bina buzz

An Amazing Shabbos dinnerBy Chana Brooke

“Welcome to our first annual BINA Shabbos dinner,” said Chana Brooke to an appreciative crowd of over 200. The hall at B’nai Israel was bursting with tables extravagantly set with the finest disposable goods from The Disposable Kitchen, another BINA fundraiser. School.

A little nervous about speaking in front of such a crowd, Chana bravely continued, “Our school is awesome—we have great principals, teachers and some of the best Jewish students in the country. We learn, play, exercise and do community service together. You might have seen us out and about visiting the residents at the Beth Sholom home, serving at the JCC and contributing to our community.

Our school is so normal that it is sometimes easy to forget that our school is really nothing short of a miracle.

Had it not been for the dedicated and committed efforts of my parents, the other parents in the school, the Rabbi and you all, the school would never be what it is today

Tonight is a good time to remind ourselves what a remarkableachievement our school really is and to celebrate two years of successin (as our motto goes) "Nurturing the Next Generation."

We, the students of Bina High School, know how hard you have worked to make the school possible; we know that it would not have been possible withoutyour love, time, resources and (yes--my Mom made me add): monetarysupport.

R’ Tarfon says in Pirkei Avos: Lo alecha hamelacha ligmor – the actual result of our labor is not in our hands. We need to put forth our effort, and Hashem takes care of the rest. Thanks to your efforts, we know that miracles really do happen.

On behalf of all the students of BINA, thank you for being here tonight;thank you for your support and for everything you continue to do for us. We really do appreciate the sacrifice being made to bring outstandingJewish education to Norfolk, and we won't let you down.”

Literary Magazine in the WorksBy Mrs. Alex Christle

The year is passing quickly with the first trimester nearing an end. In English, the girls have already written two essay papers and been involved with a variety of readings. What is very exciting, however, is this year’s fledgling yearbook/literary magazine publication. With a staff of four (including Dassi, Tova, Avi M. and Leah), we hope to produce a combination yearbook/literary magazine that will become a new

Volume 4: December 5, 2008

Dates Programs

Dec. 7 Cooking w/ Mrs. Peck-Mostofsky

Dec 8-12 Exams

Dec. 14 Challah baking with Ohef Sholom bat mitvah class

Dec. 18 Serve lunch for JFS seniors

Dec. 21 CHANUKAH CARNIVAL!

standard at BINA! The staff is still ruminating over a title, but they have chosen a theme of “Road Trip” for this year’s book. My hope is to have the book professionally printed, and with luck, entered into a high school contest geared for student publications.

After Chanukah, the girls will begin looking for submissions from their fellow students - these can be in the form of stories, poems, drama, or nonfiction, as well as artwork and photographs. We will assemble the project in a professional graphic program, giving the girls a chance to learn some graphic design.

This is a big undertaking, but our BINA girls are up to the task! Stay tuned for more information!

IVRIT CLASSBy Mrs. Shuly Einhorn

Learning a new language can be a challenge, but Hebrew lessons at BINA are in fact a lot of fun. Each and every one of the girls shares her knowledge of the language on many different levels. Together we play, we act, we sing, we read and we write.

Being an English teacher for 13 years in an elementary school in Israel, I had doubts about teaching teenage girls. I was used to teaching forty-two students at

once, I was not sure how to handle such a small group.However, it took me one day to fall in love with the girls.They are funny and sensitive, beautiful both inside and out.

Although they all suffer from the Monday morning blues (on every day of the week), they never fail to come ready and join in. While they might complain, “That’s too hard” or “I can’t do it,” they always get the assignment done, realizing that school can also be KEF.

While making a decision to take the job at Bina was not an easy one for me, making the decision to accept the job at Bina was the RIGHT one!