MIVASERET MERCAZ
מבשרת מרכז
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Over the past two weeks, Mercaz Academy has been focusing on Yom Kippur and Sukkot...but that's not all we've been doing. |
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A message from our principal, Rabbi Kalman Fogel |
What are we really celebrating on Sukkot?
When you think of the most inhospitable places on earth, deserts in the Middle East with no food or water would be high on the list. How did Am Yisrael survive 40 years wandering through the Sinai desert? Just like today, although we don’t always see it, Hashem provided all of our needs. We ate the mann, the food that literally fell from the sky; we drank from the miraculous traveling well of Miriam; and we relaxed under the protective cloud of Hashem’s presence. This week, we move from our homes to the sukkah, the temporary home we have built and decorated, to commemorate the third of these miracles–the clouds that surrounded us through those years.
But what about the mann and the well? Weren’t those more important? We could have survived without the clouds, but would have perished in mere days without food and water. Why are the clouds so much more meaningful to us?
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Mercaz Is Ready for the Holidays |
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Aquarium a Labor of Love at Mercaz Academy |
The fish are weaving dreamily among waving green fronds in the Mercaz Academy freshwater aquarium as Avinoam Biderman of Fish Tank Love cleans the tank. Three young students are watching him work with interest. Mr. Biderman performs all the professional maintenance a large tank like this needs free of charge, a gift to Mercaz Academy. Under his watchful eye, the fish stay healthy and the water remains clear.
But how did the aquarium arrive at Mercaz?
“Molly and Roee Mordechai, who have three children enrolled at Mercaz Academy, contacted me last year to ask if we’d like a freshwater aquarium,” said Mercaz Academy principal Rabbi Kalman Fogel. “I said, ‘Of course!’ Aquariums are an amazing educational tool, and I was excited to have one here, for so many reasons..."
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Mr. Craig Resmovits, who is teaching music at Mercaz Academy and developing its new music program, has a degree in music from Queens College and has been teaching music at New York area schools and camps for several years.
The new music program begins with the younger children singing and learning new songs that dovetail with their religious and secular studies, as well as an introduction to basic instruments. In addition to these lessons, older students will also learn music literacy and rhythm, which will enable them to read and write their own music...
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Early Childhood Students Learn About Sukkot |
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Nursery Aleph student making sukkah decorations with Q-tip painting |
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Nursery Aleph student stringing the pomegranate for hanging in the sukkah
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Nursery Aleph student practicing with toy arba minim (four species). |
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Nursery Bet continues their apple theme with sukkah decorations |
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Nursery Bet painting toy etrogim (citrons). |
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Nursery Bet singing along at music class in the sukkah with Mr. Resmovits |
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Kindergarteners created their own lulavim.
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Hands-On Teshuva in Kitah Bet |
Morah Tikva's Kitah Bet students learned some hands-on lessons about teshuva (repentance) this week. First, they learned about vidui, the section of tefillah in which we acknowledge the bad things we've done and tell Hashem we're sorry. Then each student privately wrote something to apologize for on water-soluble paper. When Kitah Bet students dropped the papers into the water, they dissolved, just as we hope our aveirot (sins) disappeared on Yom Kippur, when Hashem forgave us.
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Fifth Grade Inventors:
Just What You Need
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Mrs. Katherine Papaccioli's fifth graders were asked to invent something that would "make life easier." Students were divided into three groups and came up with three very helpful designs: a "Dogbot" that vacuums indoors and out, and also takes out the garbage; reinforced, indestructible glasses that withstand any abuse; and a jet-powered skateboard that is so safe, speedy, and fun to operate that it will reduce automobile accidents. There are still a few technical details to be worked out, but these inventions are guaranteed to take off when they make it to market. |
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Kitah Daled Builds Model Sukkot
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Kitah Daled learned how to build a sukkah, then applied their knowledge to make accurate scale models. Students know that the minimum height is ten tefachim, about 40 inches, and that the maximum height is 20 amot, about 30 feet. They know how many walls are required and what s'chach to use for the roof. Using reclaimed and recycled material, they are building and decorating their own tiny sukkot and reducing the amount of landfill, too.
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Kitot Hay and Daled Learn
About the Arba Minim
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Rabbi Avi Kramer taught Kitot Hay and Daled all about the arba minim (the four species) that we take up on Sukkot. Rabbi Kramer showed students the biblical source for the arba minim in Sefer Vayikra (Leviticus). We learned how the Torah describes the four species: a beautiful fruit of a tree, fronds of a date palm, boughs of avot trees, and river willows. How do we know that a beautiful fruit is an etrog? Rabbi Kramer explained that there are two types of Torah, the written and the oral. We know that a beautiful fruit means an etrog because we received that information in a direct line of transmission straight from Moshe Rabbeinu about 3,300 years ago. In all that time, no one has ever suggested that it meant any other fruit. That's an impressively long chain to remain unbroken.
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Third Grade Begins Reading Their First Novel |
Mrs. Laura Paul's class has just begun reading their first novel, Freckle Juice, by Judy Blume. The third graders are enjoying the book, which they describe as "silly and funny," and are analyzing the book in small workgroups. They are learning how to follow characters through longer texts for the first time, and are currently focused on analyzing character traits. How might one describe characters as they change and develop over time? The third graders welcome this new phase in their reading lives, and look forward to finishing this exciting story.
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Sixth Graders Tie Lulavim
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Sixth grade students welcomed back Mercaz Academy grandparent and scholar Rabbi Dr. Elliot Grossman for pre-holiday enrichment. Prior to Yom Kippur, Rabbi Dr. Grossman taught the avodah, the service that the kohen gadol performed in the Beit HaMikdash on Yom Kippur. He returned to teach students about the rules of Sukkot, with a focus on the arbah minim, the four species. The sixth graders got hands-on when they received their own palm fronds to make rings to bind together three of the four species. The lesson, combining origami and halacha, really tied things up beautifully before Sukkot.
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Monday, October 10 through Tuesday, October 18
Monday, October 24
Tuesday, October 25
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Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, Pizza Day
Wednesday, November 2
Monday, November 7
- Student Council Election Day
Tuesday, November 8
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No school, Election Day (Staff Professional Development)
Thursday, November 10
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