Upcoming Events

• Sunday, January 14, 2024 - Ida Club Boys' Club "Wrap and Roll" - davening at 9am at Adas Yeshurun, followed by bowling at Bowlero in Niles

• Monday, January 15, 2024 - Siyum and welcome back senior breakfast

• Wednesday, January 17 - Erika's Lighthouse "Addressing Anxiety During a Time of Rising Antisemitism" during 5th & 6th (with pizza)

• Friday, January 19 - Tuesday, January 23, 2024 - Yeshiva Week Break - no school Friday, Monday, or Tuesday

• Wednesday, January 24, 2024 - Classes resume

• Friday, January 26, 2024 - End of first semester

• Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - Hillel Torah 8th Grade visit to ICJA

• Friday, February 2 - Shabbat, February 3, 2024 - Ida Club Girls' Club Shabbaton - register here

• Friday, February 9 - Shabbat, February 10, 2024 - Ida Crown Boys' Club Shabbaton - register here (To discuss financial assistance for either Shabbaton, contact Michael London.)

• Tuesday, March 12, 2024 - NHS Induction Ceremony

Welcome home, Seniors, from your month in Israel!

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.

Vote for Lady Aces Players to compete in the first ever FIDF Invitational All-Star Game!

Seniors Rena Neiger, Ilana Schwartz, and Jordana Zwelling are in the running to participate in the first-ever FIDF Invitational All-Star Game, to be held March 30 in New York. This is a chance for players to compete, show their basketball talents, and bond with other top Jewish players around the country.

The players will be selected by a committee of coaches, the Jewish Hoops America committee, and fan voting. Anyone can vote for up to 10 People for each side. Voting ends 1/15/24.

Seniors continued to volunteer in Israel before returning home on Thursday this week.

In their final week in Israel, our seniors continued volunteering, including on a strawberry farm and at Hadassah Hospital.

Seniors in Chicago volunteered at the Ark this week.

Seniors who remained in Chicago volunteered at the Ark on Monday, sorting food for needy local families.

Seniors' Sporting Opportunities in Israel

In addition to volunteering, ICJA seniors have made some wonderful sports memories in Israel this week. Last Sunday, seniors on ICJA's Wrestling Team trained with Israel's National Wrestling Team. They were taught by world medalist Yuri Kalashnikov and seven-time NCAA fourth place finisher Alexander Karelin.

On Monday, ICJA students teamed up for a basketball game against Mekor Chaim, the Israeli school which hosted ICJA students two weeks ago for Shabbat.

Pictured above: ICJA's Wrestling Team

Pictured above: Moshe Seruya wrestling

Pictured above: ICJA playing Mekor Chaim

Students created skits about going shopping in Hebrew.

Juniors in Mrs. Anat Tanner's Hebrew class created original dialogues reflecting their real-world conversations about shopping and purchasing things. Students presented their skits to their peers, either in person or through a video.

Pictured above: Nina Ripstein, Leora Weinberg, and Eliana Ebert preparing their skit about buying chocolate pancakes at Emma's

Pictured above: Dana Kalutsky and Ariela Bielak presenting their skit about buying an airline ticket

Pictured above: Sarah Levitt and Zehava Piltz presenting their dialogue about being tired so driving to Starbucks for coffee

Freshmen are discussing and writing about John Montague's poem The Fight.

This week freshmen in Mrs. Heather Hobbie's English class read The Fight by John Montague, which addresses the twin impulses "to worship or destroy beauty." After discussing this challenging poem, students wrote about different aspects of the work's literary devices and meaning.

Pictured above: Meira Schultz with Mrs. Hobbie

Pictured above: Ariana Needle and Sophie Darlow

Pictured above: Matar Chill and Levi Madoff

How much force does it take to stop a car or move a hockey puck given particular specifications?

Juniors in Mr. Allen Sears's Physics class are learning about the effects of friction on movement. This week they each took on a challenge of working out exactly how much force would be required to stop a car or move a hockey puck, given specific weights and speeds. Students then took turns discussing their work with their peers.

Pictured above: Hadar Simkovich and Leah Rina Brochin

Pictured above: Gabe Aberman, Lea Ackerman, and Kobi Engel

Pictured above: Eliya Sander and Zev Margolin

Students observed Newton's Second Law of Physics.

Juniors in Mr. Jonathan Keller's Physics class were asked: "What is the acceleration of an 1850 kg car given a push of 500 Newton's? What is the force needed to accelerate an 1850 kg car by 0.2m/s^2? What happens to acceleration when three high school students jump into the car?

Students went out to push their cars to test and observe their impressions of Newton's Second Law calculations.  

Pictured above: Avi Chen and Ariela Bielak

Pictured above: Moshe Tarshish and Avi Chen

Students are creating videos about King Shaul.

Sophomores in Mrs. Olivia Friedman's Navi class are learning Sefer Shmuel; this week they were challenged to tell the story of how Shaul became king by dubbing scene from popular movies in order to make them about Shaul's rise.

Pictured above: Mrs. Friedman and Mia Weiss

Pictured above: Esti Mora, Libby Bleichman, and Esther Fretzin

Pictured above: Esther Meyerson and Chani Gelerinter

What would you bring with you if you escaped the Great Revolt of 66-70 CE?

Students in Mrs. Alissa Zeffren's class spent some of this week imagining what they would feel like if they escaped the Great Revolt against Rome in Judea. What would they bring to start new Jewish lives in exile? What final message would they leave for relatives who remained in Judea?

Students wrote farewell letters to their families, and strategized about which items they would take with them as they fled. Students balanced religion and practicality: water jugs and weapons were popular choices with which to flee, as were copies of the Torah and Tanach, tefillin, and kippot.

Pictured above: Eli Fretzin and Ben Rosenburg

Pictured above: Devorah Kaplowitz and Rivka Belsh

Pictured above: Noam Hellman and Zachary Fogel

ICJA students and relatives davened at Kesser Maariv 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 and other relatives, davened at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Kesser Maariv Anshe Luknik in Skokie, then shared breakfast, divrei Torah, and conversation.

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

Yasher koach to Charlotte's Web for once again receiving an Excellent designation!

ICJA's 2023 literary and artistic journal Charlotte's Web has received the designation "Excellent" once again from the national Council of Teachers of English, their highest honor.

Yasher koach to all of last year's contributors, to last year's editors Charli Ernstein '23, Kayla Kupietzky '23, Michal Bechoffer '23, Dory Marshall '24, Shayna Weinstein '24, Shuli Falk '24, Jacob Friedman '24, Gabriel Klein '24, and to Mrs. Marsha Arons, for consistently guiding Charlotte's Web to national excellence!

This week, we caught up with Tanach and History teacher and Student Activities Director Mrs. Alissa Zeffren and asked her a few questions about herself.

Where did you grow up and where do you live now?

I grew up in Lincolnwood and West Rogers Park, and attended ICJA! Today I live in Skokie with my husband Levi and my kids Ozzie (12), Kira (9), Ilan (7), and Nava (1.5).

What was your favorite class in high school?

I always appreciated my English classes because teachers explored big issues in them: they cared not only about our assignments, but also about how we thought ourselves in relation to the rest of the world.

Rabbi Reuven Gross z"l was a big influence on me; his classes introduced me to the concept of religious growth. I learned from him that Jewish life is not static: we're constantly growing, and he encouraged us to ask a lot of questions, and to realize that no question is off limits. I try to encourage that in my own classrooms today.

How did you decide to go into teaching?

My interest in teaching came from the fact that I was really interested in being a student! In seminary, in college, in grad school - I realized that the best way to be a student was to be a teacher. I fell in love with it. What I enjoy most about teaching is learning with my students. It's like Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi said: הַרְבֵּה תּוֹרָה לָמַדְתִּי מֵרַבּוֹתַי, וּמֵחֲבֵירַי יוֹתֵר מֵהֶם, וּמִתַּלְמִידַי יוֹתֵר מִכּוּלָּן.

What's something you love about ICJA?

I love the culture and philosophy of Ida Crown. I also appreciate my great colleagues here. We lean on each other a lot for support, learn from each other, and bounce ideas off each other. Going through the process of learning and discovery is so rewarding.

What is a favorite ICJA memories?

Yom Ha'Atzmaut is one of my favorite times at ICJA: everyone feels so invest in their Jewish identity, their Zionist identity, and we feel the pervasive love of Israel that we as a school inculcate. In my classroom, I love projects when students can use their creativity and individual voice in a way they might not usually get to do in day-to-day activities.

I enjoy being Student Activities Director because I love our outside activities such as Retreats and Shabbatonim.

What do you do in your spare time?

I'm pursuing an Ed.D. at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education at Y.U. I'm researching the impact of both Holocaust education and intergroup contact - like the kind we foster at the club Student to Student - in reducing antisemitism in non-Jewish teens.

I also enjoy reading, mostly nonfiction. I read a lot of Jewish history, and also enjoy reading books by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Rav Soloveitchik. I enjoy exercise, especially yoga and hiking, and being in nature.

Do you have any advice you'd like to share?

Yes - not to engage in zero sum thinking! I would love for our students to emerge from ICJA with nuanced thinking. Whoever we are, realize we all are a snapshot in time. Who we are now is not who we will always be.

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!

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.

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.

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, January 17, 2024, 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. Prize: $50.00 check for each winner. FOR ARTWORK/ESSAY RULES AND GUIDELINES, visit www.att.org → Student Programs 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.