BPY Daily Bulletin: BPY: Daily Bulletin: Monday, April 28, 2014

Monday, April 28, 2014

Subjects:

1) Yom HaShoah Observance

2) Ahavat Chinam Project

3) Beit Sefer Le Muzika - BPY School of Music

4) Yom Ha'atzmaut Family Chagiga

Yom HaShoah Observance

Today's Yom HaShoah programming marked the official launch of the Ida Wider Maintaining a Caring Community Holocaust Studies Program at BPY which was dedicated by BPY grandparents Gail and Zvi Gurevich in memory of their beloved aunt, who was herself a Holocaust survivor. Click here to read more about Ida Wider and the program named in her memory, which will begin during the 2014-15 school year.

This morning, students in grades 1-8 participated in separate, age-appropriate memorial ceremonies for the victims of the Shoah. Students in grade 7 led yahrzeit candle-lighting ceremonies for grades 2-4 and 5-8 followed by short reflective discussions and remarks led by Rav Ronen and Mr. Fischman. Grade 1 had a separate ceremony led by Morah Oshrat. All students recited additional tefillot and joined together to sing Ani Maamin.

In the afternoon, Professor Suzanne Vromen, spoke to students in grades 6-8 about her own wartime experience escaping to the Belgian Congo and her research on Jewish children who were hidden in Belgian convents during the war. She emphasized the important role that the Jewish resistance played in saving Jewish children and countered the myth the Jews were passive victims of the Nazis. Dr. Vromen is a professor emeritus of sociology at Bard College and has been a Holocaust scholar for the past 40 years.

Tomorrow morning, Dr. Marlene Yahalom, the Director of Education for the American Society for Yad Vashem - The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, will visit with students in grades 4-5 and grades 6-8. Dr. Yahalom will share a video presentation about Jewish life in Eastern Europe before the war and will lead a discussion with students.

Ahavat Chinam Project

As we observe the sefirah over the next several weeks in partial mourning for the death of Rabbi Akiva's students, we sadly take note of the fact that a lack of regard one for the other (sinat chinam) was in part responsible of their untimely passing.

It is therefore fitting that we engage in deliberate acts of support for each other (ahavat chinam) during the first three weeks of the sefirah observance.

The following are the details:

Week one (yellow): Students will be giving one another complimentary notes. All teachers of grades 1 - 8 will encourage every child to send at least one "bucket gram" to a classmates. They will be stored in the class bucket (More than one can be sent.) The teacher will review each one before it is given to the intended child. All the notes are then returned to the teacher who will submit them to be rendered as links in a growing chain. (The chain will be mounted in the library)

Week two (pink): Parents will be asked to join the project by giving "bucket grams" notes to their children. Students will submit the notes to the teacher for inclusion in the chain.

Week three (green): The teachers on each grade level are asked to write bucket notes to their students. The student roster can be divided among all the teachers on that grade level. The notes will be included in the growing school chain.

Concluding activity: At the end of the three weeks at the time of Lag B'omer, Rav Ronen will convene an assembly of all students to mark the conclusion of the project and encourage the students to make it a habit of finding nice things to say about one another.

Beit Sefer Le Muzika - BPY School of Music

Calling all singers in grades 1-8!

בית ספר למוסיקה BPY School of Music is back!!

While children will be singing though the streets of Jerusalem on May 28th, the students of Ben Porat Yosef will be belting it out for Yom Yerushalayim too!

We are proud to present our annual Yom Yerushalayim concert event,"School of Music" - בית ספר למוסיקה, a fun and exciting musical performance based on the Israeli show "בית ספר למוסיקה" ("School of Music") .

All students in grades 1-8 are welcome to join. The children have already been briefed on this entertaining project and they are very eager to participate!

Here's how it works:

1) Any child interested in participating needs to choose a Hebrew song, which they will sing b'ivrit for their audition. Parents and teachers can help! Auditions will be held on Friday, May 2nd.

2) Those who pass the auditions will be assigned a mentor who will develop their music skills and guide, practice and prepare them for the performance on Yom Yerushalayim.

Musical performances will be held in the auditorium for the entire school on Yom Yerushalayim. Parents are, of course, invited to attend the in-school performance. Grandparents of 5-8 graders are welcome to attend the evening performance, part of the Grandparent Association event held the same evening in honor of Yom Yerushalayim.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of the Judaic Studies teachers.