Acting Principal Mrs. Illana Joseph

It is with great love and excitement that we celebrate our Acting Principal Mrs. Illana Joseph. She works tirelessly and behind the scenes to keep our daily experiences smooth and enjoyable. She models a positive, can-do attitude that resonates through our halls and shows on our faces. Saying good-bye to Mrs. Helena Levine when she deservedly became Head of School was not easy, but the uplifting and supportive presence of Mrs. Joseph kept us moving forward. She collaborates with our parents, supports our staff and inspires our students. What many may not realize is that she accomplishes these feats while tutoring students in math and teaching classes! Her demonstrative work ethic is a precedent for all of us to follow.  We wanted to take a moment to tell her how much we love and appreciate her today and everyday! Thank you for graciously guiding us and keeping things all “smooth sailing” at Rosenblatt High School.

11th Annual Coffee House

On Thursday, January 22nd, Rosenblatt High School held its annual 11th Annual Coffee House.  What a fun evening it was! A special thank you goes out to our amazing faculty for your participation in our dance and to Mrs. Ellen Fiengold  for once more stepping up and taking this event on. The teamwork of faculty and students was everywhere and what  was so amazing, along with the talent, was how comfortable everyone was on the stage.  Great job!

Thank you to Mr. Chris Henderson for choreographing the men in a very authentic Hawaiian dance and thank you to our amazing ladies for attending rehearsals and dancing so beautifully!

A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Alexandra Hasson who took time out of her busy schedule to create and teach the faculty dance and for putting together the Hawaii 5775 movie.  Her help was immeasurable!

To our very own Mrs. Anita Schwartz, thank you so much for coordinating this dance production and for assembling the floral head pieces, along with Mrs. Eilat Brenner, and all the other props used in the number.

Last, but not least, thank you to Mrs. Amanda Brooke for being the best tech person ever and helping us throughout this whole process. We have been blessed with the best high school faculty ever!​

aipac training

Last November, Rabbi Baruch Plotkin took a group of six Rosenblatt High School students to participate in AIPAC’s Schusterman Advocacy Institute High School Summit.  Together with high school leaders from throughout the country, Carly Cohen, Amy Freidus, Asher Gritz, Sharon Pedowitz, Allison Sherman, and Noam Tansman, learned how to advocate for American support of the State of Israel.  

In order to engage the high school community as a whole in the process of
pro-Israel advocacy, Rabbi Plotkin put together a Town Hall event on Friday, January 23.  During that event, Noam, Sharon, and Allison gave brief presentations about what they learned at the Schusterman Summit and how they had come away from it committed and energized to the cause of pro-Israel advocacy.   Asher talked about how the students were enthusiastically looking forward to participating in the upcoming AIPAC Policy Conference, which will take place in Washington, in March.   

Believing that effective pro-Israel advocacy must be based on a firm foundation of knowledge, Rabbi Plotkin asked Mr. Gary Friedman, a History teacher at Rosenblatt High School, to do a presentation about the history of the modern Arab-Israeli conflict.   In his presentation, Mr. Friedman explained the origins and results of the main Arab-Israeli Wars, especially the Israeli War of Independence, the Six Day War of 1967, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973.   Mr. Friedman also focused on the efforts that have been made to make peace between Israelis and Arabs, especially the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979 and the Israeli-Palestinian Accords of 1993.    

Hopefully, the students came away from Mr. Friedman’s presentation, and the Town Hall as a whole, with information that will both contribute to their understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict and help them to effectively advocate American support for Israel.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

This year’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is already going extremely well. After only three weeks of rehearsal, we have almost finished learning the music from both acts of the show. We are expected to finish all of the music sometime next week, thanks to our amazing Music Director, Mr. Parker. We are already working on some of our dances choreographed by Sami Lev, a junior at our very own Rosenblatt High School. Costumes are already beginning to be made and compiled and the set is being built now thanks to our amazing Costumer, Prudence and our Set Designer, Teresa. We are fortunate to have help from many of our students as we do every year.

NPFH@DKJA Club Facebook Page

On the evening of January 20th, the official NPFH@DKJA Club Facebook Page “DKJA No Place for Hate/ADL Club” went live, within 12 hours it was up to 126 LIKES!!  This is a great source of pride and achievement; for each "Like" the page receives, one dollar is donated to an ADL organization up to the first 250 “LIKES.”  The page was created to offer an immediate place for people to find out about who were are as a club, what we stand for, and what we have accomplished thus far, allowing our club to become more widespread and recognized.  The page encourages others, who previously did not know about the ADL, to join, participate and consequently share our important messages.  Through social media, we are able to physically expand the walls of our club beyond the school, encouraging inter-school interactions.  We are proud to showcase our school as a whole.

After our Peer Trainings, the page keeps the ADL tips, strategies, and messages, present in the trainees’ minds.  Peer Trainers utilize the page to teach and remind students about how to be an ally and how to work to create a peaceful, loving, and strong peer environment both in and out of school.  Our page offers an indirect relationship to other students looking to better their school communities. Please “LIKE” our page: https://www.facebook.com/dkjanoplaceforhate

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY ASSEMBLY

On Friday, January 16th, Rosenblatt High School commemorated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a Town Hall presentation by History teachers Nicholas Belotto and Gary Friedman.  The purpose of their presentation was to provide the historical context and perspective that would enable the students to better understand and appreciate the meaning and significance of this important national holiday.  

Mr. Friedman began the presentation by making the point that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is about more than just Dr. King; it is about the larger civil rights movement that he led and, even more broadly, about the struggle for civil rights that goes back to the early history of our country.

Mr. Friedman then introduced Mr. Belotto, who proceeded to give a very informative talk in which he traced the origins of the civil rights struggle to slavery and the Civil War. He concluded by focusing on the unfulfilled legacy of the period of postwar Reconstruction and the ways in which the gains of that period were undone in the late 19th century.   Throughout his talk, Mr. Belotto highlighted the indispensable role that Abraham Lincoln played in the origins and development of civil rights.  

Mr. Friedman picked up where Mr. Belotto left off, as he began his part of the presentation by discussing Brown vs. Board of Education, the famous U.S. Supreme Court decision that reversed Plessy vs. Ferguson, the late 19th century case that had upheld racial segregation.    He went on to dramatically highlight major episodes in the modern civil rights struggle, including the efforts of “the Little Rock Nine” to de-segregate that city’s Central High School, the de-segregation of the Universities of Mississippi and Alabama, the “Freedom Rides,” the voting rights campaign and the “Mississippi Burning” case, and the tragic assassinations of Dr. King and Senator Robert Kennedy.  Mr. Friedman incorporated several interesting video clips into his presentation, as well.

Kabbalat Shabbat

 This week's Kabbalat Shabbat, hosted by the Junior Class, designated the theme "Give Peace a Chance" based on the famous John Lennon song. In advance observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and in light of all the recent acts of terror in Paris, the Juniors mindfully chose this timely dedication. Tie-dyed shirts and fresh baked Challahs enhanced the atmosphere. Jordan Nakdimon wrote and delivered a meaningful D'var Torah (click to view Jordan's presentation) , during which he illuminated the connection between this week's Torah portion, Va'era, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and DKJA's students' personal responsibilities to uphold freedom on every level.