Dear Parents, The Torah lists the many nissim Hashem performed for the Bnei Yisroel when it says

Transcription

1 PPROUD*** ISSUE 29 Parshas Chukas \ I already sent it Hadlakas Neiros:8:12 out.pm I alhavdalah: 9:30 June ready sent it out. YBHighlights ** CALENDAR Monday, June 17 8B Graduation 7:30 PM Tuesday, June 18 Last day of school ECD Wednesday, June 19 Last day of school Grades :30 PM Dismissal HAVE A GREAT SUMMER! ISRAEL DAY PARADE HIGHLIGHTS A Message from Our Menahel Dear Parents, The Torah lists the many nissim Hashem performed for the Bnei Yisroel when it says על כן יאמר בספר מלחמות ה את והב בסופה. Rashi says that the words והב בסופה refer to that which Hashem had done (from the לשון הב to give) for עם ישראל at the )סופה(ים סוף. The gemarah in קידושין says an interesting דרוש and play on words. When parents or teachers learn Torah, it may seem at times as if they are fighting with each other and are enemies ( )אויבים. At the end, however, it becomes clear how much they really love each other ) )אוהבים. I remember when my siblings would speak to each other, in learning, at the Shabbos table, it would often get quite heated. Then my father would get involved and pull out a gemarah to show us how we were all wrong (don't ask!) My mother would try to stop the fighting in her clever and loving way by saying something like okay, the soup is getting cold.. or the ices are melting. It didn t always work, but then we would start singing zemiros together! If a stranger would observe such a scene, they would think what a strange family! So, too, in the pasuk את והב בסופה, the word והב is lashon of אהבה and בסופה means in the end, explains the gemarah. There is love in the end, even if there was a shouting match in the beginning. Rav Schwab, zt l, asks, Isn t that a farfetched?דרוש We are connecting the נס at the ים סוף ( )סופה to the end ( )סוף of the argument between parent and child. He explains how they are not so different from each other in concept. When the ים סוף split, every drop of water was thirsting (no pun intended) to rejoin its counterpart as its natural instinct desires. So too, when two people are fighting in Torah learning, their desire is to be loving friends in the end. חז ל tell us that the more מלחמות ה there are, the less actual wars there will be. On Rosh Hashanah, it is decided... מי בחרב, who will endure the sword. We also know that חז ל speak of חרב when they refer to sharp discussions during Torah learning. May we be זוכה to spend our summer in the מלחמתה של תורה and utilize all the beautiful lessons we received in YBH for the sake of creating קדוש ה and building אוהבים, not אויבים. Good Shabbos & have a wonderful summer! Rabbi Berel Leiner Menahel

2 LOOKING BACK... GENERAL STUDIES UPDATE Dear Parents, It is overwhelming to write this final letter to you. To me this letter is an opportunity to express my deep admiration for the faculty with whom I have worked so closely, my respect and appreciation for you, the parents, who have been my partner every step of the way and my love for each and every child at YBH. How you brighten my days when I see you! There are really no words that will adequately convey my feelings. How can I describe the joy with which I came to school each day? Does anyone know how much I appreciate the faculty for standing behind all that I have done and working so hard on the front lines to bring it all to fruition? Is it possible to put into words what I feel towards you the parents who have truly become my friends? And, can anyone possibly articulate how special the YBH children are each one so goodhearted and respectful and yet so different and unique that my relationship with each one is one-of-akind and irreplaceable? "Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai said, 'Go out and see what is the good path to which a person should attach himself.' (His disciple) Rabbi Yehoshua said, 'Chaver tov, a good friend'" - Pirkei Avos 2:9 I think we will agree that having friends is important, but do we think of making friends as a Jewish responsibility? Yet, Rabbi Yehoshua tells us that acquiring a friend is not only a mitzvah, but it is "the good path," a key to success in living a Torah life. The most common explanation is that a good friend is ready to offer constructive criticism which enables us to see ourselves more honestly and thus become better people. R Avigdor Miller quotes the Rambam in interpreting the Mishnah differently. "Acquire for your self a friend can also teach that a man must acquire someone who loves him, for through this, his deeds and all his affairs will be improved. " Rambam does not write that the friend's job is to improve us, but rather their belief in us and respect for us cause us to in turn believe in ourselves and to be inspired to live up to those expectations. I can honestly say that the YBH family has been the truest of friends to me in every way both in your honest and open communication and in your support and belief in me. In Mishlei (27:19), Shlomo Hamelech teaches that our true attitude towards other people tends to be reflected back at us, like an image seen in a pool of water. I have loved everyone at YBH deeply and in turn I have felt your love to me. To say that I will miss you all is a gross understatement. A friend of mine recently commented to me, Leaving probably won t even be so hard. After all you were only there for two years. ONLY two years? That s twenty four months, seven hundred and forty days that I lived, ate and breathed the children of YBH and they and their families have taken up permanent residence in my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything and please keep in touch. May we share nachas from the children for many years to come. Estee Hebel Cell: esteehebel@yahoo.com

3 LIMUDEI KODESH UPDATE BOYS MAZAL TOV TO Dear Parents, Wow! It s hard to believe that we re at the last newsletter of the school year. This affords us the luxury of stepping back to appreciate the many great things we ve accomplished during the past year and to recognize those to whom we owe much credit for those accomplishments. Truly appreciating academic accomplishments requires recognition of the entire school experience within which they were achieved. We began the school year with lofty aspirations and goals and it was up to our rebbeim to act upon those objectives and bring them to fruition. Observing the joy and satisfaction felt by talmidim at completing a masechta or perek of gemara, or at completing a sefer or parsha of Chumash, shows how well our rebbeim have engaged the talmidim in learning. Whatever the curricular objective was, it takes the rebbi s expert guidance and positive encouragement to meet, and in several cases exceed, the original objective. It is for this and more that I take the opportunity to thank our quality staff of rebbeim for their caring, devotion and expertise. It is this combination that creates a uniquely warm and stimulating environment for great learning. Concurrent with the academic emphasis, our extra-curricular programming adds a dimension that is fun and also complements the broader application of Torah values. Our programs to reinforce tefilla, middos, or chesed make every talmid an active participant in living life as a Ben Torah. That creates the bridge between the academic learning חז ל and the implementation. As tell us in פרקי אבות it is vital for על מנת all learning to be done with לעשות the intention of acting upon what was learned. It is a challenge to recap every special program that was done but allow me to list just a few of life s lessons reinforced by these programs. Kibbud Av V aim, Tefillah with kavana, Hasmada even when not in yeshiva etc.. בין אדם לחבירו The emphasis on shined through the Anti-Bullying Program, the Shomrei Halashon program and more. It is with great appreciation that I thank our fantastic PTA who step forward in the planning and with the funding of much of the above programs and more. We are fortunate to have a PTA so devoted and proactive in looking for ways to enhance the school experience for every talmid. Trying to reach the soul of every child and connect in his unique way requires a strong and valued partnership between the parents and mechanchim. Gauging the progress of a child is often linked with gauging the partnership between the school and the home. I feel thankful and fortunate to work with a parent body that is so involved in the chinuch of their children. You take your children's development seriously and are usually quite supportive of the endeavors on our end. For that I thank you and look forward to strengthening the partnership. The greatest beneficiary will be our precious children. Two groups of people that often get overlooked when expressing appreciation are the Board of Directors and the Va ad Hachinuch. While this is largely a thankless position, the members of these boards have extended themselves time and again in support of all that we do here in the yeshiva. They do so voluntarily with a great investment of their time and for that they too deserve thanks. As we close this school year, I wish you all our talmidim a happy and healthy summer vacation. We have so much to celebrate this year and so many great experiences to look forward to next year in YBH. Have a wonderful summer, Rabbi Binyomin Perlstein Mrs. Hendel Shotkin is available for tutoring Limudei Kodesh or Ivrit Grades 6-8 during the summer. Please call (973) Mr. Nosson and Mrs. Malka Frohlich Adina (1G) Ahron (P1A-R) & Michal (K-K) on the birth of a daughter Elisha Schmutter (7B) & family on his Bar Mitzvah * The 8G & 8B graduating classes... well done! PTA CORNER Sunday, June 16 & Monday, June 17 Shop at the Clifton Five Below And help raise funds for YBH We would like to formally announce next year's PTA officers: Sherry Schwartz President Estie Turkel & Penina Goldman Vice President(s) Adina Hahn- Treasurer Ahuva Perlowitz Secretary Dina Snitow Volunteer Coordinator A special thank you to outgoing PTA members Etana Kamara, Aviva Levin and Dina Galimidi for their dedication and commitment to our school. Thank you! Any mothers interested in becoming a class mother for next year should contact Dina Snitow at dnas1@gmail.com or

4 A Peek Into Our Week: Mrs. Silberman's 1B Class: The first grade boys in Mrs. Silberman's class have been learning about inventions and inventors. We have learned about Benjamin Franklin and his discovery of electricity, among his many other inventions. We also learned about Thomas Edison and how he invented the telephone. This was followed by a discussion about Helen Keller and how Edison's invention helped her to communicate. Each boy drew a picture of an invention he would like to make. It was lots of fun! Morah Melissa s K-L: We can't believe that the school year is about to come to a close. The children in Kindergarten -L have learned so much over the course of the year. We finished learning both the Aleph Beis and the alphabet. We have been focusing on our five senses and community helpers over the past few weeks. This week we had two very exciting visits from Passaic's bravest firefighters and Police Dept. as they taught us what to do in case of a fire and showed us all of their special equipment, especially their fire truck! We also learned about safety and community. Have a wonderful summer! Rabbi Hirschman s Kitah Beis: Menachem Gerstman and Shimmy Hack made a siyum in mishnayos in our class for completing Masechta Succah. We are so proud of all our talmidim! ECD HIGHLIGHTS FUN, FUN, FUN AND LEARNING! Mrs. Paul s 5B class: The boys of 5B finished reading The Phantom Toll Booth by Norton Juster. There is a lot of word play in the book so we took some time to learn about idioms. In addition the boys made predictions every five chapters and chose two activities - one to do while reading the book and one as a culminating activity. Some examples of activities to do while reading were: make a timeline, analyze characters and look for examples of cause and effect. For culminating activities boys chose to make newspapers, games, mobiles, dioramas, speeches, comic books and even podcasts! The boys will be sharing them with the class on the last two days of school. I look forward to an interesting and fun end of the school year. The nursery and kindergarten classes went on an amazing trip to Brook Hollow Farms where we fed the animals and enjoyed a tractor ride. Rabbi Rothberger s Kitah Gimmel: It is hard to believe that we are at the end of the school year. We have been zoche to learn so much this year. This Sunday, b"h, we will be making a siyum on the entire Sefer Bereishis and celebrating with an after school barbeque. We also hope to complete our first perek of mishnayos; with some boys learning half of the mishnayos by heart. Most importantly, our class has worked as a cohesive unit throughout the year, demonstrating wonderful middos, friendship and caring for each other. It has been a wonderful year and I wish all our talmidim much hatzlacha in the future. The nursery classes performed beautifully at their end of the year presentations and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Pre1A enjoyed a visit to the science lab. Rabbi Weider showed us some great experiments. We don t want school to end!

5

6 Our 3rD year Passaic-Clifton Community Kollel s Summer Sunday Morning Avos U Banim Learning Program When: Sunday Mornings Starting June 23rd 9:30-10:15 am Where: Kehilas Bais Yosef (Rabbi Hirsch s shul) 580 Broadway Passaic, NJ Weekly Nosh & Raffles End-of-Summer Grand Raffle!! Earn tickets to win each week you attend For more information or to sponsor this program please call: (845) or passaiccliftonkollel@gmail.com

7

8 If I told you there was money hidden in your closets, would you look for it? If I told you, you could earn money with almost no effort, Would you be interested? There is and you can! Through the Box Tops for Education Program On the packaging of hundreds of household items from food to clothing, there are Box Tops for Education labels. They are already in your home. Find them. Each one is worth 10 cents and all you have to do for our school to get that money, is cut (or tear) it out and bring to the office. That s it. Fact: This past year we earned $1,000. We can do much better. (Box Tops for Education will donate up to $60,000 a year!) Each box top counts. So start clipping them. Ask grandparents and co-workers to clip them. YOU can make a difference in our school. So this summer as you take a dip PLEASE remember to CLIP! Go online to for a complete list of participating box tops products1

9 While you take a summer dip, make sure you remember to clip! Have your friends and family help you to clip Box Tops throughout the summer. Every child who brings 25 box tops back to school at the start of the school year will win a special, in-school treat of ices! That s right, every child who collects 25, WINS! Please make sure Box Tops are not past expiration date. Name: Grade ( ): Questions?:ibachrach@hotmail.com