Newsletter - Politz Hebrew Academy

Politz Hebrew Academy
HaKesher
Licht Bentching 4:42pm
Friday, January 16, 2015
What's Happening at
Politz
Dear Parents,
Dear Parents and Friends,
I was waiting rather anxiously for my last ophthalmic
procedure which IY"H will give me a clearer view of my
precious world. One of the surgical nurses struck up a
conversation with me and relayed a rather humorous
story - superficially humorous.
One of the patients had returned for her post-op visit
and was quite angry. She stated that her eye surgery
had given her wrinkles. She assertively told the
surgeon to look at her face and confirm that indeed
she had wrinkles. She felt victorious when he
affirmed that she did have wrinkles around her eyes.
"See?" she aggressively stated, "I told you. Now you
have to remove them It is your fault that I have
wrinkles." But Ma'am," he replied, "those wrinkles
were there prior to the surgery. It is because of the
surgery that you can see clearer now, and, therefore
you see the wrinkles." She was not assuaged and
stormed off with a litany of threats.
"Aha," I thought, "there is definitely a "newsletter"
ensconced inside this story." (I cannot testify to its
veracity, but it is definitely a story from which one can
extract a life lesson) to be learned here.
Boruch Hashem my procedure went well, and the next
day various thoughts about the "wrinkle" story went
racing through my mind. I did not have to think very
long, for Friday morning's news greeted us with the
horrific events that were unfolding in Paris.
(Cont'd on page 2)
This winter is proving to be harsh - not for
snow but for illness. Unfortunately we have
several children out due to flu, stomach virus,
and strep. To minimize the global impact on
the school we ask that you please follow the
protocol below:
1. Please keep your child home for twentyfour hours following a fever.
2. Please err on the side of caution. If you
believe your child is sick, or your child
is complaining of not feeling well please
keep your child home.
3. If your child has been diagnosed with a
communicable illness, please inform the
school.
We will do our best with sanitizing common
areas and maintaining as healthy an
environment as possible.
May Hashem keep everyone well!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Katz
We were still shaking our heads in great sadness over
the attack in the French newsroom when, once again,
we were shaken to the core when we heard of the
hostage situation in the Kosher supermarket. Erev
Shabbos....customers making routine purchases...their
experience would end up being anything but routine.
Once again we had our Tehillim in our hands, our tefilos
in our hearts, and pain radiating throughout the world.
How many more times would we have to mourn the
loss of brothers and sisters? How much longer would
our enemies prevail? When would all the pain and strife
come to a final end?
These are rhetorical questions for which only Hashem
has the answers, but the solution lies in our hands.
What is the solution? To extricate the encrypted
messages lying inside each painful tribulation that we
have to endure. Once we have heard the messages,
internalized the messages, and acted upon those
messages, perhaps, then we will merit the final Geulah.
Waiting all day to hear hopeful news, I finally
understood the lesson to be gleaned from the story of
the lady and her wrinkles. Of course, the woman came
into surgery with wrinkles. But it was not until she
could actually see them and not deny their presence
that she believed they were there. What was her
reaction? It was the surgeon's fault! It was too difficult
for her to accept that no one caused her wrinkles; they
were manifestations of the aging process. But since she
did not want to accept the fact that she was aging,
blame had to be placed on someone else.
Dear parents and friends, human nature is such that we
are all myopic when it comes to our spiritual, social,
emotional, and physical flaws. It is very difficult for us
to see them on our own. What happens when we are
made to face them, accept them, and not deny their
existence? We become far sighted. We look far beyond
ourselves to rationalize that our "wrinkles" have no root
cause from within us.
"We don't learn enough Torah? There is not enough
time in the day to dedicate to a consistent learning
Seder? We don't daven properly? How can we with our
myriad of obligations beginning at almost dawn. We
don't give enough tzedakah? Not our fault.... With
tuition costs and the ever increasing cost of living, how
can we give more tzedakah? Apologize to my friend
when she was clearly in the wrong? Why should I? She
started the argument..." The list of flaws and the
reasons why they are not our fault is endless.
Hashem created each person in His image. He gave us
the mandate to replicate His qualities of kindness and
compassion as best as we can. He gave us the Holy
Torah to follow as our blueprint for life, and He gave us
the Mitzvos as the bricks and mortar to build from that
blueprint. Klal Yisroel does Chesed, does learn Torah,
does give tzedakah. But do we do enough? Do we look
at ourselves closely and really see our "wrinkles"? Can
we accept them and own them and not blame others or
circumstances? Perhaps once we all "repair our vision"
and see our precious world with greater clarity, perhaps
then we will claim victory over all the perpetrators of
hatred.
May it be Hashem's Will to replace exile with
redemption; terror with serenity; tears of sorrow with
tears of joy, and may the day come soon when our
happiness will be complete with the coming of Moshiach
Tzidkeinu.
Good Shabbos,
Mrs. Katz
___________________________________________
Dear Parents,
I have been informed by the teachers that
several families will be taking extended vacations.
While family trips make for wonderful memories and
have their own unique educational benefits, there is an
impact on school studies. Therefore, if your are
planning to take your child(ren) out for more than two
days, we ask that you follow the protocol:
•
•
•
Please inform Mrs. Katz in writing that your
child(ren) will be out of school and for the
length of time the child(ren) will be absent. In
order for the absence to be considered
"excused" we must be informed of the absence.
The teachers should be informed as well.
Please understand that we cannot provide your
child(ren) with all the lessons/work that will be
taught. We can provide general projections and
basic timelines of tests and assignments.
However, we cannot provide all the teachermade materials, study guides, etc.
The teacher will do their best to help your
child(ren) upon their return, but we cannot
provide personal tutoring. Thank you for your
cooperation and understanding. May everyone
who is traveling have a safe sojourn.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Orot is studying different habitats
(biomes). This is a mural that also
shows the food web with producers,
primary consumers, secondary
consumers, scavengers, and
decomposers.
Politz Vs. Politz - Guess Who
Won?
Chai Lifeline
money is due now!
Please bring your money in
now. Please bring your money
into the office as soon as
possible.
There will be a second
collection this Wednesday.
Thank you.
Mr. & Mrs. Toby Bernstein and Mr. & Mrs.
Michael Bohm on the birth of a
granddaughter, Maytal Chana, to Russi and
Joey Bohm. Both Russi and Joey are alumni
of Politz Hebrew Academy.
Rabbi & Mrs. Shmuel Lynn on the birth of a
baby boy.
Semester Break
Jan. 29 - Feb. 1
Rabbi & Mrs. Zushe Gurevitz on the birth of
a baby girl, Hennia.
Class Resume
Rabbi & Mrs. Mordecai Terebelo on the
marriage of their son, Yitzi, to Russi
Neuberger. Yitzi is an alumnus of Politz
Hebrew Academy.
1st Grade Chumash Party
Sunday, March 15th
Politz 33rd Annual
Dinner
Watch for your Ad
Journal Materials and
Invitation coming soon!
Feb. 8
Presidents' Day
No Classes
Feb. 15 - 16
Purim Carnival
March 3
Taanis Esther
March 4
Purim
No Classes
Shushan Purim
No Classes
March 5
2nd Report Card
March 10
33rd Annual Dinner
March 15
Noon Dismissal
Save The Date
Mon., Feb. 2
March 6
REMINDER:
KYW 1060 SCHOOL CLOSING
NUMBER:
3314
‫בס"ד‬
We are proud of the following 6, 7, & 8th grade ‫תלמידים‬
that reviewed over the midwinter break all the ‫ גמרא‬they
learned this year.
**these boys reviewed with a ‫חברותא‬. Their incentive was doubled.
6th Grade Boys
Moshe Badush
**Yonatan Elstein
**Uri Meth
**Aaron Terebelo
Aleksander Becker
Shlomo Feldman
**Elchonon Miller
**Yonaton Yermish
Gavriel Dopiro
**Yechiel Greenspan
Joshua Rosen
**Eliezer Zeffren
7th Grade Boys
**Nadav Alon
**Yisrael Arbiv
**Yehuda Biberfeld
**Hillel Friedman
**Shmuel Kotlar
Chaim Preschel
Ovadiah Yitzhak
**Edan Bitas
**Yosef Greenspan
**Nechemya Lando
Dovid Shmulevich
**Binyomin Zeffren
**Yosef Yitzchak
Bettoun
Eliyahu Bucholz
**Yisroel Kelemer
**Meir Nosenchek
**Baruch Ber Svei
8th Grade Boys
**Ayal Agami
Menachem Jacobs
**Aharon Nulman
**Isaak Bass
**Binyomin Kahn
**Eli Saks
**Daniel Horwitz
**Zev Meth