The celebration and reflection of spring continued at Central on Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut. Last Tuesday’s focus was one of education and remembrance. Central students heard from a former Israeli soldier, Shahaf Segal, about his service experience. The students responded to the warmth and humor in Mr. Segal’s delivery, as well as his core message.

For 31 years, Rabbi Yaakov Lonner, YCQ’s Executive Director, has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Despite the long hours and the many responsibilities that come with the job, Rabbi Lonner took time out of his busy schedule to teach the students of our Yeshiva. Every week, students who participated in the afterschool Mishmar program had the opportunity to hear words of Torah and wisdom from Rabbi Lonner.

To culminate the bas mitzvah year, the seventh grade had an inspirational and fun mother-daughter breakfast this past Sunday. To prepare, they each researched a woman in Tanach and created a beautiful apron highlighting one midah gleaned. The breakfast itself was decorated in splendor with a delicious buffet and hot cocoa bar. Rebbetzin Amit Yaghoubi came to speak, inspiring the girls and their mothers in this journey of a bas mitzvah.

Orot girls had a blast this Pesach! For those who are not familiar with Orot, it's the girls’ division of Ohr Natan, where weekly shiurim, workshops, and activities for girls ages 15 and up are held. In preparation for Pesach this year, Orot held a fascinating class featuring Rabbi Maksumov on the Amazing Secrets of the Ten Plagues. The following week, Orot organized a special workshop for the girls: Step By Step Seder, where they went through the Hagaddah and learned how to hold a proper Seder. They were even able to take notes and make annotations in the new Ohr Natan English-Hebrew Hagaddahs and notebooks they received as gifts. They then enjoyed divrei Torah by R' Natan Kaziev, followed by a fun time making and decorating their own pillows to be used during the Seder!

As a sequel to this past Chodesh Iyar mesibah, the talmidim from grades one through four at Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe waited with bated breath to find out who would be the recipient of the “mustache.” The grand prize mustache was won by Shlomo Musheyev, 2R. Obviously, a mustache alone would not suffice as an adequate prize until Mustache Monday was introduced. Shlomo paraded around the lunchroom disguised as a secret agent, surveying the students and handing out prizes to the best behaved and obedient benchers. Now that the boys witnessed how elaborate a mustache prize can be, they await to see what is in store for next month. Stay tuned.