Schools

Yom HaAtzmaut was especially important and exciting this year, and you could feel that all throughout HALB. In Lev Chana, the classrooms were transformed into different cities in Israel, and the children took their passports, boarded their El Al flight, and landed in Ben Gurion Airport. They went through customs and then got to visit all the different cities around the school building with special activities in each one.

When a delegation from the Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central) visited YU’s Innovation Challenge in March, the group’s aim was to merely observe the pitch night event. So how did this group – freshmen Camryn Brunner, Sarah Galanti, Maya Goykadosh, Maayan Kotkin, Emily Segall, and Hudis Schnur – go from observers to first-place winners, competing against both college and graduate-level entrants at YU’s Innovation Challenge on Wednesday, May 8? It’s a story for the books.

For Yom HaAtzmaut this year, we had two different programs. In the morning, our very own Benci spoke to the students about his experiences as a chayal (soldier) in Tzahal (Israel Defense Forces). He spoke about his experiences in an elite unit. Benci took out a satchel, which contained in it the things that he always had with him, no matter what. These were his talis, t’filin, siddur, and a special Mi SheBeirach prayer that he said before he went on a mission. He also told the students about how careful each of the members of his unit was around these items, and how they would say the special t’filah even though they were not necessarily religious. It was very moving.

As the State Assemblywoman representing South Queens, I am proud to announce a historic victory for yeshiva education in New York State. Through tireless advocacy and strategic partnerships with TeachNYS and Agudath Israel, I have secured record-breaking funding for yeshivas in the recent 2024 State budget.

On Wednesday, May 15, Bnos Malka Academy hosted the Michael and Irina Kimyagarov Math Tournament. Seventh and eighth grade girls from all over the tri-state area participated in the event along with their school coaches. Schools in attendance were Barkai Yeshiva, Bnos Malka Academy, Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, Yeshiva of New Jersey, and Yeshiva Shaarei Tzion.

This past Wednesday evening, Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe presented its Holocaust memorial film project at the Young Israel of Queens Valley to the Queens community. The film documents the lives of three survivors of the Shoah, HaRav Moshe Walkin, Professor Asher Matathias, and Mrs. Blanche Fixler. Their stories and experiences were shared with 17 of the yeshivah's eighth graders.