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From:   Rabbi Perry Tirschwell <rpt@wyhs.net>
Subject:   Color War Special Yeshiva High-lites
Reply:   rpt@wyhs.net
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Color War Special Yeshiva High-lites
YESHIVA HIGHLITES
COLOR WAR SPECIAL
Weekly Newsletter of Weinbaum Yeshiva High School
Parshat VaYigash 5767
Friday, December 29, 2006
Shabbat begins in Boca at 5:20
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In This Issue
 

From the desk of
Rabbi Perry Tirschwell

Picture a student who each day sits quietly in class doing his work, doesn't start on a sports team, and never stars in a dramatic or academic presentation.

Now picture that same student standing on a chair, mustering up all the energy he can, leading half of the school in an ear shattering cheer.

That sums up why we run Color War. Amongst the many often dormant creative skills that Color War brings out in our students are:

  • Artistic (banner making and decorating) and Instrumental (Battle of the Bands)

  • Oratory (Divrei Torah) and Dramatic (Mad Gab)

  • Pedagogic (teaching songs and cheers) and Photographic (photography competition)

  • Scientific (Junkyard Wars) and Lyrical (Team Songs)

  • Athletic (in sports the school doesn’t compete) and, of course Leadership.

    Thanks to Program Director Rabbi Josh Spodek ably assisted by Mrs. Amy Horowitz, the Student Council Presidents, and the entire faculty for their hard work in making this the best Color War in WYHS history. This special edition Yeshiva Highlites gives you a taste of the energy and excitement that pervaded school this past week.

    Shabbat Shalom

    Rabbi Perry Tirschwell

    Congratulations to both teams for a battle well fought and to captains David Atkin ('07), Naomi Kasztl ('08), Rebecca Isaacs ('07) and Anosh Zaghi ('08) for energetically leading your teams. Mazel Tov to the Yirah Team on their victory!

    Click on the images below
    to link to these websites
    highwaylogo
    federation 
    highwaylogo
     

  • "Color War Going Once,
    Going Twice, SOLD to
    Ahava And Yirah !!!"

    CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE FOR SLIDESHOW

    by Danielle Wolkowicz (’09)

    “Do I hear color war? Anyone for color war? It’s COLOR WAR!!” These three words began the most amazing, spirited, entertaining color war ever in WYHS history.

    As Rabbi Spodek auctioned off the final item in the teacher auction, then switched the bids with color war, students were stunned, confused, and finally ecstatic. The students quickly grabbed their color war shirts- brown for Yirah and pink for Ahava- and gathered into their team headquarters.

    Respective captains Rebecca Isaacs (’07) and Anosh Zaghi (’08) and David Atkin (’07) and Naomi Kasztl (’08) greeted their team members with enthusiasm and began to assign people to their various tasks, ensuring that each person had a job, whether it be working on the banner, participating in sports or the amazing race, working on songs or cheers, or building a catapult.

    The broad list of activities guaranteed that each student could do their part to help lead their team to victory.

    The festivities began with intense rounds of dodge ball. Teams were divided into boys and girls then separated further into 9th and 10th graders and 11th and 12th graders. The students dodged, ducked, dipped, dove, and had an amazing time.

    “Dodge ball was fun because everyone got to participate, and it was a bonding experience for the whole team. It was a good way to get acquainted with all your team members,” explains Gaby Markovitch (’09).

    Color war was truly off to an exciting start!


    Simon Says: Learn Torah, Touch Your Ears And Run Like The Wind

    by LeeLee Borzak ('10)

    The first color war activity in the morning was Torah study. The teachers prepared inspirational shiurim on the concepts of Yirah and Ahava, the names of the teams. It was a great way to really learn about what each team stood for.

    A crazy “Simon Says” competition got everyone up and active before they began sports. From conga lines to jumping jacks, the atmosphere was filled with laughter as each teammate carefully followed the instructions given by “Simon.” Both Ms. Sardano and Rabbi Houben were very imaginative as they gave unique directions as the role of “Simon.” After there was only one person standing, and one team was declared victorious, both teams boarded a bus to play sports.

    Track and field, soccer, basketball, volleyball and football were only some of the activities at Loggers Run park. Everyone played at least one sport. Whenever you were not playing, you cheered. Though intense ruach could be felt at each game, there was still a friendly competitiveness throughout the sporting events. It was a great opportunity for both individuals and teams to show their athletic abilities and team spirit.

    Each team member learned, cheered, and played hard and the day was a huge success!


    "Dive Ray Toe Raw, Cat Apples, And Too Horse Steam"
    Mad Gab Style

    by Yoni Levenson (’09)

    After returning from Logger’s Run, students recharged themselves with lunch and Mincha, and heard inspiring divrei torah about yirat hashem and ahavat hashem from Ariella Davis (‘09) and Ethan Wasserman (’07) before partaking in the more unusual color war activities.

    For the “Mad Gab” competition, four members from each team had to unscramble bunches of incoherent words. When these words were broken down correctly, they were recognizable as popular, everyday phrases. Students and faculty alike laughed as the participants stumbled over the words.

    This year also featured Junkyard Wars, a competition in its third year at WYHS that challenges each team's ingenuity and design ability. This year, each team had to build a catapult, with the requisite wood, nails, hammers and hooks given to each team. Their challenge was to design a functional catapult whose effectiveness would be tested by its ability to throw different objects. Both teams cheered as their respective members launched items ranging from eggs to watermelons off their catapults.

    One part of color war that brought the whole team together was the cheers. Both teams had four minutes each to cheer their hearts out with original and classic cheers designed for their team and the respective themes. Culminating in a ten second screaming blitz from each of the four captains, the cheers section had every single team member red in the face and hoarse form their effort and enthusiasm.


    Running, Eating,
    And Faces Full Of Flour:
    The Amazing Race

    by Danielle Wolkowicz (’09)

    One of the most anticipated events in all of color war is the “Amazing Race” – an activity that combines intellect, athletics, and chocolate pudding. With over twenty two different events, team members were assigned various tasks, such as hula hooping, pie throwing, shooting basketballs, and completing a surprisingly challenging Sesame Street puzzle.

    The race was extremely close throughout, and the teams were kept in suspense until the very last moment.

    Some of the race’s highlights were watching blindfolded senior girls feed freshmen girls pudding, and watching seniors Stephanie Tractenberg and Amanda Markovitch bob for apples. However, the greatest moment of the race was watching Ilana Ben- ezra (’10) run a lap around the lake, and signify victory for the Yirah team.


    Artistic, Musical and
    Creative Talents Shine
    At The Grand Finale

    by Shira Borzak ('07)

    Color War is an opportunity for students’ artistic and musical talents to shine. This year’s Color War banners were especially stunning, representing their respective team’s theme through Torah by using the prism of art. Teams combined their artistic abilities with their knowledge of verses or sayings in the Torah to create beautiful pieces of art that will hang proudly in our halls for years to come.

    Battle of the Bands is an exciting segment of Color War that features bands formed just hours before performing. Through hard work and amazing talent, they were able to perform a complete song. These two live concerts were not only a thrilling part of the competition but added to the charged atmosphere of the day.

    The team theme songs are a major part of Color War. Requiring team unity and creativity, the theme songs are sung by every member of each team, and feature original and poignant lyrics sung to popular songs. Ahava’s chorus “Realize, Hashem’s love is pure and true, ahavat Hashem elokeinu al tasir mimenu, he will never part from you” and Yirah’s refrain of “”Yirah’s everything you want, Yirah’s everything you need, Yirah’s everything inside of you that you need to succeed” resonated with the true meanings of each team’s name.

    It was a beautiful moment watching each team singing their hearts out for their team.

    The newest segment of Color War, the photo competitions, featured the photographic skills of students. They presented the best pictures of the day. Visually stunning, touching, and sometimes hilarious, these pictures summed up the entire day in a visual medium through an entertaining competition.

    Coinciding with Color War was WYHS’ highly anticipated annual Chanukah Chagigah. After a delicious dinner and much dancing, the students gathered together as teams for the last time to watch the final Color War slideshow. Produced by Technical Director Claudia Cohen, these pictures chronicled the events of Color War, from the first moments of breakout to moments just before the Chagigah. All watching were able to relive the intense and packed events of Color War.

    After much anticipation, the Color War winner was announced—Team Yirah! However, each student’s ruach and hard work made each and every one of them winners.

    Thank you to Rabbi Spodek, Mrs. Horowitz, Claudia Cohen and the team captains for all of the time and energy they put into making this the best Color War ever!



    Yeshiva Highlites Staff

    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

    email: rpt@wyhs.net
    voice: 561-417-7422