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| THIS WEEK AT TVT |
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JANUARY 25
VARSITY SOCCER
5th GRADE
ELECTRIC HOUSE PROJECT
JANUARY 26
ART MASTERS LECTURE
MS BASKETBALL
GRADE 9 ADVISORY
7th GRADE
TU B'SHEVAT SEDERS
1st - 3rd GRADE TEFILLAH
LS TU'B'SHEVAT ACTIVITIES
MS DANCE
US MOVIE NIGHT
FACULTY IN-SERVICE DAY
NO SCHOOL
TU B'SHEVAT
9th GRADE RETREAT
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PARSHAT BO |
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"On the tenth of this month they shall take for themselves a lamb."
(Ex. 12:3)
It took great courage for the Jews to bring the Korbon Pesach (Passover Offering), as Moshe (Moses) had commanded them in the name of Hashem (G-d). The lamb was worshiped by the Egyptians. One could easily be afraid of retaliation. Still the Jews had faith and knew that if they followed Moshe's dictates, Hashem would watch out for them - as the following true story illustrates:
Jack & Miriam Stein (not real name) were a young couple in New York, with a fledgling real estate business, struggling to get by and support a family. The Steins bought a new house. The owner inherited it from his recently departed mother. "Take the house as is, I don't want any part in repairing or improving it. That is the deal," explained the seller. The house was a massive fixer upper, full of furniture and chatchkes (knick-knacks) that they didn't want, sorely in need of cleaning, painting, and redecorating; but it was nice and large, quite ample for their growing family, and they negotiated a good price for it.
The new house was not far from their old home, so Miriam had her children play in the new house, while she went back and forth between the two, bringing things over and cleaning up.
Miriam noticed her young daughter wearing a pearl necklace. She asked her where she got it. "It was in the toy box in the new house," her daughter replied, "I found it yesterday when daddy sent us to play. There was a whole bunch of neat stuff there." Now Miriam recognized that this was not just a toy necklace, or even costume jewelry, it was a very expensive genuine pearl necklace. She took her daughter over to the house and asked her to "show mommy the toy box."
Miriam could not believe her eyes. She immediately retrieved Jack and showed him the chest. It was a strongbox, which had been hidden beneath the mattress. While the kids were jumping up and down on the bed, they felt something hard underneath, and searched to see what it was. They found this buried treasure chest. It contained expensive jewelry, cash, even bearer bonds. All told, the value of the contents was over a quarter of a million dollars. This was back in the early 1970s, when you could buy several New York houses for that amount of money.
Jack wanted to do the right thing but he wasn't sure what that was. The temptation was no doubt incredible and they could sorely use that money. Many people told him that he should keep the money for his family. After all, the owner sold the house "as is." That included the house and everything in it. Still, Jack didn't feel right doing that. He sought the psak (ruling) of Reb Moshe Feinstein ztz"l.
Rabbi Feinstein poskened (ruled) that he must return the money, and that is exactly what Jack did. Surely nobody would include all that money in the "as is" sale if they knew that it were there. The owner was stunned that Jack or anyone could be so honest. He related that the family had heard hints of such a chest but never knew if it was fact or family myth.
There was a bit of irony here because a few years prior, Jack had the opportunity to ask the revered Rabbi Moshe Feinstein for a bracha (blessing). Reb Moshe asked him, "What blessing do you desire?" Jack responded that he wished to have a bracha to learn. Reb Moshe, who knew Jack from the neighborhood replied, "You don't need a bracha for Torah because you are already a talmid chacham (Torah scholar), what you need is a bracha for parnassa (livelihood)." Now, Reb Moshe who had given him a bracha for parnassa was ordering him to give up this fortune.
Jack went back on with his life. He never spoke of this incident, but enough people knew about it that word of Jack's exemplary integrity spread like wildfire both around the neighborhood and throughout the New York business community. People wanted to do business with him and he prospered.
Soon the economy took a down turn and people were defaulting on loans right and left. The banks started to tighten the screws with denial of loans and foreclosures. When it came to Jack, the banks knew of his stellar reputation and had even heard this story. They decided that rather than foreclose, they would keep him afloat figuring that he was someone they could count on to eventually pay back.
After the economy turned around in the 1980s, Jack not only paid back the banks with plenty of interest, but he emerged as one of the wealthiest property owners in New York.
Today Jack is a major Jewish philanthropist. He has always attributed his wealth to the bracha of Reb Moshe Feinstein ztz"l. |
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$2,000 TUITION CREDIT PROGRAM EXTENDED
RE-ENROLLMENT AND FINANCIAL AID FORMS - PAST DUE |
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$2,000 Tuition Credit Program Extended
The Board of Directors has opted to continue the highly successful $2,000 Tuition Credit for New Family Referrals. Any referral resulting in the 2010-2011 enrollment of a new family will automatically garner a $2,000 credit towards the referring family's tuition for the same year. Let's work together as we welcome new members into our community!
RE-ENROLLMENT AND FINANCIAL AID FORMS - PAST DUE
Please retun you re-enrollment forms as soon as possible - they are past due and will accrue late fees.
Financial aid forms must also be submitted as soon as possible. |
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FINALS WEEK AT TVT |
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THE END OF SEMSESTER ONE! |
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LAST CHANCE - ORDER FEBRUARY LUNCHES ONLINE! |
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The February Menus have been posted and orders will be accepted online through January 28, 2010. Go to http://www.tarbut.com, Parents Page and select the "School Lunches" link.
Enter your home phone number (formerly referred to as the "billing number").
Check your food selections, and check "Update" at the top of the page before you pay for your purchase with our secure online payment portal. Questions or concerns should be directed to: lunches@tarbut.com. Lower School families will also receive separate order forms for the Blueberry Hill "Brown Bag" pilot program. Questions or concerns should be directed to galigs@aol.com. Curious about the difference?
TVT runs the lunch program as a service to our students and parents and does not benefit financially from either option.
The main differences are as follows:
Brown Bag offerings favor organic, multi-grain, eco-friendly ingredients, but are not reviewed by a licensed nutritionist. The regular hot lunch program offers a nutritionist approved menu, focusing on more traditional fare. |
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WINDOW INTO TVT |
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Reading And Writing Are Alive In The Lower School!
Upon their return from their field trip to the Zoo, our Kindergarteners began studying the author and illustrator, Eric Carle. With Mr. Carle as their inspiration, our young writers and artists will go on to create their own masterpieces for the end of the year Student Treasure Book.
The First Grade authors are writing their autobiographies. Using the steps of the writing process they began with brainstorming about qualities that make them unique and special. They organized their ideas onto personal shields and will continue their writing, revising, editing and finally publishing. Look for their final autobiographies in this year's Student Treasure Book.
Animals! Animals! Animals! Our second graders are reading about both realistic and fictional animals. They will continue working on their reading strategies where they will summarize, question, predict, infer and evaluate. The second graders are also enjoying using their strong verbs all over the place, especially in their writing.
 "What do you know... what do you say?" Third graders have been working on writing dialogues. Using comic strips, the students have cleverly filled in the dialogue bubbles and then translated them to very interesting stories. Through this fun writing activity the third graders have learned about dialogue tags and the correct usage of quotation marks. Keep that creativity flowing, Third Grade!
"By the Great Horn Spoon," by Sid Fleischman will be coming alive in the fourth grade! Students are building up to the reenactment of scenes from the book to broaden their understanding of California's Gold Rush - not to mention prepping them for future projects such as this week's 11th grade production of Shakespeare's Othello!
(See story below)
This novel is being used by the students to explore character traits, cause and effect relationships, sequencing and comparing and contrasting people, places and things. Pulling all of these important comprehension skills together, our young scholars will be summing it up by writing about the characters as well as drawing conclusions and making inferences about events that occur in the novel.
Analogies and Vocabulary are to Word Master Challenge as The Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere are to the American Revolution. The fifth graders continue preparations for this year's Blue Division of the Word Master Challenge, a national competition in which TVT has a tradition of taking top honors. The students will use their vocabulary skills as they read about heroes of the American Revolution. Using daily writing workshops in their classes, our fifth graders will continue to put together an informational narrative, writing about personal heroes. Their papers will be instantly scored with an ERB scoring rubric via the on-line program called Writing Practice Program (same publisher as our CTP4 test). |
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THE 11th GRADE PRODUCTION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S OTHELLO |
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Last Thursday, the eleventh grade English classes put on a performance of William Shakespeare's Othello
The project was run exclusively by the students, who cut each act to about 15 minutes, recast each act according to their own creative vision, and provided their own props and costumes. Not only did students read and understand the story of Othello thoroughly, they also reached a new plateau of understanding Shakespeare's language. Beyond knowledge in the content area, students also practiced valuable skills necessary for academic and professional success, such as working with their peers toward a collective goal, and moving from an idea to its implementation. This project required students to think critically and to come up with creative solutions to problems that arose during the implementation stages.
Here are some students' reflections after the performance:
"I had some many worries when the assignment was initially given and I wanted to complain every day, but in the end everything worked out beyond my wildest dreams. By just working hard and concentrating on the final product, I was able to achieve my goal."
"Going through all the lines with a group to find what was important really helped show what each character was saying."
"Even though the performance was nerve wracking, frustrating, and a bit scary, I still had fun doing it. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I would have to take it. I have to say that from performing the play I learned the most I ever learned about Shakespeare ... To understand Shakespeare fully, it needs to be performed."
"All in all I think the play went off amazing! I couldn't have been happier with the outcome, and I don't think I would have changed anything, including my group. I learned so much about myself, teamwork, and patience while doing this project, and it was a great experience."
"This project really gave me the confidence in myself to bring out my creative side. I was able to come up with some great ideas that turned out to be successful. I also learned to work in a group with people who I wouldn't particularly speak to, and this helped me learn skills for working in a group setting. I am really grateful for this and I am sure all these experiences will definitely help me in the future."
The students' English teacher, Mr. Daniel Epstein, was also thrilled with the results. "This has been one of the highlights of my ten years teaching English. When class convened the following day, light was practically beaming out of every students' eyes. I mentioned to them how happy everyone seemed, but afterwards, I realized that what the students really were experiencing was pride. I could not ask for any better outcome for this unit. Thanks so much to all of the students, faculty, and parents who attended. I am already looking forward to next year's performance!"
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VARSITY BOYS' BASKETBALL TEAM - #1 IN LEAGUE |
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Congratulations to the Varsity Boys' Basketball Team, #1 in league for the first time in 5 years!!!
Thursday's victory over rival Fairmont Prep 45-43, thanks to a last-second shot by senior, Eric Avdee, pulled TVT to the top position in our league! After Saturday's 60-59 loss to Orangewood, and Tuesday's 68-52 victory against the same school, the boys are 16-1 for the year. Come cheer them on this Tuesday at 5:30 pm when they face Eastside Christian, a fierce competitor for the top position in this year's league standings. |
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COMING SOON TO TVT: V-DAY 2010
STUDENT PERFORMANCE RAISES AWARENESS |
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 Einav Silverstein - V-Day 2009
The 4th annual V-Day performance will be held on Thursday,
February, 18th at 6:30 p.m. V-Day, staged readings of a collection of monologues and dialogues that promote awareness of violence against women, contains mature content. It is most appropriate for Upper School students and adults.
All proceeds from the show will be donated to charities benefitting women in need. Thank you for your support of this important cause.
Michael Gil, Serah Lukoff, and Einav Silverstein -
12th grade students |
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TALES OF GANGSTERS AND TORAH FORM THE BACKDROP TO THE ARCHIE CHERNIE COLLECTION |
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Tarbut V'Torah's Upper School Library is home to a collection of sifre kodesh, holy books, collected by a descendent of Rebbe Aaron of Chernobyl. Our story focuses on Archie Cherne (Aron Chernobilsky), a descendant of the illustrious Rebbe.
It was a long and harrowing journey from Russia to Illinois. The Jews of Chernobyl, including Archie Cherne's family, were expelled from Chernobyl. They moved to Riga, but with rumor of an imminent pogrom, left immediately for the US. Fast-forward to Archie's childhood in Chicago, in the rough and tumble era of the 20's. Archie's father was a Rav, a Rabbi, and a scrap metal dealer.
According to the Cherne family, the Chicago Jewish gangster culture had originated out of necessity, and almost dragged Archie into it. In the Lawndale district of Chicago's West Side, the Jewish youth formed gangs to protect their immigrant fathers, who were being beaten up by Polish and Irish thugs. These gangsters, who lived in the community, recruited 14 year old Archie to drive a truck and become a whiskey runner for famed gangster, Maxie Miller. When Archie played cards with the gangsters, he lost so much money that his parents had to sell their furniture to pay the debt. At that point, Maxie Miller realized that Archie was just a nice Jewish boy, so he promised him that if he gave up his truck driving job and went to shul every Shabbat that no one would harm him. Though Maxie himself met with an unfortunate end during a shootout with the F.B.I., Archie was safe.
Around this time, gangster, Mickey Cohen also protected Jewish schoolchildren who were subjected to anti-Semitic beatings by classmates. He and his goons showed up at Manley High School brandishing Tommie guns, and warned an astounded student assembly "anyone who hurts a Jewish kid - we'll be back!"
Flash forward again to the outbreak of World War II, Archie was 38 years old. In the "Rushishe Shul" on Shabbat, a Jew who had just escaped from Europe came to tell the community about what was happening in Europe. The shamash wanted to throw him out, but the Rabbi allowed him to report that they were "gehargeten the Yidden"(killing the Jews) in Europe. In response, the rabbi told all his congregants to join the militia, learn how to use a gun, work in the stockyards to find out what killing was. Archie Cherne signed up, went for training to Ford Hood and then on to England - Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.
During the war, fate directed Archie to a synagogue library in London, where he was surprised to find all the classic Jewish works translated into English. From that moment, he had a passion. He spent his life collecting Jewish works, mainly in English.
Archie was a self-educated scholar. He left school to help his father and only went back to finish high school and college in his fifties, but he was well known for his Jewish library and depth of knowledge, often visited by Rabbis, Catholic priests and Christian ministers, to discuss Torah.
Archie's daughter, Barbara Mescon, has entrusted his collection to the TVT library. The collection includes complete works in English of the Talmud, Mishna, Midrash Rabbah, Zohar, Graetz History of the Jews, and other single works. |
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RESPONDING TO HAITI'S NEEDS |
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TVT STUDENTS ARE RESPONDING. . .
TVT students are responding to the devastating earthquake in Haiti by donating funds to American Jewish World Service and the Red Cross. These agencies are in need of funds to support rescue and recovery efforts.
Donations are being collected in the College Counseling Center or in room 200. Our students continually demonstrate generosity and a commitment to tikun olam.
Please bring your gently used shoes to the upper or lower school office. All the shoes collected will be sent directly to Soles4Souls for distribution to the Haitian people.
Please bring them in by Thursday January 28th.
Thank you for all your continued support to help repair the world!
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PTSO |
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Lower School:
Thursday, February 4th:Peek-into-Middle School Parent Meeting 6:30 - 8:00 pm.
TVT Faculty will be on hand to offer insight into the Middle School program, explain the curricular differences, expound on new opportunities, and offer guidance as your children transition between schools.
Tuesday January 26th PTSO Arts Master's Program featuring Winslow Homer. For more information contact Laurie Katz: lauriekatz@cox.net.
Thursday, January 28th: Tu B'Shevat Tree-Planting is 10:30am, Grade 3-5 1:45 - 2:45.
Future Dates to Remember
Friday January 29th-Faculty In-Service Day-
NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
February 1 - 14th - Online Parent Survey. Check your inbox for an important opportunity to enhance the quality education we receive at TVT! |
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BAR/BAT MITZVAH VENDOR SHOWCASE Simcha & Celebrations Vendor Showcase |
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Temple Bat Yam is hosting the 14th year of Simcha & Celebrations Vendor Showcase, Orange County's primo extravaganza for life-cycle events such as Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, quincenearas and special events. This free event will take place January 26th from 5:00 - 8:00 pm. Click on the link for more information:
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