By: Nadav Levine My mother’s side of the family, and my cousins on my dad’s side, live in Israel. Growing up, I did not see Israel as part of who I was; it was just a place far away that I flew to visit family. Then, on October 7th, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas massacred
-
-
From Strangers to Friends: How an Interfaith Trip Cultivated Community
By: Dahlia Deener The Interfaith Club is a group of students at TLS who work with its partners, Scholas, to build connections between schools of different faiths. Earlier this year, we attended a Communities in Motion trip to Christ the King High School, a high school in Queens, NY. The Interfaith Club is partnered with
-
We Needed to Hear Shabbos Kestenbaum
By: Isaiah Yolkut The Leffell School invites speakers for a few different reasons. Some teach the student body important skills, some share personal experiences, some spread new perspectives, and some are there to speak about their journeys to become successful. Shabbos Kestenbaum did it all. When he visited our school earlier today, he maintained a
-
Don’t Banish Spanish: The significance of the Spanish language and its contribution to our school
By Dahlia Deener Spanish is one of our country’s most spoken languages as around 41.3 million Americans speak it fluently. Thus, it is vital to learn as part of the American school curriculum. In a private Jewish day school, where a double Judaic curriculum is required, it can be hard to incorporate a third language
-
Borders of Empathy
By Olivia Goldman 2,401.5 miles. If you were born in Westchester, New York, then that number has determined the quality of your life. If you had been born 2,401.5 miles south, then there is a 63% chance that your childhood would have been immensely affected by gang violence, and a mere 4% chance that America’s
-
-
Picking Back Up the Book
by Isaiah Yolkut You turn the page, and your imagination springs to life. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? In books, you can find a land of endless stories from beyond this world. You can prance through fields of golden wheat, attack a cruel dragon, and save a princess. Then, you hear your phone ding. You close
-
-
Antisemitism at the Girls Varsity Basketball Game
by: Robin Bosworth ’24 Ever since I started school at what was then Solomon Schechter School of Westchester in kindergarten, I have always felt incredibly proud to be a part of a community that values kindness and Tikkun Olam above all else. This evening, at a Girl’s Varsity Basketball game, I was reminded of the
-
Leffell Stands With Israel: How TLS is Handling Israel’s Situation with Students
by: Ari Mayblum ’25 Earlier this month, during the weekend of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, Israeli citizens were massacred by Hamas. It has been a very challenging last couple of weeks for our entire school community, and these events have placed Israel in the national spotlight. In this difficult time, TLS has been extremely
