6th & 7th Grade Newsletter, October 2024 | Tishrei 5785

6th GRADE

We began the JLL year beautifying the JLL and creating community!

Topics we will explore this year:

  • Israel
  • Jewish values and becoming a Jewish teen
  • Lo Ta'amod and Social Justice
  • The Holocaust

and we will celebrate the Jewish Holidays in real time!


Students are required to silence and park their cell phones "in jail" (as students have dubbed it) for the duration of our time together. To contact your child during JLL time, call the JLL office or email Patty Neiman.

Students created intentions for 5785

Students explored their connection to Israel

Students explored Rosh Hashanah food traditions

To celebrate Sukkot, we read the Jewish Book Award winner, The Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda and had a Zoom call with the author, Rabbi Shoshana Nambi!

We fulfilled the mitzvot of Sukkot as we sat in the sukkah and shook the lulav!

Meet our Shinshinit, Anita Lebedkin!

Anita spends each Wednesday evening getting to know the 6th and 7th Graders, enthusiastically bringing Israel language, culture and history to the JLL. Anita is spending a gap year between high school graduation and IDF service as one of eight Shinshinim bringing Israel to life for 30 Westchester County Jewish institutions under the auspices of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI).

7th GRADE

In four, six weeks-long rotations over the course of this year, students are engaging with our clergy team* to explore

  • the story of Israel with Rabbi Alissa Platcow
  • the story of World Jewry with Cantor Isaac Sonett-Assor
  • the story of Our Family with Rabbinic Intern Micah Glickman
  • the story of The Shoah (Holocaust) with Cantorial Intern Phil Fisherman

*7th Grade Sharing Shabbat students are exploring these stories with Joanne Citrin.

Parents are invited to the last session of each rotation when students showcase projects resulting from what they have explored.

Join your child from 5:30-6:30 on these Wednesdays:

10/30, 12/18, 2/12 & 4/23

Students heard modern Hebrew slang

Students explored Jewish communities and traditions around the world

Students created a family tree

Students explored connections to ancient texts





Students explored their connection to Israel

Bimah Skills Workshops

From 5:00-5:30 on Wednesdays, students meet in small groups (arranged according to BMitzvah dates) with Ivy Schwartz or Debbie Veetal to brush up on the prayers of the liturgy before beginning the Trope workshop.

Trope Workshops

Before the start of BMitzvah tutoring, students meet for four weeks in small groups (arranged according to BMitzvah dates) with Nancy Abraham or Cantorial Intern Phil Fisherman. The workshops meet on Wednesday from 5:00-5:30 and students are introduced to trope, the symbols and melodies used to chant from the Torah.

The JLL Parent Portal contains 6/7th Grade program details.

Weekly recaps of 6/7th Grade activities are posted on Remini.

Joanne Citrin, 914-723-5226 ext. 8624




WRT Stands with Israel