Eden Sadra

Olyvea Akres

Hey Rashi, Eden and Liv here… for the last time

Welcome back to 2018! After all meeting Mr Watt at last week’s assembly it has officially sunk it, the new school year has started. Classes are well underway, and our new students are slowly starting to settle in. Speaking of new students, on behalf of the whole High School and especially Rashi, we would like to welcome our new students into the Rashi family, Toby, Arthur, Jade, Oriel, Saul, Lucy, Zac, Cohen, Alexander and Chenyao! We hope you grow to love your Rashi family as much as we love it.

Tu BiShevat, also known as the New Year of the Trees was on Tuesday and to commemorate this, Rashi had an amazing Tu BiShevat ceremony run by Nadia and Mia where several students shared their understanding of why they believed the Torah is like a tree.

Noah Klein in Year 11 stated that: “Trees provide us with fruit, something we can pluck off and take with us, a concrete reward after years of progressive growth. The fruit not only sustains us with vitamins and minerals, but is pleasing to the taste buds, as well. The sweetness of a tree’s fruits, however, pales in comparison to that of the fruits of our Torah. With each new passage explored, our souls are nourished a little more. The deep focus and great efforts required in leading a Torah life bring along an unparalleled gratification and sweet fulfilment. The Torah does not cease to provide reward for one who grabs hold of it.”

We both thought the ceremony was really mind opening and a good way to start the year.

Both Eden and I have had the experience of a lifetime when we spent 6 weeks in Israel on Chavayah. Spending 6 weeks with our best friends in a country with so much history was one of the most inspiring and thought-provoking trips in a lifetime.

The most memorable day for me (Liv) was the two-day hike in the desert through Makhtesh Katan where we pushed ourselves physically and mentally throughout the day to be rewarded with the most outstanding stars you could see and a meteor shower. Sitting around the campfire and singing songs with the rest of our cohort made me realise how lucky I was to be at a school where opportunities like this where not only given, but encouraged. One of my (Eden) most memorable experiences of the trip was our tiyul to a town on the very edge of the west bank called Barta. Not only did I get to see firsthand what we learn about at school but I was so overwhelmed… in a good way of course! We learnt things from locals that got us all so passionately engaged in discussion and I’ll never forget how I felt as we walked the streets that day.

Thanks for reading Rashi, it’s been fun! We wish you all the best of luck this year in all your endeavours. Love you all.

That’s officially it from us…

Liv and Eden signing off