By: Brielle Katz (9th Grade)
This week, Hebrew Academy high school students celebrated Chanukah through a series of exciting events and fun dress up days.
On Tuesday, the students dressed as their favorite memes and participated in an intense dodgeball tournament to kick off the week. The games were held in the gym and consisted of six games total: freshmen vs. sophomores, juniors vs. seniors, freshmen vs. juniors, sophomores vs. seniors, and then two rounds of seniors vs. staff. The seniors won the tournament and earned points for Monday’s Chanukah carnival. Following the games, jelly donuts were given out to allow all of the students, even the students of the grades who lost, to “taste” some victory.
The following day, the hallways were littered with superheroes for hero/villain day. Special appearances came from Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, Darth Vader, Super Jew, and many heroes from DC and Marvel. Along with the actual superheroes, many students wore Tzahal attire, as the IDF soldiers are an inspiration and heroes to many. Although the day was a normal day overall, with a regular schedule of classes, Rav Oded brought smiles to the students’ faces when he handed out chocolate gelt.
Carrying on the festivities, Thursday’s dress-up day was sports day, giving students the opportunity to show their team spirit. They featured attire from their favorite basketball, baseball, football, and hockey teams. Rabbi Assaraf sported a unique Average Joe’s jersey from the movie DodgeBall. Some students even wore their Hebrew Academy jerseys to mix some school spirit in this as well. During lunch, similar to the other days where gelt and donuts were passed out, latkes made an appearance. The aroma of the latkes filled the school and gave the students something to smile about- along with the food.
Thursday was an eventful day, as many classes also made their own sufganiot, jelly donuts fried in oil. Judaic teacher Mrs. Citron organized and ran the massive frying endeavor. Powder and remnants of jelly were later found among the school and throughout classrooms. The smell of latkes, donuts, and the happiness of representing teams that students love brought more enthusiasm into the school, enhancing the already established great day.
Friday’s theme was twin day, which allowed for people to match and express themselves with others. Along with that, the school held the year’s second Chulent Fest to end the day. The scent of the chulent throughout the day got the students overly eager to taste the food that they had to wait all day for; the wait was definitely worth it in the end, because all of the chulents, including one from Student Council, tasted incredible.
Although the Chulent Fest marked the end of the Chanukah Spirit Week, the holiday keeps going until Monday. To begin next week on a positive and happy note, the school will hold a Chanukah-themed carnival on Monday to finish the holiday.
“It was amazing and festive,” Shani McCarley (12th Grade) said.