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Save the Date
Friday, March 5- Saturday, March 6
All-School Shabbaton
Thursday, March 11- Sunday, March 14
Red Sarachek Basketball Tournament
Tuesday, March 16 - Sunday, March 21
Model U.N. Conference
Sunday, March 21 - Monday, March 22
CJHS presents Grease!
Tuesday, March 23
Prospective Students Bowling Party
Monday, March 29
Spring Break Begins |
P. O. Corner
Parent Organization
Upcoming Education Programs
Please join CJHS' very own faculty for an evening of lively discussion.
"Preparing for Pesach: Physically and Spiritually"
Rabbi Elliot Goldberg
Wednesday March 10th
7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
The CJHS Book Club Presents...
"A Pigeon and a Boy" by Meir Shalev
Discussion led by
Dr. Roberta Miller and Ms. Ela Moskovich
Monday April 26th
7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Bowling, Sweet Nosh, and Rock 'N' Roll!
The Executive Plaza Hotel and Bowling Alley
1090 S. Milwaukee Ave
Wheeling, IL 60090
When: Saturday, March 13, 8:00PM to 11:00PM
CJHS Parent Organization invites you to join in a fun, social evening of bowling, live music and delicious dessert. So get out your favorite bowling shirt and those fashionista bowling shoes for fancy footwork on the alley.
This quaint, retro location is the perfect atmosphere to kibbitz with friends & make new ones. Casually bowl a few games while listening to Troubled Identity-- a local, award winning alternative rock band featuring SSDS alumni. (They've played at Park West, won Battle of the Bands, and are currently signed with a local record label, Out of the Box Records)
Delicious coffee and dairy desserts will be served. Cash bar.
Price: $18 per person by March 5, $20 per person at the door. Any funds collected beyond expenses will be donated to CJHS.
Parent Education
The Parent Organization is very excited about our program for the upcoming year. The program is comprised of three strands: · Issues of Concern to Parents · The CJHS Book Group · Torah Lishma (Learning for its own sake) Please find the details about programs at www.cjhs.org/pdf/
parenteducation.
Gelt Program
The P.O. is pleased to introduce the gift card "Gelt program" to our families. Faculty and staff who buy Gelt will help to support programs provided for the school by the P.O. This program is designed to help families earn money toward their children's junior year Panim program and/or the Senior Israel Experience. The program is a passive earning system, in which you buy the things you ordinarily purchase anyway and earn money which will be credited to your family for designated school trips. If you have any questions, contact Kim Frankel 847.373.1183 kfrankel0721@gmail.com or Sarah Budweg 847.710.1740 sbudweg13@aol.com.
Need stationery? Holiday cards? Family tributes? Order cards from the P.O.! Click here for more information.
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Community News and Events
JCC Young Actors
JCC Young Actors Ensemble is excited to offer the opportunity to dive into a World of Imagination through our spring musical, Willy Wonka. Auditions will take place by appointment on Tuesday, March 2 and Wednesday, March 3 at the Mayer Kaplan JCC in Skokie from 4:00-6:30 p.m. Students must be between the ages of 8 and 18 to participate and must prepare a one minute monologue and 16 bars of music (or less) to sing a capella. Please call the audition hotline at 847.763.3518 to set up your time for an audition.
Moriah Art Fair
Support local Jewish artists and the Israeli economy: stop by the Moriah Congregation annual art fair. Among the artists displaying work will be CJHS parent Amy Reichert. Click here for details.
Deerfield Public Library: Israel Lecture Series
Modern Israel: A Three-Part Series
Moshe Pomerantz discusses important aspects of today's Israel.
Israel's Neighbors
Wednesday, March 17, 7 p.m.
Take a tour "around the block" and learn more about the countries with which Israel has formal peace and those at war. Discover who is warm and who is cold in Europe and what it might mean for the next few years.
To register for any or all of the programs, click here or call 847.945.3311. |
Sponsor Breakfast
 What's better than a birth
day cele-bration with friends? Celebrate your student's birthday or other milestone with a special breakfast at CJHS.
For a donation of $162 (9x chai), bagels, cream cheese, and orange juice will be served to everyone. An announcement will be made in Tefillah and in the dining hall, and the occasion will also be listed in our weekly E-News.
If you have any questions, please call 847.324.3713 or email ialtman@cjhs.org. Order forms are available online here.
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Chicagoland Jewish High School
::1095 Lake Cook Rd ::
:: Deerfield, IL 60015 ::
:: 847.470.6700 ::
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Victory in the Stands: CJHS Clinches IHSA Regional Title
After a stunning victory at Westminster Christian last week, CJHS did not advance to state sectionals in the penultimate round of the IHSA men's basketball finals. The team returned home triumphant earlier this week, bearing the game ball and nets given as trophies to the first Jewish team ever to win an IHSA title.
 While our opponents on Tuesday night beat us out on points scored and average height above sea level, the victory for CJHS was in our community support in the stands. Four buses loaded with CJHS fans left our school to make the 75 mile trip to the game. Over 250 of our fans were present, including most of our student body, most of our faculty, members of the administration, members of our Board, several college-age  alumni, former staff, and one community rabbi. Our side of the bleachers was a sea of blue and white. Faces of all ages sported paint and tiger tattoos, in and out among the posses of blue-haired students. While our rivals  clapped sedately and seemed to regard their title as a forgone conclusion, our fans cheered on, with posters, signs, and group chanting. Everyone had a fun-spirited evening that they shared with our entire community.
Our Tigers played hard and fought a good fight against a very talented team. Our coaching staff was encouraging and enthusiastic throughout the entire game. In an act of pure class, the coaches put in all of the seniors to play in the final minute while our fans cheered "Seniors, seniors!" It was an amazing end to a phenomenal game.
The Tigers left Somanauk, IL with their heads held high. Coach Shaoul boarded the parents' bus to thank all  the fans for their support throughout the season, only himself to receive a round of applause for all his hard work. In the end, it was not the score that mattered. Here in the CJHS community, we have already won. |
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Scouts Sent to the Promised Land: Morale Still High
 The Lord spake unto the CJHS Tigers, saying, "Verily, I shall bring thee unto a land of plenty, a land of victory and fame, a land of state championships. So send thee forth scouts, one from each tribe, to scout out the titles that I have promised you." So the Children of Israel sent forth scouts, those being Adam Seidenberg, Aaron Cohn, Zach Spellman, Paz Abergel, Sam Botbol, Jeff Budweg, Daniel Fishbaum, Leo Spornstarr, Max Abecassis, Davy Silver, Danny Stamos, Kevin Rahmanim, and Daniel Eisenberg, and they went to tour the Promised Land.
With their faithful managers, Matt Levin and Aaron Freeman, they scaled the mountains of Elgin and crossed the plains of Aurora. And they brought back a report to  the Children of Israel. They said not, "The other teams were like giants, and we were like grasshoppers in their eyes," but stiffened their resolve. To their classmates at home they said, "We were awesome! We played like tigers! Yeah, the other team was a little taller than we were, but we played a great game. And someday, we can bring this school to the land that the Almighty has promised us!"
So spake the scouts who returned from the IHSA 2010 games, bearing the plaque of victory. "And the children," saith the Lord, "the younger siblings who cheered for thee in the stands, the next generation of CJHS Tigers, them will I bring into the title. Them will I take to state championships, because thou didst me proud and were not afraid." And there was much rejoicing. |
Head Cheerleader Appointed
 Grateful athletes have named senior Victoria Aron captain of our cheerleading squad after her performance at Tuesday night's championship game. Keeping school spirit high in the face of a 40-point enemy lead, Victoria kept the blue-haired fans on their feet with round after round of Tiger shout-outs. A collection is currently being taken up to provide our head cheerleader with a set of pom-poms, a megaphone, and a captain of the football team for her to date. To donate any of these items, please contact Matthew Levin. |
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Shushan Purim at CJHS
Where can you go to find morning tefillot sung to Lady Gaga and the Beatles? Or a nahafoch hu Torah service where the students sit down and the teachers stand up?  CJHS on Shushan Purim, of course! The lack of megillah reading detracted not one bit from the festivities; indeed, it allowed Rabbi Belgrad and his network of secret agents to stage a more politically correct Mad Libs megillah performance in place of the more traditional chanting.
 We saw Batman and Batgirl, Angels and Demons, Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Captain Underpants. We had toga boys, Mafiosos, Labor Zionists in overalls, and a refreshingly transparent Show Me the Money from the department of Institutional Advancement. On the right are the Teenage Mutant Injured Turtles, who are enjoying Purim cheer despite their extremity.
 If you're not man enough to wear pink tights, you can step aside for the studmuffins we get in this school! Juniors Kevin Rahmanim, Jake Levine, Eitan Delrahim,  and Aaron Cohn took third place in the costume contest, having found pink leotards to match the pink tights they trotted out last month for Sharsheret. Second by a hair were seniors Aliza Shapiro and Aviva Schwartz, who came as fire hazards--I mean, whose cardboard Transformer suits actually enabled them to trasform into full-fledged vehicles. (Still cardboard. Don't get overexcited.) Undisputed first place, though, went to junior Adam Schneider, who came as Our Next President, complete with caribou-shooting accessories and a deer-in-the-headlights political grin.  Teachers were not to be outdone. As part of the good example aimed at the junior boys--who were kind enough to wear gym shorts over their tights for those of us of a delicate disposition--Mr. Scher forgoed his usual  miniskirted cheerleader suit in favor of a more conservative Lucille Ball look. The language department came as walking dictionaries; Ms. Musin in the front office discovered that her giant cardboard crocodile suit meant she would have to almost eat the phone in order to answer it. You can't go wrong with Mr. Gross as the sweetest hamantash ever baked, for which costume he tied newcomer "Where's Waldo" Mr. Danko for second place.  Hats off to almighty YABA, though, who came as Super Mario, and used his Nintendo powers to execute a backwards double twist hagbah before being voted King of the Costume Contest. |
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Spiel City
 When an entire cadre of young men in beige trousers and argyle sweater vests bears down upon you, there can only be one reason... CJHS Purim spiels are here! This year boasted a complete set of Mr. Scher lookalikes, each with a different sweater vest and stentorian laugh.
 The sophomore spiel tore the school apart in the perennial Search For the Mislaid Laptop: it wasn't in Mrs. Levinson's lab, and you'd better believe that when she says no, she means no. Nor was it hidden inside Ms. Susnow's elaborate tichel along with the ten pounds of dreadlocks and the stuffed tiger mascot she usually keeps in there.
 The juniors pictured CJHS coping with the economic crisis in spiel-rific fashion. They suggest augmenting our budget with proceeds from "How to Be Michael Jacobson" kits, including semi-functional headphones, a baseball cap perched at a rakish angle, a gangsta sweatshirt large enough for an elephant, and a gang of admiring sidekicks. Funds can also be raised by providing therapy to socially malajusted teachers who won't let students of either sex come to school in nothing but tights, no matter how much money they raise for cancer.
The senior class took us to the depths of a Soviet jungle, as colorful chieftain Marchenko agreed to mind his manners and go clean-shaven for one year, at least until his tenure at our school was assured. That done, Marchenko found himself  caught in a tragicomedy of violence and sacrifice, of conflicting values and of Jacob Rabinowitz doing Mr. Griffith impersonations.
Sammy Simon: Kipah? I need a kippah? How's this? CJHS senior obliging places scrap of paper on his head.
Schechter Kindergartener in Audience: NOOOO! That's not right!  Violent Intruder: Dear me, how successfully the school is locked down. I cannot find anything but locked doors and computers. Wait... what's this card shoved out from under this door?
Aliza Small: I love the junior class so much, I would take a bullet for EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! |
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Community Service
A hundred and fifty CJHS students hit the road on Monday afternoon in the tradition of matanot la'evyonim, helping those less fortunate even as we celebrate. Freshmen packed tons of food at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Sophomores interacted with clients of the Independent Day Program at the ARK. They watched the ARK's dramatic presentation of the Purim story, studied a text with the clients about the traditions of giving gifts on Purim to our friends and to those in need, and packed food in the food pantry. Juniors toured the Hull House and heard a presentation from the Chicago Coalition of the Homeless about social policy related to the homeless in  Chicago. Seniors met with eighth grade students at Webster Middle School in Waukegan. They watched clips from the movie "Freedom Writers" and discussed the violence, hatred, and bigotry that affect our community. |
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Alumni Trivia
 One of the most famous aspects of CJHS is the absence of locks on the lockers, a symbol of the trust that students have in each other and the sanctity of their belongings. In our first home in Morton Grove, locks were indeed issued to students, but the young people insisted they had no use for them. Which two members of the pioneer class used this system to stage an Adar prank that brought the entire school to a standstill? |
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Purim Parties
With Purim on a Sunday night, CJHS classes threw our first annual class Purim parties. Thanks to the Levin family for hosting Murder Mystery Night for the seniors, the Warshawskys for hosting a midnight spiel rehearsal for the juniors, and the Fisher family for hosting the sophomore class blowout. The freshman class, much to their credit, has opted for a mitzvah project in honor of the holiday. Please talk to Miranda Smerling or Becca Cohn if you are interested raising food or funds for the class' tzedakah bash later in the month. |
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Math Team
 On Wednesday, Feb 24, 22 CJHS students participated in the annual American Mathematics Competition. The AMC challenges our competitors with 25 difficult questions that require creativity and modeling to apply their knowledge of math. This contest leads to other more selective math contests, all the way to the USA Olympiad team. All attempts to make the Olympiad part of the 2010 Winter Olympics have failed, but we hold out hope that our students may yet participate in 2014.
Thanks to all the students who participated: Zach Erlichman, Joanna Tunik, Benji Fleischacker, Brianna Wolin, Naomi Michael, Nicolas Levy, Sarah Chiren, Maor Gordon-Guterman, Johnathan Tupper, Miriam Maltsman, Jordy Shapiro, Jonah Harris, Aaron Miller, Ilana Dodelson, Nina Kiken, Daniel Eisenberg, Adam Schneider, Matt Levin, Zach Kamin, Ari Eisendstadt, Leo Spornstarr, and Louis Shekhtman. A big thanks to Dr. David Yuen for helping prepare the students for the contest.
To order official math team warmups and athletic gear, click here. Enter "Math" as the bottom text and select the appropriate graphic from the "baseball" menu. To sign the Olympic petition, talk to Ari Eisenstadt. |
Physics Field Trip Squeaked Due to Basketball Game
 Three lone physics students represented CJHS at this year's Argonne National Laboratory high school master class, whose participants included students from GBN and Ida Crown Academy. Our shockingly low turnout was due to the fact that most of our prize physicists were elsewhere in the western suburbs, beating the pants off of Westminster Christian and clinching the historic IHSA regional title. "This is pathetic," one stalwart QuarkNet member was heard to say. "Our prestigious school is degenerating into a jock-ocracy. What's so important about this one game, anyway?" Administrators disagree, pointing to the fact that five of our basketball players are also movers and shakers on the physics research team as a sign that our athletes fully understand the physics of basketball.
Though our numbers were few, our contributions were many. Louis Shekhtman, Jordy Shapiro, and Jonah Harris enjoyed a tour of the ATLAS linear accelerator, the Wakefield accelerator, and the NoVa neutrino project. They analyzed collision printouts from the decay of Z bosons, then compared their results over a videoconference network with other high school students stationed in Batavia, Florida, and Japan. Many thanks to our Japanese counterparts, who arrived at school at 5:30 in the morning in order to attend the meeting at 3:00 CST, and who politely failed to comment on the fact that they spoke beautiful English, but we could not understand one word of what they were saying. They also come to school in elegant black suits and ties, a policy which CJHS is considering to improve our global image.
Thanks to Mrs. Eliaser for organizing the trip; many thanks to Mr. Nathan Unterman of GBN for organizing bus-pooling for our two schools and for treating us to an impromptu driving tour of the lab's secrets. |
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Students in the News
 Congratulations to Alex Krule, one of ten recipients of the JUF Teen Leadership Award. Alex was selected from a group of outstanding, dedicated teens who were nominated by lay leaders, clergy and professionals because of their involvement in multiple activities--Jewish and secular, their leadership roles, and their ability to be role models for their peers. He will receive $1,000 to use toward any Jewish educational experience or as a college scholarship. Throughout the course of the academic year, Alex will participate in a mini-mission to learn more about the Jewish community, will meet with community lay and professional leaders, will form a Teen Leadership Committee that will help to plan and recruit for community-wide events, and will serve as ambassadors to the Jewish teen community in their high schools, congregations, and beyond.
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CJHS in the News
In fact, we're all over the news! Read all about our historic basketball team at Jewish Hoops America, the Chicago Tribune local, and our own Deerfield Review. From the stunned sports reporter of Lake County's Daily Herald, who can't believe what our Tigers did to his hometown team, to the snooty braying of Aurora's Beacon News, who thinks we're too short to play basketball, CJHS is making waves. Many thanks to Athletics Director Tim Cohen, who moved heaven and earth to ensure that if we won our first sectional games, the IHSA would postpone the final round of the tournament until after Shabbat. Thanks also to the IHSA for being so accomodating, and a big CJHS Tiger yasher koach to our sister team, the Northwest Yeshiva 613's of Washington state, who forfeited their championship game rather than play on Ta'anit Esther.
 And although the student body has voted unanimously to proclaim, "Nothing is more important than basketball!" our other student activities are also attracting some attention. CJHS is featured in the March issue of Chicago's JUF News. See page 20 for an article about CJHS's dynamic relationship with Gidwitz Place. Also, in the Noted & Quoted section on page 61, see news and a photo of Zach Berkman (CJHS '04). |
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Where's Mr. Danko?
 CJHS welcomes Mr. Danko, our new student teacher working with Mr. Roman Marchenko in social studies and debate. Our students report that Mr. Danko is enthusiastic and personable, and they are extremely impressed at how his name rhymes with that of his cooperating teacher. |
Mazal Tov
 Mazal tov to our women's soccer coach Gina Cohen and her husband Yoni on the arrival of the twins, Sadie Bea (5lbs, 13 oz) and Samuel Seth (8 lbs) at 10:13 on Purim morning. Mother and babies are doing splendidly; Coach has quashed all rumors that they were delivered by a stork along with a package of hamantaschen and a miniature bottle of Kedem grape juice.
The baby naming and bris will be Sunday, March 7, at 12 noon, at the Doubletree Hotel in Skokie, IL. RSVP to Gina if you will be able to attend.
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Alumni Trivia
 Seniors Miriam Balinsky and Lauren Stern caused mass panic in the spring of 2005 by innocently locking the locks that hung, unused, on the door of each locker. Students were so used to politely lending books and school supplies that they never bothered to lock their lockers, or even remember the combination that might open them! Fifty students piled up in the main office, unable to get their textbooks out of their lockers, while facilities manager patiently looked up each and every combination.
Five years later, Miriam Balinsky ('05) is earning a degree in women's and gender studies with an African diaspora studies minor at DePaul University. She works with a veterinarian in Chicago, where she lives with her cats. Lauren Stern ('05) also lives in the city, having studied photography and fine arts at Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, the School of the Art Institute, and Rochester Institute of Technology. Lauren is now pursuing her dream in photography. View her portfolio on her website, or click here to enage her professional serivces! |
 Sponsored Breakfast
Many thanks to the Spellmans for sponsoring breakfast in honor of the basketball team. |
 It's Still Adar!
The Shabbaton is here, and so are two merry weeks of Adar. No need to think about anything else just yet, whatever the proprietors of the Jewel may think. Candlelighting will be at 5:27 p.m. | |
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