September 9 Deans letter

Dear Parents, it is hard to believe that summer has passed and that we are back in school. It is truly amazing to see all of the fantastic educational changes that will surely have a positive impact on the day-to-day academic program of our children. This year is also a major celebration for the school, as our enrollment is the highest it has been since 1997. Our high school enrollment is 36 students, which is also an all-time high of many years.

Firstly, we are very thankful to Mr. Sam and Mrs. Esther Chester for dedicating a Smart Board to our Kindergarten room. The teachers have already begun to train and prepare materials for their students to use. In addition, there is now a daily chinuch minyan for our middle school students, and it is a pleasure to see students davening for the amud, laining from the Torah and running their own minyan under the guidance of the middle school rabbeim. If you are ever running late and would like to join our 8am minyan, we welcome your presence. Further, we are very fortunate to have Rabbi Raphael Schachter join our staff as a social worker in training. As he finishes his degree in social work, he has been assigned to complete his practicum at PHDS. His hands-on experience at the school is being monitored closely by a supervisor of the program and by Mrs. Weiner. I am sure that this new program will allow us to work with classes on various social skills and on other individual class or student issues. All of these changes and many other new ideas are the brainstorm of Mrs. Miriam Esther Weiner, who is always looking out for the best interests of the students and the school.

A few weeks ago, we read the parsha of Re’ay, which describes the blessings for listening to Hashem’s command and the curses for failing to do so. The Nesivos Shalom asks a number of insightful questions on these opening verses. The parsha begins with the word “re’ay - see”; however, there is nothing being shown to see. The verse continues with the word “nosen - to give,” but once again, there is nothing of substance being given. He also asks why the words “bracha and k’lala - blessing and curse” are used instead of the words “reward and punishment,” which would better indicate our accountability for our positive