Bnot Torah Blog
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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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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Inspiration & Growth Through our Chumash Paper
January 26, 2012
Every year around this time, we are all in full swing working towards the final steps of the Chumash Paper. And so, our Beit Midrash is full of vibrant life and really one of a kind! There are so many of us who are researching our own personal topic. By now we have spent countless hours pouring over various sources and texts ranging from a Ramban to a Rav Dessler. In fact, many of us have stayed late into the night or researched on Motzei Shabbat various Seforim that we have available in the comfortable confines of our Bnot Torah Beit Midrash. Plus, we have had many weeks to work on it and tons of help from the many knowledgeable Chonechet’s and Beit Midrash Tutors who are ready to assist you to help you understand the depth of of our heritage. These amazing…
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Ben Adam L’Chaveiro Week
January 23, 2012
If I had to make the difficult choice of choosing which week has been the most exciting week in school until now, I would probably vote for Bein Adam L’Chaveiro Week somewhere in My Personal Top 5! For 7 days we celebrated Bein Adam L’Chaveiro Week in unique Sharfman’s style. It started when the school assigned each girl in the school a “Nutty Buddy.” In order to show the girls how much there is to gain from an unexpected friendship, Sharfman’s matched up girls who really didn’t know each other well. Each “Nutty Buddy” was to shower her “Buddy” with small daily presents during the course of the week.
The results far exceeded the expectations 
Girls spent a lot of time finding out about their Buddies so they could find cute inexpesnive gifts which suited the recipient. In the process, they discovered how distinctive each individual girl is. Gifts ranged from a jump rope for a Buddy who is into physical fitness…
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Inspirational Kinar Hotel Shabbaton!
January 19, 2012
Wow!! What a Shabbaton! We left early in the morning and toured various locations in the Kinneret. Plus, we even got to go bowling and bowl against the various faculty members who joined us for this unforgettable Shabbaton held in the gorgeous Kinar Hotel overlooking the luscious banks of the famous Kinneret. Joining us for the magical weekend were 10 Faculty members, including Rabbi Sharfman, Mrs. Sharfman, our Mechanchot, Mrs. Haymann and Mrs. Fuld, as well as a surprise array of teachers!! When we entered our rooms, we saw that the extra “Sharfman’s Warmth” was even placed into our rooms, as we found an assorted array of Shabbos treats that were placed in our hotel rooms ahead of time, just for us!! Plus, throughout Shabbos there were inspiring Shabbos meals, a Friday Night Tish, led by Mrs. Chana Silver, that seemed to last into the early hours of Shabbos morning What’s more, the Kinar Hotel Shabbaton also featured unique discussion groups for us to continue our quest to further our knowledge as highly educated young Jewish women. On Motzie Shabbat we enjoyed a lovely…
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Sushi Boats & Chinese Lunch!
December 28, 2011
We departed school as soon as the final morning classes ended and quickly boarded the air conditioned chartered bus that would take us on our way directly to the gorgeously set Maxim Restaurant! As soon as all of us S.T.A.H.R. (Sharfman’s Torah Academic Honor Roll) award winners walked in to the restaurant, we were enchanted with the beautiful and contemporary ambiance. This lunch was going to be a real nice treat and recognition of our scholastic and social accomplishments that all of us from the various tracks all achieved!! Plus, we were accompanied by Rabbi and Mrs. Sharfman as well as our Rakezet, Esther Benayon! It was really great being able to shmooze with them over a special treat. And then, the fresh rolls of sushi boats came…I’m sure you can imagine how much we enjoyed them Plus, we also enjoyed a Chinese Lunch as well as our great Dessert! All in all, the outing was a great way to cap off our winning academic accomplishments and we look forward to continuing to excel, move in a positive direction, and be recognized as a S.T.A.H.R!
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Design Your Own Menorah at Chaya Fish’s House!
December 25, 2011
Guest Post by:
Devorah Garfinkel, graduate of Sha’arie Bina Torah Academy for Girls, North Miami Beach, Florida
We just returned from the best time at Chaya Fish’s house! One of the great things about it is that she lives literally minutes away from Sharfman’s! Anyways, when we arrived we were greeted with an overwhelming sense of Chanukah! The smell of latkes frying and the colorful decorations were more than enough to get us into the fun holiday spirit. We sat down at a table decorated with Chanukah themed napkins and plates with chocolate gelt scattered on the table. Festive Chanukah music played in the background and we played with the dreidle at the table. Then we went into the kitchen and started frying our own latkes!! Chaya also served us a tasty holiday Dinner which included: French Onion Soup, as well as latkes with applesauce. After we were all full…
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Sharfman’s Visits Kad V’Chomer Art Studio!!
December 22, 2011
In addition to several opportunities to explore our ARTISTIC side throughout the year, Sharfman’s recently gave the entire school another opportunity to express their artistic talents at the famous art studio, Kad V’Chomer! Both Shana Aleph and Shana Bet participated in a great morning of fun. Plus, we were surprised by Mrs. Kuntsler, who baked a homemade birthday cake for Amy Reznik
Anyways, we boarded the bus and then quickly began to move our paint and brushes on the various objects that we selected to design as our very own ceramic masterpiece. Throughout the morning, girls designed items ranging from mugs to clocks. Indeed, some students even elected to design Judaica items such as their very own Ceramic Menorah to a beautiful and original Netilat Yadayim Washing Cup. There was such a variety of things to do.
Besides, it was a great opportunity for the entire school to further bond together and really learn from one another! We constantly were doing and seeing new and exciting methods…
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Chanukah Dinner & Fun at our Chonechet’s House!
December 15, 2011
Chanuka came early this year at the local home of our Chonechet, Ricki Leybovich. Coming in from the cold Jerusalem night, we were greeted with steaming hot bowls of delicious onion soup. Plus, we were able to choose our own toppings ranging from melted cheese and croutons! What’s more, Ricki also served us homemade warm garlic bread!! We could not have asked for a cozier meal. After we were all warm and satiated, we decided it was time to move on and make our dessert.
You see, Ricki surprised us by telling us that at this Bayit Cham evening at her house, we were going to get into the Chanukah spirit and make Chanuka themed cookies! YUM! Armed with a big ball of sugar cookie dough and many different cookie cutters, we got to work creating and decorating. We really got to check out everyone’s creative side! While we waited for our cookies to bake, out came BLANK wooden draidels….hmmmm….cookie decorating? Yes! But Draidel decorating? Well, with the help of different color permanent markers, we were able to highlight our artistic…
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Beading and Jewelry Making Night!
December 8, 2011
One of my unique roles as a Rakezet, is that I plan and host exciting extra curricular activities that take place throughout the school year exclusively for Shana Aleph and Shana Bet students of Bnot Torah/Sharfman’s! During these events, I get to know the girls in a very informal setting, and by extension, we are all able to form meaningful relationships, while having a good time. I’m also in school every morning to schmooze, have a Chavrusa, or invite girls over to my house. Anyways, last night we did something really exciting and fun: Beading and Jewelry Making Night! We had soo much fun making necklaces, bracelets, cute key chains, and charms for our cell phones. We all had a fantastic time learning…
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