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Upcoming Events
April 17
Yom Hazikaron Community- Wide Night of Remembrance
April 18
Bnei Akiva of Los Angeles' Community-wide Commemoration of Yom HaZikaron & Celebration of Israel's 70th Yom Ha'atzmaut Program
See Flyer for Details
April 21
Kehilla Shabbat
See Flyer for Details
April 22
Barnes & Noble Bookfair
11:00am-2:00pm
April 29- May 3
7th Grade Seattle Trip
May 6
Celebrate Israel
Come March with our Hillel Kehilla and the entire community prior to the event and participate in the Celebrate Israel Event at discounted rate.
See Flyer for Details
May 10
Poker Tournament
Reserve your spot today!
See Flyer for Details
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Co-Sponsor a Rosh Chodesh Breakfast for the teachers and staff in in honor of a simcha, your teacher, or in memory of someone you love . The teachers really appreciate this gesture!
The next breakfast is this Monday,
April 16th for the month of Iyar. Thank you to this month's sponsors,
the Portnoy and Mittman families.
Click here to sign up or send $100 by Venmo to Hillel-PTA. Be sure to reference Rosh Chodesh Breakfast and include a note with your special message.
TEACHER & STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK
Teacher and staff appreciation week is coming up after Passover. The PTA will be honoring and celebrating our teachers and faculty with a grand breakfast, and lots of fun treats and surprises during the week.
To contribute to the teacher appreciation fund and show your gratitude,
click here or send your contribution via Venmo to @Hillel-PTA and reference Teacher Appreciation.
Your birthday child will get to choose a new book for the library with a dedication to him or her inside, check that book 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
Monday, April 23rd
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FRUIT CART
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.
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Mazal Tov!
Moshe and Yulia Hasidian on the birth of a baby boy!
Evy and Nilly Evron on the birth of a baby boy!
Head of school Rabbi Sufrin and Principal Jason Ablin congratulate Yaelle Shaye and Boaz Ediden on becoming the Valedictorians for the class of 2018!
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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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3/26/18
The Parnas Hayom was generously
Sponsored by Einat & Shlomi Ronen in loving memory of Leon (Arie) Ben Mendel z"l, grandfather of Einat and great grandfather of Lior, Talia, and Mia Ronen .
May the learning of Hillel's students be a zechut to his memory & may his neshama have an aliyah.
4/12/18
The Parnas Hayom was generously Sponsored by Mr. Yoni & Mrs. Ilana Zadok in honor of the 101st birthday of Dylan Zadok's great-grandmother, Mrs. Livia Schacter. May she continue to have nachat from Her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
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The Parnas Hayom was generously Sponsored by Devora Levin in honor of her granddaughter Tamar Scheinfeld's Bat Mitzvah this weekend."I am so proud of my granddaughter Tamar and all of her middot and accomplishments. May she continue to grow at Hillel in a life of Torah, Mitzvot and Chesed"
Mazel Tov!!
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ISSUE NO. 025
Friday, April 13, 2018
28 Nisan, 5778
Shabbat Mevarchim Chodesh Iyar
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We Make the Difference!
By Rabbi Sufrin, Head of School
This week's
parasha of Shemini describes what transpires on the eighth day of the dedication of the new משכן - Mishkan - "Tabernacle." For the initial seven days of the Mishkan's inauguration, Moshe served as the כהן גדול -- "the High Priest" while Aharon and his sons acted as Moshe's apprentices. Our sages teach us that it is on the eighth day when Moshe reverts back to his Levi status and Aharon with his sons assume the role of the kohanim that Hashem's Shechina
-- "Divine presence" is revealed. Why did Gd wait until Aharon and his sons had taken over the work of officiating in the Miskan before He revealed His presence? Surely we would assume Gd would have revealed Himself in Moshe's honor first?
Moshe and Aharon played two very different roles in relation to the Jewish people. Moshe, of lofty soul and utmost spiritual refinement, was able to ascend to the heavens and bring the Divine presence down into this world. This is clearly visible when He goes up to Mount Sinai and brings the Torah down to us, here in this world. Aharon, on the other hand, had the ability to relate to ordinary folk and to elevate the mundane. Aharon was prepared to encourage others to appreciate, aspire and work towards higher levels of spirituality and Divine connection. We see this when Aharon spends so much time and effort encouraging the people to forego their own feelings and to love everyone. This is expressed by our Sages in
Pirkei Avot
when they refer to Aharon as the master of: אוהב שלום ורודף שלום -- "a lover and pursuer of peace." This is also why one of Aharon's primary tasks in the building of the
mishkan
was to kindle the flame of the candelabra. The flame is a metaphor for the soul that burns and jumps upward, seeking to elevate itself and connect with the Divine.
Receiving Gd's presence and His blessing through Moshe would represent a gift from Gd that is bestowed of His benevolence with no effort on our part. When Gd's presence is revealed through Aharon, it represents that which is achieved via human effort. Gd values and appreciates the human effort expended in order to achieve a holy purpose or goal. Gd also recognizes that human accomplishment sustains behavior change and impacts the world more significantly than that which comes through spontaneous inspiration. This is why Gd waited for Aharon to take over before He revealed His presence in the
mishkan.
We read
parashat Shemini
as
we enter the time period of ספירת העומר --
sefirat haomer
-- "the counting of the Omer." During these seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot, we are charged to prepare ourselves daily to receive the Torah each year anew. This is a most special and opportune time for us to work towards and earn Gd's gifts and blessings. May we all, along with our children, delight in the
berachot
of our efforts and see much Divine light in the upcoming weeks.
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Enrollment is now open for Camp Hillel - Summer 2018!
For more information, contact Alexis Newman, Camp Hillel Director, at (310) 276-6135 or email
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Hillel Model UN
By Nate Mangione, Middle School History Teacher
Hillel has always prided itself on providing opportunities for students to become leaders. A great example of this is our Model UN program, in which students simulate the kind of work that member states of the United Nations seek to accomplish in real life. Members of Model UN commit themselves to improving their ability to speak in public, learn about the world around them using 21st-century research skills, and comport themselves in higher-pressure situations. Each member is assigned a country and a topic to research. The goal of every member of Model UN is to work together to find solutions to global issues that promote peace and further cooperation.
Starting in late November, Hillel students began preparing for this year's Model UN conference held at YULA Girls High School, officially called YULAMUN VII. This year's topics and committees were Girls Education, Preservation of Cultural Heritage Sites in Conflict Zones, The Rohingya Crisis and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Students spent one lunch period each week to become familiar with the procedures of Model UN and to practice speaking publicly on the topics they were assigned.
On March 25, each and every member of Hillel's Model UN team attended this year's conference prepared to present their research and determined to collaborate with students from other schools in order to find pragmatic solutions to important global issues. Our students spoke passionately about their topics and sought ways to respectfully build coalitions to support their ideas. In each committee, our students stood out as being well-researched, well-spoken, and team-oriented. The judges noticed this as well and, of the sixteen 7th and 8th grade students who joined the program, seven walked away with awards at this year's conference. This result was a great testament to the commitment Hillel students have to showing leadership and demonstrating excellence in our community.
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Our Hebrew Name Is Powerful!
Rabbi Eliram Elgrably, Middle School Judaic Studies
How much does your child know about his or her Hebrew name?
Almost every Jewish name has a meaning, and every name carries spiritual significance. A large majority of the personal names found in the Tanakh (about 15,000 people) convey a specific meaning.
As the 7th and 8th graders learned in class about the stories of the birth of the 12
shevatim
(tribes) in
Parashat Vayetze
, the yhad the opportunity to trace the Biblical meaning of our ancient fathers' names, and to decipher the meaning of their Hebrew names, too.
Learning the connection between the names of biblical characters and their actions helped the students to prepare a 20 minute lesson that was given to the entire class. They shared insightful and ideas about the heroes of sefer bereshit. The students were using creative ways to present the pesukim associated with each tribe - such as games, videos and slideshows. It is amazing to see that while the students each had the same requirements and goals, each presentation looked unique.
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Getting to know our CoLabs!
Rabbi Zach Swigard, Middle School Judaic Studies Principal
One of the most undervalued pieces of student engagement and empowerment is the concept of space, or more specifically, learning spaces. In order to be a truly student-centered school, learning spaces need to be reevaluated to meet all of the needs of our students.
One of the top trends in education is the concept of redesigning learning spaces for the 21st century classroom. Our students need and deserve better than the status-quo: a lecture-based, stagnant classroom. Our classrooms should enhance and increase pedagogy and the learning process, not hold it back. At Hillel, we're making the shift towards completely mobile and flexible classrooms called CoLabs.
However, to redesign a classroom powerfully and effectively, we need complete student buy-in. That is why we put the students in charge of the process. Towards the beginning of the school year, students are challenged to create learning spaces that will enhance a variety of learning methods, including PBL, lectures, group discussion, group work and individual work among others. Students create, experiment, tweak, debate, vote, eliminate and even name their learning spaces, until they come up with a list of their six favorite setups. Recreating the classroom in this fashion ensures that our new classroom will be THEIR classroom - not just the teacher's classroom.
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You don't want to miss Celebrate Israel on May 6! Be a part of the 15,000 people celebrating #Israel70 together!
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Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy accepts paid advertising if it conforms to the values of the school. However, the school and it's personnel with the Board of Directors do not accept liability or responsibility for advertisers' claims or kashrut of products advertised.
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