Sylvia Burian <sburian@saracademy.org>

Chadashot 10.26.12

chadashot@saracademy.org <chadashot@saracademy.org> Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 1:33 PMTo: sburian@saracademy.org

CHADASHOT Shabbat Parshat Lech Lecha

October 26, 2012 10 Cheshvan 5773

Candle Lighting: 5:41 pm Havdalah: 6:44pm

Click here for PDF version of the Chadashot

A MESSAGE FROM RABBI KRAUSS

Dear Parents,

As we continue reading Sefer

Bereishit, I encourage you this

Shabbat to discuss with your

children the concept of-

"מעשה אבות סימן לבנים"

-the deeds of our forefathers serve as lessons

Mazal Tov

To Simon Kuflik on his Bar

Mitzvah.

To Lela Fand on her Bat

Mitzvah.

To Gilad Bendheim & Tzippy

Quint on their engagement.

for future generations. As we read the

narrative of Avraham and Sarah, let us ask

ourselves what we can learn from his actions,

and how we can emulate them in our own

experiences and challenges. Parshat Lech

Lecha introduces us to the challenges of faith,

of childrearing, and of loyalty- all of these

challenges confront each of us at some point,

and perhaps we can analyze the Parsha with

an eye to the lessons to be learned.

Much of this issue of Chadashot is dedicated

to our theme of the year, Kedusha, which we

hope to begin focusing on in the weeks

ahead.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Binyamin Krauss

Condolences

To Beth Braunstein (AC

Librarian) and to Devorah Bar

David (ELC teacher) on the

passing of their beloved

mother in law and

grandmother, Pauline

Braunstein.

ACADEMY NEWS

SAR Theme of the year : Kedusha

Every year for the past few years SAR has introduced a theme of the year. Our

students have learned about "good choices", "arvut" and "mi dor l’dor". This year’s

theme is "kedusha" and we will engage in a school wide discussion of what it

means to be kadosh or holy. Over the course of the year--in all that we do--we will

ask ourselves; "What is the importance of being kadosh?"and "How does one

achieve kedusha?" We will discuss the differences between an "Am" kadosh and

an "Ish" kadosh, talk about places that are holy and times that are holy. We will

also be examining actions that epitomize kedusha. Throughout the year we will be

showing the students the ways in which kedusha can happen daily. We will ask to

think about how they can bring kedusha to their school, their families, to

themselves. The common message to all grades is that kedusha is elevating

something regular and making it holy. Each grade will be examining the theme of

kedusha in their classrooms, on the playground, and with their friends and

teachers. In this week’s question of the week we have begun an informal

discussion with the children about what they feel exemplifies kedusha. We also

interviewed some students about our theme of the year. Click here to see what

they had to say.

"Aleph" is for Cookie

In celebration of finishing the first chapter of their Hebrew language workbook, all

of the first grade classes designed and baked cookies. But these were not just any

cookies! Each child made a Hebrew letter out of dough and they could use any of

the letters that they had learned in class. Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Daled , Hey or Shin. As

Morah Gabi explained, "The children should have a good taste of learning." Yum!

Our Visit to the Hebrew Home - by: Rachel Landesman 5Z

This week my class, 5Z visited the Hebrew Home. At the Hebrew Home my class

was split into three groups; planting, art and memory care. I was in memory care

and it was a lot of fun! First we were asked to stand next to a resident. Then we

were given a piece of string and beads. We were asked to interview the residents

and ask questions like “What is your name?” and “What is your favorite color?”

Then we were asked to string the beads and help the resident make a bracelet or a

necklace. I had a lot of fun and am glad we will be visiting the Hebrew Home for

the next few weeks.

The Brown Bag Seminar Series

“Brown Bag Seminars” for grades 2 through 4, are a lunch-time opportunity for our

students to meet with professionals or serious hobbyists in unusual fields of study.

They will meet during lunchtime so as to not encroach on classroom time yet will

still allow students additional enrichment experiences (while "brown bagging" it).

Most importantly, Brown Bag Seminars are a wonderful delivery vehicle for

validating students' interests, reaching students with various types of

intelligences, and demonstrating through exposure to real world successful role-

models that giftedness is expressed in diverse ways.

This week children in grades 2-4 had the opportunity to attend a seminar with our

own Shy Krug who is part of our guidance team. He is a doctoral candidate in

clinical psychology; in addition to his psychology pursuit, Shy is a working

professional magician. At the seminar, "The Magic of Magic and the Mind" he

utilized his studies in psychology to inform his magic abilities and has developed

curriculum on the neuroscience of magic. "Why do we get fooled?" he asked the

engaged and eager 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. "What do magicians do to take

advantage of how our brains work? Why is it we don't see the things magicians are

doing, oftentimes, right in front of our faces?" Shy demonstrated with a few tricks

and captured the children's imaginations as well as got them thinking about how

they see and think about things.

We're looking forward to our next Brown Bag next month, "The Traveling Worm

Show" and to Shy resenting again!

Israel is on the Map! - Ita Futran 6X

Sixth grade is studying topography and landforms in science. Our teacher, Dr.

Fenster, has put everybody into groups. Each group had to make a topographical

map of Israel out of clay. Then the groups painted their maps according to the

elevation. Dr. Fenster also gave each group one of the four topographical regions

of Israel to do research on: the Jordan Rift Valley, the Coastal Plains, the Negev

Desert, and the Galilean-Samarian-Judean Highlands. After they did the research,

each group made a slide show on an iPad about their region. The slide shows will

be presented to the entire class. Please come see our maps outside of Chavie's

office!

Faces and Places of SAR

One of the most exciting things for our first graders is becoming a part of the “big

building”. In order for the children to familiarize themselves with all of the different

areas of the school, the first grade teachers prepared a fun scavenger hunt called

“Places and Faces of SAR”. The larger purpose of the scavenger hunt was a unit

the first graders are starting to learn about school and community.

The children and their teachers went from place to place around the building

reading clues as to where they would go next. They made stops in the lunchroom

where they said hello to Eran, they stopped by Nurse Esther, they went up to the

junior high, and visited the business office.

Matan Bat Mitzvah Program

The 6th grade girls started off their Bat Mitzvah year with an evening dedicated to

learning in the MATAN program. Now in its seventh year, the girls will be meeting

once a month for ten sessions where they have the special opportunity to learn

“b’chevruta” with a parent. This year’s theme is “Jewish Women through the

Ages”. The learning is multi-disciplinary, incorporating serious text study along

with drama, art and music. It is a unique and wonderful opportunity for parents and

daughters to study together in an experiential way about role models throughout

our history and explore our own connection to the same values and traits that our

role models embodied. The MATAN course of study, taught by Morah Dina Najman

and Morah Adina Steinberg has become a rite of passage for young women in our

middle school—giving them a chance to prepare for their Bat Mitzvah in a

meaningful way.

SAR Academy Prospective Parent Open House

It was standing room only as over 150 people attended the SAR open house on

Wednesday evening! Parents were greeted by Rabbi Krauss, followed by remarks

from Marcia Jacobowitz, Alumna Dana Jason and 8th graders Avigayil Grajower,

Nati Marcus and Allie Sherman.

Parents were then invited to attend smaller sessions which were geared toward

their children’s ages and grades. They were introduced to the SAR General and

Judaic studies curriculum, student support services and student activities. They

were able to roam the building and check out our school with “no walls”. It was an

informative and enjoyable evening.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

This year’s schoolwide theme is "kedusha". How can you implement what

you're learning about "kedusha" into your life at home?

THAT "KIND OF WEEK"

Penny Harvest

Did you know that there are over $2 billion unused pennies in homes across

America?

Many people wonder what to do with those jars full of change gathering dust. The

answer? Give them to our second graders during the Penny Harvest!

Every November for the last 16 years, students and their families have worked

together to collect pennies from their families, friends and neighbors. We are very

proud and excited to announce that this year SAR is again participating in Penny

Harvest. Our 2nd, graders will be harvesting pennies, with a little help from

everyone else in the school, in order to help our local community. In this way the

2nd graders are bringing kedusha to our school and to themselves.

With the Penny Harvest, every penny counts and every person counts. Please

watch your e-mail in the next few days to learn how we can all help to make the

Penny Harvest a success. The process is easy. The results are meaningful. And the

need is there. Together, we can make a difference. We look forward to making this

a meaningful experience for the second grade. Thank you for your help and

support.

Click here to read about the SAR Penny Harvest program in the Spring Issue of the

Jewish Educational Leadership publication.

"Thank everyone at home like I've learned to thank the lunchroom staff

and not take them for granted like I sometimes do."

- Caleb Siegel 5Y

picture of the week

"Learn chumash with my Dad." - Jacob Morris 3X

DVAR TORAH

Parshat Lech Lecha- by Ami Roseman 2Y

When I went on vacation last winter break, I had so many questions for my parents.

Where would we go? How long would it take? For how long would we be there?

What would we do when we got there? I did not find out the answers to many of

my questions until we actually got there. In this week’s Parsha, Parshat Lech

Lecha, Hashem told Avram to take his family and all of his belongings and leave

his home to a land that Hashem would show to him (Eretz Canaan). When Avram

was leaving his home he didn’t ask Hashem where he was going, how he would get

there, what he would do for food, and so many other questions. Avram trusted

Hashem and just went. Just like we trust our parents to keep us safe in our

journeys, Avram had a blind faith that Hashem would protect him as well.

Hashem said to Avram leave from your “homeland, your birthplace, the house of

your father”. Why did Hashem say it in this order? It would seem that if you are

commanding someone to leave their home you would go from the most personal

thing to the person and then get less personal. So why did Hashem tell Avram first

to leave his homeland and then his birthplace and finally his father’s house? This

comes to teach us a lesson of the chesed of Hashem. The hardest place to leave

would be from the safety of one’s father’s home. Hashem, even though he is so

holy and is busy ruling the whole universe, still understands that human beings

have feelings. Hashem knew it would probably be the hardest for Avram to leave

his father’s home, so he went from the easiest to the hardest. Hashem did not

want to be harsh with Avram right from the start and showed his kindness in this

way.

As we are getting close to Chesed week at SAR we have to remember to show

kindness and not be harsh with our friends, teachers, family and even strangers. In

this way we will be copying the ways of Hashem and the ways of Avram who was

always ready to help his fellow Jew.

Thank you to my Savti and parents for helping me with this Dvar Torah.

Shabbat Shalom!

“Work on getting along with my siblings.” - Rachel Stadtmauer 4W

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

WWW.SARAUCTION.ORG

RSVP TO 'MOTZAEI SHABBAT LIVE' NOW

FOR EACH ADMISSION TICKET PURCHASED BY NOV. 11, YOUR NAME

WILL BE ENTERED INTO AN EXCLUSIVE RAFFLE FOR THE CHANCE TO

WIN A

$300 Target Gift Card

Saturday, November 17, 2012 * 8:00 P.M.

Life The Place To Be, Ardsley, NY

Live Auction * Chinese Auctions * Silent Auctions * Dinner

Admission: $25 per person

***For every $100 worth of Chinese Auction tickets purchased by November9, receive one $25 ticket FREE***

CLICK HERE: SPONSORSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE

Benefiting the SAR Scholarship Fund

"Give Tzedaka with kavod." - Judah Schanzer 5Z

PTC NEWS

Upcoming PTC Events

November 5th - November 11th - K through 8 Book Fair, to volunteer please email

Rachel Berger njberger@aol.com

December 1st -- ELC Night

January 6th -- Family Fitness and Fun Day

If you have not yet made your annual contribution to support PTC programs and

events, please click here. Thank you for your generosity!

"Use more respectful language, especially when I'm impatient."

- Jacob Greenwald 5Z

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

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Tuesday, October 30th – Academy New Parent Breakfast.

Tuesday, October 30th – PINK DAY!

Sunday, November 4th – Change Clocks (fall back!)

Monday, November 5th – Sunday, November 11th - SAR Book Fair

Tuesday, November 6th – Election Day – Regular Sessions

Tuesday, November 6th – Matan Bat Mitzvah Program

Sunday, November 11th – ELC & Academy- Parent Teacher Conferences -

8:30 – 4:30

Monday, November 12th – Veterans Day – No Sessions – Teacher In-Service

Day

Tuesday, November 13th – Veterans Day Tribute

Thursday, November 15th – Rosh Chodesh Kislev – Wear Blue & White!

Saturday, November 17th – SAR Live Auction Event

Sunday, November 18th – BJE Exam for 8th graders

Monday, November 19th – Tuesday, November 20th – 8th grade trip to

Washington, DC

Wednesday, November 21st – No Sessions for 8th grade

Wednesday, November 21st – Noon Dismissal

Thursday, November 22nd – Friday, November 23rd – Thanksgiving Break

Tuesday, November 27th – Matan Bat Mitzvah Program

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During the week of Parshat Vayera, each SAR student will come to a tent modeled

after Avraham and Sarah's tent and each child will perform acts of chesed. Click

here to volunteer. If you have any questions, please

contact danajason1@gmail.com. To help co-sponsor chesed week please click

here.

SAR is collecting a myriad of items to support the in-school chesed projects as well

as other worthy organizations (collection boxes in atrium):

Kitchen Starters for New Couples: Please send these items in by

Wednesday, October 31st. All items must be NEW.

Peelers, Dish towels,Aprons, Apple corers, Colanders, Can openers, Wine bottle

openers, Measuring cups, Measuring spoons, Spatulas, Stirrers, Trivets, Meat/dairy

stickers, Egg slicer, Soup ladles, Cutting boards, Garlic press, Oven mitts,

Cookbooks, Picture Frames, Serving Utensils.

Cozy Cups for Seniors: Please send these items in by Tuesday, October

30th. Oatmeal, Small tissue packs, Sugar free cocoa, Tea.

CELL PHONES for American Soldiers : Please drop off (non working)) cell

phones, iPhones, iPads in the labeled collection box in the lobby. Collecting

through Nov. 2nd.

Old Glasses: Eyeglasses and eyeglass cases - broken or good condition are

fixed and reused where possible. Collecting through Nov. 2nd.

Bears for Bergenfield: New or slightly used stuffed animals & bears.

Collecting through Nov. 2nd.

Toys for Chanukah: NEW, UNWRAPPED electronic and board games, arts

and crafts supplies, books, dolls, sports equipment, and toys with Jewish

themes and content (for all ages including older children & young

teenagers). Ideas for this age group include mp3 players, boom boxes,

jewelry, watches, stationery, cosmetic kits, books, Blokus, puzzles,

pocketbooks, Old Navy and Target gift certificates, and sports equipment

(e.g., baseball gloves, hockey sticks, footballs), etc. Hebrew CD’s are

especially appreciated for all age groups. Collecting through Nov. 26th.

Tizku L'Mitzvot!

"Share the Parsha we learned with our teachers, at home."

-Orly Stulbach 4Z

COMMUNITY EVENTS

A Conversation with Alan Silverman-- Director, Camp Moshava

Learn all about Camp Moshava and the incredible summer experience your children

have been waiting for! Hear about what is new for 2013! ALL ARE WELCOME - New

and returning! Parents and campers! Tuesday, October 30, 2012 , 7:45 PM--at the

home of Chaya & Toby Kram, 5245 Sycamore Avenue, Riverdale, NY.

*Receive a family discount of $50 by attending the meeting.

Sunday, Nov. 4th, 1-4pm, "Salute Our Troops Day"

Hebrew Institute of White Plains, 20 Greenridge Ave, White Plains, NY. Make care

packages for US Troops serving overseas...Join a bootcamp led by US Soldiers...

Click here for more details. Sponsored by MSAWI (Major Stuart Adam Wolfer

Institute) & the Boy Scouts of Westchester/Putnam County.

KNO - Kids Night Out

The Riverdale Y is offering an evening event for children called "KNO- Kids Night

Out". What is "KNO"?

"KNO" is our special program just for kids. Children ages, 5-12, will get to

experience, explore, and enjoy all of the wonderful offerings at the Y. Games,

sports, creative and performing arts, talent shows, movies, special events and

more. Click here for more information.

Mishpacha Bodedet: The Lone Family – Many of us are familiar with the Chayal

Boded, the lone soldier who serves in the IDF. They are well respected and receive

many deserved services. Sometimes, however the family of the lone soldier is left

to muddle through the experience as best they can. Along with immense pride

comes tremendous anxiety. In recognition of these conflicting emotions and the

many questions that can arise, a support group is being formed for families who

have a close loved one serving in the IDF. JBFCS/HIR social worker Anna Kirshblum,

whose son served in the IDF, will facilitate the group. Come share your

experiences, concerns, questions and pride in an open and supportive environment.

The first group will be held on Wednesday, November 7th from 7-8pm at HIR.

Please R.S.V.P. to Anna Kirshblum at 718-601-9714 or at akirshblum@jbfcs.org

December Family Ski Trip

The Jewish Outdoors Club, an all volunteer led, non-profit 501c (7) organization, is

organizing a family ski outing during December break (Dec 23-27) to Mt Snow,

Vermont. They have been doing such trips for the last 15 years, and is geared

toward families. Prices are very reasonable, and everything is taken care of --

lodging, catered food, lift ticket, rentals, etc. The inn is where we will be staying is

a fantastic place with great amenities. There are 11 families signed up thus far,

with room for about 15-20 more.

Full details are at the registration page at http://jocskitrip2012.eventbrite.com/

Note: All Submissions to the Community Ev ents section are due to Chadashot@saracademy .org the Tuesday prior to

publication in copy ready f ormat. The Chadashot reserv es the right to f urther edit submissions due to space constraints.

SAR ACADEMY~Jesselson Campus~655 West 254th Street~Riverdale, NY 10471 718.548.1717~www.saracademy.org

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