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.”
On Friday, December 4, moros and teachers delivered packages to the third-grade students, which included ingredients that were provided by Bravo Pizza, to make their own personalized pizza pies. After the presentation, Rabbi Ribalt, elementary school Judaic studies assistant principal, dressed up as an Italian pizza maker and taught the students how to create their own personal pizzas. Each student designed his or her own pizza and wer able to share their creations on Zoom. Both Elisha Faigen and Joshua Borukhov said that “Making and eating the pizza was their favorite part of the night.” After they created their delicious pizza pies, a raffle was held, and prizes were awarded to two students per class. Later, during the night, Shlomo Levinger, a magician, performed some amazing magic tricks for the third-grade students and their families. “I liked the balloon trick that the magician did. The magician swallowed the balloon. It was really cool,” said Suri Lalo.
Students and guests were all excited to still be able to enjoy such a special event, even if the venue was not the same as past years. The teachers, along with their students, put a tremendous amount of work into making this a special and memorable event.
By Sarah Owadeyah
