ICJA's COVID protocols were updated Monday, February 14, 2022) To view current school protocols - Click here.

Students in Mrs. Marmel's Junior Girls' Honors Hebrew class mastered some specialist Hebrew vocabulary this week, when they discussed Intel's recent announcement that it is acquiring the Israeli firm Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion.

Students watched a news report about the Tower Semiconductor and its sale. The company, based in Migdal Ha'emek, will be the sixth Israeli company Intel has purchased in recent years.

After watching the news clip, students answered questions and discussed the sale - all in Hebrew.

Pictured right: Adina Margolin, explaining a detail about the report.

Pictured below: students watching the news, and Charli Ernstein preparing to answer a question.

Students in Dr. Brown's New Media Communications class wrapped up a unit on online privacy with a special guest speaker: Mrs. Margo Kahnrose, Chief Marketing Officer at the Israeli-founded market engine company Skai (and mother of senior Ariel Kahnrose.)

Mrs. Kahnrose addressed the class over Zoom, explaining how targeted advertising works, what marketing cookies are, how concerns about consumer privacy are evolving and shaping the high tech industry, and discussed online privacy concerns and legislation.

After class, Mrs. Kahnrose noted that if students want to see the profiles that Google is building about them based on the cookies and other marketing data collecting methods that she discussed, they can do so here.

Students in Mrs. Wasserstrom's Accelerated Pre-Calculus class walked into their classroom to find a surprise on each desk: paper towels, gloves, protractors and drawings of circles. The mystery deepened when Mrs. Wasserstrom handed out Twizzler candies.

"Take a piece of Twizzler and rip it so its length is the same radius of the circle." she instructed. Students used Twizzlers to mark radians. (Eating the Twizzlers afterwards was optional.)

Pictured below left: juniors Charlie Singer and Menachem Reed

Pictured below right: juniors Toibeh Sarah Gersten and Nechama Tarshish

On some Sunday mornings, students in Rabbi Fliegelman's freshman boys' Talmud class have the option of gathering to daven and learn together along with their relatives at local synagogues.

Last Sunday, February 20, students met at Congregation KINS.

They davened Shacharit, ate breakfast, and shared insights of Torah learning that they learned in their classroom.

Students pictured above: Elisha Shpayher, Ami Weiss, and Ezra Comrov

Students in Ms. Goldstein's Public Speaking class read Shakespeare's famous "Band of Brothers" speech from Henry V, and listened to various ways of reciting it.

They then divided into two groups. One group of students practiced saying reading the speech and the dialogue around it as if they were addressing a large group of soldiers preparing to enter battle.

A second group prepared the dialogue as if they were reciting it in a small, intimate group, as a private conversation. Students found that the speech felt entirely different depending on which mode they adopted.

Pictured below: seniors Tamira Halpert, working with Ms. Goldstein on preparing to deliver the speech to a large crowd, and senior Eliezer Zagorin, working with Ms. Goldstein as part of the group reading the play's lines in a small, intimate setting.

Rabbi Hanoch Teller is a noted author and storyteller, and on Tuesday, February 21, he related stories about the life of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, z"l (ICJA Class of 1960), former Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva.

Rabbi Teller illustrated how Rabbi Finkel persisted in teaching Torah even when he was very ill with Parkinson's, and how he always celebrated his connections to Chicago's Jewish community and Ida Crown. Rabbi Finkel shared the message that everyone can reach great heights in Jewish learning if they take advantage of educational opportunities throughout their lives

Pictured with Rabbi Teller after his talk (below): junior Sam Gurvich, senior Gavriel Engel and junior Josh Felix

On Presidents Day, Monday, February 21, students had the day off, while ICJA teachers and administrators spent the day taking professional development classes. ATT offered a jam-packed day of interactive classes and lectures over Zoom: Faculty shared best practices, heard inspiring speakers and learned new pedagogical methods.

"I was inspired by Rabbi Gershon Miller's class. He spoke about educating with love. He is so inspirational; the class was unbelievable." - Mrs. Sarah Wainkrantz

Pictured below is a screenshot of some of our teachers after an enjoyable session.

Congratulations to junior Charli Ernstein, whose Purim card design was chosen for this year's Academy Associates personalized Purim e-cards.

How it works:

If you have any questions about the e-cards, please contact Academy Associates e-card coordinator Chaya Gordon-Burstyn.

Ida Gordon was born in Lithuania in 1871 and moved to America as a young woman. She lived with relatives who owned a dry goods store in Troy, a city in upstate New York.

One day Ida met a Jewish salesman named Arie Krinsky who'd recently moved to America from Belarus. Twelve years her senior, Arie was full of energy and drive.

He's recently arrived in New York and hoped to found his own business one day. This wasn't easy: Arie's first job in New York had been in a sweatshop, like so many immigrants, but he was already working as a door to door salesman. Soon, he hoped to open his own store.

Seeking new business opportunities, Arie bought a horse and wagon and set out West. He travelled to St. Louis, where he worked as a salesman for several months. Ida and Arie kept in close touch with letters during this time, and Arie even took the train back to New York to spend Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with Ida and her family. They began to talk about getting married.

After the Great Chicago Fire, Chicago underwent a building boon and Arie travelled to Chicago to be a part of the newly rebuilding city. He began working in a factory, where he rose through the ranks, acquiring more experience and responsibility. In 1892, he travelled to New York to discuss marriage with Ida. They returned to Chicago together and married in Spring of 1892. In Chicago, they adopted Crown as their surname.

Ida and Arie lived in small building near Milwaukee and Division on Chicago's northwest side. In time, they set up a store in the ground floor of their home. Among the items they sold was Diamond matches: Ida and Arie were the local distributers.

Ida had seven children: Sol, Irving, Henry, Herman, Jacob, Edward, and Florence. Times were often tough, but Ida made sure that her home was always welcoming. A devoted Jew who kept kosher and Shabbat throughout her life, even in the most difficult of times, Ida's Shabbat table was often full of guests. Her children remembered it as a place where people gathered to connect over Ida's delicious Shabbat food.

Ida and Arie soon became known as resources in the Chicago Jewish community who spent their time doing chesed and helping other Jewish immigrants.

After a fire that started in a store next door destroyed their home, Ida and Arie were forced to move into a smaller house. They set up a new store on the ground floor: Ida ran the store, with help from her children, while Arie worked outside the home.

Ida endured some unimaginable tragedies in her long life. Two of her children, Sol and Florence, predeceased her. She worked hard her entire life and there were times when money was in very short supply. Yet Ida's love and devotion to her family and the Jewish community never flagged. She instilled a love of Yiddishkeit in her children and grandchildren, who grew up to become major Jewish philanthropists.

Ida passed away in Chicago in 1956 at the age of 85.

Tuesday, the 21st of Adar 1, February 22, 2022, by the friends of the Fretzin family, dedicated for the Shloshim of Jordan Peiper, z"l.

Wednesday, the 23rd of Adar 1, February 24, 2022, by Andy Ernstein, Ari, Jesse and Charli, in loving memory of Barbra McKee ברכה אביגיל בת שלמה יונה הכהן, ז׳׳ל to commemorate her 7th Yahrzeit that was on the 17th of Adar.

Thursday, the 23rd of Adar 1, February 24, 2022, by Carolyn, Ike and proud big sister Temima Soffer, in honor of Sara Soffer, born this past Tuesday, 2/22/22.

For more information or to sponsor a day of learning, please contact our Director of Development, Deva Zwelling, at (773) 973-1450 ext. 115, or dzwelling@icja.org.

Students can submit poetry, prose, essays, photography and more. Click here to submit your work.

(Charlotte's Web is supported by the Susan and Joseph Ament Fund.)

Over Chanukah, ICJA gave its Class of '21 alumni a Chanukah gift: a brand-new directory that lists ICJA alumni who live in Israel and have graciously offered to open their homes to recent ICJA '21 grads who are currently spending a gap year in Israel this year.

The directory was sent out to the emails of '21 grads that we have on file. If you have any questions or would like to update our contact information to help recent ICJA grads obtain a copy, please contact Dr. Yvette Miller, ICJA Director of Communications, at ymiller@icja.org.

We are still taking submissions from alumni who are willing to host, to include in future copies of this directory.

Thank you to the Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts for making this production possible. For more information visit: https://yachadnewsies.brownpapertickets.com/ or contact Lori Cooper at Cooperl@ou.org.

Win-win! You can support Ida Crown Jewish Academy, while shopping via Smile.Amazon.com