TEAM Spirit May 18, 2012 - Yeshiva Toras Chaim Toras Emes

ד''‏
T O R A S E M E S A C A D E M Y O F M I A M I
MAY 18, 2012
בס
TEAM Spirit
STAR STUDENTS
פרשת בהר-‏ בחקתי
שבת מברכים
CANDLE
LIGHTING
7:42 pm
Aviel Bayles – T.S.
Ephraim Berkowitz – S.S.
Shmueli Feigenbaum – S.S.
Doni Franklin – S.S.
Josh Hyman – T.S.
Benny Kanoff – S.S.
Shalom Marcus – S.S.
Shea Rosenberg – S.S.
Reuven Shaffren – T.S.
Tzvi Stern – T.S.
Isaac Zafrani – T.S.
Avia Bennett – T.S.
Shaina Druin – T.S.
Raizy Dudovitz – T.S.
Aliza Feldman – S.S.
Tamar Feldman – T.S. & S.S.
Sonia Ginsburg – T.S.
Rachel Kirzner – S.S.
Sofia Leonoff – S.S.
Tamar Mindick – S.S.
Rivky Sapirman – T.S.
Arielle Serwatien – T.S.
Shira Suissa – S.S.
THIS MONDAY,
MAY 21!
DON’T MISS OUR
TEAM PLAYERS
EXCITING
PRE-SHAVUOS
WOMEN’S
EVENING OF
INSPIRATION
See attached flyer.
PLEASE NOTE:
Ephraim Berkowitz
Eliezer Gold
Avos Greenberg
Yehuda Kon
Noam Peleg
Yossi Rosenberg
Aryeh Sova
Tzvi Winter
Akiva Yeshurun
Nochi Zeines
THERE IS NO SCHOOL THIS FRIDAY,
MAY 25, EREV EREV SHAVUOS.
Shira Adar
Yael Aminov
Miriam Balgley
Miriam Dreyfuss
Dina Ellenbogen
Elisheva El-Gad
Chavie Fried
Shaindel Goldenberg
Zissel Goldsmith
Abby Heller
Adina Kon
Batel Levi
Esti Schwartz
Rivka Sheinkopf

“I AM IN
CONTROL!”
W
ith only days
left, we are
proud of our many
students who are
participating in this
project, and we’re rooting for all of you to
continue the momentum and reach that finish
line next week on Wednesday, May 23.
All students who successfully
completed the second week of TV Control are
now enjoying the cool flashlight pens that they
received this week. Yasher Koach!
ASSEMBLIES
O
ur final
monthly
assemblies of
the year will
take place this
Thursday, May
24 featuring
1G and 1B.
The girls’
assembly is at 1:30 PM and the boys at 2:45 PM.
Official uniform must be worn all day on
Wednesday, including white knee socks for
the girls.
WALKATHON
PLEDGES—
NOW DUE!
N
ow that the school
year is coming to
an end, please take care
of redeeming all
uncollected pledges so that all accounts can be
settled before the summer vacation. Soliciting
pledges and walking are only part of the job…the
final responsibility is to gather and bring in the
pledge money. Please make a special
commitment to take care of this right away so that
we can redeem our pledge to the needy families in
our community.
Don’t forget… Everyone who brings in all their
pledges (minimum of $35) before the end of the
school year will receive a beautiful Toras Emes
cap—perfect for summer vacation!
KIDS FOR
KOSHER FOOD
BANK
T
he Kosher Food Bank
depends on
everyone’s participation to
help combat hunger in our
community—one meal,
one person at a time. For the month of May the
specific requests are Parmalat’s milk, peanut
butter, egg noodles, and honey. Keep in mind that
all the food must be either OU, Chaf-K, O-K, or
Star-K certified, making it suitable for any family.
Thank you for your continued help. Yasher Koach!

REFUAH SHELAIMA
MAZEL TOV
Ariella Sarah bas Elisheva Malka
Leah Golda bas Esther Frimmet
Chaya Michelle bas Ene
Penina bas Ashira
Bracha Elka bas Mariasha Rivka
T
o Rabbi and Mrs.
Gruenstein and
family on the birth of a
grandson, born to their
daughter, our alumna,
Shevi and Mordechai Yachnes.
Ayalah Sima bas Limor
Rachel Leah bas Sara
Yehudis bas Chaya Perel
Nechama Perel bas Rochel Leah
T
o Mr. and Mrs. Terry Chemtov
and family on the Bar Mitzvah
of their son, our alumnus, Noah.
R’ Chaim Yisroel ben Chana Tziril
(Rav Belsky, Shlita)
R' Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha
(Rav Elyashiv, Shlita)
R’ Yaakov Chai ben Margalit
(Rav Yosef, Shlita)
Shalom Dovid ben Bracha Margalit
F.Y.I.
T
he elementary
school will, IY”H,
begin the 2012-2013
school year on Thursday,
August 30. It will be a
regular school day with
hours from 8:30 AM –
4:00 PM.
LOST AND FOUND
A s mentioned
before
Pesach, our Lost
and Found box
has finally been
donated to a
Gemach. We
know many
families will be able to make good use of all the
unclaimed items.
Although there is only one month left of
school, please remember to label everything
you send to school so that we don’t
accumulate more clothing, lunchboxes, etc.

FAIRCHILD GARDENS
TROPICAL CHALLENGE
T
his year
Toras
Emes
participated in
the Fairchild
Tropical
Gardens
Challenge as
an ongoing,
year long project. This past Tuesday night, May
15, TEAM was recognized as a school with
outstanding participation and received an award for
the amazing entries submitted by our students.
The writings and creations, and TEAM Garden
earned us enough points to be included in the
highlighted schools. We will be sending home with
your children free admission passes to Fairchild
Tropical Gardens for your enjoyment.
Thanks to all of our creative and involved
students who participated in the different projects
such as mask making, poetry writing, and garden
planting. You truly did an awesome job! Hope you
all enjoyed this challenge. Enjoy the trip to
Fairchild Tropical Gardens with your family—you
earned it!
All of the students and faculty would like to
extend a hearty Yasher Koach to Mrs. E. Palgon,
who spearheaded this project with tremendous
enthusiasm and ability. Her efforts were rewarded
by the amazing accomplishments of our students.
4G SIYUM
O
n Thursday, 4G
celebrated
months of their
accomplishments in
Chumash with a
beautiful Siyum on
Parashas Miketz.
The girls enjoyed a delicious pasta luncheon.
Yasher Koach to 4G!

5B ELECTIVES
5B has had a wonderful time in this years' electives program. In "Chulent
in Halacha" the boys learn different Halachos that pertain to chulent and
then proceed to making a chulent for the entire fifth grade. Here are
some pictures of the boys preparing and enjoying their chulent.

Erev Shabbos Parashas Behar - Bechukosai 5772
Dear Parents,
Among the memories of my younger years, I recall quite vividly watching football
games and being captivated by the exultation of a player who just scored a
touchdown. He was exuberant, tossing the ball up in the air, and in general
demonstrating just how very pleased he was with himself at that moment.
It therefore struck me, when, years later upon returning from a number of years in
Eretz Yisrael , I had an opportunity to view a game, how much had changed. The one
who just scored a touchdown no longer tossed the ball up euphorically, but rather
smashed the ball down on the ground, with a fierce look upon his face. It seemed to
me that scoring a touchdown now represented crushing an opponent more than
rejoicing in one’s accomplishment.
Perhaps this scenario, which plays out constantly on the ball field, is symptomatic of a
significant shift in modern attitudes. Whereas in the past, one’s accomplishment
helped focus a person on his own strengths and talents (perhaps to a fault) it seems
that now the focus is on belittling one’s competitor and giving vent to a desire to do
damage to the other.
This unfortunately has ramifications for us, because we and our children are very
much immersed in the world of sports. Although watching a game is basically a
wholesome activity, we must realize that we and our children absorb attitudes, very
subtly, from the athletes and how they conduct themselves. It would seem this
particular behavior with the football, is an outgrowth of a lowered self-esteem, which
compels a person to denigrate others in order to have some good feelings about
himself. This is a major problem of the modern world – the football is just one
manifestation.
How do we help build our children’s self-confidence and self-pride to combat such
negativity There are many ways, but one comes from this week’s Parsha. The Torah
instructs us (Vayikra 25:39-43) as to how kindly to treat a fellow Jew who has become
our slave. The Pasuk offers a reason for such benevolent treatment; Hashem says
these (slaves) are my slaves that I took out of Mitzrayim… The Seforno (Pasuk 42)
explains even though this person chose to sell himself (and therefore is subject to the
usual harsh treatment of a slave) since he is also Hashem’s slave, you must treat him
differently and cannot sell him into permanent slavery.
-continued-

2.
One would have thought that the restriction against harsh treatment is because it’s
not nice to act in such a manner. The Seforno is making a different point: Every Jew
is connected to Hashem, as if each one is His ambassador, a member of the King’s
diplomatic corps. This entitles even an impoverished, enslaved Jew to special
handling – because he is somebody special by virtue of his connection to Hashem.
Every Jew is entitled to the ultimate protektzia – we are part of Hashem’s `inner
circle.’
This is the message we need to deliver to our children. Even before they
accomplish anything great and even if they are not experiencing much success in
their academic or social life – they are truly great people because Hashem loves
them and feels so close to them. This message must get through to our children, so
they will not fall prey to the disease of low self-esteem before they ever get the
chance to prove to themselves and others what wonderful things they are capable
of. Once they have this foundation of intrinsic worth, they are free to soar on the
wings of their particular and unique capabilities.
May Hashem bless our efforts to bring out the greatness that lies within each of our
children.
Best wishes for an upbeat, confident and positively enjoyable Shabbos,
Rabbi Kalman Baumann