Upcoming Events

Sunday, March 24 - Purim

Monday, March 25 - Shushan Purim (school in session) - festive breakfast, trip to TopGolf, lunch, Purim shpiel, faculty vs 12grade boys bball game - click here to sign up (To discuss financial assistance, contact Michael London)

Monday, March 25 - Academy Sports Academy - boys 10-17 are invited to train with members of ICJA's award-winning Wrestling Team 5:45-7:15pm

Wednesday, March 27 - in-school PSAT for freshmen

Tuesday, April 2 - ICJA Takes the Stage girls' outing to see Peter Pan

Wednesday, April 3 - in-school PSAT for juniors

Sunday, April 7 - 18 Under 18 Awards Event

Tuesday, April 9 - Torah Awards Presentation

Thursday, April 11 - ICJA Takes the Stage, Commemorating the Life of Batsheva Chaya Stadlan, z"l, generously sponsored by The Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts - Click here to reserve your spot

Thursday, April 18 - Wednesday, May 1 - Pesach Break

Thursday, May 2 - Classes resume

Tuesday, May 7 - Grandparents' Day - Click here to reserve your Grandparent spot

Wednesday, May 15 - Oratory Fair, 6pm

Tuesday, June 4 - Thursday, June 6 - Senior Retreat

Sunday, June 9 - Graduation

Monday, June 17 - Edward A. Crown Scholarship Dinner honoring Eric Rothner (Crown Leadership Award), Leslie Wortman (Crown Service Award), and Chavee Gottlieb (Educator of the Year Award)

Yasher Koach to outstanding students and staff on receiving various honors this week!

This week was filled with notable achievements from our talented students and staff.

Yasher koach to juniors Levi Polsky and Aliza Shyovitz, sophomore Penina Benjamin, and freshman Ayelet Klein on qualifying for the Chidon HaTanach Nationals in New York on May 19!

Yasher koach to senior Jakob Wortman on being named to the 2024 IHSA All-State Special Mention Team (the only student from a Jewish school to receive this honor)!

Yasher koach to Rabbi Louis Fliegelman on receiving the Hartman Family Foundation top Educator of the Year Awards, sponsored in memory of former ICJA parent and Arie Crown teacher Mrs. Gayle Anne Herwitz, z”l, at Tuesday night’s ATT Teachers Appreciation Event & Awards Ceremony.

Last Friday's Freshman Fridayton was filled with fun.

Last Friday's Freshman Fridayton began after Shacharit as freshman boarded busses to Scene 75 for a morning filled with fun games and camaraderie. After lunch, students returned to school to prepare for Shabbat. After bringing in Shabbat together, students enjoyed a meaningful evening of tefilla, sichot, and a delicious dinner before walking back to Skokie and Roger's Park in groups.

Thank you to Mrs. Alissa Zeffren for planning the Fridayton; to our many chaperones; and to our senior leaders, Rena Neiger, Noa Gavant, Ayelet Appel, Jordana Zwelling, Yonah Rubin, Adam Katz, Millo Benmelech and Aryeh Neiger, for making this event so successful.

Pictured above: Oren Goizman and Caleb Novick with Rabbi Kobi Greenfield

Pictured above: Iyla Friedman and Eliana Frankel 

Pictured above: Ami Appel, Aidan Itzhaki, Nathan Rothner 

On Taanit Esther, ICJA girls came together for Tehillim and learning.

On Thursday, Taanit Esther, ICJA girls came together for a moving program with the OU Women's Initiative.

Students recited Tehillim and heard from speakers from Israel including Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav Meir about the meaning of Taanit Esther and the importance of davening for Israel today in the midst of war.

Students are programming smart devices.

Seniors in Mr. Jonathan Keller's STEM class are programming smart devices, using Arduino software to create and personalize electronic items.

Pictured above: Millo Benmelech and Jed Marcus working on an electric car

Pictured above: Sammy Polster building an alarm clock

Pictured above: Yitzchak Mishkin drawing a model of the smart mirror he's creating

Students conducted experiments to observe how polarity affects substances' ability mix with each other.

Sophomores in Mrs. Chavee Gottlieb's Chemistry class have been learning about molecular geometry using the VSEPR (valence-shell electron-pair repulsion) theory and why polar and non-polar substances behave as they do.

This week students conducted a series of fun experiments to observe what happens when substances attract or repel each other.

(Pictured above: Miriam Falk and Jonah Strahlberg mixing hydrophobic sand with water)

Pictured above: Channie Gelerinter, Yedidya Bechhofer and Avi Zayan observing surface tension

Pictured above: Yair Bell and Judah Well creating a "color tornado" when milk and food dye are mixed with soap

Pictured above: Leah Jacobs and Max Kroll observe the evaporation rates and appearance of various solvents

Students discussed the halachot of Mishloach Manot.

Students in Rabbi Mayer Simcha Stromer's honors Talmud class are learning Masechet Megilla. This week they discussed the halachot of Mishloach Manot.

Is it acceptable to give gluten to a gluten-free recipient? How about frozen food? Can you fulfill the mitzvah by giving a friend food that they don't enjoy? In wide-ranging discussions, students parsed these and other examples and analyzed the goals of giving gifts on Purim, including bringing joy, fostering friendship, and contributing to other people's Purim seudot.

Pictured above: Miriam Falk and Penina Benjamin

Pictured above: Rivki Belsh

Pictured above: Jayden Perlman and Yaffa Hoberman

Sophomores are completing their unit on pen and ink portraiture.

Sophomores in Ms. Kathleen Kelly's Art class have been learning about pen and ink portraits, incorporating techniques such as shading, cross hatching, and blending. This week, they worked on portraits of their own, coloring in a half empty blank page to match a black and white photo on the other side.

Pictured above: Michael Matveyev and Caley Gordon

Pictured above: Eli Fretzin with Ms. Kelly

Pictured above: Esther Fretzin and Libby Bleichman

Seniors explained what gifts they'd like to give to their friends and why.

Seniors in Mrs. Orit Marmel's Hebrew class gave fun Hebrew-language presentations this week about what gifts they would give to their friends if they could. Suggestions ranged from swimming pools and jet planes to new backs and knees for people with sports injuries. Peers responded to the presentations with laughter and comments - all in Hebrew of course.

Pictured above: Evan Comrov describing the Porshe car, fighter jet, and deluxe baseball bat he'd like to give to various friends, and why

Pictured above: Adam Katz describing the new baseball bat, new spine, and the swimming pool he'd like to give as gifts

Pictured above: Jacob Friedman describing the basketball, the safe (to store food) and the new pair of knees he'd lie to give to friends and why

Students discussed the divergence in GDP between North and South Korea.

What are the factors that determine a country's level of development? Students in Mr. Joshua Cooper's APUSH (AP US History) class this week discussed some of the many factors that determine development, and considered alternative measures of nations' wealth and success. They then turned to the case of North Korea and South Korea, which share a common history and culture, but since 1953 have pursued very different political systems.

Students examined relative development in North and South Korea, using different metrics such as GDP and the amounts of lights detected at night in each country by satellites, and discussed how politics have contributed to the large and growing gap in their development.

Pictured above: Mr. Cooper displaying a graph of the two Koreas' diverging GDP

Pictured above: juniors Aliza Shyovitz and Aidan Zukerman

Pictured above: juniors Zev Margolin and Avner Frazin

Students are reading and learning about Moshe's encounter with the Burning Bush in Sefer Shemot.

Freshmen in Mrs. Alissa Zeffren's Chumash class spent this week learning about the seminal encounter in Sefer Shemot when Hashem speaks to Moses from in the midst of a burning bush. Students discussed the vocabulary choices in this important passage, as well as reading different meforshim about this episode.

Pictured above: Baila Laber and Talia Bielak

Pictured above: Rose Matatya

Pictured above: Dalia Cohen and Shoshana Boshes

Freshmen and their relatives davened together at Agudas Yisroel of Peterson Park last Sunday, and had an in-depth discussion with Dayan Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst.

Many Sunday mornings, ICJA's freshmen boys' rebbe, Rabbi Louis Fliegelman, arranges for students and their fathers (or grandfathers or other relatives) to meet at a different Chicago-area location to daven Shacharit together and enjoy breakfast and learning.

Last Sunday they gathered at Agudas Yisrael of Peterson Park. After davening, the boys and fathers spoke with Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst about a number of halachic issues, including posting restaurants reviews, watering one's lawn through a timer on Yom Tov, wearing shoes with Velcro on Shabbat, having one's lawn cut during Chol Ha'moad, what bracha to say over a slice of pizza, issues related to walking by someone else's home with a sensor light on Shabbat, opening a competing retail store next to a business, opening a fridge on Shabbat and then realizing the light in the fridge is on, and issues related to transgenderism.

For more information about the Veshinantam Levanecha program, email Rabbi Louis Fliegelman at lfliegelman@icja.org.

This week we caught up with ICJA's newest teacher and asked her a few questions about herself.

Mrs. Noa Nussbaum joined ICJA this semester, teaching Modern Jewish History, leading freshman girls' teambuilding sessions, and serving as a "Morah Shlicha" connecting students to Israel. This week we caught up with Mrs. Nussbaum and asked her a few questions about herself.

Where did you grow up? And where do you live now?

I grew up in the town of Otniel with my parents and six siblings - I'm the second to oldest. For high school, I attended Neve Chana - students know it because during their month in Israel, some Ida Crown senior girls played basketball against Neve Chana.

Now I live in West Rogers Park with my husband, Shaya. We have been married for 2 1/2 months - we got married a week before we moved here to Chicago! We're living here while Shaya does a Ph.D. at Northwestern.

What made you decide to go into education?

During my sherut leumi (national service) I worked with children from Kiryat Moshe, a deprived part of Rehovot. In the mornings, I helped with academic support in a school. In the afternoons, I ran a Bnei Akiva branch in the neighborhood. I saw how the power education helped people get more options and open more doors for people.

Plus, both my grandfather and my mother are teachers. My grandfather, Dr. Uriel Simon, is professor emeritus and headed the Tanach Department at Bar Ilan University. My mother runs a Mechina program for girls called Tzahali in Ein Tzurim.

I completed my degree at Hebrew University in Tanach and plan to teach Tanach in the future.

Has it been difficult to adjust to life in America?

There are lots of fun things about America: having Sundays off; snow; being able to order things from Amazon! On the other hand, it's so different from home. It's hard to get used to the language.

The hard thing for me now is the fact that Israel is at war. I have three siblings in the army. All my friends are in the army, plus my husband’s siblings. Every morning the first thing I do is check the Israeli news on my phone.

What do you like about ICJA?

I like the students. I love the feel in the school when students are sitting at lunch all together. The school feels very connected. I enjoy getting to know the students. They are very talented and very outgoing. It is amazing to realize how many things they do each day, like sports and activities and chesed.

I makes me feel very good to see how the school is so connected to Israel.

Do you have any hobbies?

Yes - I enjoy martial arts. In Israel, I taught self defense. I'm still looking for a place to study it in America. I also enjoy dancing and hiking. I love learning Torah.

You are adapting Israeli team building programs here. Can you please tell us about that?

Yes, in Israel it's common to have a period in the week to work on social skills. Students aren't just learning things like science in school; they also have to learn to work as a group. These classes are meant to teach students to listen to each other better, to feel more responsibility as a class. They are meant to make sure that students are going out into the world with good social skills.

This week's learning dedications include:

Monday, the 8th of Adar Bet - Friday, the 12th of Adar Bet, 5784, March 18-22, 2024, by Seymour and Sharon Gertz in loving memory of Gwen Gertz, z"l, Margalit bat R' Shilem

Monday, the 8th of Adar Bet, 5784, March 18, 2024, by Staci & Mark Maiman, in loving memory of Ida Maiman, z''l, חיה שרה בת דוד צבי וחודא, ז׳׳ל

Tuesday, the 9th of Adar Bet, 5784, March 19, 2024, by the Alter and Geller families in memory of Howard Geller חיים דוד בן יהודה לייב, ז׳׳ל

If you would like to sponsor a Day of Learning, please contact our Director of Development, Deva Zwelling, at (773) 973-1450 ext. 115, or dzwelling@icja.org.

Watch "Connect with ICJA," our newest video for prospective students - and share it with people you know who'd like to learn more about ICJA!

Watch this moving video documenting some of the volunteer activities our seniors participated in during their month-long Mission to Israel!

ICJA Dean Rabbi Leonard Matanky has released an e-book containing his letters to parents during the ICJA Senior Mission, plus additional reflections and divrei Torah.

Click HERE to download Missions: The First 100 Days of the Gaza War by Rabbi L. Matanky.

In addition to many thousands of physical books and journals, ICJA's Learning Commons contains tens of thousands of online books, journal articles and other resources, including subscriptions to newspapers such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and more. Students are able to access these resources through our portal.

Please stop by our librarian Mrs. Steinberg's desk in the Learning Commons or email her at  librarian@icja.org her to pick up your updated passwords to access our online material. ICJA's subscriptions are available at icja.libguides.com/home.

Review ICJA on Niche.com and enter a sweepstakes.

Help let people know how fabulous ICJA is! Whether you're a parent, student, teacher, or alumnus/alumna, the popular school ranking website Niche.com wants to hear from you. Plus, every person who reviews ICJA (or any other school) is automatically entered into a monthly $1,000 sweepstakes by Niche.com. For more information and to leave a review, click here.

Do you have school-related news you'd like to see in this newsletter? Let us know!

If you have exciting ICJA-related news to share about classes, sports, clubs, or other projects, please tell us! Send news items and/or photos to Dr. Yvette Miller, Director of Communications at ymiller@icja.org. Your items can enhance our newsletter and ICJA's social media presence.

Announcing ICCC: Ida Crown Cycling Club!

Join our New Alumni Facebook Group

We are excited to announce that we have a new private Facebook group called “ICJA Official Alumni Page.” It is a space for alumni from all graduating years to join. We will periodically post alumni reunions, events, fundraising opportunities, information about ICJA today, and news.

We are proud to have some families with us for four generations. If you are an alum, please join the group HERE and be sure to share the link with your family, friends, and fellow graduates. You can also share this link: https://www.facebook.com/share/UeTsqg16DDx4JHGK/?mibextid=hubsqH. Thanks for staying connected to ICJA!

Please reach out to Ilana Levy at ilevy@icja.org if you have any questions about this new effort.

Last summer, ICJA gave its Class of '23 alumni the second edition of our directory listing ICJA alumni who live in Israel and have graciously offered to open their homes to recent ICJA grads who are currently spending a gap year in Israel.

Thank you to the many alumni who have reached out to us, offering to host.

The directory was sent out to the emails of '22 grads that we have on file. If you have any questions or would like to update our contact information to help recent ICJA grads obtain a copy, please contact Dr. Yvette Miller, ICJA Director of Communications, at ymiller@icja.org.

We are still taking submissions from alumni who are willing to host, to include in future copies of this directory. Please contact Dr. Miller to be included.