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HEADMASTER'S MESSAGE |
This week we again read a double Torah portion: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim. The parsha of Kedoshim contains fifty-one mitzvot. Several of them, such as, "You shall not steal, neither shall you deal falsely, nor shall you lie one to another," are written in the plural form. It is as if G-d is commanding not just individuals, but rather the entire community not to steal, cheat or lie. Why was it important for these prohibitions to be addressed to the community? Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt"l, explains that the key to answering this question may be found in the Talmud (Bava Metzia 61b), where the Rabbis state that one is not allowed to steal even for a good and noble cause, and even in a case where taking the item from the person would actually be to his ultimate benefit. Why are such things prohibited? Rav Moshe points out that in certain areas we should not limit our focus to the individual and his or her specific circumstances; we must also consider society as a whole. If the Torah permitted theivery when accompanied by good intentions, the result would be that many people would find rationalizations and legitimate-sounding explanations to defend all sorts of illicit actions. Soon the community would become full of corruption and fraud. That is why the Torah uses the plural form regarding these prohibitions. Even though an individual may, in certain very rare situations, be justified in violating specific laws, this is still prohibited because of the damage to the society as a whole.
Shabbat Shalom |
EARLY DISMISSAL FRIDAY, MAY 7 |
On Friday, May 7, 2010, school will dismiss at 2:00 p.m. The Columbus bus will NOT pick up students. Parents need to make transportation arrangements on that day. The Bexley bus WILL pick up students. |
INDIANA FINKELSTEIN PRESENTED BY THE FIFTH GRADE |
 Last Friday CTA's shul was jam packed with faculty, students and parents of our fifth graders all anxious to see Indiana Jones, we mean, Indiana Finkelstein and the Diary of Miriam, a play written by Morah Robin in celebration of the fifth grade's siyum of Parshat Shmot. The fifth grade showed immense talent and knowledge of the parsha in their portrayal of the Jewish people's life in Egypt and brought Moshe, Miriam, Aharon, Yocheved, Amram, Batya, and even mean Pharaoh and his sneaky advisors to life vividly for the audience's enjoyment. There were Hebrew songs, special effects, and beautiful costumes. All of this was made possible through the expertise of Laurie Alexander's direction, Rabbi Tzion Elbaz's musical guidance and stage design, Jeremy Kalef's special effects, Laurie Haas and Noah Portman's technology, Norma Whitmyre's photography, and Amira Kagan's scenery. As Miriam said at the end of the play, "we can't wait for the sequel!" |
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PREVIEW OF THE WEEK |
Sunday, April 25: Bingo! Come Volunteer!
ISACS Accreditation Visitation
Monday, April 26: Pizza Bagels-Volunteer: A. Hartstein
Tuesday, April 27: Chicken Nuggets-Volunteer: M. Makias
CTA Twirlers, 4-4:45
Wednesday, April 28: Pizza-Volunteer: H. Katz
Thursday, April 29: Sloppy Joe-Volunteer:
Friday, April 30: Fish Sticks-Volunteer: M. Ryan |
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DATES TO REMEMBER |
Sunday, May 2: Lag Ba'Omer Spring Fling Concert and Carnival, 11am-9pm
Wednesday, May 5: Dinner, 5pm; Elementary School Achievement Fair,
6-7:30pm
Thursday, May 6: Annual Giving Event, 7pm at the home of Michael and Patty Schiff
Friday, May 7: Early Dismissal - 2:00pm (NO Columbus bus)
Thursday, June 3: Spring Show |
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SPORTS |
Monday, April 26, 2010
HOME Games vs. Granville Christian
Softball, 5pm
Baseball, 5pm
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
HOME Game vs. Tree of Life
Baseball, 5pm
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
AWAY Game vs. Fairfield Christian
Softball, 5pm
Thursday, April 29, 2010
HOME Game vs. Tree of Life
Jr High Baseball, 5pm
Friday, April 30, 2010
HOME Game vs. Home School Warriors
Baseball, 2pm |
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SCRIP UPDATE - PLACES TO PURCHASE SCRIP | |
Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:00pm
CTA Scrip Office, 864-0299 ext. 112 or contact Aliza Finegold at
REMEMBER: Target Take Charge of Education Program; SchoolMall; Box Tops for Education; turn in paper for recycling in the bin in the upper school parking lot, and empty inkjet cartridges into the box at the school entrance. To view the vendors participating in the Scrip Program go to CTA Scrip List.
Yossick'sis offering pizza after Shabbos and a delicious Sunday brunch. Get your Yossick's scrip and give them a try. Yossick's is located at 539 South 5th Street in German Village.
Gili's Goodies: Miss your kids, family and friends in Israel? Send them a gift basket, birthday cake, balloons or other treats for any occasion from Gili's Goodies, a bakery and gift basket company in Jerusalem. CTA will receive 10% of your order. Call 1-866-721-7292 or go to www.gilisgoodies.com.
GIVE & GET: We invite all parents to take an active part in the education of our children by becoming involved at CTA as a volunteer. We hope each family will contribute at least 20 hours in the 2009-2010 school year. There are many ways to volunteer. Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Robin Garvin, at 235-0350 or rgar234@yahoo.com, to get involved.
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MAZAL TOV TO: | |
Dr. Phillip Katz (8th Grade Class of '88) on the birth of a son
Pat Hintershied and Rita Martini on the birth of a grandson and great-grandson |
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CONDOLENCES TO: |
Marlene Sobol, Garret (Class of '06), Ethan (Class of '09), Emily, Keenan and Jacob, on the loss of father and grandfather, Carl Ganz
Marvin Szatmary and Alexander (8th Grade Class of '00) on the loss of mother and grandmother, Rachel Szatmary |
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HOT LUNCH | |
Do you owe Hot Lunch or, do you think you owe Hot Lunch? Please contact Karan Tanenbaum at ext. 122 to find out and get caught up before the end of the year. |
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CTA ALUMNS ARE PROUD OF THEIR ALMA MATER |
Janice Epstein, mother of three CTA high school alums, recently shared this with us:
"We were in NYC early this week and decided to attend the huge Israel Independence Day celebration at Yeshiva University. Imagine our delight when every CTA graduate we saw came over to greet us and talk for a bit, even dragging their non-Columbus friends with them. Far from being embarrassed to be seen in public with adults from their past lives as high school students, these collegians and post-collegians were happy to see us and to check-in with us. We are lucky to have such a wonderful school in our community that helps to create such self-assured and gracious young women and men.
What we do together works! Keep the support coming! |
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Dr. Matthew Kennedy's seventh-grade biology class continued its study of living things by dissecting chemically preserved pig fetuses.
Dr. Kennedy has been striving to give his class experience with more advanced material. Dissections usually are not performed in middle school, but according to their teacher, these students are mature and inquisitive and have shown themselves to be up to the challenge. |
LEARNING NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS |
Seventh-grade social studies moved from the science lab to the Indian mound. Students accompanied their teacher Sage Thompson to the Hopewell site in Newark. The trip was part of a unit on Native South and North Americans.
Thompson described the outing:
"Not only did we have a tour of the museum and lecture from a knowledgeable guide, we also were able to walk out into the Great Circle and see for ourselves how big it is! After a picnic lunch, we also got to do three hands-on activities to help us understand what life was like for the Hopewell culture.
"First, we learned how to use an atlatl, which is an ancient device used for increasing power and accuracy when throwing a spear. We aimed for targets, but I'm not sure anyone actually made it through one! We did really enjoy seeing how far we could get. Miss Thompson beat Mr. Kramer in a distance throw.
 "The next activity we did was that each student received several pieces of flint and was able to try to chip away at it with a metal tool and try to make an arrow-head or other shape. The students really got into this and didn't want to stop until their arrow-heads were perfect!
The last activity was using an ancient "hand-drill" or "push-drill" to drill a hole through a seashell to use as a necklace. The students enjoyed trying to figure out how to drill a hole without breaking the shell!"
Students who participated: Chaya Andrusier, Ori Kagan, David Polster, Sabrina Ebner, Avi Kahn, Arik Bality, Becky Portman, Matthew Rodier, David Wolfson, Basya Pearlmutter, Orri Benatar, Yehuda Rosenberg, Susie Wilhelm, Jacob Grubb and Roston Shore. |
CELEBRATING ISRAEL'S BIRTHDAY |
CTA students marked several observances during the past two weeks, among them Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron. On Monday Lower-school students enjoyed a carnival on Monday with games testing their knowledge about the Jewish state. Ninth- and 10th- graders designed the contests. Middle-school students joined Rabbi Avram Elbaz to learn how to make falafel. Here are some photographic highlights. Visit our Web site's photo gallery for more pictures of school activities.
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SAY IT IN HEBREW
by Galit Golan, Hebrew Studies Coordinator |
What an exciting week we had! This week we celebrated the 62nd birthday of the State of Israel. Last Friday, we held two Yom Hazikaron ceremonies, one for the lower grades and one for the upper grades. Yom Hazikaron for Tzahal soldiers, and the victims of terror acts in Israel, is such an important day for us and for Jews around the world. Our junior high students, with guideness from the Hebrew teachers, and under the direction of Laurie Alexander, helped make the ceremonies more meaningful to all the students in our school. On Monday, 5th Iyar, we celebrated Yom Ha'Atzmaut, the birthday of Israel. Our 9th and 10th grade students did a wonderful job creating Israeli-themed stations. Our elementary students moved from station to station, enjoying fishing in Tverya, the beach in Tel Aviv, learning how to float in the Dead Sea, and more. The stations were age appropriate, and each age level enjoyed different stations and the different Israeli themes. The junior high students enjoyed an Israeli food class with Rabbi Avram Elbaz, and 9th-10th graders are still enjoying special treats in honor of Yom Ha'atzmaut and in appreciation of their effort. After all these celebrations, all of our students are ready for a restful Shabbat. |
CTA WINNERS IN THE YOUNG JEWISH ARTIST COMPETITION | |
Congratulations to CTA students David Polster and Alexander Weiss who participated in the Justine Hackman Memorial Young Artist Competition at Tifereth Israel. Alexander placed Second in the Senior Division and David received Honorable Mention in the Junior Division. Alexander and David will perform along with all winners of the competition on Thursday, April 29, at Congregation Tifereth Israel, at 7:00 p.m. |
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All (current and new) Columbus bus riders must fill out an Application for Pupil Transportation for the 2010-2011 school year. You can access this form on the Columbus Public Schools Website at www.columbus.k12.oh.us.
Click on the link labeled Transportation.
- Click on Links & Forms.
- Click on 2010-2011 Application for Pupil Transportation to a Non-Public School
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Print the form, fill it out, and return it to Norma Whitmyre, Executive Secretary by Friday, May 14, 2010. |
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PLEASE JOIN US MAY 6, 2010 FOR
CTA'S ANNUAL GIVING EVENT
AT THE SCHIFF HOME
RSVP WHEN YOUR INVITATION ARRIVES,
OR CALL 864-0299 |
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TZEDAKAH |
It has been a time-honored Jewish tradition to give tzedakah in recognition of important events. Todah Rabah to the following for their donation to:
The Scholarship Fund:
Ellen & Art Pollack and Steve & Jen Siegel in honor of Chani Capland in appreciation for Gemilas Chesed
Michael Ungar and Family in memory of Lois Rubenson
Robin and Tzion Elbaz in memory of Joanne Gandee's mother
The Bloch Family in honor of Riki Shenkar's Bat Mitzvah and in honor of Zachary Sukienik's Bar Mitzvah
Larry S. Pollak in memory of the Sobol family's father and grandfather
The Annual Giving Fund:
Joan and Ralph Rosenblum in memory of Frank Nutis |
PARSHAT ACHAREI MOT-KEDOSHIM QUIZ
By Rabbi Zecharia Weitz |
1) Who is allowed to enter the Kodesh HakKadoshim (Holy of Holies) and when?
a) Only the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur (wearing the special garments and having performed the prescribed offerings)
2) What is the punishment if even the Kohen Gadol enters on a different occasion?
a) Death
3) One of the 2 goats of the Yom Kippur service was sent to the Azazel. What is the Azazel?
a) A jagged cliff
4) Why is the mitzvah keeping Shabbat right after the mitzvah of honoring ones parents?
a) To teach us that keeping Shabbat and the mitzvot applies even if one's parents command them otherwise (Midrash)
5) What is the mitzvah of kisoui ha'dam ("covering the blood") and to which types of animals does it apply?
a) To cover the blood (with dirt or the like) after slaughtering it. It applies to all birds and domesticated animals but not to wild animals
6) How is the commandment not to steal different than verses in the Ten Commandments?
a) There it refers to kidnapping while here it refers to monetary theft
7) How does one fulfill the mitzvah of mipnai saivah takum?
a) By standing for Torah scholars and elderly people
8) How does one fulfill the mitzvah of v'hadarta p'nai zakken?
a) Honoring elderly people by not sitting in their seat or contradicting their words
9) If the Torah says that a certain offence deserves death but does not clearly state what type of death, what is it referring to?
a) Death by stoning
Discussion Questions
1. In the beginning of Parshat Shimini we read about Aharon's son's dying. Here, three parshiot later, begins with Hashem speaking to Moshe "after the death of Aharon's sons." Why does the Torah break with almost three parshiot worth of information and then return to that story? (Ovadya Lowy, 8th grade)
2. "Kidoshim Ti'Heyu" - "You should be holy"
a. What does "holy" mean?
b. How do we "be holy"? |
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I hope you enjoy the electronic version of our Dateline. Please check out our website at www.torahacademy.org. |
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