Last Sunday, the curtain opened at Moriah Congregation for the second annual Cabaret Night. Thirty-seven students, seven faculty members, and countless parents made this performance possible for an audience of 350. The program included numbers such as My Generation, Peggy Sue, La Bamba, In the Mood, Jailhouse Rock, Blowin' in the Wind, Piece of My Heart, Hair, Let It Be, Big Yellow Taxi, I Will Survive, Born to Run, Hold My Hand, Everyday is a Winding Road, and Shir L'Shalom. This is one of many programs in the Fine and Performing Arts curriculum at Chicagoland Jewish High School.

Many thanks to Moriah Congregation for their generosity in allowing our community to use their facility. A special thanks to Karen Walanka for her outstanding dedication to our students throughout the day. We'd also like to thank our CJHS parents for your continued commitment to furthering the arts at our school. Your support for your child's participation in this production helps to further our programming and your child's appreciation for music and theatre. You have our thanks and admiration.

Event Invitations In Your Mailbox, Thanks to Volunteers

Watch your mailboxes this week for the invitation to our upcoming "Building for Success" event on May 18, 2006 honoring Roslyn B. Stein. The invitation mailing could not have happened without Jennifer Flink, Event Committee member, and her dedicated volunteers, who collated, stuffed, stamped and sealed all of the invitations! "This truly was a community effort. Grandparents, parents, board and committee members, community members, faculty and staff all came together to ensure this project went smoothly," said Flink.

Many thanks to the following for their efforts: Larry Adler, Oly Avidar, Joan Brunwasser, Igor Burda, Margaret Cohn, Sara Coven, Rabbi Reni Dickman, Jennifer Flink, Kim and Alan Frankel, Maynard Grossman, Nina Harris, Diane Hoffman, Louise Holland, Deb Landis, Elisa Lupovitch, Rabbi Aaron Melman, Rabbi Michael Mishkin, Karen Peaceman, Larry Pachter, Jane Pickus, Cindy Pogrund, Janet Resnick, Julie Rosenfeld, Bruce Scher, Bill and Sylvia Shapiro, Marci Shapiro, Rachel Spiro, Rachel Stein, Tami Warshawsky, and anyone else we may have unintentionally missed.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the event on May 18. If you do not receive an invitation and would like one, please contact Caren Friedman, Assistant Director of Development, at 847-327-3723.

Debaters Travel to Evanston for Tournament

CJHS debaters attended their second debate tournament this past Wednesday at Evanston Township High School and won ten out of fifteen matches. Debaters include Isaac Simon, Brian Pogrund, Aaron Weinberg, Danny Silver, Jeremy Cogan, Jeremy Hulkower, Aaron Magid, David Weltman, Sandy Johnston, David Israel, and student coach Jacob Shapiro. Many thanks to Mr. Cohen, Mr. Gross, and Ms. Marcus for judging at this contest.

Students Participate in Spanish National Contest

During the week of April 3-7, all 37 Spanish students took the Spanish National Contest Exam. This exam is available to the students of teachers who belong to the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Each of the four Spanish levels took two different exams; one exam tested achievement, while the other tested proficiency. This year's exams were formatted and administered differently than in previous years. Sra. Debbie Brejcha and Sra. Claudia Linda thank all of the students and teachers who were understanding of the test's needs and requirements and who graciously gave up their use of the TRC for so many periods.

Student Among Top Scorers in Competition

Senior Ron Gejman competed in the Worldwide Youth & Science Engineering (WYSE) Competition at the University of Illinois in Urbana on April 3. We are pleased and proud to announce his fourth place win in the State of Illinois in Chemistry. Mazal tov, Ron!

Athletic News

It was a beautiful day for tennis on Tuesday! The men's tennis team won its opening match against Maine East. Every team member won his match in this clean-sweep victory, and the season is clearly off to a great start. After spring break, the team will play matches against Loyola Academy on Wednesday, April 26 at 4:00 p.m. and against New Trier on Thursday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m. (at the Northfield Campus).

Spring at CJHS this year also means coed ultimate frisbee season, featuring twenty-two students in this inaugural season. By popular request, Coach Rob Davis (women’s basketball coach) will lead the team. The team will practice at school Monday, April 24 and Thursday, April 27 from 4:45 to 6:00 p.m.

First Annual Athletic Banquet Coming Up

Come celebrate CJHS Athletics at the First Annual Spring Sports Banquet. This exciting event—which will honor our student-athletes and coaches—will be held at the school on Thursday, May 11 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nearly 70% of CJHS students participate in a school athletic program; we know that athletes, parents and friends will not want to miss this special event. The banquet will include a delicious dinner, presentation of awards to each player, an encore performance by our dance team, the premiere of a student-produced video, a keynote speaker, and more. Look for invitations in your mailbox shortly.

Yearbook Staff Celebrates

On Tuesday, the yearbook staff shared a celebratory luncheon in honor of the completion of this year’s book. The students recalled the best and most memorable moments while creating the book and brainstormed methods to make the process more effective for next year's staff. Linda Levin and Jason Wiznitzer, Co-Editors-in-Chief, thanked everyone for their hard work and presented personalized awards to each member of the staff.

The students will spend the remainder of the year completing the sponsorship book and selling copies of the yearbook, which should arrive shortly before the end of the school year.

If you would like to place an ad in this year's sponsorship book, honoring your student, advertising your business, or for any other reason, please download and complete the form linked below. The deadline has been extended to Monday, April 24, just after Pesach break. If you have any questions about placing an ad in the sponsorship book, please contact Vanessa Youshaei at yachad@cjhs.org.

Parents of seniors are especially invited to honor their students in the yearbook.

Click here for sponsorship book ad form.

Save the Date for P.O. Picnic

The annual Parent Organization Lag B'Omer Picnic will be held Sunday, May 21 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at a location to be announced. The picnic will feature food, fun, and a parent/child ultimate Frisbee competition. The cost is $8 for individuals or $20 per family. Faculty, staff, and incoming and prospective families are invited as our guests (at no charge). More information will be mailed after Pesach.

Crocheting Club and Va'ad Vogue Plan Delivery

On Friday, May 5, representatives of the Crocheting Club and the Va'ad Vogue will deliver their handmade hats and bracelets to Children's Memorial Hospital. Parent volunteers are needed to drive 4-5 students to the hospital immediately following classes at 1:30 and bring them back by 4:30. Please contact Rabbi Fryer at 847-423-5962 or RabbiFryer@cjhs.org if you can help with this mitzvah.

Rabbi Featured On Website

Yasher koach to Rabbi Fryer, whose column is the lead article this week on a web-based magazine for modern Jewish women.

Click here to read Rabbi Fryer's article.

New Email for Faculty and Staff

CJHS has changed email providers, and faculty and staff can now be reached @cjhs.org. All faculty and staff email addresses are firstinitiallastname@cjhs.org, with the exception of rabbis (rabbilastname@cjhs.org) and Ph.D.s (drlastname@cjhs.org).

CJHS Joins Million Voices for Darfur Campaign

The Va'ad Tikkun Olam encourages you to join the Million Voices for Darfur Campaign. This campaign intends to present one million electronic and physical postcards to our nation's leaders at the Darfur rally on April 30 in Washington, D.C. To send a prewritten electronic postcard, go to the website linked below. After you send the postcard, the site will let you send email to your friends and family, asking them to join the campaign as well.

We ask that you send this automatic email not only to your friends, but also to savedarfur@cjhs.org. This way, the Va'ad Tikkun Olam can keep track of how many postcards our community has sent. This will help us mobilize for action on behalf of Darfur, including the rally. Also, when you are at CJHS, please sign a paper postcard. These postcards are in an envelope on the podium in front of the whiteboard used for announcements. When you enter the school building, the whiteboard is just to your left.

On April 30, a rally will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to lobby our government to take stronger action in opposing the genocide in Darfur. Some CJHS students are planning to attend with their family and friends. For more information, please contact Nat Sufrin.

Please note that this is not a school-sponsored trip. Students need to be reported absent by their parents if they are going on the trip. Please call the school office prior to the date of absence.

Click here to send an electronic postcard.

Got Summer?

Can you believe that summer is almost here? What are you going to do this summer? If you don't already have plans, see Ms. Marcus in the College Counseling office, or email her at smarcus@cjhs.org. She can give you some great ideas.

Breakfast Sponsorships Available

If you would like to sponsor breakfast in honor of a student’s birthday (or any occasion), please contact Joan Waxman at jwaxman@cjhs.org.com or Sara Coven at penguinema@napcoltd.net. The students love the recognition, and the bagels are great, too!

Baruch Dayan HaEmet

We regret to inform you of the death of Philip Zell, father of Dr. Michele (Nelson) Kanter, and grandfather of sophomore Daniel Kanter. Mr. Zell passed away Wednesday, April 5 in Winnipeg. The funeral is being held and the shiva observed in Winnipeg, and the Kanter family will return home to Skokie with their extended family on Wednesday, April 12.

Joan Brunwasser is coordinating their Passover meals and would greatly appreciate the help and support of the CJHS community; if you are able to help provide food for their Seders, please call her at 847-924-6968.

Pesach Break

CJHS is on Pesach break for the next two weeks. The front office will be open during regular hours on Monday, April 10.

Classes will resume on Monday, April 24. The next e-news will be sent during that week.

Please note that the e-news deadline will be Wednesday, April 26 at noon.

Religious Life at CJHS

This week, Jennifer Feldman, Shayna Flink, David Weltman, Vanessa Youshaei, Josh Warshawsky, Sandy Johnston, Richard Kahn, and Eli Miller led tefillah. Richard Kahn, Josh Warshawsky, and Seth Linfield read Torah.

Yasher koach to Rachel Saks and Michael Lehrer, seniors at Northwestern University, who spoke at the senior minyan on April 5. Rachel and Michael talked about Jewish life on campus and their experience facilitating the Conservative minyan at Hillel.

Yasher koach to Dan Steinhelper for speaking about interfaith opportunities on campus during the senior minyan on March 29.

Yasher koach to Rabbi Fryer for giving a Dvar Torah this morning about the mental preparation required for Pesach.

This week’s parashah is Tzav. Candlelighting is at 7:04 today. Shabbat shalom and Chag Kasher v'Sameach!

Read the parashah, the haftarah, and a JTS commentary.