5685 Beacon Street | Pittsburgh PA, 15217 | (412) 521-8131
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Parshat Terumah
March 3, 2017 - 5 Adar 5777
Shabbat Candle Lighting - by 5:56
pm
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DVAR TORAH - Thoughts from the Principal & Educational Director
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Many commentators are troubled with the fact that the construction of the Mishkan is defined by an inherent contradiction. On the one hand, building the Mishkan is mandatory and constitutes a
Mitzvah
. On the other hand, the Torah explains that contributions for the building of the Mishkan should be voluntary, an expression of heartfelt devotion.
One of my Rebbeim
in Yeshiva University, Rabbi Meir Twersky, used this paradox to explain a profound religious principle. We are commanded to seek holiness and to induce the S
hechina to dwell in our midst. However, it is impossible to attain
kedusha if we act merely from a sense of obligation. To achieve
kedusha, one must yearn for it. We must be propelled by a spiritual
volunteerism. Accordingly, the
mitzvah of "let them make me a sanctuary" requires meaningful devotion.
In education, it is so important that we ensure our students attain a personal yearning to bring G-d into their lives. At the same time we must be careful that they don't view Judaism as a list of obligations and requirements. If that is how we present Judaism, we will ultimately undermine our own efforts and have negative effects. Like the building of the Mishkan, we must navigate this paradox and teach our students to serve Hashem out of a sense of both obligation and genuine devotion.
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Ms. Myers Language Arts Class - Citation
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Last week, the
seventh
graders began a unit about citation--learning about why it is necessary to cite sources of information, and how to do it. They started by decoding the publisher's page that appear in the front of every book. This is where to find the relevant information needed to build a works cited page. There's a lot of other
information
on these pages that provides insight into the publishing industry - especially when it comes to legal issues such as protecting copyright and universal coding for stores and libraries. Understanding this page ultimately provides greater insight into what books are and how they function. After learning how to build a works cited page from book sources, the students will learn about online sources. Do you know how to find the copyright date for a webpage?
This week the students continued learning about how to cite sources when writing a research paper. Now that everyone is familiar with what kind of information they can find on a publisher's page, they can use relevant parts of that information to compose and format a works cited page. Nowadays, research online is the norm, so next they will focus on citation information online and how to format it using the most recent citation guidelines.
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4
Number of chicks that visited school this week.
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50
Dollars: Price of a front row ticket at the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on March 7 at the JCC.
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54
Dollars: Minimum donation amount if you want a Purim basket this year.
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314
Minutes we were without WiFi this past Wednesday.
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18
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10
PM - game time of the
Heat's next game this Sat. Night.
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Pittsburgh teens connect with seniors through G2G podcast interviews
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Jacob Wiesenfeld, 17, got involved in G2G because he saw value in the program's dual benefits.
"The podcast is the auditory equivalent of a painting. It can be as complex or simple, short or long, as the creator wishes," says Wiesenfeld, a student at
Hillel Academy. "With the help of Rabbi Jeremy, we are traversing generations in search of stories. The podcast is our mode of travel."
Reprinted with permission.
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The GHS took a field trip to RAND Corporation in Oakland. They met Dr. Claude Messan, a Bio-statistician who works on projects for different organizations (e.g. the Department of Education, the U.S. Army, the National Institute of Health). Some of the projects that he and a few of his colleagues shared with us included the following: a study determining a ranking system of Hospice Care throughout the U.S.; an evaluation of the No Child Left Behind Act to determine it's effectiveness; an observational study to ascertain whether supplemental online math help in high school is helpful in retaining knowledge; what effects "retail clinics" have on our health system, economy, and wellness; and whether PTSD (an "invisible wound") affects those who come back from war. Many of our students had questions for Dr. Messan and were very interested in his work. The students even recognized some of the math he showed (linear regression and statistical evaluations using p-values)! They also learned that Dr. Messan works with other statisticians, doctors, environmental scientists, lawyers, engineers, and other experts in many other fields that are changing the world. Many of the girls asked really great questions and are curious about when and where their next career observation
field trip will
be!
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This past weekend our students traveled to Detroit to take part in the annual Syium Mishnayos. The boys' behavior was phenomenal, they learned a tremendous amount with their counselors and had the opportunity to enjoy a number of fantastic speakers.
A special Mazel Tov to our students who finished a Seder of Mishnayos this year: Reuven Kanal, Yoni Kanal, Toivia Shmuel Grossberg, Akiva Moshe Silver, and Yitzy Berelowitz (who finished over Shabbos!).
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Fifth Grade Frog Dissection |
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| Rabbi Sutofsky's third installment of Parenting With a Plan, "Juggling Chainsaws" |
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6g working on a vocab assignment for the novel "Shooting Kabul".
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MSG Language Arts Lessons
The sixth grade continues to read "Shooting Kabul" and discuss the many of the important issues in the book such as discrimination and prejudices. I have also been reflecting on this topic from a Judaic and Jewish History stand point
. The girls will soon start their photography project with Ms. Gauscheman as a culmination of the unit.
The eighth grade began a unit on the genres of horror, mystery and suspense. Over the past few days, they read "Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. The girls were literally sitting on the edges of their seats! We will spend a few days on understanding the plot of the story, and then Mr. Muster will take over with a unit on Sherlock Holmes.
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Happy birthday to the following students who have birthdays in Adar/March!
K: Asher Zussman, Motti Weisswasser, Adina Goldberg
1: Yaffa Henteleff, Eli Berelowitz
2: Gabriel Elvgren
3: Abby Friedman
4: Miriam Levari
Thank you to our sponsor:
Mr. and Mrs. Sam and Yael Henteleff
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Veruca Salt, Mrs.
Teavee, Augustus Gloop are gearing up for a big performance next week, did you purchase your tickets yet?
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Gabe Small taught a workshop on origami for his final project on Japanese culture.
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Students researched a Japanese cultural art form, wrote a paper about it, and then presented their findings to the class. Gabe researched the different methods of origami construction and the types of paper that is traditionally used. He then created an original origami design and taught the class how to make it.
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 Programming: This week the kindergarten through second grades began to learn programming! Led by Mr. Kingman, Mr. Garwood and Mrs. Ziff will work with the students using Scratch Junior. Over the next two months, the students will learn a series of lessons that introduce Scratch Jr. features and programming blocks. They will create their own projects by applying their knowledge. |
The toddlers geared up for the cold, but are always ready to take off the coat, as we never know what the temp will be. 
Morah Rovka's class learned the number 8 and made an octopus our of a paper plate and pipe cleaners
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This week in Science, in honor of the letter "O," the nursery classes learned about organisms. Morah Elaine
began by discussing what we knew about potatoes.
We knew that we can eat them, peel them and cut them up. We knew that we can cook them in the oven or on the stove. When asked whether the potato was alive, we didn't think so. A potato doesn't have a face and it can't move, so we didn't think it could be a living thing.
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How could we tell for sure?
We found out.
First off, we learned that the word 'organism' is just a fancy scientific word that means 'living thing.'
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Contest: Where were the bnot and the two rabbis and what were they doing there? Winners will receive Hillel gear.
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Spontaneous dancing took place with the ECC and the middle school on Monday in honor of the arrival of the month of Adar in the caf!
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Last week in Morah Dori's Music Club, the students explored the sound of rain sticks. They used the the SmartBoard to watch a YouTube that showed rain sticks as an instrument. The students filled their rain sticks with sand and beads. The club also sang with the guitar to round out a fun-filled club.
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Second grade has watched b
rassica seeds, grass seeds, alfalfa seeds, and wheat seeds grow and change into actual plants. In the next few weeks we will discuss how new plants can grow from the stems of old plants. We will be cutting plant stems, place them in soil and observe them over time. Students are so excited to see the changes every day! Ask them how their lawn has grown over time and what happened when they mowed their lawns.
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Ask a third grader -
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What was their favorite math division story?
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Which famous person did they choose? Why?
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What class rule has helped make recess more enjoyable?
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What topic did they request for the Purim museum?
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How many lines of the megillah have they read so far?
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According to Rashi, why did Yaakov say, "I am Eisav, your oldest son?"
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Bassie practices the A and C cords during her weekly Violin Club lesson.
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During the PATHSs lesson in Morah Jessie's tiny tots class Twiggle taught how to be a good leader by being nice to our friends. We had had a special visit from Ms. Kristen, the Carnegie Librarian. She sang some of our favorite songs and read an awesome jazz book.
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They also had a special visit from Ms. Kristen, the Carnegie librarian. She sang some of their favorite songs and read an awesome jazz book.
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Morah Leah - This week Tamar's grammy came to our class and read a wonderful book called Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons, written by Eric Litwin. Pete loses the buttons on his shirt one by one (math skills) and deals with the loss by continuing to sing his song (coping skills). We loved the book so much, we made our own shirts for Pete the Cat and chose 4 groovy buttons. The buttons can "pop" off just like Pete's.
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We did not receive any guesses on last week's photo.
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Last week's photo:
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 This week's photo
Can you guess this week's FBF photo?
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Welcome to our life hacks section! Life hacks are easy strategies or techniques that you probably never thought of that can be used to "hack" every day problems--or manage your time and daily activities in a more efficient way. Some hacks are so useful that they come in handy every day, so we thought it would be fun for the Hillel family to share our favorite hacks with each other!
This Week's Hack was suggested by Ms. Oz.
Sharpen Dull Scissors
Fold a piece of aluminum foil nine or ten times and cut through the foil several times.
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With the team competing in the Red Sarachek Basketball Tournament 2017 Thursday, March 2nd - Monday, March 6th, 2017, we thought it would be appropriate to include this photo of one of our teams from back in the day. You can watch the games live - c
lick HEAT to check out live game action. The first game is Thursday night at 8:30 pm.
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Mazel Tov to alum Leeba (Siver) and Yosaif Mayer Rich on the birth of Avraham, who was
named
after after Rebitzen Silver's late father O"H.
Mazel Tov to Rabbi Daniel and Rebetzin Anna Yolkut on the birth of Leeba Hinda!
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The Art Department
Brought to you by the
Joshua L. Sindler, z"l Creative Classrooms, Art and Music Endowment Program
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Ms. Focareta's art club worked on printmaking this week. They used pencils to make designs on Styrofoam squares. Next they colored in the lines using makers. Once that step was completed, they took a moist sponge and gently pressed it against the Styrofoam. Finally, they took the wet Styrofoam and pressed it against a paper to view a very unique print of the design they created.
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Space is limited!
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Volunteer Opportunities -
Wednesday, March 8th 6:00pm - JF&CS Outreach and Orientation for Volunteer Attorneys
Sunday, March 19th 8:00am - J-Serve
J-Serve is an international day of Jewish teen service specifically designed for teens in 6th-12thgrade. Jewish teens from around greater Pittsburgh meet at the JCC in Squirrel Hill for breakfast and an engaging learning session led by their peers. Then, they're off to volunteer at more than 15 local service locations for several hours before returning to the JCC for lunch and celebration.
https://jccpgh.formstack.com/forms/jserve2017
Monday, March 27th 6:00pm - VOOM! Northside Food Pantry
Join us for our March VOOM and help the Northside Food Pantry with sorting and repacking. Volunteers will be unpacking and sorting boxes of mixed food items sent by the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank and re-packaging bulk goods from Sysco. This is a family friendly opportunity appropriate for children 5 or older. Minors must be accompanied by a parent.
http://jfedvolunteer.org/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=2720
Sunday, April 2nd All Day - Good Deeds Day
Each year, we spend the day focusing on projects assisting various community organizations, non-profits and religious institutions throughout the city. Due to the past success of Good Deeds Day within the Jewish community, this year we are partnering with almost 40 different neighborhood associations, religious institutions, and non-profit organizations to have over 800 volunteer spots all across Pittsburgh on April 2nd! This is a city-wide day of volunteering so bring your friends and family!
Aleph Institute:
Looking for volunteers to go to prison on Purim, to read the Megillah, or to drive for the Megillah reader or to go to bring a little joy to those incarcerated. If you can go, please send me an e-mail at
rabbivogel@alephne.org
a
nd he will be in contact with you. The requirements are, one should be over 21 and not be on parole or probation.
Shaare Torah: Please plan to join us on Sunday, March 5th for Shaare Torah's Blood Drive. We'll be here from 9:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. and you can make an appointment for a time that will work for you. Contact Linda in the shul office
(412-421-8855) or e-mail to
Office@ShaareTorah.net and register.
Your help is needed to be sure the Central Blood Bank has a supply of blood available when needed. Join us and help save a life.
Bnei Akiva- Bnei Akiva is changing times! Sniff is now from 4:30-5:30. We cannot wait to see everyone there, at Shaare Torah.
Girl's Oneg: Every Shabbos in the PZ Educational Building from 3:00-4:00. For all girls in grades K-6. Starting March 18th, Oneg will change times to 3:30-4:30. Hope to see you there!
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Get Ready!
On March 6th, something big is happening to benefit GEERZ.
We can't share any more details at this time,
but please look out for a follow-up email.
5 Years * 5 Cities * 150 Weekly Riders
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Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh
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5685 Beacon Street - P
ittsburgh, PA 15217
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