The children in The Moriah School early childhood were so excited to celebrate Israel’s 71st birthday! On Yom Ha’atzmaut, they took a pretend flight to Israel and enjoyed a number of special Israeli attractions. They stopped by an ice cream parlor in Tel Aviv, placed their orders in Hebrew and paid with shekalim. They took a trip to Tzfat and made beautiful artistic key chains and also visited the shuk in Yerushalayim and made their very own pitot! They ended with a story about other famous places in Israel, and worked on a project to make a huge flag.

Moriah’s lower school celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut in epic fashion. To kick off the day, the entire school gathered outside to sing “Hatikvah” and to dance together. Then children were off and running to a variety of Israel-themed activities. At the Israeli inventions carnival, fifth grade students guided their lower school peers as they raced their “Gett taxis,” navigated a Waze maze, aimed “Iron Dome” darts, posed for “pillcam” cameras and went to head-to-head in an Israeli pickle race. At Cafe Aroma, children ordered frosty milkshakes and chose from a variety of delectable pastries. In closing the fun-filled and meaningful day, the whole lower school gathered in the Kukin to express their gratitude to Hashem for the gift of Medinat Yisrael. The spirited recitation of Hallel was followed by the much-anticipated Kuloolam performance as well as dancing and a ruach-filled rendition of “Hatikvah”.

As part of the many Yom Ha’atzmaut festivities, the Moriah middle school students heard from Moriah alum Olivia Schwartz (‘13) a former member of the IDF. She gave a riveting speech and mentioned how her experience at Moriah was part of her inspiration to pursue army service. They also had a ruach-filled dance party, and made their own falafel and chips from scratch! It was a wonderful day celebrating the beloved Medinat Israel!