Bnot Torah Blog
Make Your Own Homemade Hamentashen Night!
February 27, 2012
Nosh nosh nosh. Nosh a Hamentash! Rosh Chodesh Adar began in style with a much anticipated Bayit Cham at the home of our Chonechet! We dined on an exquisite vegetable soup and Mexican salad, garnished with taco chips. This was complimented perfectly by breadsticks and crackers. The atmosphere was completed by the funky and creative setup and design in honor of the coming of Purim…now how’s that for some true Adar spirit?
The evening was devoted to the festivities of the month, getting us in the true spirit of Purim. Our Chonechet revealed to us her secret, age-old family recipe for hamentashen, which we obviously can’t reveal outside her home. We got to work, eagerly combining the ingredients, and formed delicious, professional looking hamentashen. We chose from a variety of fillings including strawberry jelly, white and brown chocolate, and peanut butter. We meant to save them for Shabbos at the least, but we couldn’t help ourselves, as the super enticing scent wafting out of the kitchen, got the better of us. Our favorite was of course the “Reese’s” flavored hamentashen (a perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter)-they were out of this world!!!
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Meet the Shevat S.T.A.H.R. Award Winners!
February 23, 2012
While we are formally no longer in the month of Shevat anymore, and are celebrating Rosh Chodesh Adar (more on that later 
…), everyone is still very much abuzz and happy for all of the Shevat S.T.A.H.R. Award winners! There were an amazing amount of girls from both Shana Aleph and Shana Bet who hail from all across North America, and even some four time S.T.A.H.R. Award Winners. The entire school was gathered for a mid-morning S.T.A.H.R. Award Presentation. Rabbi Sharfman presented certificates to every S.T.A.H.R. Award winner! All of the Shevat S.T.A.H.R. Award winners will be treated to an exclusive award! We can’t wait to share with you more of our Adar and Purim plans but in the meantime, it’s time for us to celebrate…
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Mission Accomplished: The Chumash Paper!
February 21, 2012
After 6 weeks of effort and research, I now look back and feel accomplishment and success like never before! This Chumash Paper was not just any report that was due. Instead, It is something that I will always have and forever keep It’s not just what we learned, it’s how we’ve learned to learn and even more than that. It’s how we’ve learned how enjoyable learning really is…
To start off, each of us met with our Chumash teacher (who BTW she’s really warm and awesome and really gave us sooo much this year I can’t even tell you) to choose a Mitzvah or topic from Chumash that really moved us, and that we wanted to understand better.
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Massada, Dead Sea, Ein Gedi and More!
February 15, 2012
Recently, we went on a Tiyul that encompassed Massada, the beautiful Dead Sea as well as Ein Gedi! Our Bnot Torah Tour Bus left really early in the morning for us to experience our inspiring trip accompanied by our Tour Guide, Rabbi Jacobs! Best of all, because we got up soo early, it enabled us to participate in our own early morning climb up to the top of Massada. As such, we were able to experience Sunrise on the top of Massada, overlooking miles upon miles of the beautiful Land of Israel, as well as Daven Shacharit there! Everyone could not stop talking about how special of a day this was going to be
Following the trek up to Massada, we were greeted to our very own guided tour of the site. Upon the conclusion of learning about the history and the relevance of the area, we headed back down for swimming and some good sun at the Dead Sea as well as Ein Gedi. Below are just some of the pictures from this unbelievable trip! I can’t believe that we managed to do soo much in just 1 day!
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Sharfman’s Game Night with our Rakezet
February 13, 2012
During these cold winter days, we at Sharfman’s were in need of some good indoor entertainment The Beit Midrash was packed for the first ever “Bnot Torah Game Night!!” From Taboo, Rummikub, Monopoly, Set, Bananagrams, to Boggle, we had no shortage of games to choose from. Some girls had friendly yet fiery competitions, while others enjoyed playing more leisurely.
Everyone had their opinion on what their favorite part of the night was. Some girls favorite part of the night was the upbeat music, and instead of sitting and playing games, they danced the night away! Other girls said their favorite part of the night was the “Mexican Style” chips, dips, and more !
All in all, it was a great opportunity for all of us to bond together with all of the great girls in our school…and even in with many of our Shana Bet girls! Plus, we got to hang out with Esther Benayon, our wonderful Rakezet, who really helped make the Game Night Evening a special event that we are all still raving about My personal favorite part of the night was that many girls found themselves with..NEW FOUND FRIENDSHIPS!
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Surprise Guest Speaker: Rabbi Wallerstein!
February 8, 2012
Every morning, Rabbi Sharfman speaks to us at Breakfast and gives us an inspiring Dvar Torah that very much sets the tone for our day. Best of all, Rabbi Sharfman uses this opportunity to occasionally announce special events, the weather for the day, or that we may be having a surprise Guest Speaker! Sure enough, earlier in the week, Rabbi Sharfman announced that we would be having a special Guest Speaker who would be visiting us from America
This morning, on Wednesday, the one and only Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, who is world famous for being the Rabbi behind, Ohr Naava Women’s Torah Center, walked into our school and inspired us all. Rabbi Wallerstein discussed messages of Kedushah that still charismatically resonate in our hearts and souls! Plus, as I’m sure you know Rabbi Wallerstein is known to speak in a relevant yet inspiring way while also weaving in amazing stories that reached our inner neshamah! Every student is thankful to Rabbi Sharfman for making sure that we’d be able to have such an amazing speaker such as Rabbi Wallerstein come visit us today!
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Tu B’Shevat: A Time of Learning & Celebration!
February 8, 2012
When the typical person would speak or learn about the day we know as Tu B’Shevat, playful and joyous tunes from ones childhood may run through their head. Likewise, many of us have memories of tree planting ceremonies and the consumption of delicious dried fruit! However, in Israel, this day isn’t just simply glossed over. The streets of Yerushalayim, and all over the country for that matter, are filled with people wishing one another a “Happy Tu B’Shevat!” Indeed, from Rabbi Green’s enlightening class on Tu B’Shevat called, Shevat Secrets: You are Like a Tree, we got to discover the inner meaning of the day, as well as the entire month of Shevat. And so, as we are in a middle of yet another memorable week of learning and inspiration here at Sharfman’s, it’s fitting that Rabbi Sharfman himself surprised every class with beautiful trays of fresh dried fruit for all of us to eat and enjoy!
Not only did this Tu B’Shevat treat add meaning to what would have been simply “Thursday,” but it gave us another opportunity to see how much Rabbi Sharfman cares about allowing us to taste every aspect of our Year in Israel! Happy Tu B’Shevat
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Warm & Tasty Supper at our Chonechet’s House!
February 5, 2012
This past Bayit Cham, at the home of our Chonechet, Ricki Leybovich, proved to be a combination of the wacky and the serious, the calm and the crazy, the light and the deep! You see, in our group, we can plan events, but things don’t always go as planned. It all started calm and normal enough. We were greeted with the wonderful aroma of hearty tomato soup (with rice of course) and fresh, home baked bread. As we all settled down and enjoyed our “family” meal, there was light chatter, some laughter and comfortable shmooze (with consistent refilling of the bread basket). After we were all warmed up from the soup and pleasantly satiated, Ricki brought out a beautifully sculptured bundt cake– Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake (whole wheat of course!!) YUM!!! After we had worked our way through our cake and tea/coffee, we said goodbye to those who had to leave for Chumash project tutoring. So sad to see you go! Those who stayed decided that instead of playing our planned game…
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Chumash Paper Themed Bayit Cham!
February 2, 2012
We rushed to our Chonechet’s house, and tried to change quickly into fun and chilled Bayit Cham mode. We tried and tried, but our minds were still flooded with thoughts of that Chumash paper we had due. We stepped into her cozy apartment, and almost immediately our minds went to sleep and our senses took control. Yummm… the mouth watering aromas of soup, delicious food and all the hallmarks of an awesome night with our Chonechet. Appropriately, the night’s theme was to de-stress, relax, and pamper yourself. Wow, that was exactly what we needed! We sank down into the couches and each made ourselves a delicious Panini dinner, using an assortment of freshly cut vegetables and fillings. Tuna melt paninis were a big favorite, consisting of cheese, tuna fish, tomatoes, corn, peppers, carrots, onions etc. This was combined with a scrumptious French onion soup, complete with croutons and the trademark melted cheese. We finished off by baking some delicious hot peach muffins, and cooling off from the soup with drinks of refreshing lemon water.
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Meet the Teves S.T.A.H.R. Award Winners!
January 30, 2012
While we are formally no longer in the month of Teves anymore, and have just completed celebrating Rosh Chodesh Shevat, everyone is still very much abuzz and happy for all of the Teves S.T.A.H.R. Award winners! There were over 20 girls hailing from Los Angeles to Baltimore, to New York to Seattle, and even some girls who are repeat S.T.A.H.R. Award Winners. The entire school was gathered for a mid-morning celebration complete with Rabbi Sharfman’s famous hot chocolate as well as cinnamon and chocolate rugelach! Next, Rabbi Sharfman presented certificates to every S.T.A.H.R. Award winner! In fact, there were even 2 girls who scored 100% in every aspect of the Sharfman’s Torah Academic Honor Roll—or more simply put the S.T.A.H.R. Program!
You see, at Sharfman’s, each and every year, we are constantly striving to create more cutting edge innovation to further inspire and empower our girls with new ways to maximize their potential as Jewish women! As first announced last year, we have launched the new and exciting program known as: Sharfman’s Torah Academic Honor Roll—or more simply put the S.T.A.H.R. Program! This program
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