THE YBH OF PASSAIC—HILLEL

Parshas Ki Sisa 19 Adar 5770 March 5, 2010

Format design used with permission from Pirchei Agudas Yisroel ofAmerica.

THIS WEEK: BOYS DIVISION

IN FOCUS

YBH of Passaic—Hillel 270 Passaic Avenue Passaic, NJ 07055

(973) 777-0735

Dvar Torah: Parshas Ki Sisa By Rabbi Avi Feder Resource Room Rebbe

Zmanim for Passaic

Candle Lighting 5:34 PM

Krias Shema M”A — 8:39 AM Gra — 9:15 AM

Zman Tefilla M”A — 9:48 AM Gra — 10:12 AM

Shkia 5:53 PM

Motzei Shabbos 6:53 PM

T he other day, I watched as a latecomer proceeded to embarrass someone by ejecting him from his seat in a crowded shul. “You’re in my מקום“, he said.

With nowhere to go, the person left the shul. The latecomer, without batting an eye, took his seat and davened a most beautiful davening, not missing a word. After the davening, I noticed him learning with his חברותא. I found his behavior to be quite incongruous. On the other side of the coin, how many times have we witnessed a person coming to shul and talking throughout the entire davening with their friends and paying no attention to the davening they supposedly came to shul for. Unfortunately, these types of conflicting behaviors are מעשים בכל יום, everyday occurrences: The person who attends a דף יומי every day without fail, yet cheats on his income tax. The Jew who has no interest in donning תפילין, yet gives thousands of dollars to charitable causes. As משה רבינו came down from הר סיני holding the two לוחות, one in each hand, he witnessed a horrific sight. His people, the בני ישראל, were dancing around an עגל הזהב, uttering the words: “אלה אלהיך ישראל אשר העלוך מארץ מצרים” - “This is your G-d, בני ישראל, who brought you up from ארץ מצרים”. Understandably upset, Moshe’s reaction was to thrust the two לוחות from his two hands. Rav Yisroel Salanter makes a very interesting observation on the posuk that describes Moshe’s reaction. Although we read the posuk: “ וישלך מידיו את” הלוחות - that Moshe thrust the two לוחות from his two hands, the way the posuk is

written is וישלך מידו, that Moshe threw one of the לוחות out of one of his hands. Rav Salanter explains that on the two לוחות were ten דברות, or commandments, five on one and five on the other. What is interesting to note is that the first set of five commandments all contain מצוות ,מצוות בין אדם למקום between Man and his Creator, whereas the second set five commandments contain מצוות ,מצוות בין אדם לחבירו between Man and his fellow man. For a split second, as Moshe descended the mountain and saw the shock-ing scene, this terrible breach in Man’s relationship with G-d, he had in mind to throw down one of the לוחות from one of his hands, only the one containing those After all, it was only in that area that the people sinned. This .מצוות בין אדם למקוםway of thinking accounts for the manner in which the posuk is written, namely, וישלך However, Rav Salanter points out that we don’t, in fact, read the posuk like .מידו that. Moshe quickly came to the realization that the מצוות of Hashem are a “package deal”, and that, when בני ישראל sin in the area of בין אדם למקום, it negatively impacts their בין אדם לחבירו as well. For this reason, we read the posuk, וישלך מידיו, he threw the לוחות from both of his hands. משה רבינו realized, that, as a result of their sin, both לוחות needed to be destroyed, the one containing the מצוות בין אדם למקום as well as the one with the מצוות בין אדם לחבירו. We have to remain cognizant of this lesson and do our best to be “well-rounded” in our performance of מצוות, the Mitzvohs that bind us positively to Hashem and those that bind us positively to our fellow men and women. These Mitzvohs are intricately bound together.

Honor or remember a loved one by dedicating an issue of the YBH of Passaic-Hillel News which reaches over 400 families per week. Dedica-tions for yahrzteits, refuah sheleymas, etc. are $100 an issue. Call (973) 777-0735 e x t . 1 3 4 o r e m a i l jdavis@ybhillel.org.

March 6 Girls Melava Malka 8:15 PM

March 8 YBH 65th Annual Dinner Journal 4 PM Dismissal

M a r c h 10

PTA Meeting

M a r c h 14

Turn Clocks Ahead 9 AM Shacharis (Gr 5—8) 10 AM Start (Gr 1—4)

M a r c h 16

PTC for Girls (Gr 1—8) and Pre1A & Kind. 3:15 PM Dismissal (Gr 1—8 Boys & Girls Div) ECD dismissal at regular times.

Apr 24 YBH Boys Shabbaton

M a r c h 26

Pesach Vacation Begins NO SESSIONS

April 8 Sessions Resume

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דברי אלקים חיים

I n preparation for Purim, the 3rd grade boys brought in food to make משלוח מנות baskets for the residents of Daughters

of Miriam. On Ta’anis Esther, they decorated the baskets and visited the nursing home to personally deliver the Mishloach Manos. They brought much cheer to the residents. Congratulations to grade 2B for completing Parshas Lech Le-cha and celebrating with a beautiful siyum.

Learning From Our Leaders Rabbi Yisroel Margulies

R av Isser Zalman Meltzer was once told by his wife that the Brisker Rav

was waiting for him out in their courtyard. When he heard this, Rav Isser Zalman quickly put on his hat and ran downstairs to see his very important guest. He greeted his guest warmly with a glowing face, and showed him much honor. He then brought him into his house and of-fered him anything he wanted. Rav Isser Zalman’s talmidim noticed, however, that his guest wasn’t the Brisker Rav after all, but just another Jew from the neighbor-hood. Later, Rav Isser Zalman explained to them that nothing happens by chance, so if his wife mistakenly told him that his guest was the Brisker Rav, it was no ac-cident. It was a “message” sent from Heaven that he should show much honor and respect, even to this person, as if he were the Brisker Rav!

Chesed

Y onatan Simon, Ariel Altaras, Mendy Ruder and Avi-chai Wachsberg went around collecting on Purim morn-ing for the Passaic-Clifton Kollel in the school. Yonatan, Ariel and Mendy sang and danced and Avichai played the saxophone for a few hours. They collected over $1,616 for the Kollel. They did it all on their own from start to finish. Kol Hakavod to them. Elimelech Wachsberg (1B) set up a Purim store in the house on Erev Shabbos. He put a lot of effort into it and sold the items at the Purim seuda. Instead of keep-ing the money for himself, he had his customers give the money to the Passaic-Clifton Kollel at YBH. We are so proud of him.

-Ronnie and Zisi Wachsberg

Running for Chai Lifeline

B arak Shachnovitz (8B) and his family joined the more than 400 people gathered together in Miami as part of a fund-raising marathon/half-marathon in support of Team Lifeline (which supports Chai Lifeline) during the last week-end in January. In order to participate in the race, there were fund raising goals to be met. At the Motzei Shabbos Pre-Race Pasta Party, Barak and his sister Sivan were called up to represent the entire Shachnovitz Family who was honored for being one of the top fund-raising families for the event. Their “team” raised over $30,000 for Chai Lifeline. The next morning Barak and Sivan hit the pave-ment for the big race. In spite of an ankle injury, Barak completed the half-marathon and is already looking forward to running again for this great cause. Kol HaKavod Barak! Anyone wishing to contribute to the Shachnovitz fundrais-ing effort can visit their fundraising page: http://teamlifeline.org/mypage.php?myid=56404

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7B Class Acts

FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 22nd

Girls have Art. Boys have Library.

Ms. Devora Kalter Grades 6G, 7G & 8G enjoyed a fun פורים bingo game based on their ידיעה כללית of the .מגילה 6G is in the middle of a comprehensive unit on נסיעה (travel), which will be followed by a unit on כיוונים (directions). Soon we’re going to do exciting skits based on the new כיתות ז .מילים ’

’ח& are in the midst of a unit about אוכל (food). Soon the girls’ creativity will shine forth as they produce their own תפריט (menu) for a מסעדה (restaurant).

Class Acts—Ivrit

Library / Art schedule

Rabbi Shloime Abraham

T he seventh grade boys were inspired to do something that would enhance their

תפילת Our goal is to learn through .תפילה and attain a better meaning and שחריתunderstanding of the davening. Learning תפילת has given us a better understanding of שחרית what we are saying and why. These lessons have helped open the boys’ minds to ask some really thought-provoking questions like: “Why do we not make a ברכה to thank Hashem for the ability to speak or hear like we thank Hashem for the ability to see פוקח)עורים )”? We hope that through these lessons,

our תפילות will improve.

Dr. Szwergold

W e have just finished the girl's rotation through the math unit of E2K. We mostly learned about alge-

bra but also spent some time learning about the golden ratio and probability. However, most fun and effort was spent by the young ladies in tackling the "five-fives" chal-lenge in which they were asked to express numbers 0 through 31 as a combination of five numbers five and 5 mathematical operations. Here's an example:

12 = 5 + 5 + (5+5)/5 Four of the contestants (Rivka Schwartz, Nechama Deena Korenblit, Sara Demby and Elana Demby) were able to do it for all 31 numbers and received prizes. The other contestants did not leave empty-handed and were awarded consolation prizes for their effort. At present we are starting the boy's rotation where we shall continue with the "give-fives" contest for numbers between 31 and 61. The other topics that we will explore are mathematical and logic puzzles, where things are almost never what they seem to be. Overall, in both groups we are getting to use our minds and are having fun doing "learning-for-learning's sake".

E2K Math

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Thank You

Now that Purim has passed and our Purim Costume Super Store has closed its doors, we would like to sincerely thank all of those who offered their time and energy. As you can see from our list of volunteers who helped, we had an unbelievable outpouring of support. We appreciate it greatly.

Special Thanks to: Baila Karfunkel, for the beautiful and eye catching flyer, Tzivia Blumenfeld, for the great selection of M’Shaloach Manos packaging and most importantly, our generous sponsors:

 

Good Shabbos Catering Mark A. Horwitz, OD, Family Eye Center

Pearl Korenblit, MD, LLC Philip S. Ledereich, MD, Family Ear, Nose & Throat

Jennifer Solomon, MD Law Offices of Harry & Scott Rothenberg

(Office/ Administration)

Rabbi Leiner Mrs. Sussman

Dr. Gold Gwen Persin

Helen Stareshefsky Michael Friedman

Rachel Novick Yael Pahmer Chaya Wilk Dana Berlin

Channa Siegel Rachel Zylberman

Norma Mintz Zipporah Gasner Miriam Weiner

Estie Turkel Shiffie Grossman

Brochie Neugarten Miriam Bacon

Tova Dershowitz Chaya Milchman Tzivia Gottesman

Shira Freudenberger Elana Feder

Rachel Besser Shoshana Stubin

Chana King Rachel Kreitman Bracha Samber

Adina Hahn Lisa Traiger

Eli Stein Judy Citer

Gila Solomon Aviva Levin Irit Illouz Abigail Rothberger

Malka Adler Carrie Schwartz

Kerri Nossel Joyce Davis

Hadassah Siegfried Lea Price

Judy Frenkel Anya Giloni

Morah Bracha Benkhen Lara Itzchaki

Rochelle Nash Chavi Lesher

Nechama Novick Devorah Citer

Elisheva Yocheved Siegfried Atara Levin Shira Levin

Raizy Neugarten Leah Schwartz Aliza Pahmer Chana Ruder

Ester Nasser Rivka Cohen

Rachael Brenner Shoshana Rosenthal Nosson Meir Stubin

Tamar Schock Sasha Lutz Rivka Hirsch

Sara Dershowitz Binyamin Novick

Yitzy Hurwitz Yaakov Held

Avraham Novick Moshe Pahmer Noam Kamara Ruvi Schwartz Shmuel Levin

Dani Levin Chaim Friedman

Avraham Akiva Stein Yitzy Nissel

R’ Braunfeld’s 4B class Sam Kamara Rabbi Pahmer

Ari Lutz Richie Mroz

Frank Dinneen Etana Kamara

Tova Lutz

(Our apologies if we excluded anyone by mistake.)

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I t’s been an action-packed few weeks in our YBH Boys Division, and our calendar has been chock full of great activities. It’s difficult to decide where to start, but I’ll choose a few highlights to share some of the flavor. There are more high-

lights on the next page. HASMADAH CAMPAIGN: - During the month and a half leading up to, and including, our mid-winter vacation, our talmidim of grades 4—8 participated in a Hasmadah Campaign designed to encourage consistent learning outside of school time. To their credit, the campaign was a resounding success. Most of the eligible students successfully met the program requirements. Those students earned a spot on our amazing snow-tubing trip to Campgaw Mountain in Mahwah, NJ. The trip turned out great! The enthusiastic consensus was that the boys felt thrilled to have taken part in the learning. It was such a positive boost to the participants’ self confidence and was great for school spirit. We hope to see the boys con-tinue to build upon their success. Thank you so much to Rabbi Braunfeld for providing the original idea that launched this successful program and for all the assistance he provided in the implementation. Thank you to Rabbi Abraham and Rabbi Levine for accompanying us as chaperones. I’d also like to thank the following parents who so graciously stepped forward and sponsored a portion of the trip. Mr. Avi and Mrs. Anya Giloni, Mr. Benjamin and Mrs. Yitty Karfunkel, Mr. Mordy and Mrs. Bryna Nissel, Mr. Ari and Mrs. Yael Rosenthal, Mr. Bruce and Mrs. Toby Simon, Mr. Jonathan and Mrs. Anat Stein, Mr. Avrohom and Mrs. Shoshana Stubin, Mr. Mark and Mrs. Yael Zoldan. HAKORAS HATOV: How does one show appreciation and thanks for a couple of special people who mean so much to the boys of our upper grades? Let the boys lead the way and the results are super impres-sive. For the first half of the school year, our beloved resource Rebbi, Rabbi Avi Feder, was out of school because he was undergoing treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. During that time, our resource room was staffed by Rabbi Moshe Simcha Levine, who developed a special connection with the boys in his own way. With the great news arriving that Rabbi Feder was well enough to return, it also meant that Rabbi Levine would then be moving on.

Our talmidim outdid them-selves by arranging two breakfast receptions. One for Rabbi Levine on his last day, to thank him for what he had done during his stay. Another one upon Rabbi Feder’s re-turn, welcoming him back. I can’t truly describe

how proud I was of our boys. They all signed a poster for each of them, and several boys got up to speak publicly about their feelings of gratitude. In addition, we had music and dancing for the occasions, provided by our own talented student, Akiva Stein (7B), and ably accompanied by Avichai Wachsberg and Yehuda Sommer ( both 8B). It was special to experience the achdus expressed in a positive middah of hakoras hatov.

From the Desk of Rabbi Binyomin Perlstein, Assistant Principal of Limudei Kodesh

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Exhibits from the YBH Halacha Fair on Sunday, February 21st.

More Adar Events

Morah Atara

We have learned letter ” ס“ . Our keyword for ” ס“ is - סידור, a Siddur. Our kindergarten class has been exploring the meaning of what we are davening each day. The children have really begun to understand the meaning behind the Hebrew words they are saying. We have completed making our very own Siddurim to daven from in class. Each tefillah was explained and dis-cussed. The boys and girls made pictures to remind them-selves of what they are saying. We proudly started davening from our beautiful Siddurim. Morah is very proud and we are sure Hashem is proud too!

Class Acts Kindergarten

A pre-Purim storm didn't cause the Friedman family to feel down. V"nahapoch Hu they turned it into Simchas Purim for the whole town!

Snow Art by the Friedmans

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PURIM EVENTS: Snow! Snow! Snow! Would that dampen our Purim spirit??? No way!! The snow may have postponed our Talent Show, but it couldn’t cancel it. Shushan Purim sure was exciting and unbelievable! The masks, costumes, and hats all lent color and cheer to the great carnival run by our 8th grade. Step right up! Your booth is waiting for your entertainment and delight. How good are you at a dribbling race? Would you dare touch what’s behind the surprise door? These and other fun activities made the carnival a super event. Last, but never least, were the eclectic mix of acts performed on stage as part of our talent show. Whether it was the comedy routines, the puppet show, the musical instruments, or the gymnastics. Those and more, highlighted the many talents of our wonderful talmidim. Thank you to all the performers (too many to list) for giving us a grand old time!

Even More Adar Events

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Mazel Tov: To Dr. Melissa Steinberg (Sara 8G) on her en-

gagement to Dr. Steven Schiff.

Condolences: On the passing of Mr. Irving Kwasnik, one of the

founders of YBH – Hillel, and a long time sup-porter.

P L E A S E R E M E M B E R…

H alfway through the school year, we are reminding parents not to send in snacks which could contain peanut or nut products. Peanut allergies can be very serious or

even fatal. If a child is severely allergic, he/she does not necessarily have to eat peanuts to have a severe or life threatening reaction. The allergy can be triggered by such seem-ingly “minor” events as touching a peanut product, inhaling airborne peanut particles, or by skin contact with peanut residue left on a classmate’s hands, on a table, or on a toy. Please keep this in mind when preparing snacks and lunches for your children, as well as when bringing in foods to be shared by an entire class. In addition, when snacks are being shared by an entire class, sesame ingredients must be avoided, as well. We realize this may cause some inconvenience. Please understand that the health and well-being of each child in our yeshiva is of paramount importance to us all. Thank you for your ongoing cooperation.

Please be especially vigilant when purchasing items for school parties! If in doubt, check the ingredients with Nurse Gloria or purchase a different food item. Please remind babysitters and relatives who may prepare food to be brought to school when watching your children of the importance of adhering to this extremely important pol-icy.

MARCH GEOGRAPHY BEE

Our School-Wide Event will take place on

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Parents of Students who make it to the School-Wide “Finals” will be notified.

CLEANING FOR PESACH?

Be sure your children re-turn all of their library books before taking out new ones to read over Yom Tov.

Need directions to the YBH Annual Dinner (The Royal Manor)? Go to:

http://www.theroyalmanor.com/info_directions.html