Upcoming Events

• December 4-9, 2023 - Spirit Week (see flyer at end of newsletter for schedule)

• Tuesday, December 5, 2023 - 11th Grade Parent-Student College Information Program, 7-8:30pm, Room 401

• Thursday, December 7 - Friday, December 15, 2023 - Chanukah

• Friday December 8, 2023 (Chanukah) - ICJA Pep Rally, Chanukah Shabbat Shtieg

• Monday, December 11, 2023 (Chanukah) - ICJA Pep Rally, Chanukah Chagiga - lunch, games, dancing, and latkes

• Tuesday, December 12, 2023 (Chanukah) - Yom Iyun with the YU Kollel

• Wednesday, December 12, 2023 (Chanukah) - Rosh Chodesh Tevet - Rosh Chodesh Sufganiyot

• Thursday, December 13, 2023 (Chanukah) - Breakfast at teachers' homes & "ugly sweater" day

• Friday, December 15, 2023 (Chanukah) - Chagigat Preida for Senior Class Israel Mission

• Thursday, December 21 - Last day of classes before Winter Break

• Friday, December 22, 2023 - January 2, 2024 - Winter Break - no classes

• Wednesday, January 3, 2024 - Classes resume

• Sunday, December 17, 2023 - Thursday, January 11, 2024 - ICJA Senior Class Mission to Israel

• Thursday, January 11, 2024 - Bader Hillel vs. ICJA Aces @Fiserv Forum home of the Milwaukee Bucks

Please let us know if you know any families in the Chicago area where a parent left to fight in the war and could use some support from ICJA students (babysitting, playtime, homework help, etc.). Click here and complete the form; we will contact the family to see how we can help.

Students are gaining knowledge and advocacy skills.

On Tuesday, seniors Evan Comrov and Millo Benmelech, Israel Advocacy Club board members, provided students with up-to-the-minute information about Israel's security situation and suggested ways students can help, including lobbying elected representatives and donating to Israeli charities.

Pictured above: club members listening to the briefing

Pictured above: seniors Millo Benmelech and Evan Comrov with Israel Advocacy Club advisor (and former ICJA History Dept. Chair) Ms. Susan Sennett

Pictured above: sophomore Devorah Kaplowitz scanning a QR code to join a pro-Israel social media account

Seniors created presentations about the poem כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים by Solomon Ibn Gabirol.

Seniors in Mrs. Orit Marmel's Hebrew classes have been reading the poem כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים by Solomon Ibn Gabirol (c1021-c1070). This week, they shared multimedia presentations about the poem's imagery, literary devices and symbolism with their peers.

PIctured above: Gabrielle Sander and Rotem Lavi

Pictured above: Ilana Schwartz and Jordana Zwelling

Do seeds thrive after being eaten by an elephant?

Do seeds thrive after eaten being by an elephant? This week, freshmen in Ms. Ruth Gleicher's Biology class set out to answer that question.

In Africa and Asia, elephants are important carriers of seeds are scattered over wide areas. ICJA students got an up-close look at how exposure to elephant dung enriches seeds this week: they extracted seeds both from dung and from sand, then placed them in petri dishes and observed which group of seeds germinated first, honing their scientific observation skills along the way.

Pictured above: Chavi Campbell and Mashi Perkins

Pictured above: Jacob Thomas, ARyeh Lowenthal, and Caleb Novick

Pictured above: Noah Ehrlich and Archer Gradstein

Pictured above: Orli Lubin and Bela Burstyn

Students heard from local resident Mr. Tomer Bitton about his embrace of a religious lifestyle as an adult and the inspiration he gains from learning and tefillah.

Rabbi Louis Fliegelman's 12th grade boys' Tefillah class invited in Chicago-area businessman Mr. Tomer Bitton to speak about his religious journey. Students from Rabbi Yishai Broner's and Rabbi Mayer Simcha Stromer's 3rd period classes joined to hear Mr. Bitton speak about ways that learning and davening enrich his life.

Students turned to Nechama Leibowitz to answer a question that arose in class.

Freshmen in Mrs. Kraft’s honors Chumash class this week learned the pasuk in perek Aleph of Shemot describing the midwives' fear of G-d. This prompted some of the students to ask how we can understand this description in light of Abarbanel's conception that the midwives were in fact Egyptian, as we know that the ancient Egyptians didn't fear G-d.

To answer this, the class turned to Nechama Leibowitz, and found that her understanding of the phrase “Yirat Hashem” refers to a more general sense of morality/ethics. The students then divided into groups to look up different pesukim throughout the Torah to see how each group's individual pasuk could support Nechama Leibowitz'a understanding of the phrase in different contexts. Each group then presented their findings to the class, demonstrating their understanding of the pesukim and ability to apply it to their learning.

Pictured above: Sarah Leonard and Ayelet Klein presenting their pasuk

Pictured above: Emuna Arnold presenting her pasuk

Students discussed the Republican Political Party's Platform from the 1860s.

Students in Mr. Joshua Cooper's AP US History class spent this week discussing the Republican Party's platform in the 1860s, including the party's previous support for immigration; infrastructure investments such as building canals, harbors, and the trans-continental railroad; and the expansion of American territory. Students also discussed the party's opposition to slavery and insistence that Kansas be admitted to the Union as a free state.

Pictured above: junior Yossi Burstyn

Pictured above: junior Aliza Shyovitz

Pictured above: junior Aidan Zukerman

Students calculated the number of pre- and post-1982 pennies in a sealed container.

Sophomores in Mrs. Chavee Gottlib's Chemistry class calculated the number of pre-1982 and post-1982 pennies in a sealed container of 10 random pennies this week. Before 1982, pennies were made of 90% copper; after January 1982, they were made of copper-plated zinc. Since these coins have different weights, students were able to weigh their sealed containers and calculate how many coins of each time they contained (equation pictured here).

This experiment helped students gain an understanding of carbon dating, which similarly relies on measuring the number of differently weighted particles (in that case, atoms) in an object.

Pictured above: Yehuda Goldstein and Daniel Wolper

Pictured above: Dina Gottlieb and Esther Fretzin

Pictured above: Michael Matveyev and Aiden Jones with Mrs. Gottlieb

The Jerusalem Post and Chicago Tribune reported on ICJA's activities empowering students to help Israel.

• Check out the Chicago Tribune's Nov. 24 article featuring Ida Crown, "For Chicago's Muslim and Jewish Students, Israel-Hamas war is constant and personal". (The article is only available on the newspaper's website to subscribers. To view a copy of the article, click here.)

• Read the Jerusalem Post's Nov. 29 article about ICJA's Senior Mission to Israel, "This Jewish American school will volunteer in Israel for a month, as a result of Hamas massacre."

• Keep an eye out for another Chicago Tribune article this weekend about our Senior Mission to Israel, as well.

Pictured above: a photo and caption from the Chicago Tribune article

ICJA students and their fathers davened at Khal Ohr Yisocher Chodorov last Sunday morning.

Many Sunday mornings, ICJA's freshmen boys' rebbe, Rabbi Louis Fliegelman, arranges for students and their fathers (or grandfathers or other relatives) to meet at a different Chicago-area shul to daven Shacharit together and enjoy breakfast and learning.

Last Sunday, some members of the ICJA family, including students, fathers, and other relatives, davened at Khal Ohr Yisocher Chodorov, then shared breakfast, divrei Torah, and conversation with each other and with Rabbi Pinchal Eichenstein.

For more information about the Veshinantam Levanecha program, email Rabbi Louis Fliegelman at lfliegelman@icja.org.

This week saw a clutch of Aces victories in Basketball and Wrestling.

Yasher koach to the boys' Varsity Basketball Aces for their resounding victory Wednesday night over Mather High school, 61-36.

Boys' JV Basketball Aces beat Mather 25-4. (Pictured here, sophomore Eli Cherney playing in the JV game)

Yasher koach to the Wrestling Aces for beating two Chicago public schools, Leo and Sullivan High Schools on Tuesday. Junior Moshe Tarshish (157) led the way against Leo H.S. with a decisive pin. Freshman Megill Hameiri (106), Junior Aidan Zukerman (144), and Seniors Ari Klein (126), Benny Lowenthal (138), Jacob Z. Friedman (150), Millo Benmelech (190), and Meir Aberman (215) also claimed victories. Against host Sullivan H.S., Hameiri, Ari Klein, Senior Gabriel Klein (132), Lowenthal, Tarshish, Benmelech, Aberman, Junior Avner Frazin (132), and Junior Jacob E. Friedman posted wins, as Ida Crown cruised to victory.

On Wednesday evening the Wrestling Aces traveled to Maine East, where they won against the host’s varsity and JV squads. Against Maine East’s varsity, there were nine contested matches, and ICJA won most of them. Hameiri, Ari Klein, Gabriel Klein, and Zukerman continued their winning streaks, but the critical match was won by Jacob Z. Friedman. He fought back from an early deficit to claim a third period fall. Against the JVs, Senior Dory Marshall (190) notched a pair of wins. Sophomore Adin Jones (138) won his first career victory. Frazin won his match, as did Junior Avi Chen (132) and Freshman Levi Madoff (132). The Aces have their home opener against Chicago Academy next Tuesday, December 5th. 

This week, we caught up with senior Joseph Rothner and asked him about a recent Holocaust mission to Poland with his grandfather, Mr. Eric Rothner '61.

If you have any ideas for future student profiles you'd like to see in the ICJA Newsletter, please email Dr. Yvette Miller at ymiller@icja.org!

How did you and your grandfather decide to visit Holocaust sites in Poland?

My grandfather saw an ad for a tour in Hamodia. (The Rothner family is originally from Poland, and Mr. Rothner's relatives were murdered in the Holodaust there.) He asked me if I'd like to come with him.

Weat are some of the places you visited?

We visited a Jewish cemetery in Lublin that was attacked by the Nazis. There were still bullet holes in some of the tombstones. We stayed in Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, which is now a hotel, and in the morning we davened there. (See a picture above of Joseph and his grandfather in front of the former yeshiva.)

We visited the Majdanek concentration camp and learned about the early Holocaust, and also visited a forest where hundreds of children were murdered. We saw their remains are buried, which was very moving. We visited lots of shuls, other concentration camps, Oskar Shindler's factory, Krakow - where we visited the Rema's shul and saw where the Krakow Ghetto was - and Auschwitz.

Can you tell us a little bit about your family's experience in the Holocaust?

Both sides of my family experienced the Holocaust. On my mother's side, my great grandmother was a survivor; the book Sala's Gift is about her experiences.

One very moving experience on our trip was seeing a monument to my great great grandfather, Jozef Gancarz, in Auschwitz. I'm named after him. He helped plan a rebellion in Auschwitz and was hanged there; I saw the gallows where my great great grandfather was hanged. (Pictured here: the exhibit in Auschqwitz which commemorates Jozef Gancaraz, pictured in the top row)

Did anything surprise you about your experiences in Poland?

Yes. You always read about these places, but seeing how much Jewish life there was and the depth of it was interesting. It was interesting seeing how Jewish life is preserved there. I was impressed with Krakow. It's a very nice city, and they've done a good job of preserving the Jewish history there.

This week's Learning Dedications include the following:

Monday, the 14th of Kislev, 5784, November 27, 2023, for five days through Friday, the 18th of Kislev, 5784, December 1, 2023, by Orah, Lev, Benjamin '21, Adam '24, Aaron '26, and Abigail Katz, in memory of Dr. Jerrold Katz, z"l, on his second yahrzeit

Monday, the 14th of Kislev, 5784, November 27, 2023, by David and Laura Allswang and family, Elliot and Leah Allswang and family, and Shari and Azi Feifel and family, in memory of Harold Allswang, z"l, on the occasion of his 52nd yahrzeit on the 13th of Kislev

If you would like to sponsor a Day of Learning for a different soldier, please contact our Director of Development, Deva Zwelling, at (773) 973-1450 ext. 115, or dzwelling@icja.org.

Watch "Connect with ICJA," our new video

for prospective students - and share it with people you know who'd like to learn more about ICJA!

In addition to many thousands of physical books and journals, ICJA's Learning Commons contains tens of thousands of online books, journal articles and other resources, including subscriptions to newspapers such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and more. Students are able to access these resources through our portal.

Please stop by our librarian Mrs. Steinberg's desk in the Learning Commons or email her at  librarian@icja.org her to pick up your updated passwords to access our online material. ICJA's subscriptions are available at icja.libguides.com/home.

Do you have school-related news you'd like to see in this newsletter? Let us know!

If you have exciting ICJA-related news to share about classes, sports, clubs, or other projects, please tell us! Send news items and/or photos to Dr. Yvette Miller, Director of Communications at ymiller@icja.org. Your items can enhance our newsletter and ICJA's social media presence.

Thank you to all those who donated to our Rosh Hashana Appeal. 5784 is off to a great start for Ida Crown and we are so grateful for our generous community members who support our Annual Scholarship Fund.

We are still hoping to achieve 100% parent involvement; if you have not already donated, please use the link below to give. Your contribution helps ensure no child is denied a Jewish education due to lack of funds.

Jewish Community Special Offer!

You are invited to join the Windy City Bulls – the official NBA G League affiliate of the Chicago Bulls – for a fantastic evening of basketball Dec 10, 2023, 5pm.

PARKING IS FREE FOR EVERY GAME THIS SEASON

DOORS WILL OPEN AT 4pm

- Come see the first Orthodox Jewish NBA player, Ryan Turell, as his Motor City Cruise take on the Windy City Bulls!

- Bring in your own kosher food to enjoy!

- Catch t-shirts from the Windy City Bulls Scream Team and interact with the mascot Gus T. Bull!

- Check out our Fun Zone filled with games and inflatables throughout the game!

To take advantage of this exclusive opportunity, purchase your tickets here! 

Calling all 3^rd – 12^th grade students attending an ATT school! It’s time for the Pogrund Family Essay and Judaic Artwork contests! Demonstrate your writing and/or art skills as you explore a Judaic topic. Winners receive a $50.00 check. Deadline for art/essay submission is Wednesday, January 17, 2024. FOR ESSAY/ARTWORK RULES AND GUIDELINES, visit www.att.org → For Students or call ATT at 773-973-2828.

Last summer, ICJA gave its Class of '22 alumni the second edition of our directory listing ICJA alumni who live in Israel and have graciously offered to open their homes to recent ICJA grads who are currently spending a gap year in Israel.

Thank you to the many alumni who have reached out to us, offering to host.

The directory was sent out to the emails of '22 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. Please contact Dr. Miller to be included.