|
Hadashot
Vancouver Talmud Torah's Weekly Newsletter
Vol. VII, Issue 20
March 2, 2012 8 Adar, 5772
|
|
CHECK OUT THESE FINAL RAC WEEK MUSIC VIDEOS (all content student-inspired and created)
 | | RAC WEEK Music Video |
Music and lyrics by Benjamin Millman, Daniel Schertzer, Michelle Nifco and Aimee Lutrin. Video editing by Adam Swartz, who learned how to manipulae the complex Final Cut Pro software through "watching YouTube tutorials."
King David High School created an amazing Lip Dub in honour of RAC Week. VTT's Grade 7 students make a cameo in it! Check out the original storyline and spirited theatrics below:
 | | King David High School Lip Dub 2012 |
|
WEEKLY TORAH PORTION/PARASHAT HA'SHAVUAH by Rabbi Matthew Bellas
Shabbat Parashat T'tzaveh-Shabbat Zakhor/The Shabbat of Remembering
It's All about Community & Collective Memory
This week, we are reading the second of four weekly parashiyot at the end of the Book of Exodus/ Sefer Sh'mot that are dedicated significantly to the details of the design and building of the Mishkan/ desert Tabernacle. When I visit classrooms and engage in open conversations with students, they often blow me away with the depth of their thinking about God. One of the questions that frequently comes up when the students study this set of parashiyot/Torah portions is: "If God is everywhere and can be met wherever it is that we are, then why did/do we need a Mishkan/ Temple/Synagogue at all?"
An interesting issue related to the answer to this question is that B'nei Yisra'el/the Children of Israel did not ask for this "place of God." In fact, it was God that asked for the place to be built so that God could "dwell among them." Thus, this gathering place was not requested by the people as a way for them to be able to more tangibly connect with God. It would have made sense for it to have been this way given how temperamental and unfaithful the people have been, even so soon after the great miracles that freed them from Egypt. Rather, the Mishkan seems to serve as God's way of reaching out to the community, creating a gathering place for them as a group, and teaching them a lesson about community. This emphasis on community, congregation, and group is a critical aspect of Israelite and later Jewish identity, which all starts here with the Mishkan.
Read more online....
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Matthew Bellas
Vice Principal Judaic Studies/School Rabbi
|
|
STRATHCONA RAFFLE WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
1st Prize: Rikki Jacobson
2nd Prize: Yaniv Yedid-Levi
3rd Prize: Tom Watchorn
4th Prize: Michal Sitbon
5th Prize: Heidi Lipetz
6th Prize: Oren Mathews
7th Prize: Tammy Kalvari
8th Prize: Lois Stark
We are indebted to the following families and businesses for donating such wonderful prizes for our raffle: The Gaerber Families, The Hasman Family, The Four Seasons Hotel Downtown Vancouver, Semperviva Yoga, The Jewish Community Centre, The Lounge Hair Studio, Enigma Restaurant, Bridges Restaurant, Neal Chark of Uniglobe Vision Travel Inc., and the Vancouver Canucks.
|
|
THE MISHLOACH MANOT ARE PACKAGED!
HOME DELIVERIES ARE ON MARCH 8th
Grade 6 students from VTT, VHA and RJDS gathered at King David High School on Thursday morning to help pack thousands of Mishloach Manot (gift packages for Purim) as part of the Greater Vancouver Jewish Day School Project.
Drivers will be spread out across the Lower Mainland to deliver the packages next Thursday. For those who participated in this fundraiser, thank you for your support!
A special thank you to our corporate sponsors for donating packaging and food items: Superstore, Safeway, Mayers Packaging, Dan D Pack, and Bulldog Bag |
|
LAST CHANCE TO GET YOUR MENCHIE'S FIX AND SUPPORT VTT
Mention Talmud Torah every time you visit Menchie's and 20% of your purchase will come back to VTT.
Offer expires Sunday, March 4th.
Thank you for supporting Talmud Torah through eating frozen yogurt!
|
SCHOOL NEWS
Grade 5 students staged a series of compelling skits, poems and songs to drive home the important message of Pink Shirt Day: that bullying hurts! Special thanks to faculty members Becky Chan, Elinor Bodman, Raylee Perkins, Jennifer Chobotiuk and Keri Smith. Abbie Loomer, with help from Jennifer Chobotiuk, put on a puppet show for Kindergarten and Grade 1 to communicate lessons about inclusion and friendship for Pink Shirt Day.
Eight lucky students went home with teddy bears, thanks to the door prizes given to us by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada as part of our Pennies for Patients fundraiser. The winners were Jordana Tuan, Ariel Koffman, Ruby Klein, Keren Katz, Alisa Bressler, Hanna Kolof, Katy Tritt & Daniel Schertzer.
These third graders spent their Pro-D day counting $76 in pennies to try to wrap up the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Pennies for Patients fundraiser.
Kindergarten students celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing up as seniors for the special occasion. See more photos of the students here, including a very elderly Morah Ellen and a disheveled Marni Fadida.
Grade 1 students also devoted a day to celebrating 100 days of school. The Fruit Loop necklaces, all in denominations of 100, did not last long! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dates to Remember
| Light candles at 5:40 p.m.
Shabbat ends at 6:47 p.m. |
LAST CHANCE TO ORDER JEWCY CUISINENew menu begins Monday, Mar 5Last chance to order: Sun, Mar 4 Visit www.jewcycuisine.com
Cinderella Full Cast Rehearsal
Sunday, March 4, 1-5 p.m.
Menchie's Fundraiser
Mon, Feb 27 - Sunday, Mar 4
Mention VTT and 20% goes back to our school!
Connections Israel Fundraiser (to buy Mishloach Manot for IDF soldiers for Purim)
Wear Israeli-inspired clothing or army fatigues to school, $2 donation
Tuesday, March 6
Fast of Esther
Wednesday, March 7
Purim--11:25 a.m. dismissal
Thursday, March 8
Shusan Purim
Friday, March 9
Class Photos
Tuesday, March 13
|
 Thank you to the following parents for lending a hand at the Mishloach Manot Pack-a-Thon at King David High School: Michael Brosgart, Eva Kaplan, Jasbir Rai, Simone Wilson, Tali Hurvitz, Alison Neuman, Galyna Madorsky, Michelle Dodek, and faculty members Fred Cohen, Ronneat Sachar and Rabbi Bellas.
Astrid Visscher and Susan Quig are doing a remarkable job on the costumes for Cinderella. We're lucky to have parent volunteers take on this time-consuming job.
Our Grade 7 Strathcona Raffle raised over $5K for outdoor education. Lisa Boroditsky and Jill Katz made this happen! Todah Rabah! |
Community Announcements
JCC Camp Shalom
Registration in now open
BC Cancer Agency Presents
"Gynecologic Cancer Education Forum" (might be of special interest to women of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage)
Saturday, March 2, 9:30-2:00 p.m.
Beth Israel Invites You to a Pre-Purim Puppet Workshop
Sunday, March 4, 2-4 p.m.
VTT parent Dan Levitt will be speaking about his recent climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for Alzheimer's research.
Sunday, March 4, 7:30 p.m.
Congregation Beth Israel
No charge, but RSVP requested: 604.731.4161
Beth Israel Invites You to its Purim Extravanganza
Wednesday, March 7, 6-8:30 p.m. (for families)
Adult-themed programming begins at 9 p.m.
Sunday, March 11, 10:30-1:30
King David High School Presents Disneys' MULAN Jr.
March 13 & 14 at 7 p.m.
Canadian Hadassah WIZO proudly presents the 3rd annual Hearts are Wild
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 p.m.
Heritage Hall
Interfaith Clergy Discuss Israel
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 p.m.
Temple Sholom
RSVP required
Here's Something Neat to Do Over Pesach Break:
Spend your Pesach holidays with VTT Alumni Jenna Rudolph of Eagle Awareness School and discover spring. Spring is one of the most amazing times to explore the forest. Trees and plants are budding and opening up their leaves, fresh green sprouts are shooting up from the earth, birds are returning from the southerly migrations. The forest is alive with activity! Join us for a spring adventure and learn what it would be like to live outdoors like our ancestors did in Egypt. For ages 6-12.
Click here for more info.
|
|
SHONOT | ODDS 'N ENDZ
SPRING UNIFORM FITTINGS will be held on Wednesday, May 16th in the library from 10:00am- 6:00pm. Please call Cambridge & Co. at 604-924-9009 to book appointments.
HAVE YOU VOLUNTEERED LATELY? Don't forget to log your hours here. Remember: every family needs to complete 12 hours or risk having their $300 cheque cashed. |
|
GRANDPARENTS ARE VTT COMMUNITY MEMBERS TOO!
Bubbes & Zaydes, Sabas & Savtas, Grandmas & Grandpas are vital members of the VTT community. We'd like to include them in relevant school communications, including invitations to our annual Hanukkah concert and other events of interest. Kindly forward email address to Jennifer Shecter-Balin, our Director of Communications.
|
GIVING TO VANCOUVER TALMUD TORAH
Did you know that giving to VTT is easier than ever?
Click this link to access our secure online giving page
or feel free to email Tirzah Abraham in our development office. Please consider a minimum donation of $18 for tribute cards so that more funds can go towards our students.
Your contribution can be allocated to the following funds:
Library
Gita Kron
Atid Endowment
Building
Capital
Operations
Cristall Tikkun Olam Chair
Strathcona
Alumni
Performing Arts
MVP Fund
VTT Family Fund
To read more details about these funds, download our "Generosity" flyer. Beautiful tribute cards, designed by Jasmine Sasky, are sent by the school development office to mark any number of occasions, milestones and/or life cycle events.
|
|
Vancouver Talmud Torah is a traditional Jewish community day school dedicated to excellence in an engaging and respectful learning environment in which Jewish children can become proud, caring, responsible, and dedicated members of the Jewish people and Canadian society.
|
|
We are a community of faculty, staff, students, parents, grandparents, alumni, family and friends! Feel free to join us.
|
|
|
