Volume 4, Issue 3 | October 24, 2025

From our school-wide celebration of the return of Israel’s hostages to hands-on learning inspired by Parshat Noach and Bereshit, our students spent this October connecting deeply to Torah, community, and the physical world. We began experiments in friction and incorporated math lessons into Hebrew and Torah learning, observed exotic animals from Noah’s Ark, and jumped back into full-time school after the holiday break. There are lots of events and programs coming up, so make sure to read to the end!

🎉 Celebrating the Return of the Hostages with Joyful Dancing & Meaningful Mitzvot ❤️

Songs, prayers, and cheers rang through the halls last Friday as students, parents, and staff gathered to celebrate the miraculous return of all living hostages to Israel over the Sukkot school break. For two years, the Mercaz community has prayed daily for their safe return, and we marked the moment with a joyful and meaningful school-wide program led by our Israeli B’not Sherut, Mevaseret and Einat.


“We couldn’t let this moment pass by without celebrating as a school,” said Principal Rabbi Kalman Fogel. “All of Am Yisrael, all over the world, is feeling such intense simcha (joy), achdut (unity), and hoda’ah (gratitude) as we welcome home our captives after two long, difficult years, and want to make sure our kids felt they were part of this communal rejoicing.”

Students in every grade wrote letters of thanks to IDF soldiers still serving, which will be hand-delivered by Mevaseret’s visiting family. They wrote in Hebrew and English, drew pictures and flags, and signed their names to heartfelt messages of love and support.

Then, students recited a special intention before a communal hafrashat challah, the traditional mitzvah of separating and braiding challah dough. For many, this mitzvah had taken on special significance during the recent conflict, as communities worldwide performed it while praying on behalf of the hostages and soldiers. 

Exuberant Israeli music, dancing, and singing brought the event to an emotional close, uniting everyone in jubilant celebration. Students, teachers, parents, and staff all danced and sang together, circling, jumping, spinning and energetically waving Israeli flags. “It was an impromptu event that we put together in less than a day, and it was a perfect expression of what we are all feeling,” said Rabbi Fogel. “Relief, joy, unity, gratitude, belief in the power of prayer.”

Watch a highlight video from the event on our Instagram channel - click here to follow us!

🌊 Noah's Ark Sails into Mercaz Academy 🐊🐊

🍅 From Gan Eden to the GrowTorah Garden

This week in the Mercaz GrowTorah garden, students connected Parshat Bereshit to the world around them. We learned that when Hashem created Adam and Chava, He placed them in Gan Eden (a garden!) and gave them the mitzvah “l’ovdah u’l’shomrah” — to work the land and to protect it and take care of it. Together, we explored what that means and set out to do both in our own garden! 

First, in the spirit of l’ovdah, we enjoyed a harvest of tomatoes, parsley, and fennel, and planted new radish seeds. Then, in the spirit of l’shomrah, we set to work pruning our garden and composting wilted plants! May our learning in the garden inspire us to nurture and protect the world around us.

In Farm to Table, fifth grade students discussed the meaning of the rainbow that Hashem gave Noach as a promise in this week’s parsha, and made rainbow veggie wraps with peppers, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage and a chummus spread. We  resolved to appreciate Hashem’s promise by learning from the mistakes of Noach’s generation, and to treat each other with kindness.

🍋 Do you have an etrog you don't want to toss? Compost it with GrowTorah! Register your etrog and drop it off at the Mercaz collection box by November 7th.

Click to RSVP!