Alumni Day

13 Kislev, 5775 December 5, 2014

This Week at CJHS

Alumni Day

Illinois State Scholars

Tigers Win

Studio Art Mosaics

Engineering Club

Children's Book Drive

Toy Drive

CJHS Community Night

Sponsored Breakfast

Alumni Trivia

A Taste of Torah

Save the Date

Alumni Day

Sunday, Dec. 14

ACT Monday, Dec. 22 -

Friday, Jan. 2 Winter Break Sunday, Jan. 4 - Friday, Jan. 23 Senior Israel Experience

Monday, Jan. 12 - Friday, Jan. 16 Winter Exams

CJHS Media

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CJHS Tigers on Instagram

CJHS on Twitter

CJHS Tigers on Twitter

CJHS on Facebook

CJHS Alumni on Facebook

CJHS YouTube Channel

P.O. Corner

The P.O. is pleased to offer the gift card or "Scrip/Gelt" program, designed to help families earn money to apply towards their students' Shabbatonim, Junior Class trip, and Senior Israel Experience. By purchasing gift cards through the school for vendors where you ordinarily shop (groceries, gas, household items, etc), a percentage of what you spend each time will be placed in your family's account to be used for these trips. Gift card orders are placed every Thursday. Please contact Sheri Sandrof at ssandrof@cjhs.org or 847.324.3723 with any questions.

Over a hundred former students flocked the

halls to hug old teachers and friends on our

annual Erev Thanksgiving alumni reunion

weekend. The building was filled with news of

colleges, yeshivas, and jobs, the sounds of

alumni energetically reconnecting with

everyone. Wednesday's tefillah discussion

allowed alumni to reminisce about the

independen

ce, hard

work, and

advocacy

skills they

learned at

school and

the close

ties with

friends

and

teacher

s that

make

CJHS

such a

special

place.

Alumni

shared

advice about living Jewishly on campus, as

well as how to make the most of the close

friends and varied Jewish study opportunities

at CJHS that have most changed their lives.

Grandparents and Special Friends Association

Help us get in touch with some very special people in your students' lives! Please reply here with the names, addresses, and emails of their grandparents and/or special friends so we can forward them a membership form to join our "Grandparents and Special Friends Organization". If you provide an email address, they can also begin receiving CJHS e-news. Contact Sheri Sandrof at 847.324.3723 or ssandrof@cjhs.org with any questions.

Sponsor Breakfast

What's better than a birthday celebration with friends? Celebrate your student's birthday or other milestone with a special breakfast at CJHS.

For a donation of $180 (10x chai), bagels, cream cheese, and orange juice will be served to everyone. Announcements will be made in Tefillah and in the dining hall, and the occasion will also be

listed in our weekly E-News and on the school announcement board. If you have any questions, please call 847.324.3713 or email dzidman@cjhs.org. Order forms are available online here.

Quick Links

Our Website

Online Calendar

Trumba Tips

Lunch Menu

Ten years for the pioneer class! Can you

imagine?Saturday night's alumni reunion and

basketball

game

greeted

nearly 70

alumni

from a

throng

of last

year's

graduates

all the way

back to Avram Pachter ('06). Va'ad

president Eli Schrayer welcomed everyone

back to the "new building" which is now the

old school, and then the basketball battle was

on! Returning alumni made an incredible

showing on the court, tying the score at the

end of the first and again at the second

quarter. New seniors faced off against new

freshmen for the 3-point shootout at

halftime. Congratulations to Dr. Jeannie

Aschkenasy, mom to Rachel Aaronson

('12) and Gingi Aaronson ('14), who won

the Bulls tickets at the raffle!

2014-2015 Dates

:: 847.470.6700

After being down by as many as twenty

points, the current students made an amazing

comeback to end the game in a tie. Thanks

to everyone who came out for this fantastic

event. We look forward to seeing you next

year!

Illinois State Scholars

During this season of Thanksgiving and

celebration, we are pleased to announce the

24 seniors who have been named Illinois

State Scholars. Congratulations to Leora

Calamaro, Joe Cohen, Benji Fishbaum,

Hannah Given, Jonah Glick-Unterman,

Rayna Gorstein, Eytan Herman, Jordan

Jacobson, Isaac Johnston, Josh

Kaplinsky, Elan Karoll, Eli Krule,

Jonathan Schrag, Eli Schrayer, Yoni

Shapiro, David Steinberg, and Ruli

Warner-Rosen.

Tigers Win on Home Court!

Basketball

season is up

and

running! The

men's varsity

basketball

team defeated

Northtown on

Monday, 54-

42. Led by

Josh

Newlander's

31 points, the

entire team

got into the game and

contributed.

Zach Becker,

Coby

Drexler, Yoni

Maltsman, and Jonah Karoll all had their

first varsity baskets. The Tigers defeated

CICS Ellison Wednesday 54-41. Josh

Newlander once again led the way with 34

points, 9 rebounds, and 6 steals. Coby

Drexler had a great game with 7 points, 1

steal, and 1 rebound, to go along with

countless defensive stops. Josh Pliskin

added in 5, splashing in a clutch 3 pointer in

the final two minutes. The team lost 50-42 to

Christ the King lastnight. Josh Newlander

led the way with 25 points, while Eli Schrayer collected 9 rebounds.

The Lady Tigers

rebounded from

Monday's loss

to Northtown

with a

smashing

victory on

Tuesday night

against Our

Lady of

Tepeyac! MVP

of the game

was definitely junior Emily Reisler, who was

put in on the court in the second half, and led

the team to an amazing triumph. Come out

and cheer on the Lady Tigers Sunday at 3:00

p.m. (JV) and 4:30 p.m. (varsity) against Cristo Rey!

Many thanks to this week's sportscasters

Isaac Johnston and Sara Behn for covering

this week's games! Send scores and stats to

the editor at seliaser@cjhs.org.

Studio Art's "Bits and Pieces"

Students in Mrs.

Snyder's

studio art class

are busy working

on their new

mosaics, the first

of several they will

do this winter. To

donate old dishes

to be reborn as

new masterpieces,

contact Mrs. Snyder at msnyder@cjhs.org.

Alumni Trivia

Which CJHS student used to

keep her lunch in the

teacher's lounge fridge, and

where is she now?

Engineering Club

CJ students have been building and

programming robots in Engineering

Club!

Stude

nts

in Tea

m

Maxim

us,

Team

Kumq

uat,

Team

eHond

a, and

Team

Washington Roboteers will soon compete

against each other in an epic Sumo-like

battles. The rules: whichever robot

autonomously pushes the other out of a

playing field first wins. Senior Elan Karoll

reports, "In addition to learning valuable skills

about robotic design and teamwork, everyone

is having tons of fun!"

SSDS Children's Book Drive

Did you know that

61% of low-income

families don't have any

books at home for

their children? Our

friends over at

Solomon Schechter are

hosting a children's

book drive for Bernie's

Book Bank. Bernie's delivers books-for-keeps

to low-income and at-risk families so their

kids, babies through sixth graders, can have

a chance to start out right and learn to love

reading. So, clean off your bookshelves,

graduating seniors and empty nesters! Are

you really reading all those Spider-Man and

Judy Moody books? Bring your used or new

books in to school by Thursday, December

10, and hand them off to Mrs. Eliaser or to

junior Jorie Dayan or her brother Jake.

This message is placed by third grade book

drive organizers Asher Dayan and Davita

Eliaser, CJHS Class of 2024.

DEAP Toy Drive for Chai Lifeline

DEAP is sponsoring a

toy drive for cancer

patients and other

children with serious

illnesses. Please help

out with new, unwrapped, toys for infants

through teens, especially ages 13+! Gifts

and donations in any price range are

welcome. Our drive goes through this

Monday, so bring what you can in today!

SUSHI AND SAKE TOO:

2nd Annual

Chicagoland Jewish High School

Community Event

Reconnect with old friends, meet new

ones and see what's happening in the

halls of CJHS

Saturday, January 17, 2015

27 Tevet 5775

7:30 p.m.

Suggested Couvert: $50 per person

RSVP to Michelle Friedman by January 9.

Sponsored Breakfast

Happy birthday to Jonah

Karoll! Many thanks to his family

for sponsoring breakfast on

Monday.

Alumni Trivia

The culprit was Miranda Smerling ('13),

but she did have

permission from

her mother, our

former

development

director,Ms.

Stephanie

Smerling! Now

home from Nativ,

Miranda is in her

first year at Clark

University in

Worcester,

Massachusetts. Mi

randa reports,

"When I'm not

writing research papers, studying, writing

theory papers and so on and so on, I spend a

lot of my time involved with my Hillel on

campus. I am on the board and the Tikkun

Olam Committee. One of my biggest

accomplishments so far has been starting a

Rosh Chodesh/female empowerment group

geared towards people of any religion or

background. Our kickoff event "Bras for a

Cause" was a huge success--it was part of

Hadassah's Uplift Project in honor of breast

cancer awareness month. We decorated bras,

gave some info about breast cancer

awareness, and introduced the themes of

Rosh Chodesh, too. It was an amazing event!" Way to go, Miranda!

A Taste of Torah: Vayishlach

Thanksgiving brings many greetings from family

and friends. And you know how so often after considerable time apart, you don't know quite whether to go in for the hug or a handshake. Perhaps even a kiss? Ya'akov feels this immensely in this week's parasha.

After some time apart,and considerable tension,

Esav finally returns to meet Ya'akov. Ya'akov acts cautiously, perhaps deferentially, bowing as Esav approaches. But Esav goes straight in for the kiss. Ya'akov certainly didn't see that one coming. In the Torah, above the word, "he kissed him, "Vayishakehu" are six dots, one of ten times in the Torah that there exist such a scribal note.

The educated reader knows of two Esavs: the man of the Bible and the man of the commentaries. One Esav is a mere man, a hunter whose twin conspired with their mother to trick him (or buy

him?) out of his birthright. The other is a living

symbol, father of the Roman Empire and all of its excesses; in rabbinic lore, Esav gives birth to the Edomite nation, and in turn, the Edomites to Rome. With this in mind, the text of the midrashic text, Breishit cites two divergent opinions of the

meaning of this "kiss": 1. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar suggests that in

that very moment, a moment of pathos, Esav becomes merciful and kisses him with his full heart

2. Rabbi Yanai says that the dots on the word indicate that he went in for a kiss but

instead bit him on his neck.

Such differences highlight important different lenses in how one can read the Torah. They also highlight how differently a person can interpret a text, or even the merits of another person, when

he does not have all of the information about a situation. The difference between a kiss and a bite are the difference between an expression of love and attempted murder. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar's

interpretation suggests a startling appeal to the nature of humanity. After years of pain and suffering, familial love overtakes even Esav and leads to the embrace.

May such passion fuel our own relationships and also ensure that these embraces are never a surprise. May we also be willing to explore the entirety of a person and a situation when only cursory evidence is provided on first glance.

--Rav Beit Sefer Zach Silver

Shabbat Shalom

Candlelighting this

week is at

4:01. Shabbat

shalom!

אל, הנתונים אחינו ר כל בית יש

דים עומ יה, ה ה ובשב ר בין בים בצ

קום ירחם עליהם ה, המ ה, ומאפלה ,ובין ביבש וח ה לר ר ויוציאם מצ

בוד ה, ומשע ריב לאור א בעגלא ובזמן ק ת לגאלה, הש .