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Inspiring& Challenging
Teenagers Since 1998
Parshat Chayei Sarah
Friday, Nov. 21, 2008
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Do We Want
Our Children
To Make Aliyah?
We have chosen to live in America.
Ability
to
make a living, connection to our family, familiarity with
our surroundings, or just plain inertia. However, Aliyah
is now in the air. Are we ideologically and emotionally
prepared for our children to make their home in a
different country?
It's understandable why our children want to make
Aliyah. It's the logical conclusion of the way we've
raised them. They rejoice at Israel's strides forward
and cry at its setbacks. They learn that the only place
that you can live a fully Jewish experience is in Israel.
I believe that this generation is answering the
call of my rebbe, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein. Rav
Aharon said that the problem with American Jewry
isn't that they live in America, but that they don't
grapple with Aliyah.
The arguments against Aliyah are clear. It's
hard to make a living in Israel (especially if you want to
live an American lifestyle), it is struggling with
overcoming a Levantine work ethic (and a severe case
of bad manners), it's in a really bad neighborhood, the
divisive political and religious situation, distance from
family and friends, etc. That's why many of us are here.
Can we be religious Zionists and oppose our
children considering Aliyah? When I mentioned to
a friend of mine who is a principal at a New York
yeshiva high school that Nefesh B'Nefesh was
making a presentation to our seniors this
week, he told me that it would never fly in his
neighborhood. I believe that this is hypocritical.
May our children grapple with Aliyah and
choose to live in the country in which they feel that they
will lead the most fulfilling life and be able to
contribute the most to our people and humanity.
Yeshiva Highlites will next appear in two weeks on
Friday, December 5. Shabbat Shalom and
Happy Thanksgiving,
Rabbi Perry
Tirschwell
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MUST See TV!
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Israel Visits Galore!
Click
here for the Schedule
Attention 8th Graders
Open House for Parents & Students
Sunday,
11/23 9:30am-12:30pm
Thanksgiving
Weekend
Thursday-Sunday,
11/27-30
No School
WYHS Golf Tournament
@ Grande Oaks Golf Club
Monday, November 24
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...News Flash...
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Mazel Tov!
Shalom Weiss ('01) on his engagement to
Teresa Linsner of Mount Kisco
Mr. & Mrs. Erik Blum on the birth of a daughter
WYHS receptionist Marcelle and Albert
Bouganim on the marriage of their son Aaron
Our Prayers Are With
Eliyahu ben Zahava Webberly
Yehoshua Tzvi ben Sarah Weiss
Chana bat Devorah
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A CALL TO ACTION
WYHS has kicked off its
Thanksgiving clothing
drive. After watching the unbelievable video
featured above, students learned that
everyone, even our very own neighbors, needs our
help.
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The Bye
Bye
Birdie
Back
Story
by Paul Hess
('11)
We caught a glimpse of Mrs. Elizabeth Saddler
in the halls of WYHS and were hoping to find
out the
current
juicy details and news in the WYHS drama
department! Luckily we were able to catch a
moment with her even with her busy schedule
of directing this year's girls' musical - Bye
Bye Birdie.
She enthusiastically informed us that this
year's
production will feature a professional
musician who
"lovingly and painstakingly teaches the cast
all the songs and plays piano live for the
show." Guest acting coaches, a choreographer,
and a music director have also been added
into the mix. Mrs. Saddler added that the
play will
also be performed in the beautiful and
historic Crest Theatre. Interestingly, she
says this is the largest cast ever
assembled
to date - featuring 21 actors who are playing
over 30 roles.
In her opinion, for the past 13 years, every
year the plays get better and better.
She let
us in on one of the secrets to making the
play great: "the veteran cast members learn
what it takes to produce a show, and, in
turn, they become role models for the
incoming girls, instilling in each other a
real theatrical work ethic vital to any
successful production. Simply, the girls now
know what is expected of them and what they
need to give in order to produce a winner."
When we asked her why she picked Bye Bye Birdie
and why
we should come see this play she replied,
"Well, this Tony Award winning musical is the
ultimate high school show, an outrageously
fun satire on the bygone days of the fabulous
fifties, complete with poodle skirts and an
Elvis- like rock-n-roll star.
Hyper-enthusiastic teenagers, exasperated
parents, and, of course, a love story that
ends happily - these all amount to musical
theatre heaven."
Before she left she gave us some insight into
why she
does what she does
and what she gets out of it: "What don't I
enjoy? I cherish being able to provide these
girls with the opportunity to forge their own
relationship with the theatre. Being in a
play is incredibly humbling, but, at the same
time, the ultimate confidence builder. It
allows people of all kinds to band together
and create something from scratch - all from
hard work, commitment, and individual
talents. Seeing it all come together on
opening night can be one of the most
fulfilling moments a director can have." She
also humorously added, "Another perk is that I
now have a legitimate reason for singing
showtunes all day long."
She departed with a final note of
encouragement to all
girls to come and see the play
in action, as it is sure to be a phenomenon.
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L'Shana
Habah
B'Yerushalayim
The
Seniors
Learn
About
Nefesh
B'Nefesh
by Nonny Gross ('09)
On Wednesday morning, Avi Silverman from
Nefesh B'Nefesh--an organization whose goal
is to make Aliyah as painless a process as
possible for immigrants from America, Canada,
and the UK-- gave the 12th grade a moving
presentation about making Aliyah.
We were showed a poignant film of one of the
recent
trips bringing Olim to Israel. Why would
high school seniors be learning about Aliyah?
Right now, we are all making decisions about
where to go for college and Yeshivas, but we
give little consideration to our lives past
that point. However, the future should be on
our minds,
because Aliyah, as Mr. Silverman pointed out,
is never easy. The obstacles we face in
the financial, social, and academic arenas
while moving to a new country are only
compounded as the years go by and we start
our own families.
This point in our lives,
therefore, might be the easiest time to make
Aliyah. However it is a very important and
serious decision, and Aliyah is not for
everyone. Nevertheless, as Jews, it is
important to
remember that Israel is our true homeland.
Nefesh B'Nefesh's passion for
helping people realize their dreams of moving
to Israel was conveyed to us and we saw the
beauty and importance of returning to the
Holy Land.
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