Hanukah is a glorious time every year at the Yeshivah of Flatbushs Joel Braverman High School and elementary school. Supplementing the Hanukah-based learning that pervades class discussions, special holiday programs abound, including an extraordinary performing arts program in the high school and other special hagigot (parties) and art projects for all grades.

The week of Hanukah culminated at the high school with a spectacular musical, a Hebrew rendition of Little Shop of Horrors (Hanut ktana umatrifa). The excitement began with the high school choir, led by Mr. Brian Gelfand, and the high school orchestra, led by Mr. Joel Hessel, performing original arrangements of Hanukah melodies and gracing the audience with the instrumental and vocal talents of more than 50 students. The chamber choir, also directed by Mr. Gelfand, performed an intricate and festive rendition of a well-known pop song that was rewritten and arranged in honor of Hanukah by 11th grade student, Victoria Twito.

I am usually surprised when my son says hes bored, especially when its right after we went to the library, bowling and to the plaster gallery. When did I sign up to be the head of the entertainment committee?

Seriously? I cant fit anymore activities into our schedule. I still need to take Celia to the dentist; Morris needs shoes for Shabbat and I promised my friend Raquel Id help with the school bake sale.

I feel so guilty when hes just sitting on the couch with his video games, eyes glued to the screen.

Over the years, Barkai Yeshivah has established itself as a school with a learning environment that simply bursts with excitement, creativity, warmth and happiness. Recently, the Barkai PTA packed all this energy into the annual Literacy Day event. Opening its doors to the community, the PTA transformed nearly every classroom into an action-packed learning zone. Children were encouraged to read, write and explore the possibilities of storytelling and narrative, across all fields of study.

Hillel Yeshiva students and faculty gathered on a recent Friday morning to enjoy a delicious breakfast. Afterwards, they boarded  buses for an exciting morning of ice skating. Students and faculty had fun skating together. Then it was off to a hotel, owned by Carey Tajfel, one of Hillel Yeshivas first graduates, for Shabbat. How inspiring it was to see 200 students, faculty and alumni gathered together at a beautiful hotel to enjoy a fantastic Shabbat weekend.

The seminar is designed to provide a wonderful, spiritual and fun Shabbat experience for all who attend. Camaraderie and friendship among the students is strengthened and its fun for the faculty, too.

The goal of the seminar is for students to think and learn in a more social, less structured environment. Achdut (unity) was the theme of this years seminar.

Magen David Yeshivah Celia Esses High School held its first shiriyah (color war) under the direction and leadership of Rabbi Ben-Zion Scheinfeld, Director of Student Activities. The program was a culmination of talent, creativity and dedication demonstrated by our students and devoted staff over the course of the entire week.

Our community is filled with people who import goods from around the world into the United States. Buyers are hungry for products but at the same time deadlines for delivery must be met. That is why it can be frustrating when US Customs and Border Protection (Customs) detains a shipment. In almost all cases, goods are required to be entered through Customs and the Customs officers ensure that they are in compliance with all US laws and regulations.

Tu Bshvat is a holiday intimately connected to the agricultural cycle of the Land of Israel. Falling in the middle of the Jewish month of Shvat, the 15th day of the month is the New Year of Trees. Today, this holiday is often celebrated by planting saplings and also by participating in a Seder-meal that echoes the Passover Seder, in which the produce of trees, including fruits and nuts, are eaten.

With great pleasure, we present the annual update of activities and accomplishments of the Sephardic Pizmonim Project at www.pizmonim.com.

The Sephardic Pizmonim Project, dedicated in memory of Hazzan Gabriel A Shrem (1916-1986), is an organization that preserves the liturgical traditions of Aleppos Sephardic Jewish community. Our digital music archive collection consists of more than 1,200 recordings by some of the most venerated Syrian Hazzanim, past and present. Since April 2006, we welcomed more than 121,000 visitors from around the world.

We focus our efforts on preserving materials from our communitys Red Pizmonim Book, Shir Ushbaha Hallel VeZimrah (Sephardic Heritage Foundation). Due to the efforts of Gabriel A Shrem, Isaac J Cabasso, and numerous other cantors, the number of missing pizmonim melodies is currently down to 90. Discovering the remaining missing pizmonim melodies has proven to be an increasingly difficult task, due to the aging of the population. New recordings of already-known pizmonim continuously get added to the website.

When life hands us a reason to celebrate, we cant help but smileuntil we get the bill. Our semachot (celebrations) from engagement parties to weddings, bar mitzvahs to brit milah, sometimes throw us for quite a loop. The planning alone can shake us into a tizzy and the decisions can rack our brains until we cant even remember what we were so happy about in the first place. Manhattan Beach Synagogue has found a way to minimize all that fretting.

A Vacation Related Message for Every Day of Your Life

The taxi or car service driver.
The baggage handler.
The airline employee at the check-in counter, and the stewardess on the plane.
The customs person at the airport and the bellhop at the hotel.
The waiter that serves you in the restaurant and the busboy who clears the table.
The lifeguard who secures your fun and the pool boy

Everybody is a somebody.

Growing up is a mixture of feelings for most young people and I was no exception to the rule. During his lifetime, my father and I did not always see things eye to eye and the lessons he tried to teach were toughold school is what they called it back then.

My dad had a lot of things he wanted his first born son to learn about in life. I had other plans and a mind of my own. Looking back, of course, everything he tried to instill in me was 100% right, and I was 100% stubborn and thought he was old fashioned.

What is the most precious commodity? I think the answer is time. I wish I had all the time in the world to spend with my dearest loving mom, Marcelle Sabin AH.

She would ask, when are you coming to visit me? The answer: each Shabbat and every other opportunity that I had.

School choice “voucher system” is a common sense idea that gives every parent the power and freedom to choose where their children are educated.

It is immoral that the quality of schooling that your child receives is based on the value and location of your home. School choice allows parents to choose a school based on its quality and their childs needs, not their address.