Upcoming Events

Tuesday, March 12 - NHS Induction Ceremony

Wednesday, March 13 - ICJA Takes the Stage Artist in Residence Program for girls with Nikki Sausen of Paint with Me

Friday, March 15 - Freshman Fridayton - sign up here and pay here. (To discuss financial assistance, contact Michael London.)

Wednesday, March 20 - SAT for juniors

Sunday, March 24 - Purim - purchase ICJA Purim e-cards here

Monday, March 25 - Shushan Purim (school in session)

Tuesday, April 2 - ICJA Takes the Stage girls' outing to see Peter Pan

Sunday, April 7 - 18 Under 18 Awards Event

Tuesday, April 9 - Torah Awards Presentation

Thursday, April 11 - ICJA Takes the Stage, Commemorating the Life of Batsheva Chaya Stadlan, z"l, generously sponsored by The Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts - Click here to reserve your spot

Thursday, April 18 - Wednesday, May 1 - Pesach Break

Thursday, May 2 - Classes resume

Tuesday, May 7 - Grandparents' Day - Click here to reserve your Grandparent spot

Tuesday, June 4 - Thursday, June 6 - Senior Retreat

Monday, June 17 - Edward A. Crown Scholarship Dinner honoring Eric Rothner (Crown Leadership Award), Leslie Wortman (Crown Service Award), and Chavee Gottlieb (Educator of the Year Award)

Students began this week with two fun Pop Up activities.

On Monday morning, freshmen and sophomores took a break from classes to enjoy a remote-controlled electric car racing Pop Up. Working in teams, students maneuvered cars around a track, racing against their friends' cars and trying not to crash.

While they played and waited their turns, students enjoyed hanging out with their friends and munching on the hot buttered popcorn on hand.

While underclassmen enjoyed the car racing, juniors and seniors were treated to a fabulous performance by Israeli mentalist Daniel Harel. Students were amazed when Harel guessed junior Leah Rina Brochin's phone password, numbers that junior Avi Chen was visualizing, and performed other feats.

Thank you to Mrs. Alissa Zeffren for arranging these great events.

Yasher kochachen to the Lady Aces: Conference, Regional, and Sectional Champions!

On Tuesday morning, the entire school came together to celebrate the achievements of the Lady Aces who have achieved something never before accomplished in ICJA history, becoming Conference champions, Regional champions, and Sectional champions.

Best of luck to the Lady Aces as they compete in the Captain Hyman P. Galbut Tournament in Miami this weekend.

Yasher Koach to the Mathletes freshmen on winning 2nd Place in our Division!

On Thursday night this week, ICJA's Mathletes Team competed in their last meet of the year. ICJA's freshmen (pictured here) won 2nd Place in our division.

Yasher koach to them and to the entire team who competed: freshmen Ayelet Klein, Caleb Novick, Jacob Thomas, and Aryeh Lowenthal; sophomores Jack Marshall, Ben Rosenburg, Natan Miller, Yoshi Bernstein, Yair Bell, and Noam Hellman; juniors Avner Frazin and Levi Polsky; and seniors Dory Marshall, Ari Klein, Gabriel Klein, and Yehoshua Zagorin.

Each class begins with a student presentation.

Seniors in Rabbi Michael Meyer's honors Chumash class begin each day with a 5-minute presentation about an important current issue. On Thursday this week, senior Jacob Friedman educated the class about the issue of Houthi terrorism. He wanted to speak about this problem, Jacob explained, particularly because the terror group killed two sailors this week. Jacob explained who the Houthis are, where their operating base is, and discussed their links with Iran.

Pictured above: Aryeh Neiger and Yaakov Holman listening in class

Pictured above: students during Jacob Friedman's speech

Juniors are preparing prototype containers for their egg drop competition.

How can students best protect an egg dropped onto the floor from the ceiling? And how can they create drop-proof containers using a limited amount of funds? Juniors in Mr. Allen Sears's Physics class this week began experimenting with different ways to make egg holders.

Students first planned their designs, calculating the weight, aerodynamic qualities, and cost of their holders. After each prototype was developed, students measured the force and speed of their containers as they dropped. This is all in preparation for next week's official Egg Drop Competition in class.

Pictured above: Leah Rina Brochin and Lea Ackerman

Pictured above: Zev Margolin, Hadar Simkovich, and Mr. Sears

Pictured above: Mr. Sears helps with an egg drop

Students translated hamentashen recipes into Hebrew, then put them to the test this week.

Sophomores and juniors in Mrs. Dana Rubin's Hebrew classes started preparing for Purim this week. Students were asked to translate a favorite family hamantaschen recipe into Hebrew. This week, students spent some of their class times baking from their Hebrew-language recipes. It was a fun way to learn practical vocabulary.

Pictured above: juniors Toby Burstyn and Ami Czako

Pictured above: sophomores Ether Meyerson, Yaffa Hoberman, and Ariella Pullin

Pictured above: juniors Ezra Comrov, Avi Chen, and Yossi Burstyn

Sophomores gained insights into the Gaonic period's teshuvot by asking shayalot today.

Sophomores in Mrs. Alissa Zeffren's Jewish History class are learning about the Gaonic period, including the process by which heads of Jewish communities asked shayolot of the leading rabbeim of the day. In order to gain insights into the practice of asking halachic questions, students asked contemporary rabbis questions about emerging halachic issues.

This week, students presented their questions to their peers, and shared the halachic answers they received. They also discussed how the process of answering halachic questions and issuing teshuvot today differs from during the Gaonic period.

Pictured above: Channie Gelerinter and Ariella Pullin discussing whether brain implants are halachic

Pictured above: Miriam Falk, Benny Kalman, and Yehuda Goldstein discussing keeping Shabbat in space

Pictured above: Michael Matveyev discussing the halachic implications of brain-computer interface technology

Yasher koach to junior Levi Polsky!

Yasher koach to junior Levi Polsky's outstanding achievement as a finalist in the Walder Science Jerusalem Science Contest for his research project, titled "Cognitive Biases"!

Over the past six months, Levi and 105 dedicated high school juniors and seniors worldwide delved into college-level neuroscience, exploring its intersections with Judaism through lectures, exams, and research.



Now in its 22nd year, the Jerusalem Science Contest is an international competition run by Walder Science that continues to inspire young minds globally with an opportunity to win prize money, a college scholarship, and a trip to Israel. Walder Science is holding an event to honor this year's winners and educate students about the Jerusalem Science Contest on March 18 at 6:30 PM at Adas Yeshurun Congregation. Click here for more information.

Seniors gained skills in fighting antisemitism in college.

On Tuesday this week, seniors met with Charles Cohen '95, Executive Director of Metro Hillel in Chicago, serving most of the city's campuses.

Mr. Cohen explained that antisemitic incidents on campuses have increased 700% this year, and that there are no "safe campuses" today in the United States outside of Jewish schools. Students gained tools to navigate this hostile environment, including learning about Jewish spaces on campus, and how to report antisemitic incidents. One tool Mr. Cohen emphasized is the new website www.reportcampushate.org, which is a joint project of Hillel, Secure Community Network, and the ADL. 

Students heard from Rabbi Fox's parents about volunteering in Israel for two months.

On Monday, freshmen girls in Rabbi Daniel Fox's honors Talmud class and freshmen and sophomore boys in his honors Talmud class heard from Rabbi Fox's parents, Mrs. Debbie and Mr. Edward Fox, about their recent experiences spending two months volunteering in Israel.

The Foxes described working on a chicken farm, picking cucumbers, and making sandwiches for soldiers. They also talked about going to the funerals and Shloshim of soldiers who were killed in Gaza and described the steadfast emuna and bravery of soldiers' families, and the resilience of the Jewish people they witnessed in Israel.

Freshmen and their relatives davened together at Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie last Sunday.

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 they gathered at Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie. After davening, the boys and fathers spoke with Rabbi Yosef Posner and Rabbi Yochanan Posner.

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

Students contrasted two episodes in Sefer Shemot.

Freshmen in Mrs. Lynn Kraft's honors Chumash class this week contrasted two statements by Moshe to Pharaoh: Moshe's initial request that the Jewish people be allowed to leave Egypt to worship Hashem for three days, and Moshe's differently worded request that the Jews be allowed to leave for three days, delivered after the first plague.

In a wide-ranging discussion, students noted the many differences and similarities between the two statements, and what various mefarshim feel the differences signify.

Pictured above: Maayan Engel and Sarah Leonard

Pictured above: Yakira Wittlin and Ariella Titievsky

Pictured above: Chaviva Campbell and Emuna Arnold

Junior Aliza Shyovitz attended StandWithUs's International Conference.

Last weekend, StandWithUs held its International Conference: Israel in Focus. ICJA junior Aliza Shyovitz, who is a StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal Intern, attended.

Aliza snapped this photo of ICJA's Cross Country Team's Race for Israel, which was featured at the conference.

"It was incredibly meaningful to be surrounded by high school students, college students, and adults who are passionate about Israel education and activism. The conference inspired me to continue to learn about steps that I can take to advocate for Israel, combat antisemitism, and debunk misinformation." - Aliza Shyovitz '25

This week's learning dedications include:

Monday, the 24th of Adar I to Friday, the 28th of Adar I, 5784, March 4 to 8, 2024, by Eddie and Dana Zipperstein and Isaac and Gabriella in honor

of our father and grandfather Lawrence Beck for his birthday

Tuesday, the 25th of Adar 1, 5784, March 5, 2024, by Sam and Tirza Kahan and Family in honor of the marriage of Zahava Kahan to David Ashendorf

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

Watch "Connect with ICJA," our newest video

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

Watch this moving video documenting some of the volunteer activities our seniors participated in during their month-long Mission to Israel!

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.

Review ICJA on Niche.com and enter a sweepstakes.

Help let people know how fabulous ICJA is! Whether you're a parent, student, teacher, or alumnus/alumna, the popular school ranking website Niche.com wants to hear from you. Plus, every person who reviews ICJA (or any other school) is automatically entered into a monthly $1,000 sweepstakes by Niche.com. For more information and to leave a review, click here.

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.

Sign up for the Fridayton HERE and submit payment (if paying by credit card) HERE. To discuss financial assistance, email Michael London.

Announcing ICCC: Ida Crown Cycling Club!

Join our New Alumni Facebook Group

We are excited to announce that we have a new private Facebook group called “ICJA Official Alumni Page.” It is a space for alumni from all graduating years to join. We will periodically post alumni reunions, events, fundraising opportunities, information about ICJA today, and news.

We are proud to have some families with us for four generations. If you are an alum, please join the group HERE and be sure to share the link with your family, friends, and fellow graduates. You can also share this link: https://www.facebook.com/share/UeTsqg16DDx4JHGK/?mibextid=hubsqH. Thanks for staying connected to ICJA!

Please reach out to Ilana Levy at ilevy@icja.org if you have any questions about this new effort.

Last summer, ICJA gave its Class of '23 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.