Upcoming Events

• Motzei Shabbat, February 4 - Boys' JV Aces play against RZ, 7:30; Boys' Varsity Aces play against RZ at 9pm at RZ

• Motzei Shabbat, February 4 - Wrestling Aces' compete in Class 1A Regional Tournament at Walther Christian in Melrose Park

• Sunday, February 5 - Society of Patrons Reception - support our school and enjoy a beautiful evening, featuring comedian Eli Lebowicz '07 - RSVP here (See flyer below for details.)

• Tuesday, February 6 - Ann Rita Schwartz, z"l Chesed Day

• Tuesday, February 6 - Tu B'Shevat - special afternoon program

• Tuesday, February 6 - Boys' Night Seder - 8-9pm at the Skokie Kollel (This is a recurring, weekly event every Tuesday night when school is in session.)

• Thursday, February 2 - Boys' Night Mishmar - 8-9pm at the Skokie Kollel (This is a recurring, weekly event every Thursday night when school is in session.)

• Friday, February 10 - Shabbat, February 11 - ICGC Shabbaton (see flyer below for more details) - Sign up here

• Monday, February 13 - Friday, February 17 - Jewish Though Seminars (in school)

• Monday, February 20 - Presidents' Day; ATT Conference - no classes

• Wednesday, February 22 - Sunday, February 26 - Ladies Aces' Varsity Basketball RASG Tournament, Miami

• Wednesday, March 8 - ICJA Takes the Stage girls' event: Annie at the Cadillac Theater, 7:30pm

• Wednesday, March 15 - ICJA Takes the Stage, Commemorating the Life of Batsheva Chaya Stadlan, z"l, generously sponsored by The Rella Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts, 7pm

The Aces celebrated Seniors Night as they defeated Aurora Central Catholic last Thursday.

The Ida Crown Wrestling Team closed out its regular season with a match against Aurora Central Catholic last Thursday, January 26. The evening also served as Senior Night, as the careers and accomplishments of six seniors were highlighted for the enthusiastic crowd. 

Senior Captain Menachem Reed's (113) match was the highlight of the meet, as he pinned his opponent in 1:12. The victory served as a fitting home finale to Reed's distinguished career. Seniors Moshe Osgood (126), Avi Zeller (152), Phil Maiman (160), and Gabe Simon (220) also added victories in their matches. Juniors Ari Klein (120), Jacob Friedman (138), Dory Marshall (182), and Millo Benmelech (195) and sophomore Aidan Zuckerman (132) were victorious, as well. Senior Captain Sam Gurvich (145) came up short in his effort to close out his career with a final home victory. Gabriel Klein (106) surrendered a takedown in the last four seconds of his match to lose a very close and tense 3-2 match. The Aces rolled, though, and won the meet, 62-9.

On Friday, the Aces will travel to a hotel in Schiller Park, complete with food and a Sefer Torah, in order to await Saturday's evening Class 1A Regional Tournament at Walther Christian in Melrose Park. For more than fifteen years, the tournament has held on motzei Shabbos in order to accommodate the Academy's wrestling team. The Aces have worked long and hard for this tournament and have high hopes for Saturday night. 

Picture above: seniors Moshe Osgood, Menachem Reed, Avi Zeller, Moshe Osgood, Phil Maiman, and Gabe Simon

Senior Night for the Lady Aces saw a triumph over CICS-Northtown; next stop, IHSA State Tournament!

Girls varsity basketball celebrated senior night on Tuesday, January 31, with a 46-14 win against CICS-Northtown. Congratulations to seniors Shaina Tarshish, Emma Felix, Jordyn Baker, Kayla Kupietzky, and Nechama Tarshish (pictured above) on their ACES basketball careers. 

With their win on Tuesday, the varsity Lady Aces clenched the Chicago Prep Conference regular season championship for the first time ever. They finished 10-1 in conference and begin the conference tournament on Monday as the number one seed. Best of luck to our Lady Aces in the conference tournament, the IHSA State Tournament, and the RASG (Miami) tournament this month. 

ICJA fans turned out in force to cheer, as the Varisty Aces triumphed over Fasman Yeshiva High School, 45-38.

Motzei Shabbat, January 28, students and staff turned out en masse to cheer on the Aces as they played Fasman Yeshiva High School. Though Fashman Yeshiva High School won in the JV game, the Varsity Aces dominated their game, winning 45-38.

Pictured above: fans wearing "Black Out" clothing to cheer the Aces

Photo credit: junior Yonah Rubin, @yrubincreative

Pictured above: sophomore Avi Okner during the game

Photo credit: junior Yonah Rubin, @yrubincreative

After interviewing their peers, students planned and created original, fun games for their friends.

Students in Mr. Jonathan Keller's STEM Engineering class have been planning major projects, and this week they began to see their first results. After interviewing their peers about their preferences and tastes in games, teams of students began to plan original games that they could make, customized for their classmates. Students factored in cost and marketability in their plans.

This week, students used 3-D printing to create their games. The finished products were professional in appearance, and appeared polished enough that they could - in theory - be marketed and sold.

Pictured above: seniors Yonatan Nudman and Chaya Laber with the mini dunk tank game they are creating

Pictured above: senior Gabriell Rosenzweig with the "gold mining" game she's creating, using a mini-mountain that will contain "gold" deposits

Pictured above: seniors Moshe Osgood and Charli Ernstein with their early warning system to augment "Settlers" games

Is that quote from King Lear or not? Students had a fun time guessing if various quotes were from the play.

Seniors in Ms. Goldstein's AP English class have been reading King Lear and enjoying the play's beautiful language. This week, they played a fast-paced game guessing whether various quotes that students were given on cards were taken from the play or from other works.

Pictured above: Michal Bechhofer, Ben Boyarskiy, Charli Ernstein, and Philip Maiman

Pictured above: students who believed their quote was from King Lear raising their hands

Students created "Choose Your Own Adventure" presentations to describe the process of Sotah.

This week, sophomores in Mrs. Olivia Friedman's boys' honors Chumash class ended their unit on Sotah in a creative way: by creating original, multimedia "Choose Your Own Adventure" presentations, guiding their classmates through the process of Sotah. These fun, interactive presentations allowed classmates to explore various ramifications of different courses of action.

Pictured above: Toby Burstyn, Elisha Shpayher, and Avi Meyer, delivering their presentation to the clas

Pictured above: one of the choices presented to students

Pictured above: students vote on which course of action to pursue during a group's power point presentation

What does the monster Scylla look like? How about the monster Charybdis? Students discussed answers.

This week, students in Mrs. Heather Hobbie's Skills-Based English class discussed Chapter 13 of the Odyssey, which features adventures with grotesque sea monsters. Students evaluated the monsters' fearsome qualities, and compared depictions of them in the Odyssey with a graphic novel modeled on the Odyssey.

Pictured above: Mrs. Hobbie and Jayden Perlman

Pictured above: Noah Lehrfield

Pictured above: Jessica Michaeli

On Sunday, January 20, freshmen boys and dads davened at the Sephardic Congregation in Evanston.

Last Sunday, freshman boys and fathers davened, learned, and ate breakfast together at the Sephardic Congregation at Howard and California. It was a very special tefila in many ways: both Aaron katz and Rabbi Louis Fliegelman had the opportunity to do Birkat Kochanim.

After Shacharit, Rabbi Hertzel Yitchak spoke to the ICJA students and dads about Sephardi customs, and presented each student with a sefer he wrote about netilat yadayim.

Pictured above: Boaz Stopek with his siblings Uri and Levi and his grandfather, Edward Stopkek (who designed and created the shul's new Aron Kodesh), Rabbi Hertzel Yitzchak, Aaron Katz, Mr. Lev Katz, Eli Gelb, and Dr. Mike Gelb

Students gained a deeper appreciation for the second paragraph of the Shema.

Juniors in Rabbi Shmuel Oren's honors boys' Chumash class discussed the Torah's description that we'll receive rain only when we love Hashem "וּלְעׇבְד֔וֹ בְּכׇל־לְבַבְכֶ֖ם וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁכֶֽם". Students debated what this pasuk means, bringing in commentaries including Rashi, and referencing Gemaras they've learned.

Students debated the ramifications of this instruction today, as well as what it meant at the time the Torah was given, soon after our ancestors left Egypt, where water was more plentiful.

Pictured above: Moshe Wiesenberg and Jed Marcus

Pictured above: Adam Katz and Aryeh Neiger

Preparing to read Emmerson by asking: "How is life like a jelly bean?"

As an introduction to reading Emmerson this week, juniors in Mrs. Tirza Kahan's AP English class were given a sweet treat of jelly beans - and a challenging assignment to write: "How are ideas or life similar to jelly beans?" Here are some of the answers students gave:

"All are diverse/different colors and shapes like ideas...."

"Both teach us patience in avoiding temptation...."

"All jelly beans are seemingly the same, as they are stamped and have something in common, as do people and ideas. Seemingly What you see on the outside may not match expectations...."

"They're opaque— we don’t always know what is on the inside or where an idea will go...."

"Sometimes the good or bad taste lingers longer for some than others...."

Pictured above: Rotem Lavi, Noa Gavant, and Jordana Zwelling

Pictured above: Joseph Rothner, Jacob Friedman, Aryeh Neiger and Rena Neiger

Students sharpened their discussion skills as they discussed different categories of fruits and vegetables.

Sophomores in Rabbi Mayer Simcha Stromer's honors girls' Gemara class are learning Masechet Brachot, and this week discussed the difference between a siman and a siba: one signifies a difference between categories, while the other is a cause of difference.

They applied these distinctions to a hakira they are learning about differences between fruits and vegetables that have changed forms.

Pictured above: Lea Ackerman and Sarah Levitt

Pictured above: Ella Perlman and Lilac Marcus

Future Aces toured our school, enjoyed lunch, learned, and met with students and teachers.

On Thursday, February 2, Hillel Torah North Suburban Day School's 8th grade travelled to ICJA to get to know our school.

ICJA's Senior Leaders led the 8th graders on tours of the building, then ate lunch with them in the cafeteria.

8th graders then participated in a discussion led by Mr. Phil Zbaraz ("Doc Phil") and learning session with Mechanchim Rabbi Mayer Simcha Stromer and Mrs. Lynn Kraft.

Thank you to all our Senior Leaders who helped out, as well as our Mechanchim, counselors, and Mrs. Suzy Nussbaum, ICJA's Director of Admissions, who helped make this visit so successful.

Pictured above: senior leader Kayla Kupietzky learning with 8th grade girls

Pictured above: senior leader Zach Miller at lunch with 8th grade boys

Students deliver sweet treats to Park Plaza residents and visit with them before Shabbat.

Each week, ICGC members spend time baking during their free periods on Thursday, then gather for an inspirational "shteig" or shiur on Friday afternoons, before visiting Park Plaza to distribute the treats they baked and visit with residents before Shabbat.

Last Friday, ICJA's learning specialist Rabbi Yaakov Cohen led a pre-Shabbat shiur at school.

Pictured above: pre-Shabbat shiur

Pictured above: senior Michal Bechhofer visiting with Park Plaza residents

Yasher kochacheich to junior and Ladies Aces player Ilana Schwartz, who's ranked 9th in the state!

ICJA junior Ilana Schwartz has been ranked 9th in the entire state of Illinois for female high school basketball athletes by MaxPreps, a division of CBS Sports!

MaxPreps ranked players in terms of points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, free throws and 3-pointers.  Ilana averages a whopping 21.4 points per game, placing her 9th among female high school athletes in Illinois.

Yasher koach Ilana. We're so proud of you! Read more about Ilana's rankings on MaxPreps here.

This week we caught up with ICJA's biology teacher, Mrs. Ruth Gleicher - who teaches both freshmen and seniors - and asked her a few questions about herself.

From teaching biology to freshmen, to instructing upperclassmen in AP bio, Mrs. Ruth Gleicher gets to know a large slice of ICJA's student body. This week we caught up with her and asked her a few questions about herself.

Where did you grow up and go to school?

I grew up on the south side of Chicago, where I attended Akiba Jewish Day School. I moved north when I was in 6th grade and graduated from both Hillel Torah and ICJA.  I went to the University of Chicago and then to Northwestern University for graduate school.

Please tell us a bit about your kids.

I have three adult married children: Ilana, who lives with her husband and three children in Jerusalem; Ari, who lives with his wife and three children in Maryland; and Josh, who lives with his wife and daughter in Chicago.

How did you decide to become a biology teacher?

I have always loved nature and being outside. My mother had a PhD in biology and was a biology professor, and she instilled this love of bio in me since I was very young. As biology has developed, however, I now am much. more interested in how everything works together, so although I still enjoy the outdoors, I like to learn and teach the molecular parts of biology.

What do you love most about teaching at ICJA?

I love the students! I really like the science room I am able to teach in and getting to know my students.

I also really enjoy when I get second generation students. I taught AP Bio at ICJA for 18 years while I was also teaching full time at Niles West. I stopped doing that around 2010 or so. I then retired from full-time teaching at Niles West in 2017. In 2019, when Mr. Newman retired, I was asked to take his place and to teach AP Bio. That is how I am now back at ICJA, and that is how I now have the children of many of my former students.

Do you have any hobbies?

I am an avid cyclist. I bike around 50 miles a day in the summer.  

Is there anything that most people don't know about you that you'd like to share?

Yes. For ten years, my mother and I traveled to Jamaica, where we taught tropical marine biology together. I was her TA and she was the professor, from National Louis University. We even took some of our ICJA students to Jamaica (if they signed up for the course through National Louis)!

Watch this year's Open House video

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

Founded in 1942, ICJA is 80 years old this year. Please enjoy this 80th Anniversary Video which looks back on eight decades of excellence, close bonds, and memories.

Watch Rabbi Berel Wein's '50 inspiring remarks at the ICJA Israel Reunion, Jerusalem, November 2022!

Watch highlights of our inspiring Israel Reunion, Jerusalem, November 2022!

BeThis week's sponsors include:

Friday, the 12th of Shevat, 5783, February 3, 2023, by Tzivia Garfinkel, Ilana Blumberg ('88), Jonathan Blumberg ('90), Rayli (Berger) Blumberg ('94), Naomi Blumberg ('94), Jessica Blumberg ('16), Emily Blumberg ('18), Will Blumberg ('22), and Alyssa Blumberg('26), in memory of Birdie Garfinkel

ברכה ביילא בת צבי הירש הכהן 

Wednesday, the 10th of Shevat, 5783, February 1, 2023, by Upward Community, in zechus of a Refuah Shelaima for Mr. Shael Bellows

שׁאול בן חנה לא

Monday, the 8th of Shevat, 5783, January 30, 2023, by the Landes family, in loving memory of Rabbi Menahem B. Sacks, z"l

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.

Be sure to pick up your updated ICJA Learning Commons passwords to access books and journals online!

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 ites 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.

We have opened submissions for this year's edition of Charlotte's Web, and we want to hear and see your work. Our theme this year is Time: Past, Present, and Future. However, please submit any piece of prose, poetry, or artwork even if it does not align with the theme. We will do our best to incorporate at least a part of it.

Click here to submit artwork and writing. If you have any questions, please email charlottesweb2223@gmail.com.

Charlotte's Web is funded by a grant from The Susan and Joseph Ament Fund.

Attention ATT students in Grades 3-12! Only a few days left to participate in the ATT’s Pogrund Family Judaic Artwork and Pogrund Family Essay Contest. Deadline for artwork/essay submission is Wednesday, February 8, 2023, by 5:00pm.

Sponsored by the Pogrund Family, the contest provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their art/writing skills as they explore a Jewish topic. Winners receive a $50.00 check.

FOR ARTWORK/ESSAY RULES AND GUIDELINES, visit www.att.org → Student Programs or call ATT at 773-973-2828. 

ATT proudly announces the winners of the 12th Annual Hartman Family Foundation Educator of the Year Awards: Mrs. Malka Loterstein (ACHDS) whose top award is in memory of Mrs. Gayle Anne Herwitz; Rabbi Ephraim Kletenik (YTT); and Mr. Chaim Safier (HT).

Awards are selected by a committee of educational consultants and community members. ATT and the Hartman Family Foundation hope the awarding of this prize not only recognizes three outstanding teachers in Chicago, but also elevates & ennobles the profession in the eyes of our community.

Student Internship Opportunities

The YU Torah Mitzion Kollel is looking to hire 2 interns: one to help with program logistics and general office work and one for technology.

Program Logistics Intern

Responsibilities include: grocery shopping for events, ordering food for events, and stuffing envelopes for mailings. The work will be on an as needed basis, generally requiring no more than 2 hours on any given week.

Intern will report directly to the Director of Operations, who will meet with the intern periodically to explain assignments.  

Intern must have access to a vehicle.

Technology intern

Responsibilities include: Editing Audio and video clips, uploading media to Youtube and Podcasts, possibly some data entry. This position will include approximately 1 hour of tasks per week.

Intern will report directly to the Director of Operations, who will meet with the intern periodically to explain assignments.  

Familiarity with any form of editing software a plus but not required.

For more information or to apply, please contact Tracy Schultz, Director of Operations, admin@torahchicago.org

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.