The TEACH-NYS coalition (Educational Alliance for Children in New York State), representing New Yorks non-public school community, recently organized a leadership mission to Albany that met with 45 state legislators, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Thirty-five leaders of yeshivahs and of national and regional organizations participated.

TEACH-NYS President Elliot Gibber said, The total outstanding debt owed to non-public schools is approximately $350 million for all mandated services.

Representatives from yeshivah day schools across New Jersey recently united behind the issue of state funding for non-public schools. The meeting was the first of its kind, organized by the newly formed Community Federation of New Jersey, in partnership with the Orthodox Union and its Institute for Public Affairs (IPA).

More than 70 New Jersey Jewish day school leaders, who combined were responsible for more than 20,000 Jewish school children across the state, attended.

Acts of hesed are inspiring. When performed as a group, the results are truly impressive. Recently, the students in Magen David Yeshivah Celia Esses High School (MDY) spent several afternoons performing different acts of hesed in conjunction with several organizations in our community. Each hesed day proved to be an uplifting experience that promoted unity while instilling awareness in the students about the needs of the community.

The members of the MDY faculty worked together with PTA President Lisa Elo to create programs that enabled the students to work directly with different organizations, giving the students several opportunities to engage in hesed.

It is no small accomplishment to have built a community so large, so successful, and so grounded in hesed. At the forefront of that accomplishment are the countless helping hands and innumerable good deeds performed by Sephardic Bikur Holim (SBH), the community institution that has helped thousands to give and receive. Everyone had a reason to run, said a community member of the recent Disney marathon weekend, but SBH provided us all with a reason to care.

Congregation Shaare Shaloms annual Purim party was a smashing success due to the hard work many members of the congregation put into planning it. The Purim party has become a much anticipated event for the Shaare Shalom community.

Chabad of Kings Highway recently held their annual Purim party, which was attended by hundreds of people. To keep the kids happy, there was a juggling show, face painting and a Chinese paper artist. For the adults, there was lot of delicious food.

Magen David Yeshivah celebrated Purim with a festive and joyous hagigah (festival) in the elementary school building. Children and adults of all ages dressed up, danced and rejoiced with their favorite teachers and principals.

The Sephardic community is preparing to join the largest gathering of Jews since the  destruction of the Second Temple. There are four months until the Twelfth Siyum Hashas of Daf Yomi (celebration of the completion of the daily Talmud), but whos counting?

This year, Jews will celebrate the first two nights of Passover on the 6th and 7th of April with a joyous family eventthe Seder. We relive the experience of our ancestors as they were exiled and enslaved in Egypt, then liberated by G-d over 3,300 years ago. We recount the miracles of the Exodus, and pray that the future redemption comes very soon.

Observances: The Seder
We read the story of the enslavement and Exodus from Egypt in our Haggadahs. We eat matza, drink four cups of wine (or grape juice) and we consume marorbitter herbs, to remind us of the bitterness of enslavement.

Legacy:  The Passover Seder is celebrated with family and friends.  It is imperative that our beautiful heritage be transmitted to our children.  How else can we ensure the survival of the Jewish people? That is why our Seder revolves around our children (and grandchildren) and their four questions.

Studies going back over 50 years have repeatedly arrived at the same conclusionracists have lower IQs than non-racists. The average intelligence quotient (IQ) of all members of the human race is 100 on the Stanford-Binet scale. The average IQ of racists is up to 4 IQ points less than this. The reasons this is true are not entirely clear. Does racism attract the unintelligent or do the unintelligent default into racist mentalities? An exploration of this phenomenon can be most informative.

Since the average IQ of a racist is less than average, racists have two-digit IQs, while non-racists have three-digit IQs. This applies to Nazi skinheads, anti-Semites, Aryan supremacists, non-denominational bigots, and other such racists.

On a recent Saturday night, Congregation Shaare Shalom, on Avenue S and East 21st Street in Brooklyn, welcomed over 125 children for a fun night of Bingo. Each child was treated to pizza, snacks, and of course bingo prizes. The bingo night is the first of many events that are being planned to bring the Shaare Shalom family together.

Parents often ask me why their children are so different from each other. They say that it almost seems like they were raised in different homes, with different parents, and unrelated DNA. One is so serious and the other is a joker. One is very reliable and conscientious, while the other is laid back.

I tell them to try this experiment. Take four seeds and place them in planters. Put them on your windowsill in direct sunlight. Water them daily, give each one the exact same amount of water, care and nutrients. Then, sit back and watch them grow. Each seed will turn into its own unique plant. One will have lots of branches, one may not thrive at all and others will have pretty flowers and leaves just like our children.

There has been much research done on birth order and behavior. Birth order is defined as a persons place, by age, in a family. The Austrian psychiatrist, Alfred Adler was one of he first to imply that birth order influences personality. Think of your own siblings and then observe your children. First born  children, middle children and youngest often share common traits.