Parshat Emor recounts the cycle of biblical Jewish Holidays: Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret. Details about the timing of the chaggim teach us the middah: “Pay attention to special times.”  Noticing special moments and times is a key practice of Jewish consciousness. Our calendar—with its cycle of chaggim, rashei chodesh, …

In today’s Student Scene, Grade 8 student Ava and Morah Yarden tell us about the drum workshop that took place earlier this week.   On Tuesday, students participated in a drum workshop and created beautiful First Nations hand drums as part of their Art and Civilizations curriculum. Rick Monaco shared different drumming styles as well …

The Heschel Gallery is a Heschel Hive column that appears at the end of every rotation throughout the year. It features students’ artwork with an explanation of the project by Morah Lisa for context. This is a wonderful way to appreciate the diversity and beauty of the students’ creations! Grade 6 students have been hard …

This week’s parsha—Parshat Kedoshim—is all about uniqueness. And what a wonderfully unique two weeks we have had here at Heschel! The word Kadosh—often translated as “holy”—can be understood to mean “special” and “unique.” Created in God’s image, we become “unique” through our actions and our deeds. This week, we witnessed the uniqueness of our students, …

“Through the Classroom Window” is an opportunity for teachers to share the inspiring learning that takes place in their classrooms, giving others a glimpse into the heartbeat of the school. Today, Grade 4 teachers Moreh Aiden and Morah Malka tell us about how this week’s Grade 4 plays were developed.   The novel study plays …

Each month of the school year, we will be posing a fun question to the school community. We will post the results at the end of the month!   In honour of Yom Ha’azmazut, Israeli Independence day, taking place later this week, our poll-of-the-month for May is: We can’t wait to get hear your favourite! …

From this week’s parshah—Achrei Mot—we focus on the middah “Make good decisions as a community.” It derives from a verse that commands the people of Israel to reject violent laws and practices, performed in Ancient Egypt and the land of Canaan. The Torah teaches us how to draw on practices and traditions that help us …

Given the rapid rate of change in society today, it is hard to determine what our children will need to know to be successful in the future. The things our students have learned in the past may not be useful for navigating the years to come. What we can anticipate is that our children will have to …

OK, Heschel students, it’s time to get your meme on! Each month, we bring you a photo of life at Heschel and you come up with clever and creative captions. Once again, participation in this month’s meme contest was outstanding! Thank you to every student who entered a caption and who voted. We can now …