YESHIVA DERECH HATORAH FAMILY ALBUM VOLUME 9 NUMBER 17 FEBRUARY 13, 2015 CANDLE LIGHTING 5:08 PM 24 SHEVAT 5775 Dvar Torah — Mishpatim Sunday, Monday 2/15, 2/16 Presidents’ Day Weekend NO SCHOOL **** Tuesday-Friday, 2/17-2/20 We will have bus service. **** Wednesday, 2/18 8th Grade Purim Tzedaka Carnival **** Tuesday, 2/24, 8:00 PM Magenu— Safety Kid Evening for parents **** Mark your calendar! G. O. Melava Malka “Mystery & Illusion” Motzei Shabbat Parshat Tetzaveh, 2/28 Super Raffle 2015 1st Prize— XBOX One 2nd Prize— Beats Headphones 3rd Prize— $50 Gift Card Look for upcoming details **** Tuesday, 3/3 Science Expo 2015 (Grades 5-8) Parents invited ( : ) The Midrash tells of a trip Rav Yochanan took with his student, R’Chiya bar Abba, from Teverya to Tzipori. As they passed a field, Rav Yochanan remarked that he had previously owned that very field, but had to sell it in order to learn Torah. Farther down the road, they came to an olive orchard, and Rav Yochanan repeated the same statement. Again, further down the road they came to a vineyard, and the story was the same. At that time, R’Chiya could no longer contain himself, and he began to cry, “You left nothing over for your old age!” Rav Yochanan consoled him, “Chiya, my son, I sold something which was given in six days, and I bought something that was given in forty days.” Why was R’Chiya crying? Didn’t he also recognize the value of Torah knowledge versus worldly possessions? R’Chiya, a great Torah sage, obviously appreciated the priceless values of Torah study. Nevertheless, R’Chiya could not help noticing the undeniable fact that Rav Yochanan had few worldly assets for his old age, creating a bleak future for his rebbi. Even though he knew that this sacrifice had enabled Rav Yohanan to attain greatness in Torah, he felt so much sorrow that he burst into tears. In our difficult financial times, when no investments are safe, we should cherish Rav Yochanan’s “portfolio”. His spiritual and material situation were part of the whole picture. Like a shrewd businessman, he viewed this “deal”as a simple trade-off. A smart investor with several lower yielding investments could gladly liquidate them for an opportunity to buy into a promising, excellent opportunity for explosive profits. If he is successful, he will say, “What a clever decision I made— look how many millions I’ve earned.” This perspective is equally true about life itself. The comforts of this world are inferior investments with a low return that can be liquidated and invested into high profit, eternal yield spiritual assets of Torah and Mitzvot. Rav Yochanan did not feel the slightest regret. R’Chiya had the obligation to worry about his fellow man’s material situation, and, therefore, expressed sadness that his Rebbi could not have both Torah and physical wealth in his old age, while Rav Yochanan viewed himself as the beneficiary of a fortunate business deal. In our difficult times of financial crises, we are all making sacrifices. Many of us are getting by without luxuries so that we can serve Hashem better. When we make investments in our children and in our Yeshiva, it is clear from Rav Yochanan — that our approach should be one of joy. These investments have the greatest return. If we view these priceless eternal investments of Torah and Mitzvot in the proper perspective, then we will search for more opportunities to invest with simcha and fill our bank accounts with vast amounts of eternal life. From the YDH Women’s Organization We hope everyone enjoyed winter vacation with your family. Now that vacation is over and Yeshiva is back in full swing, we have so much more to look forward to! Purim is around the corner, and we are very excited to prepare Mishloach Manot. We have already sent out our Mishloach Manot flyers, and we urge you to please send them back as soon as possible. We are planning our grade level-events and our Shavuot plant sale. Plus, you don't want to miss our highly anticipated Supperette! Please take the opportunity to call us or fill out the form in this newsletter to let us know your ideas and what events you can be involved in. Everyone has something to share to make YDH even better, so get involved and join our events. Looking forward to seeing you all there! Lillian Eliezer Malka Husarsky From the Desk of Mr. Monaco, Jr. H. S. Language Arts Teacher Hello all! Every year, when it becomes my time to write my newsletter greeting, I get a chance to reflect on my time here at YDH. The students, faculty, and parents have been nothing but warm to me, and appreciate the job I do. It feels wonderful to have this opportunity to teach these students, and to see their successes in ELA. Earlier this year, each class wrote memoirs in the form of either a play, a poem, or a series of journal entries. This creative approach allowed students to formulate their writing in a way that you would not typically imagine using for a memoir, and it resulted in some memorable storytelling. Currently, I am assisting Dr. Moscovitz with his Science Fair Research Report writing. Students will be graded for content mainly by Doc, but I will be grading based on formatting, and writing conventions. After that, we will begin our next writing assignment, which will be writing magazine-style feature articles. In the 6th Grade, we recently finished the novel Maniac Magee, which explored the adventures of a young boy named Jeffrey. His story starts out tragic, but soon becomes full of exploration and the desire to find a home of his own. Our next novel will be Holes, which tells the story of another young boy who seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and has the worst luck ever. In the 7th Grade, we recently finished the novel, My Brother Sam is Dead, which told the story of a divided family during the time of the American Revolution. The narrator is torn whether to side with his rebellious brother, who goes off to fight, or his humble father, who knows of war, and how it can affect those around you. I am currently working with Morah Shelley, Librarian, on finding a new novel that will both inspire and engage the 7th Grade students. In the 8th Grade, we recently finished the novel, The Wave, which was based on the true story of a high school teacher who wanted to teach his students how easily the German people were blindly led to follow the beliefs of Nazism. The students became obsessed with an idea, and not the meaning behind it, and it took a few brave students to stand up and fight for what was right. We will soon begin reading a number of selected readings of Edgar Allan Poe, and will explore a little of the darker side of literature. I am proud of the work my students have been doing, and am looking forward to seeing continuing progress in my classes. “Talmid HaShavuah”- Yitro Grade 1 — Akiva Chandler, Amitai Stein Grade 2 — Avigdor Michoel Berkovitch, Aryeh Hochman Grade 3 — Moshe Katash, Ari Kohanbash, Aryeh Yehuda Rosenberg, Dovi Rosenberg Grade 4 — Nachman Deutsch Grade 5 — Zelig Kaplan Grade 6 — Menachem Shtaynberger, Shlomo Chaim Tangy Grade 7 — Joshua Blumkin Grade 8 — Dovid Schildkraut, Binyamin Tannenbaum, Aron Youseflaleh “Student of the Week”- 2/2-2/6 Grade 1 — Shmuel Friedman Grade 2 — Yonatan Asraf Grade 3 — Ari Rosenberg Grade 4 — Evan Lewis Grade 5 — Elliot Lehrer Grade 6 — Jackson Levy (Math), Joseph Velenski (ELA), Rafi Rosenberg (SS & Sci.) Grade 7 — Joshua Ebbin (ELA), Avi Ahaaroni (Math), Rafi Saperstein (SS), Oren Harar (Sci.) Grade 8 — Israel Sendzischew (ELA), Binyamin Tannenbaum (Math), Joseph Slater (SS & Sci.) PLEASE SAVE THE DATE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH at 8PM A most informative evening for parents of both Elementary and High School students. MAGENU - SAFETY KID will be visiting our Yeshiva to educate our parent body on the topic of personal safety for our children. We cannot stress enough the importance of at least one parent per family being in attendance. "Being Educated Means Being Empowered" Continue to send in your box tops for education. Put them in an envelope with your grade listed on it and have it sent to the Library! You can find box tops on Kleenex tissues and cereal in addition to many other products. Thank you for supporting our school and thank you Morah Shelly for your help in coordinating this project. Lillian Eliezer and Malka Husarsky YDHWO Presidents YESHIVA DERECH HATORAH WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION Thank you for your interest in the YDHWO. The Executive Board members are happy to welcome new volunteers and we are interested in hearing your input. Please complete the following information. Name: ___________________________________________________________________________ What grades are your children in? _____________________________________________________ Are you interested in becoming a class mother? __________________________________________ Email address: ____________________________________________________________________ Telephone Number: ________________________________________________________________ When are you available to volunteer? __________________________________________________ Which projects are you interested in? (Circle all that apply.) Please note that some have daytime commitments while others have evening commitments. Chanukah Boutique Mishloach Manot Mother’ s Day Flowers Plant Sale Grade – Specific events BINGO End-of-the-year Event Father’ s Day gifts Supperette Would you be interested in sponsoring any program? ____________________________________ Do you have any goods or services you would be willing to donate? ______________________________________________________________________________ Do you have any suggestions for other programs? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ________________________ We are always interested in hearing your suggestions and we look forward to greeting you personally at our next event. YESHIVA DERECH HATORAH WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION Dear Parents: To facilitate the ordering of Chessed Dollars, we would appreciate your using this order form. It should be sent with your son or mailed back to Mrs. Sima Sabo (1st floor office), or you may email her at [email protected]. We will have your order for next-day pick-up. Special orders (over) may take up to a week. Listed below are the gift certificates which are always available. Please indicate the amounts you are ordering next to each one. Payments by check (made payable to YDHWO) must be enclosed. If you are paying by cash, you must pay at time of receipt. Thank you. DERECH HATORAH WOMEN’ S ORGANIZATION CHESSED $ _______ SHOPRITE _______ WALDBAUMS _______ PATHMARK _______ HOME DEPOT _______ OLD NAVY _______ BARNES & NOBLE _______ TOYS R US _______ MACYS _______ FOOD BASICS _______ STOP & SHOP _______ METRO CARDS _______ ($19.05 OR $38.10) STAMPS _______ (SHEET OF 20 FOR $9.20) SPECIAL ORDER: ___________________ _______ ___________________ _______ ___________________ _______ _______ TOTAL NAME _________________________________CLASS___ TEL. # ___________DATE _________ Special Order YESHIVA SHOP GIFT CERTIFICATES 5 Banana Republic Baskin Robbins Bloomingdale’s J C Penney Kay Bee Toys K-Mart Loehmann’s Marshall’s Payless Shoes Saks Fifth Avenue Sterns Syms T J Maxx 10 20 25