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News Archive

2008-10-15

Hakheil: An Inspirational Sukkot Experience

A sea of smiling, swirling students enveloped Maimonides School with the jubilation of Sukkot Thursday morning, as the school community commemorated the mitzvah of Hakheil in the Saval Campus courtyard. Dozens of teachers and some visiting parents and grandparents joined the gathering.

Students in Kindergarten through Grade 12 sat by grade in designated spaces to share the experience. “Let us all try to imagine that we are assembled in Yerushalayim, in the Beit HaMikdash with all the rest of our nation,” said Rabbi Yair Altshuler, Middle and Upper School principal, as he introduced the Hakheil.

Seniors Zehava Gale and Natan Kawesch served as narrators, explaining each individual commemoration of the ancient ceremony, including the formal opening with trumpet blasts (played by Ken Weinstein, Middle and Upper School general studies principal).

Seniors Michael Kosowsky and Josh Yarmush entered the courtyard with a Sefer Torah, which was held by Rabbi David Shapiro as he led the assembly in the first section of Kriat Shema (Devarim 6:4-9). After the scroll was returned, senior men led the crowd in singing “Hinei Mah Tov,” followed by a half-hour of animated dancing, highlighted by clusters of older and younger students together and embellished by a plethora of Israeli flags.

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