Weekly Newsletter – November 20, 2015

November 20, 2015 / 8 Kislev 5776

Shabbat Begins: 4:07 p.m. Parsha: Vayeitzei

Shabbat Ends: 5:16 p.m. Genesis 28:10-32:3

A Wonderful Open House!

On Wednesday evening, the school was filled with families interested in exploring King David as the next step in their educational journey. Over 160 people joined the presentation hosted by our students with Russ Klein, Head of School, and the entire King David teaching staff. This year a student panel with representatives from each grade responded to hot topics (or parking lot gossip) and questions from our guests.

Below is the introductory video which will provide a small taste of the evening. It will give you just a hint of what an extraordinary experience we offer our students and community.

Thank you to the many families who attended and made the evening such a success! Thank you as well to all of the King David students who so willingly volunteered their time to serve as ambassadors for their school!

Random Acts of Chesed Week

Ms. Belson, Ma’ayan, Rachel, Inbar, Maytar, Tal Brody, Ben, Gil, Adam and Eduardo

As we gathered together for the final RAC 2015 assembly, Ellia Belson, King David’s Director of Jewish Life and Events, welcomed our guests Irit Stopper, Israel Deputy Consul General, and Tal Brody, Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Champion, to our school.

Tal Brody shared his inspirational story and his love for Israel. After the presentation, one of our Israeli teachers said, "That was a little piece of history for me; I remember seeing him on the news!"

Ellia thanked students, faculty and administration for all the hard work and positive energy that made this week an amazing success. A special thank you was extended to every student for keeping the spirit and tradition of RAC Week alive through their dedication to spending quality time with youngsters and elders in our Dor L’Dor program activities. Ellia has heard from inner city school principals, students, teachers and elders about how wonderful our students were and what a good impression they made. It was a real Kiddush Hashem! But as we know, RINO stands for RAC Is Not Over, and today Grade 12 students continued doing acts of chesed by joining the Vancouver Police to clean up our environment. All this was inspired by Gabi Isserow, who showed kindness to everyone around her every day. Thank you to the Isserow family and the Gabrielle Isserow z"l Chesed Fund for their continued support of this very special week.

Sports Highlights

From L-R:

Back Row: Sarah, Hanah, Rachel C., Natalie, Daniela, Rachel B., Maytar, Sydney, Mr. Amram (coach)

Middle Row: Romy, Lynne, Maya, Ana Clara, Neev

Front Row: Giovanna, Noa, Ya’el

Congratulations to our Junior Girls Volleyball team for finishing in seventh place out of 16 teams this season. The team did a marvelous job this year and were recognized as the GVISAA Most Sportsmanlike Team – a wonderful accomplishment! The girls are very excited about next year and had a terrific wrap-up party at the Bugis residence. Thanks to the Bugis family and to everyone for their support and participation this year.

The basketball season is set to begin next week with King David running five teams: Junior Girls, Senior Girls, two Junior Boys, and one Senior Boys. Our coaches are Mr. Amram, Ms. Bauck, Rabbi Berger, Mr. Harowitz, Liza Rozen-Delman, and Naomi Youngson. Mr. Schein and Mr. Dichter have also graciously offered their help. We will be competing in GVISAA once again, with some teams also competing in other associations. We look forward to bringing you lots of exciting action!

Shabbat Conversation Starter

Today during the Friday Judaic Studies program, students in each grade discussed the moral and ethical dilemma posed in this week’s Parsha – Vayeitzei, Genesis 28:10-32:3. Included below is a summary with questions that may provoke interesting conversations at your Shabbat table.

We see in this Parsha that when Yaakov meets Rachel, he lifts his head up and cries. Our sages seem to connect it to another event: when Esav lifted up his voice and cried, after realizing that he had been deceived by his brother. This starts a whole chain reaction of deceptions. Yaakov would like to marry Rachel, but he has no money to give the bride’s family. Lavan presses Yaakov into service for seven years and then takes advantage of the penniless Yaakov by switching Rachel for Leah under the Chuppah.