka. This project helped make their learning more relevant and encouraged their creativity.
The GHS decorated the lower level as computer games in honor of Adar. Can you guess the different games?
Answers are at the bottom of the Happs.
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O Rosh Chodesh Adar program:
Each group was given tin foil and had to design a costume that represented one of the charecters in the megila.
Zeresh, Haman's wife
Achashverosh
Queen Vashti
Queen Esther
Queen Esther
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Chumash
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Second grade learned about the importance of a Jewish name and the mitzvah of a Bris Milah. They talked about how the Hebrew name of a child represents his Neshama, his essence. On Thursday, Rabbi Rosenberg visited and explained the importance of a bris and answered questions.
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Second grade is also working on building sentences using Collins type 1, type 3 and type 5 writing in our Ivrit class. This method helps students write their sentences in a organized way.
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The first stage of "The Emunah Project" in Rabbi Senft's 7th grade Halacha class is now complete. Congratulations to the 5 boys who have successfully completed it and are now ready to move on to stage 2. Avi Admon, Yitzy Berelowitz, Asaf Felder, Yosef Kaminsky, and Natan Marcus learned the first 5 "Ani Ma'amins" over the last few weeks and were tested on them by Rabbi Senft.
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This week Rabbi Smith joined Rabbi Senft in distributing prizes to the boys together with certificates acknowledging their achievement. In the next stage the boys will study the next 4 "Ani Ma'amins" and get ready to be tested on all 9 that they have learned.
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n their library class this week as part of their unit on Legends, second grade students discussed the book, Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter. They learned some history as well as geography when they viewed a map of the Southern United States in order to trace the steps that slaves took as they followed the words of the song, Follow the Drinking Gourd. This seemingly harmless folk song was taught to them by a member of the Underground Railroad who went from plantation to plantation posing as a handyman, Peg Leg Joe in order to help slaves escape to the north and freedom.
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This week, in Geometry/Trig, the 10/11/12 girls class learned about how a parabola is formed. A parabola is defined as the set of all points (x, y) that are equidistant from a line called the directrix and a point not on the line called the focus. By cutting pairs of strings the same length, folding each in half to find the midpoint and marking it with a marker, the girls looped one end around the focus, put a pin at the midpoint, and let the other half of the string fall perpendicular to the directrix. By doing this multiple times for different lengths of strings, a parabola slowly formed before our eyes using all of the 'midpoint pins'!
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Rabbi Levy recently skated on the ice at Heinz Field. While working on his hockey stops he bumped (literally) into a former Hillel teacher's husband (above). And a current teacher's husband (below). Name both the former and current teacher to win a Purim prize pack.
Last week's contest winners: Rivky Apfel (not pictured).
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Odyssey of the Mind Club. This week's spontaneous problem - YOU ARE TO DRAW AS MANY REPRESENTATIONS OF "THINGS THAT ARE COLD" as possible during your 4 minutes. You must label each drawing to tell what it is. You may change artists, but each team member must be the artist at least one time. All 5 members of the team must participate in some way during Part 2. The teams are gearing up for the May 21 Jewish Day School competition.
Tech Shop Club used Scratch to make the clubs' members designs come to life. They printed the designed in the 3D printers.
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The Art Department
Brought to you by the
Joshua L. Sindler, z"l Creative Classrooms, Art and Music Endowment Program
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The middle and high school girls created complex color wheels. This project introduces students to color theory as well as radial symmetry, which connects with curriculum in math and biology. Artists featured are Chana Kaminsky and Nechama Rodkin.
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Nice job
Jackie Sax, Barry Faigen, and Tova Weinberg !
This week's photo:
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Last week's photo:
Julie Sax and Miriam Weinberg working on a project in the caf.
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Welcome to our life hacks section! Life hacks are easy strategies or techniques that you probably never thought of that can be used to "hack" every day problems--or manage your time and daily activities in a more efficient way. Some hacks are so useful that they come in handy every day, so we thought it would be fun for the Hillel family to share our favorite hacks with each other!
This Week's Hack was suggested by Ms. Oz.
Drinking Glasses Stuck Together?
Fill the top glass with ice water and put the bottom one in a few inches of hot tap water. It will only take a few seconds for them to separate.
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For the fifth straight consecutive year Duquesne University donated basketball tickets to our athletic program. Fourth grader, Rami (RT) is wearing the Hillel Klipped Kippa which is on sale for $10.
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Mazal Tov to Joel & Sheila Posin, and to grandparents Sion & Manijeh Ghanooni, on the engagement of their daughter, Liora to Shimmy Afrah of Atlanta!
Mazel Tov to Rabbi Chaim and Mrs. Chana Gitty Leibowitz on the birth of a baby girl!
Mazel Tov to Rabbi Moshe and Mrs. Shoshana Russell on the birth of a baby girl!
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Space is limited!
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Answers to the GHS computer games - 1. Heads up, 2. Ttris, 3 - 2048, 4. Siltherio
Volunteer Opportunities -
Sunday, March 19th 8:00am - J-Serve
J-Serve is an international day of Jewish teen service specifically designed for teens in 6th-12thgrade. Jewish teens from around greater Pittsburgh meet at the JCC in Squirrel Hill for breakfast and an engaging learning session led by their peers. Then, they're off to volunteer at more than 15 local service locations for several hours before returning to the JCC for lunch and celebration.
https://jccpgh.formstack.com/forms/jserve2017
Monday, March 27th 6:00pm - VOOM! Northside Food Pantry
Join us for our March VOOM and help the Northside Food Pantry with sorting and repacking. Volunteers will be unpacking and sorting boxes of mixed food items sent by the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank and re-packaging bulk goods from Sysco. This is a family friendly opportunity appropriate for children 5 or older. Minors must be accompanied by a parent.
http://jfedvolunteer.org/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=2720
Sunday, April 2nd All Day - Good Deeds Day
Each year, we spend the day focusing on projects assisting various community organizations, non-profits and religious institutions throughout the city. Due to the past success of Good Deeds Day within the Jewish community, this year we are partnering with almost 40 different neighborhood associations, religious institutions, and non-profit organizations to have over 800 volunteer spots all across Pittsburgh on April 2nd! This is a city-wide day of volunteering so bring your friends and family!
Aleph Institute:
Looking for volunteers to go to prison on Purim, to read the Megillah, or to drive for the Megillah reader or to go to bring a little joy to those incarcerated. If you can go, please send me an e-mail at
rabbivogel@alephne.org
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nd he will be in contact with you. The requirements are, one should be over 21 and not be on parole or probation.
Bnei Akiva- Bnei Akiva is changing times! Sniff is now from 4:30-5:30. We cannot wait to see everyone there, at Shaare Torah.
Girl's Oneg: Every Shabbos in the PZ Educational Building from 3:00-4:00. For all girls in grades K-6. Starting March 18th, Oneg will change times to 3:30-4:30. Hope to see you there!
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Empower at-promise* youth. Help them discover themselves and provide them with life skills to succeed.
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*Geerz honors its riders by referring to them as at-promise instead of at-risk. The is a reflection of our fundamental philosophy that all youth have natural gifts, positive qualities, and potential for goodness. We focus on the positive and what can be strengthened and developed, not on what needs to be fixed.
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Your donation will go directly to bikes, helmets, gloves, hydration packs, and scholarships to the Geerz program. Your donation will directly impact an Israeli youth that has the drive, but all they need is a little help to climb.
I deeply appreciate your support and any amount you are able to give. Thank you for your generosity.
Sincerely, Nachum Wasosky Founder & Director, Geerz |
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Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh
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5685 Beacon Street - P
ittsburgh, PA 15217
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