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The middle school students at the Yeshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) recently participated in the school’s first Day of Chesed of the 2019-20 academic year. As part of the special program on Thursday, October 10, the students engaged in a number of activities, all of which spread a degree of warmth, love, and learning to different parts of the Queens Jewish community.

On Friday, September 20, the students and faculty of Shevach High School were privileged to hear from Mrs. Dina Schoonmaker, who had just arrived that morning from Eretz Yisrael. Mrs. Schoonmaker is a member of the faculty of Michlalah and a renowned speaker and lecturer. Her topic was preparing for Rosh HaShanah. She stressed the idea that if a person overcomes his negative qualities and is able to overlook others’ misdeeds, Hashem will show mercy with His judgment. She explained this in terms of one’s measuring how others treat us vis-à-vis how we treat them; we should not ruminate on the perceived wrongs that others do to us. We should be sure not to become, in her words, a “pain obsessor” or an “injustice collector.”

Experience is the best way to learn. The fourth graders at the Bais Yaakov Academy of Queens started off the year with a science unit on matter. The girls explored triple-beam balances to understand mass. They learned about the three states of matter. The girls studied a solid ice cube and then a melting ice cube, noting properties of each state. One teacher commented, “It’s amazing to see the joy of learning light up my students’ faces! They love when the lessons become real, with a hands-on component!”

We spoke with Rabbi Gamliel LaBrie, the Menahel at Mesivta Yam HaTorah, to get a feel for his unique approach to chinuch. Rabbi LaBrie learned in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, where he received his Yoreh Yoreh Yadin Yadin s’michah in 2015. Rabbi LaBrie has been a rebbe at Yam HaTorah since 2015. He joined the administration in 2018, where he has developed genuine relationships with students while simultaneously implementing a culture of accountability and responsibility to engender positive choices by students to foster their success and growth.

MTA set the tone for a meaningful Rosh HaShanah for its talmidim with a special Mishmar Madness. Held on Thursday, September 26, the event featured chaburos with Yeshiva University talmidim and shiurim with MTA rebbeim, which focused on topics relevant to Rosh HaShanah. Afterwards, talmidim and rebbeim gathered together for a moving kumsitz, getting themselves spiritually ready for the upcoming Yom Tov.

Residents of the brand- new, luxury neighborhood of Ramat Givat Zeev were excited by the opening of the school year, with first-graders attending the newly established, local state chareidi school, under the very skilled leadership of principal Rabbi Avraham Horowitz.