Koleinu

SAR - Rolat Living Legacy Mission to Poland
"Poland is a Jewish cemetery."
"Poland was also a place of Jewish refuge, independence and incredible productivity."
"Poland is the land of Antisemitism."
"Poland is also one of Israel's strongest allies today."

This past June, thirteen SAR High School students, along with Ms. Neugroschl and Rabbi Harcsztark boarded a LOT airline plane bound for Warsaw, Poland. Their mission was to discover not only the destruction of Polish Jewry - as many Jewish heritage trips do - but also to learn about the 800 years of Jewish life, history, and culture in Poland that preceded the Holocaust and that, according to some, is the subject of much Polish national introspection today. The group would begin in Warsaw, travel to towns such as Lodz, Częstochowa, and Oświęcim, visit concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau, and finally end their time in Poland at the 19th annual Krakow Jewish Culture Festival - a celebration of what once was and what is today in terms of Polish-Jewish culture.

Without a doubt the trip was a resounding success. Many of the students going into the trip expected a gloomy and depressing look at the destruction of their people but came out with much more than just that - a deeper understanding of what Jewish life in Poland once was, what was lost and how the Polish people are learning about their past. From the interesting story of their tour-guide Beata - a Polish-Jew who only recently discovered her Jewish roots from her grandmother - to the discussion with Polish-Christian teenagers and their connection to their country's Jewish past, these SAR students saw an aspect of Poland not usually seen by people their age. The highlight of their trip was Shabbat in the city of Krakow, once a center of Jewish life. The city still retains its old-country feel, and the students were truly inspired from services at the famed Ra'ma synagogue and hearing a beautiful Shabbat tisch by Ben Tzion Miller & family at the Jewish Culture Festival.

Throughout the trip the tension between widening the lens in thinking about Polish Jewish History, commemorating the tragedies of the Holocaust, and examining the current trends, brought one very poignant lesson into full relief: how we think and learn about the past deeply affects how we approach the future.

Mr. Sigmund Rolat has underwritten the costs of the trip after coming to know SAR High School as an institution that shares his commitment to the memory of Polish Jewry. Mr. Rolat is the Chairman of the Board of Directors - North American Council, Museum of the History of Polish Jews and has been instrumental in developing the idea and support for the Museum which will be housed in the Warsaw Ghetto and had its groundbreaking during our visit.

On Thursday, September 24, SAR High School sent 40 students to a rally at the UN to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presence there. The students organized themselves beforehand, with SARPAC taking the lead in creating a petition. This group got a number of signatures from other participants at the rally. The effort was given further support by Channel 12 news, which interviewed a number of students at school and then covered them at the rally.

Submitted by:
Arieh Levi
CB Neugroschl

Students Join Rally in Protest of
Ahmadinejad's UN Participation
Once at the rally, students heard speakers, including former Mayor Giuliani at the very end, and joined with other rally participants. We got a chance to interact with others from various walks of life, as well as other schools, united in a mutual mission. Our students were exceptionally respectful, ignoring counter-protestors while still showing the SAR spirit. We stayed until the very end of the rally, ensuring that students were exposed to as many speakers as possible, and in turn ensuring that others were exposed to our students as much as possible. Overall it was a great day and a valuable experience for all of our participants! To sign our petition go to www.sarpac.org.

Exploring "What is a Rabbi?" at a Global Round Table
On September 10th, a delegation of SAR students attended a Global Round Table panel entitled "What's a Rabbi?" hosted by the JNF and B'nai B'rith. The panel was moderated by Rabbi Ethan Tucker of Mechon Hader; participating rabbis and rabbis-in-training included Rabbi Charles Sheer of Columbia University, Rabbi Jessica Zimmerman of Bnei Jeshurin, and rabbinic intern Shmuly Yanklowitz of Uri L'tzedek. The discussion was both illuminating and engaging, and our students - Ariel Futter, Ariel Lavi, and Renana Nerwin - jumped right in with pointed and compelling questions.

Our students made such an impression that at the end of the talk, they were asked to stand while the audience applauded them, as they represented the enormous potential of our community's future leaders. The event was also, it so happened, brimming with United Nations diplomats, and the SAR group made some lasting connections with members of the Austrian, Hungarian, and Swedish delegations to the UN (and were invited to visit soon!).

Peer Leadership Program
The Peer Leadership program at SAR High School was begun a few years ago under the guidance of Ms. Molly Pollak, to establish a forum for seniors to lead other students in discussions of sensitive and important issues in the life of the school. While that program had some notable successes, a reevaluation of the program last year led to a redesign of Peer Leadership to afford a smaller number of seniors the opportunity for more sustained work with a specific group of freshmen, while receiving more mentoring and guidance in being a Peer Leader.

Twenty-four students from this year's senior class were chosen to be Peer Leaders on the basis of their written answers to questions about what topics they thought could productively be addressed in peer-led discussions, and what areas of leadership they wanted guidance in. This group of students has been meeting with Ms. Pollak and Dr. Schwartz since last year, working on developing programming and preparing to present it to the freshman class. Every two senior Peer Leaders have been assigned to a single freshman advisory, to form an ongoing relationship with that group of students. Already, Peer Leaders have led sessions at Freshman Orientation and helped out on Freshman Day, and they are hard at work preparing for the first Peer Leadership discussions to be held at the end of October. We look forward to this revamped Peer Leadership program serving throughout the year to help the freshmen adjust to life in high school and learn the ropes, while opening up thoughtful peer-led discussions of a number of important issues.

Freshmen Day
Tuesday, September 22 was a beautiful day for Freshmen Day. After an advisory session following breakfast, students boarded buses and headed north for Bear Mountain. With a still lake and the mountain in the background, we got off of the buses and began the day in good spirit. After a couple of weeks of getting to know each other a little bit, we made sure to get to know each other just a little bit better. Under the guidance of the 12th grade peer leaders, freshmen engaged in a number of of fun group building activities. Jacob Sternberg won Human Bingo and the girls beat the boys in silent game of lining up in birthday order. We played a few more games including magic carpet, count to twenty and broken squares. If you have a freshmen in your family, feel free to ask him or her to demonstrate the games at home. We all enjoyed the barbecue lunch which was prepared in large measure by the Israeli fellows. Following lunch, students chose between either hiking the mountain or playing sports or other activities. Everyone participated with great enthusiasm. The day was a real success as everyone involved was impressed by the great ruach and camaraderie expressed by the class of 2013.