Chadashot Online

THE CHADASHOT

In this Issue

Ma Chadash?

It's That "KIND" of Week

Quick Links

Email the Board of Education

Lunch Menu

Mark Your Calendar

Monday, April 19th - Yom Hazikaron

Tuesday April 20th - Yom Haatzmaut. Early Dismissal: 3:00 ELC, 3:15 Academy

Come Celebrate Yom Haatzmaut with us! 5 pm at SAR Academy

Tuesday, April 27th- 6th Grade Matan Bat Mitzvah Program

Wednesday, April 28 - Academy Faculty Meetings Early Dismissal: 3:00 ELC; 3:15 Academy

Sunday, May 2nd - Lag B'Omer

Helpful Hints

Recyclable Collection

Please send in any and all recyclables: empty paper towel rolls, bottles, shoeboxes, etc. for an in-school Yom Haatzmaut project. All items can be placed in the box provided in the atrium.

In Our Community

Mazal Tov

Mazal Tov to Ilana & Dr. Elie Traube upon the birth of a son, brother to Ariella in K1.

Mazal Tov to Morah Aura (2nd grade teacher) and Dan Lurie on the birth of a baby girl, sister to Elan in 4N.

Condolences

Condolences to Ilene Strauss (SLC Jr. High Teacher) on the loss of her mother, Mrs. Margaret Strauss.

      MAZAL TOV TO

      MORAH JENNY

        HOROWITZ!!

Jenny Horowitz, a graduate of Ashley Hall High School, in Charleston South Carolina, was inducted into that school's Athletic Hall of Fame this week. She is being hailed as one of the school's top athletes of the century.

WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Spring Parent Forums

RSVPs Required for Spring Parent Forums

We look forwarding to seeing you at the upcoming Spring Parent Forums.

Since there is limited space at each private home. We have had an overwhelming response and several locations are nearly full.

If you plan on attending but have not yet responded, please do so today. Click here for Riverdale, click here for Westchester, click here for NYC.

Click here to join SAR's Mi'Dor L'Dor Learn-A-Thon.

See the article below.

SAR IS FOR GRANDPARENTS TOO!

Would you like your parents to have a window into their grandchildren's SAR world?

To receive Chadashot send their e-mail address to:

chadashot@saracademy.org

2 Iyar 5770 April 16, 2010

Candlelighting: 7:18 Havdalah: 8:21

Parashat Tazria Metzora

A Message from Rabbi Krauss

Dear Parents,

This past week we commemorated Yom HaShoah by gathering together to consider the importance of the mitzvah of זכור, remembering. We were very honored and blessed to have visitors come to SAR to help us to remember, survivors who came to share their stories, and who shared their stories even when they were hard to tell.

Thank you to Isaac Taubenfeld, Simcha Zilberberg, Abby Weiner, Lily Margules, Morelly Maayan, Myriam Maayan, Goldie Garber, Moshe Avital, Siegman Listwa, Emery Gross, Rosa Strygler, Doris Seeman, and Lore Oppenheimer, and their families. Thank you for teaching us. Thank you for going on to say there can be an amazing future, for building.

We look forward to celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut with you and your children next week, as we express hakarat hatov to Hashem for Medinat Yisrael. Please join us at SAR Academy on Yom HaAtzmaut, Tuesday, April 20th at 5PM so we can celebrate together.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Binyamin Krauss

Click here to print a pdf version of Chadashot.

SAR In Motion

Click here to view a moving clip of Yom Hashoah at SAR Academy.

What was your experience at the Hebrew Home?

(See fifth graders' quotes throughout.)

?מה חדש

*Yom HaShoah*

To remember the 65th anniversary of the Shoah, we were fortunate enough to welcome thirteen survivors into our school to share their life stories with our third through eighth grade students. Thank you and Yasher Koach to Isaac Taubenfeld, Simcha Zilberberg, Abby Weiner, Lily Margules, Morelly Maayan, Myriam Maayan, Goldie Garber, Moshe Avital, Siegman Listwa, Emery Gross, Rosa Strygler, Doris Seeman, and Lore Oppenheimer. Rabbi Krauss began the morning surrounded by the students on the steps, asking the students to remember. "How can we remember something we didn't live through? There are some stories that are difficult to hear because they're sad, because they're hard to hear." They are also hard to tell, but by passing them on, we are fulfilling the mitzvah of remembering. Remembering these stories, may be hard, and may bring a somber mood upon the school, but there is a strength in the focused silence of listening, the strength of survival.

The stories our students heard were from those who weren't much older than them, and some younger, during the war. From two to teen, some spent years in concentration camps and others were sheltered by righteous gentiles hidden as members of Christian families. An entire family from Poland, left under Russian rule, was sent to a labor camp in Siberia by train. Though made to work hard, freeze, and survive with little food, the family stayed together and survived together. As a follow up activity after listening, the students asked great questions:

Q1: "How did you get food?"
A1: "We were given small amounts of food."

Q2: "Were your beds comfortable?
A2: "Not really."

Q3: "Did you have any chickens or cows?'
A3: "There were plenty of them but even then we didn't eat treif meat."

Q4: "Did the schools have good education?"
A4: "They did have good education, but I didn't get to go."

Q5: "How did you celebrate your holiday?"
A5: "For Pesach we baked our own matzah."

Q6: "Is it really cold in Siberia?"

A6: "It is so cold your words froze."

Additionally, each Junior High student created a six word phrase to express the messages in the story he or she heard:

"There are things we cannot understand."

"Though many bodies decayed, spirits remained."

"The doings of one affect many."

"Holocaust: a lesson for future generations."

"Sometimes questions are greater than answers."

"Religion is always inside your heart."

"To succeed, one must take chances."

"Remember what is hard to remember."

"One life, one moment, one Hashem."

In the afternoon, the sixth graders watched an 11-minute video called "Pigeon" filled with symbolism about the Holocaust, rescue, and survival. The students watched the video, engaged in discussion, then watched the video a second time to glean more information, before continuing the class discussion. The video sparked many ideas and debate among the students.

The Jr. High students watched "Names, Not Numbers", a documentary interviewing Holocaust Survivors made in the fall eighth grade elective by the same name. The students were moved by these additional stories and the professionalism of their peers in obtaining them.

Though it is hard, we remember; we must keep on remembering and telling. May our students be privileged to carry on the mitzvah of zachor and the tradition of storytelling to the next generation.

       listening to speaker

~I thought the experience brought joy to them . . . They really enjoyed young faces . . . It was so much fun working with the residents and also doing a huge mitzvah at the same time . . . Meira Levine

מי חדש: Dr. Joshua Steinerman Visits First Grade

*SAR's Brainy First Graders*

brainy On Friday, April 9, 2010, Nistar Steinerman's dad (or tatie), Dr. Joshua Steinerman, M.D. visited Class 1W. As a neurologist he spoke with the first graders about his specialty, the human brain. Dr. Joshua showed the children two models of the brain. Using a very clear, explanatory Powerpoint presentation he created for the "SAR Brainy 1st Graders" he talked about the importance of the brain: its functions, the different hemispheres, and how to keep the brain healthy. His most important lesson for the children was that when the left brain and right brain work together and function well, it leads to shalom, which is the most desirable state. He spoke about the three essential ingredients to keeping the brain healthy: fitness or exercising regularly, eating healthy foods, especially fruits and green vegetables, and meeting new people, making friendships and maintaining shalom. Dr. Joshua's excitement and enthusiasm for his subject matter was communicated to the children. They had excellent responses to the fun thinking games he played with them and Dr. Joshua was very impressed with the first graders' extensive prior knowledge of the brain.

~It was an amazing experience because I got to know the residents on a different level . . .Noah Nordlicht

It's That "KIND" of Week

"Change our words. Change the world."

"All people have the power to use their speech to build up others, and to bring themselves up. With some simple messages we can work to make the world a better, more pleasant and peaceful place to live. Children have this power too; if we teach them to use their words well, they will be our beacons of light."

SpeakNicely, a company created two years ago by SAR parent, Audrey Weitz, is dedicated to raising people's awareness about the power of words. "At SAR we are in a world where we already are sensitive about how we speak. I would like the work of SpeakNicely (ideas which are loosely based on the teachings of the Chofetz Chaim) to serve as a reminder to those of us familiar with these concepts, and also to bring these messages to broader communities.

All of SpeakNicely's products: t-shirts, onesies, friendship bands, knapsacks, and more, are inscribed with positive messages such as: "Honor People", "I Am The Future", "A Smile Is Good", "Say Nice Things", "Teach Me Gently", to inspire and encourage people to share their power by choosing to speak positively.

Around Pesach time on the website: www.SpeakNicely.com, SpeakNicely posted:

"This is a big week with family. It would be awesome if we loved them all, but it usually turns out that's not the case."

"Two suggestions: when someone does the thing that bugs you the most, ignore it. Don't just blow it off, REALLY ignore it and don't let it get you. The second, and even bigger suggestion, avoid teaming up with others in your family to have a discussion about the one who bugs you. Sure, it might make you feel good for a few minutes and maybe even allow you to blow off some steam, but it won't do anything positive for you, and certainly won't make you feel better in the long run. When we can rise to the occasion and really be the bigger person, we'll always come out feeling amazingly good!"

Watch the NBC Video in which SpeakNicely was featured.

SpeakNicely's friendship bands can be seen on the wrists of SAR students as they were given out on the opening day of school two years ago. Audrey is offering to donate to SAR, $5 on the sale of each t-shirt bought by an SAR family. Please type SAR in the comments section when placing an order at SpeakNicely.com

Help spread the message of kind words and help raise our children in a world where this is welcome.

~I am so happy that I got the chance to visit the Hebrew Home of Riverdale . . . Toward the end (of our visits) I learned to be patient and more understanding of the residents . . . Alexandra Berger

Our Theme of the Year: Mi'Dor L'Dor

*Mi'Dor L'Dor Siyum Ha'Torah*

"Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Yehoshua. Yehoshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Great Assembly..." Pirkei Avot 1:1

In eager anticipation of Chag haShavuot, and in conjunction with this year's school wide theme of "mi'dor l'dor" "from generation to generation", we have embarked upon a project to learn Chamisha Chumshei Torah as a community of children, parents, grandparents, great grandparents, learners, and teachers. It will be an honor having our collective intergenerational learning culminating in a beautiful mi'dor l'dor siyum ha'Torah that will take place on Rosh Chodesh Sivan, May 14th, in Seton Park.

The beauty of the Torah is that it can be learned and relearned on so many levels. Torah is for everyone, can be learned in any number of ways, and one's level of appreciation of Torah increases over time.

Click here to sign up for the Mi'Dor L'Dor Learn a Thon or go to www.saracademy.org/learnathon

As we actively pass the Torah down from generation to generation, may we all merit to be a significant link in this continuing chain of the mesorah.

~By the last week, when I walked into the Home, I knew people by name and knew where to go and who to work with . . . Shira Schneider

דבר תורה

By: Liav Garbuz

Grade: 5

This week on Shabbat we will read the parshiot Tazriah and Mezorah. The Torah explains that there are three levels of leprosy. In the Torah it says that the first level is on the skin. The second level is found on your clothes with the third level being your house. Although what really happens is that the leprosy comes first on their walls then their clothes then their own body. So why does the leprosy come to a person in this order? Because Hashem wants to give you a warning to stop with your bad habits and each step only continues if you continue to speak loshon harah.

There is also something special about the impurity of leprosy. The only way to become impure, tameh, is for the kohento say it is so and in the same way the only way to become pure, tahor, again is by the words of the kohen. So why specifically here does the kohenhave to announce that it is pure or impure? Just like how you got the leprosy, by speaking loshon harah, the kohen is able to get rid of the leprosy by speaking as well. It is a reminder of the power of speech and how careful we must be with our words.

But the Meshech Chachma adds even more. Since the ways of Hashem and the Torah are ways of mercy, darcheha noam, the kohenshould use his words mercifully too. In perek 13, pasuk3, it says vraah hakohentwo times. Why does the pasuksay that twice in the same pasuk? Just like the person who speaks loshon horahmust realize that there are consequences for the words he spoke, the kohenalso must realize that. He should look at not only if the blemish is worthy of being impure but, also if the person is worthy of being impure. And if for example, the person before the kohenis getting married that week, the kohencan choose to say that the person is not tamehso he can enjoy his new marriage.

So we learn from this that words are stronger than you think and that they can make a bigger impact than expected.

Shabbat Shalom!

~I felt that it was a great chesed that our class did . . . I hope to visit again soon . . . For me this was an important thing . . . it was worthwhile, fun and awesome! . . . Ayelet Spira

Photo of the Week

Fourth graders became storytellers at their seders. Dressed up as Yaakov Avinu they spoke about Jewish History through the generations, from when we ended up in Egypt through to contemporary times.

photo of the week