Candle Lighting 4:16 PM 13 Kislev 5778/December 1, This week's Kol Torah is generously sponsored by

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1 This weekly publication is ed to all of our subscribers. The newsletter recaps the week's events at Caskey Torah Academy and informs readers of upcoming programs and events. A printed copy is sent home on Fridays to each CTA family. Happy reading and have a Good Shabbos! Candle Lighting 4:16 PM 13 Kislev 5778/December 1, 2017 This week's Kol Torah is generously sponsored by Kosher Foods and More LLC Wishing everyone a Good Shabbos! If you would like to sponsor an issue of Kol Torah in honor or in memory of a loved one, please contact Rachel Mazurek at rmazurek@taphila.org. PICTURE OF THE WEEK

2 MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL If only there were 25 hours in a day. If I only had the time. I can't do it all. We live very full lives. Full of responsibility, expectations and stress. Often our personal and spiritual lives take a back burner to the many demands that rest on our shoulders. How can we continue to grow and not despair? How can we keep ourselves focused on a path that leads to fulfillment without dropping the ball on all of the responsibilities that crowd our lives? In this week's Parsha, Yaakov tells his brother Eisav: "Im Lavan Garti, I lived with Lavan." Rashi tells us that the word Garti, "I Lived" is the numeric equivalent of 613. Yakov was really telling his brother: I may have lived with Lavan, but I kept all 613 Mitzvot. Now, that is a pretty tall order, especially considering that many of the 613 mitzvot can not even be performed outside of the Bais Hamikdash, or only apply to a Kohen! How could Yaakov substantiate this claim? The Chasam Sofer answers that the correct reading of Rashi reveals that

3 the term "Shamarti" does not mean that "I kept the mitzvot", rather it means I was watchful of the Mitzvot. He continues to explain that while Yakov could not keep the entire Torah, he longed to do so. It was always on his mind. It never left his sight, despite the fact that it was beyond his reach while in the confines of Lavan's home. Truly amazing! The Chasam Sofer equates longing to accomplish something to accomplishing it already. But why? Is it merely enough to want something? Does that exempt me from any real obligation? The lesson that the Chasam Sofer is telling us is that Yaakov had a definite, concrete mission --- to raise the 12 Tribes and to serve G-d. Despite his inability to fulfill his mission to its fullest, he never lost sight of his goal. He never traded his daily reality for his vision for the future. That is how we can grow despite our daily struggles. We must define our personal goals in definite, concrete terms. We must define our family goals in definite, concrete terms. Then we must take steps --- small or large, toward that end point. Our students experience their education in this way. Our teachers lay out large, lofty goals, such as learning how to read, learning how to daven from a Siddur, mastering a piece of Gemara or using the quadratic equation. This takes months or even years for a child to learn. But they do! And they don't despair in the process, because, with the help of their teachers, they keep the end goal in sight. And this happens in Math, in Chumash, in Language Arts and in every other subject. We teach our students to be goal-oriented, yet connected to the task at hand. A delicate balancing act, but one that our students learn to master. We can learn a lot from them. Good Shabbos, Rabbi Isaac Entin RABBI ENTIN'S RECOMMENDED READING To read Rabbi Entin's recommended reading, CLICK HERE! MAZAL TOV

4 To Rabbi Joshua and Morah Tamar Runyan and Family on Sefi's Bar Mitzvah UPCOMING EVENTS Sunday-Sunday, December 3-10 : PTO Auction - Bidding begins Sunday! ( NLFTa) Wednesday, day, December 6: 5th Grade and Kindergarten Move Up Night Motzei Shabbos, December 9: 4-8th Grade Girls BINA Program Sunday, December 10 : Mommy/Daddy and Me Program Wednesday, day, December 13 : 4Y Chanukah Presentation, 9:15AM Thursday, December 14: Kindergarten Chanukah Presentation Friday, December 15: No School Sunday, December 17: No Sunday School Monday, December 18 : 3Y Chanukah Presentation, 9:15AM Monday, December 25: 12 PM Dismissal, No Bussing Monday, December 25: Middle School Yom Iyun

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6 INSIDE THE CLASSROOM - MIDDLE SCHOOL LANGUAGE ARTS Sixth grade Language Arts is nearing the end of a very exciting and successful first trimester. Both 6G and 6B classes have been immersed in literature, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. We have just completed our study of an excellent novel entitled Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. It received the 2000 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature. The genre is historical fiction, and the story follows the experiences of the narrator, a ten-year-old African American orphan, living in Michigan during the Great Depression. The students were introduced to this novel with an overview of the plight of African Americans during this historical time, when racial discrimination made survival far more difficult for them. The novel served as a springboard to several meaningful class discussions, ranging from racism to navigation through trying times and challenging circumstances. Bud's determination to discover answers was manifested in the most interesting ways, impacting the students' knowledge and sensibility as well as serving as a rich literary experience.

7 During this past trimester, the students learned how to write a paragraph, including a strong topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence. Students wrote a reflective essay as well as a three-paragraph book review on a book of their choice, with the focus on character development. One of the most successful writing assignments this trimester was an essay entitled "An Unexpected Act of Kindness," which followed our reading of the short story "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes. One of my goals for this year is to help the students remember the "show, don't tell" premise as they write, which will hopefully elicit inferential thinking by the reader - and perhaps one day result in one of these students even being awarded a Newbery Medal! Good Shabbos! Mrs. (Morah) Rosenthal INSIDE THE CLASSROOM - 3Y It has been so much fun getting into the Chanukah spirit in our 3Y classroom! The children have been so excited to really feel Chanukah in the air as we put up our new Chanukah bulletin board and played Chanukah music. We have begun learning the basic story of Chanukah and exploring it interactively and through center play. Some of the favorite centers have been sorting Chanukah candles, finding 'gelt' in rice, and playing with our pretend chanukiyot. The children worked cooperatively to make big sivivonim for our bulletin board and then worked individually to create amazing Chanukah artwork using Chanukah cookie cutters and glitter paint to display on the bulletin board too. Next week they will work on decorating our classroom door with sivivonim that they cut out and create all by themselves! The 3Y kids are also proud to have just finished our unit on Hebrew colors. It was tough learning so many new words, but the children are very excited to show what they know. Over the past few weeks, we have learned and reviewed each color through sensory play and games. We have also been working on making a 'tzvaim' book for each child to bring home. Each

8 page is a different color and the children are super excited because they are able to 'read' this special book! The best part is that they get to keep this book at home so they can continue reviewing these new words! We are looking forward to a great rest of the year in 3Y! Morah Dini ECP SPOTLIGHT This week, we added an exciting section to our playground. The ECP and Kindergarten now have access to a designated digging area with shovels and trucks. The children are very excited to explore in the wood chips. They are also enjoying balancing and bouncing on the tires that serve as dividers. Thank you to Mr. Michael for making this dream come true!

9 STUDENT DVAR TORAH - MATAN SCHWARTZ ויירא יעקב מאד ויצר לו "And Yaakov was greatly afraid and it distressed him." (Bereishis 32:8) When Yaakov heard that Eisav was coming towards him with 400 men, he became very scared. How could this be? Didn't Hashem say the He would protect him from harm? Could it be that Yaakov did not have faith in Hashem? Rashi explains that Yaakov's fear resulted from his concern that he had sinned, causing him to lose favor in Hashem's eyes. The 22 years he had spent with Lavan had affected him. Although he was not influenced by Lavan, he still feared that he was not the same person that Hashem originally favored. Thus, Yaakov preformed teshuvah, hoping to regain Hashem's favor. Horav A. Henoch Leibowitz, Shlita, explains that Yaakov's fear was a constructive fear, since it led to teshuvah and hope. It inspired Yaakov and brought him closer to Hashem. Like Yaakov, we too need to take the hard parts of life, like sorrow, fear, and frustration and use them to become closer to Hashem. Only when we realize that we have nothing to fear as long as we place our trust in Hashem, will we lead happy and more productive lives. Shabbat Shalom, Matan Schwartz CONNECTING OVER COFFEE

10 This past Tuesday night, parents joined us for the first of our Connecting Over Coffee Parenting and Education. Dr. Harris Finkelstein gave a fascinating talk on identifying and treating anxiety in our children. Look out for our next installment of Connecting Over Coffee coming soon! ENRICHMENT PROGRAM Spotlight on "Artisan Judaica," with Mrs. Wright- Grades 4-5 The first week of December is National Computer Science Education Week! We have lined up some exciting computer science-themed Discovery Lunches and lunchtime workshops for next week. Be sure to check out the schedule of events! Upcoming Discovery Lunches Monday, December 4, Grades 2-3, 6-8 (In the lunchroom) Meet Mr. Nissan Dachs Nissan Dachs manages a team of pre-sales Solution Consultants at Adobe Systems, helping to sell enterprise software to large corporations for digital marketing. Adobe, founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, CA, is a global company with more than 15,000 employees. Come learn about some of the amazing technology that Adobe produces and what it's like working at one of the original Silicon Valley software companies. Tuesday, December 5, Grades 1-8 (In the lunchroom) Discover Artificial Intelligence What is Artificial Intelligence? Come meet an expert in the field and find out about some of the wonders of Artificial Intelligence! Wednesday, December 6 and Thursday, December 7 Meet Mr. Avi Zohar It's Computer Science Education Week. Come find out about coding! What is coding? Who writes code? What is it used for? Come discover the many uses of coding in this "Hour of Code" workshop. Wednesday, December 6: 4/5G at 12:0 0 in Mrs. Schneider's room, 6-8 B at 12:3 0 in Mr. Gilman's room Thursday, December 7: 4/5B at 12:0 0 in Mrs. Schneider's room, 6-8 G at 1:0 0 in Mr. Gilman's room

11 REBBITZEN TZIPORAH HELLER Our Middle School Girls had the honor of hearing from Rebbitzen Tziporah Heller yesterday. Rebbitzen Heller spoke to our students about the essence of friendship. The girls learned about being and becoming givers, and the importance of needing those around them in order to make themselves complete. Many thanks to the Bikkur Cholim of Philadelphia for making this special visit possible! CHANUKAH PROGRAMMING Noa and Noa are happy to introduce CTA's Chanukiah Expo! Students in grades 1-8 are invited to create their own most original chanukiot to be displayed in school. Awards in various categories to be presented at the school-wide Chanukah assembly. Students should not spend more than $10 (if anything) on this project. Chanukiot are due in school, ready to be displayed on Wednesday, December 13th, the first day of Chanukah. Happy Designing!

12 EXCITING PTO EVENTS

13 CTA also participates in the Amazon Smile program and in the and programs, so keep CTA in mind as you shop online. CLICK HERE TO PREVEW ITEMS! PTO NEWS Ongoing PTO free FUNdraisers make a big difference!!! Please save the following items on behalf of CTA PTO...and urge friends and family to participate in these easy, no cost programs. Currently, we are collecting Box Tops for Education logos (go to for a complete product listing and for offers and sweepstakes) and Brown's Shoprite and Fresh Grocer receipts (must be current...within the last 5 months). A collection box for these items is at the front security desk. Please register your Giant Bonus Cards ( to benefit CTA PTO (use CTA id # 23875)...anyone with a Giant card can participate in this program and you can support up to 2 schools. Once you have registered, there is no need to reregister for the new school year.

14 For any questions about these programs, please contact Host our B'not Sherut for a meal Click here to view and sign up for the meal schedule. TA Text Messaging

15 Stay informed with important TA information such as emergency announcements, school closings and event reminders. To opt in - click here CTA SNAPSHOTS

16 Click Here for the School Calendar Kol Torah is for Grandparents too! Would your parents like to have a window into their grandchildren's Torah Academy's world? To receive Kol Torah, please send addresses here.

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