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Category: Events

Lag Ba’Omer: Fires of warmth

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

By Morah Carolyn Steinman

On Thursday 23rd May, the 33rd day of the period of the Omer, we celebrate Lag B’Omer. Our children learn that it is the yahrzeit (anniversary of the death) of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai a great sage who lived and taught approximately 500 years after the destruction of the Temple. Our children also learn that this period of the omer is a sad one involving the death of thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students who were struck down by a plague. The plague was a punishment for the breakdown in the relationship between the students and was lifted on Lag B’Omer hence a day of celebration.

Initially this period of the counting between Pesach and Shavuot was a time filled with excitement and anticipation. The whole purpose for the coming out of slavery in Egypt was the receiving of the Torah by the entire Jewish people, 600,000 people standing as one. In fact the Torah itself uses the singular phrases – ish echad, b’lev echad – one man with one heart to describe the unity of the people standing at Sinai.

The Torah itself and the Oral Torah (Mishna and Gemara) which was to develop from the Written Torah and Tanach is a collection of diverse thoughts, rulings and arguments: between humans and G-d, between humans themselves. Our Oral tradition even preserves the arguments of the sages while knowing that the law will side with one sage over another. So difference, argument, clashes of style and substance, are signs not of unhealthy division but of health and passion and connection to our tradition and culture.

Rabbi Akiva’s students lost sight of this diversity of thought and custom. Their lack of respect, tolerance and acceptance of difference impacts us to this day. We have lost the wisdom and diversity of thinking that could have come from them and been part of our tradition.

The bonfires of Lag B’Omer remind us that fire can destroy (a lesson that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai had to learn too) or bring people closer in seeking its warmth. Ahavat Yisrael – love of a fellow Jew is only possible when we embrace diversity as a strength, when we build up our community and seek ways to bring us together. Judaism is not Judaism when it pulls us apart.

This is the message of Lag B’Omer. This is the message your children, all our Jewish students together, will learn around the bonfire as they roast their marshmallows and enjoy their sausage sizzle.

 

Dignity Clothes Sort Drive

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

By Anila Bonfil

On the 3rd of April, over a dozen volunteers from Year 7 to Year 12 gathered to help make a difference within our community. The work they set out to do was to help sort 37 boxes of donated clothing for the organisation Dignity. Dignity is an Australian organization that provides safe refuges for those experiencing homelessness or domestic abuse. They shelter around 220 guests per night while helping them get back on their feet. Part of their hospitality involves providing their guests with clothing sets, as many who are in their positions do not have anything to their names. Our diligent volunteers sorted through the bundled clothing, mostly loose stock donated by various large retailers such as Target and K-mart, and packed them by gender and size so that those who need them will be able to access the correct clothing as quickly as possible. Their tremendous effort meant that this enormous task was completed in just an hour and a half, definitely a feat for all to be proud of.

 

PURIM Fever at Masada College

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

By Morah Carolyn Steinman

More than any other holiday, Purim teaches us to reach out to all Jews in our community and focus on solidarity. The story of Purim is as relevant today as it was then. Jews faced an existential threat. And our survival as a people depended on our mutual support.

The ways in which we celebrate the victory of survival then is through gathering together to read the Megilla (story); to invite others into our homes for a seuda (meal); to reach out to others with generosity of spirit through the mutual exchange of mishloach manot (gifts of food) and to give matanot l’evyonim (charity) to support those in our community who are in need.

Purim challenges us to look beyond ourselves and to see those around us. As we celebrate Purim we need to stop focusing on who is too left or too right, too religious or too secular. We need to unite to celebrate our continued existence despite those who wish to destroy us. We need to strengthen our support for our homeland so we may continue to be a People, free in our own land.

Chag Purim Sameach.

 

Professional Learning Opportunity for Teachers: Project Zero Sydney conference “Learning and Teaching for Understanding”

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

Calling all teachers looking for Professional Learning opportunities: We’re excited to announce that the Project Zero Sydney conference “Learning and Teaching for Understanding” will be hosted this year at Masada College on Sunday 19 May 2019.
We have the even greater pleasure to share that we will be hosting Tina Blythe of Harvard Project Zero.
We anticipate that around 400 educators will join us from across NSW/Australia on the day.
Tina will be joined by educators as presenters of two-hour interactive workshops.
Registration is now open at www.pzsyd.net

Youth Of The Year Experience by Talia Miller

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

Recently, I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting five other girls from neighbouring schools, all part of a competition for Youth Of The Year. Run by the Lions Club, three thousand students from all over NSW compete, attending first an interview, and later a public speaking event where they give a five minute prepared speech, as well as answer two impromptu questions.

The interview occurred the day before the speeches, where a panel of judges gave scores based on a multitude of categories, and the speeches were all presented the next night.

It was a highly enjoyable evening, where I listened to the girls give interesting speeches on a variety of topics, ranging from societal issues today to medical advancements and the psychology of dreams.

I had the luck of being chosen to speak first, where I spoke about Kintsugi, a form of Japanese pottery, merging it with the concept of acting as a hero. I also answered the impromptu questions on how my life would be different without the internet (very!) and whether terrorism should be of concern.

While Masada won no prizes, it was an amazing night, and I had a great experience.

Kool Kidzz Vacation Care at Masada College

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

Kool Kidzz is coming to Masada College these Summer Holidays! The huge 20-day Summer Camp runs from the 17th December all the way until 25 January, but after that, the Kool Kidzz action will happen every school holiday period of the year.  It’s non-stop fun, play and creative education all through the working week from 8.30am-5.00pm, with morning and afternoon tea supplied to all the children. Cost per day per child start at $78 and can be as low as $16 per day when maximum child care subsidies apply.

Get in touch with Tami and the team at koolkidzz.com.au for more info or to book.
Or call Tami from Kool Kidzz on 02 9539 6836

Sleep Out for Homelessness by Talia Miller

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

On Thursday 1 November, our much anticipated sleep out to raise awareness for homelessness kicked off. Initiated by a group of year 11’s, students in years 8, 9, and 10 gathered at Masada College for a night of activities, before sleeping under the stars.

Everyone arrived at 7:15 pm and stored their sleeping bags in their assigned areas – boys near the junior school, girls in the undercroft. Dinner was a small affair of soup and bread, followed by two talks: the first by Jason Juretic, the CEO of Stepping Stone House, an organisation that cares for and helps homeless individuals. Jason spoke about the uniqueness of the organisation and about the various programs implemented, before showing us statistics of the success rate of the House. The students were highly engaged, asking many questions, before putting their new knowledge to good use in a short trivia game run by the next speaker, Gali Blacher, the co-founder of The Good Box.

This social enterprise creates and packages small boxes filled with essential goods, delivering them to charities or directly to people in need. After a quick introduction to how this was founded and how it works, students then participated in helping package a number of these boxes, filling them with tampons, towels, tuna cans, and a number of other goods.

After a jeopardy- style trivia game, the students headed to bed, armed with a cardboard box as a mattress. They enjoyed a fun (albeit sleepless) night under the stars, and were then supplied with a small breakfast of cereal and a hot chocolate. The next day was school as normal, with Oz Harvest coming to collect the trolley of canned food each student had donated to.

Everyone had a fun and engaging night, and we hope that this becomes an annual event.

iSTEM Student Report Back: AISNSW DigiSTEM Conference

Posted on by Jacqui Wong

I recently had the privilege to attend the AISNSW  DigiSTEM Conference, “Wired Up and Unplugged”, at UTS (University of Technology Sydney) with Zac Silber and our Technology and Applied Studies Teacher, Mrs Steel.
My job was to help present an iSTEM unit we were taught earlier this year where we were tasked with creating a robot that could automatically water plants, aptly named “HerbBot”. “HerbBot” was a Project Based Learning unit developed by Codecamp and Masada. I talked about the many challenges our group faced while creating our machine. Some of these challenges were trying to solve the issues of friction in the mechanism and programming the code to ensure effective watering of the plants.
We had a great day at UTS; we attended talks from virtual reality, science, technology and STEM enthusiasts. We had a tour around the UTS campus and saw many of their great engineering facilities as well as an underground system made to store and retrieve books for their library that was part of a $1.5 billion expansion on their campus. We also saw a robot designed by Honours Mechatronic students that was made to take images of parts of the Sydney Harbour bridge where humans or other robots can’t get to. I had a very enjoyable time at UTS learning about different types of engineering and STEM. I hope to visit again in the future.
– Brandan Rudick Year 9 iSTEM student
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