L'Shana Tovah Tikatevu v'Tekhatemu!

Dear Parents, Teachers and Staff!

Shana Tova ! !שנה טובה
May this year be filled with happiness, robust health, intellectual and spiritual attainments coupled with success in all your endeavors, and peace in your homes and hearts!

Spanish Language Saga is over...alas.

We regret that all our efforts, talks, e-mails, personal exchanges, blog posts, etc. have fallen on deaf ears. Trying to convince intelligent educators and principals of our school of the value of teaching the foreign language to high school students was an unprecedented endeavor. Never before was our school so resistant to enhancing the curriculum as in the last three years. We hoped that with a change of the guards the situation would change. We were mistaken.

For Many Orthodox Teens, ‘Half Shabbos’ Is A Way Of Life

The practice has become so widespread – some say half of Modern Orthodox teens text on Shabbat – that it has developed its own nomenclature – keeping “half Shabbos,” for those who observe all the Shabbat regulations except for texting; “gd Shbs,” is the shorthand text greeting that means good Shabbos. full article

Spanish Language Saga continues...alas.

Letter to the new principal:

Dear Rabbi Sinoff,

On Friday, the parents of high school students were given a list of offered courses for the 2011-2012 school year to help our children to choose the classes and sign the list.

With astonishment and disbelief we have found that much discussed Spanish Language course is offered online. After numerous discussions with the board and on the Beren Academy parents blog

http://berenparents.blogspot.com/2010/08/where-is-spanish-course.html#comments

http://berenparents.blogspot.com/2010/09/end-of-spanish-course-saga.html#comment

our request of having a real teacher was again disregarded. Students need another foreign language as an elective which was discussed in depth with parents and teachers during the previous year. 4 of our 6 children had successfully taken the Spanish course in high school at Beren.

Knowledge of foreign languages increases thе chance of getting into good universities exponentially. For example, it did help our 3 older children to receive a scholarship at Brandeis University and they were always grateful for the fact that they knew Hebrew, Spanish and Russian.

We hope that you, being a graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in classical Greek, have an appreciation and knowledge of languages and will hire a native speaking Spanish teacher for our high school students.

All public and private schools in US offer foreign language as an elective to its high school students. Our students deserve no less.

Sincerely yours, the Concerned Parents.

Pesach Kasher V'sameach to all the parents, students, teachers and staff!

Rabbis Sound an Alarm Over Eating Disorders.

In the large and growing Orthodox Jewish communities around New York and elsewhere, rabbinic leaders are sounding an alarm about an unexpected problem: a wave of anorexia and other eating disorders among teenage girls.

While no one knows whether such disorders are more prevalent among Orthodox Jews than in society at large, they may be more baffling to outsiders. Orthodox women are famously expected to dress modestly, yet matchmakers feel no qualms in asking about a prospective bride’s dress size — and her mother’s — and the preferred answer is 0 to 4, extra small. continue

7-year-old struggles to balance sports and faith

When 7-year-old Amalya Knapp took the beam at the New Jersey state gymnastics finals last month, her excellent performance symbolized a far more complicated balancing act. Although she would have ranked fifth in her age group, eligible for a medal, her individual scores were discounted. She was unable to compete on a Saturday because of her Orthodox Jewish family's observance of the Sabbath. I was upset," Amalya said, "but my mother told me there are decisions you have to make." USA Gymnastics made an effort to accommodate her and let her compete the next day, Sunday, Feb. 13, and permitted her scores to factor into her team's overall rankings. But the national governing body held that because she had not competed at the same time as girls of her skill level and age group, her scores: 9.7 on vault, 9.575 floor, 9.5 beam and 8.75 bars - would not count toward individual medals or rankings. continue