On Wednesday, we welcomed twenty Israeli teens from Hazamir Kfar Saba, an Israeli chapter of the international Jewish youth choir. They joined The Heschel Harmonizers and Israel Affairs Club for a "mifgash," or encounter, during club block. For the mifgash, two Israelis were paired with 2-3 Heschel students and together they had fun completing two activities. For second activity, groups had to rank ten Jewish values from most important to least important. The discussions were fascinating and led the Israelis and Americans to get to the heart of what they believe are important Jewish values, and similarities and differences between Israelis and American Jews. Several groups agreed that the two most important Jewish values are "working towards justice and equality" and "proudly identifying as Jewish." The value "serving in the Israel Defense Forces" led to an interesting discussion about Judaism as a religion vs. a nationality. After the activity, we couldn't wait to hear the talented Hazamir group sing and to show off the Harmonizers' talents. Hazamir sang "Mama Mia" and Harmonizers sang Idan Raichel's "Ba'lilah." We learned that one of the musical directors for Hazamir Kfar Saba was Idan Raichel's music teacher!

We wanted to hear more from Hazamir, so we went to the atrium to hear them perform two more songs. Soon, the second floor was filled with students and teachers looking down and enjoying the show!

Having meaningful and fun interactions with Israeli teens is so important to growing our connection to Israel and to strengthening Israel's connection with American Judaism. We can't wait to welcome Hazamir Kfar Saba back next year!

The Moot Beit din team has been in Florida at the Moot Beit Din competition and Shabbaton for the past few days. The program is a competition where a team of students are given a contemporary case, this year on life risking surgery, and need to find a solution based on Halakha (Jewish Law).

On Friday April 1 the Girl Up and Inter-faith clubs, in conjunction with the Institute of International Education, hosted two women from Indonesia and three women from Egypt who are in the United States to receive their masters' degrees. Once they complete their studies they will then return to their countries and share their newly acquired knowledge to increase the skills and abilities of their peers, coworkers and institutions. The women who attended were Christian, Hindu and Muslim.

The women shared their personal stories of how they came to the U.S. They told us about their long journeys and the personal sacrifices they made to study in the US. They left their families (in some cases husbands and children) to live in the U.S. for almost two years. They are not allowed to bring their families to the U.S., and they will only see them once or not at all during their time here. They do this because they believe it will lead to a better life for them and for their families, and also a better future for the people of their counties.

Heschel students were grateful for the opportunity to hear and be inspired from women who are making sacrifices to achieve their dreams.

As part of their final project, students in Ivania Marinero's 12th grade Spanish class performed the play "La Venda" for the entore High School on Thursday. The play was written in 1899 by Miguel de Unamuno, a Spanish poet, writer and philosopher. The play is centered on the theme of faith and reason. Solving this conflict was Unamuno"s life long journey.

Unamuno's preoccupation was to solve the conflict between faith and reason, and he approached this through a paradox where truth and reason are vital but are more emotional than logical. The performers and audience were asked to think about these two essential questions:

1-What can we as sighted people learn about faith and reason from Maria, the blind main character of La venda? 2-What can we learn from the way in which blind person sees the world?

In groups of two or three, Adi's Honors Hebrew class embarked on an exciting scavenger hunt through our very own Central Park! Everyone impatiently waited as Adi announced, ״!בהצלחה! אחת, שתיים, ״שלוש Some of us ran, while some of us took cabs (to be more efficient, of course) to arrive at the first destination Adi hinted at—Columbus Circle. Question after question, clue after clue, each group dove deeper into the heart of Central Park, discovering its hidden treasures (and sometimes getting lost around them). Who knew that Central Park has so many historical statues and cultural sights within just a few miles! From the meditative Strawberry Fields, where crowds encircle the "Imagine" floor mosaic and join together in song, to the USS Maine National Monument in the hectic and bustling area of Columbus Circle, our Hebrew class was able to discover the incredibly unique areas of Central Park. Not only did we learn more about Central Park, but we also freshened up on our Hebrew directional vocabulary, utilizing the words in practical scenarios. The day was completed with the last stop of our scavenger hunt at Le Pain Quotidien, where we drank iced tea and coffee before heading back to school. We are now prepared to take on the vibrant streets of both New York and Tel Aviv, the cities that never sleep!

- Noa Etedgi, HS Senior

Congratulations to our Debate Team for their many victories at today's tournament at North Shore High School:

• First Place Affirmative Team
• First Place Speaker
• Second Place Negative Team
• Second Place School
• Fifth Place Speaker

For information about the Bialystoker Synagogue, please visit their website.

The Heschel Harmonizers performed the National Anthem in front of a sold out Barclays Center for the Nets final home game of the season. The Harmonizers stayed for the game and were treated to a VIP experience.

This year the record-smashing Mock Trial team went to the final four in the New York City-wide tournament. THe team placed #1 private school in the area following their victories against Dalton and Ramaz. The Heschel team was able to do particularly well this year because of their incredible coaches: Steve Goldstein, Moshe Horn, and Deborah Shapiro.

High School students took part in workshops revolving around Passover. Please view a list and description of each session that was offered.

Pesach Workshops 2016

1) Matzo Mania Matzo Sonnet

Ode to Matzo Lotsa Matzo Matso Wars Today I am Matzo The Lord of the Matzos Rockin the Matzo

Hey get the idea? Let's explore your inner matzo down to its crumbs. We will discuss Matzo in all of its meanings and customs. Then we write for 18 minutes: collaborations, poems, or stories to accompany the Festival Of Matzo. Our original thoughts about our hero in crumbs will be compiled for us to share at our seder tables.

2) Hare Hunts, Birds' Heads, and Bagpipes: The Beauty and Mysteries of Medieval Illuminated (Illustrated) Haggadot During the Middle Ages, extraordinary illuminated haggadot were created to beautify the seders of those wealthy enough to purchase these expensive books. A few of these magnificent manuscripts, each one unique, survived wars, persecution, time and weather and are now displayed in museums and libraries. These haggadot are generally known by the name of the cities where they are housed today, not according to the cities where they were made. The images in these haggadot includes scenes from the Torah, moments relating to Pesah preparations, and passages from the haggadah itself. Some seem rather whimsical. But are they?

Like searching for the afikomen, we'll go searching for treasure - some of the most unusual images - and try to understand their messages. We'll also look at a modern illuminated haggadah, which may inspire you to design a haggadah of your own.

3) B'chol Dor VaDor: How do we leave slavery behind us?

The Haggadah tells us that in every generation, we need to see ourselves as having personally gone out of Egypt from slavery to freedom. By examining midrashim from the haggadah about the life of BY in Egypt, we will explore what "moving from slavery to freedom" might mean for us in our own lives today. What are the things that enslave/oppress us, and keep us from actively combating oppression? As part of this workshop, students will do a piece of personal writing/journaling in preparation for the night of the seder.

4) A Scientist's Seder

We'll learn about the real Pesach bunny, maror pharmacology, murder by karpas, the barbecue physics of the korban Pesach, and maybe more examples of how science can enrich our Pesach experience.

5) Dissecting "Echad Mi Yodea" through Text and Dance

In this workshop, we will watch Israeli choreographer, Ohad Naharin's, powerful dance to "Echad Mi Yodea." We will closely examine the dance, the text, and the choreographer's intention, but more time will be spent on your own thoughts about this innovative and exciting dance. Through which lens are we seeing this dance? What chords does it strike? How are dancers' bodies used to convey a piece of text from the Haggadah? And more!....

6) How ra is the rasha ? Rethinking the Four Children

In this session we will unpack different interpretations about the four children, including our own. We will explore the differences and similarities between the rasha and chacham and the other two children. We will also consider the following questions: Are the four children found in each of us? What characteristics are missing? How do modern interpretations of the four children create more room for inclusivity?

7) Today you are leaving in the month of Aviv

All Hagadot are the same, right? Well, actually – no. Haggadot tell a story and as such they reflect the time and place where that story is told. In the kibbutzim in Israel through most of the 20 th century new, local Haggadot were written and published to reflect the specific celebrations and struggles of the kibbutz members as they came together to celebrate Seder night, not always on the first night of Pesach, and not always with

Matzot.

In this workshop we will look at examples from different Kibbutz haggadot to try to understand how the Kibbutz members sought to incorporate their lives into the traditional template.

8) Me Remember Good : A Practical Workshop in Remembering Better

Every year on Pesach, we are instructed to tell the story to our children, to continue to keep the memory of the exodus from Egypt alive from generation to generation - a task we've been doing, it seems, since the exodus itself. Remembering this event - really making it personal - is key to the seder. In this session, we're going to study ways to remember better - what we can do to build our memory skills. Then, we'll discuss both what we already do and what we can do in the future at the Pesach seder to make it as impactful an experience as possible.

9) Another reason to have Jewish Guilt: How we've gotten Pesach all wrong!

We'll be learning about how Pesach is observed in America and how that undermines one of Pesach's most central themes! The commandment to remember having left Mitzrayim has two purposes. 1) Remember that God took you out and 2) Remember that you are free and were once a slave. However, the latter is very much misunderstood. How we understand the expectation of remembering that we are free and were once slaves deeply impacts the way we celebrate the holiday displaying how misunderstood this holidays in modern times. Of course, you can feel free to come and disagree with me. After all, you're free.

10) How is this night different? Voices of the LGBTQ Community

Pesach Seder has been a time that marginalized groups have reasserted their sense of belonging to the Jewish community. In this workshop we will explore resources from the LGBTQ community.

11) Seder Customs, Costumes, and Tradition

No Seder looks, tastes, or feels the same as another. Come and share some of your family favorite customs and traditions that you practice at your seder. Hopefully you will be able to incorporate something new to your Seder experience this year!

12) Pesach in Prison

Pesach is the holiday of freedom - we are instructed to imagine ourselves escaping slavery and achieving freedom. So how does someone celebrate being free while serving a sentence in prison? In this session, we'll hear Passover stories from an observant Jewish inmate and a county jail Rabbi-Chaplain. Together, we'll explore the challenges and opportunities presented by Pesach in prison.

13) 15 Step: The Seder's Other Number

The number four gets a lot of love at the Seder. There are four questions, four cups of wine, four children, and so forth (pun intended). What you might not know is that the number 15 also plays an important role at the Seder. The Seder is on the 15th of Nissan, there are 15 parts to the Seder, 15 steps of Dayenu, and 15 different ways to sing Chad Gadya (OK, that last one is debatable). Together we will look at the significance of the number 15 at the Seder, try to understand where that number comes from, and figure out what connection exists between those different lists of 15.

14) Spilling Blood and Spilling Wine: How should we experience the pain of the enemy?

We will investigate ways of relating to the suffering of the Egyptians. Do we empathize with them? Do we celebrate in their downfall? We will consider these questions through looking at artistic representations of the story, as well as at rituals that commemorate these events. If we want to connect to the story personally on Passover, then considering our adversaries is a must.

15) Syria's Exodus

Syria's Exodus is a refugee crisis for the world. The flight of nearly 2 million people from Syria over the past 5 years is showing every sign of becoming a permanent population shift. Western countries including the US are being asked to accept tens of thousands of Syrian refugees because the exodus from the civil war is overwhelming countries in the region. What is our duty as Americans to this crisis? What is our duty as Jews to this crises? What is our duty as human beings to this crises? In the session we will discuss this modern day exodus and our responsibility to this shift in human population.

16) Where my Ladies at? Women and Pesach.

From midrashim about seduction in Egypt to Susannah Heschel's seder plate orange, this session will look at the traditional (and not so traditional) ways that women rock Pesach.

17) PHARAOH'S ARMY GOT DROWNEDED...BABY, DON'T YOU CRY!

On Pesach, perhaps even more than on other Jewish holidays, we immerse ourselves in song in order to fully experience the story and messages of the holiday. The language and music of freedom have inspired both Jews and other cultures. In this session, we will explore (and sing!) songs that draw upon these themes and the Pesach story in particular. Probable song selections may include anything from Negro Spirituals to pop music. If you come, come prepared to sing!

Over the past several weeks, both the 5th and 10th grade students have been studying the Pesach seder, specifically focusing on all of the symbols on the seder table. The two grades got together to share what they learned while enjoying some chametz pizza lunch. Then, pairs of 5th and 10th graders designed new symbols for their seder tables, representing aspects of the Passover story.

Our class (co-taught Talmud and Tanakh classes) has been engaged in an intensive exploration of Passover for the past two weeks in their Limudei Qodesh classes. It has been an incredibly stimulating, uplifting, and creative two weeks for both us and the students.

We have focused on biblical and talmudic texts that explore the commandment to teach the story to our students throughout the generations, and for each generation to see themselves as if they had personally been taken out of Egypt.

While the unit exposed the students to classical texts that form the basis of the Seder, at every step students were encouraged to analyze those texts from their own perspectives, and to find room for their own voices in the retelling of the Exodus story. Throughout the unit, students reflected on the components of the seder, and offered their own interpretations, suggestions, and questions. The unit culminated with our class creating its own "Haggadah" that incorporates the student's thoughts and writing along with those of their classmates. Today, our class gathered for a classroom "Seder" -- a forum for question, answers, debate, and sharing of the students' own thoughts about Passover and the meaning and stories they want to tell.

Rabbi Benji Shiller
Limudei Qodesh Department Co-Chair

Join together as we "Pray With Our Feet" at the Celebrate Israel Parade - Sunday, June 5th!

Students in 4th - 12th grade and their families will march together with faculty and administration along Fifth Avenue. Students in Nursery - 3rd grade and their families are invited as spectators at our Heschel meeting spot on the West Side of Fifth Avenue between 61st - 62nd St. Stay tuned for further details.

During a Pesach Workshop last week, students free wrote about Matzah for 18 minutes after speaking about the nature of matzah.

I never ate burnt matzah, I ate the egg one -- with tuna on top or cream cheese and lox -- when I think of that sandwich I can smell my mother, she is right next to me, right behind me hovering over me and I feel her presence, her shadow is so warm and I'm at peace at my kitchen counter oh how I never appreciated her then, thanks for helping me appreciate matzah. I'm seeing myself bring it closer to my face, I remember now. I cut myself on your sharp edges and the bubbles are so empty and burnt and hollow like my soul. I think of the sandwich at the sedar and I smell my grandfatherís fingers I feel their touch and their orange scent.
Matzah your purpose is to enhance memory but I'm supposed To remember my people I can't remember that far back. I can't feel what they feel. I can't. But I can remember my loved ones -- the ones I don't appreciate enough. Thank you for flooding my mind with memories of smell and touch my senses have never been so alive. You have served your purpose -- you have carefully chosen scenes and attached yourself to them and you have made me remember -- you have made us all remember, forever engraved in my mind We must find meaning.
-Aaron Brandeis

Sonnet #Matzah
-William Shakespeare; Adapted by Sapir Shans
O! never say that I was false to my matzah,
Though absence seemed my matzah to qualify.
As easy might I from matzah depart
As from my matzah, which in thy matzah doth lie:
That is my home of matzah; if I have ranged,
Like him that travels, matzah returns again,
Just to the time, not with the time exchanged,
So that myself bring matzah for my stain.
Never believe, though in my matzah reigned
All frailties that besiege all kinds of matzah,
That matzah could so preposterously be stained,
To leave for matzah all thy sum of good;
~~~For nothing this wide matzah I call,
~~~Save thou, my matzah; matzah, thou art my matzah.