From the Head of Jewish Life

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Being our parents?

Recently, our students were sharing with me their thoughts about ‘designer children’ and human ‘offspring’ being brought into this world as clones of their parents. While recognising the determinative role of heredity, as discloded by genetics, they agreed that no individual should be consciously designed by or be a reproduction of his/her parent(s).

This week’s parashah, Ki Tetsei, confronts us with these considerations long before science brought it to the forefront of debate within contemporary bioethics. Three passages in Ki Tetsei serve as an affront to the sensibilities of many and compel us to ask: “Are we our parents?”

The first text commands us: “No mamzer (a child born of an illicit union) shall enter the community of the Lord”. Today, in Israel, registries of mamzerim are being maintained lest one marry such an individual thereby tainting the community. Long ago, our Rabbis expressed bewilderment over a child categorised as being no more than (the misbegotten issue of) one’s parents:

      “But I returned and observed all the oppressions that are done under the sun;

      and behold the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; but from the

      hand of their oppressors comes power, but they have no comforter” (Ecclesiastes)

      “All the oppressions” this refers to what is being done to the mamzerim. “And behold

      the tears of the oppressed”, for their mothers transgressed, but it is these humiliated

      ones that are being marginalised. This one’s father had illicit sexual relations, but

      what did he (the child) do?! Why should it have consequence for him?! “They had

      no comforter” but “from the hand of the oppressor there comes power”- this refers to

      the Great Assembly of Israel which comes upon them with the power of the Torah

      and marginalizes them in the name of “No mamzer shall enter the community of the

      Lord”. But, since “they have no comforter”, God says: “It is upon Me to comfort them”.

Countermanding this biblical prescription, the Rabbis here present God as condemning a ruling body that would use ‘His’ Law to aggravate rather than ameliorate the plight of the mamzer. By means of our evolving sensibility, our Jewish tradition here proscribes perceiving a child as solely an extension of parents and/or their actions rather than a being in his/her own right.

The very next verse states: “A Moavite shall not enter the community of the Lord”. Here too, the child is being marginalised as he/she is deemed to be no different that his/her parents who were not welcoming of the needy Israelites after their leaving Egypt. Remarkably, the biblical book of Ruth, tells us that this Moavite woman, reputed for her lovingkindness, not only entered the community of Israel (became a Jew) but was the great grandmother of King David and thus the progenitor of the Messiah, who comes from the House of David.

In this counter narrative, we are taught that we are not our parents, but we make our own way in this world, creating a life that may be radically different from our parents.

The final verse of our parashah commands us to “utterly destroy” Amalek for when our ancestors left Egypt they were attacked by this nation. Once again, our Jewish tradition argues against the contention “like father like son”. The Rabbis tell us that the descendants of Haman, an Amalakite, studied Torah with the Jewish Sages of Bnei Brak. Indeed, some contend that one of these Amalekites, who joined the Jews, was the convert Rabbi Akiva, considered one of the greatest Rabbis in our history.

Yet, this Rabbinic re-writing of our people’s sensibilities and of those whom we wish to categorise (thereby categorising ourselves) finds its impetus in this same parashah. “Children are not to be punished on account of their parents, but each is to be held accountable for his/her own actions”.

Our Jewish tradition teaches that we are not to be cast in the mold of our parents, either by science or society. The challenge is to be our best. No one else can.

From the Principal

Anne Hastings – Principal

New Principal – Andrew Watt

It has been lovely to welcome Andrew to Emanuel School on several occasions in recent weeks and a pleasure to assist his induction to the many facets of our School. He has begun his orientation visits and has been meeting with many of our staff and becoming familiar with our way of operating and culture. His naturally inquisitive nature and caring approach to all people are evident, and he is very keen to ensure he is up-to-speed as much as possible by the time he begins officially in mid-January. We will continue with these visits and include him in decision-making for 2018 as much as possible in the coming term, while also being conscious of the fact that he is still managing his considerable role at Wenona until the end of the year.

Curriculum Conference

Have you ever wondered why and how education has changed over the years? Why are there times when students seem to spend so much time on projects or discussions? Why is the focus moving away from the acquisition of knowledge and more to the gaining of skills?

On the evening of 13 September, commencing at 6.30 pm, we are holding our inaugural K- 12 Parent Curriculum Conference. In the past, we have presented parent information in various ways, last year offering parent sessions each week throughout Term 3. This year, we are trialling a different model and have created a K-12 parent conference that will focus on curriculum. Please see the flyer (K-12 Parent Curriculum Conference) in this Ma Nishma and booking details below.

The curriculum conference targets Years K-12 parents. It will be a conference-style event with a range of engaging external and teacher speakers to choose from that cover different curriculum topics for parents.

Please use this link to see the program and register. https://goo.gl/forms/PxPjVoLLWzZEv0eg2

Fathers’ Day

A very enjoyable Fathers’ Day Breakfast was held this morning, with hundreds of Dads and special men being treated to a delicious breakfast with their children in the MPH. Huge thanks go to our tireless P&F Co-chairs Ruby Berkovic and Jen Opit and their team of helpers for making this happen. The Fathers’ Day stall, that was held for the children to purchase gifts for the special man in their lives, also involved a great deal of organisation and preparation. Our thanks go to Michelle Stockley and her team for their work to make this such a success.

HJEI

You may not know that all the Principals and Heads of Primary of the Jewish schools in Sydney are part of an organisation called Heads of Jewish Educational Institutions. The group is collegial and supportive and we are often in contact via email. We meet each term to discuss a range of topics pertaining to our schools. Yesterday’s topics included a presentation by a qualified psychologist proposing seminars to help parents manage the brainstorm of adolescence, accreditation for teachers, a possible da Vinci-style competition for students from Jewish schools and a range of policy-related issues.

Sydney University Research Project

I remind you that information about this project was sent to parents of Years 5 – 11 students recently, asking you to provide permission for your child/children to take undertake the online survey, and to do the survey yourselves. Please take the time to give the permission and assist. While we get many requests to be part of research projects, we are unable to take up many of them because of time constraints. This project is specifically targeting what we do here and should benefit ours and other Jewish students in the long run.

Mazal Tov to:

• Our Middle HICES Debating team who has progressed to the Grand Final in the HICES competition, to be held next Thursday. The students are Lara Fosbery, Eden Glass, Ruby Hurwitz, Chloe Miller, Ethan Moliver and Anna Davis from Years 7 and 8. Their coach is ex-student Joshua Moses and their co-ordinating teacher is Jemma Lopis.
• Isabella Flax (Year 10), acknowledged as one of the best debaters in the HICES finals rounds, who has been accorded the honour of chairing the Grand Finals Opens Debate in the HICES competition
• Sophie Sawicki (Year 8), who ran a fund-raising initiative for the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary and raised $672
• Chelsea Rutstein (Year 10), who has been awarded Junior champion in fishing, ladies champion and overall club champion (against men, women and other juniors), in her local club and also took out first, second and third in junior girls and first in another length-only division, in the NSW competition
• Our Junior Chess team, Jesse Gothelf, Sol Biton, Joshua Leslie and Daniel Zipser who will now proceed to the Eastern finals against Sydney Grammar Edgecliff next week.
• The students who represented CDSSA in the AICES Athletics, and particularly Oskar Beck for first place in javelin, Danielle Rutstein for first place in high jump and second place in triple jump, and Aarin Regan Lacey for third place in long jump and second place in triple jump
• Dan Altman (class of 2012) who has recently been awarded the University Medal in Mathematics at UNSW.

Coming up

• HSC Music Showcase, Tuesday 5 September 6 pm
• Year 7 Shorashim Project Showcase, Thursday 7 September, 7 pm
• Year 11 Drama Showcase, Monday 11 September, 7 pm
• P & F Monday Morning Cooking Club, Tuesday 12 September, 7.45 pm
• K – 12 Curriculum Conference for parents, Wednesday 13 September, 6.30 pm
• Grandparents Day, Friday 15 September, 9 am
• Year 12 Graduation Assembly, Tuesday 19 September, 8.15 am
• Year 12 Graduation Dinner, Tuesday 19 September, 6 pm
• Last day of Term 3, Wednesday 20 September (school finishes at 1.10 pm, Erev Rosh Hashanah)

Quote of the week 

‘The primary goal of education at all levels should be to expose students to a wide array of pursuits and help them find that they love spending time on.’ [Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith in ‘Most Likely to Succeed’]

Best wishes for an enjoyable and relaxing weekend. I hope that all our Dads and special men have a wonderful day on Sunday.

Shabbat Shalom

Divrei Torah

Ki Teitsei

Luca Calderon-Havas – Year 7

In parashat Ki Teitsei, Moshe continues his speech from the previous parshiyot. Moshe explains and emphasises new rules to the Israelites. This shows, back when this was said, how much power men had over women. Even in recent times and in many countries men have more power than women.

Moshe states rules for honesty and returning lost objects. Moshe also says to keep away from everything evil and have a close guard. I disagree, for example, with regard to fears. If you keep away and don’t go near your fear you will never overcome it.

Another big rule is to “keep your promises”. This is very important as people won’t trust you if you don’t. An excellent example of this is the book ‘Horton Hatches the Egg’ by Doctor Seuss. I am sure many of you have heard the saying: “I meant what I said and I said what I meant; an elephant is faithful one hundred percent”. The elephant promises to sit on the egg until the bird comes back, but the bird doesn’t come back. Horton sits on the egg for a long time as he doesn’t want to break his promise. In the end, the egg hatches without the bird there and it comes out half elephant and half bird. The moral of that story is “It’s important to keep your promises. Faithfulness has its own rewards”.

This parashah focuses on rules some of which we might disagree about and many of which lead us to be respectful, honest and well-behaved.

Gabriel Sebban – Year 11

Ki Teitzei is a parashah of rules and regulations. It is actually the most ‘mitzvah-heavy’ Torah portion, with 74 commandments discussed. Though you may think at first: “Rules, no thanks”, many of the mitzvot described throughout the parashah convey challenging ideas, still relevant today. Why else do you think we keep on rereading it, every year?

The commandments of Ki Teitzei, all 74 of them are:

• If you fall in love with a prisoner of war, you must shave her head, trim her nails and marry her, but if a relationship does not work, you must set her free and not treat her brutally
• If you have a rebellious child that refuses to listen to their parents, they must be taken to the gates of the city and stoned to death
• You must return things that are lost to their rightful owners
• If you find a bird’s nest and want to collect the eggs that are in it, you must first shoo away the mother before collecting the eggs.

Okay, I’m not actually going to recite the next 70 mitzvot of Ki Teitzei, but I want to stop at that last commandment. The Torah says that: “If [walking] along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest . . . and the mother is sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young. Let the mother go and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life”.

Some refer to this mitzvah as the ‘weakest’ and most ‘insubstantial’ commandment in the Torah. It’s simply about stealing a mother bird’s eggs without her knowledge, right? Well, I think some context is now needed, because if you continue reading the parashah, several mitzvot are listed after this seemingly useless one, each subsequent mitzvah slightly increasing in difficulty each time. Rashi, as you may remember, commentated on Jewish texts. He tells us that these commandments are listed one after another because one good deed leads to another and another. By completing this easy mitzvah, and because good deeds have a ripple-like effect, fulfilling other mitzvot, and just helping others in general becomes easier.

Unfortunately, the Torah portion also discusses some rather unsatisfying, misogynistic topics as well. In one example of blatant unfairness, let us say that a man accuses his wife of dishonesty, but is proven to have lied, he is fined 100 shekels, and his wife is forced to stay with him. If, however, let us say the same situation has occurred, but the man’s suspicions are confirmed, then his wife is to be stoned to death.

You might say that the Torah’s morals and ethics are flawed. On one side, we have the notion of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world and helping others. There is a love of humanity and all things morally just. Then we read the next few lines of the portion, where this unfair relationship between men and women is described, not to mention the way in which we are told to stone our children if they are rebellious, or to stone our daughters if they get married but are then deemed ‘impure’.

So you’d think that these hiccups within the Torah, the laws and mitzvot that no longer relate to our fast-moving society, should be disregarded, yes? Well, in actual fact, these are the very reasons why we must apply our own logic and understanding to such an ancient text containing many invaluable writings of moral and ethical worth, looking past the surface to discover the treasure beneath.

Many Rabbis over the centuries have attempted to discover the Torah’s true meaning, with each taking the morals and ethics discussed throughout, and applying it to their societal context. We must do the same. Perhaps the Torah is attempting to say that all people are flawed. We make so many contradicting actions all the time. People download thousands of dollars-worth of pirated software and media over the Internet, but they would never steal from Westfield. Most people say they appreciate the importance of a balanced life, but dedicate 75% of their life to work and an additional 10% to Netflix.

Yes, the Torah is contradictory. Yes, we ourselves are contradictory, but we must look past it to the true beauty beneath. The Torah has been evolving ever since it was written, with Rabbis discussing every word of the Torah, either supporting or rendering them no longer operational or applicable to society. We must do the same with both the Torah and ourselves, correcting our misconceptions and supporting each other, bringing forward the Torah’s central value of Tikkun Olam, making the world a better place.

Ma Koreh

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Studies Primary

Weekly Torah Portion

Parashat Ki Teztei Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19

In this week’s Torah portion, a broad range of rules covering family relationships and ethical behaviour, designed to build a just and fair society, are discussed. These rules cover topics such as returning lost property, using fair measurements, kind treatment of animals, prompt payment of workers, looking after the vulnerable in the community and keeping one’s promises.

Family discussion: 

• The concept of fairness is the foundation of many of the rules and teachings in this week’s portion. What does fairness mean to you? Share a time when you have experienced something unfair. What did that feel like and how was the situation resolved?
• We are told to keep our promises. Why is this important?

 Month of Elul  אלול  – Sound of the Shofar  שופר  

One of the names for Rosh HaShanah ראש השנה is Yom Teruah  יום תרועה ‘the Day of the Sounding’. The mitzvah of the shofar שופר is to hear it being sounded, rather than blowing it oneself. Given that one cannot perform this mitzvah without a competent baal tekiah בעל תקיעה ‘master of shofar sound’ – it is a great privilege and honour to sound the shofar שופר for the community.

The word shofar שופר is related to the word leshapear לשפר which means ‘to improve’. Connected to this concept, Maimonides (13^th Century CE) expands on this teaching in his work, the Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Teshuvah 3:4):

“Awake, you sleepers from your sleep. Arouse you slumberers from your slumber and ponder your deeds; remember your Creator and return to God in repentance. Do not be like those who miss the truth in pursuit of shadows and waste their years seeking vanity. Look well to your souls and consider your deeds; turn away from your wrong ways and improper thoughts.”

Rav Saadia Gaon (10^th Century CE) gave 10 reasons for sounding the shofar שופר : Here are five of them:

1. To acknowledge God’s dominion and to celebrate the birthday of the world
2. To remind us of the Torah and mitzvot – which we received on Mount Sinai – accompanied by blasts of the shofar שופר
3. To remind us of the story of the Akeidah – the binding of Isaac which is read on Rosh HaShanah ראש השנה and the ram that replaced Isaac as an offering
4. To act as a wake-up call for us to reflect on our actions and engage in acts of yeshivah  תשובה, repentance and return to our best selves.  
5. The voice of the shofar שופר is like the voice of the prophets that rang out to alert the Jewish people to change their ways and improve themselves and the world.

When we hear the ancient call or the voice of shofar שופר, we are encouraged to engage in reflection and introspection, to:

• leshapear לשפר – work on improving ourselves
• teshuvah תשובה – return to our best selves through reflection and mending relationships.

Hebrew Week

From the Primary School

Natanya Milner – Head of Primary

School Community Partnerships

Parent-School partnerships are such an important part of the success of schooling. We value opportunities to collaborate with our community and share information about the children and our programs. It has been wonderful to welcome so many parents to this week’s Parent Teacher Nights. Thank you for coming along. I would also like to thank the teachers for preparing for their interviews so thoroughly.

We are also thrilled to invite you to two upcoming parent conferences. In the past, we have presented parent information in various ways. In recent years, we have offered sessions each week throughout Term 3. This year, we are trialling a different model and have created two parent conferences. Please see the flyers in this Ma Nishma and booking details below. The curriculum conference targets Years K-12 parents and the wellbeing evening is focused upon Years K-6 parents. Having said this, all parents are welcome (including Kornmehl parents) if the topics are of interest.

• K-12 Parent Curriculum Conference on Wednesday 13 September at 6.30 pm
• K-6 Parent Wellbeing Conference on Monday 16 October at 7.00 pm.

These will be conference-style events with a range of engaging speakers covering different curriculum and wellbeing topics for parents. We look forward to sharing perspectives from external presenters and school staff.

Please use these links to see the speakers and register.

Curriculum Conference – https://goo.gl/forms/PxPjVoLLWzZEv0eg2

Wellbeing Conference – https://goo.gl/forms/NvhliushjismC7d62

TIGS Trophy Soccer Competition

TIGS Trophy is a soccer competition for Primary School boys and girls and is hosted by Illawarra Grammar School. This week, Emanuel entered two teams into the competition. The children thoroughly enjoyed participating in the event and the boys’ team did very well to make it into the quarter finals. Thank you to all the children who participated so enthusiastically and skillfully and to Mr Taylor and Mr Ezekiel for their efforts to include our children in so many different sporting opportunities.

Friendship Circle

Thank you to the Charity Committee, Karon Rom, Diane Clennar and Renee Levenson for organising this week’s ‘purple fundraiser’. This event was to build awareness of the Friendship Circle and its upcoming fundraising walk on 10 September and to raise money from the Emanuel community. Almost $600 was raised by Emanuel School students. Well done!

Chess

In the NSW Primary Schools’ chess competition, our Primary A team has entered the knockout rounds of the Sydney East Regional Finals. On Monday, they played Strathfield South Public School in the semi-finals and won the match. Well done to all our players: Jesse Gothelf, Sol Biton, Joshua Leslie and Daniel Zipser. We are proud of their tenacity and expertise. The team will now proceed to the Eastern finals against Sydney Grammar Edgecliff next week. We wish the team the best of luck.

Fathers Day

I would like to thank the P&F for their incredible efforts for Fathers Day. The breakfast was delicious and such a beautiful opportunity to celebrate our fathers, grandfathers and special friends and thank them for their contributions to our children’s lives. I would also like to thank them for the gift stall. The children were so excited to be able to choose gifts for Sunday. I would like to wish you a happy Fathers Day and hope you enjoy a lovely weekend together.

Years 3-5 Camp

Next week, students in Years 3, 4 and 5 will be heading to Myuna Bay for our annual Sport and Recreation Camp. This is always a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, explore new activities, develop skills and relationships. We are excited to spend the week with the children and look forward to sharing our adventures with you upon our return. As you can imagine, our staff love spending time on camp but it is an additional commitment away from their families and lives. I thank them in advance for their dedication, care and energy.

A reminder that children need to be at school by 7.30 am on Wednesday morning.

Challah Bake Sale

Year 2 will be organising a Challah Bake Sale on Friday 8 September. It will begin at 3.15 pm and each challah will cost $2. All proceeds will go back to Our Big Kitchen as a part of Year 2 students’ Make A Difference (MAD) Project. Challot will be on sale on the blue ocean outside the Year 1 classrooms and in the Triguboff Courtyard.

Mazal Tov, Jono

Congratulations to Jono Reisel who has been cast into a production at the Australian Theatre for Young People. The play is called Wonderfly and it is recommended for children aged eight+. All the very best, Jono!

Calendar links

Next Week’s Calendar Link

2017 Calendar Link

 Term 3 K-2 assembly items

• 8 September (Week 8): KH Ms Yunis’ Class
• 22 September (Week 10): School closed for Rosh Hashanah

Parent Wellbeing Conference

K – 12 Parent Curriculum Conference

From the Primary Madrichim

Tess Endrey – Year 6

Madrichim Term 3 report 

This term the Madrichim are continuing to work on their videos for assembly. The messages in the videos are from The Leader In Me and Minduflnesss programs. They teach us how to be calm and respectful of others.

During this process we have learnt many things, for example, we have been focusing on making sure our explanations and stories are clear. We want the videos to be interesting and entertaining, but we also want the messages to be understood by the younger children. A summary of our video series is below:

• Respect and Seeking First to Understand: Ethan and Ruby
• Organisation and Putting First Things First: Tess and Aaron
• Be Proactive and Think Before You Speak: Lucy and Zoe
• Mindfulness: Ethan and Jesse
• Feeling Fizzy or Wobbly: Jono and Coby
• Cybersafety: Lucy and Zoe.

We have also been running a table tennis competition for Years 5-6. Last term we ran a competition for Years 3-4 which was very successful and ran very smoothly. The Years 5-6 ping pong competition started with 44 children. Each round is a knock out in order to progress to the next level. The game is one against one and first to score 7 points wins. Thank you to Ethan and Ruby for organising and running this competition.

Another responsibility we have is running assembly every fortnight. We announce each part of the assembly and also prepare News of the Fortnight on current events. This year we have also been involved in running some of the Jewish Life prayers and events. Each Friday we also assist the Jewish Life Leaders as they run Shabbat.

It is an important responsibility to be the Primary Madrichim. We need to be role models for the younger students and lead the school in a way that will help the younger children. We hope that we will be remembered as good leaders. 

Primary Library Book Week Activities

Ginette Cameron-Gardner – Teacher/Librarian

The Scholastic Book Fair and Australian Books for Children of Africa collection 

Thank you for your continuing support of the Primary Library through purchases made from the Scholastic Book Fair and also your most generous donation of the 1087 pre-loved books donated to the Australian Books for Children of Africa collection.

That was initiated and co-ordinated by Debbie Cohen with the help of a number of Year 4 students who dropped the books off in the Library where the books were assessed by the Teacher Librarian and carefully packed and counted into boxes by Norman Stein (above). 

Foxy Tales by Caryl Hart and Alex T. Smith 

There is a really amusing new series in the Primary Library ideal for Years 1-3 called Foxy Tales, by the author-illustrator pair, Caryl Hart and Alex T. Smith. It’s filled with wonderfully quirky illustrations for young readers.

Book 1 is The Cunning Plan 

Book 2 is The Road to Fame and Fortune 

Book 3 is The Great Jail Break. 

Foxy DuBois is on a mission to get rich quick. Only one thing stands in her way – Alphonso the Alligator! Can Foxy’s hair-brained schemes make enough money to keep Alphonso fed? Or will Foxy DuBois find herself on the menu? 

The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2017 has closed 

208 students completed the Challenge. 

Year 1: 27 completed 

Year 2: 39 completed 

Year 3: 8 completed 

Year 5: 17 completed 

Year 6: 63 completed 

Year 7: 6 completed 

Year 9: 1 completed 

Congratulations to those students. Mazal tov מזל טוב 

16 students have completed 4 times 

8 students have completed 5 times 

5 students have completed 6 times. 

It is particularly pleasing to see some of last year’s Year 6 students completing the Challenge still even though they are now in Year 7. 

Our students enjoy reading for pleasure and we have an extensive collection of books for them to choose from. There were 6801 loans of fiction during the period 30.1.17 to 30.6.2017 from the Primary Library. 

“Study after study tells us that reading for pleasure … improves reading achievement, which includes such things as a strong vocabulary, a greater use of complex grammatical structures, and the development of a good writing style. It promotes cognitive development and increases empathy and social skills.” May 3, 2016. The Many Benefits of Reading for Pleasure | Denver Public Library www.denverlibrary.org/blog/amy/many-benefits-reading-pleasure

https://readingagency.org.uk/news/media/reading-for-pleasure-builds-empathy-and-improves-wellbeing-research-from-the-reading-agency-finds.html 

Murdoch University research aims to discover how to keep kids reading for fun. ‘Reading is vital to concentration in the multimedia age’ by Dr Margaret Merga whose work on the importance of reading was featured on. ABC Radio Perth By Emma Wynne Posted 19 November 2015, 4:22pm www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-19/research-into-why-children-stop-reading/6955484 

At the Primary Library the students are encouraged to borrow and read and also to take part in the selection process so as to keep the collection current and vibrant.

Author Duncan Ball Visits Year 2

This term in reading groups, Year 2 students are completing an author study on Duncan Ball. We began by learning about his life, the different countries where he has lived and how he started writing children’s novels. The two novels currently being studied are ‘Emily Eyefinger’ and ‘Selby’s Secret’. Both are very entertaining and have unexpected twists and turns.

On Tuesday, Year 2 students were privileged to have Duncan Ball visit. He read to us from Emily Eyefinger, Selby and even some hilarious poems that he has written. All the students listened attentively as they were intrigued with the plot and characters. Duncan Ball said that he has written approximately 75 books! He was also able to answer many of the questions the students had.

It was a very enjoyable morning and all of Year 2 students are now highly motivated to read more of his books and even try their hand at writing their own stories.

We greatly appreciated Duncan Ball dedicating his time to talk to us.

Primary Friendship Circle

What’s purple and smiles?

 

Charity Leaders, Lotus van der Starre, Daniella Nesher, Lilia Joseph and Alix Cane

High School sporting events next week

Kristy Reed – Sports Co-ordinator & PDHPE Teacher

Monday

Morning

14s boys basketball training

Years 7/8 basketball development squad

Afternoon

Tennis development program

Pilates

Tuesday

Morning

Junior boys rugby training

Running group

Afternoon

Sydney Schools Cup interschool boys basketball competition

Sydney Schools Cup interschool girls volleyball competition

Wednesday

Morning

Boys fitness

14s boys basketball training

Gymnastics

Thursday

Morning

Girls fitness

Senior boys rugby training

Lunch

Open boys basketball training

Afternoon

Skyzone

Open boys basketball competition

Friday

Morning

Swimming squad

16 boys basketball training

Intermediate boys rugby training

Lunch

Years 7/8 Sydney Schools Cup volleyball training

Sunday

14s boys basketball competition

16s boys basketball competition

Representative Athletics

Kristy Reed -Sports Co-ordinator & PDHPE Teacher

On Monday 21 August a very strong group of Emanuel students competed at the annual Combined Districts Secondary Sports Association (CDSSA) Athletics Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park. Following on from the School carnival earlier in the year, over 80 students qualified to participate in this event. Many of these students had been training in the before-school training sessions each week and were well prepared for their individual events.

Emanuel finished in a well deserved 3^rd place on the overall points tally out of the 11 schools in the CDSSA. All of the students who attended showed an exemplary level of dedication and effort. The junior girls relay team had a convincing win, as did many of our individual athletes.

• Sacha Rosen: CDSSA Age Champion, 1^st place in 200m, 1^st  place in long jump, 1^st  place in 100m, 1^st  place in 400m
• Danielle Rutstein: CDSSA Age Champion, 1^st  place and CDSSA high jump record 1.55m, 1^st  place in long jump, 2^nd place in 100m, 3^rd place in 200m, 1^st  place in relay
• Aiden Poswell: 1^st place in 800m
• Samara Trenaman: 3^rd place in 3000m, 3^rd place in 1500m
• Jared Elbourne: 1^st place in 1500m, 3^rd place in 3000m, 3^rd place in 800m
• Allegra Goldman: 1^st place in 3000m,
• Mark Kang: 2^nd place in shot put
• Romi Lapidge: 2^nd place in 100m, 3^rd place in 200m, 1^st place in relay
• Isabella Schulz: 3^rd place in 200m
• Brianna Gadeley: 3^rd place in 200m, 2^nd place in long jump
• Aarin Regan Lacey: 1^st place in long jump, 1^st place in 100m, 2^nd place in 200m
• Ellie Morris: 1^st place in shot put
• Gabriella Goodridge: 1^st place in 800m, 3^rd place in 400m
• Timothy Troyanovsky: 1^st place in shot put
• Jordan Behr: 2^nd place in shot put
• Matthew Lowy: 2^nd place in discus
• Jordan Weizman: 2^nd place in high jump, 2^nd place in 100m
• Jessica Rubin: 3^rd place in 100m, 1^st place in relay
• Debbie Winter: 3^rd place in 1500m
• Jamie Orleow: 3^rd place in 1500m
• Jade Christie: 1^st place in shot put
• Georgia Kahane: 2^nd place in 400m
• Tia Mallinick: 3^rd place in 400m
• Oskar Beck: 1^st place in javelin
• Celina Di Veroli: 2^nd place in shot put
• Emily Rubin: 1^st place in relay

These excellent performances resulted in 27 Emanuel athletes qualifying to represent the CDSSA at the Association of Independent Coeducational Schools (AICES) Championships. These elite athletes put in some amazing performances:

• Oskar Beck: 1^st place in javelin
• Danielle Rutstein: 1^st  place in high jump and 2_^nd place in triple jump
• Aarin Regan Lacey:  3^rd place in long jump and 2^nd place in triple jump
  

  Oskar Beck

Danielle Rutstein

Aarin Regan Lacey

Well done to the Emanuel Athletics Team!

Kol Szenes

Word of the week

COALESCE to grow together

Quotation of the week

“Nurturing yourself is not selfish – it’s essential to your survival and your well-being.” 
Renee Peterson Trudeau

This week in Szenes House:

• Year 10 are enjoying Machaneh Camp in the Southern Highlands
• We welcome back Year 11 from their week of examinations.

Mazal tov to:

• Year 12 Drama students for completing their HSC examination
• Years 7 and 9 on achieving pleasing NAPLAN results.

Mindfulness and Wellbeing

Our School’s motto is Mind Spirit Being. This week in Kol Szenes, the focus is on Mindfulness and Wellbeing. Mindfulness and Wellbeing are ways in which we are able to connect with our inner-self on a deeper level; in a sense, it is another form of self-respect.

Being in High School, especially, is challenging, so it is really important to be mindful through stressful times such as examinations.

Here are some useful ways that can help with mindfulness and one’s wellbeing:

1. Yoga
2. Meditation such as mindfulness
3. Talking
4. Writing
5. Reading
6. Listening to music.

I personally find meditating, writing, reading and listening to music extremely therapeutic and find that they are a good anti-stress mechanism.

If you are interested in trying meditation, Liron Smith (11) has organised a Meditation Club, which is held on Friday lunchtimes in the Wellbeing room in the Angles Leadership and Learning Centre.

Puzzles

Connecting our Community – Gesher

Sonia Newell – Development Officer

An intellectually stimulating Sunday afternoon, followed by an evening of musical delight

Last Sunday afternoon we hosted the first Grandparent Committee event in the Angles Leadership and Learning Centre, with guest speaker Adi Gefen-Adler, UIA Shaliach. ADI is a tour guide by profession, a Captain Reserve in the IDF, married with two young daughters, and specialises in speaking about Israeli history and comparative theology.  His chosen topic for our event was Is Jerusalem Holy to Islam?  Adi had the audience mesmerised as he gave an in-depth history of Islam, its emergence and significance of its relationship to Jerusalem, all based on facts, not emotions or hear-say.

The audience of around 40 people for this amazing session included not only grandparents but also current and past parents as well as other interested members of the wider community. 

Kathy Passman, Co-president of the Grandparents Committee said: “Adi’s talk was extremely informative and he was able to back up his comments with proof. He’s a very nice and courteous young man and to give up so much of his valuable time for us was greatly appreciated”.

Grandparent John Sweller commented: “Adi gave a fascinating talk on the history of Islam and its relation to Jerusalem.  He spoke with infectious vitality as he armed us with knowledge.”

Adi Gefen-Adler with Kathy Passman and Tammy Keller, co-presidents of the Grandparent Committee

Grandparents, Rafi and Ros Shammay with Susan and John Sweller

Some who had attended the afternoon session stayed on for the Senior Chamber Choir and Alumni Concert in the Millie Phillips Theatre in the early evening.  What sheer vocal delight for the audience! This was the 2^nd of what we hope will be an annual event, where the School’s Senior Chamber Choir and other High School singers, along with alumni, get together to perform. Thank you to Adam Majsay, Director of Studies, and previous Head of Music, who organised this event. 

Alumni singers 2017 with Adam Majsay. Back row: Daniel Morton, Jeremy Schneider, Nathan Cohen, Jared Steiner, Sarah Beder, AJ America. Front row: Miriam (Mimi) Greenbaum, Micayla Laurence and Sonia Isaacs

Senior Girls Chamber Choir 2o017

All vocalists in the 2017 Senior Chamber Choir and Alumni Concert – students and alumni, here with Adam Majsay

Primary Grandparents and Friends Day reminder

Please remind grandparents of your Years K-6 children of Primary Grandparents Day on Friday 15 September. See the invitation on the next page and ask them to please RSVP for catering purposes: snewell@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au

Primary Grandparents and Friends Day

Term 4 back to school uniform

Please check your wardrobes and be prepared for the beginning of Term 4 

Careers

Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

Weeks 6 and 7 always seems to be those where my phone tends to run non-stop and students have questions that are a dime a dozen! I like it that way as it keeps things moving at a quick pace and hopefully students feel they are making progress. Each year I find that parents have many questions to ask about the process and would benefit from a sounding board. As a result, Adam Majsay (Director of Studies 7-12) and I are hosting an informal Q&A session where parents can hear about the ATAR, how it works, the application process for UAC and anything else they would like to know. 

You will have recently received an invitation. If you would like to attend please RSVP to Shelley Ezekiel sezekiel@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au 

Sydney University spoke to our Year 12s to outline their scholarship opportunities for 2018.

We heard from two current Sydney University scholars, one studying Commerce/Law and the other studying Advanced Science. They talked about the variety of scholarships on offer and the process in order to secure one. Their key message was to get in early, plan the application and answers, and make sure that one’s individuality shines through.

Listed below are the scholarships that are currently open. I encourage anyone interested in a degree at Sydney University to browse these options to see what is of interest.

http://sydney.edu.au/scholarships/undergraduate/year12/index.shtml

This weekend are the UNSW and ACU (Australian Catholic University) open days and as always I encourage everyone in Year 12 to have a look, get a tour of the campus and most importantly go to a faculty lecture of interest to you.

www.futurestudents.unsw.edu.au/open-day

Notices

University of Sydney – fixed ATAR system

The fixed ATAR is the minimum ATAR needed to guarantee entry into a chosen course. If a student achieves this required ATAR and places Sydney as their first preference they will be made an offer through the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC). The required ATAR thresholds will not change throughout the preference and admissions period for 2018 entry, which includes the December, January and February UAC rounds.

http://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2017/08/21/university-ends-uncertainty-with-fixed-atar-.html

Making butter with a bouncy ball

Eat Your History

To celebrate Book Week, the High School Library hosted Sydney Living Museums’ resident gastronomer, Jacqui Newling, to share the delicious stories behind her book, Eat Your History.

Eat Your History is a beautifully illustrated cookbook which describes over 40 recipes dating back to the arrival of the First Fleet, with stories woven throughout to give us a glimpse of life in the 19^th to mid 20^th century (think Monday Morning Cooking Club but without the chollent).

Jacqui’s book brings history alive and shares with us the joy of baking and discovering the stories behind the recipes, including, for example, Regency Cheesecakes, which required one to make ricotta cheese from scratch, milk the cow, collect eggs from the chooks, whip the milk fat to make the cream and find a lemon tree and pick a ripe one.  

Grandparents, parents, teachers and a smattering of students attended the fascinating talk which was followed by a practical lesson in butter making. This was a first for most of us and we were surprised when our bottle, cream and bouncy ball made butter which tasted delicious on freshly baked bagels – a great combination of traditions. 

Michelle Favero, Manager of Marketing and Communications

Year 11 Drama Showcase

From Parents and Friends

Ruby Bekovic and Jennifer Opit

Happy Friday

By now our Fathers Day Breakfast and Stalls will have finished. We will include photos in next week’s instalment but would like to thank everyone who made today possible.

A special thank you to Biller Property for sponsoring our coffee cart.

We also thank the wonderful Michelle Stockley and her helpers for running the gift stalls. We hope you enjoy your gifts!

A big thanks goes out to all our wonderful volunteers, some of you braving a crazy early start, that helped us make the breakfast possible. And finally, thanks to all of you that came out and enjoyed the morning with us.

We wish all the dads and grandfathers in the Emanuel community a very happy Fathers Day for Sunday!

Monday Morning Cooking Club

At 7.45 pm on Tuesday 12 September, some of the ladies from the Monday Morning Cooking Club will be coming to Emanuel to demonstrate a couple of recipes from their latest cookbook. There will be delicious food to sample and cookbooks on sale. Space is limited and it is sure to be a wonderful night!

Book here: www.trybooking.com/RKEB

The P&F auction is live with some amazing items donated by Emanuel families! Be sure to check it out:

P&F Auction – active now until November  www.32auctions.com/EmanuelSchool2017

SAVE THE DATE:

Camping Trip: 3-5 November 3-5
Mums at the Movies: 12 November

Enjoy your weekend and Happy Fathers Day

Jen and Ruby

Mums at the Movies – Parents and Friends

Parents and Friends Camping Trip