Parshat Mishpatim Shabbat Shekalim Candle Lighting at 5:53 PM
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Class
Trips: To Run or Not To Run
The economic challenges of the past two years have caused
our school, like each of us individually, to rethink how we spend every
penny. The combination of the growth in our student body (22% in two years)
and operating at a synagogue, have kept our per-student overhead low. Salaries were frozen, and benefits curtailed.
Like you, we have found ways to do more with less.
Should we run trips in this economy? A school whose
philosophy is to avoid "nickel and dime"ing parents (no Give or Get, no small
fundraisers, no charge for in-school chagigot and programs) considers
this question carefully.
High school is much harder than when we were kids. My
high school principal allowed a few of us to take an AP course in 11th
grade as an experiment. Today our juniors take up to five AP courses (and a
third of our sophomores take an AP course). The number of clubs, committees and sports in
which an average student participates is mind boggling. You name the college-
the bar to gain acceptance is so much higher now than it was 25 years ago.
On the other hand, teenagers today have so much! An
Israel summer program now has an add-on Italy or Prague component. Our generation spends money differently than
our parents' generation. We work around the clock with our blackberries and
laptops, but we play hard as well.
The most meaningful experiences in life are not
necessarily the most expensive. A well-known study found that the people who are the
happiest are those who invest time in the 3 F's (faith, family and friendship).
There can be, however, costs associated with each one: family (taking off time
& flying to smachot), faith (the cost of living close to shul and
day school tuition) and friendship.
The purpose of class trips is to create an opportunity to
build new and reinforce old friendships, with both classmates and faculty.Each year's yearbook is replete with references to shared memories from these
trips. Many years, the class trip is a turning point for the class dynamic.
This year, our trips are all $195 or less (with the
exception of the senior trip).When the student council presidents approached in
the fall us for a school-wide shabbaton, we told them that it had to be a
maximum of $175, which dictated that it had to be run as a weekday retreat. We
made more with less.
WYHS is sensitive to the challenges that day school families face. We are committed to every student being able to
participatein any of our programs-scholarships are always available. May
these trips facilitate friendships that will last a life time.
Shabbat Shalom and enjoy the long weekend,
Rabbi Perry Tirschwell
Head of School
Next Week
Presidents Weekend Sunday-Monday 2/14-5 No Classes
Mazel Tov Dr. & Mrs. Benjy Tripp on being honored at the BRS Dinner
Stacey Gottleib on her engagement
Refuah Shleima Mrs. Marilyn Goldstein Simcha Chaya bat Luna Ruchama bat Dina Malka
Condolences Dr. Bernard Lander Founder of Touro College
Mrs. Hedy Segal on the loss of her father in law
News Brief
Israel Influence CIA Committee Hears from Israeli Pioneer Ron Bernstein
By Rachel Maikhor ('12)
STAFF WRITER
This week, our CIA--Committee for Israel Action-- had the privilege to hear from Ron Bernstein about his experiences and life in Israel as an early pioneer in the Negev Desert. Ron moved from Long Island, New York to the Arava Desert Valley in Israel. In 1977 he was one of the founders of Kibbutz Yahel, which is in the center of the Arava Valley. The Jewish National Fund, JNF, helped the Kibbutz in the development of
land and water. Now, the Kibbutz is known for growing Israel's best fruits and vegetables.
Ron believes that south of Israel, the desert, is the future of Israel.
He wants tourists to continue visiting the Negev Desert in order to
further the development of the Arava desert and make the vision of
David Ben Gurion a reality.
Ron Bernstein was a great speaker who truly inspired us with his unbelievable commitment to Israel and Zionism.
Jumble
Early
dismissal hasn't ever discouraged WYHS students from staying at
school. Although the day officially ended at 2 PM last Tuesday due to
Parent Teacher Conferences, WYHS was still bustling with
extra-curricular committees and activities after-hours.
Complete the
jumble below to find out which clubs and committees were hard at work
this past Tuesday.
Click on the image above to view the answers.
Feature Story
Chesed Abounds at WYHS
Volunteering Locally & Giving Charity Abroad
By Randi Prince ('11) VICE PRESIDENT OF CHESED & TZEDAKAH
Just two
weeks out of Winter break and chesed at WYHS is already up and running as fast
as ever. With Penny Wars wrapped up and
money raised for One Family Fund, students are ready and excited to once again experience the gift of giving.
This past Tuesday, instead of taking advantage of the early dismissal and going
home to catch up on homework or some well deserved sleep (we have been
in school for a full two weeks now), twelve students
spent their afternoons at the Youth Activity Center, playing with kids who come
from homes where their parents need to work late hours just to get by. Our chesed crew helped them get through the afternoon by playing with them, reading
to them, and helping them with their homework. "It was a great experience," commented Meira Salamon ('11), "and very rewarding to see how happy the kids were."
Wednesday,
we debuted the Purim-O-Grams. Originally the plan was to sell the fun holiday
cards to raise money for a different organization, but because of the recent
tragedy in Haiti, the Chesed team at WYHS decided to raise the money for Haiti and their relief efforts. By Thursday, Purim-O-grams were already flying
left and right as students scramble to purchase and send as many as they can
before Purim arrives.
But
that's not all we have stirring up for the month of Adar! At the actual Purim chagigah, we'll have EVEN more opportunities to give. Aside from collecting money
donations to go to Od Yosef Chai as matanot le'evyonim, this year
WYHS will also be participating in a special "Pasta Shake Up!". Instead of just
bringing plastic groggers
to the Megillah reading to boo out
Haman's name, we are asking that everyone bring a box of pasta to shake and
make noise, which will then be collected and donated to various Tomchei Shabbat organizations.
The
Chesed/Tzedakah Committee is very excited about their busy month of Adar. All
of thi
s month's opportunities are ours for taking, as we discover just how much
Purim lends itself to opportunities for giving!
A Call to Action
Click on the image on the left to watch the brief video shown to students at the Purim-O-Grams kick-off about the tragic situation in Haiti.
Storm Headquarters
Life After Basketball Reflections on the Winter Sports Season
By Adam Poliak ('11) STAFF WRITER
After
each intense and dramatic basketball season, members of the Boys'
Varsity Basketball team are faced with the question of how to spend
their newly acquired free time. Once the season is over, athletes re-gain
their Saturday nights, and Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday afternoons, which, during the season, are occupied by rigorous practices and games. This year, the majority of seniors have joined the
spring season teams: tennis and baseball. Zack Baratz ('10), who has played on the varsity team for all four years of his high school career and has been captain twice, said that despite being nostalgic about basketball, he is "looking forward to experiencing
another sport at WYHS."
Inspired by the team's early departure from the district tournament, many of the returning players are focusing on trying to improve from this year's season. Elie Genet ('11), the starting point guard, explained that due to the school's impressive population growth, WYHS has changed districts, and is thus playing a different group of teams. This new district is "much more competitive than our previous one." Now, the team "feels an obligation to start practicing and getting into shape now so that we can compete on this level next year," Genet said.
The players would like to thank the coaches, Coach Kaweblum and Coach Kornbluth, for spending countless hours with us trying to make us into a better team. Thanks so much to Rachel Yudewitz for being the best Athletic Director out there, and most importantly, thanks to the Storm fans for supporting us through both our ups and downs.
In Focus
Stein vs. Stein WYHS Art Expert Mrs. Loren Stein & New Judaic Studies Teacher Mrs. Lysee Stein
By Matthew Wolkowicz ('12) STAFF INTERVIEWER
While at WYHS every teacher is unique, sometimes
their names aren't exactly one of a kind. Currently, there are two Mrs. L.
Steins in the WYHS faculty: Mrs. Loren Stein, our veteran art expert and
Mrs. Lysee Stein, a rookie Judaic teacher. I was fortunate enough to
interview not one, but two Mrs. Steins.
Matthew Wolkowicz: Why did you
become a teacher, either at WYHS or in general?
Mrs. Loren Stein (MLS): The
school needed an art program and I was lucky enough to be at the right
place at the right time. Rabbi Tirschwell asked me if I was interested
in being the art teacher, needless to say I jumped at the opportunity.
Mrs. Lysee Stein (MLYS): I want to be able to teach students Torah that they
will truly appreciate.
MW:Do you enjoy teaching your
art classes?
MLS: Definitely. I look forward
to coming to class every day.
MW:What is your favorite thing
about WYHS?
MLS: To me, this is more than
just a school because it offers more than just academics-it offers a way
of life.
MLYS: The way that WYHS is set
up allows close relationships to be cultivated inside and outside of the
classroom between teachers and students.
MW: Whom do you aspire to be
like in the future?
MLYS: Chesed, Israel, and Tzedakah
Coordinator, Mrs. Heather Andron, and, of course, the other Mrs. L.
Stein.
MW: What lasting impression do you
hope to instill upon your students?
MLS: When my students enter the
"real world," I hope that they are able to appreciate art and
architecture and look at it in a different way than they would have
before.
MLYS: That there is value to
learning Torah studies.
After having me as a teacher, I hope my students gain a deeper
understanding of the Torah stories compared to what they have been
learning since kindergarten.
Multimedia
Jewish Music Pick of the Week
By Zack Raab ('10)
MUSIC CORRESPONDENT
Album:The Passage Group: Yaakov Chesed
The Passage is Yaakov Chesed's second album. The band's name comes
from a line said in the daily prayer of "Oova Litzeyon," which says
"Teetain Emet L'Yaakov, Chesed L'Avraham." Through their inspirational
lyrics, the band combines the Emet of Yaakov and the Chesed of Avraham.
Yaakov Chesed combines rock songs, Jewish tunes, and a mix of English
and Hebrew words. Barchi Nafshi is a rock song that many would enjoy.
Their style is very similar to that of Blue Fringe.
My favorite songs on this album are: Barchi Nafshi We Must Fight
Click on the image above to listen to album samples.
Art & Culture WYHS Brainstorm
The following is an excerpt from the upcoming edition of the Brainstorm, WYHS's highly-acclaimed arts and opinion magazine.
Sink Your Teeth Into This The Vampire Strikes Back
By Shalva Ginsparg ('11)
Gone are the garlic-intolerant, daylight-evading vampires of
yesteryear; twenty-first century vampires have sunk their teeth into pop
culture with a vengeance. The resurrection
of the vampire in today's books, movies, and T.V. can be construed as nothing
less than a cultural phenomenon. But
what precisely has summoned Dracula from his coffin and what about the vampire
legend so resonates with the general public?
If today's
blood-suckers look slightly more humanized than the vampires of Balkan
folklore, don't rinse off your glasses just yet. Vampires have undergone an extreme makeover
of sorts, primarily to become more commercialized and teen-friendly. The fangs
and slicked back hair have been swapped for a more traditional teenage garb and
look. In fact, the vampires of the
wildly successful Twilight series are endowed with "devastatingly, inhumanly
beautiful" features; "they were faces you never expected to see except perhaps
on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine." As the New York Times conveyed
in their "From Flu to Fashion: a trend with teeth" piece, "rarely have monsters
looked so camera-ready."
Aesthetics
aside, perhaps the re-emergence of the vampire points to current psychological
and cultural trends. Assistant professor in the department of folklore at
Indiana University, Michael Dylan Foster, suggests that vampires "personify
real-world anxieties; especially during these post-9/11 times of increased
vigilance, representations like the 'Twilight' series reflect a kind of
conspiracy-theory mentality, a fear that there is something secret and
dangerous going on in our own community, right under our noses."
On the other hand, as Mrs. Emily Rose, a performance poet in
Chicago
observed, "There are monsters so much bigger and more realistic in our
day-to-day lives. Having somebody clamp
onto your neck and drain you - that doesn't seem so scary anymore." With the
panic inducing economy and swine flu, perhaps we romanticize the vampire's
immortality and physical prowess...
To read more, look out for the latest edition of the Brainstorm, coming to an email inbox near you!
SpiritualityD'var Torah
Lending a Helping Hand
Parshat Mishpatim
By Rebecca Fuchs ('10) D'VAR TORAH EDITOR
It's Sunday night. You have a huge Chumash test tomorrow, but you're not worried. You were focused in class, took great notes, and have studied your brains out for the past week. Now, you are finally ready to relax, when your phone rings. On the other line is an acquaintance of yours who has waited until the last moment to study, and is begging you to help him or her learn an overwhelming amount of information. What do you do? After all, it's not your fault that your classmate neglected to study.
This week's parshah, Mishpatim, teaches us many lessons about our relationships with others. The Torah
stresses the importance of relationships and our responsibility to help
those around us. The Torah states that if you see someone's donkey
struggling, even if you dislike the person, you must still help him. It is forbidden to hate a fellow Jew, and even in the rare case that you dislike someone because he is a consistent sinner, you must still be more than willing to help him in his time of need. One may never let his personal disagreements get in the way of helping another. Furthermore, you must help your friend time
and again if he continues to need your assistance. If another person
continuously loses his possessions, even as a result of his own irresponsibility,
you are still required to always return the lost object. We can learn
so much from the many laws and examples given in this week's parshah.
We
should always be willing to help others and go the extra mile for
someone else. After all, we are all one nation and a great part of our
strength comes from our loyalty and commitment to each other. This
dedication explains our continued unity and the reason that, until
today, we are still referred to as the "Jewish People".
Jewish Music
