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Photo Credit Maxine Lipshitz

On Tuesday, December 8, Yeshiva of Central Queens had their first Torah Bowl meet of the year. The Torah Bowl is an educational tournament started more than a decade ago by Rabbi Mair Wolofsky, former principal of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett, for students in yeshivos and Orthodox day schools. It is a competition where several yeshivos spend time learning and studying two or three parshiyos with their perspective Rashis with their coaches. They then compete against other yeshivos in tournaments throughout the year

This past week, during social skills groups, the students at IVDU created a collaborative Chanukah bulletin board. Each class was given the opportunity to contribute to the bulletin board. The students shared materials and worked together to design the bulletin board. They shared markers, crayons, stickers, glitter, and other materials. The students were able to design their own pictures to hang up on the bulletin board.

Chanukah is always filled with excitement and fun at Ezra Academy, and this year was going to be no different. They hit the ground running as the grades were separated into different large rooms for their traditional “class combat” – a grade vs. grade competition. To get everyone in the right mindset, the school surprised all the students with t-shirts. Each grade wore a different color to help get their team spirit going. Following this, the games got underway. Each grade was given Chanukah-related activities, each of which needed to be submitted with video proof of their completed challenges. In addition, each team needed to create a Chanukah banner using specific and random items accompanied by a d’var Torah. The ninth grade came in second place for their amazing achdus, and the winning team was the tenth grade. Both grades will be awarded their prizes following Chanukah.

On Thursday, December 10, Shevach High School enabled its student body to start off Chanukah with a bang, with the grand opening of “NesCafé”! Four Juniors headed this creative enterprise: Tehila Davidov, Shayna Friedman, Faiga Lind, and Chan Simes, under the guidance of the Shevach Educational Administrator, Mrs. Devorah Kovitz. They explained why they chose the theme of NesCafé for their annual Chanukah Chagigah; “A Nes happened on Chaf Hei Kislev,” and we want to exemplify the importance of recognizing the miracles that Hashem performed for klal Yisrael during these days.”

Chanukah at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls has always been both lively and inspirational, and the restrictions imposed by the pandemic this year didn’t hamper our school spirit! The week of Chanukah was ushered in with an uplifting student-produced video welcoming SKA’s Reflect the Lights Chanukah program. Suggestions for how to make the nights “light up” included playing a game with your family, expressing your thoughts in a journal, learning from the SKA Chanukah booklet, and many others posted in the Chanukah Idea Bank. With the encouragement of the students to spend meaningful moments after candle lighting reflecting on what Chanukah commemorates and making connections, the yom tov began on a highly spiritual note.

Photo Credit Maxine Lipshitz

On Motza’ei Shabbos, December 5, the Yeshiva of Central Queens had its third-grade virtual Intergenerational Melaveh Malkah. During the past few weeks leading up to the Melaveh Malkah, the third-grade students practiced and rehearsed their songs with their moros and music teacher, Morah Tali Spector, in order to perfect them for the presentation. Each of the four third-grade classes was pre-recorded singing one song, and all four songs were shown at the Melaveh Malkah on Zoom to YCQ administrators, faculty, and the families and friends of the third graders. One student in each class presented a d’var Torah about the song their class sang. Benjamin Niyazov introduced the song Shabbos is Going Away, the song Eliyahu HaNavi was introduced by Eliyahu Babaev, the third song (LaNer B’samim) was presented by Allie Daniel, and the fourth and final song (David Melech) was presented by Eliana Aulov. “My favorite part was singing the songs. I liked showing the songs to my family,” said Eliana Pleshtiyev, a third-grader. Suri Lalo said, “I liked when we saw the video at the Melaveh Malkah and when my mom saw the video.”