Local

Students at SINAI@YCQ who had recently written letters of gratitude to Israeli soldiers were thrilled to receive a response back from one of them, who thanked the students, sent a picture of the letters on display at the army base, and said the letters “give us a boost” and “we read [them] every day.” Meanwhile, junior high school students joined with their peers at the Yeshiva of Central Queens to show their own support for Israel in the schoolyard!

Strategic grouping facilitates teamwork and success. Students can brainstorm, collaborate, and communicate to achieve a common goal. Once new academic skills are taught, the best way to ensure that they are embedded, and students are comfortable and confident using them is through differentiated stations. This creates an environment that builds stamina and endurance, stepping away from the frontal piece and putting the spotlight on the mini-scholar.

This past week, Seniors at MTA had the privilege of meeting with Emmy Award-winning reporter and investigative journalist Jonah Kaplan of CBS News. This meeting took place within the context of the award-winning Names, Not Numbers® project, created 20 years ago by Tova Rosenberg (this is MTA’s 18^th year). Jonah Kaplan met with the approximately 30 seniors who are taking part in this elective project to help them prepare for their interviews with Holocaust Survivors.

Last week, the parent body from HALB, Lev Chana, SKA, and DRS, joined together to create a HALB Shuk, chaired by Hanna Berry, Stephanie Sokol, and Katie Weisz. Birch Events donated their time and resources to transform the backyard into a beautiful shuk filled with items for sale from 47 local vendors who all donated their items for free.  Every dollar spent at the shuk went to Eretz Hemda, an organization that provides the IDF with Tashmishei Kedushah such as tzitzit. kippot, sidurim, and more.  Additionally, a table was set up for children to draw pictures for chayalim and for Tehillim.  The outpouring of support by local vendors, store owners, and community members was beautiful and brought a lot of strength and hope for Israel and the Jewish people. The HALB Shuk raised $35,000 for Eretz Hemda!

The YCQ Junior High School (JHS) created an unprecedented moment of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel. Over the past three weeks, since we learned about the horrors inflicted upon our people in Israel, the YCQ JHS has been turning our focus to Israel through t’filah, talmud Torah, chesed, political activism, and learning about the history of our homeland. We have also sent supplies to Israel and letters to soldiers, victims, and politicians. We have done everything but actually gone to Israel, which was not practical. So, what did we do? We brought Israel to YCQ!

On October 27, commemorating the yahrzeit of Rachel Imeinu, high school girls gathered with their morot for an inspirational learning program on the topic of “Connecting to Tefillah Through the Morning Brachot.” The program opened with a wonderful and impactful multimedia presentation followed by Morah Batsheva Fink’s explanation of the meaningful midrash about Rachel’s selflessness and devotion to Klal Yisrael. The Girls’ Chorus, led by seniors Rachel Levian and Rebecca Lalo, performed a beautiful version of “Kol Berama” and “Mama Rachel.”