In Parshat Vayeira we learn about the miraculous birth of our patriarch Isaac, Yitzchak Avinu. The 89 year old Sarah, upon hearing of her upcoming pregnancy and birth, reacts with laughter. When she indeed gives birth to a son he is named Yitzchak , which is the Hebrew term for laughter.
If we examine the concept of laughter, we find that it is generally triggered by incongruity, by an unexpected absurdity which induces laughter in the observer. A baby speaking like an adult is a sure way to elicit laughter from a crowd, and conversely, Sarah being told she would give birth to a son at the age of 90 could not help but laugh.
The fact that the boy’s name is an everlasting testament to the absurdity of his birth is crucial for us, his descendants. In truth, all of Jewish history can only be understood if we realize that in fact our survival and existence is truly absurd and incongruous with other historical experiences. Our continued thriving Nation is a testament to G-d’s providence and direct care, for without it we would have disappeared long ago into the dustbin of history.
Hashem wanted our ancestors and us to realize that our very existence is not natural; that is why our founding father and mother only produced Yitzchak at an age where human hope for a child was lost. The very beginning of this nation was supernatural and his name conveys this to us and serves as a reminder in case we should ever lose sight of this phenomena.
It is inspiring to see that the parents of SIHA recognize our unique heritage and want to ensure that their children receive a Jewish education and remain proud members of this unique People.
It has been a privilege to be part of SIHA and although saddened to be leaving SIHA, I am excited to pass the baton on to Rabbi Kuritsky, who brings many years of experience in Jewish education to this wonderful school.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Stewart
Special Feature!
A great big SIHA welcome to Morah Bistriz, the new Judiacs Teacher for 4A! Our intrepid Yaffa Bareket interviewed her for our SIHA Weekly:
Yaffa: When was your Aha! moment that made you realize you wanted to be a teacher?
Morah Bistriz: When I had a teacher who left an impression on me. I still remember her powerful lesson.
Yaffa: Are there any special events this week in your classroom?
Morah Bistriz: We are beginning a Shabbat program on Friday. This week we began with each child telling me what they look forward to on Shabbat. Their answers were mounted on our bulletin board!
Yaffa: How did your first day at SIHA go?
Morah Bistriz: It was wonderful!
Yaffa: What made you to come to SIHA?
Morah Bistriz: I heard from Mrs. Rosskamm, a neighbor and a friend of mine, that it was a great place!
We hope Morah Bistriz has a wonderful time at SIHA!
Please enjoy a new edition of our weekly Podcast!
A friendly reminder —
The weather is changing! Please remember that while we want all of our students to feel warm and comfortable, it is imperative that they wear appropriate school uniform attire to school.
For girls that means wearing a skirt knee-length or longer. For boys, proper slacks. All students must wear a shirt with sleeves long enough to cover the elbow.
All tops should be white or light blue, and all bottoms should be dark blue or black.
Please note: no hoodies(sweatshirts with the hood attached).
Judaics Curriculum
Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics
Wow what a great week we had in Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics! In Kindergarten we learnt the very, very, straight as a soldier letter VAV! We even have our very own vav-soldier march! In First Grade we have begun to learn the letter Patach, we have been having a lot of fun color coding all the kamatz and patach and are getting very good at differentiating between the two. This week, as a continuation of our davening (praying) unit we made our very own siddurim! We know that when we are davening, we are talking to Hashem. We can thank Him for everything He does for us and ask Him for anything we want! Hashem is always listening! In parsha we learnt about Avraham who did the mitzvah of Hachnosas Orchim, inviting guests, and about the people of Sedom who did the opposite! We made special Hachnosas Orchim cards which we can’t wait to use so that we can invite guests over just like Avraham Avinu!
Morah Kaplan
Second Grade Judaics
We had another busy week in 2nd grade Judaics. We learned about two important mitzvot. Bikur Cholim which we all try to do. Just as Hashem visited Avrohom after his circumcision(Brit) Avi told us how he visited his friend who had a broken arm. We try to call our friends who are not feeling well and we are also fulfilling the mitzva that way. Sophie told us how she performed the mitzva of Hacnosat Orchim when Ava came to her house. She offered her food and shared all her toys. We learn this all from this week’s Parsha of V’aira. Our forefather Avrohom told the angels he will bring them a little water and he came back with all types of delicious food. It is better to say less and do more. We are working on building up our reading skills and learning all about Shabbat this week.
Shabbat Shalom, Mrs. Spiegel
Third Grade Judaics
Kita Gimel started the week by celebrating their friend’s Avraham’s birthday. Everyone made a blessing in honor of his birthday and Avremi gave a blessing of health and success to his classmates. This week we enjoyed our kinesthetic spelling wit jumping jacks, squatting and hoping. We are now maven at spelling the months of the year and we know them mostly in correct order. We also learnt more prefixes in Dikduk. We now know the translation of 5 prefixes. We cant wait to put words together and start building short sentences in Hebrew. In Parsha we learnt about the Mitzva of Bikkur Cholim and Hachnassat orchim that Avraham used to live to do. We also learnt about the miracles that existed in Sarahs tent. It was fun to hear the story of th angels who came to visit Avraham.
Shabbat Shalom
Mrs Ivry
Elementary School
Kindergarten
This week kindergarten had so much fun at our alphabet party. They made alphabet hats, played with alphabet stamps, made pictures with alphabet stickers, colored the letters in their names to decorate our classroom, made alphabet necklaces, listened to an alphabet story, and popped balloons to find the lowercase letters that were inside each balloon so they can match it to the capital letter. The faster they popped their balloon the more balloons they got to pop! They also had snacks while they watched The Letter Factory. Even with all of this fun they still had time this week to learn how to independently write a sentence. In math they learned how to make an AB and an AAB pattern. In social studies they finished making their all about me books and began reading their books to the class. They also listened to a story about a farmer and a duck and then voted for which character they thought would be the best president in the story.
Ms. Syetta
First Grade
This week our 1st graders learned a lot. We reviewed fact families. We studied the human life cycle and created a chart about our favorite fruits. Students close the Social Studies Unit about families and community. As a closing activity, students presented a Social Studies Community Leaders project. Each first grader was eager to share regarding leaders in their homes, school, and community. They all did a phenomenal job!
Mrs. Adams.
Second Grade
The second graders have been hard at work this week! In ELA, they have been identifying morals of fables and folktales. They also started their second trade book Charlotte’s Web. In math, they have started subtracting two 2-digit numbers with renaming. In social studies, they’ve been learning the names of the seven continents and the names of all 50 states in the USA.
In science, amazing projects about Food Chain were presented during science Class.
Great Job 2nd graders! Mrs. Belli is so proud of you!!
Ms. Bronstein
Third Grade
This week during Grammar, Grade 3 learned how to create compound sentences using the conjunction and. During our Math class students reviewed how to round to the nearest ten and hundred to prepare for their quiz. They also began working with rounding to the nearest thousand. In Social Studies, we introduced the topic of geography. We discussed the different landforms and their resources we will learn more about next week. During our Russian lesson students learned salutations for their buddies as well as adults. They also began learning a poem called Meeshka. They not only learned the words and their meanings, but also created illustrations to show the plot of the poem.
In science, students finished the first chapter “Plants”. Some of the students identified the ways the plants reproduce and grow based on their experiments.
Mrs. Belli wants to commend: Ryan for an amazing demonstration of his experiment: “Growing potato” Benjamin: “New roots growing on onion”
Miss Sasha
Fourth Grade
4A
This week in math we continued to work on long division, and solve multistep word problems. In ELA we worked on identifying common nouns, capitalize proper nouns, and change singular nouns to singular possessive nouns. In Social Studies this week we had our chapter 2 test Understanding Regions and started chapter 3 Exploring the East. In science, 4th grade learned about Human Body Systems.
Mrs. Shats
4B
4B had another exciting week! We presented our “all about me” personal narratives to the class. The children really enjoyed reading their narratives to the class! After they read, the rest of the class had an opportunity to ask questions to the presenter. They wrote about their families, hobbies, traditions, and how they can make SIHA a better place. I thought it was a great way for us to learn about each other. I also want to commend Ethan Shenkman for being the only student in 4B to score 100 on the second social studies test! Good job Ethan!
In science, 4th grade learned about Human Body Systems.
Mr. F
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders had a wonderful week! In grammar, they reviewed for their Grammar Test. In reading, they started their new novel; The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking. In Math, students worked on multiplication and division of three digit numbers by two digit numbers. In Social studies, students learned about the U.S. and Mexico.
This week Ms. Tatic would like to commend Joshua Gluck for his wonderful sense of humor.
In science, 5th graders started a new chapter on “Types of plants and their adaptation”.
Middle School
Middle School ELA
6th Grade
Sixth grade had a very busy week! In Grammar, we reviewed for our vocabulary unit Test. We played an exciting Kahoot challenge with the 7th grade, and I’m proud to say that the 6th graders won! Great job, 6th grade! In ELA, we started our next novel: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Mrs. Hazen especially wants to commend Noam Tisona and Gabriella Fishman for being amazing!
7th Grade
Seventh grade had a busy week! In grammar, we reviewed and prepared for our unit test in vocabulary and grammar. Everyone did a great job! We also continued our novel study of the Great Gilly Hopkins. We discussed character motivations and started our unit on making inferences from fictional texts. Mrs. Hazen especially wants to commend Noga Sayag for being very diligent.
8th Grade
Eighth grade had a good week! In grammar, students practiced identifying and using figurative language in their writing. We also began our unit on making inferences from fictional texts. Students did a great job! Mrs. Hazen especially wants to commend Taylor Badalov for being a very hard-working student.
Middle School Math
This week the 6th grade class completed their work on problems with fractions divided by fractions. Their first quiz was a challenge, but they persevered and did excellently on the second one! Their week ended with them reviewing long division problems.
7th grade honors is currently polishing their equations solving techniques. They just took a quiz on multistep equations and did quite well. On the other hand, the 7h grade regular is working towards translating mathematical phrases into mathematical expressions. Their most recent quiz proved challenging for them but after going over their corrections they demonstrated excellent comprehension.
8th grade continues to master facts, operations and applications involving scientific notation. In their most recent assessment they did quite well and now they are working on their Unit Review 2 which will prepare them for their Unit Test. Simultaneously, the 8th grade Honors is currently wrapping up their work on solving literal and regular equations. In their most recent Unit Test, the 8th grade honors showed confidence and proficiency.
Mr. Martin
Middle School Science
6th graders learned about The Theory of Plate Tectonics, the evidence that geologists used to discover the layers of the Earth.
A mini-lab:” Convection Currents” was performed during the science class.
7th Grade is learning how to think like a scientist. They will be learning step by step how a scientist comes up with a theory. Answering essential questions or identifying problems through observation, investigating and researching data. Students will be creating hypotheses, explaining quantitative and qualitative data through analysis, graphing, experiments. Students will be completing their own lab experiment and writing a full investigative report.
I would like to mention Lana for going above and beyond for her classmates, as she observed one of her classmates needed assistance with an assignment and without prompting or asking walked over to him and assisted him. Way to go Lana! I would also like to mention Noga for outstanding work ethic, as she was unsure what to do for a particular assignment and went about it the best way she knew how without clarification as she didn’t want to “just not do it” she earned extra credit for completing the assignment.
8th Grade students are learning how our body responds to various macronutrients and what purpose they serve. Students will be able to explain how and why food does not just enter our cells that it must go through a process before we can use the nutrients from the things we eat. Students will be analyzing their own eating habits and make changes within their daily diet and activities. They will be explaining how they enter cells and what body systems work together to distribute said nutrients. Students are also investigating what things look like under a light microscope and identifying the various types of microscopes and what they are used for. Students are learning the difference between quantitative and qualitative data, how to extrapolate data and plug it into the appropriate type of graph.
Middle School Social Studies
This week all of the middle school students took a break from their regular studies to examine the U. S. presidential and Congressional elections, which occurred on Tuesday. All of the students learned about the Electoral College, from its creation in Article II, Section 1 of the U. S. Constitution to its modern form. Students discussed how and why the Founding Fathers chose this particular system. Also covered were the national Senate and House races, including a look at the composition of the chambers prior to citizens going to the polls.
As the results have been delayed this year due to unique circumstances, students were given longer than normal to discuss the election process and developing stories, both in a formal class setting and informally amongst themselves, than they normally would have had. All 3 grades displayed an impressive interest in the process and asked probing questions regarding the particulars of the system by which America chooses its chief executive.
Kudos to 7th grade’s Lana Mednik for completing the bonus assignment over Election Day. Keep up the great work, Lana!
Kudos also go to 8th grade’s Josh Osher for completing the bonus assignment on Election Day.
Noam Tisona from 6th grade also deserves a commendation for completing the bonus assignment on Election Day!
Mr. Kaufman.
Jewish History
7th grade has spent the week exploring the wonders of the world as we figure out how Avraham Avinu recognized Hashem. We began our first major project and I am looking forward to the results. 8th grade is learning more about exile and what it accomplishes.
In Parshat Lech Lecha we learn about our ancestor Abraham’s ascension to prominence as he travels to Israel, goes down to Egypt and then returns to Israel a wealthy man.
When war breaks out between rival kings in the region he joins the war to rescue his nephew Lot who had been taken captive. Abraham was victorious in battle, released all the captives and returned all the spoils. The king of Sdom wished to reward Abraham with all the spoils of the battle but Abraham rebuffed the king’s offer lest the King of Sdom take credit for enriching him and the credit not be attributed to G-d:
” אִם־מִחוּט וְעַד שְׂרוֹךְ־נַעַל וְאִם־אֶקַּח מִכָּל־אֲשֶׁר־לָךְ וְלֹא תֹאמַר אֲנִי הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי אֶת־אַבְרָם”
“Neither from a thread to a shoe strap, nor will I take from whatever is yours, that you should not say, ‘I have made Abram wealthy.”
Abraham’s example of items he will not take from the king seems curious. If he would have stated “from gold and treasures to a thread” that would be understandable but why would he choose two negligible items cover the whole gamut of spoils he does not want to accept?
Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) teaches us a vital lesson to explain Abraham’s statement. When measuring the distance between two points on a map, the shortest distance is a straight line. However, you can also measure by circling the globe and measuring the distance by going full circle. Thus, two cities adjacent to each other in one sense take up only a small part of the world but measured differently will encompass the entire globe.
Abraham was saying that from his perspective every item in the world, from the grandest to the simplest, is important; even a thread is something to be valued and attributed to G-d. This is because everything in the world, if used properly, serves as a tool to live a proper life in the service of Hashem. Thus the proper way to measure the spoils was not linear rather as a circle, for there aren’t levels of possessions when it comes to living a g-dly life; all can be and should be used in their proper manner, and we must recognize Hashem’s gifts in all their various forms.
Torah encompasses all we have and we are all heirs of Abraham in realizing this phenomenon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Stewart
Special Annoucement!
Mazal Tov to Morah Toba Safran on her engagement! SIHA wishes her much happiness!
A big SIHA congratulations to the stellar scholars who achieved this month’s Student of the Month Status!
Kindergarten: Liad Hanuka
First Grade: Sloane Garber
Second Grade: Lielle Garber
Third Grade: Natalie Fromchuk
Fourth Grade (A): Israel Hanuka
Fourth Grade (B): Hanna Kimmerling
Fifth Grade: Ziva Iunger
Middle School: Madison Graham
Enjoy a new edition of our weekly podcast!
Judaics Curriculum
Kindergarten:
If you passed by our Kindergarten classroom you may have seen a lot of hopping because this week we learnt the letter Hay! Hay has a broken foot and he has to hop, hop, hop! We have a super fun hay hopping song that we really enjoy doing! This week we learnt about davening/praying to Hashem. We tried to call the president but we could not get through, but Hashem who we love so much and loves us so much is the most powerful! and we can speak to Him whenever we want and He is always listening! We had a great time learning about the parsha, Hashem promised Avraham that he would have as many children as the stars. We are those stars! We had lots of fun making our star necklaces and can’t wait to show them to our families!
First Grade:
Our first graders are becoming super hebrew readers, with our beginning of learning the first nekuda, kamatz! We have been flying through our aleph champ workbooks and our heading towards the next nekuda patach! We really enjoyed doing timed reading with partners! This week we learnt about why Hashem created the world. We know He created it for us, in order for us to enjoy. Where do we get the greatest enjoyment from, ask any first grader and they will tell you, the greatest pleasure comes from connecting to Hashem, learning Torah, and doing mitzvot. Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Kaplan
Second Grade
We had a wonderful week in 2nd grade learning all about our forefather Avrohom who rejected idol worship and recognized the greatness of Hashem (G-d) as the creator and sustainer of the world. We enjoyed acting out Avrohom breaking his fathers idols. We know so many colors in Hebrew and as well as many Aleph bet letters and their matching numbers. We figured out that if the letter yud-10 and Aleph-1 10 +1 -11 yud Aleph would equal 11. Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Spiegel
Third Grade
Third grade students are now ready to write the date in Hebrew independently. Now that they are masters at spelling the days of the week in Hebrew, they started practicing the correct spelling of the months of the year and learning them in order, knowing which Jewish holiday falls on which month. They love practicing their spelling and I am so proud of their work and progress. Each morning I have the pleasure to hear their pure and beautiful voices singing the davening. They now know how to follow in the words and are looking forward to learn more davening parts starting next week. Our class Tzedaka box is already almost full! They all eagerly bring coins daily to give to the poor. I am so proud of each one of them. In Parsha, we learnt how important it is to be able to recognize when we cannot get along with someone and separate ourselves to avoid fights. But that does not mean we do not live and care for each other. Just like Avraham had to separate from his nephew Lot because of the fights their shepherds had. But Avraham still came to Lot’s rescue when he was captive during a war against the 4 kings. Shabbat shalom
Mrs Ivry
Middle School Boys
This week as we continued our journey through the Mishna, we had an exciting addition, Quizlet! A great way to review. Ask your sons. Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Levy
We continued our Shma unit as well as learning the laws of Tefillin. We’ve begun to tackle the Mishna on :כח and started the Gemara on it as well as the boys anticipated many of the Gemara’s steps on their own.
Rabbi Stewart
Elementary School
Kindergarten
This week kindergarten did an amazing job in ELA class. They are becoming so good at sounding out words and spelling sight words correctly that this week they wrote sentences with no help! They are so excited that next week is their alphabet party to celebrate that they learned all the letters of the alphabet. In math they learned about sorting, left and right, and played number pattern games. They also practiced directional words by singing and dancing. In science they continued to learn about the water cycle and they learned about the 4 seasons. They painted a tree to show what trees look like in the fall. In social studies they continued to make their all about me books. They can’t wait to share their books with the class and learn what things they have in common with their friends.
Ms. Syetta
Second Grade
The second graders had a busy week! In math, they learned how to add two three-digit numbers together with renaming. In ELA, they finished their first trade book The Chocolate Touch. They also finished writing their personal narratives. In Social Studies, the second graders showed their knowledge on the different types of communities. On Monday, we had a spelling bee. Our winner was Ayden Rozman. Congratulations Ayden! This Friday was Ayden’s last day at SIHA as he’s moving to Florida. We’re all so sad to see him go and will miss him so much! Our Student of the Month is Lielle Garber. Way to go Lielle! Best Regards, Gabrielle Bronstein
Third Grade
This week grade 3 successfully completed their first math test. They then began to learn about rounding numbers to the nearest ten and hundred. During their grammar lessons, students practiced identifying complete subjects and predicates. They also completed their social studies chapter on the places we live. They finished it by comparing and contrasting urban, suburban, and rural communities. Students also learned about Aesop’s fables and are in the middle of reading The City Mouse and the Country Mouse. They are exploring the similarities and differences of this fable to the book we read last week, The City Kid and the Suburban Kid. This week we also presented Natalie with the very first student of the month award! She worked very diligently and is a great helper within our class community.
Miss Sasha
Fourth Grade
4A This week in math we worked on multiplication, long division and solving word problems with the use of bar models. In ELA we identified singular and plural nouns. Completed a few compare and contrast writing activities. We also had our first poem memorization Recess Oh Recess this week In Social Studies we completed chapter 2 Understanding Regions and reviewed for the test.
Mrs. Shats
4B We had an exciting week in 4B! On Monday we celebrated the birthday of Ariana Guz, who turned 9 years old! But it wasn’t all fun and games this week. We had a math test and a grammar test this week. One student in particular got the highest score in the class on the math test, and the third highest score in the class on the grammar test. Because of her scholastic achievements this week, and her overall attentiveness in class this month, she received the honor of being 4B’s first student of the month! She goes by the name of………Hanna Kimerling!!! Congratulations Hanna! Mr. F
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders had an amazing week! In ELA, students learned about combining sentences by making compound subjects and compound predicates. They also practiced fixing run-on sentences. In math, students practiced both mental math and the distributive property of math to make computation easier. We also started on word problems, and reviewing bar models. In Social Studies, students worked on their lap book project. We read articles on Native American settlements in each region of America. Ms. Tatic would like to commend Gabi Mekler for being amazing!
Middle School
Middle School ELA
6th Grade had a busy week! We finished our Fish in a Tree essays and discussed characterization. In grammar, we reviewed our unit, and completed the unit test. Everyone did very well! 7th grade had a busy week! We had our graded State Test practice. Students completed multiple choice, short answer, and long answer questions. We also continued our novel study of Great Gilly Hopkins. Great job!
8th Grade had a busy week! We completed our unit on making inferences by reading nonfiction texts. Students also continued our novel study of Watsons go to Birmingham-1963. In grammar, we reviewed incorporating colorful language in our sentences, and learned about the differences between connotation and denotation. Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Ethan Azaraev for getting a 100% on every Grammar quiz since the beginning of the year!
Middle School Science
7th Grade is learning how to think like a scientist. They will be learning step by step how a scientist comes up with a theory. Answering essential questions or identifying problems through observation, investigating and researching data. Students will be creating hypotheses, explaining quantitative and qualitative data through analysis, graphing, experiments. Students will be completing their own lab experiment and writing a full investigative report.
I would like to mention Lana for going above and beyond for her classmates, as she observed one of her classmates needed assistance with an assignment and without prompting or asking walked over to him and assisted him. Way to go Lana! I would also like to mention Noga for outstanding work ethic, as she was unsure what to do for a particular assignment and went about it the best way she knew how without clarification as she didn’t want to “just not do it” she earned extra credit for completing the assignment.
8th Grade students are learning how our body responds to various macronutrients and what purpose they serve. Students will be able to explain how and why food does not just enter our cells that it must go through a process before we can use the nutrients from the things we eat. Students will be analyzing their own eating habits and make changes within their daily diet and activities. They will be explaining how they enter cells and what body systems work together to distribute said nutrients. Students are also investigating what things look like under a light microscope and identifying the various types of microscopes and what they are used for. Students are learning the difference between quantitative and qualitative data, how to extrapolate data and plug it into the appropriate type of graph.
8th Grade I would like to mention Yosi for always being willing to help out. Yosi never has to be asked, he sees a need and he offers assistance. He always asks me if I need help and goes out of his way to make sure all is well. Thank you soooo much, Yosi.
Middle School Social Studies
Good morning,
This week, 6th grade learned about the Chaldeans and Phoenicians, including the evolution of writing. 7th grade explored the Atlantic World, including the Triangle Trade and Middle Passage. 8th grade discussed Reconstruction.
All three classes also worked on their essays, which will cap the first marking period
Middle School Math
This week 6th grade worked on fraction division and division using bar and line models. Even though most struggled to grasp these concepts I firmly believe that next week they will show a much better understanding of these concepts since the majority of the week was spent going over related practice problems. 7th grade continues their work on expressions, like terms and basic algebraic operations. They are doing quite well and moving at slow yet steady pace. On the other hand, 7th grade is currently solving equations that require one and/or more steps to solve. Despite some hiccups in the beginning, they are now progressing with more confidence, accuracy and fluidity. 8th grade is finishing their unit on scientific notation. They’ve explored the significance and meaning of the latter. They have mastered concepts such as order of magnitude, coefficients in scientific notation standard form. 8th grade honors is currently rapidly making their way through equations and literal equations and their applications in science and in the world as we know it.
Jewish History
Both 7th and 8th grades had their first unit test this week! I was pleased with their performance.
7th grade began Unit 3 with an examination of the world around us just like Avraham Avinu did. Each student is now studying a creation and will present their findings to the class. I cannot wait to see what they come up with! We will then continue our exploration of Avraham Avinu’s life. 8th grade is about to dive into the Babalonian exile. We will explore what happened as Hashem pressed the reset button to start again with a second Bais HaMikdash!
This week’s Parsha discusses a world gone awry that needed a reset. In order to avert bringing a flood, Hashem wanted the world to repent and change their behavior. He had Noach spend decades building his ark as a public relations campaign to encourage repentance by the rest of the world. Yet no one wanted to hear the truth of Noach’s message to change their behavior. This brings to mind the following story. There was a cruise ship passing by a small island and everyone on deck was able to see an emaciated disheveled man shouting on top of his lungs and frantically waving his hands. “Who is that man on the Island?” a passenger asked the captain. “I have no idea,” the captain replied. “But every year when we pass by, this guy goes totally crazy!” Often in life we experience events which can serve as a wake-up call, but we have to be tuned in to hear the message. The events of the past few months have shown that we human beings are not in control of our world. It is our job to listen to that message and strengthen our reliance on Hashem.
Rabbi Eliezer Stewart Judaic Studies Supervisor Staten Island Hebrew Academy
Dear Parents! This week, we are premiering our new SIHA Weekly podcast! Produced by the 7th grade, this will contain Birthday Wishes, special mentions, and some lighter news. Enjoy!
Special Feature!
Interview with Ms. Regina, our fearless Nachas Lead Specialized Teacher!
Tyler and Ariella: How is your week going?
Ms. Regina: So far so good this week! Since I work with my students either one on one or in small groups, it’s easy for them to make progress quickly. It’s so much fun watching my students learn new things and understand things they may not have if they didn’t come to my room.
Tyler and Ariella: What are the students learning this week?
Ms. Regina: A few of my students are learning the alphabet and putting together 3 letter words, as well as practicing some sight words. Some of my older students are learning geometry and multiplication. We are also reading a novel and working on a nonfiction project about lions.
Tyler and Ariella: Are there any special events coming?
Ms. Regina: The kindergarten will soon be having their alphabet party to celebrate completing their learning of the alphabet. So I’ll be celebrating with them and my students.
Tyler and Ariella: Is there anyone who did extra good this week that you would like to commemorate?
Ms. Regina: Honestly, there is something amazing I can say about every one of my students. Every week they each progress toward accomplishing a major goal. It’s hard to pick out just one or two moments.
Tyler and Ariella: What do you do in your free time with your students?
Ms. Regina: During the school day when there is extra time, the students play games in my room like jenga or we watch movies/shows if it’s not nice enough to go outside. When they’re doing those inside activities, I sit in my comfy wheely chair and do absolutely nothing. Sometimes the kids are so tired, they sit on the couch and fall asleep!
When I’m not in school, I enjoy watching movies, cooking, and crocheting
Thank you for reading
Sincerely,
Ariella Shindelman and Tyler Nieves
Judaics Curriculum
Kindergarten and First Grade
Wow! What a great week we had in kindergarten Judaics.This week we learned about the letter dated. We learned a special song for the letter and can even twist our bodies into a daled!
In first grade Judaics, we have finished learning all the letters of the aleph bet. We are so excited to start learning to read next week! This week in both kindergarten and first grade judaics we learned about the Torah. We know that Torah is more precious than everything! More than all the gold and silver and money in the world, more than all the candy and chocolate in the world, and more than all the toys in the world! We then began to learn about the different parts of the shul. We know that the Sefer Torah is kept inside the Aron Kodesh. We enjoyed watching a video of Shuls and spotting all the Aron Kodesh. This week we also learned about Parshas Noach! We learned how Hashem brought the mabul and only Noach and his family and animals in the table lived. We made a special mabul in a bottle project that we can’t wait to show our families.
Shabbat Shalom! Morah Kaplan
Second Grade
We had a productive busy week in 2nd grade. In Ivrit we learned that if a word ends with a Chet and the patach vowel is under the chet. It is an exception letter and it is pronounced ach as in Noach. We learned all about Parshat Noach,ask your 2nd grader how long it took to build the ark and how we say ark in hebrew. We reviewed all the days of the week in Hebrew and the children all did well on the Breishit Parsha Quiz. Shabbat Shalom
Morah Spiegel
Third Grade
This week we started our first Dikduk lesson on prefixes. Students also mastered the days of the week and some are already able to write the date in Hebrew independently.
In parsha we learnt the story of Noach and the value of small things. We discussed Hashem’s presence in the world. We also learnt about the rainbow and the special blessing we say when we see it as it is a reminder of Hashem’s promise to never send a flood again.
Shabbat shalom Mrs Ivry
Fourth Grade
What an adventurous Parahah tale we have this week, we listened ,wide-eyed to the tale of the legendary flood and the miraculous survival of Noach, his family and animals. Ofcourse, our Hebrew letters are being reviewed and reviewed and then reviewed some more. We are still waiting to establish a finalized Judaic studies teacher plan and we appreciate your understanding and patience as we wait to gain more clarity.
Morah Toba
Middle School Boys
This week we reviewed comprehensive overview of Chumash and general knowledge. We continued our study of Shma and we began learning about the significance and the laws of Tefillin. We also learned Rashi in this week’s Parsha of Noach.
Rabbi Stewart
This week we continued our journey through the Mishna. With some pumpkins and grapes thrown in! (Ask your son) We also had the opportunity to discuss many ideas central to Judaism. Looking forward to next week,
Rabbi Levy
Middle School Girls
We had a great week! We continued on in Chumash Shemot, asking questions and learning Rashi as well. We had our weekly Chumash quiz on Thursday. The girls really know the Pesukim. We learned how Hashem loves us so much and He therefore counted us again although He just counted us. We learned a “Hashem loves _______…” song that we sing each day. We had our biweekly lesson on Jewish law, learning about Modeh Ani – the prayer we say as soon as we wake up thanking God for giving us another day of life.
We learned the weekly Parsha, Parshat Noach. God gave the people so many chances to repent but they didn’t and He brought a flood to the world. Noach and His family were saved in the ark (Teivah). We began our Middot scrapbook. We learned the Middot song and decorated our scrapbook covers beautifully! Have a great Shabbat and weekend! Looking forward to another wonderful week.
Best Regards, Miss Dershowitz
We were blessed with another wonderful week on our “Island of discoveries”, AKA our classroom. Thanx to Noga Sayag and Yaffa Bareket, we celebrated Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan at the beautiful pond down the block from our school with the best Rosh Chodesh spirit ever! They put on the most adorable, scorpion-themed show, as the symbol of this month of Cheshvan is a scorpion. We enjoyed our 7/11 slurpees, especially because the setting of their show was 7/11 (where else?). We began Beur Tefilah- translation of prayer. Familiarizing ourselves with the literal and deeper meaning of the words of the Brachot that we say before we eat is our first goal. Saying “Baruch” is a prime time to reflect on the idea that it is Hashem that is the source of all blessings in our lives. We finished the first Perek- chapter of Parshat Shemot in Chumash class, Mazal tov to us!! We are looking forward to celebrating by taking a nice outing.. stay tuned. We are totally sea sick from hearing all about Noach and his family’s legendary boat/ark ride in this week’s Parsha, by the way. Oh, and our beautifully decorated Shabbat journals are ready to be filled with thoughts on shabbat. We talk all about it on Erev Shabbat, Friday as we listen to Zemirot, which are songs that are traditionally sung at Shabbat meals. Things are never boring on this island.
Morah Toba
Elementary School
Kindergarten
This week kindergarten finished learning all of the short vowel sounds. They learned why the vowels are so important and they sang songs about the vowels. They also learned how to make cvc words plural. They played fun games to practice their decoding skills. They have been working hard and they are doing an excellent job. In math they had fun sorting and classifying all different types of objects. They learned how to tell the difference between left and right by dancing and singing songs. In science they learned all about the water cycle. They did a really fun experiment to learn about clouds and precipitation. In social studies they began making their all about me book. They are discovering that while everyone may like different things they all have things in common with each other. We talked about the importance of being a kind person and friend. When they do 100 acts of kindness they will earn an ice cream party. Aaron Elkaiev and Ethan Sandler have been doing an amazing job this week seeing friends that need help and finding ways to help them.
Third Grade
This week 3rd graders continued to explore different types of communities. They completed their written T-Charts on each character from the book The City Kid and the Suburban Kid, as well an illustrated T-Chart comparing the urban and suburban community they explored through the book. In Math, students have been reviewing what we had covered thus far in preparation for their first math test next week. Considering how well they have been doing on their previous quizzes, I have no doubt that they will do well. In English, they had completed another chapter quiz of our class novel and are ready to move forward to find out what other shenanigans Fudge gets into. During their Grammar lessons, students had focused on identifying the complete subject. Next week, students will be presenting the poems they have been learning throughout the week…although some couldn’t wait and had already presented with days to spare.
Miss Sasha
Fourth Grade
This week in math we started a new unit called Operations On Whole Numbers. We used different strategies to add and subtract numbers and solve word problems with the use of bar models.
In ELA we had our first test and started writing a personal narrative on a funny event that happened in our life. In Social Studies we started chapter 2 that discusses the features that form regions and why regions are important.
Ms. Shats
4b is having a great week! We are reviewing for our Math test on the four operations, place value, and PEMDAS. In social studies we are learning about the different climate regions of the United States, and how the different climate regions affect the population in that region. We also started reading “The Tale of Despereaux.” I would like to commend Ariana Guz for doing an excellent job on her current events assignment! Her summary was very detailed and well written, and it conveyed all of the vital information in her article about COVID-19 and its effect on NYC schools. If my class has free time we like to go outside and get some fresh air. Some of us enjoy throwing the football around. We are having a great week!
Mr. F
Fifth Grade
In ELA they learned about complete subjects and predicates as well as simple subjects and predicates.
They practiced reading and writing with scientific and technical texts.
And finally, we finished reading Maniac Magee. I’m looking forward to our essay next week!
In Math the 5th grade learned and reviewed the order of operations, the distributive property of math, and practiced their mental math skills.
In social studies the 5th grade learned about the diversity of people inhabiting North America. They also learned about our neighbor to the north, Canada. Lastly, they continued to work on their Native American lap book project.
I would also like to give a shout out to Idan Koldin for doing a great job during math.
Ms. Tatic
Middle School
Middle School ELA
In 6th grade, students finished reading Fish in A Tree. We had some wonderful class discussions, and wrote a journal about our novel. Students also learned about how to use anecdotes in their writing. We read nonfiction articles, and made some awesome inferences! In grammar, we revised wordy sentences, and learned new vocabulary words. Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Noam Tisona for being a wonderful student!
In 7th grade, the students continued reading The Great Gilly Hopkins in class. In grammar, we learned about revising sentences to make them more precise and clear. In writing, we read nonfiction articles about famous inventors, and practiced making inferences and writing great paragraphs. Ms. Hazen would like to commend Tyler Nieves for being a diligent student!
In 8th grade, the students had a great time during class discussions in our reading class! We continued our novel study of Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. In grammar, we read nonfiction articles, and practiced writing paragraphs that made great inferences. Mrs. Hazen would like to commend Yehuda Mirocznik for writing great paragraphs!
Middle School Math
This week the 6th grade completed their second Unit Test on Multiples and Factors, Least Common Multiples and Greatest Common Factors and did quite well. Now they are working on dividing fractions with models and algebraically. They are all struggling a bit with it but I can see them slowly getting the hang of it.
7th Grade just took their first Unit Test on Numbers and Operations and is currently working on Expressions and Order of Operations. They just had a quiz on the latter two and the majority of them showed their understanding of the work. Additionally, 7th grade honors took their Unit Test 2 on Expressions and Order of Operations successfully. They are now working on Equations and Inequalities.
8th grade just took quizzes on exponents, properties of exponents and the importance the use of scientific notations and scored quite high overall and I’m very pleased with their results. They are now working on how to write large numbers using the scientific notation and seem to be mastering the material quite fast. On the other hand, 8th grade honors just took their Unit Test 1 on expressions and Numbers and operations and, although they struggled quite a bit during their most recent Quiz they soared got higher scores on their Test.
Thank you.
Mr. Martin
Middle School Social Studies
In 6th grade, we discussed the Assyrian Empire in depth and engaged in a state building exercise to put what we learned into practice.
In 7th grade, we learned about the Conquistadores’ exploration and conquest of the Americas and continued our maps from last week.
In 8th grade, we talked about Reconstruction laws, the Southern response, and various important Supreme Court cases of the period.
Jewish History
This week, 7th grade finished their first unit in Jewish History and is getting ready for their first test on Tuesday. We will then move on to learn about the lives of the forefathers.
8th grade finished reviewing last years lessons and will be having a test on Tuesday as well. We will then move on to learn about the Babaloniayn exile. Exciting events like lions dens coming up!
This week’s Torah portion, Braishit, the first Parsha of the Torah, discusses the creation of the world. On day 3 of creation the earth produced vegetation and fruit trees. Yet we find in later in the Parsha that no fruit-bearing tree nor herb came out of the ground, until after man was created. The Torah tells us the reason for this delay:
Because the Lord God had not brought rain upon the earth, and there was no man to work the soil.
Rashi, the foremost commentator on the Torah, explains that the lack of rain and the absence of man are not two separate points; rather, there was no rain precisely because there was no man to recognize the need for rain. After Adam was created and understood that rain was vital for the world, he prayed for rain and his successful prayers led to the sprouting of the trees and vegetation.
We see two fundamental lessons from this story. The concept of Prayer was part and parcel of the mechanism by which rain falls and the earth produces its crops for there is no produce without prayer. If we view prayer through this lens it will change the way we speak to Hashem, for we will truly feel the crucial role it plays in the functioning of the world.
We see an additional component in the first comment of Rashi. Rain would not come until there was man to recognize and appreciate it. It is not just a nice thing to be appreciative of others rather the very fabric of creation was woven with the need for people to recognize and appreciate the assistance we are given by others. We all understand how important it is for us to feel appreciated by others, and can turn that around to make sure those around us know how much we appreciate them.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Stewart
Judaics
Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics
This week in Kindergarten and First Grade Judaics we began to learn Parsha starting with the first Parsha, Parshas Bereshis, We began with an introduction on Torah. Morah made a skit where she pretended to go to Florida but could not go since she did not have a map of how to get there. We learnt how the Torah is our map for life of how Hashem wants us to live. In this weeks Parsha we learnt that Hashem created the world for the Torah and for the Jewish People, He created the world in 7 days! We made a beautiful 7 days of creation project that we cannot wait to show at home.
Shabbat Shalom!
Morah Kaplan
Second Grade Judaics
It was wonderful being back at school after our Sukkot Break. The children were so excited as we discussed the creation of the world. The world was made in one week Hashem (G-d) created the world in 6 days and figuratively rested on the 7th day. (Shabbat) The children know there are 5 books in the Torah. Every week in the synagogue on Shabbat we are privileged to read another Parsha-Portion chumush in the Torah. This week we are beginning the cycle anew as the reading of the entire Torah was completed last week on Simchat Torah. We begin with Parsha Breishit-Genesis the first of the 5 books of the Torah. We know the Torah was G-d given at Mt. Sinai to the Jewish nation. The first people in the world were Adom and Chava. They were told they could eat any of the food in the Garden of Eden except from one specific tree. After disobeying Hashem’s commandment and eating from the forbidden tree. Adom told Hashem (G-d) “It was the fault of the woman you gave me,she gave me the fruit and told me to eat it.” Hashem did not accept that as a valid excuse. We learn from here that we all must take responsibility for our own actions and not shift the blame on someone else. We have the ability to choose right from wrong and must use our inner strength to make the right choices throughout life. We are busy learning many of the daily prayers we say and the reason for saying them. We learned the days of the week in Hebrew and are reviewing rules of the Hebrew language.
Shabbat Shalom
Mrs. Spiegel
Third Grade Judaics
Third graders came back energized and happy from their sukkot holiday. Many students eagerly shared their experience eating in the sukkah and shaking the lilac and etrog.
We started the week with our first bi weekly spelling list: in accordance with the Parsha of the week, we are now learning to spell and translate the Hebrew days of the week.
We also learnt the parsha of the week including the sin of the tree of knowledge and the brother’s jealousy. We discuss that it’s important not to be jealous of our siblings, as we are each unique for our unique needs and our parents, as in the image of Hashem, treat each of us with love and specific care, bit not all exactly the same.
We learnt the new vowels called the chatafim and practice our Hebrew reading skills.
Shabbat shalom
Mrs. Ivry
Middle School Judaics
Welcome back! This week we continued on our Mishnayot journey.
We also began learning about the all important topic of Honoring parents.
Rabby Levy
5th and 6th Grade Judaics
We had a great week. We started learning the Chumash of Shemot. The girls all know the translation of all the words. We learned the question and answer of Rashi and some Hebrew Grammar (Dikduk) rules. The girls asked great questions on Chumash and all sorts of topics!
We learned the weekly Parsha, Parshat Beraishit. Hashem/God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th – giving us all the creation of rest. We learned what Hashem created each day and how although the grass, flowers and trees sprouted on the 3rd day of creation, they grew only on the 6th. That is because God wanted Adam to pray for them to grow, because God always wants us to call out to Him, pray to Him and come close to Him.
Adam was created from the dust on the ground mixed with water. Then God blew into him, giving him the Image of God, what we call a Tzelem Elokim. That is what makes every one of us special. We have a piece of God inside of us.
We practiced our hebrew reading and the girls are really great at it.
Have a great weekend and a great Shabbat!
Sincerely,
Miss Dershowitz
Elementary School
Kindergarten
Kindergarten had a great week! In ELA the class has been practicing spelling and reading many words. They are doing amazing! They also learned about punctuation marks and determined if the sentences should end in a period or a question mark. In math they reviewed for their first test by making shape trees, shape monsters, and playing shape games. In science they learned all about the different types of weather. They learned how a thermometer works, made windsocks, and they learned all about the different types of clouds. They had so much fun using puffy paint to make a cumulus cloud into different animals or objects. In social studies they learned all about Christopher Columbus. They also discussed different types of emotions and what are good things to do when they are feeling different types of emotions. Most importantly, they talked about how to be a good friend and to always treat their friends the way they want to be treated.
First Grade
This week in first grade was extremely productive. Our first graders reviewed addition facts. They learned about Cesar Chavez in reading with the strategy of retell. We even wrote a paragraph about a person at SIHA that we admire.
In Science we learned about life cycles of living things. Students were able to identify the different stages of growth in different animals from salamanders to elephants. They were so great at making diagrams of the life cycle of the butterfly.
Finally, the first graders explored the skill of blotting to create pictures. In Art class students were challenged to use water color as a medium to produce pictures of Autumn trees. As you can see, they did a wonderful job! Although no 2 trees are alike, we stress the fact that all of our artists create wonderful works of Art. We are so proud of them :).
Mrs. Adams
FirstGrade-1
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Second Grade
Second graders had a great week! In ELA, they continued reading their class novel, The Chocolate Touch. The students also took their first math test of the year! To prepare for the test, the students played addition bingo. They all did awesome! Ms. Bronstein and the 2nd grade would like to wish a very happy birthday to Mira!
In Science, 2nd grade finished the chapter about plants.
Second-Grade-Science
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Third Grade
This week 3rd graders had a chance to present their community projects. They had created posters or written about what makes their community special to them. During social studies we also continued to learn about parts of a map and began learning about the differences and similarities of urban, suburban, and country communities. While reading our class novel, students were introduced to figurative language in the form of idioms. They created illustrations of their most favorite ones to present in class. By far the most popular ones were: he is a couch potato, she cried her eyes out, mom was cooking up a storm, and let’s not forget – it was raining cats and dogs. In math we focused on identifying how many ones, tens, hundreds, or thousands there are with in a number. In grammar we completed our review of the four types of sentences and are now digging further into the specific parts of a complete sentence, beginning with the subject.
In Science, 3rd grade had a blast while they saw and observed an embryo inside a little seed through magnifying glasses.
Miss Sasha
third
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Fourth Grade
This week in math class we learned how to identify and complete regular patterns. We learned how to use the numbers given in a problem to figure out what numbers are missing, and complete the pattern. Here you see Elior Factor coming up to the board and completing a decreasing pattern, filling in the missing numbers. We also had another spelling bee this week! Joshua Nikolayevskiy emerged as the victor, correctly spelling the sixth grade spelling word “audience.”
In Science, 4th graders started learning about Human Body Systems.
Fifth Grade
5th Graders had a great week!
In ELA, they continued reading their class novel, Maniac Magee. In grammar, they learned about compound
and complex sentences, and wrote beautiful paragraphs. They read about amazing inventions, and practiced making inferences based on textual evidence and their background knowledge.
In Math, students practiced multiplying and dividing with tens, hundreds, and thousands. They also spent time reviewing for their unit test. In Social Studies, students learned about the geography of Mexico, United States, and Canada. Students also learned about the Native Americans that live there, and started their Indigenous Peoples Lap book project.
Ms. Tatic is proud of all of her students, but she especially wants to commend Sofia Sandler for being all-around awesome!
In Science, 5th graders worked very hard on the chapter: “Human Body Systems”
Middle School
Middle School Math
This week, the 6th grade dealt with greatest common factors, least common multiples and word problems involving these concepts and did quite well. They concluded their week with a quiz that put their mastery of these concepts to the test. Now, they will be moving on to their Unit Review which will prepare them for their second Unit Test which I expect will yield great results since they seem to be absorbing the material positively.
7th grade is working wonderfully. Honors students are surfing through familiar, yet challenging, algebraic operations while understanding the definitions of concepts such as variables, constants, coefficients and like terms and applying the basic, yet rigorous, arithmetic order of operations. Non-honors students continue to approach the end of their first Unit and even through some of the topics in this journey have proved challenging for them, they continue to raise to the occasion with determination and hard work. I only expect greatness in their upcoming Unit Test since they’ve been doing so well on their quizzes.
Last, but certainly not least, we have our lovely 8th grade non honors completing their first Unit Test. Although, challenging these group worked tiredness to enhance and brush up on their elementary arithmetic skills. I only see steady growth on the near future since they are always quick to make corrections and learn from them. Finally, 8th grade honors is approaching the end of their first Algebra based unit, they are currently working with operations with irrational number and slowly but steadily mastering said concept. They will soon be taking their first big Unit Test and I am confident that the results will be nothing but satisfactory.
Middle School ELA
6th grade had a great week!
In Grammar, we learned about sentence fragments and run-on sentences. We edited sentences to fix these common errors, and wrote our own beautiful sentences. We also learned about making inferences from nonfiction texts, and read articles about cryptids, such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. We also continued reading our class novel, Fish in a Tree.
Mrs. Hazen would especially like to commend Eva Leivent for being an awesome student!
7th Grade had a busy week!
In Grammar, we talked about adding detail to m
ake for strong sentences and stronger paragraphs. We practiced adding sensory details, as well as details that answer who, what, where, when and why. In writing, we reviewed making inferences from nonfiction texts, and read nonfiction articles. Mrs. Hazen would especially like to commend Tyler for being a very diligent student!
8th Grade had an amazing week!
In grammar, we reviewed how to break up stringy sentences, or sentences with too many ‘ands’ in them. We reviewed using transition words and using conjunctions to clarify relationships between ideas. In writing, we talked about how to make inferences from nonfiction texts. We also started a new class novel: Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis. Mrs. Hazen would really like to commend Taylor for being a great student!
Middle School Science
7th grade is learning about chemical properties and identifying chemical changes. 8th grade is learning the various type of graphs that scientists use when extrapolating data and which graphs are appropriate for the type of data that is being extrapolated. They are learning about quantitative v. qualitative data and the appropriate graphs that go along with each. They are learning how to determine the appropriate scale for their graph and completing the graph to scale.
In science, 6th graders learned about the three types of rocks on Earth and their cycle.
8th grade: Mrs. Belli wants to mention Yosef Yehudai for his hard work and effort during science class.
Middle School Social Studies
In 6th grade, we learned about the Hittite and Kassite Empires and engaged in a re-enactment of the Battle of Kadesh.
In 7th grade, we learned about the major European colonial empires and created a world map to denote which territories were conquered by whom.
In 8th grade, we learned about the various plans regarding how to proceed during Reconstruction.
Jewish History
My week was very busy and quite eventful. It is good to be getting back into routine.
My break was a busy, eventful special experience. I enjoyed celebrating the holiday with my family. We built a Sukkah and had all our meals in it. During the intermediate days of Sukkos, my husband and I took my kids to Governors Island. They had a great time.
7th grade is learning about the first 20 generations of the world and the 8th grade is learning about the kingdoms of Yehuda and Yisroel
This week, both 7th and 8th grades are working on finishing the units and are headed towards a test.
The holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, revolves around the concept of Teshuva, repentance. It is a day we confess our sins to ourselves and to Hashem and make plans to better our lives, our relationships and our commitment to Torah. In Psalm 130, King David speaks about the impossibility of being sinless and shows appreciation to Hashem for giving us the opportunity to do Teshuva. King David then says, “כִּי־עִמְּךָ הַסְּלִיחָה לְמַעַן תִּוָּרֵא, For forgiveness is with You, in order that You be feared.” For many years I struggled with understanding this verse. If Hashem forgives our wrongdoing, how does that lead us to fear him?
I recently found a wonderful explanation from Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892-1953). When a person has nothing to lose, there is no reason to be nervous or worried. If there is no concept of repentance, then as soon as a person sins there would “nothing to lose,” the chance for perfection having already disappeared. Such a person has no fear of Hashem and no fear of sinning further. It is precisely because we do have the chance to fix past mistakes that we are nervous that we properly take advantage of this opportunity.
This concept can be better understood with the following analogy. In the early 90’s, my favorite baseball team, the LA Dodgers, were not very good. One year, the last game of the season was against their arch-rival, the San Francisco Giants. For the Dodgers the game was meaningless as they were winding down an unsuccessful campaign. The Giants, however, were dependent on winning this game to make it to the playoffs. The Dodgers defeated the Giants soundly and we excitedly celebrated knocking out the Giants from the playoffs. For us Dodger fans, it was the highlight of the year. As I think back to that moment, I recognize that the Dodgers performance was nothing to celebrate. The Giants were under tremendous pressure knowing that this was an opportunity not to lose. The Dodgers on the other hand, had nothing to lose. Since the Dodgers had zero pressure, their win did not display any courage or fortitude. When a person has nothing to lose, there is no reason to be nervous or worried. Only by truly recognizing that we can change for the better will we indeed have skin in the game.
Some of our great Torah leaders looked noticeably different during the period of the High-Holidays. They truly felt the opportunity for improvement and were nervous and worried that they not allow the opportunity to go to waste. They truly embodied the words of King David,” כִּי־עִמְּךָ הַסְּלִיחָה לְמַעַן תִּוָּרֵא, For forgiveness is with You, in order that You be feared.”
May we all merit to optimize this opportunity to do a proper Teshuva, repentance.
