Upcoming Events

• Wednesday, October 16 - Friday, October 25 - Sukkot Break; no school

• Monday, October 28 - Classes Resume

• Tuesday, October 29 - Junior PSAT 9am - 12pm

• Motzaei Shabbat, November 2 - 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament - come play with your friends and rabbeim @ICJA 8:30pm (Click here to sign up)

• Friday, November 1 - Flu and Covid vaccine clinic @ICJA

• Monday, November 4 - ICGC and Lady Aces watch Chicago Bulls vs. Utah Jazz @United Center

• Friday, November 8 - End of First Quarter

• Sunday, November 10 - Parent Teacher Conferences

• Sunday, November 17 - Israel University Fair

Wishing our students, parents, grandparents, faculty, staff, and all members of the ICJA Family

חג שמח

Have a joyous Chag and a wonderful Sukkot break!

Students explored different rationales for marking graves.

Juniors and seniors in Rabbi Leonard Matanky's accelerated Gemara class are learning Masechet Moed Katan. This week they discussed the very different reasons and rationales the Gemara's rabbis use to explain the Jewish obligation to mark graves.

Pictured above: junior Rivka Belsh

Pictured above: seniors Hada Simkovich and Lilac Marcus

Pictured above: senior Nava Dreytser

Why is Yom Kippur only once a year?

If Yom Kippur is so important, why doesn't it come every month, or every week?

Sophomores in Rabbi Binyomin Segal's Chumash class were given a challenging assignment this week: write why, based on what they have learned about Sefer Bemidbar this year, Yom Kippur occurs just once a year.

In a wide ranging discussion, students invoked opinions from Chazal to the Netziv about what constitutes free will, and how we atone on Yom Kippur and at other times. Students agreed that in addition to the extraordinary day of Yom Kippur, we also need to make the more difficult choices to be good people on other, more ordinary days, too.

Pictured above: Jacob Ackerman

Pictured above: Noah Ehrlich and William Moscovitch

Pictured above: Aryeh Lowenthal

Seniors are completing their first programming projects.

Seniors in Mr. Jonathan Keller's STEM Engineering class finished up their first computer programing projects, as they created programs in Arduino IDE to instruct a serial printer to display a human face.

This is the first step in what will become more complex projects as students learn how to create electronic devices using Arduino software.

(Pictured above: Ami Weiss consulting about his program with Mr. Keller)

Pictured above: Maytal Needle and Yardana Schayer with their program

Pictured above: Koby Engel and Toby Burstyn

Pictured above: Aaron Hartman and Ezra Comrov

Sophomores discussed the different meanings of Sukkot.

What is the link between Sukkot and the Yomim Noraim? How can Hashem command us to be happy on Sukkot? Why do we read Kohelet on Sukkot? Sophomores in Mrs. Lizi Martin's Navi class have been exploring these and many aspects of Sukkot. This week they read and discussed essays by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and Dr. Eliezer Shvied which explain how on Sukkot we dispense with much of the transient material world and focus instead on the Divine.

Students brought in their own outside learning to these wide-ranging discussions too, sharing divrei Torah they've heard this holiday season, describing learning they did in summer camp, and even sharing a stirring bat mitzvah drasha.

Pictured above: Livia Baronofsky, Ariella Titievsky, Evie Weiss, and Eliana Neiger

Pictured above: Bela Burstyn and Maayan Engel

Pictured above: Chavi Campbell and Ayelet Klein

Juniors discussed the obligation to be happy on sukkot.

On Tuesday, junior boys met with Yeshivat Torah Shraga teacher and ICJA alumnus Rabbi Daniel Otani '17, who talked about what it means to be "b'simcha" on Sukkot.

Rabbi Otani explained that it's after Yom Kippur, when we reject the physical world's trappings, that we are most prepared to find true simcha, which doesn't rely on material possessions.

Students and teachers shared some of their beloved Sukkot traditions.

As students learned about Sukkot this week, they - and a few teachers - shared a few of their family Sukkot traditions that they're looking forward to celebrating this week and next.

(Pictured above: Rabbi Louis Fliegelman, who enjoys hosting ICJA father-son learning in his sukkah on Hoshana Rabbah; Rabbi Zev Drutman, who enjoys when friends and family go around the table at his sukkah meals sharing divrei Torah; and Rabbi Joel Gutstein, who enjoys hosting learning in his sukkah on Hoshana Rabba with many people, including often Rabbi Yona Reiss and ICJA students)

Pictured above: senior Yaakov Friedman, who loves eating strawberry soup with friends on Sukkot, and junior Avi Zayan whose family has a tradition of cooking and eating the same chickens on Sukkot with which they made Kapparot on Yom Kippur

Pictured above: senior Simona Fridberg, who enjoys the fact that her parents decorate their sukkah with pictures of family trips to Israel, so that their sukkah "feels like we're in Israel"

Pictured above: senior Shei Beiles, who particularly enjoys the delicious carrot matzah ball soup that her mother makes each Sukkot

Pictured above: junior Eli Gelb, who enjoys not having to go to school over chag, and Mr. Jonathan Keller, who enjoys shaking the arba minim in his sukkah with his family

Pictured above: sophomore Dov Kaiserman, who is looking forward to the Zwetschgenkuchen plum cake that his mother makes on Sukkot

Pictured above: junior Yehuda Goldstein, who enjoys the brisket his mom cooks on Sukkot, and sophomore Jacob Thomas, who enjoys his family's tradition of visiting the zoo on chol hamoed

Juniors discussed Shays's Rebellion.

This week was a significant one in Mr. Joshua Cooper's US History class. Students have finished their unit about the American Revolution, and now are turning their attention to the challenges and struggles the newly United States faced in the 1780s.

Students discussed Shays's Rebellion, a violent conflict between Massachusetts farmers and merchants, in 1786 and 1787, which exposed weaknesses in the the Government's ability to maintain law and order under the Articles of Confederation.

Freshmen and their relatives davened together last Sunday at Khal Zichron Yoel in Lincolnwood.

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, students davened at Khal Zichron Yoel in Lincolnwood.



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

Yasher koach to senior Yossi Burstyn!

Senior Yossi Burstyn has been named a Commended Scholar by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Commended Scholars scored in the top 50,000 of the country on the PSAT, out of 1.3 million high school juniors who took the test.

Yasher koach on this incredible achievement, Yossi; we are so proud of you!

This week's learning dedications include:

Monday, the 12th of Tishrei, 5785, October 14, 2024, by ICJA, for a refuah shleima for Jaime Leonard יהודית גילה בת רחל לאה

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 class of '24 participated in during their month-long Mission to Israel last December!

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.

Join our FAN network and help spread news about ICJA in the community

Review ICJA on Niche.com and enter a sweepstakes.

Thank you for your help! Because of your reviews, ICJA is currently ranked as the #1 Jewish high school in Illinois on the popular school ranking website Niche.com.

Let's continue to let people know how fabulous ICJA is! Whether you're a parent, student, teacher, or alumnus/alumna, 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.

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 '24 alumni the third 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.

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.