Chabad Times, June 2003

r c a VOL XI NO. 4 Time Shavuos June 2003/Si van 9763 The Triple Crown: Torah, Service, and Lovingkindness J ? & e y > M a . j i Special Psalms Dear Friends, The Tehilim has always been a source of comfort and salvation in time of personal and communal difficulty.Today, in addition to helping Israel economi-cally and politically we should also solidarize spiritually by reciting Tehillim for the peace and security of our brethren in Israel and around the world. Notably, Psalm 83 is most relevant to our current situation, Psalm 20 exclaims They march with arms and chariots, but we trust in the name of G-d!" and conclude with the current "Rebbe's Kapitel" Psalm 102: "Arise, have mercy on Zion, for its time of grace has come." We hope you enjoy this publication, and wish you a very happy and inspiring Shavouth, Sincerely, Rabbi Shea Harlig, Rabbi Yisroel Schanowitz, Rabbi Mendy Harlig Chabad of Southern Nevada 1261 South Arville St. Las Vegas, NV 89102 (702) 259-0770 ivwiv.chabadlv.org NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 447 LAS VEGAS, NV PUBLISHED BY CHABAD OF SOUTHERN NEVADA What's Inside? Two Tablets As One / Ladies First . . .2 Chabad News 3 The Art of Acceptance 4 They Used to Call It Character 5 Desert Torah Academy News 5 Praying with My Children 6 A Mohel in Gomel 7 Chabad Happenings .f"T 8 Know Where Your Children Are? . . . .9 Shavuos Holiday Guide 12 The Blintzes Blitz 13 The Yartzeit Light 14 The Spark of Truth 17 Saving Worlds 18 Montreal Travelogue 19 Candle Lighting Times 20 PSALM IN A PALM Travelogue: Bienvenue A Montreal! - The exotic city up north Celebrating the Torah's debut at Sinai, the Shavuot holiday also marks the Yartzeit of David, King of Israel. The brave warrior who defeated Goliath and established the Royal dynasty leading to Moshiach. David is lovingly remembered as the 'sweet singer of Israel' who composed the Book of Tehilim, better known as the Book of Psalms. The solemn "The L-rd is my Shepherd" prayer intoned at funerals is but one of 150 soul stirring Psalms that have inspired Jews through cen-turies of calm and crisis, trial and tri-umph, a wellspring of comfort, hope, and thanksgiving. The flowing poetry, pathos and piety echo David's struggles as he was pursued and running for dear life. The Psalms pluck at the heart-strings with notes^for every mood and occasion. The more the string is pulled, the richer it resonates; the thirstier we yearn, the closer we are to G-d (Ps. 63; 2,3) David proclaims Jerusalem's glory and splendor, and sings nostal-gically of the Judean Desert solitude. He celebrates Divine majesty in the vivid interplay of flora and fauna, mountain and valley, wind, water and the seasons, soaring eagles and graceful gazelles, roaring lions and bleating lambs. David's pastoral background is clearly reflected in the classic "The L-rd is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me rest in green pastures. He leads me by peaceful waters... Your rod and your staff, they comfort me..." Other scriptural selections are reserved for the Sabbath Haftorah readings, but the popular Psalms join us throughout the week in our daily prayers; its verses form the lyrics of famous Jewish tunes. My father, Rabbi Moshe Rubin of blessed memory, would say, "Tehilim, like serving tea, is always appropriate. Just be sure to serve it hot, not lukewarm..." The ubiquitous Tehilim is anytime and anywhere, and people would know it like the palm of their hand. Today, Internet Technology offers the appropriate daily Tehilim selection in Hebrew and English at Chabad.org. (daily study option) and www. pilotyid.com, downloads to the Palm. Once downloaded, the recital mode then uploads it to the highest levels. Distribution: Direct mailed 5 times a year to over 3,000 homes in Las Vegas, NV Recipes ? The Blintzes Blitz! Saying Tehilim is more than mere words. Tehilim is powerful, serving as a spiritual complement to Israel's missile defense systems, known in Hebrew as the similar sounding 'Tilim.' While the venerable Torah scrolls are closeted within the Holy Ark, and Scriptures like Isaiah and Ezekiel are prominently displayed and reside comfortably on the library book-shelves, the bold little Tehilim has the get up and go, and is the most traveled of them all. Tehilim is for-ever, for "David, King of Israel, lives and endures!" The actual book may not seem too impressive. A Tehilim tends to show signs of use, pages tear stained from emotion, or tattered from constant carrying and han-dling. Tehilims come in many sizes and formats, including tiny wallet size editions for commuters who prefer the Psalms to rereading the bus advertisements or just staring straight ahead. And you don't have to be a big Bible Scholar to enjoy and appreciate Tehilim. The lay membership of the old European 'Chevra Tehilim Societies' were farmers, workmen, merchants, cobblers and tailors who gathered to recite the Psalms. Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, also a Shavuot Yartzeit, highly praised and extolled the simple folk reciting Psalms, but his inner circle of schol-arly disciples criticized the lowly peasants, claiming that they lacked any spiritual communication with G-d. The Baal Shem Tov once inter-rupted his discourse and invited the disciples to join arms, close their eyes and hear the beautiful strains of sim-ple Jews heartily interjecting their Psalms with personal 'Oy!' 'Tateh Zisser!' Yiddishisms, declaring, "Plain and simple, their Tehilim truly pierces the Heavens." Just be sure to push the right buttons. ? 2003 Rabbi Israel Rubin Tablets as Adapted from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Abasic message contained in the two tablets given to Moses at Sinai is the fact that the Ten Commandments begin with the decla-ration that "I am the L-rd your G-d/ etc., introducing the profound princi-ple of monotheism. This is a most rev-olutionary idea, especially in the era of idolatry dominated by Egypt's poly-theistic culture, as detailed in the Second Commandment that prohibits all forms and kinds of idolatry. The strong emphasis on monothe-ism and denial of polytheism is first and foremost; these concepts are the subject of the first two Command-ments, and are also greatly elaborated upon in the many words and detail contained in it. At the same time, the Ten Commandments conclude with such apparently simple and obvious injunc-tions as, "Thou shalt not Kill, Thou shalt not steal," etc. The profundity of monotheism which begin the Ten Commandments, and the simplicity of the ethical and moral laws with which the Ten Commandments conclude, teach us a very important lesson: a) The true believer in G-d is not one who holds abstract ideas, but one whose knowledge of G-d leads him to apply these principles to his/her actu-al daily conduct even regarding ordi-nary and commonplace matters, in dealing with his neighbors and the respect for their property even if it be an ox or a donkey, etc. b) The ethical and moral laws, even those that are so obvious as, "Thou shalt not steal,' and "Thou shalt not murder,' have actual validity and authority only when they are based on the foundation of the first and second Commandments, that is to say, based on Divine authority, the authority of the One and Only G-d. History has continuously demon-strated that we can make no real progress if the imperatives of morality and ethics are not based on the author-ity of the Supreme Being, but only as human inventions that can be changed and modified to suit the proclivities of the age. If in a previous generation some may have doubted the need of Divine authority for common morality and ethics, believing that human reason is sufficient authority for morality and ethics, our present generation has, unfortunately, in a most devastating and tragic way, refuted this mistaken notion. For, it is precisely the nation which has excelled itself in the exact sciences, the humanities and even in philosophy and ethics, that turned out to be the most depraved nation of the world, making an ideal of murder and rob-bery, etc. Anyone who knows how insignificant was the minority of Germans who opposed the Hitler regime, realizes that the cult was not practiced by a few individuals, but had embraced the vast majority of that nation, which considered itself the super race, etc. Surely it is unnecessary to elaborate on this at greater length. The Ten Commandments begin with the f u n d a m e n t a l precepts of man's relation to G-d, and conclude with precepts gov-erning man's relation to man. Even the most elementary ethical and moral precepts have a validity and effective-ness only if they derive from the authority of "I am G-d your G-d" and "Thou shalt have no other gods." Jewish life allows no separation between morality and ethics on the one hand, and our belief in One G-d on the other. Unity is the very core of both our belief, and of our daily conduct, where the material and spiritual aspects of life are brought into full har-mony, with the spiritual aspect being the predominating and determining factor. There can be no difference of opin-ion as to the necessity to raise a child in the proper relationship towards oth-ers, wifh respect for parents and eld-ers, and so forth, from his earliest age. On the same basis, it is equally imper-ative to bring up a Jewish child in the spirit of Torah and Mitzvoth from his earliest age. Only this kind of upbringing and education can be called a complete and unified education, a true Torah-educa-tion. This is what King Solomon, the wisest of all men, meant when he said, "Train the child in the way he should go, and he will not depart from it when he grows old" (Proverbs 22:6) 101 By YosefY. Jacobson Ladies First! When G-d sent Moses to pre-pare Israel to receive the Torah, He sent him to the women first, and then to the men. All of Israel received the same Torah. But the fact that this was pre-ceded by two separate communica-tions, one to the women and another to the men, implies a distinction between the women's reception of Torah, and the men's. Differing biologically and psychologically, men and women were empowered by their Creator with dis-tinct roles in their life's mission. Each of us relate to more than half the Torah. Man and woman are two aspects of a single soul, separated at birth and reunited through marriage. Each soul is charged to implement the entire Torah - its masculine element through a male body, and its feminine element in a female body to realize the Torah's feminine goals. In the words of the master kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, "When the male performs a mitzvah specifically for men, the woman is included in his mitzvah... This is the deep-er significance of what our sages have said, A spouse is as part of the J ^ same body."' Man and ) woman are ^ both multifac-eted and complex creatures, and no single sentence or thesis can summarize the many ways in which they comple-ment and fulfill each other. Ultimately, we can only say that G-d, who created the human soul and halved it into two separate bodies and lives, ordained for each a program of Torah life consistent with its strengths and potential. The distinction between these roles is expressed in the Midrash on Exodus 19:3. G-d told Moses to relate the "gen-eral principles" of the Torah to the women, and its "exacting particulars" to the men. The woman relates to the Torah's all-inclusive essence, while the man relates to the detail, specific law and particular application. This also explains the differing roles of the father and mother in deter-mining their child's identity. In Judaism, the mother determines the child's Jewishness: if the mother is Jewish, so is the child; if the mother is not, neither is the child. But regarding the particulars of his Jewishness - his tribal identity, or his classification as a "Kohen," "Levite," or "Israelite" - the child takes after his father. The man's relation-ship with Torah is detailed, while the woman relates to Torah at its supra-rational root with her female faith, uniting with G-d without the need to dissect; a process that can deflect its force and refract the intensity of its light. Moses went to the women first because the Torah's revelation unfolds from the general to the par-ticular, from the supra-spatial point of concept to the breadth and depth of the law. Originally, we received the Torah from G-d as a sin-gle divine utter-ance that encap-sulated all Ten Commandments. Then, we heard the two basic pre-cepts, "I Am the L-rd your G-d" embodying all the positive com-mandments, and "You shall have no other gods," source of all prohibitions. These were followed by the com-munication, through Moses, of the other eight Commandments, all Ten Inscribed on the Two Tablets. For the next forty years, Moses taught Israel the particulars of Torah, transcribed in the Written Torah (the Five Books of Moses); with its 613 mitzvot detailing the principles in the "Engraved Torah" of the Ten Commandments. The extrapolation of Torah did not end with Moses: thirty-five genera-tions of interpretation and application produced the Mishnah, and 300 years of Mishnah analysis gave us the Talmud. This process continues to this very day, as the streams of Halachah, Aggadah, Kabbalah, Chakirah, Mussar and Chassidut - continue to flow from the wellspring of Sinai, an ever-expanding mass of wisdom and law, every word is encapsulated in the sin-gle utterance of the G-d's original words. So when G-d sent Moses to prepare the Jewish people to receive the Torah, He sent him first to the women. First, the Torah must be received as is, free of talmudic pilpul and philosophic theo-rizing, free of mystical experience - free of everything save the unequivo-cal identification with its truth. Go first to the Jewish woman, said G-d to Moses, for she is the prime con-duit of this first step in the communi-cation of My truth. Then, go to the men and instruct them the details, for they play the pivotal role in applying the Torah to the particulars of man's exter-nal experience of his world. This explains the different emphases in men and women's roles in the sanctification of time. The detail-oriented spiritual life of the male is a sequential string of par-ticulars in which each item is dealt with on its own terms and fitted into context with the others. In time, his is the domain of the year, month, week, day and hour. So the Torah charges him to imbue these time-particulars with holiness. But while man is of the hour, woman is time incarnate. She relates to the essence of time, the pure potential of change and flux that transcends the particulars of quantified time. So her mitzvot are primarily "time-neutral," relating to the whole of life rather than the specific slices defined by the clock. Iiiipiiiiii I IIIMILLIHIBII ' ?*<?GRAGTHFFR~ANIR JEWISH ART CALENDAR GETTING READY TO GO TO PRESS Chabad of Southern Nevada is now making preparations for the 5764 - 2003/2004 Jewish Art Calendar. This calendar cov-ers a variety of subjects includ-ing Jewish holidays; candle lighting times, Jewish traditions and customs. Right now, you have the opportunity to personalize the calendar with your special mes-sage, birthdays and Yahrzeits. The cost is $36.00 per message. Last year's much loved calendar raised much-needed funds for Chabad's community education-al activities. Additionally, you may also want to advertise your business in the forthcoming Jewish Art Calendar. Unlike ads in the local newspapers, which have a very short life span, potential cus-tomers throughout the year will view the colorful and informa-tive Jewish Art Calendar provid-ing maximum return for your dollar. There are different size ads to fit your budget available. Advertising with us, you are tak-ing an active role in advancing Judaism in your area, which in turn is bound to elicit a positive response from members of the community. If you are interested in plac-ing a greeting or advertisement, please call our office at 702-259- 0770. DESERT TORAH ACADEMY 6TH AND 7TH GRADERS HAVE A BLAST IN CALIFORNIA HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO CHABAD OF GREEN VALLEY By all the activities and the hustle and bustle surrounding Chabad of Green Valley, one would never imag-ine that we opened our doors a little less than a year ago. Yes, it's the holi-day of Shavuos again, our first anniversary, and we could only dream about how warm and receptive the community would be. Thanks to you, it's become a reality. From our first day, Chabad of Green Valley has been growing and expanding by leaps and bounds, almost outgrowing our new space. Adding to our ongo-ing weekly classes - Rabbi Mendy's Tuesday evening "Living With the Times-The Weekly Torah Portion" and Rabbi Kalman's Wednesday evening Kabbalah Class - we are proud to announce two new adult lec-ture series, an upcoming Shabbaton and an end of year Hebrew School Bar- B-Q. Not forgetting the important role the Jewish woman plays in her family and in the holiday of Shavuos, the cel-ebration of G-d giving the Torah to the Jewish people, we are planning an interesting and fun women's gather-ing. For the kids, our Hebrew School provides an inviting atmosphere for learning and fun. They are taught that they should feel special being Jewish children and to make others feel spe-cial as well. They even wrote letters of thanks to our troops in Iraq, teaching them to care for and remember others. We also can't forget our tots, since on Tuesday mornings Chabad of Green Valley hosts Bagel Babies, where davening and songs can be heard and arts and crafts are designed. Chabad of Green Valley has something for everyone, young and young at heart alike, for the body, mind and soul. From heav-enly Shabbat food to food for thought, we are here to fill your needs and we are here to help. Judaism and liveliness here in Henderson! It's about time and not a minute too soon! Join us, won't you? For more information on Green Valley's programs and schedules, call 617-0770. The 6th and 7th grade students of Desert Torah Academy recently enjoyed a wonderful 3 day trip to Southern California. The students, led by Rabbi Rodman, school princi-pal, and chaperones Nitza Gruner and Eli Goldblatt, left Las Vegas on Sunday, May 18th. Their first stop in L o s A n g e l e s was the Museum of S. ? 1 ? i Tolerance. ? < It would be hard to call that part of their trip enjoyable, since the theme of the muse-um is r e m e m - brance of t h e Holocaust. Nevertheless, the students were deeply moved by the exhibits they saw. It was clear from the questions the children asked, that they had learned profound lessons about the evils of bigotry. After visiting the museum, the group enjoyed a delicious kosher pizza dinner at Pizza Station. The next stop was Munchies, a gigantic kosher candy store and ice cream par-lor. The children were overwhelmed by the variety of nosh available to them. Large baskets were quickly filled with kosher "junk" food to take back to Las Vegas. On Monday, the group visited Universal Studios. The children enjoyed the mixture of thrilling rides and entertaining shows. Of special interest were Water Works, a high action show featuring water tricks and explosives and Terminator, an enthralling 3D presentation. As if they had not had enough excitement, the day was concluded with a sur-prise visit to Seal Beach Pier. The lure of the ocean was too great for children who spend their lives in Southern Nevada and everyone was soon happily splashing in the waves. On Tuesday, May 20th, the Desert Torah Academy students joined the students of the Hebrew Academy of Huntington Beach in a grand Lag B'Omer celebration. Activities included a roller and ice-skating outing, a basketball game and a refreshing swim in the school's private pool. Finally, the exhausted students returned to Las Vegas. The day we got engaged we went to visit my wife's grand-mother, who was 83 at the time. With a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye, she said: "I wish that the excitement and love you feel for each other today will stay with you for the rest of your lives." At the time, we didn't quite appreciate the wis-dom in her words. As years went by and we walked through the path of life together, it began to make more and more sense. Human nature is such, that when we are on the lookout for a relationship, whether it be a working one, a social one, or for the purpose of marriage, we focus on the strong points that the potential partner pos-sesses. An emotional chemistry is cre-ated and an attraction develops. Everything s/he says and does is fantastic. If he interrupts me it's because he loves me so much and wants to tell me all about himself. If she's messy, it's because she puts all her energy into our relationship. If he's late, it's because he stopped on the way home to buy me a gift. As time goes on, our partner's weaknesses (which were always there) begin to irritate us. Interruptions are rude. The mess isn't tolerated and we can't put up with the late-ness. We find him/her less a t t r a c t i v e than when during the marriage cere-mony is to symbolize the complete c o m m i t - ment of one to t h e other, t h e we first met and we wonder why the spark and excitement is gone. The average person today learns about love and relationships through movies and songs. The images of the perfect relationship and the faultless person are unfulfilled dreams that some of us expect in reality, without being ready and willing to work for it. One reason for the ancient Jewish custom that a bride's face is covered Yaakov Lieder acceptance also of those parts of our spouse's character that are covered now, to be revealed later. The secret for a long-term, suc-cessful, happy relationship and that is the power of acceptance. Acceptance does not mean that we agree with the other person's behavior or shortcom-ings; it simply means accepting them as they are, without working a life-time trying to change them, just as we accept ourselves the way we are with all our shortcomings. Once we learn to accept our spouse for what s/he is rather than what we would want them to be, the energy wasted on constant criticism can be used to build and nurture the relationship. This is also true of the parent-child relationship. Some parents fail to accept their children the way they are. Communicating with their child, they convey an open or implicit mes-sage: "Why are you not like X?" (i.e., what I believe a good child is sup-posed to be like). This creates a distance between parent and child. When we truly accept our children the way they are and the way they are not, we will experience a new and better relation-ship that we never experienced before. CHABAD of SOUTHERN NEVADA Adult Educational Classes The Daily Torah Portion Daily Following Morning Service Rabbi Shea Harlig Talmud Sunday Morning 9:30-10:30 Rabbi Shea Harlig 0 Sunday Evening 8:00-9:00 Chassidic Discourses Rabbi Mosh?e Rodman Monday Evening 8:00-9:00 Mishnah Rabbi Avraha? m Granat Tuesday Evening 8:00-9:00 Jewish Learning Institute Rabbi She? a Harlig Wednesday Evening 8:00-9:00 Weekly Torah Portion Rabbi She?a Harlig Thursday Evening 8:00-9:00 The Rebbe's Discourses Rabbi Yisroel Schanowitz Classes are held at our Chabad Center 1254 Vista Drive 1 block east of Arville just south of Charleston No membership required For mort information, tall 259-0770 es Chabad of Southern Nevada Shacharit Daily The Shu! ? 1254 Vista Drive ? 259-0770 7:00 am Sunday 8:00 am Minchah Daily 15 minutes before sunset Maariv Daily 9:00 pm The Chabad Center ? 1261 S. Arville ? 259-0770 Friday Evening Sunset Shabbat Morning 10:00 am Minchah/Maariv 15 minutes before sunset Chabad of Summerlin Shacharit Daily Sunday 10870 S. Eastern Ave. #104 ? 243-3623 .6:45 am .8:30< am Friday Evening Sunset Shabbat Morning 10:00 am Chabad of Green Valley 10870 S. Eastern Ave. #104 Friday Evenings Sunset Shabbat Morning 10:00 am Sunday Morning 8:30 am L Mikvah ? 259-0770 #8 Adult Education Nightly 8:00-9:00 J ? Adult Education ? Burial Society ? Crisis Counseling ? Daily Minyonim ? Desert Torah Academy Day School ? Early Childhood ? Family Holiday Programs ? Gan Israel Day Camp ? Hebrew School ? Jewish Super Phone ? Kosher Supervision & Service ? Lecture Series ? Mikvah ? Model Matzah Bakery ? Mommy & Me ? N'Shei Chabad ? One on One Rabbinical Study ? Prison & Hospital Visitation ? Public Menorah Lighting ? Religious Studies ? Shabbatons ? Shofar Factory ? Teen Groups ? Torah Tots Preschool ? Visits to Retirement Homes ? Weekly Torah E-Mail ? Youth Groups 1261 S. Aiville ? Las Vegas, NV 89102 Phone: 259-0770 ? Fax: 877-4700 www.chabadlv.org ? E-mail: chabadlv@aol.com Afew weeks ago, my six-year-old daugh-ter did something that greatly upset one of my professional colleagues. At the same time, it made her father enormously proud. It happened when I took her to a television taping. While I answered questions, my daugh-ter chatted with the show's associate producer, a bright, capable TV veteran I've known for near-ly a decade. This producer seemed delighted; she fussed and cooed over Sarah's hair, ribbons and frilly dress, and then brought her colored pens, blank paper and glasses of orange juice. When I finished my interview, I saw that my daughter had also received a large imported chocolate bar in a gold foil wrapping. "Daddy, look what Cindy gave me!" she said proudly. "But I didn't open it because maybe I think it's not kosher. Will you look and see and check if it's okay?" Ours is a kosher home and our children know that unfamiliar products should be checked for the recognized insignia certifying that all ingredients conform to Jewish dietary law. My daughter was hoping I'd detect some-thing in the fine print on the wrapper that she hadn't been able to find, but the absence of any visible certification created a problem. "I'm sorry, Sarah," I said, handing it back to her after a care-ful search. "I just don't see any kosher mark." My six-year-old looked crest-fallen for just a moment, but quickly recovered and bravely passed the bar back to the lady who had given it to her. "Thank you," she said with a shy smile, "I'm sorry I can't eat it." The episode might have ended here, except that Cindy felt it deserved further discussion. "I can't believe what I just saw!" she exploded and set on to berate me, and, by implication, my wife, for destroying Sarah's sense of fun and spontaneity, encouraging compulsive behavior and contaminating our kid with fearful super-stitious ideas. She found it "scary" that the kid gave up a piece of candy she obviously relished "like some zombie follower of David Koresh." Worst of all, Cindy believed that this sick, authoritarian emphasis on kosher minutiae would cripple my child's ability to reach deci-sions for herself and would make her grow up feeling different from other kids. It's hard to believe that Cindy would have responded in the same emotional way had Sarah given up the chocolate bar for some other reason, because it was too fattening, for exam-ple, or too high in cholesterol. It was the reli-gious basis for the sacrifice that made it seem so irrational and unwholesome. This is one aspect of the so-called "culture war" that is seldom noted: in the same way that traditional believers are occasionally appalled by what they consider the heedless indulgence of secular America, secularists are often horrified by what they perceive as pointless restraints and rituals of religion. The practice of drawing distinctions, which represents such an important focus of Jewish tradition, seems arbitrary and threatening to many non-religious people. I firmly believe that my daughter's child-hood training in making such distinctions will stand her in good stead as she grows older. It seems to me a beautiful thing, not a neurotic distortion, that a little girl is able to cheerfully sacrifice the sweet taste of candy for the sake of external standards. I can think of no more valuable gift to give my children than equipping them with the ability to resist the pressure of their peers and the powerful adolescent instinct to go along with the crowd. A person who examines the food she consumes may learn to evaluate more important aspects of behavior with sim-ilar care. I'm proud of my Sarah. There's an out-of-fashion, still useful word that can be applied to the trait she displayed. They used to call it character. Reprinted from the New York Post. Mr. Medved is an author and film critic. DESERT TORAH ACADEMY CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL YEAR AND LOOKS AHEAD TO NEW YEAR As the 2002-2003 school year comes to an end, there is much to cele-brate at Desert Torah Academy. In its four short years of existence, the school has grown in size to 150 stu-dents. The beautiful school building is already filled to capacity and plans exist to add a spacious new wing. While Desert Torah Academy is very proud of its schools growth, it is even prouder of the quality of the pro-gram. Desert Torah Academy's teach-ers excel in their qualifications, experi-ence and ability. Each of the secular teachers has a master's degree and each of the Judaic teachers has a teach-ing seminary diploma or rabbinical ordination. A walk through the halls of Desert Torah Academy quickly allows one to see the warmth of the relation-ship between students and teachers, the amount of decorum in the classrooms and the high level of learn-ing that is taking place. The high level of learning is reflected in the excellent test scores Desert Torah Academy students receive on their standardized test scores. While Desert Torah Academy is proud of its entire program, a num-ber of special activities rate special mention. This past year, the entire school participated in a program called "Kids are the Core." The stu-dents were presented with an exten-sive and sequential curriculum on how to improve their interpersonal relationships. Skills learned included anger management and assertiveness. Both the teachers and administration noted marked improvements in the children's behavior as the year pro-gressed. Desert Torah Academy is also justi-fiably proud of its extra curricular activities. The 6th and 7th grade stu-dents took two major trips, one to Death Valley and one to Southern California. Younger students partici-pated in a variety of field trips includ-ing hiking in Red Rock, bowling, skat-ing and outings to Adventure Dome and Scandia. Children also participat-ed in a weekly sports program and a choir, which per-formed at a number of venues in the Las Vegas area. This year Desert Torah Academy held its first science fair. Children in 2nd and 3rd grade partici-pated in a class experi-ment while students from 4th through 7th grade were required to do their own sci-ence project. E v e r y o n e worked really hard and learned much from the expe-rience. On May 28th, par-ents gathered to view their children's work. Prizes were awarded for the most successful science presen-tations. While Desert Torah Academy excit-edly awaits the 2003-2004 school year, three things are of special importance. Next year, Desert Torah Academy will be adding the 8th grade thus complet-ing its elementary and middle school program. Mr. Richard Tellier is also joining DTA's staff as middle school science and math teacher. Mr. Tellier comes to DTA with many years of experience in teaching math and science at the Military Academy of (New Mexico. With his experience and expert-ise, Mr. Tellier should be a valuable addition to Kindergarten graduating class DTA's staff. At the same time, it should be noted that Mr. Tellier is the only new teacher coming to Desert Torah Academy. This fact "speaks vol-umes" about the stability of the teach-ing staff at Chabad's Las Vegas School. Of gr