Beyond the Classroom

AIPAC ISRAEL Our very own Ms. Susan Sennett was selected to give the opening remarks at AIPAC’s Policy Conference to students, teachers, and advisors from across the country, an honor given only to the top advisors. At AIPAC’s conferences, our students learned about the issues facing the United States-Israel relationship and attended programming to gain advocacy and lobbying skills, further developing their role as ambassadors for Israel. Following presentations, students went to Capitol Hill and used their new skills lobbying their representative to advocate for Israel. Because of ICJA's continued commitment to advocating on behalf of Israel, we have been proud to send at least 10 students to the Policy Conference each year, made possible by The Sam Gorenstein Scholars Fund and subsidies by AIPAC .

Yom Ha'Atzmaut There is no day more special and beloved to ICJA than Yom Ha'Atzmaut. The celebration is a school and community favorite that we eagerly anticipate every year since 1948 when the students of the Chicago Jewish Academy celebrated the creation of Israel. This year we marked the 72nd birthday of our homeland in a unique way, taking the program online. Though it was virtual, we were still able to capture the excitement and enthusiasm of the day. This program has been made possible by the Gertz Family in memory of community pillars Paul and Doris Rosenberg z’l.

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The celebration began from Israel with inspired words of Torah from a modern day Jewish leader and world-renowned teacher, Racheli Fraenkel.

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The celebration continued with some light hearted fun playing the popular trivia game, Israel Family Feud. Students pulled out their knowledge of Israeli history, culture, food and more to win prizes.

3We were joined by our Consul General Aviv Ezra for a passionate and strong presentation about our unwavering love for the land and the people of Israel.

Celebrating the 72nd birthday of our homeland together.

4The event culminated in an exclusive ICJA concert with Israeli singing sensation Ishay Ribo, live from Israel. His music uplifted us on this very special day.

Beyond the Classroom

Chesed ICJA students are proud leaders in building relationships with our neighboring communities. CHESED COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS: The Middleton Mentorship Initiative is an amazing opportunity for our students to provide chesed to our neighbors in the Skokie community. Only four years old, this program has grown to include 12 ICJA students. The students at Middleton enjoyed working with our students and the ICJA mentors had a positive experience as well. Some of their assignments were helping children grades 2-5 with reading, writing, math, and advanced math as well as helping in special education classrooms.

JUF 18 Under 18 Sammy

Josh Pogonitz Moscovitch   ICJA senior Josh Pogonitz pictured here with Sean Astin, American film actor and mental health activist. We are so proud that ICJA seniors Sammy Moscovitch and Josh Pogonitz were

ICJA Partners with JUF, JCC & Camp Moshava Core to ICJA’s mission is our involvement and commitment to community. This year when the pandemic happened, ICJA made our facility available to several partner organizations. The JCC housed a unit of their camp so that the children could be socially distanced. The school was also a drop-off site for JUF’s TOV food drive, and was also the site for special

programing of Camp Moshava. both named JUF 18 Under 18 Honorees!

Sammy Moscovitch

is the President of Chicago Yachad, an organization that is dedicated to the needs of Jewish individuals with disabilities, ensuring their inclusion in every aspect of life. Sammy works tirelessly as an advocate for people with disabilities and selflessly does not take community service hours for his work with Yachad.

Josh Pogonitz gave a powerful and eloquent speech earlier this year for No Shame On U, an organization dedicated to eliminating the stigma associated with mental health conditions and established by ICJA alumna Miriam Ament ('89). Josh discussed his personal struggles and journey regarding mental health. He has transformed his own pain into the tool that will help others take steps towards hope.

Beyond the Classroom

Siyum HaShas

ICJA students were given an incredible, once-in-alifetime opportunity to take a two-day trip to New York for the 13th Global Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium. These students earned their spot by doing the most Torah learning outside of school and joining over 200,000 participants across cities and countries worldwide to celebrate Torah. As meaningful as the event itself was, ICJA took it to the next level the following day by arranging for a private shiur with the YU Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Hershel Schachter shlit'a. The students were overjoyed by this unique experience with such a great Torah giant. Never missing an opportunity to reconnect with our former students, the group met ICJA alumni for lunch after the shiur.

TORAH

"Attending the siyum was incredibly inspiring and uplifting. During a time when anti-Semitism was on the rise in New York, it was amazing to see hundreds of thousands of Jews come together despite all the attacks. It really changed how I view the power of Judaism and the loving community around me," said Liat Mott, Senior.

This trip was generously sponsored by the Schwartz family in memory of Zaide Robert Berezin z"l.

ICJA Summer Kollel

Modern Jewish Thought and Spirituality

The Machshava Curriculum is a pilot project developed by ICJA teachers who participated in a special Professional Learning Community (PLC) as part of their professional development and collectively chose to emphasize a curriculum of Jewish values and beliefs. The wheels were set in motion to develop a four-year program on Jewish thought. Tied closely into another initiative emphasizing inspiration, key lay leaders and staff identified ways to add inspiration to our student body’s dayto-day lives at ICJA. They developed a popular weekly Whatsapp group dvar Torah, added photos of students around the building, and structured Jewish classes to include more discussion focusing on Jewish ideas and philosophy. Simultaneously, a mechanech program for boys and mechanechet program for girls was expanded, reinforcing that ICJA is a community and not just a school.

This summer Rabbi Yitzi Sprung and Rabbi Moshe Simkovich imagined how they could create a special program for ICJA students. Their ideas became an initiative staffed by volunteers from ICJA faculty and community rabbis who studied with our students from 9:30am-12:15pm Monday-Thursday for four weeks. Students were rewarded for their commitment with a $100 stipend per week. Funding was provided by people throughout the community who saw the value in this exceptional initiative .