building ctalogogreyscale
The Columbus Torah Academy
181 Noe Bixby Rd, Columbus OH 43213
614.864.0299

November 9, 2012

            24 Cheshvan 5773

Chaye Sarah
  Candlelighting 5:01 p.m.
This Week on E-Dateline
Headmaster's Message
CTA Kicks Off School-Wide Drive
CTA Food Drive
Preview of the Week
Dates to Remember
Scrip Update - Places to Purchase Scrip
Give & Get Grapevine
News from the Lower School Judaic Studies Department
Say it in Hebrew
On the Up & Up: News from the Upper School Judaic Studies Department
News from the Lower School
Parent Directory
Mock Election - A Great Lesson in Government
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Mazal Tov To
Scholastic Book Fair Needs Your Help
I Wish, I Wish
Scholarship Dinner Tribute Journal Deadline Extended
Tzedakah
Parsha Chaye Sarah Quiz
A Riddle from Israel
Join Our Mailing List
THIS WEEK'S PARSHA BY RABBI YOSEF HAUSER

In this week's Parasha, we see two of our great Torah personalities demonstrate the mitzvah that truly defines our faith.  At the beginning of our Parasha, Sarah dies and the Torah describes in great detail how Avraham performs the great Chesed (kindness) of burying his beloved wife. This mitzvah is called a "Chesed Shel Emet" or a "true kindness". Burial is called this because this act of Chesed is done with a dead person who cannot reward or repay you in any way. It is truly an altruistic mitzvah act. We also read about Rivkah who, when she meets Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, not only gives him a drink of water but also gives his ten camels water as well. This truly was a Chesed over and above the call of duty! After seeing this incredible act, Eliezer knew for certain that Rivkah was the perfect girl for Yitzchok.  The mitzvah of Chesed is the determining factor for the mother of the future Jewish nation and it continues to be our signature mitzvah today as well. We all have the chance to do a "Chesed" right now! The New York Jewish community has suffered tremendous damage from hurricane Sandy. Let us take a lesson from this Parasha to give of our time and resources to help these Jewish communities rebuild. There are many organizations that are there on the ground to help. Please ask your Rabbi to find the right organization for you. This is a true kindness for they will never know who gave the money but you will know that you are helping others rebuild their lives and their communities. You will demonstrate that you are a descendant of our great Torah personalities: Avraham and Rivka.  

 

Shabbat Shalom! 

CTA KICKS OFF SCHOOL-WIDE DRIVE

  Food Drive1 

According to new numbers released recently by the Feeding America network, about 18.1 percent of Ohioans, roughly two million people are 'food insecure.'  That means they don't always know where they'll find their next meal. In Franklin County, 17.3 percent are food insecure. The need for food is a very real one in our community. 

 

We as a Jewish community have a responsibility to feed the hungry and help the needy - it's a huge mitzvah! Therefore, Columbus Torah Academy will be participating in a school-wide food drive from November 8-19. The food collected will be donated to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. 

 
To kick off the food drive, Laura Imbrock, a representative from the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, visited CTA to talk with students in grades 2-12 about the Foodbank's role in the community. The Foodbank collects and distributes all types of food items to over 570 partner organizations - such as food pantries, community centers, and even schools. 
The Mid-Ohio Foodbank has a huge warehouse facility in Grove City, Ohio that can hold 4 million pounds of food at a time and is as big as three football fields. The Foodbank accepts donations from large grocery stores, food companies such as Kraft, farmers, and community members like us! The Foodbank even has their own garden where they grow fresh produce to distribute.   
 
To learn more about the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, visit 
http://www.midohiofoodbank.org.
 

 

Food Drive2 During our CTA Food Drive, we will be collecting non-perishable food only - in cans and boxes (no glass jars, please!). The most-needed items are chili with beans, canned fruit, tuna, canned vegetables, canned meats, soup with vegetables, and peanut butter. Since these food items will be distributed to all types of families and individuals, donated foods do not need to have a Kosher supervision.


The grade that brings in the most items of food by November 19 will win a special dress-down day.    

Lower School Student Council began this week to make signs for the Food Drive.


So please bring in your food and help us do a mitzvah and help needy people in our central Ohio community - because eating is a right and no one should go hungry!
 

 

CTA FOOD DRIVE

  FOODDRIVE  

PREVIEW OF THE WEEK
Monday, November 12:  Ravioli-Volunteer: J. Topolosky
Scholastic Book all week
Choir Practice, 4-4:45
Executive Board Meeting, 7:30 pm
Tuesday, November 13:  Hamburgers- Volunteer: S. Lubow
Wednesday, November 14:  Parent-Teacher Conferences, 
Grades K-12- NO SCHOOL
Thursday, November 15: Chicken Cutlet-Volunteer: O. Gerberg
Choir Practice, 4-4:45
Friday, November 16: Tuna-Volunteer: R. Berger
Spirit Day - wear your CTA polo shirt
2:00 pm Dismissal 
DATES TO REMEMBER
Wednesday, November 21: Thanksgiving Program, Grades K-4, 9:30 am
2:00 pm Dismissal
November 22-23: Thanksgiving Vacation - NO SCHOOL
November 30-December 1: Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Scholar-in-Residence Weekend
Sunday, December 2: CTA Scholarship Dinner, Hyatt Regency, 5:30 pm
SCRIP UPDATE - PLACES TO PURCHASE SCRIP
CTA Scrip Office, 864-0299 ext. 112
Monday-Thursday- 7:30am-4pm; Friday- 7:30am-3pm

The Scrip Office keeps a variety of available scrip on hand. Special order scrip from hundreds of stores is available by sending your request to [email protected]. To see a complete selection of all of the Scrip choices, go to www.glscrip.com. To benefit CTA with online purchases, register at www.iGive.com.  
GIVE & GET GRAPEVINE

"I heard through the Grapevine..." "Gosh, who doesn't buy clothes, shoes, coats, and boots for the winter?" Lesa at the front desk says: "Anyone who has a son (like me!) will know that all the sweatpants and cold weather pants from last season will be way too short this year! And anyone who has a daughter (like me!) knows that all the accessories, shoes, boots, skirts, pants - from last year are OUT!"  NEW FALL clothes for kids/teens, basketball season is coming up! We have the following gift cards that can be special ordered: Aeropostale - 7%; American Eagle - 10%; Sears - 4%; TJMaxx/Marshall's/Home Goods - 7%; Journey's - 10%; DSW - 9%; Lands End - a HUGE 16%; Claire's - 9%; Bath and Body Works - a WHOPPING 13%! Please visit GLscrip.com  to see available participating retailers!

 

"L'chaim and Todah Rabah...to Laurie Rosenberg who purchases Starbucks Scrip gift cards to send to her out-of-town parents, or for when they are in town visiting!  Her dad loads these onto his Starbucks account, which can be used at any local Starbucks, and this way he doesn't have to carry cash with him!!!

 

Reminder about our NEW Call & Deliver Program for Scrip. Email [email protected] or call 864-0299 to order scrip and we can have it delivered to your home. 

 

The Give & Get (G&G) Commitment for 2012-2013 is $2,000 per family. G&G is fulfilled through donations, Scrip purchases, solicitations & volunteering.  The weekly G&G Grapevine gives you ideas of how to easily do your part. Send a record of all G&G volunteer hours to [email protected].

 

If you would like to volunteer, contact Volunteer Coordinator, Kim Abelman, at 855-5195 or [email protected]. Volunteer time is worth $25 per hour towards Give & Get. 

NEWS FROM THE LOWER SCHOOL JUDAIC STUDIES DEPARTMENT

By Dror Karavani, Lower School Judaic Studies Coordinator

Dror-new

In Kindergarten, Morah Aronowitz and her students are busy learning the "Shabbat" unit. In addition to songs, pictures, stories, art, and more, they also got to use their new Smart Board through a program called "Shabbat Interactive," which was brought to our school all the way from South Africa by our very own Morah Aronowitz. Beginning with parashat Bereishit, the children were excited to "create" the world. They created light for the first day and with the click of a button, the waters separated on the second. They got to drag trees and flowers to land and to use their computer skills and their imaginations to continue creating the other days. In the next few weeks, they are going to learn some of the Shabbat prayers and the Friday night Dror1 11-9 routine. Other students in the lower grades will be able to benefit from this program as well. Fifth and sixth graders will study about the Mishkan (tabernacle), the 39 melachot, and other aspects of Shabbat. The children are having a great time and are really enjoying learning in their "21st Century" classroom.  

  

SAY IT IN HEBREW

By Galit Golan, Hebrew Language Coordinator

Galit 2010 In the lower school Hebrew classes, we learn about סתיו , autumn, in different levels. Morah Minna's 2nd grade students learn to use different sentence forms, while telling about autumn. They focus on oral conversation, and use the vocabulary that they previously learned about colors and weather to describe the different colors that they see outside and the changing weather.

 



Galit1 11-9 Morah Minna's 4th grade students wrote paragraphs about סתיו, using newly gained vocabulary words, and many adjectives. Morah Kelly's 4th grade students practice the use of adjectives as well, and learn how to match them to the noun in gender and number.

 

Morah Irit's first grade students started a reading program called הספריה שלי  my library. Each week the students take home a reading book, and read aloud to their parents. These reading books give the students the opportunity to practice their technical reading in Hebrew, as well as sight words.     

 

Galit2 11-9  

ON THE UP & UP:  
NEWS FROM THE UPPER SCHOOL JUDAIC STUDIES DEPARTMENT
By Rabbi Zecharia Weitz, Upper School Judaic Studies Coordinator

Weitz  In the prayer of Ashrai we declare "dor l'dor yishabach ma'asecha", "every generation will praise Your deeds". While the core of Judaism is above time and space, each generation offers its own insight and approach to the Torah. The advances in technology will clearly be the chapter this generation contributes.  In Upper School, some of the ways technology is used to enhance timeless methods of learning are the usage of websites like voicethread.com and muvizo.com on our projectors: Voicethread allows users to upload document that numerous people can post comments on as well as record comments of their own. In Chumash and Gemara classes, voicethread is often used to assess students' skills in reading, translation and fluency. Muvizu is a user friendly animation website. Students can create animations that act out and even speak the scene they are studying. With Gemara in particular, this guides students in understanding the various steps and process the conclusion.

 

With our new classroom projectors now available, teachers are able to project the text onto a whiteboard and have the students "mark-up" the board together as they would a worksheet (similar to a smartboard but a lot more affordable!) With the advent of digital Torah texts, the teacher can guide their class in step-by-step deciphering of any given text. So as our generation is "yishabach ma'asecha", praising Hashem in their own unique way, perhaps we at CTA Upper School can be the chazzan.

 

Food for Thought: InParshat Chaye-Sara, the Torah leaves its focus on Avraham and begins to focus primarily on Yitzchak. It is striking to note that no sooner than next week's parsha the Torah already shifts its focus to Yaakov. While there is relatively a lot of information on Avraham and Yaakov, the Torah tells us shockingly little about our second forefather. What is it about Yitzchak's essence and message that the Torah feels is best expressed through silence?

 

NEWS FROM THE LOWER SCHOOL
By the Fifth Grade Teaching Team of Morah Galit, Morah Robin and Mrs. Willis

There is a rumor circulating that the fifth graders are allowed to write on walls and break crayons.  Their teacher, Mrs. Willis says, "I want to make it perfectly clear.  It is true."  However, in this first quarter, they have also reviewed sentence structure in English and written their first stories on a topic of their choice.  In reading, they have As for the writing on the walls and breaking crayons, Mrs. Willis says that you will need to ask a fifth grader. They will be glad to explain it to you. 

 

In Judaic class Chumash is not just taught, it is experienced. Currently learning Parshat Mikeitz about Pharaoh, Yosef and the meeting with his brothers, the fifth grade learn accurate/technical reading of the Chumash text, learning the special Chumash vocabulary, identifying word families, understanding content,reading selected Rashi's about these psukim, we also take a periodic "walk in someone's sandals" so to speak. For example when Pharaoh took Yosef out of prison and appointed him second in the land, we wrote Pharaoh's "memo" to his people, (on Pharaoh's own stationery, of course!),  about this amazing appointment using the Chumash vocabulary.  These projects can be seen on the fifth grade hallway bulletin board.  

 

In Hebrew class the 5th graders are reading the book "איך נפתור השנה בעיות בכיתה?"

 

How Do We Solve Class Problems Successfully? The book presents different ways of dealing with problems, and guides the readers to be sensitive to the needs of others, use their "thinking caps", and find positive and creative ways to solve problems.   Most recently the students read the story of fellow classmate, Karen, who is in a wheelchair and the students deal with their frustrations, and become more accepting towards Karen. The fifth graders have discussed the concepts of acceptance and Teshuva in class, using Hebrew vocabulary and sentence forms they've learned in class. 

PARENT DIRECTORY 

Please make the following correction in your copy of the Parent Directory:

  Ari Berger & Naomi Brenner - phone: 824-1252

 

MOCK ELECTION - A GREAT LESSON IN GOVERNMENT

Election1 Mr. Moore's 11th grade Government class was able to use the Events of the Day to expose grades 3-12 to the election process in regards to the recent President Election.  On Election Day, the students assembled in the gym in the afternoon and had their own Election Convention.  Eleventh-graders presented the issues and acted as the candidates:  Shoshana Ginsburg and Alyssa Karmia as Team Romney/Ryan and Nathaniel Keri and Ellie Chase as Team Obama/Biden.  Thanks to the artful process put in play by Mr. Guinan and the seniors acting as voting officials, the election was a great lesson.  The 8th grade students who spent the week touring Washington, DC on their class trip, voted absentee to make sure they excercised their Right to Vote.

Election2  

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

FINAL NOTICE: Parent/Teacher Conferences will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. There will be no school on that day. Please email Norma Whitmyre at [email protected] by Tuesday, Nov. 13, to schedule your conferences. Please be sure to include the teachers you want to see and the time you would like to start.  

MAZAL TOV TO:

Dina (Vinar) (8th Grade Class of '91) and Eli Cieplinski on the birth of a

    son

Richard Rosenberg and Laurie Rosenberg on Avigayil becoming a Bat

    Mitzvah

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR NEEDS YOUR HELP

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming up again on Nov 12-16!   We need your help volunteering on the following days and time!

 

                             Tuesday:  11:00-12:00

                             Wednesday:  any time between 10:00-3:00

                             Thursday:  1:00-1:00 and 1:30-2:30   

 

Remember, your time is credited at $25/hr towards your annual Give & Get commitment of $2,000 per family!  Please call or email Cheryl Miller for available times: [email protected] or (614) 286-5370. Shop Online Book Fair November 5 - 25, at:

                    http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/cta

I WISH, I WISH

Kindergartners and Senior Buddies paired up on Thursday to browse the Book Fair and make lists of the books they would like have their parents buy for them.  All the grades made lists, but as always the kindergartners were so excited to see their buddies. Teachers also filled out wish lists of books for their classroom.  Check out how you can enhance classroom reading libraries.  If you are looking to fulfill wishes, the Wishing Tree at the Front Desk has teacher wishes, as well.

SCHOLARSHIP DINNER TRIBUTE JOURNAL DEADLINE EXTENDED

Reminder: the deadline for the Scholarship Dinner Tribute Journal has been extended until November 20.  The best way to earn dollars towards your Give & Get commitment and help raise money for the Scholarship Fund is through the Tribute Journal.  Contact friends, neighbors, relatives, doctors, plumbers, hairdressers, bankers, etc - any one you associate with and ask them to take out an ad and make a tax deductible donation to your child's school.  For help or for journal forms, contact Shari at [email protected]  By now you should have received an invitation to the Dinner.  If you did  not, please let us know. 

 

TZEDAKAH

It has been a time-honored tradition to give tzedakah in recognition of important events. Today Rabah to the following for their donation:

 

To Scholarship Fund by:  

Gary Liebesman and Stacy Leeman in memory of Joel Margolies and Flo

    Rosen

Yaffa Gewirtz in honor of her parent's, Helen and Paul Gewirtz's

    anniversary and in honor of her brother's birthday 

PARSHA CHAYE SARAH QUIZ

1.  Name the four couples buried in Kiryat Arba?

     a.  Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sara, Yitzchak and Rivka and Yaakov and Leah.

 

2.  What did Sara hear that caused her death? 

     a.  That Yitzchak was almost slaughtered.

 

3.  What title of honor did the Bnei Chet bestow upon Avraham?

     a.  Prince of G-d.

 

4.   Where was Avraham born?

     a.  Ur Kasdim.

 

5.  How were Avraham's camels distinguished?

     a.  They were muzzled, so they wouldn't graze in the fields of others.

 

6.  What is meant by "all the good of his master in his hand"?

     a.  Eliezer carried a document in which Avraham gave all he owned to Yitzchak so that people would want their daughter to marry him.

 

7.  What special character trait did Eliezer seek when choosing a wife for Yitzchak?

     a.  He sought someone who excelled in performing acts of kindness.

 

8.  Why did Avraham's servant Eliezer, run toward Rivka?

     a.  He saw that the waters of the well rose when she approached.

 

(Parsha Chaye Sarah Quiz originally appeared on the

Ohr Somayach website, www.ohr.edu)

A RIDDLE FROM ISRAEL 

As part of our partnership with the Shiloh school in Israel, we will be receiving riddles each week relating to the Parasha.  You will notice this each week on this back page.  The goal is to have the parents and children discuss the parasha, while trying to figure out the connection between the picture and the parasha.  All answered riddles should be given to the Judaic teacher on Monday. The names of the winners will be announced and sent to our friends in Israel. 

Riddle 11-9      

What is the connection between the picture and the parasha? Look in Chapter 23, Verse 15. You will find the answer there.

 

  Zach Rodier 
The winner of last week's riddle is Zach Rodier.

Moreh Dror Karavani will collect all of the submitted answers, put them into a box, and save them for the big raffle! You will hear more about this very soon. Keep your answers coming.

I hope you enjoy the electronic version of our Dateline. Please check out our website at www.torahacademy.org.