Friday, December 13, 2013
18 Kislev 5774
Parshat Vayechi
Candle Lighting at 5:12 PM


 There's No Place Like Home
 
As Sefer Bereishit comes to a close and Yaakov senses his own mortality, he asks his son Yosef to assure him that he will be buried not in Egypt but in Israel. Why is Yaakov so insistent that Yosef take an oath to not bury him in Egypt? Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch offers two explanations. Perhaps Yaakov realized that this mission would be very difficult for Yosef to accomplish since Yosef had attained such high social status in Egypt. Refusing to bury his father in Egypt would signal Yosef's lack of attachment to his adopted land.  Yaakov therefore makes Yosef take an oath in order to ensure that Yosef will indeed perform this politically-difficult task. Rav Hirsch suggests that there may be a deeper reason as well. Yaakov understood that his children and grandchildren were beginning to get very comfortable in Egypt. He realized that "they had begun to regard the Nile as their Jordan, that they had ceased to regard their stay in Egypt as an exile." By demanding that he be buried in Israel, Yaakov sought to deliver a powerful message to his children: Although we may need to be in Egypt now, we should always recognize that Egypt is exile and we should strive to be in our own homeland instead. There's no place like home indeed.  

Thank you to the entire cast of the Wizard of Oz, under the direction of Ms. Sarah Nickell, for an outstanding performance.  Thank you to the entire Highlites crew for putting together another super edition and allowing the broader community to take a look inside our home and see what makes us so special.

 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Jonathan Kroll  

Head of School 

 

Follow WYHS on Facebook and Twitter  

 

Check out this Sun Sentinel article about the Veterans Program we ran a few weeks ago! 

 
Coming Attractions

Tues. Dec. 17
Good & Welfare

 

Mazel Tov

Elisheva (Rigol '07) and Joseph Schwartz on the birth of a baby girl!

 

Condolences

Mr. Leigh Katzman, on the loss of his father Abraham Katzman 
The Yellow Brick Road to Success
Girls' Musical Displays Hard Work of Our Talented Students


Graphics by Simca Stadlan('16)
5 For Fighting
Girls' Varsity Basketball Team Attends SAR Tournament

Graphic by Jonah Rose ('17)

Back to School
WYHS offers many opportunities for Adult Education

Graphic by Noah Brown'15)

WYHS 5774 Adult Education
WYHS 5774 Adult Education - Rabbi Kroll

Give a Little Tzedakah
WYHS Students help lead Federation Chesed Day Program

Graphic by Cherie Landa ('15)
Article by Shanee Markovitz ('16)

Last month, the junior class visited the Forest Trace Senior Community, where they interviewed World War II veterans. The juniors were inspired by the firsthand stories of determination and by the sheer bravery of these military heroes. This past Tuesday, the students once again had the opportunity to meet with and honor these veterans. Forest Trace residents came to WYHS for a wonderful program where students shared some of the veterans' biographies and presented each veteran with an award. Ellin Gurvitch ('15) shared, "I could tell they were all glowing with happiness when they were called up to the stage." The students loved presenting the veterans with their awards just as much as the veterans enjoyed receiving them!
 

    This past Wednesday, students from WYHS had the privilege to work side by side with middle school and high school students from Dona Klein. Together with teachers, we assisted students from the elementary schools of Hillel Day School, Dona Klein, Torah Academy, and BMA to create Chesed Day projects. Around two weeks ago, we had gone around the different schools to inform middle school students about Federation and explain how important and essential the Jewish Federation is to Jewish communities around the world. Now, lower school students were also brought into the big picture of chesed, which is the act of giving. Not only did students decorate tzedaka boxes that will be used to raise money for the Federation, but they also had a chance to interact with Jewish children from other schools and bond over the simple act of giving. One part of the project involved eighteen pennies. The number eighteen has the numeric value of the Hebrew word chai, which means life. Students were taught that giving tzedaka is just like giving life to a person. Twelve pennies were used for decoration, while the remaining six were split up amongst the partners of each group. The students had the opportunity to be the first "givers" of the project that they had completed. A lesson we could have all taken from this year's Chesed Day is that it is integral to give, and that each member of our community is responsible for the other. On behalf of everyone that participated, I would like to thank the Jewish Federation for allowing us to participate in giving, as their members constantly continue to do.

This Week in Pictures

Graphic by Aaron Seinfeld ('17)