- Agnon School students from Beachwood collect money for Haiti
- Agnon 8th Graders' Mitzvah on "Romona's Kids"
- Agnon School students celebrate Passover in Beachwood
- Israeli "lone soldier" visits Agnon
- Dr. Sylvia Rimm On Growing Up Too Fast
- Agnon Parents Counter Boycott of Israeli Goods
- Young performer acts tough in ‘Annie'
- Agnon Teacher Dina Rock Presents Educational Policy Report in D.C.
- Israeli Lone Soldier Visits Agnon
- Parent remembers Agnon as her true home
- Agnon students integrate knowledge of ancient Greece and Chanukah
- Day schools holding their own … even in this economy, CJN, 2/6/09
Featured stories:
Romona’s Kids: Long-distance donation, Romona Robinson, WKYC-TV
The inspiration came when they saw a little boy sweltering in a turtleneck and corduroy pants in 100-degree weather. Since then, dozens of local students have turned an annual school trip into a meaningful journey.
Eighth graders from Agnon School are packing for a trip of a lifetime. They’re trying to pound, shove, squeeze and wrestle as many clothes as possible into giant duffle bags. And, they haven’t even started packing for themselves yet.
The duffle bags are actually full of new clothes, donated as part of the Agnon School’s social justice, or mitzvah, project.
“Our school is going to Israel in a few weeks and we are collecting clothes for Ethiopian Jews,” said student Molly Kazan.
The 110,000 Ethiopian immigrants who live in Israel live in poverty. So every year, Agnon eighth graders hand deliver the clothes to families in need.
“They can’t afford clothes so this is a very good mitzvah we are doing, to try to help them out as much as we can,” says student Elanna Rosner.
“They are underprivileged children and we’re just trying to do the best we can to help them,” added student Josh Friedman.
While many of their peers may take for granted heading to the mall to buy any clothes they want, these students will see for themselves what it means to have so little and how their work will mean so much.
“Every shirt counts. Every shirt is one more thing they can have,” says Elanna.
Each of the duffle bags weighs 40 pounds. There are 33 students going on the trip and they’ll each take a bag with them.
Read the rest of this story and watch the video on the WKYC-TV website
© 2010 WKYC-TV
Agnon parents counter boycott of Israeli goods, by Marilyn Karfeld, The Cleveland Jewish News, 2/8/2010
Students at The Agnon School got a firsthand lesson last week in boycott politics. Parents of the Jewish day school students purchased Israeli-grown clementines at Costco to counter an effort to stop the warehouse store from selling Israeli products.
Agnon parent Debbie Isaak-Shapiro, left, sells Israeli clementines from Costco to fellow parent Kevin Adelstein and his twins Max and Gabrielle..
The U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel, a group that opposes what it terms Israel’s “genocide” of Palestinians, launched the Internet appeal targeting Costco because it sells Israeli-grown clementines.
The directive posted on the organization’s website urged sympathizers to call Costco’s produce buyers to inform them of an ongoing international boycott of Israeli products. Callers were then to refer to the hardships Palestinians endured during the attack on Gaza last year and Israel’s continuing restrictions on food, electricity and water there, the website said.
In response to the urged boycott, several Agnon parents went to Costco, purchased nearly 100 5-pound sacks of clementines at $7 a bag and resold the fruit at cost when families arrived to pick up their children after school.
Jerry Isaak-Shapiro, Agnon head of school, had e-mailed parents the day before to alert them to the plan. “Purchasing a simple bag of fruit sends a very clear message to retailers like Costco and to the Israeli farmers and distributors who depend on foreign markets for their livelihood,” he wrote.
Every single bag of Costco’s Israeli clementines sold, Isaak-Shapiro told the CJN. In fact, organizers quickly returned to Costco to buy more clementines when their initial purchase sold out.
Agnon students in Beachwood learn about Chanukah while doing studies on ancient Greece, The Sun Press, 12/11/2009
Fourth-grade students at The Agnon School started learning about ancient Greece in an integrated education unit that culminates at Chanukah time with ‘Greek Chanukah Night.’
Agnon 4th graders Callie Gordon, Hannah Froimson, Rachel Goetz & Helena Costantini wearing chitons.
The studies began in September.
This unique program brought language arts, social studies, Judaic studies, technology, art, music and math together in a presentation that begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the school, 26500 Shaker Blvd.
“One of the program’s major goals is to enhance each student’s Jewish identity,” said Barbara Goldstein, an Agnon fourth-grade teacher. Through the study of ancient Greece and Hellenism, along with the Jewish history of this time, fourth graders see the relevance of Chanukah and feel the pride of being Jewish.”
During the evening program, students will demonstrate everything they learned about the Jewish victory in 165 BCE over the Hellenist Syrians and Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, who outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jewish people to worship Greek gods.
Read the rest of the story at The Sun Press (Cleveland.com) –>>
Where, oh where, oh where is home? by Nancy K. Kekst, Cleveland Jewish News, 9/18/2009
Nancy Kekst, former Director of Admissions at Agnon and an Agnon parent, reflects on the important role Agnon has played in her family’s life.
We called many places home while we lived in Cleveland – we grew up and had our life events at Park Synagogue, the children attended The Agnon School, and I worked at Congregation Shaarey Tikvah. Larry worked at National City Bank. In actuality, the place that was my real home, that touched my life the most, was Agnon.
I am very grateful to The Agnon School for the impact it had on my children and our lives for the last 20 years. I would have held the record for the longest running parent, beating Dan Polster and Connie Altose by a year, if Pamela had graduated from Agnon in 2011 with her 8th-grade class.
Agnon taught us more than just book learning, prayers, or computer. Paying Agnon’s tuition was like parenting insurance – whatever I messed up with my kids, I knew Agnon could fix. I have always been impressed with the high quality, professionalism and caring of the staff and administration. The school has carefully and thoughtfully helped raise my three daughters into intelligent, proud, loving, honest, responsible American Jews. What do I cherish the most? Our dinner table discussions about global warming, American history, Jewish traditions, all courtesy of The Agnon School. Because of Agnon, I studied Hebrew and became a bat mitzvah at age 35. Because of Agnon, I keep kosher and understand why. Because of Agnon, I value working in the Jewish community.
