December 4, 2015

Volume IX, issue 12

22 Kislev, 5776

VTT Calendar

We have a new Facebook group.

Click this link to join!

The VTT Latkes Cafe is BACK! All our students will enjoy homemade latkes on

Thursday, Dec 10 in honour of the festival of lights. Several parents needed to help heat and serve throughout the day (a.m. & p.m. shifts available).
Great way to earn PAC hours!

CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER

Dates to Remember

Light Shabbat candles at

3:57 p.m.; Shabbat ends 5:09 p.m.

First Hanukkah Candle

Sunday, Dec 6

PAC Social Gathering
Tuesday, Dec 8, 8:30 a.m.
Learning Commons
Everyone welcome!

VTT Hanukkah Concert--MACCA ABBA

Grandparents Show: Wednesday, Dec 9, 10 a.m.
Parents Show:
Wednesday, Dec 9, 7 p.m.

Late Start Owing to Hanukkah Concert (for K thru Grade 7)

Thursday, Dec 10, 10:10 a.m.

VTT Latke Cafe for all students

Thursday, Dec 10

Yachad Assembly

Wednesday, Dec 16, 2:30 p.m.

Last Day of School Before Winter Break

Friday, Dec 18

Report Cards Go Online

Friday, Dec 18
parents.talmudtorah.com

Classes Resume After Winter Break

Monday, Jan 4

Community Calendar

JCC Chanukah Party

Sunday, Dec 6, 2-4:30 pm
Admission by donation to the Jewish Food Bank

Chabad of Richmond presents

Chanukah Menorah Workshop at the Home Deport

Sunday, Dec 6, 10 am to 12 pm

Chanukiyah Funhouse at Congregation Beth Israel
Sunday, Dec 13, 11 am to 1 pm

VTT's Band Director, Jim Hopson, will be holding a CD release party for his album Westcoast Nights
Sunday, Dec 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Kino Cafe, 3456 Cambie St.

KOL HA'KAVOD KUDOS KORNER

Two very talented artists with deep connections to the VTT community have helped us adorn our halls with arts and crafts for Hanukkah. Todah rabah to Dina Sacks and Riba Kalb for bringing the spirit of the festival of lights to our school. It's shining bright from every corner!

Stacey Levitt and Michelle Dodek deserve kudos for managing our latkes and loot bags fundraiser. 1200 latkes were sold! Now that's a lot of oil!

Our call to boost the Grade 3 classroom libraries have been heeded. Thank you Ava Abramowich (and family) for your book donations!

HANUKKAMUNITY IS BACK!

The other side of our golden community Hanukkiyah is ready to be adorned. Bring trinkets from home (plastic jewelry, broken tile, buttons and pins, etc.) to decorate the candelabra.

Support VTT through purchasing on Amazon.

Visit talmudtorah.com/amazon

Join Our Mailing List!

CHAG SAMEACH!

Mazal tov to third grade student, Payton Ezekiel, for coming in first place in the Jewish Independent Hanukkah artwork contest. Her winning drawing, tying the light of Hanukkah with world peace and love, graces this week's front page of our community newspaper. Kol Ha'Kavod!

CHAG SAMEACH!

MAD SCIENCE & LEGO ROBOTICS: Winter Registration Open NOW!

Grade K-4
Wednesdays (10 sessions):
3:30-4:30
Jan 27 - Apr 6, 2016

Lego WeDo Introductory Robotics
Grade K-2
Tuesdays: 3:30-4:45
Jan 5 - Mar 1, 2016

Lego Mindstorms Robotics & Programming
Grade 3-7
Tuesdays: 3:30-4:45
Jan 5 - Mar 1, 2016

PAC SOCIAL GATHERING

Join members of the PAC and fellow parents at

The Gathering Place

Meet up

Connect with your community
Make new friends
Grab a cup of coffee

Tuesday, December 8th @ 8:20 am

in the Learning Commons

Come for 5 minutes or even 20...

who knows how much fun you might have!

EVENING SHOW SOLD OUT!

Some tickets still available for Grandparent Show.

Purchase morning concert tickets here

ROOTS & WINGS, a Talmud Torah tradition continues

Grade 7 students have been working tirelessly for the last six weeks on their Roots & Wings projects to chronicle their families' histories. Fulfilling all the components of the project required interviewing family members, writing a narrative essay, building a multi-generational family tree, writing a family timeline juxtaposed against important world history events, finding flags corresponding to their ancestors' countries of origin, creating a map of their families' journeys, including a special family recipe, explaining the meaning of their given names, sharing a family motto in multiple languages of origins, and adding special photographs and artifacts to add depth and meaning to the tomes. Needless to say, the students' investigative work--combined with stunning creativity--has resulted in most impressive results. We will be holding a special Havdallah Roots & Wings on Saturday, January 9th for all our Grade 7 families to enjoy the students' wonderful work.

SEE MOST OF THE PROJECT PHOTOS HERE

Grade 6 students proudly present the timelines they created for Morah Dalia Bressler's prophets class.

Dr. Krell Visits 7A

Our seventh grade students were privileged to meet and learn from Dr. Robert Krell, a Dutch Holocaust survivor who was hidden by a righteous Christian family in The Hague from the tender age of 2 for roughly two and a half years. Dr. Krell is also a former VTT parent of three alumna and current grandparent to SIX Talmud Torah students. Grade 7 will continue their Holocaust studies with a visit to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre next month.

Grade 7 Chesed Club Decorates Children's Hospital

If you venture into Children's Hospital in the next couple of weeks, you'll notice a preponderance of Hanukkah decorations (a first!). Thanks to Morah Lisa and her Chesed Club, our seventh graders decked the halls with Hanukkiyot, dreidels and Hanukkah greetings.

See photos of the decor HERE

VTT Alum Matthew Boroditsky Wins Prestigious Terry Fox Humanitarian Award

Class of '09 student Matthew Boroditsky was recognized as embodying the spirit of Terry Fox, one of Canada's greatest heroes, by encouraging Canadian youth who strive to emulate Terry Fox's courage and determination by providing their communities and those in need with humanitarian service. Read about Matthew here. Mazal tov to his parents, Alan & Lisa Boroditsky (also a VTT P3 teacher)

Ezequiel Blumenkrans, Class of '07, Wins Giving Hearts Outstanding Youth Philanthropist Award

Also known as Zeke Blumenkrans, and son of Alejandro and Morah Judith (Grade 2 teacher), Ezequiel has devoted much time and energy to supporting Canuck Place Children's Hospice (360 volunteer hours to date, in addition to fundraising!)

Zeke Blumenkrans Outstanding Youth Philanthropy Award

Student Torah Commentary: Parashat Ha'Shavua/Weekly Torah Portion

Last Saturday, seventh grade student Paloma DeLisle celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at Temple Sholom. We wish her parents, Alisa Korbin DeLisle and James DeLisle, mazal tov. Below is Paloma's analysis of her Torah portion.

Dress sewn by Paloma herself!

Life is a wrestling match! In my parasha, Jacob does some serious wrestling. We don't know exactly who he was wrestling with, but there are some interesting interpretations.

Some believe that the man who wrestles Jacob is an angel in the form of a robber. Some see the battle as a symbol for the struggles that Israel as a nation would go through, or that the man is Esau's spirit, trying to make Jacob weak before they meet. Other's believe the angel was sent to stop Jacob from running away and hiding again.

My belief is with those who say that Jacob is wrestling with himself. He is wrestling with his conscience. There are 2 sides to Jacob. There is the side who has stolen his brother's birthright and runs away from his problems, and there is the side who knows he is wrong. Jacob knows he is the cause of the conflict. He discovers who he truly is the night he wrestles with himself. He is a man who has wronged his brother, hidden from his troubles, and comes out from it as Israel, a man who has wrestled with himself and is prepared to face anything his brother might do to him. The name ISRAEL means "wrestles with G-d." When he meets Esau, they have both done some growing up. They know it is time for them to leave their pasts behind and continue on as brothers. Water under the bridge! They embrace, they cry for the years they have lost and they move forward.

The maturing of Jacob relates a lot to my journey in becoming a bat mitzvah. Jacob has one night to prepare for his meeting with Esau, but I have had months of preparation for this day. I'm not comparing this day to a decades long fight with my brother. But I have had to look deeper inside myself, just like Jacob. I have certainly wrestled with my Torah portion and Haftorah! I have learned a lot about what it means to be Jewish and I have matured along the way. I know that throughout life I will have to wrestle with myself. I know that running away from my problems will only cause more conflict and that if I do something wrong I will have the courage to admit it and fix it. I don't want to be cowardly like Jacob, I want to be strong and mature like Israel.

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.

Vancouver Talmud Torah gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH YACHAD, VTT's social responsibility initiative?
This month's theme is HAKARAT HA'TOV: Showing gratitude/appreciation

You can read more here