Week 9, November 1-5
1 Kislev 5782
November 5, 2021
Dear ICJA Family:
Last night, the mechanchim hosted a mishmar for the boys. More than 40 boys came to learn, to eat (cholent and chicken strips), and to play dodgeball. And B”H they excelled in all three. Thanks to Rabbi Fox and Stromer for arranging the program. And yaasher koach to the 9th and 10th-grade boys who won the first round of dodgeball before the upperclassmen got their act together and won the next two games.
Today is Rosh Chodesh, and we had the opportunity to hear inspiring words from Rabbi Micah Greenland, the International Director of NCSY. Rabbi Greenland is also a former ICJA teacher (Room 108 in the old building, if I remember correctly) and shared a thought and a story about taking the time to develop an attitude of gratitude for all that we have in life.
Yesterday, those who signed up for our vaccine clinic (flu and COVID) received a confirmation and a form to complete. Please send the completed form back to our office as soon as possible – either by email to epartouche@icja.org or by dropping off a hard copy at the front desk.
Student Council and the Interact-HOPE club are sponsoring a food drive for the Ark Food Pantry. Please start sending in canned food that we can donate to make the lives of others a little better!
And finally, on a sad note, today we lost one of the great Jewish educators of Chicago, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, זצ”ל. For more than 40 years, Rabbi Shapiro shepherded Arie Crown Hebrew Day School, guiding and shaping the lives of thousands of students, many of whom are now educators in our community. Despite his gentle demeanor, he was a towering presence in the lives of so many – that it is hard to imagine that he has passed away. His funeral will be held at Arie Crown this Sunday at 1:00 pm.
On behalf of the entire ICJA community, we extend our condolences to his wife, Elizabeth Shapiro, his daughter Naomi Sutton, his son Hillel Shapiro, and their families.
Candle lighting tonight is at 5:19 pm. And please don’t forget to change your clocks this motzaei Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom, stay safe, stay connected, and stay inspired!
B’vracha,
LAM
Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky, Ph.D.
Dean, Ida Crown Jewish Academy
29 Cheshvan 5782
November 4, 2021
Dear ICJA Family:
Earlier today, everyone who had signed up for a vaccine (either the flu or COVID-19 booster) received an email with a form to be completed in advance. If you did not receive the email, please contact our office (epartouche@icja.org) as soon as possible. The company that is running our clinic needs these forms to have sufficient supplies at the clinic.
Today I had some great exchanges with students (in addition to my Gemara students!). The first was at the beginning of the day when I sat in Mrs. Pogonitz’s 10th-grade girls Chumash class. When I walked in, she let me know that the best part of the lesson was already past, and what I was about to watch was just some review.
But I beg to differ. Because while there are times that I go into class to witness spirited teaching and fast exchanges, today, what I got to see was calm and measured learning. Students were fully engaged as Mrs. Pogonitz walked them through the translation of a complex text, the literary structure of the verse, the challenge of a Rashi, and the questions that deserved to be asked.
Kol hakavod to all the girls, especially Leah Zelden, for her excellent reading and Julia Benditzon for her great questions. By the way, my favorite part of the class was when Julia Bellows wondered if the Malbim could answer the question on Rashi. (He didn’t address that issue, but the Kli Yakar did!).
A bit later, I met with all of the 10th-grade girls for their first Town Hall meeting. They had a lot of questions – from “can we have a volleyball team” (maybe, but there are a lot of unknowns that first to be answered) to how do Chesed hours work (Rabbi Fliegelman is the expert – but you need 20 volunteer hours per year to graduate). There was even a question about the girls’ fashion show, and they seemed surprised when I told them that we hope to restart it and that Mrs. Kraft and Mrs. Gold are working on getting someone to be in charge.
One more “fun fact,” Yaakov David has had a good time the past couple of weeks on Google Maps – tagging our water retention pond as “Matanky Wildlife Preserve.” It’s a cute shtick (even though I told him that the tag should be on our building and not the pond!). But the photos they attached to the google maps site are very artistic and impressive! Check it out yourself on google maps.
Tonight is the Boys’ Mishmar and Dodgeball Contest! (What interesting combination!). It starts at 8:00 pm and includes Rabbi Fox’s famous cholent.
Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Kislev, and we will be skipping periods 1 and 4, and periods 10, 11, and 12 meet. School will be dismissed at 1:58 pm.
And finally, this Sunday, November 7, are tryouts for the Boys Basketball team – 1:30 pm for varsity tryouts and 4:00 pm for JV. For any questions, please email Coach Dr. Jonathan Rich (jrich18@gmail.com).
Stay safe, stay connected, and stay inspired!
B’vracha,
LAM
Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky, Ph.D.
Dean, Ida Crown Jewish Academy
28 Cheshvan 5782
November 3, 2021
Dear ICJA Family:
I know it’s late, and I bet some of you thought that today would be the first “update-less” day.
But fear not – because here is today’s update, only a little later than usual. Why? Because today was filled with so many things, that it went by so quickly, and therefore I have only now had a chance to write this report.
There were the girls who left for a basketball tournament in LA; the plans that are coming together for a senior Shabbaton on December 10-11; more special programs in the works; a few curriculum changes; and even the planning for a special week of seminars on Jewish thought scheduled for Chanukah that Dr. Brown is spearheading.
There is so much happening at ICJA! And that’s not even including next week’s Seminary Fair (more about that in a moment), the upcoming Open House, and even our Society of Patrons Kick-off event.
But first, let me tell you about the parent-teacher conferences on Sunday, November 14. As I mentioned yesterday, we will be using a unique online program to manage the event. Beginning Monday, parents will be able to schedule appointments with their child(ren) ‘s teachers. All of the meetings will be through the “Meet the Teacher” online platform, and meetings can be scheduled between 12:30-5:45 pm.
For more information about how to sign up – see the attached instruction sheet. But, you won’t be able to schedule appointments until Monday morning, when you will receive a special email with a “parent login code” and a “student number.”
Today, Dr. Brown had a chance to visit AP Physics with Mr. Sears. What he saw was so exciting that he made sure to share it with me – and now I’m sharing it with you.
Two of the students, Yonatan Chavel and Jonah Matanky, presented a complicated physics problem to the class. It was tough. But instead of jumping in and taking over the presentation, Mr. Sears asked them questions that helped them, and the rest of the class understood the problem even more.
So what’s so exciting about that? It’s that Mr. Sears was “the guide on the side” instead of the “sage on the stage” and used meta-cognitive techniques to help the students discover the answers – instead of just giving them the answers. Kol Hakavod to him and the entire class!
This was also something that happened today in Mrs. Weisenberg’s 11th-grade Navi class as they were learning a Malbim, and she was able to guide the students as they were tossing out questions and ideas. Special kudos to Hersh Linzer for his insightful comments!
Tonight the Mathletes had a meet at Lake Forest High School. Congratulations to Gideon Miller, who took 3rd place in the oral competition, and a special shout out to Gabe Simon, who did a great job rallying the troops during the match.
Next Tuesday, November 9, we will be hosting nearly 20 Israel seminaries for our annual Israel Fair. All of our 11th and 12th-grade girls will have a chance to attend sessions, and we will even have a few students from other schools (vaccinated, of course) who will be coming for this special event.
To make it all happen is a bit of a logistical challenge, as the Fair takes over the entire 300 wing of the school, and classes that generally meet there will have to move to other locations. But it’s worth it – not only for information that can be gained but for the message that the “5th ICJA year” is real!
Thanks to Mrs. Kraft for the hours upon hours of work that has gone into programming and scheduling this event. And I urge all of our 11th and 12th-grade girls to take full advantage of this opportunity.
And just to make that day even a little more interesting – it’s also the day of our Flu and COVID vaccine clinic. If you haven’t signed up yet – please do so today – CLICK HERE to sign up!
Stay safe, stay connected, and stay inspired!
B’vracha,
LAM
Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky, Ph.D.
Dean, Ida Crown Jewish Academy
27 Cheshvan 5782
November 2, 2021
Dear ICJA Family:
Did you know that the plural of “oops” is “oopses”? I wasn’t sure until last night I made two mistakes in my daily update and found myself saying “oops” twice.
So here is the correction to my two oopses:
1. Unfortunately, last night, I misspelled the name of one of our freshmen. Which is not good, but even worse because he is a second-generation ICJA student, and I was his father’s principal. So, my apologies to Elisha Shpayher for the typo.
2. The link to the Driver’s Ed info did not work as expected. Attached is a pdf with all of the info. And the link is https://www.icja.org/product/drivers-ed/
And now on to today!
This morning, I had a chance to sit in Rabbi Oren’s Senior boys Navi class. The boys were learning about the “sitna” – the famous letter written by the enemies of the Jews to King Cyrus that ultimately put a halt to the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash. And while tomorrow they will encounter the text, today Rabbi Oren was setting the stage by comparing the actions of these enemies to the modern use of the “big lie.” It was great to see how he challenged the boys to understand the strategy used to make a lie believable and even how the enemies of the Jews protected themselves in case the “big lie” would be uncovered. Kol hakavod to Chuck Moscovitch and Jon Okner for their explanations of “controlling the narrative” and Eliyahu Malkin for his contribution to the conversation regarding the issue of antisemitism.
This afternoon, students in Mrs. Kahan’s class used the “Storyboard That” app to keep track of the 20+ characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Chaya Laber walked the class through her drawing of a critical scene in the Salem Witch Trials—and was able to justify all the details in the story. Dalia Wolper had an “Aha!” moment thanks to these visuals. Proof, all of us can benefit from visual learning!
Tomorrow, we will send out the forms that need to be completed for anyone seeking a flu vaccine or those eligible to receive a COVID booster. CLICK HERE if you haven’t signed up for our vaccine clinic. (According to the CDC, both vaccines can be administered on the same day.) The clinic will be open from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.
Also tomorrow we will be sending off our girls’ basketball team to compete in the Glouberman Tournament in LA. Best of luck to Jordyn Baker, Laura Bellows, Emma Felix, Shiri Kolom, Dini Robinson, Alex Schreiber, Ilana Schwartz, Yolie Starck, Nechama Tarshish, Shaina Tarshish and Kayla Well. And thanks to our coach for the tournament Avi (Varnai) Levinson, ICJA class of 2007.
On Sunday, November 14th we will be having our Parent-Teacher Conferences. This year, as we did last year, the conferences will be held online. But this year, we will be using the “Meet the Teacher” website to help schedule and broadcast the meetings. We will be sending all of the signup information for parents on Monday. In the meantime, we have been testing the app, and things are, bli ayin ha’ra, working beautifully.
Stay safe, stay connected, and stay inspired!
B’vracha,
LAM
Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky, Ph.D.
Dean, Ida Crown Jewish Academy
26 Cheshvan 5782
November 1, 2021
Dear ICJA Family:
Before I get to today, let me start with a thank you to Rabbi Fox and Mrs. Zeffren for all of their hard work that made this past Friday’s Fridayton such a huge success. Despite the rain, the Freshmen Friday-ton was a huge success. A special shout out to Elisha Shpayer, Hadar Simkovich, Leah Rina Brochin, and Tali Weiss for their divrei Torah. Also, I want to thank my learning group participants, Gabe Aberman, Lea Ackerman, Shaindy Berkovits, Ariela Bielak. Leah Rina Brochin, Yossi Burstyn, Toby Burstyn, and Avi Chen, for a great discussion about chesed.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending Yeshiva University’s chag haSemicha, where they celebrated the past four years of RIETS talmidim who have received semicha. It was an inspiring event, made all the more meaningful by the participation of our own Rabbi Yehuda Meyers and Rabbi Mayer Simcha Stromer. They were among the 120 new rabbis feted at the event. Mazal tov to them and their families! We are so fortunate to have so many inspired and inspiring rabbis (and teachers) on our ICJA staff!
Today in her 9th grade Navi class, Mrs. Zeffren taught them about cuneiform. Why? So that they could understand what the city of “Ninveh” means in the Assyrian language. What is cuneiform? Mrs. Zeffren used her smartboard to pull up images of these ancient clay tablets, and the class found out that “Ninveh” actually means “a house of fish,” according to the Da’at Mikrah! The class learned about the symbolism of the city in Yonah’s story.
Speaking of cities, in Mrs. Sennett’s class, students learned about the birth of trade and the rise of cities. Students learned about the social and economic relationship between town leaders and townspeople. And guess what city the students thought this sounded like? Ninveh!
All students are invited to join the Model UN! It’s a fun club, teaches actual research and debating skills, and colleges love to see it on your activities resume. But we need you! If you’re interested, please come to the Model UN meeting this Wednesday, 11/3, during 5th or 6th periods in room 314. Mr. Cooper can’t wait to see you!
At a recent Town Hall meeting, I was asked about Drivers Ed. We offer a Drivers Ed course every spring in conjunction with Illinois Driving School. This year, the course will be held on Wednesday (after school) and Sunday mornings from March 20 – May 25. The class will be capped at 25 students. To register for the course (registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis), go online at https://www.icja.org/drivers-ed/ and pay by credit card.
CLICK HERE if you haven’t signed up for our COVID-19 booster and/or flu vaccine clinic. (According to the CDC, both vaccines can be administered on the same day.) The clinic will be open from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.
Finally, the ICJA Open House for Prospective Families is Wednesday, November 17 at 7:00 pm. It is one of the most important events of the year, as we gt to highlight all of the great things that happen at ICJA. But to do so, we need student ambassadors who will help out as tour guides, greeters, and more. If you want to be a student ambassador at please complete the google form below no later than tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3. https://forms.gle/ZNZTkipbbGVq6GfZA
Tomorrow is the lunch and learn with Rabbi Engel – during 5th period, and it’s an early dismissal day, and we will skip 2nd period.
Stay safe, stay connected, and stay inspired!
B’vracha,
LAM
Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky, Ph.D.
Dean, Ida Crown Jewish Academy