The eighth grade students at The Moriah School had a shabbaton to remember, as they celebrated their eighth grade shabbaton in school! The festivities began last Thursday, with students participating in chesed trips to the JCC Senior Center in Tenafly, as well as the Jewish Home at Rockleigh. Students at the JCC danced with seniors, and brought happiness and joy to their day with enthusiastic ruach and celebration. Students who visited The Rockleigh helped the residents compete in Olympics-style games, and sang Jewish songs with those residents who were overjoyed to spend time with the visiting young men and women.
Upon returning to school, the eighth grade boys basketball team challenged the male Moriah staff in a competitive game that went down to the wire! The Moriah staff won 34-33, and continued their success when the eighth grade girls basketball team faced off with the Moriah female staff and lost a defensive struggle to the faculty team. Prior to the game, the girls prepared the required five pounds of dough needed to perform hafrashat challah at the middle-school Challah Bake, which would take place later that evening. The Challah Bake was well-attended and featured tutorials from Middle School Associate Principal Tzipporah Boim, as well as a dvar Torah from student Mia Friedman. Middle school students were excited to go home and slide the challot into the oven, with many already breaking into the fresh challah on Thursday night.
Following the Challah Bake, over 120 Moriah students and parents joined for a special edition of Family Mishmar, honoring the upcoming Siyum HaShas. Rabbis Eitan Lipstein and Dov Levinson divided the entire masechta of Taanit among all the sets of chavrutot. When the last sets of lomdim finished, a siyum was made, followed by a seudat mitzvah generously donated by Jonathan and Sonya Speiser, of Dougie’s BBQ & Grill, as a merit for a refuah sheleimah for Batya Yehudit bat Masha; May she recover fully soon! In addition, all registered lomdim submitted names of individuals or occasions that their personal learning would be dedicated to, and these dedications were added to a poster that will be hanging in the Moriah middle school hallway this year. The completion of the masechta served as Moriah’s contribution to the upcoming Englewood-wide Siyum Hashas, that will IY”H take place on Motzei Shabbat, December 28, at East Hill Synagogue.
These experiences led into the main event: a beautiful, spiritual and joyous Shabbat in school, as students spent valuable time with many of their rebbeim, morot and teachers, and their families. Students led minyanim, attended lively discussions and learning sessions, played grade-wide games and competitions and ate all seudot with their teachers. Shabbat concluded with a musical Havdala, as Assistant Principal Rabbi Eitan Lipstein and Nati Wrubel, one of the musically talented students, led the grade as they sang Shabbat away. At the conclusion of Havdala, students broke into dancing and ruach, and the evening finished with a grand raffle. Special thank you Stephanie and David Goldstein for generously donating over 15 prizes to the raffle. The students can’t wait for the ruach to continue once Chanukah arrives!
