Welcome back from intersession! We've had a busy two weeks! It was a zechut to host Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson for our fifth Rosh Chodesh Community Wide Lecture Series for Women. His message was inspiring while his presentation was entertaining and insightful. We were happy to conduct a 10th grade workshop for students in the daytime and parents in the evening regarding courses for the 11th grade year. Dr. Meier and Mrs. Elsant conducted a College Orientation session for both Junior and their parents. We hope that both these sessions will assist our students in making important decisions for next year. Baruch Hashem, our seniors have sent in their registration deposits to their schools of choice. We are thrilled that 78 girls will be learning in Eretz Yisrael next year, G-d willing! Our letters of acceptance for the Class of 2010 are being mailed this Wednesday, iy"h. We were excited to run a parlor meeting last week in West Hempstead and a second one this week for our Har Torah applicants. We look forward to hosting many 8th graders for their visitation day over the weeks ahead! Bon voyage to each of our classes as they depart on their annual grade trips! Our 9th graders will be traveling to Boston on their Freshmen Getaway. The sophomores will be going on their annual Lobbying Trip to Washington, D.C. Our juniors will be going on their two day Jewish History trip and will be visiting sites of Jewish interest throughout the greater New York area. Our seniors are looking forward to their snowtubing trip and their outing to the YU Seforim Sale and visit with Rebbetzin Yudin. I wish all of our students fun-filled and exciting trips. Tzaitchen l'shalom...boachen l'shalom!

The Torah Bowl team was clearly rewarded for their hours of studying Torah when they won all 4 of their matches on Wednesday. The SKA students worked for hours on end to master the details of the mishkan and dozens of halachot from Parshiot Mishpatim and Teruma. At the meet, their mastery was evident as they buzzed in and anwered correctly, sometimes even before the questions were finished! The scores were extremely impressive, yet again, and the SKA girls enjoyed playing host this time around. Congratulations – just one more match on the road to becoming regional winners! Hakarat Hatov to team advisor Mrs. Menchel!

On Wednesday, February 8th, thirteen Freshmen and Sophomores piloted a joint program between SKA and the HALB Lev Chana Preschool. In honor of Tu B'Shvat, the girls went to the five Kindergarten classes to read and perform the book "Why the Willow Weeps," a story told with hands by Marshall Izen and Jim West. The girls even taught the preschoolers how to use their hands to act out the story! Collaboration and integration between high school and preschool students benefits all involved, as SKA girls are given an opportunity to demonstrate and enhance their teaching skills, while preschoolers are exposed to wonderful role models. We look forward to many more programs integrating two ends of the HALB family. Special thanks to Mrs. Debbie Rubel, BOCES Psychologist, for coordinating the program!

The College Bowl team had a great time hosting teams from around the Greater New York area at the Young Israel of Woodmere on Tuesday, February 7th. In a competition testing general knowledge, the SKA girls demonstrated amazing breadth. Both the Varsity and JV teams won all but two matches and had an intellectually stimulating afternoon discussing authors, presidents, geography, chemistry and so much more. It was exciting and inspiring to watch all the high schoolers who knew so much on so many different topics. Thanks to Faculty Advisor, Ms. Trimigliozzi.

Rosh Chodesh Shevat has finally arrived! The amazing Rosh Chodesh committee came to each of our classes and enlightened us about the great historical significance of the month of Shevat. We even received our own individual pots and seeds to grow plants in honor of Tu B'shevat!

During winter vacation, SKA Senior Batya Herzberg had the privilege of traveling to Israel on a grant from the National Science Foundation to acquaint scientists in Israel, specifically at Hebrew University and Bar Ilan University, with the research that she and Gittel Klein had performed at Stony Brook University beginning this past summer. The research, which earned the girls Semi-Finalist ranking in the Siemens-Westinghouse contest this year, revolved around the development of nanofibers that display unique chemical and mechanical properties. Batya was accompanied by Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Director of the Garcia Research Center at Stony Brook University, who mentored Batya and Gittel during their research project this past summer. Batya and Gittel will be participating in the Long Island Science & Engineering Fair in the weeks ahead.

On Monday, February 6th, representatives from Shalom Task Force spoke to the Seniors as part of their Jewish Family Life curriculum. They informed the girls about "red flags" to look for in the future when dating and how to prevent entering into an abusive relationship, G- d forbid. Through discussion circles and lectures, Seniors gained invaluable insights which will hopefully stand them in good stead for many years to come.

Dor Yeshorim , the Committee for Prevention of Jewish Genetic Diseases, came to SKA on Wednesday night, February 9th, to present an informational session to interested seniors and their parents. Mrs. Chaya Feuerman, a licensed social worker and Director of Operations at Dor Yeshorim, Rabbi Josef Ekstein, founder of Dor Yeshorim as well as Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt, Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Anshei Chesed, Assistant Rabbi of Young Israel of Woodmere, Chief Medical Officer of New Island Hospital and Professor of Medicine at New York Medical College (and father of SKA 9th Grader Chavi!) spoke to the audience about the importance of genetic testing before marriage.

Rabbi Ekstein started Dor Yeshorim in response to his own personal tragedy. He and his wife had four Tay Sachs babies. At that point, as Rabbi Ekstein says, “You either give up and die or you fight back. I thought: I don’t want another person or another family to go through that. No matter what. This has to stop.” And so began Dor Yeshorim.

The Dor Yeshorim system which bases its work on strict confidentiality, screens young adults for nine genetic diseases and only informs “potential couples” if they are incompatible . In that case, they are informed of the risks and given counseling. For this reason, Rabbi Ekstein emphasizes that it is important to be tested and registered and then to contact Dor Yeshorim very early in a relationship before emotional ties are established.

The success of Dor Yeshorim is that Tay Sachs has been essentially eliminated from the Jewish Community. The 16 bed Tay Sachs unit in New York’s Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center which was previously filled to capacity is now empty. The hope is to eradicate all genetic diseases and save families from the agony of having children with devastating genetic diseases.

Dor Yeshorim will return to SKA to do the optional screening at a nominal fee if there is a group of 30 interested seniors. Please speak to Rabbi Zakutinsky or Dr. Meier for more information.