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Chanukah at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls has always been both lively and inspirational, and the restrictions imposed by the pandemic this year didn’t hamper our school spirit! The week of Chanukah was ushered in with an uplifting student-produced video welcoming SKA’s Reflect the Lights Chanukah program. Suggestions for how to make the nights “light up” included playing a game with your family, expressing your thoughts in a journal, learning from the SKA Chanukah booklet, and many others posted in the Chanukah Idea Bank. With the encouragement of the students to spend meaningful moments after candle lighting reflecting on what Chanukah commemorates and making connections, the yom tov began on a highly spiritual note.

MTA welcomed an amazing group of eighth graders at its Student Visit Day on Friday, December 4. The boys experienced the warmth, excitement, and energy of MTA and participated in interactive shiurim and classes with rebbeim and faculty. They also had a great time playing games in the new Lions’ Lounge and sports in the Den, and had the opportunity to try out some of MTA’s extracurricular activities.

Chanukah is always filled with excitement and fun at Ezra Academy, and this year was going to be no different. They hit the ground running as the grades were separated into different large rooms for their traditional “class combat” – a grade vs. grade competition. To get everyone in the right mindset, the school surprised all the students with t-shirts. Each grade wore a different color to help get their team spirit going. Following this, the games got underway. Each grade was given Chanukah-related activities, each of which needed to be submitted with video proof of their completed challenges. In addition, each team needed to create a Chanukah banner using specific and random items accompanied by a d’var Torah. The ninth grade came in second place for their amazing achdus, and the winning team was the tenth grade. Both grades will be awarded their prizes following Chanukah.

On Thursday, December 3, Shevach High School students were fired up for their annual sh’miras ha’lashon program through an exciting breakout. The girls entered Shevach’s Multi-Purpose Room to find it expertly decorated with fire-related artwork and explosive materials. One wall portrayed a line of erupting volcanoes, entitled “Let Positivity Explode.” Another wall featured a fire extinguisher (“Extinguish Negativity”), a pile of bonfire logs (“How ‘Wood’ You Feel?”), and a Smokey the Bear poster (“One Word Can Spark a Forest Fire”).

Photo Credit Maxine Lipshitz

On Tuesday, December 8, Yeshiva of Central Queens had their first Torah Bowl meet of the year. The Torah Bowl is an educational tournament started more than a decade ago by Rabbi Mair Wolofsky, former principal of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett, for students in yeshivos and Orthodox day schools. It is a competition where several yeshivos spend time learning and studying two or three parshiyos with their perspective Rashis with their coaches. They then compete against other yeshivos in tournaments throughout the year

The Chanukah spirit is all over HANC ECC! The y’ladim in Morah Shani and Morah Laura’s Nursery Aleph class are very busy with their Chanukah projects.