Dvar Torah
Parshas Yisro
Candlelighting: 4:43
This week’s Parsha teaches us about the greatest moment in all of world history, the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. This event was the highlight, the point of it all. Hashem himself came down and gave His Torah, His guidebook for a perfect life to the Jewish people.
Yet, the Parsha begins with an interesting incident. The Torah tells us that Yisro, Moshe’s father in law, came to join the Jewish people. Why is it important for the Torah to tell us about this, especially right before telling us about the giving of the Torah.
Hashem is teaching us a very important lesson. The Torah tells us, “And Yisro heard.” Rashi explains that Yisro heard about the miracles that Hashem performed for the Jewish people. The Torah is teaching us something unique and incredible over here. The entire world heard about Kriyas Yam Suf and the other miracles Hashem did for the Jewish people. Yet, only one person listened. Only one person paid attention to what happened, took its lessons to heart, and acted upon those lessons. Yisro head about the miracles. He listened. He paid attention. He acted upon what he heard about.
The rest of the world also heard about these miracles, but they chose to ignore what they heard. They did not listen or pay attention.
Hashem is constantly sending us messages through what happens in the world around us. It is up to us to listen and pay attention to those messages.
This incident is the perfect introduction to the giving of the Torah. Before we can be ready to receive the Torah, we must first be ready to listen and accept the messages we are given.
Good Shabbos
Mrs. Rosskamm
Judaic Studies Coordinator
Judaics
Kindergarten and First Grade
We baruch Hashem had another great week!
In kriah, the first grade was busy reviewing the loud and sleepy sh’va rules. They’re very good at reading long words and had a great time guessing Morah’s mystery word. Our word wall is growing each day! The kindergarten learned the letter mem who brought them to visit an eye doctor to read the eye chart and check if they need ‘mishkafayim’ (glasses) or not.
In kesiva, the first grade started their second kesiva book and learned to write the letter taf.
We had an exciting BRACHOT PARTY to celebrate finishing to learn all the brachot! The kids also did a great job on their brachot tests! I’m so proud!
In parsha, we learned about how the Jewish nation received the Torah on Har Sinai who was the most humble mountain. We learned how important it is to be humble and not to brag.
Enjoy your vacation!
Morah Chavi
Second Grade
The weeks zoom by in 2nd grade. On Monday we celebrated Tu’beshevat by making beautiful edible fruit projects and learning about Tu’beshevat. The rest of the week we reviewed the various Brochos we make on different foods. We practiced our Kriya and spent time learning the significance of “Shema Yisroel.” We heard a story about an older lady who was a young girl during WW11. Before she was separated from her mother. Her mother taught her “Shema Yisroel.” One day a Rabbi visited the Gentile Orphanage and said “Shema Yisroel,”three children recognized the prayer and were rescued and taken out of the orphanage. This Shabbat we read Parshat Yitro. We learned about Yitro and about the giving of the Torah in this weeks Parsha. Have a wonderful break. Shabbat Shalom!
Third Grade
What a wonderful week we had in 3rd grade!
I’m so proud of the class. They are learning beautifully, and Davening beautifully.
We made a lovely Tu Bishvat project and practiced our Brachot. They are continuing to practice what brachot to make on each food they eat.
In Chayainu we learned the 3 festivals Shalosh Rigalim and the month they fall out in.
The boys and girls learned the Parsha so well! I’m really proud!
Hope you all enjoy your winter break!
Stay warm safer and healthy!
Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Ferber
Fourth Grade
It was a great week being it started with Tu B’shvat fun. The school gave out supplies to make our own fruit tree. The children were tree experts, and the trees were very big it hardly fit into the bag. There were many delicious treats on the tree.
In Davening we continued explaining the Second part of Baruch She’amar. It was amazing to see all the different ides the children had about the Tefilla.
In Chumash we continued learning about the test of Avram, that he left his land and birthplace to follow Hashem’s commandment. It was one of the tests that he had.
We spoke about that the first place Avram came to was Shechem. Avram knew that his children would be there, and he Davened for them. We have to realize how much our Ancestors did for us, and we have to be very thankful to them.
In Parsha we spoke about the greatest gift we got; it was the Torah. There is no joy in the world like learning Torah. We must try to do the best we can and learn as hard as we can.
Congratulation to Matthew and Maayan on being in this week Major Raffle winners.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Berelowitz
5th and 6th Boys
Another super week!
We began our “mark yourself daily daven chart”. All boys are expected to daven daily and then fill in their chart to receive credit.
We are plowing through the beginning of Masechta Suka, studying intricate laws of the size of the Suka, the covering of the Suka and the age [yes, you read correctly, the age] of the Suka. We had our first comprehension quiz on Masechta Suka and the boys aced the quiz.
We studied this week’s Parasha, Parashat Yitro which mentions Hashem giving the Torah , which is paramount to Judaism as well as the world at large. Even the supreme court has the ten commandments in front of the building as the Torah is The law of the land = planet earth.
We are getting ever closer to the end of Parashat Va’eira, the Parasha that we study more in depth. Hopefully very soon when we return after mid-winter break we will reach that milestone and celebrate it.
Wishing everyone two Shabat Shaloms, and a very enjoyable vacation.
Rabbi Kuritsky.
7th and 8th Girls
Thirteen Ani Ma’amins
Wow, what an amazing accomplishment!
We learned ALL of the THIRTEEN Ani Ma’amins. The girls wrote beautiful notes and now, filled in an outline beautifully.
We also learned and completed the laws of Sh’mone Esre. We had a quiz, and, of course, all the girls aced the quiz.Because we are heading into mid-winter break, we had our weekly Parasha quiz already on Thursday. Of course, the girls aced that as well. Thanks to Miss Dershowitz and Mrs. Ferber, the girls made exquisite Tu biShvat flower pots, using dried fruit as flowers. Naturally,most of the girls chose to give their gorgeous creation to Rabbi Kuritsky as a birthday present vs taking it home for themself.
We are looking forward to more inspiring accomplishments after the break. Enjoy!
Noam Tisona saying Havdala for 7th and 8th grade girls
7th and 8th Boys
What a great week we just experienced.
In Davening we had lessons on the part Shemoneh Esreh that says Hashem listens to our Tefillot. The next Beracha we discussed was that we say to Hashem “Please be appeased with our Tefillot.” We watched an amazing story, how after Praying a person can be answers in a tremendous way.
In Gemara we learnt that as soon as a person kills, he goes to the Arei MIklat. Following that, Bes Din sends someone to get him and the court puts him on trial. We discussed many words in the Gemara.
A goodbye to Mikai on his move to Yisroel. We miss him already. Hope he has great success wherever he goes.
A Mazal tov to Oren Deri on putting on his Tefillin. He had a beautiful occasion in School on this occasion. We want to wish him, a long happy life with much Beracha.
.
Topics from the Parsha:
יתרו heard about all the great ניסים that Hashem did for the Yidden: Splitting the Yam Suf, winning עַמָלֵק, the מָן, water from a rock and most of all, the ניסים that happened in מצרים and when the yidden went out of מצרים. He left all his riches in מדין and came to join the Yidden in the מדבר. He brought משה’s wife and 2 sons with him.
משה went out to greet יתרו and all the Yidden followed. We should always follow the ways of צדיקים.
יתרו saw how long משה רבּינו sat each day to answer the questions of the Yidden, and how long each Yid had to wait to ask his question. He gave משה an idea to appoint other צדיקים to also answer questions. Hashem said that this was a a good idea.
On ראש חדש סיון the Yidden arrived near הר סיני and the preparations for מתּן תּורה began.
On ב’ סיון, משה went up הר סיני and Hashem told him that He wants to give the תּורה to the Yidden. “Go and ask them if they are ready to keep all My Mitzvos.” The Yidden all together answered נעשה ונשמע” ”, we are ready and willing to do all of the Mitzvos. משה went back up to Hashem to tell Him that the Yidden want the תּורה.
We briefly discussed each of the עשרת הדברות.
Keep it up,
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Berelowitz
Noam Tisona saying shma in the morning with his talit and tfilin
Elementary School
Kindergarten
This week kindergarten read a story all about a Big Blue Ox. They learned how to identify the setting of a story and then they painted the setting of the Big Blue Ox. They learned the CH sound and about the schwa sound. All week they kept finding and pointing out lazy vowels everywhere! They even found them in their names! In math they learned about different strategies they can use to add. The class played many games to practice adding and filling in number bonds. They are also almost done with their Math KB books! In social studies they continued to learn about the symbols of the United States. They learned about the Statue of Liberty, the White House, and they picked which symbol they wanted to represent in our Social Studies Fair. In science they did an experiment to review the three states of matter. They saw how a solid, like raisins, reacts in a liquid like soda. They found it hilarious to watch the gas in the soda make the raisins look like they were dancing in the cup.
First Grade
First graders continue to be amazing. We have learned so much this year. First graders learned about the phases of the moon in Science. Students loved identifying the crescent, gibbons, and full moon shapes. We even created a mini book about the moon wherein we made up names for the moon.
Students solved Math puzzles for fact families. In Reading We learned about different types of jobs and put them into categories. Finally, in Social Studies we began a unit about famous world explorers. Students understand that anyone can be a great explorer if they are willing to venture outward. Students are excited to see how these brave men and women traveled across great distances to discover new lands.
Lastly, we were privileged to say Happy Birthday to two of our classmates: Aviel Raytburg and Raquel Ashraf.
Second Grade
This week 2nd grade had a math test on multiplication and division. We have been continuing to read our book, Charlotte’s Web, and we have been writing paragraphs describing some of the main characters, as we continue our descriptive writing unit. We continue to learn about verbs in grammar. In Social Studies, we have started to explore the 3 branches of government in the United States.
In science, students learned and understand what is left of living things from the past. 2nd graders were so excited to know and learn about fossils; they can not wait to make their own.
Mr. A. Ferrera B.S.Ed
Generalist Teacher, 2nd grade
SIHA
Third Grade
This week Grade 3 students continued to practice their problem solving skills using multiplication and division. They drew bar graphs to demonstrate and organize their information in order to solve one and two step word problems. During their Grammar lessons, students practiced identifying and correctly using common and proper nouns as well as irregular plural nouns. During their Social Studies lessons students continued to learn about the early age of exploration. They read about the indigenous people early explorers had come across in the North American territories. They also learned about Samuel de Champlain and the various navigation tools that were used during his journey.
In science, students described adaptations that protect organisms in different ecosystems; learned and described how ecosystems change during natural disasters.
Miss Sasha
Fourth Grade
This week in ELA students worked proper adjectives, adjectives that compare, and spelling adjectives that compare. Completed explanatory writing activities.
In math students found fractional part of a given whole, multiply a whole by a fraction, and solve word problem with the use of a bar model.
In Social Studies students started to read about Living in the South. Read and discussed about the Memphis transportation hub, activities visitors can do while traveling through the Upper South, and what jobs people can do in the Upper South.
In science, students identified scavengers and their role in a food web and learned about decomposers and their role in an ecosystem.
Fifth Grade
5th Grade ELA
Greetings and salutations!
This week has been busy but exciting. The students practiced their vocabulary, began in earnest their new class novel, and focused on composing both long and short responses based on a passage on the Italian Renaissance. I am happy to say that we have had quite a few excellent discussions over the Renaissance and how things were back then.
The students were particularly fascinated about how rare books were before the invention of the Gutenberg printing press.
In science, students learned and identified the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in ecosystems; described how energy flows from one organism to another in food chains and in food webs. 5th graders created their own food web using different animal pictures.
In Math, 5th grade started their last unit on ratios. They also created geometry word problems. Here are two examples from Liam and Ariella K.
Middle School
Middle School ELA and Social Studies
6th ELA
This week has been all about paragraph structure! Students explored the difference between the central idea of a story and its theme, and after filling out graphic organizers, wrote beautiful paragraphs. Students also continued their novel study of Milkweed.
6th SS
Greetings and salutations!
This week we wrapped up our unit on ancient China. The students enjoyed learning about the ambitious but short lived Qin Dynasty. The students were particularly interested and fascinated by the famous Terracotta Army that the first emperor of the Qin dynasty created to guard his tomb.
7th ELA
Greetings and salutations!
This week has been all about finishing our literary essay over The Master Puppeteer. I am looking forward to reading what the hard working 7th graders have come up with. Based on their drafts, I can tell that they would have written some amazing things.
In addition to essay writing the 7th grade practiced their vocabulary and threw themselves into testprep. Overall, it has been a rather heavy week and I know the 7th grade has earned their rest in the coming week!
7th SS
Students wrapped up our chapter on the road to the American Revolution by looking at the historic primary sources surrounding the battle of Lexington and Concord. Students discussed the sources and wrote about them.
8th Grade ELA and SS
8th graders had a busy week! We started our novel study of Fahrenheit 451 by discussing science fiction, and its place within literature. Students also did a close reading of the first part of our novel, and discussed metaphors and similes. In social studies, we wrapped up our unit on the Civil rights era and read about the key leaders of the Civil Rights movement.
Middle School Math
6th grade started their unit on rates.
7th finished their unit on exponents and scientific notation. They also learned how to solve multi step equations.
8th finished their unit on systems of equations.
Middle School Science
Students are discovering what it means to be alive! Students will be completing a Scientific Explanation answering the essential question “What does an organism need to be deemed alive?” They are investigating various articles and will watch a few videos to begin their investigation, so they can determine a position and make a claim. Once their investigation is complete, students will make their claim and support it with evidence from the sources they used to complete their investigation.
6th Grade
Students learned that Earth has continuously been recycling water since the outgassing of water early in its history. This constant recirculation of water at and near Earth’s surface is described by the hydrologic (water) cycle; identify fresh water sources as being either surface or underground.
Jewish History
7th grade learned about the cycle of history and how what happens to the father is a sign for his children. We had a small assessment this week. Gabby did an amazing job.
8th grade finished the unit and did a review. We will be moving on the the next unit right after the break.