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The Weekly Newsletter of the Weinbaum Yeshiva High SchoolParshat Vayera
Friday, November 10, 2006
Shabbat begins in Boca at 5:15
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From the desk of
Rabbi Perry
Tirschwell
What is the rationale behind our school’s
calendar? Why do we have off on some holidays,
and not on others? How do we set
the dates of winter vacation?
WYHS communicates to its students that we are
proud and grateful Americans. As Rav Moshe
Feinstein wrote, America is a “medinat
chesed”, which views its responsibility to help
those in need, around the corner and around the
world. Therefore, we celebrate days such as
Thanksgiving, Presidents Day, Memorial Day
and Labor Day.
Christmas and New Years are different. New
Years is celebrated in a way which is antithetical to
what we want to teach our teenage children in terms
of drinking and responsible behavior. Though we
enjoy the seasonal message of “goodwill to man”,
Christmas is a celebration of the birth of
a messiah that we do not recognize.
Why does our vacation follow that of the
New York day schools? We want to
encourage our children to befriend their peers who
will be their future roommates and chavrutot
in Israel and college. It is
these children who ours will, G-d willing, date and
marry.
Yeshiva University gives off a
different week than the yeshiva elementary and
high schools. They give off in the middle of their
academic calendar, which varies from year to
year. Families who have both college and high school
age children would benefit from the
synchronization of the calendars. Perhaps one
day!
I am happy to report that the 2007-2008 school
calendar is available online. Just click on
the “Edline Calendar” icon below this article and keep
hitting the right arrow until you get to the month in
which you are interested.
Yeshiva Highlites will appear next on Friday,
December 1. Before Thanksgiving you will receive a
special shabbaton edition.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Perry Tirschwell
Click
on the images below
to
link to these
five websites
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Upcoming Events
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Boys Varsity Basketball Tournament
Tuesday, Nov. 14,
7:00pm
School Wide
Shabbaton
Fri.
Nov. 17 - Sun. Nov. 19
@ The Marco Polo Beach
Resort
Kiryat Bialik Trip to Israel
Sat. night
Nov. 18 - Sun. Nov. 26
Rosh Chodesh Kislev Chagigah
Wed.
Nov. 22 @ 9:15am
First Trimester Chesed
Hours Due
Friday, Dec. 1
Open House for Prospective Students &
Parents
Sunday, Dec. 3, 9:30am
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Upcoming Town Hall Meetings
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Hollywood @ the Ben-Ezras
Monday, Nov. 27 @
8:00pm
Miami Beach @ the Litwins
Tuesday, Nov. 28 @
8:00pm
Boca / North Broward / Palm
Beach @ the Schechters
Monday, Dec. 4 @
8:00pm
NMB / Aventura @ the
Tokayers
Monday, Dec. 11 @
8:00pm
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"Ready, Aim,
Fire!"
Sophomore Night Out Is Right On
Target
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By Joshua Kaminetsky ('09)
This past Monday night was the
sophomore night out to Laser Quest. As the first
official program for the sophomore class, the night
out was a true bonding experience, unifying the class
and helped to further welcome the eight new
transfer students in the class.
The night was filled with pizza, arcade games
and fierce competition in the two story maze arena
as each team fought for victory. Armed and aiming
for victory, the students got to exercise their
creativity, teamwork, and strategy in the
intense games, filled with running, shooting, hiding,
and just having a great time.
Special thanks to Rabbi Spodek and
class presidents Devora Lieberman and Josh
Kaminetsky for organizing the awesome event and to
chaperones Rabbi Houben, Rabbi Schochet, Mrs.
Jacobs, and Mrs. Andron. Look out for some more
amazing class events!
CLICK HERE TO SEE
AN AMAZING SLIDESHOW
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Stormin' To The Top!
Girls Varsity Basketball Score Big
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By Leah Bensimon(’07)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the girls
varsity basketball team
participated in a pre-season basketball tournament
with surrounding Jewish high schools. Although Hillel
North Miami Beach won Tuesday night’s game, every
player stepped up and
played as a team Wednesday night and came out
as the winner against David Posnack Hebrew
Day
School with a final score of 44-28.
While the entire team played a rock solid
defense and a fluid offense, junior Tamar Koenigsberg
led the team as
point guard with strong passes and control over
the court.
Captain Alyssa Muckley (’07) racked up the points
with help from Naomi
Kastzl (’08) and Amanda Markovitch (’07).
This victory was an amazing start to the girls varsity
basketball
season and is evidence of all the hard work
the team has put in so far. With the guidance of
coach Charlie Rotsztajn, the team expects great
things for the coming season. GO STORM!
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From Swaziland
To
Jerusalem
One Man's Epic Journey
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By Danielle Wolkowicz ('09)
On Wednesday morning, students and
faculty were privileged to hear from Rabbi Natan
Gamedze, former prince of Swaziland in Africa
who
converted to Judaism after a series of seemingly
chance occurrences. His interest in the Hebrew
language led to studying Tanach
and Talmud, and ultimately, his
conversion and
rabbinic ordination.
Rabbi Gamedze spoke passionately about
how it is important to “put Hashem’s agenda
before our own” and that life is not “what we are
born into, it is what we make of our own lives.” The
students were not only fascinated by his
remarkable story, but were impressed with his
extensive knowledge and depth of understanding.
Rabbi Gamedze’s amazing history truly moved the
students and taught them to appreciate their
Jewish backgrounds. The students would like to
thank Rabbi Gamedze for taking time to give such an
inspiring speech and to all those who helped make his
visit happen.
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Fantastick!!!
Girls Musical Is
Coming Soon!
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By Shira Borzak ('07)
The WYHS drama department is poised to
become a part of musical theater history as it
prepares to perform the longest running play in
the world—The Fantasticks!
Immeasurable effort has already been
put into this classic show. Director Mrs. Elizabeth
Saddler traveled to New York to see the Fantasticks
on Broadway and even met personally with the
director to discuss how to make the show truly
come alive. Additionally, the entire cast took an
extra special field trip to see the Boynton JCC’S
production of the Fantasticks to help prepare for
their own roles.
Rehearsing four days a week, the entire cast
can’t wait to get on the stage and perform for
the all-female audience come December 6th. Buy
tickets from any cast member or the front office—
make sure you don’t miss out on this “fantastick”
production!
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Alumni
Profile
Our Own Hero
Alexa Bryn (’08)
WYHS alumnus Yaakov Seligman ('03) has
chosen a path nothing short of heroic. After spending
a year in yeshiva in Israel, Yaakov decided to extend
his commitment by volunteering for the Israeli army.
Below, Yaakov speaks about his life-changing
decision and gives us insight into what it means
to defend Am Yisrael.
What compelled you to join the
Israeli Army?
Yaakov: Growing up, it
was always something that I wanted to do. Then,
when I got to Israel for the year it became clear that
it was something I had to do. I realized how
important it is to take an active role, to defend my
country, my nation.
Did your experience at WYHS affect that decision
in any way?
Yaakov: Absolutely. I
received an amazing education and it helped me
make
an educated decision. WYHS instilled so much Jewish
pride in me. They turned this dream I had into a
priority.
What was your involvement in the war this
summer?
Yaakov: I was in the
south, guarding Jewish yishuvim in the Negev and
responding to certain heightened alerts down there.
Basically, I was making sure the violence didn't
spread.
Did you learn anything new about yourself, the
army, and the state of Israel during the war?
Yaakov: I realized how
strong my feelings actually were for Israel and the
Jewish people—all of a sudden the situation became
much more real, much more intense.
Which of your experiences in the army has
impacted you most?
Yaakov: We build so
much camaraderie through struggling together. We
have a "forced march" after basic
training in order to receive our berets. It's a very
tedious, 15- hour march where we carry all of our
equipment—ammunition, radios, water jugs. We help
each other through it.
Doing something like that really forces you to bond.
What advice would you give to someone who
wants to volunteer for Tzahal?
Yaakov: Three words:
Just do it!
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Here are the results from last week's "Color War
Captains" poll.
Please note that these results
have
absolutely no bearing on the selection of
color war
captains and is intended purely for entertainment
purposes.
Senior boy Color War captain:
37%: Hillel Lefkowitz
20%: Avi Dennis
43%: Yoni Brander
Senior girl Color War captain:
32%: Leah Bensimon
50%: Stephanie Trachtenberg
18%: Elisheva Rigol
Junior boy Color War captain:
36%: Aryeh Genet
46%: Harry Ganz
18% Brandon Gelbart
Junior girl Color War captain:
37%: Tamar Koenigsberg
45%: JackieandSarah
18%: Naomi Kasztl
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"WYHS was my
past, is part of my present
and will always
be
part of my future."
--Shana Maikhor (’05)
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here
Yeshiva Highlites
Staff |
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| Shira Borzak (’07) |
Editor-in-Chief |
Alexa Bryn (’08) |
Assistant Editor |
Mrs. Claudia Cohen |
Director of Technology |
| Alana Dweck ('09) |
Assistant Photo Editor |
Jordana Kaminetsky (’07) |
Senior Editor |
Benjamin Shai (’07) |
Photo Editor |
| Rabbi Josh Spodek |
Staff Advisor |
Danielle Wolkowicz ('09) |
Chief of Correspondents |
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