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Upcoming Events
December 15 & 18
Chanukah
School Closed
December 19
Rosh Chodesh Tevet
Early Dismissal
PN-5th Regular
6th-8th 4:00pm
N & K HAS Only- Stay & Play until 3:45. No HAS or HW club for Pre1-5th
December 20
Regular Dismissal
December 25
Bank Holiday
School Closed
December 28
Asara B'Tevet
Early Dismissal
6-8 1:00pm
P1-5 2:00pm
PN-K Regular
No After
School Programs
January 1, 2018
Bank Holiday
School Closed
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Co-Sponsor a Rosh Chodesh Breakfast for the teachers and staff in in honor of your child's bar mitzvah, birthday, or teacher; or in honor or memory of someone you love. The teachers
really appreciate
this gesture
! The next Rosh Chodesh teacher breakfast will be Tuesday December 19, but you can sign up online in advance for any month. $100, or add multiple times to your cart to contribute $200 or $300 if desired.
Your birthday child will get to choose a new book for the library with a dedication to him or her inside, check it out first, and have their picture proudly on display in the library.
Kids love to see their names in the books!
Excess funds will be used for recreational supplies like games, balls, hula hoops and jump ropes.
The next birthday celebration will be Tuesday, December 26th.
Give your children the gift of healthy food. A fun and enjoyable treat! Fruit cart sign-up entitles your student to a bag of fresh fruit once a week during the entire school year. Fruit cart is available for
Grades Pre-1 to 8
on Wednesday
mornings.
Sign up online here
for the remainder of the year.
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Mazal Tov
Mazal Tov to
David and Roneet Aviv family on the birth of a baby boy!!
Mazal Tov to Matthew & Chelsea Schames
on the birth of a baby boy!!
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Parnas Hayom
Parnas
HaYom
is a beautiful way to honor a yarzheit, merit a refuah shelemah, or celebrate a simcha. Dedicating the Torah learning of students at Hillel to mark an occasion helps us to imbue both a love of learning and appreciation for the value of Torah scholarship.
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December 14
...The Parnas HaYom is dedicated in memory of Rabbi Yitzchak ben Meir Levin z"l, (HaRav Yitzchak Ben Meir Levin z"l) on the occasion of his Yartzeit Kof Vav Kislev 26 Kislev (December 14, 2017). Sponsored by Devora Levin, Rivka and Moshe Scheinfeld, grandmother and parents of Tamar - grade 6, Batsheva - grade 4 and Yudi - grade 3.
May the learning of Hillel's students be a zechut to his memory & may his neshama have an aliyah.
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ISSUE NO. 011
Erev Shabbat Mevarchim Chodesh Tevet
Erev Shabbat Chanukah (Light 4 Candles tonight)
Friday, December 15, 2017
27 Kislev 5778
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Devar Miketz 5778 -Chanukah
By Rabbi Sufrin, Head of School
 For the first 12 days of the dedication of the
Mishkan,
the heads of each tribe, other than the Leviim, brought a sacrifice. Aharon the High Priest saw all of these gifts being delivered and he was saddened that his tribe, the Tribe of Levi was not represented. Hashem told Aharon that he should not be upset, as He had designated for Aharon a role in the
Mishkan that far surpassed in importance the sacrifices brought by
the Heads of the other Tribes. Gd had decided that Aharon
אַהֲרֹן
the High Priest
כהן גדול
would light the
Menorah
daily in the
Mishkan.
Why is the lighting of the Menorah of such great significance?
The
Midrash
explains that after the destruction of the Temple there would be no sacrifices, whereas the lighting of the
Menorah
would continue with Divine purpose in every generation. In the time period when the story of Chanukah takes place, the original Menorah of the Holy Temple had 7 candles. It was an extremely dark time in Jewish history as the Hellenists wanted the Jewish people to assimilate and deny the existence of Gd. The miracle of Chanukah allowed us to transcend the Hellenistic vision of materialism and spiritual darkness and to bring Gdly light into the world. This Divine light is represented by the 8 candles of the Menorah.
The number 8 is associated in Jewish literature with that which is beyond nature. The days of the week and other natural cycles and worldly things are dictated by the number 7, whereas the supernatural is influenced by the number 8. David's harp had 7 strings whereas Moshiach's harp has 8. Much of what we experience in our lives is confined to the boundaries of nature. Even the
mitzvot
we perform are often dictated to specific times and defined in fixed ways. Our Gd given mission is to bring holiness into the physical world in which we live. From time to time, seemingly natural phenomena, can create a darkness that causes us to forget that Gd is the force and Creator of this amazing world. At times such as these, Gd helps us to transcend the limitations of nature. It is our responsibility and privilege, similar to the holiest task of Aharon the High Priest in the
Mishkan
, to reignite the Divine flame within us and spread the light to those around us.
May we all merit through Chanukah and the lighting of the Menorah to be blessed with the Divine blessing and may we transcend our natural limitations and see only goodness and light.
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Sevivon Game with a Twist:
Fifth Grade Plays a Game of Sevivon that Brings out the Best in Others
Rabbi Eli Broner, 5th Grade Judaic Studies Teacher
A few years ago, Ze'ev Korn, a Hillel parent, shared a Sevivon game with me that completely changed my Chanukah. The game focused on making sure the players all walk away feeling special about themselves and those they played the game with. It focuses on giving or receiving compliments. Each player gets to both show others what is important to them, as well as hear how others see them, all while having fun playing a Chanukah game.
I have played this game with many of my students over the years as well as my family - all with amazing results. This year, I have the good fortune of having Ze'ev's son Ami in my class. So when we played this game, it was even more special. I love watching my students find ways to recognize the strengths and attributes of their peers. Hearing students say, "I never knew that anyone noticed that about me," and watching them walk with their heads a little higher, is worth more than any money you would win in a traditional game.
I figured, Why keep this game to myself? So here you go: enjoy this game with family and friends. Feel free to share your experience with me afterwards at
[email protected]
.
Thank you Ze'ev Korn for allowing me to share this with our community.
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Celebrating Chanukah!
Morah Cheryl Ibgui- Pre Nursery Teacher
 Dreidels are Spinning Everywhere!
We are all so excited about the upcoming Chanukah holiday, which is celebrated for eight days. This celebration, which is the Festival of Lights, is the time of remembering the miracle in Jerusalem when a small amount of purified oil lasted eight days. This celebration time is both for giving and sharing with others. We have been working hard trying to teach the youngest children in the school some of the symbols of this holiday. They are learning all about the Chanukiah that we light for eight days, olive oil and candles, potato latkes, sufganiyot and of course, the spinning dreidel.
Besides painting (and more painting!) and creating their own Chanukiah in our classroom, one of the students' favorite times of day is when we take out the dreidels for the children to spin together. You can hear them singing the Chanukah songs as they have so much fun playing with the driedels. Besides being an effective small manipulative for them to work with, we had a blast having our very own Dreidel Spin-off! We hope this holiday will give the children wonderful memories in the future. Happy Chanukah to all!
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Flexible Learning Spaces
Angelle Tymon, 4th Grade General Studies Teacher
 This year we are excited to celebrate our new collaborative and flexible learning space in fourth grade! Not only does our classroom give students the choice to find the learning space that works best for them, but it also helps them to communicate and engage in critical thinking. The students love having the choice to sit on the couch, the bean bag chairs, the crate seats, or just lie on the floor while working.
The biggest addition to our learning environment this year is our new whiteboard tables... and it is an understatement to say the students absolutely love them! We have noticed the students are happier to learn and are much more engaged when we allow them to use the whiteboard tables. To hear the students say, "This is so much fun!" and "Oh, I'm getting it now," puts such a smile on our faces, knowing that kids are growing and learning. The whiteboard tables are an easy way for us, as teachers, to assess who is really understanding the skill we are covering or who might need more support. It's also a wonderful tool to use during our rotating stations during centers. We can easily use the tables for small group instruction. We are able to see the students self-correct their work or even help their classmates problem-solve. These tables have truly changed the vibe of our classroom!
Another time we encourage flexible seating is during our silent-read time. The students love to utilize every possible space in the classroom. We allow them to sit in whichever space makes them the most comfortable while they read. We also have stadium seats that the students love to sit on during this time. Some students love to crawl under the tables and read! As long as it's safe and the students are actively working, we allow them to choose the space that works best for them. We believe that providing this type of environment, in which students can make smart choices to help themselves learn, makes our fourth grade classroom a success!
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