Attention Parents!

Enrollment Contracts for next year are due in the office by Monday, April 1. Please take the opportunity to complete and turn in your contracts as soon

as possible. This will be a significant help in our planning for next year.

For your convenience, the enrollment contract is available online - click for the link:

http://rudlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2019_2020-Enrollment-

Contract_online.pdf

May 24, 2019 19 Iyar, 5779 Chesed Honoree Avery Lynn Visits RTA

Last Friday we were treated to a special visit from our 2019 Chesed honoree, Mr. Avery Lynn. Mr. Lynn is a long-time friend of the school who has done virtually every possible volunteer job for RTA - and even some that weren’t so possible! Mr. Lynn’s visit was a treat for all the classes he visited, with everyone enjoying his sense of hu-mor and easy-going attitude. He enjoyed learning and interacting with the students in various grades, even engaging in a competition of the ‘um’ game with the 2

nd graders. And naturally, a

special highlight was visiting his granddaughter, Dena, in her Kindergarten class.

RTA is proud to honor Mr. Lynn and thank him for all that he has done for our school and community for almost thirty years.

· Chesed Honoree Visit 1

· Chesed Journal Ad Sponsors

2

· Graduation Invitation 3

· Cameron Gallagher Foundation Presentation

4

· Gr. 4. Jamestown Trip 7

· Art at RTA 8

· Parsha 12

Candle Lighting

Friday, May 24 8:01 p.m.

Saturday, May 25 9:05 p.m.

(continued on page 5…)

Monday, May 27 Memorial Day No Classes

Wednesday May 29

2nd Grade Chumash Party 9:50 - 11:00 a.m.

Thursday, May 30 Computer Coding 3:40 - 5:00 p.m.

Soccer 3:40 - 5:00 p.m.

SAVE THE DATE - RTA ANNUAL MEETING

Wednesday, June 5, at 5:30 p.m. at RTA

Page 2 V’ahavta

Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Ackman Mrs. Elaine Ackman Mr. & Mrs. Louis Adams Mr. & Mrs. Ronnie Adolf Mrs. Frances Amernick C.L. Amernick Rabbi & Mrs. Meir Aronowitz Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Asher Mr. & Mrs. Irwin Asher Mr. & Mrs. Michael Barck Rabbi & Mrs. Yosef Bart Bart children Mrs. Judy Behren Mr. & Mrs. Elliott Bender Mr. Josh Bilder Mr. & Mrs. Meir Binshtok Mr. & Mrs. Scott Black Mr. Irving Blank Mrs. Debbie Braverman Mr. Tom Buehler Mr. & Mrs. Matt Burstein Mr. & Mrs. Stuart Cantor Mr. & Mrs. Yonatan Cantor Mr. & Mrs. Doniel Chaifetz Mr. & Mrs. Avi Chandler Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Chester Dr. Sarah Kranz Ciment Mr. & Mrs. Jack Cohen Dr. Leslie Cohen Mr. Alan Colker Cosby Auto Service Rabbi & Mrs. Yisroel Meir David Dr. & Mrs, Daniel Davidow Mr. Harry Davis Mr. & Mrs. Lee Dranoff Mr. & Mrs. Elliot Eisenberg Mr. & Mrs. Edwin Epstein Mr. & Mrs. Roben Farzad Mr. David Feibish Mrs. Bea Fine Mr. & Mrs. Elliot Fitzgerald Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Follick Mr. & Mrs. Ben Freedlander

Dr. & Mrs. David Galpern Dr. & Mrs. David Gardner Mr. & Mrs. Richard Gary Mr. & Mrs. Jeremy Gladstone Mrs. Edith Glock Mr. & Mrs. Yossi Goel Mrs. Frances Goldman GreeneHurlocker Mrs. Aliza Finer Grossman Mr. & Mrs. Avi Gunzburg Dr. & Mrs. Tino Habib Hailey Buick-GMC Mrs. Batya Miryam Hanse Mrs. Lin Hardy Mr. & Mrs David Hecht Heritage Wealth Advisors Mr. & Mrs. William Hill Mrs. Inge Horowitz Mrs. Helen Horwitz Dr. Tracey Adler Horwitz Mr. & Mrs. Randy Howard Mr. & Mrs. Jay Ipson Mr. Fred Itzkowitz JCFR Mr. Russ Jennings Jewish Family Services Mr. David Kalman Mrs. Willa Kalman Keneseth Beth Israel Mr. & Mrs. Ike Koziol Krumbein Family Mr. Lee Krumbein & Dr. Susan Korenstein Mrs. Sam Lefkowitz Mr. & Mrs. Rich Lehman Ms. Ronnie Lesh Mr. & Mrs. Chuck Lessin Let's Give RVA Dr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Levin Mr. & Mrs. Avery Lynn Mr. & Mrs Miles Lynn Rabbi & Mrs. Shlomo Mayer Ms. Esther Merel

Mr. & Mrs. Victor Moes Mr. Abby Moore Drs. Bill & Gail Moskowitz Isaac Nichols Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Paley Mr. David Peck Mr. & Mrs. Jim Plotkin Mr. & Mrs. Mark Press & Family Mr. & Mrs. Keith Rakofsky Mr. & Mrs. James Reinke Richmond Jewish Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Claiborne Robins Del. Debra Rodman Ms. Wendy Rosen Mr. Richard Ross Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Roth Mr. & Mrs. Henry Salomonsky Mr.& Mrs. Richard Samet & Family Mr. & Mrs. Steve Samora Mrs. Helene Schonbrun Mr. & Mrs. Isadore Seldes Dr. & Mrs. Mark Seldes Mrs. Sheila Selznick Rabbi & Mrs. Baruch Sherman Rabbi & Mrs. Menachem Sherman Mr. & Mrs. Nathan Shor Mr. & Mrs. Mark Sisisky Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Soble Dr. Neil Sonenklar & Ms. Anne Woods Mrs. Emily Sterling Mrs. Hody Tannenbaum Mrs. Suzanne Toporovsky Alycia Tysinger Designs Mr. & Mrs. Mitchell Waskin Dr. & Mrs. Josh Weinstein Weinstein JCC Dr. Bob Weisberger Mr. Tony & Dr. Karen Wharton Miss Ellie Winkelmann Mr. Benny Winkelmann Mr. & Mrs. David Winston Yeshiva of Virginia Rabbi & Mrs. Daniel Yolkut

The 53rd Anniversary Chesed Award Committee

wishes to thank the following individuals and

businesses for advertising in the event program

and donating to the 2019 Chesed Celebration.

Page 3 V’ahavta

Mazel tov to Rabbi Elliot & Sorah Plotnick on the birth of a son, Berel Aharon Simcha. Mazel tov to the entire Selznick and Plotnick families.

Congratulations to Mr. Dave & Mrs. Jenny Williams on the marriage of their daughter, Rachel, to Ruel Walker-Banks.

Mazel tov to Mr. Daniel & Morah Julia Roth on the engagement of their son, Joseph, to Aliza Babendir of Skokie, IL.

Page 4 V’ahavta

Cameron Gallagher Foundation Presentation

On Monday, the 7th and 8

th graders participated in a special presentation by Ms. Jodi Beland of the

Cameron Gallagher Foundation. Ms. Beland’s multi-media presentation included a PowerPoint focusing on stress – especially its caus-es and how to deal with it. The discussion Ms. Beland led was focused on teenagers, though it was striking that the advice and strategies were relevant to anyone; the value of sleep and exercise, the therapeutic power of music, and even the importance of just taking deep breaths! Much of the advice was familiar to students of Torah thought – such as the critical point that while we don’t always control what happens to us or what others say/do to us - what we can control is how we react to all of those things. The mission of the Cameron Gallagher Foundation is to be a positive force that works to cultivate awareness and understanding of teenage depression and anxiety. CGF partners with local schools and mental health professionals to implement prevention-based programs and curriculum to provide education and initiate conversation amongst teens.

Page 5 V’ahavta

(. . .continued from front page)

Chesed Honoree Avery Lynn Visits RTA

(more photos on next page . . .)

Page 6 V’ahavta

(. . .continued from page 5)

Chesed Honoree Avery Lynn Visits RTA

Page 7 V’ahavta

Fourth Grade Jamestown Trip

On May 21, the fourth grade visited the Historic

Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown

Battlefield. They saw how Native Americans

lived, the settlers fort, and the three ships that

landed in Virginia in 1607. They also visited the

site of the final battle of the Revolutionary War in

Yorktown.

The fourth graders were accompanied by

Mrs. Joanna Miller, Mrs. Yuliya Habib, and

Mrs. Judy Lessin.

Page 8 V’ahavta

Perspective!!

by the 5th and 6th Grade

The 5th and 6th grade have been learning about perspective. They know how to draw from a vanishing point, use a horizon and show depth with color and size.

This assignment used a vanishing point in the sky. Tall buildings all converge at that point. They used pencils, rulers, watercolors and markers.

Skyler Legano Salome Eichelberg Nathaniel Rakofsky

Avi Gruber Alexander Klestzick Katie Holi

Akiva Chandler Doni Plotnick Tzipora Francis

(continued on next page…)

Page 9 V’ahavta

Perspective!!

by the 5th and 6th Grade

(continued from page 8)

(more art on next page…)

Eliyahu Aronowitz Chana Rochel Follick

Eliyahu Francis

Amalya Weinberger Miri David Yehoshua Gunzburg

Daneel Olihnenco

Avraham Tzvi Chandler

Maya Yadin

Ezra Holi

Page 10 V’ahavta

The kindergarten looked at many paintings by Marc Chagall. He was Jewish and lived in Russia. Growing up in a small village inspired his art work. The kindergarten listened to "Dreamer From The Village", a book about Chagall's life. He painted objects and people as if they floated in the air. To give the impression of floating, the students turned their paper around to draw houses, animals, people and plants. They used oil pastels.

Marc Chagall

by the Kindergarten

Abe Sherman

Rachelli Aronowitz

Moshe Goldberg

Moussia Friedman

Dena Cantor

Simmy Winston

Yoshi Mizrahi

Yali Plotnick Hillel Shlomo Follick

(continued on next page…)

Page 11 V’ahavta

Marc Chagall

by the Kindergarten

(continued from page 10)

Judah Oberstein-Gordon

Malky Goldberg

Hadara Weinberger

Maya Farzad

Page 12 V’ahavta

Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2)

Sabbatical and trust in God

The story is told of a European Jew at the turn of the century who, tired of the constant grind of

poverty, determined to solve his plight by playing the lottery. Fearing that what he was doing

was not exactly "kosher," the fellow went to his rabbi and asked approval for the plan. He ex-

plained that his actions would do nothing more than provide the Almighty with the opportunity

to send him some well-needed money. Moreover, the fellow said, he had complete trust that

G-d would answer him.

"How many tickets are you buying?" asked the rabbi. "Three" said the man.

"One should be enough for G-d", was the rabbi's laconic reply.

The concept of bitachon - "trust in G-d" - plays a critical role in Jewish thought. Just as a per-

son should strive to observe the Mitzvot, he or she should also try to develop bitachon, a con-

sciousness that G-d is actively involved in our lives. In fact, the acquisition of this "G-d aware-

ness" is so vital that some commentators explain this as the true goal of Torah observance.

While true acquisition of bitachon can be a tremendously liberating experience, it is also very

hard to achieve. We live in a world where our daily routine and the "natural course of events"

actually may lead us to forget about G-d. How many of us limit our lottery purchases to one

ticket?!

In striking fashion, this week's Torah portion addresses this issue. Much of the Parsha is devot-

ed to a description of laws concerning the sabbatical year ("shmita") that takes place in Israel

every seventh year. In Biblical times, debts were cancelled on the shmita year, and servants

were set free.

Even today, farm land is not to be worked during the shmita year. Throughout the entire Land

of Israel, no Jewish farmer should plow or plant. This hiatus not only helps improve the quality

of the soil, but provides the Jewish People with more free time to study Torah

.

This system of shmita, however, would seem to create one great problem: a lack of food!

Concerning this issue, however, G-d assures us not to worry:

"Perhaps you will say, 'What will we eat in the seventh year for we cannot sow nor gather our

crop?' I (G-d) will command my blessing upon the sixth year and it will bring forth (enough)

produce for three years." (Leviticus 25:20-21)

Parsha Points

Each week we feature an article on the weekly Torah portion.

(continued on next page . . .)

Page 13 V’ahavta

The Chazon Ish (one of the most foremost sages of the 20th century) explained that while this

does not guarantee that every individual will receive a triple crop, it does mean that collective-

ly the Jewish People's land will yield crops in far greater abundance than would be "natural." In

this way, we are reminded that it is G-d who is the force behind the natural order, and when He

so chooses He dispenses in proportions far beyond "natural."

In this sense, the shmita year parallels the Sabbath, whose major function is also to remind us

that it is G-d who created the world - and ultimately controls His world. Integrating this idea

into one's life is the foundation of bitachon - true trust in the Almighty.

Adapted with permission from the award winning website, www.aish.com.

Parsha Points

(. . .continued from page 12)