Chicagoland Jewish High School is deeply grateful to The J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation for their extremely generous gift to the Chicagoland Jewish High School Endowment Fund. This gift is in direct response to the Harvey L. Miller Family Foundation $2.5 Million Challenge Grant, which will match the Pritzker Family Foundation gift dollar for dollar.

"We are honored that The J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation took the time to tour our school and witness firsthand the excitement, energy, and caliber of learning that takes place inside and outside our classrooms," says Lynn Wiznitzer, CJHS Board President. "We appreciate their tremendous show of support for our administration, faculty, and students. Their gift comes at important time in the life of CJHS as we prepare for our move to our permanent home in Deerfield."

"CJHS is a wonderful addition to the Chicago Jewish community," said J.B. Pritzker, President of the Pritzker Family Foundation. "Its warmth and excellence in both secular and Judaic studies provides students throughout Chicago an incredible opportunity, and M.K. and I are honored to be part of the school’s growth and success."

The Harvey L. Miller Family Foundation Challenge Grant is matching every gift of $100,000 or more that is made and paid by the end of the calendar year. For more information on how you can be a part of this exciting challenge and help to ensure the long- term strength and stability of Chicagoland Jewish High School, please contact Sheldon Moss at 847-324-3722.

Each year, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission names a group of outstanding Illinois high school seniors as state scholars. Students qualify as Illinois State Scholars based on their standardized test scores and class rank. We are pleased to announce that eleven members of the Class of 2007 have been honored as 2006-2007 Illinois State Scholars. The CJHS State Scholars are Leore Avidar, Ruth Eisenberg, Rachel Karp, Abigail Landis, Geoffrey Levin, Eli Miller, Sofia Petchersky, Lindsay Seidenberg, Matthew Silverman, Aliza Stein, and Nat Sufrin.

The CJHS Fine Arts Department is proud to invite the CJHS community to a very special photography exhibit by CJHS students, to be held at The Devon Bank, 901 Milwaukee Avenue, in Glenview from 5:00-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 14, 2006.

The exhibit, which will include a reception catered by Kosher Gourmet, will feature black and white portraits, enlarged to 16 x 20, taken by members of the CJHS photography class. For the assignment, each member of the class was paired with a buddy. Students were instructed to take a photo of their buddy from their buddy's (the subject's) point of view rather than from their own. While the photographers were encouraged to offer technical advice regarding lighting, props and clothing suggestions, they were required to shoot according to their buddy's wishes and expectations.

Before beginning the project, all of the photography students knew that their work would be enlarged and displayed, says CJHS Fine Arts instructor Marla Snyder. "At CJHS, we believe in celebrating expression in the arts," she says. "We encourage students to not only express themselves artistically, but also to be proud of their creative talents and to exhibit their work."

Terry Morrison, Director of Marketing for Devon Bank, says, "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase the work of CJHS students and to get to know the CJHS community."

The student photographers include Rachel Karp, Josh Weintraub, Chapman Bark-Huss, Ari Frankel, and Jacob Stoehr. If you would like to attend this event, please contact Mrs. Snyder via email or at 847.324.3744.

The CJHS winter athletic season is off to a great start, with 55 students involved in winter sports. With a growing school enrollment and an increased interest in sports, CJHS has both junior varsity and varsity men's teams this year. Led by Coaches Shaoul and Shyman, the teams play against Yeshiva on Sunday (at Hillel Torah), at home against Roycemore on Monday, and at home against Universal on Thursday. The CJHS women's basketball team, under the veteran leadership of Coach Davis, looks stronger than ever. This young team plays at Highland Park on Monday and at home against Our Lady of Tepeyac on Wednesday. The CJHS dance team, now in its second year, continues to work hard on its routines. The team has a full schedule of performances at home basketball games throughout the season. Come out and support your CJHS Tigers!

CJHS Welcomes and Appreciates Your Support
As the end of the calendar year approaches, we know you will receive many fundraising appeals, including a recent appeal from Chicagoland Jewish High School. At this time, we would like to say thank you for your past and future generous support of our school and our students. Your contributions to our Annual Fund help to meet the growing need for scholarship support and to maintain the excellence of our school. Please consider a generous gift to this year's Annual Fund. For more information or to make a gift, please contact Caren Friedman, Assistant Director of Development, via email or at 847-324-3723.

CJHS Welcomes Grandparents to a Hanukkah Celebration
Grandparents of all CJHS students and graduates are invited to attend the first program this school year of the CJHS Grandparents Committee, The Miracle of CJHS: A Hanukkah Celebration, on Tuesday, December 19 at 12:45 p.m. at the school. Come and enjoy a festive Hanukkah lunch together, and learn about CJHS and our latest miracle — our new site which will open in Deerfield in the fall of 2007!

The Grandparents Committee is chaired by Dr. Donald and Mrs. Roberta Charous. Invitations to this event were mailed last week. If you know of any CJHS grandparents who did not receive an invitation, please contact Caren Friedman via email or at 847-324-3723 with their names and addresses. Please RSVP to Ms. Friedman by December 13.

Va'ad Tikkun Olam is working with Abby Raskin, an Oak Park High School student who will travel to India on a school-sponsored spring break program, to collect school supplies -- pencils, pens, calculators, rulers, protractors, erasers, markers, etc. -- for a school in India. The drive will run from November 29 through December 12. These items will be taken to India and donated directly to schools in need. All donations are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, please contact Avra Shapiro, Jacob Rabinowitz, Rachel Binstock, or Rabbi Barkan.

A few weeks ago, CJHS reported the exciting news that Nicole Wiznitzer, a CJHS sophomore, was awarded first place in the Love Your Body Essay Contest sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for Women. We are thrilled to report that Karen Avidar, another CJHS sophomore, was awarded second place in the contest! Yasher koach to Nicole and Karen!

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
-Albert Einstein

On Tuesday, December 5, the CJHS jazz ensemble, choir, dance class, and drama class will perform in front of the entire school in the social hall during lunch and sixth period (12:15-1:15). Please join us for this wonderful showcase of our students' talents.

Students in Rabbi Fryer's 12th Grade Honors Talmud class received a special treat when Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni visited class on Friday, November 17. Rabbi Weiss Halivni is a specialist in Talmud and Rabbinics; he is the former Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Classical Jewish Civilization at Columbia University, and prior to that, he spent 30 years on the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary. While visiting Rabbi Fryer's class, Rabbi Weiss Halivni spoke about the sugya the class has been studying, Saul Lieberman's critical analysis of the sugya in the Tosefta Ki-Feshuta, and other versions of the text. Many thanks to Shai Halivni, a CJHS board member, and Diane Halivni, a former CJHS teacher, for making this visit possible.

The Fasttrack Trio, whose members include CJHS junior Richard Kahn, flautist Abi Noda, and cellist Zuren Hsueh, will perform in concert at 3:00 p.m. this Sunday at the Skokie Public Library, 5215 Oakton Street. The Fasttrack Trio's performance is part of the Young Steinway Series, a regional showcase for talented young musicians. Free tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis at the door. Richard plays in the CJHS jazz ensemble and studies piano with Emilio Del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago. The Fasttrack Trio is coached by Kathie Johnson.

The CJHS Mathletes participated in this year's second Illinois Math League Contest last week. Each contest consists of six challenging questions, and our highest scorer was senior Leore Avidar, with five correct answers. Our total team score (the sum of the five highest individual scores) was 20 points!

Congratulations to all 14 students who participated:

• Senior: Leore Avidar
• Juniors: Seth Berkman, Ari Frankel, Richard Kahn, Shai Kamin, Lilli Flink, David Weltman, and Rosie Kiken
• Sophomores: Sydni Cole, Avra Shapiro, Lea Sarris, and Rachel Garfinkel
• Freshmen: Ari Eisenstadt and Zach Kamin.

Tracy Mehr, our Assistant College Counselor, has left our staff, effective the week of November 20. Mr. Mehr and his wife, Fay Shong, are adopting a child from India. As is sometimes the case in adoptions from other countries, timelines can be very elastic. They were delighted to learn that the child is ready for adoption and had to respond immediately.

"We have great admiration for Mr. Mehr and Ms. Shong for their contribution to repairing the world with this adoption," says Dr. Ted Schaffner, Interim Head of School. "We are very sorry to see him leave our school; he has been a great asset to our college counseling process, winning the confidence of our students and parents. He has also been a wonderful colleague to us on the CJHS faculty and staff."

Ellen Rostker starts as our College Consultant, effective immediately. Ms. Rostker comes to CJHS from the college admissions side, having worked at the admissions offices of the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University. Ms. Rostker will be at CJHS three days per week. We look forward to her contributions to our college counseling process for our students. Her direct line is 847-324-3733, and her email address is erostker@cjhs.org.

Rabbi Fryer has written an essay on Thanksgiving (from the perspective of a Canadian), which has been published at www.shebrew.com. Rabbi Fryer is a frequent contributor to Shebrew, an online magazine written by and for modern Jewish women.

Two weeks ago, CJHS students Eli Miller, Josh Warshawsky, Matthew Silverman, Jacob Stoehr, Lindsay Seidenberg, Lilli Flink, Aliza Stein, Sofi Petchersky, and Jenn Hipps attended the Eighth Grade Shabbaton at the Solomon Schechter Middle School in Northbrook. These students worked with USYers and SSMS administrators to plan and implement programming. The Shabbaton provides a great opportunity for eighth graders to learn more about CJHS and USY and is an example of the strong relationships among partner institutions in Chicago.

Homecoming Dance
This weekend, CJHS will host a Homecoming Dance, the culmination of Spirit Week. Tickets have been on sale all week and will also be available tomorrow evening (Saturday night, December 2) at the dance, to be held at the North Shore Skokie Hotel, 9599 Skokie Boulevard. CJHS students are welcome to bring Jewish guests (high school age and older); tickets are $25 each at the door.

All-School Shabbaton
This year’s All-School Shabbaton will be held next weekend, December 8 and 9. Students will be transported directly to the Shabbaton after school on Friday and will return to CJHS at 9:15 p.m. on Saturday. Packing lists and additional information will be placed in students' boxes next week.

Panim el Panim
Twenty-four CJHS juniors will participate in Panim el Panim this year. Reminder: Juniors and parents have a Mandatory Panim Orientation Meeting on Tuesday, December 5 at 7:30 p.m. sharp! At the meeting, Ms. Marcus and Ms. Blumenthal, who will chaperone the program, will explain the guidelines and expectations for CJHS students at Panim and will provide additional critical information.

We wish a complete and speedy recovery to Mr. Taylor, our biology teacher, who broke his radius while playing in Wednesday's Student vs. Faculty basketball game.

Thank you to the Rosenberg family for sponsoring breakfast on November 20 in honor of Jessica's 15th birthday.

Thank you to the Flink, Landis, Seidenberg, and Warshawsky families for sponsoring breakfast on November 29, when students were treated to a special breakfast celebration and presentation about the new building. Students also enjoyed a cake and refreshments during lunch as part of the celebration.

Thank you to the Levitt family for sponsoring breakfast on November 30 in honor of Ariel's 16th birthday.

If you would like to sponsor breakfast in honor of a student's birthday (or any occasion), please contact Ms. Joan Waxman via email or by phone at 847-324-3711. The students love the recognition, and the bagels are great, too!

Mincha and Ma'ariv
During the winter months, CJHS will have a ma'ariv minyan after school rather than a mincha minyan. A mincha minyan will meet during the school day.

From November 20 through January 9, mincha will be held in Room 106 at the following times:

• Monday: 12:54 and 1:24, at the end of each lunch period
• Tuesday: 2:45, during the advisory period
• Wednesday: 12:49 and 1:19, at the end of each lunch period
• Thursday: 2:45, during the advisory period

This week's parashah is Vayetze. Read the parashah, haftarah, and a JTS commentary online.

Candlelighting is at 4:03 p.m. today.
Enjoy the snow day! Shabbat Shalom!