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שבת פרשת נשא

Shabbat Parshat Nasso

Candle Lighting: 8:11

Havdalah: 9:12

יא סיון תשע"ו

11 Sivan 5776

June 17, 2016

Issue 34

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents,

The countdown is complete! Thank you to ourdedicated faculty for a wonderful year of learningand growth, and to you for your partnership. Iwould like to take this opportunity to thank AdeenaChefitz, our outgoing editor of Chadashot, andJennifer Fenster, our Director of Communications,for working each week to share some of ourhighlights, stories, and divrei torah with you.

Mazal Tov to our graduates and their families andKol Hakavod on a wonderful and spirited ceremonylast night.

Wishing you and your children a safe and restful summer vacation.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Binyamin Krauss Principal

Mazal Tov! Mazal tov to Boaz Kahn (7th Grade) on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah Mazal tov to Tuvi and Rachaeli Bacharach on the birth of a baby girl. Mazal tov to grandparents Esther (AC Nurse) and Gary Bacharach.

לחיים טובים ולשלום!

Have a Great Summer!

Inside This Issue:

School News:

Mazal Tov to our Eighth Grade Graduating Class of 2016!

And We Are Out! Last Day of School By William Haberman, 6th Grade

Theme of the Year Finale

Calling all Books! Reminder to Return all Library Books

Incoming School Supplies for Gr. 1­5 for the Upcoming 2016­2017 School Year

Phys. Ed. ­ Year in Review

Students Participate in MVP Minds Math Challenge

This Week in the Early Learning Center:

ELC Prepares Chulent with Rabbi Moskowitz

This Week in the Lower School:

Second Grade Music

Third Grade: The Rashi Celebration Continues!

Fourth Grade Siyum Bereshit

Fifth Grade NYC Trip!

This Week in the Middle School:

Middle School Electives

STEM Corner: Fourth Grade Students Compete in Robotics Contest

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Dvar Torah:

Parshat Nasso By William Haberman, 6th Grade

Click here for a printer­friendly PDF of the Chadashot

SCHOOL NEWS Mazal Tov to our Eighth Grade Graduating Class of 2016! Click here for the graduation livestream!

And We Are Out! Last Day of School By William Haberman, 6th Grade

Today, we celebrated the last day of school. We said goodbye to our friends and teachers,whom we will dearly miss seeing and learning from every day in school. The last day is amoment to reflect on our year and on what we learned, which is a moment of growth.Finally, we had a countdown to commemorate the end of the school year, and so, summervacation began! Have a wonderful summer, everyone!

Now, let's hear your thoughts on the last day of school! Is the last day of school a happy ora sad day?

Theme of the Year Finale On the last day of school, we had a finale for the Theme of the Year. Each class watched the final Middah Man video.After, we all learned, and then we had the countdown to summer vacation!Thank you to Rena Rossman, Elaine Samson and the entire ELC team for an amazing two weeks of chesed, and thankyou to everyone for your partnership and enthusiasm all year!

Calling all Books! Reminder to Return all Library BooksReminder to please return all library books. We appreciate your cooperation in keeping up our wonderful collection byreturning all books.

Thank you to our dedicated library volunteer, Shimona Katz. Your help is greatly appreciated.

With thanks, Beth A. Braunstein, Librarian

School Supplies for Incoming Gr. 1­5 for the 2016­17 School Year

Even though it's almost summer, don't forget to order your school supplies (for incoming Grades 1­5) and beat therush for the 2016­17 school year! Please click here to order online from School­Pak.Free delivery to SAR is available for orders placed by TODAY.Home delivery (for a fee) is available for orders placed through Tuesday, July 12. School­Pak will NOT be availableafter July 12. Please click here for a full listing of school supplies for Grades 1­5

Phys. Ed. ­ Year in Review Top Ten List:

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1. 660 kids exercised twice a week.

2. Grades 1­3 were introduced to a lifetime of skills.

3. The Phys. Ed. teachers tied over 3000 sneakers.

4. Grades 4­8 participated and advanced in over eight sports and countless games.

5. Second gym was built.

6. We incorporated more technology into our program.

7. More than 220,000 laps, 105,400 burpees, 100,350 push­ups were accomplished, to name a few of our fitness challenges.

8. 50,000 Rubber Bands were borrowed from the Phys. Ed. office to pull back hair.

9. Countless rock paper scissor games were played to settle any conflicts.

10. We had fun doing it all.

Summer Health and Fitness Websites:

NutritionFitness and HealthIdeas to Stay Screen­free

Students Participate in MVP Minds Math ChallengeMany fifth, sixth and seventh grade students participated in this year's 2016 MVP Minds Math Challenge. Sponsored bythe Mannis Foundation, students combined their love of math with their passion for baseball by taking a swing atthe MVP Minds' 4th season. Every weekday in May, students received a new challenge to submit. They chose the levelof the question ­ either "Majors" or "Minors." The participants received prizes, including gift cards and other excitingprizes. Thank you to Dr. Rebecca Mannis and the Mannis Foundation for sponsoring this program.

The following students participated in this challenge:

Isaac BlockJack BlumensteinMarcus Brem Gayla Cohen Eitan Feinberg Adin Fischer Reuven Fishkin Baruch Goldenberg Tiferet Grossman Tani Lewis Cara Lopatin Zahava Kalb Tamar KatzDani Minkove Kobe Moskowitz Gabriel Raskas Noam SiegelBecky WachsmanYoni Zelkowitz

THIS WEEK IN THE EARLY LEARNING CENTERELC Prepares Chulent with Rabbi Moskowitz This week, the ELC was hard at work preparing chulent with Rabbi Steve Moskowitz to benefit Tomchei Shabbos ofQueens as part of the ELC middah of the month. This was a wonderful hands­on lesson about the importance of helpingthose who are in need. We extend a tremendous thank you to Rabbi Moskowitz for teaching the students the art ofchulent­making and the importance of chesed!

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THIS WEEK IN THE LOWER SCHOOLSecond Grade MusicTo culminate the musical skills learned this year in second grade music, second graders performed various musicalinterludes, such as drumming, singing, keyboard playing, and dancing. Performing before the grade, it was a wonderfulcelebration of the students' musical accomplishments! Thank you to music teacher, Mr. Josh Gilgoff, for teaching andinspiring our students!

Third Grade: The Rashi Celebration Continues! On the afternoon of the Rashi Breakfast, the third grade students had a chance to bake cookies in the shape of one ofthe Rashi letters. First, each child designed one of the cookie cutters on this website. Next, the designs were printed onthe 3D printer and then used in order to bake delicious cookies. Many thanks to Morah Rivka Heisler and ButterflakeBakery for your help with this delicious and meaningful project.

On Wednesday morning, we had another treat: Rabbi Joel Schwab, Meirav’s grandfather, visited the Kitah Gimel tospeak about his family tree. The family tree is so big that it covers more than ten feet of posters and the entire front wallof a class!! The Schwabs are proud to be related to Rav Yoel Sirkis, also known as the Bach, who wrote a commentaryon the Gemara and on the Tur. On the family tree, Rabbi Schwab also traced a connection, through marriage, all the wayback to Rashi! Many of the third graders were interested in knowing how Rabbi Schwab knew the names of relatives wholived many hundreds of years ago. He explained that the tree was created by reading many books. Authors of Jewishbooks would often write about their relatives and then when the names of those relatives were discovered, they wouldeach be added to the tree. We were so excited to see the massive family tree and to learn about someone who is relatedto Rashi. Thanks for coming and sharing with us!

Fourth Grade Siyum BereshitThe students in Kitah Dalet have been immersed in learning the brachot that Yaakov gave to each of his children rightbefore he died. This moving episode occurs in the second to last perek in the entire Sefer Bereshit. The students learnedeach bracha to the melody of a different Jewish song, (hamalach hagoel, yesh tikvah, etc.), and they can be heardsinging the brachot in their classes and throughout the halls.

On the last day of school, they performed these songs in a celebration of completing Sefer Bereshit with an excitingchagiga.

Mazal Tov to the fourth graders on their siyum of Sefer Bereishit! Click here to enjoy the livestream.

Fifth Grade NYC Trip! The fifth grade went on their much anticipated New York City trip. Our journey began on the Metro North train right behindSAR! The students took the train all the way to Grand Central Station. We got to witness the stunning Hudson River thatour classes have been discussing the past few weeks.

From there, we walked to 42nd Street and 8th Avenue to meet our beautiful bus for The Ride. The walk from Grand

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Central was truly a learning experience. The students saw firsthand some of the most iconic structures in Manhattan, likethe Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. We learned that each of these buildings actually have their very ownzip code. We also walked right beside the New York Public Library. The students were excited to see the original locationof the Croton Reservoir. Additionally, we were lucky enough to stop by Bryant Park, only to learn that George Washingtonactually passed through the park with his army!

Once we arrived at The Ride, everyone was very excited. It was definitely a highlight of our trip. The Ride is a bus withstadium seating and a huge open window. It was like New York City was a grand production and we were in the audiencewatching it unfold. We drove around Times Square and got to see such a popular destination in New York City from avery unique perspective. The students really enjoyed different street performers that the ride encountered along the way.This was just another way that we were able to experience what makes New York City such a diverse and exciting city.

For lunch, we made our way to the popular Midtown restaurant, Kosher Deluxe. There the students tasted some real,Jewish New York flavor while munching on hot dogs and hamburgers.

Overall, the fifth grade had an unforgettable day in New York City. It was so eye opening to see our New York City unitcome to life!

THIS WEEK IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle School Electives Middle school students enjoyed many exciting electives during the second half of the year. Students participated inweekly activities, such as cooking, basketball, ceramics, debate, running with Rabbi Krauss, and our very own,Chadashot elective!

STEM CORNERFourth Grade Students Compete in Robotics ContestThis year, during lunch, groups of enterprising fourth graders volunteered to participate in an internal robotics contest.The students worked together in teams to program the Dash robots to navigate through a 10X10 grid field. In onechallenge, they had to program their Dash robot to move through the grid and make rocket sounds when it reacheddifferent rows. In another challenge, they had to dock their robot in a specific four cell area. In their final challenge,students had to navigate through a minefield of cups using their robot's sensor to detect the obstacles in front of them.Students used the Wonder App to code their solutions and tested and retested their programs before each challenge.The scores were really close, the difference between the winning and second place team being a mere 2 points!

We congratulate our students for their dedication and perseverance and hope to see them again next year.

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DVAR TORAH

Parshat Nasso By William Haberman, 6th Grade

Nasso is an interesting parsha. Not only is it the longest parsha in the Torah with 176pesukim, but it also contains the blessing that the Kohanim give to the Jewish people. In G­d's commanding Aharon and his sons to give their blessing to the Jewish people, there isambiguity as to who is giving the blessing: Is it the Kohanim, who are blessing from their ownhearts or are they agents of Hashem? The first half of the commandment stresses that it isthe Kohanim, while the end points to G­d being the true blesser. Perhaps, this tension in theperformer is present to teach us the ultimate tension in a blessing. Is a blessing prophetic oris the blessing contigent on one's righful actions? Hashem provides us with the tools to fulfillthe blessing, but it is up to the Jewish people to act in the way of G­d for the realization of theblessing. As we end the school year, may we all have blessing­filled summers!

COMMUNITY NEWSChesed Opportunities

Hebrew Home Volunteering:

The SAR Chesed Committee is now facilitating volunteer opportunities at the Hebrew Home. The Hebrew Home is asenior facility that houses hundreds of elderly residents right here in Riverdale, and there are a variety of rewardingopportunities to share your time and your talent with the residents. Currently, there is a particular need for volunteers inthe following areas:

1­on­1 Friendly VisitingComputer Room assistantArt Room assistantReading to a residentRecreational programsLibrary Assistant

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If you are interested in volunteering please click here to contact Lauren Lieberman or Michelle Sarna

Or contact the Hebrew Home Volunteer Office directly: (718) 581­1231.

JOFA seeks a full­time Program Manager to coordinate JOFA’s programming, and to assist in various aspects of eventplanning and communications. Click here for more info.

World­renowned Dr. Yocheved Debow will be speaking Mondayevening June 20 on the topic "Talking about Intimacyand Sexuality: How do we Educate our Children?" She is a world renowned expert ­ she is the author of the "Life Valuesand Intimacy" curriculum taught in Jewish schools across the world, as well as the famous book "Talking About Intimacyand Sexuality: A Guide for Orthodox Jewish Parents."

Doors open at 7:30 and the lecture will begin promptly at 7:45pm. Cost is $10 in advance or $15 at the door andsponsorships are available. Register here. Flyer attached here.

Moss Café is coming to Wave Hill! Wave Hill, a public garden familiar to many SAR classes, is launching a pilotpartnership with Moss Café. On Sundays only, beginning June 5, Moss Café will offer a local, sustainable, made­from­scratch menu that will complement the offerings in The Café at Wave Hill. Moss Café is kosher under the Va’adhaRabbonim of Riverdale, and also offers many allergy­friendly options. The pilot is expected to extend through July, andwill include the first five Sunset Wednesdays, a highlight of the summer season at Wave Hill. Learn more, and see asample menu here. Bitayavon!

SAR High School is exited to serve as a cosponsor of this year's 14th annual Yemei Iyun on Bible and Jewish Thoughtsponsored by YCT Rabbinical School in memory of Riva Koschitsky z"l and generously supported by Tamar and EricGoldstein. The event will be held at SAR High School on Sunday­Monday, June 19­20, 2016. The registration andbrochure can be accessed at: http://www.yctorah.org/content/view/977/17/.

Hosting Shlichot: The Riverdale Y is seeking warm, welcoming families to host two Israeli young women for thesummer. The shlichot will be working with Camp Twelve Trails to bring Israel a little closer to us all. If you are interested inthis amazing opportunity, for all or part of the summer, please contact Matt Abrams Gerber at 347­913­4386 or mabramsgerber@riverdaley.org

Special Needs Programs: The Riverdale Y is hosting FREE Gym and Swim events for families with children with specialneeds. Activities will include Tumbling, Basketball, Bouncy House, Adaptive Swimming Lessons, and more! Please joinus at one of the following events, made possible by a grant from UJA­Federation of New York.• Sunday, June 26 from 3:30­5pm Come share your ideas and help us plan for the fall. Contact Brian Kaplan for more information. bkaplan@riverdaley.org.

The Book Blossoms Book Club is a local book club in Riverdale. Click here for more information.

An American Red Cross Junior Lifeguard Course will be available for 11yr ­ 14yr olds this summer July 12th ­ July21st. For More information contact Felicha Bennett; Director of Aquatics; fbennett@riverdaley.org or call 347­913­4417.Click here for flyer.

שבת שלום!

SAR ACADEMYJesselson Campus655 West 254th Street Riverdale, NY 10471718.548.1717www.saracademy.org

SAR HIGH SCHOOLDedicated to the Memory of JJ Greenberg z"l503 West 259th Street Riverdale, NY 10471718.548.2727www.sarhighschool.org

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