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| THIS WEEK AT TVT |
DECEMBER 6
SAT EXAM
DECEMBER 7
BLOOD DRIVE
K-5 HAVDALLAH
GELMAN TOURNAMENT
BOARD MEETING
DECEMBER 8
LS PARENT CONFERENCES
VARSITY SOCCER
VARSITY BASKETBALL
DECEMBER 9
K-12 PTSO MEETING
3rd GRADE: SPECIAL PROGRAM
PEEK-INTO-UPPER SCHOOL
DECEMBER 10
LS ADMIN CHAT
5th GRADE:
SPECIAL PROGRAM
B'NAI MITZVAH ORIENTATION
DECEMBER 11
IPHONE APPS CLUB
4th GRADE: SPECIAL PROGRAM
KABBALAT SHABBAT
CHANUKAH
1ST CANDLE
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PARSHAT VAYISHLACH |
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We thank TVT Senior Elon Rov for his D'Var Torah:
This week's Parasha, Vayishlach, tells the famous story of Yaakov's name change, from Yaakov to Israel. One night, Yaakov is walking by a river, when a strange figure approaches him and starts wrestling . After Yaakov wins the wrestling match, he says:
"I will not send you unless you bless me." The man replied, "What's your name?" and he said, "Yaakov!" The man says, "No longer will your name be Yaakov but rather Israel, because you struggled with the Divine and you prevailed." And he blessed him there. (Bereishit 32:25-30).
After reading this, I asked myself why Yaakov accepted a simple name change as a blessing?
The answer I found lies in the numerical values of the names. The numerical value for the name Yaakov equals 182. The angel he fought against is referred to as the Yetzer Harah, or the negative inclination. In Hebrew, another word for this is Satahn or Satan. The numerical value for Satan equals 359. 182+359 equals 541, which also happens to be the numerical value for the name Israel. So the name change was really not so simple after all. The numerical combination of Yaakov and Satan equals Israel; so metaphorically, the wrestling between Yaakov and Satan yields Israel- who is better and stronger than either Yaakov or Satan individually, and that was the blessing.
At the end of the Parasha, it is written that what god saw was very good. At the beginning of the Parasha, it was only "just good". Why were things suddenly better after Yaakov had wrestled with the devil? The simple answer is that after all the good and bad qualities are combined and blended into one, the new whole is better and more perfect than either of its components, and that is "very good". Yaakov endured a battle with Satan, but in the end prevailed, and came out even mightier and holier than he was at the start. Although the fight was physically tough, Yaakov understands that mentally and emotionally, he grew from this experience.
No matter how hard you think school is, how stressful college applications are, or how frustrating your teachers, family or friends might be, you must always remember that you will come out stronger in the end. Wrestling with your problems and looking for solutions will ultimately make every one of us stronger human beings.
Shabbat Shalom! |
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THE CUBS' ROAR RETURNS |
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This week, it's back and information packed! |
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2010 LIONS' PRIDE CAMPAIGN |
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With almost one-third of our parents having responded to the Annual Campaign so far, we will be thanking these donors in a special email next week, by "giving" category. It will be updated periodically after winter break.
If you would like to be included next week, please send in or drop off your contribution to either the Lower or Upper School Admin. Office by Tuesday afternoon. Thank you. |
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PEEK DAYS - MAKING THE BIG LEAP EASY |
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8th Grade Information
On Dec. 9th we are launching our Bridge Program for the 8th graders to learn about our Upper School. They will have a pizza lunch and enjoy Upper School Film, AP US History, and Chemistry classes. Additionally, students will visit our college counseling suite and learn about the college process with Mr. Clint Davis. They will also meet with students from the Upper School to learn how the Upper School experience is different from that of Middle School.
In the evening (at 6:30pm), we welcome parents to come and learn how the Upper School differs from the Middle School. A number of faculty members will be here to give presentations on the curriculum and answer your questions. We hope that you will join us on the evening of December 9th so that you and your student will be able to talk about your experiences together. |
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DID YOU KNOW??? |
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Hebrew Class is Really "Cooking"
In Mrs. David's Intermediate 8th Grade Hebrew class the students had fun while exploring various aspects of food and food preparation in a unit on cooking. They learned a great deal of vocabulary and conversational Hebrew dealing with food, nutrition, ingredients, and measurement. Students were expected to present a project to demonstrate their knowledge of the content and vocabulary they learned in class. The students did a great job presenting their Hebrew knowledge in creative ways.
Visiting Rabbis Program Inspires TVT Students
This year the Middle and Upper School students have had the wonderful opportunity to learn with some of the many wise and knowledgeable Rabbis from our Orange County Community, including Rabbi Ciner from Beth Jacob Congregation, Rabbi Steinberg from Congregation Shir Ha Ma'alot, Rabbi Levi from Temple Eilat, Rabbi Spitz from Congregation B'nai Israel and Rabbi Miller from Temple Bat Yam.
This past week Rabbi Cohen from Temple Beth Shalom came to the Middle School Minyan and led our students in a very inspirational Tefila. She sent us this email after her visit:
"Thank you so much for having me. The students were wonderful! They were a pleasure to be with and I enjoyed their energy and participation. You are truly doing a wonderful job in giving them a great foundation for prayer participation and experiences. I look forward to returning and spending time with you, the students and the faculty". In January, Rabbi Ciner will return to teach our MS students. |
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TVT'S LIBRARY TOUCHES THE HEART OF OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY |
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A few hundred yards away from the JCC sits a treasure of which not many people are aware. The Tarbut V'Torah Upper School Library, open during school hours to the students, faculty and the wider community, houses possibly the largest collection of Judaica between Los Angeles and San Diego. It is located in the beautiful TVT facility, perfectly positioned to enjoy the magnificent, sweeping panoramic views. This extensive library collection has received accreditation by the Association of Jewish Libraries, and is open, at no cost, as a service to the Jewish community.
Various members of the public began trickling into the Library shortly after it opened, whether it was a lecturer from UCI doing research about Shabbat, a scholar looking for Holocaust narratives, or a retiree looking for a Jewish periodical. One day, a stranger walked in, introduced himself as Marty, and asked if he could look at the books. A short time, later he approached the librarian, Mrs. Cherille Berman, and asked if he could borrow a few books. Until then, the library clients had been limited to the students and faculty of TVT.
Marty made the following case: He said that when he was a little boy, his Grandmother would ask him: "Marty, where are your tefillin?" to which he would answer, "they are in the closet". This was his Grandmother's response: "Marty, do you know what your tefillin are doing when they are in the closet? They are crying." Marty now posed his own question to Mrs. Berman: "Do you know what your Jewish books are doing when they are sitting on the shelves, they too are crying".
The Librarian, Administration and Board of Directors of TVT understood what a valuable role the Upper School Library plays in promoting Jewish literacy in the wider community. Since the afternoon of Marty's impassioned plea, the doors of our library have been wide open. Are you looking for a Jewish book? Come check it out! |
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STUDENTS' CERAMIC WORK ON DISPLAY |
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Students' Ceramic work is on display outside of the library in the Upper School. Take a look when you're on campus - maybe visiting the library. |
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MIDDLE & UPPER SCHOOL - EMBRACING TZEDAKAH |
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| The Middle and Upper School students have risen to new levels in giving tzedakah (charity).
Our Brown Bag Bonanza was an outstanding success!
We asked the students to "Brown Bag" it for a day and to donate the amount of money they would usually spend on lunch to help the Orange County Mission feed the poor on Thanksgiving. We collected $816.50 from our very generous kids for the Mission!
For the upcoming holidays, each Middle and Upper School grade is adopting a family from Jewish Family Services and Families Forward. In total, we will adopt 6 families. Donations can be made to your students' history teacher. For our kick-off event, we held an auction, where the students bid on items that our teachers donated, such as a 1-day homework pass, movie tickets, class party, bead instructions, surf lessons, etc.
It was great fun and a great success!
We are very proud of all of our students and faculty for their enthusiasm in raising this money. Their generosity and kindness is remarkable! Thank you! |
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MATH COUNTS CLUB |
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New at TVT! All Middle School students that love math are invited to check out our Math Counts Club. The club will meet on Tuesdays from 3 to 4pm in room 207. It will be conducted by three Upper School students (Jonathan Elzur, Michael Gil and Alex Bogart) and supervised by Ms. Alla Korinevskaya. The club activities will include preparation for the Math Counts competition and other fun math activities. It is not mandatory for club members to participate in the Math Counts competition. |
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INSIDE THE LIONS' DEN |
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Varsity Basketball off to a roaring start Boys basketball beat Animo Leadership High School of Los Angeles 71-44. Coach Roberts was proud of the great team effort with Eric Avdee scoring a whopping 22 points, followed by Brad Neutel making 19 points, David Bruss scored 13 and Zach Bruss, 10. Our Lady Lions kept their fans on the edge of their seats in such a close game against Animo Leadership. In the end Animo took it, 36-31. The OC Register had nothing but praise for our Lions - get more details HERE. The girls came roaring back to beat Calvary Baptist 49-35. They play on Tuesday at Eastside Christian at 5:30 pm. (Monday's game has been cancelled.)
Gelman Hoops Tournament
The Tournament is next week in our gym! Please join us as we cheer on the TVT Varsity Boys who will be playing Monday, 12/7 at 5pm, Tuesday, 12/8 at 5pm, Wednesday,12/9 at 3:30pm and if they win, they'll play on Thursday, 12/10 at 5pm.
Varsity Soccer
What a great start our Varsity Boys and Girls soccer had this week. The Boys beat YULA 4-1, thanks to a "hat trick" by Tom Paz. The Varsity Girls were also successful, beating St. Mary's 2-1. A great effort by all!
Go Lions! |
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PTSO CORNER |
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Adopt-A-Family
November 30 - December 11
This year, TVT has adopted ten families from Jewish Family Services and is providing them with gift cards for gas, food and Target stores (or any gift cards that you would like to donate). Please help in any way that you can. Last year we set the record by raising over $5,000 dollars. Our goal is to break that record this year! The gift cards are being collected by your child's homeroom teacher until the December 11th. If you have any questions, please contact Gali Glantz: galigs@aol.com
K-12 PTSO Social and Meeting:
Wednesday December 9th
Please join us to socialize at 7:30am in the Upper School MPR.
The meeting will begin at 8:15am. | |
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