by Chava Rubin (’07)

Tuesday afternoon, everybody was busy with the normal routine of school--tests, quizzes, papers and classes-- when suddenly the fire alarm rang! The entire student body rushed outside to find out that there was no fire, but instead, COLOR WAR BREAKOUT!!!

All at once bright green and blue colored t-shirts emblazoned with the words "Chesed" (kindness) and "Emet" (truth) were thrown from the second floor windows, while students were divided into two teams. Captains Brian Surasky ('06) and Ilana Weberman ('07) headed up the Chesed/Blue team and Yocheved Polpiol ('06) and Yoni San Solo ('07) lead the Emet/Green team. Immediately following breakout were the team meetings which planned out the activities for the next day. Team spirit had already spread like a wildfire just minutes after breakout and students were diving headfirst into the planning of color war.

Even though Color War is a break from the normal academic routine, no day can be a vacation from Torah learning. After Tefillah Wednesday morning, Chesed and Emet broke up into shiurim with teachers, where students learned Torah Lishmah before starting the activities of Color War.

The sports in this year's Color War were quite the scene. The competition between the two teams spanned two and a half non-stop hours of action at the beautiful, spacious Loggers Run Park in west Boca Raton. Green and blue shirted students were engaged in a gamut of activities, from the typical— soccer, basketball, and 3-point shot contests—to the intense—track and field and football—to the insane— crazy races, such as backwards and jump-rope. Almost all of the games ended in minute margins and close calls, with both a competitive spirit and an overtone of friendship between both teams.

The piece de resistance of the sports was the crowd favorite, the tug of war. Pitting ten students form each team against each other in a best of three death match, students pulled and grunted their way to victory with the rest of the team screaming cheers of encouragement.

After returning from Logger’s Run, students recharged themselves with lunch and Mincha, before partaking in the more unusual color war activities. For the “Who’s Line is it Anyways” competition, four members from each team had to implement five random props and the line "I can’t believe how delicious those strawberries were," in just seven short minutes. Both teams did a great job and got the crowd roaring with laughter with their comedic talents, quick thinking and hysterical skits.

This year also featured Junkyard Wars, a competition in its second year at WYHS that challenges each team's ingenuity and design ability. Each team was given raw materials such as straws, rubber bands, Popsicle sticks and string, in order to create a bridge that could hold the weight of a shoe, a pebble, a brick, and a freshman boy. Everyone gathered around in anticipation to watch which bridge would prove to be strongest of them all. Unfortunately, none were successful.

The girls of each team played dodge ball against each other, as did the boys. The two dodge ball games were exciting and fast with players getting struck out left and right.

Later in the afternoon, the teams gathered into their respective rooms for a team meeting and a planning session for The Amazing Race. Once both teams were stationed in their starting positions, the race began, and they were off!

The musical and artistic talents of WYHS students really came to the fore during Color War. Color War Banners display the amazing artistic ability of the students, as well as, a view of Torah through the prism of art. Chesed's theme, ”veata hishavu na li beHashem ki asiti imachem Chesed veasitam gam atem im beit avi Chesed” “And now I pray, swear to me by Hashem, since I have showed you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father’s house” (Yehoshua 2:12), presented the scene in which Rachav asks the spies, Calev and Pinchas, to do kindness with her since she did an act of kindness for them. Emet's theme, "Im yishmeru banechah et darkam lalechet lifanai bEmet b’chol levavam uvichol nafsham leimor lo yikaret lichah ish me’al kiseh yisrael" "If your sons are careful to walk before Me in truth, with all their hearts and with all their souls, I shall not cut you off from the throne of Israel" (Melachim A 2:4), portrayed King Shlomo’s throne with a Torah and crown above it, expressing the everlasting kingship of the Jewish people, King Shlomo, and the all never- ending kingship of Hashem. Both banners are truly pieces of art that will forever be treasured by our school and will hang proudly in our halls.

Battle of the Bands was a thrilling end entertaining competition between the team bands that formed, came together to play an entire song, and broke up within just a few hours. These talented students played a song or a medley of songs without vocals for the entire school. Both bands practiced the entire day in order to perform two live concerts, which definitely added to the spirited atmosphere of Color War.

The Theme Songs are a major part of color war. Sung by every member of both teams, the theme songs feature original lyrics sung to popular melodies that had every team member singing their hearts out. The Green team’s chorus, “Its something I must ask myself, its something I must do--Emet is what I need, I must be true” and the Blue Team’s refrain “save the day, ‘cause Chesed will succeed, come tomorrow, Chesed’s all you need,” both expressed the true meanings and underlying themes of each team name. Nothing could compare to watching and listening to the entire team singing together, singing for their team.

After the moving theme songs, the students headed into Ma’ariv, dinner, and American Gladiator. Pitting student, team captains and Rebbeim against one another, American Gladiator was a test of brute strength and fierce intensity. However, some match-ups had interesting outcomes—while some swore that hulking Mordechai Siev (’06) from Chesed would pull lean Zach Cohen (’06) from Emet into the very apparatus. Zach won hands down.

At the end of the very amusing American Gladiator, the two teams gathered one last time for the finale of Color War—the team Slideshows. A handful of students from each team worked arduously all day to produce a full length slideshow featuring pictures taken during the day of all the activities. With outstanding ability, both slideshows were able to capture the activity and spirit of the day, as well as, bring Color War to an emotional closing.

After much anticipation and hard work, the winner of Color War was announced-- Team Emet! The energy and ruach that each student brought to this year’s Color War truly made everyone a winner.