AKIBA - academy of dallas

Bonnie Rubinstein, a former Akiba faculty member and currently the director of early childhood education at Temple Shalom, is asking for our assitance in alerting our Congressional representatives to the plight of her brother, Alan Gross.

Alan has been held by the Cuban government without charges since December 3, 2009. Over the past 25 years, Alan has traveled to more than 50 countries to improve the lives of the impoverished and to help improve local economies. Jewish causes have always been near and dear to Alan's heart, and we are hoping that our community can help bring Alan home to his family, especially to his 87 year old mother.

Here's how you can help:

First, below is a sample letter that you can send to your Senators and Representatives. If you want to put this in your own words, please remember that it is best to emphasize the humanitarian issues and not the political ones. You may use the following link to obtain contact information for your State delegations: click here!

Letter to Congress

Dear Senator/ Congressman/woman,

This past week a letter has circulated through the House and Senate asking Congress to assist in the release of Alan Gross, a resident of Potomac, MD who was arrested on December 3, 2009 by Cuban authorities. Mr. Gross was in Cuba under a USAID contract to help the small Jewish Community improve communications with Jews in Cuba and overseas.

Alan Gross is a humanitarian, actively involved in Jewish causes, and has worked in over 50 countries to help improve the lives of the impoverished and jumpstarting their local economies.

In recent weeks Mr. Gross's health has started to decline. In addition, he has lost 52 pounds in three months.

As your constituent, I urge you to please sign on to the letter to The Cuban Government, and do whatever you can to secure the release of Alan Gross.

Sincerely,

(Your signature here)

Alan's wife, Judy, is working with their Congressman, Chris Van Hollen, on a bipartisan letter to the Cuban government seeking Alan's release. They are hoping to get as many members of Congress to sign the letter as possible. Please urge your Congressional representatives to sign the letter so that we can send a clear message to the Cuban government. You can contact Chris Van Hollen's office for more information.

Thank you for your support.

Last night, the Akiba Cougars (boys) won the IAA Championship by a score of 46 to 39 against Parish Episcopal School.

Congratulations to all the athletes who worked so hard on and off the court this entire season and especially last night!

Our thanks go out to Coach Chris Walker and Coach Ben Williams for all their work and dedication working with our boys this year.

Congratulations to Akiba All Stars David Rudomin, Adam Steinbrecher, Talia Klein and Alexandra Lavi who have been selected to represent Akiba at the IAA All Star Game which will take place Tuesday February 23rd at St. Alcuin. The Lady Cougars will play at 5pm and boys’ game starts at 6pm.

Under the gentle guidance of Mrs. Gayle Roth, Akiba’s fourth grade students used their strongest, most inspired choral voices to celebrate the accomplishments of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. during a presentation to their parents and
3rd grade students earlier this month.

In English and Hebrew, each child shared a word, a speech, an except, a memory, all building blocks enabling the arrival of freedom days in America. The performance was moving and every family received a video link to the performance to cherish and share with out-of-town relatives.

With pride and joy, and after preparations that began just after Thanksgiving, 2nd grade students welcomed and celebrated their first Chumash last Wednesday, February 11.

Mrs. Rochelle Mandelcorn always takes exceptional pride in this effort and the children were very excited throughout the process, and ecstatic with the results. “ The children are very happy to have their own Chumash, which we will start using daily in class next week”, said Mrs. Mandelcorn. “In this Chumash, not only do the words include the vowels, making it easier to read, but the children also can refer to Torah commentary by Rashi.”

Every child still had fond memories of their accomplishment this week and Diane Scheinberg couldn’t wait to take her Chumash home, "so I can teach my mom to read it”.

…Now I can learn Torah by myself. It is really fun to learn Torah by yourself because you can get intelligent by doing it yourself. I feel great and intelligent! I love my Chumash because it’s so great!

I was excited but scared of presenting my part but it was easier than I expected.