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TA SNAPSHOTS

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Welcome to Kol Torah!

This weekly publication is emailed to all of our subscribers. The newsletter recaps the week's events at the Torah Academy and informs

readers of upcoming programs and events. A printed copy is sent home on Fridays to each TA family. Happy reading and have a Good Shabbos!

This week's Kol Torah has been generously sponsored by:

Chana Leah Natale

In honor of the ninth yahrtzeit of her beloved husband, Daniel Ben Avraham, fa-

ther of Lena, Akiva and Neshama Natale. If you would like to sponsor an issue of Kol Torah in honor or in memory of a loved one, please contact Rachel Mazurek at rmazurek@taphila.org.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Candle Lighting 7:59 PM May 26, 2017/1 Sivan 5777

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We are all familiar with the famous Midrash which describes how Har Sinai was chosen from among all the other mountains. As the other mountain ranges argued about which one of them possessed the most appropriate traits necessary for Kabalat HaTo-rah, tiny Har Sinai stayed back from the fray. While each mountain boasted about its particular qualities, Har Sinai chose silence. Hashem then chose Har Sinai from all the other larger, more beautiful mountains, because it possessed the trait of Anivut-humility. The lesson learned from the Midrash is that in order to be a proper M'kabel (acceptor) of the Torah, one must remain humble, and that hubris taints the quality of one's Torah learning and its application to everyday life. The Shem M'Shmuel asks a very simple question that shatters our simple understanding of the Midrash: If, in fact, the Torah had to be given in a place that embodied humility, then why did G-d choose to give it on a mountain? It should have been given in a val-ley, where the quality of humility could be properly exhibited! The answer, writes the Shem M'shmuel, is that in order to accept the Torah upon one’s self, one must be a mountain. As important as the quality of humility is, people who accept the Torah upon them-selves must consider themselves important and deserving of the Torah. If one is con-sumed with undue humility, then ultimately the Torah itself will have little effect in ele-vating him. Pride, though dangerous in large quantities, is still a vital ingredient in life. The Jewish psyche without any pride is doomed to unfulfilled potential and unexplored possibilities. Pride in our learning is important. We saw that play itself out in school at our Yom Yerushalayim Ivrit Fair and 8th Grade Boys play. We see that in our Masmidim Program where the Talmudo B’yado program is encouraging the students to master multiple dapei gemara. We see it in our Fourth and Fifth Grade girls who traveled to Carnegie Hall this week to participate with the symphony in the Link Up program. We see it every day, in every aspect of our school. As we enter a long weekend and Shavuos, take the opportunity to share that pride and reflect the nachas that you receive when your children engage in learning. For those students who plan on staying up Shavuos night, our Rebbeim and Moros will be leading learning at multiple shuls in the area - encourage your child to go and don’t be afraid to express your pride in their dedication. Wishing you a Good Shabbos, a restful vacation and a Chag Samayach, Rabbi Isaac Entin To Rabbi Moshe and Rachael Starkman and Family on Yisrael’s Bar Mitzvah!

MAZAL TOV

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

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Each week, Kol Torah will feature a Torah Academy family, staff or faculty member. If your family would like to be featured, please contact Rachel Mazurek at rmazurek@taphila.org.

Spiller Family Bala Cynwyd, PA Name all the members in your family. Miles, Adina, Rivka Sara, Meir Yosef, and Ettie Frayda. What cities did your family live in prior to Philadel-phia? We were born and raised in Wynnewood, Pa. Miles and Adina grew up 3 blocks from each. Name all the languages spoken in your immedi-ate family? English, k'tzat Ivrit and a bissel Yiddish. What is a family favorite meal? Gluten free pizza and French fries. What is a family favorite activity to do? Playing outside or playing games inside. If your family could change one thing about the TA building it would be… Building a bigger parking lot. Where was your last family vacation? Lancaster, Pa. (Dutch Wonderland, Cherry Crest Farm, Strasburg Railroad, Turkey Hill Experience), then we drove from there to Woodridge, NY to visit our good friends, the Gorins. What does your family do on snow days? Stay in warm pajamas, then shovel snow and go sledding and have hot chocolate afterwards. What is your family’s favorite animal? Monkeys. All 3 kids have their own monkeys from Build a Bear from their Savta and Poppop. What is your family’s favorite holiday to celebrate? Pesach. Rivka Sara likes it because there many more gluten free products that she can eat. Meir Yosef enjoys the sweet cereals. What is the oldest item you have in your house? An early 20th century lamp and radio.

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ECP NEWS Mrs. Palmieri's Kindergarten classes were excited to welcome 12 baby chicks into their classroom on Monday. The eggs were delivered by Quiver Farm last Wednesday and the class eagerly waited for the eggs to hatch. When their feathers dried, the chicks were trans-ferred from the incubator into their cage. The Kindergarten students jour-naled and wrote letters to the chicks during their stay. It was sad to say goodbye when they were picked up on Friday, but they understood that farm life is best for the chicks to thrive and grow. We had an exciting Yom Yerushalayim filled with learning and fun centered around Yerushalayim!

There were two great events going on simultaneously for the students- the Ivrit Fair and the Yerushalayim Experience. The Ivrit Fair was comprised of projects created by the Middle School students, focused on Yerushalayim. The Yerushalayim Experience was an interactive program designed and run by Shani and Tchelet, our Bnot Sherut.

Our ECP was treated to a performance by the 8th grade boys of "The Lion King" in Hebrew- מלך האריות.

Monday, May 29: Memorial Day, No School Tuesday, May 30: Erev Shavuot, 1PM Dismissal Wednesday-Thursday, May 31-June 1: Shavuot, No School Friday, June 2: School Resumes

UPCOMING EVENTS

YOM YERUSHALAYIM

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Each week, Kol Torah will feature a Torah Academy family, staff or faculty member. If your family would like to be featured, please contact Rachel Mazurek at rmazurek@taphila.org.

Spiller Family Bala Cynwyd, PA Name all the members in your family. Miles, Adina, Rivka Sara, Meir Yosef, and Ettie Frayda. What cities did your family live in prior to Philadel-phia? We were born and raised in Wynnewood, Pa. Miles and Adina grew up 3 blocks from each. Name all the languages spoken in your immedi-ate family? English, k'tzat Ivrit and a bissel Yiddish. What is a family favorite meal? Gluten free pizza and French fries. What is a family favorite activity to do? Playing outside or playing games inside. If your family could change one thing about the TA building it would be… Building a bigger parking lot. Where was your last family vacation? Lancaster, Pa. (Dutch Wonderland, Cherry Crest Farm, Strasburg Railroad, Turkey Hill Experience), then we drove from there to Woodridge, NY to visit our good friends, the Gorins. What does your family do on snow days? Stay in warm pajamas, then shovel snow and go sledding and have hot chocolate afterwards. What is your family’s favorite animal? Monkeys. All 3 kids have their own monkeys from Build a Bear from their Savta and Poppop. What is your family’s favorite holiday to celebrate? Pesach. Rivka Sara likes it because there many more gluten free products that she can eat. Meir Yosef enjoys the sweet cereals. What is the oldest item you have in your house? An early 20th century lamp and radio.

FAMILY SPOTLIGHT

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As the year wraps up for our 8th graders, we can reflect on a strong year of Chumash learning. Our girls are emerging with a wealth of content and skill, and are ready to advance in their independent learning in high school. Most recently, we culminated a unit on the paragraph of 'V'haya im shamoah," the second perek of Shma, having compared and contrasted the content, words, and con-cepts to Shma and V'ahavta. The girls discov-ered new depth to the words we say every day, through analyzing the psukim and mefor-shim. They then created a beautiful gallery of "wordles," depicting their understanding of the perek, utilizing color, font, shape and more to artistically represent the words of the Chu-mash. They are currently conducting mini-studies of mitzvot in Parshat Ki Teitzei, guiding themselves though the Chumash on a path of discovery and independent learning. 7th Grade Navi is going strong, as the classroom is filled with emotion each day- sur-prise, suspense, frustration, victory, anger, confusion... in Sefer Samuel Bet the trials and tribulations of Dovid HaMelech have even brought tears to our eyes! (Yes, there were tears!) Our mornings are always filled with meaningful discussion as we take Limudei haChayim to heart and apply them to our lives, as the Navi comes to life. It is such a zechus to be on the Limudei Kodesh team at TA, teaching the best students we've got. Have a Good Shabbos! -Mrs. Gore

4th and 5th grade girls practiced and practiced until they made it all the way to Carnegie Hall! These students studied an exciting repertoire of recorder, vocal, and orchestral swing and jazz music over the course of this school year and concluded the year by participating in an interactive concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall where they played along with the Orches-tra of St. Luke’s and a few thousand stu-dents from around the region. We would like to extend thank yous to the TA PTO for their generous contribution toward this trip and to everyone who partici-pated in our fundraisers for this trip!

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM– 7/8G KODESH

CARNEGIE HALL TRIP

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The first graders have really grown in Ivrit this year! They have learned so much through all of our classroom activities. We are reviewing all the letters and vowels, and each letter goes along with a story. The stories come to life through the interactive technology of the Ariyot program. First graders love to learn vocabulary and play games pro-jected on the interactive whiteboard. They love to sing along to all of the songs, too. In addition, we are taking advantage of our Ivrit library full of books related to holidays and topics we are studying. The students really enjoy reading independently, and it is heart-warming to see them reading and understanding Ivrit books. They also enjoy doing Ivrit word searches.

It’s amazing that the students are able to express themselves in Hebrew using full sentences. They ask and answer questions entirely in Ivrit. They have built large vocabularies related to everyday topics such as the weather, school, food, and colors, to name a few. They know many nouns, verbs and adjectives in masculine, feminine, plural and singular form. We are having so much fun! We can’t believe the school year is almost over. Don’t forget to practice Ivrit this summer!

Shabbat Shalom, Morah T’chia and Morah Nechama Students in the 2nd grade showcased their mastery over math by creating and playing original math games. Parents and special guests were invited into the class-room on Monday to play the students’ math games.

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM– IVRIT

MATH DAY

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אבתם לבית באתת דגלו על איש “Each one by its standard with signs according to their father’s

house” Every tribe had a flag with a depiction of a unique symbol rep-resenting the characteristics of the tribe. Yehuda had a pic-ture of a lion, as the lion is the king of the jungle and Yehuda was destined to be the king of the Jews. Yissachar had stars, moon and sun on his flag. Yissachar had many descendents who were in charge of the Sanhedrin. One of the common responsibilities of the Sanhedrin was to calculate the arrival of the new Jewish month, which was done through the moon. Zevulun’s flag had the image of a boat, representing his job as a sailor. Zevulun, through his job as a sailor, took it upon himself to support his brother, Yissa-char, to ensure that he would be able to continue learning Torah. One could ask, “Why did Zevulun choose such a dangerous career as a sailor and not something which would be safer and allow him to spend more time at home?”

Horav David Feinstein answers the above question by explaining the Chazal that sailors tend to be G-d fearing people. This is because of the constant danger they face while out at sea and therefore are always praying to Hashem for His protec-tion. It is through this that they strengthen their relationship with Hashem. Since Zevulun was a sailor, he developed a greater appreciation for the dedication Yis-sachar had towards learning Torah. Zevulun therefore decided that he was going to support Yissachar to ensure that he would be able to continue studying without having to worry about financial support. Zevulun’s contribution was so significant that according to Chazal, he and Yissachar were considered equal partners in the Torah learning.

May we all merit to have the same appreciation towards learning Torah as Zevulun. Good Shabbos! The Kotel Collage was a Sunday School project created by our very own 4-6th grade girls! Each card represents either a different halachah relevant to Yerushalayim, or one of the various names of Yerushalayim. Each week, after a delicious breakfast, the girls learned about a new halachah pertaining to Yerushalayim in the Gemara and Rishonim, and then decorated a card repre-senting that halachah. They would then learn about a spe-cific name of Yerushalayim, and learn its significance through Tanach and Mefor-shim. The girls would decorate a card representing the new name of Yerushalayim that they had just learned. The cards were then placed in memory boards made of various brown fabrics and ribbons meant to represent the stones of our holy Kotel.

STUDENT DVAR TORAH-MOSHE TZVI SILVER

GIRLS SUNDAY SCHOOL