Hasmonean’s Success!

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Once again, Hasmonean is celebrating success. Three boys and two girls have been awarded offers at Cambridge to read a range of subjects, which include Computer Science, Maths, Philosophy and Engineering. They will hopefully be joining the current alumni at Cambridge, three of whom are currently reading Psychology at Jesus, Kings and Lucy Cavendish. Jesus College in particular has a proud tradition of successful Hasmonean students: there are three in residence at North Court this year. There has been a consistent presence of Hasmonean alumni at Jesus since at least 2012. In addition to the Cambridge success, one of the Year 12 girls will be starting at Columbia University next year.

Our students have achieved academic success whilst being heavily involved in both the school and the wider community. Not only is one of the candidates Deputy Head Girl, she also ran the Israel Society, attended UJIA Israel advocacy courses, and is a Madricha in Bnei Akiva. Another ran a school newspaper, tutored for GIFT and created a politics podcast. One of the boys qualified for the British Maths Olympiad, where he was awarded a Merit certificate, placing him among the top 500 Maths students in Britain.

Hasmonean students contribute across the community. Four joined KEF on its recent respite trip, many more volunteer for Shabbat Walk and a selected group of Sixth Formers are part of the Mizrachi Yehudi programme, which sends students into primary schools to inspire the next generation in their love of Jewish Studies. Four students are also JNF ambassadors.

This success is all the more remarkable when seen against the backdrop of an intensive Jewish Studies programme which takes up a considerable percentage of the school day. This has resulted in admissions to some of the top Sems and Yeshivot in Israel, such as Michlala, MMY, HaRova and Midreshet Tehilla; while the boys are accepted to Toras Moshe, Reb Tzvi’s, Beis Yisroel, Hakotel and Keren B’Yavneh.

Girls’ School – Year 7 Achdus Day

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The Year 7, Girls’ School, Achdus Day was filled with fun, unity and a lot of laughter!

Middlesex U13 Cricket Squad News

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Rafi Quint, one of our Year 8 boys, has just been selected to be a part of the Middlesex U13 cricket squad. He has also been asked to join the pre-season U14 cricket tour to Barbados this April. It is a very special and exciting opportunity for this young man to participate in an elite sporting tour- and well worth missing the last week of term!

Good luck Rafi- you have earned your place. Not only will you be joining as a cricket player, you will also be an ambassador for your community. We all hope you have an incredible experience and enjoy every moment.

Tu B’Shevat at the Girls’ School

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The H.I.P.E team created the most fantastic Tu B’Shevat initiative on Monday which they named #ijuiced4jews. The event opened with an inspirational talk about gratitude and giving, in order to focus the students on the ideas of the day.

Afterwards, each girl was supplied with her own squeezer and bottle for a mass orange juicing session. Over 400 students worked hard to squeeze around 2000 oranges into bottles. Each student had an apron, gloves and personalised stickers to complete the look and add to the fun. Every bottle filled by a student was added to the count for her year group. There was a competition between the year groups as to who could make the most bottles of orange juice, which was won by Year 7.

The freshly squeezed orange juice bottles were then distributed by GIFT to families who would not otherwise have access to fruit for Tu B’Shevat.

There was a fabulous atmosphere in the hall, with the scent of hundreds of oranges heralding the arrival of spring!

Tu B’Shevat at the Boys’ School

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A Tu B’Shevat to remember! We had a Cereal Killer Cafe which explored the different Shivas Haminim. 4 hours of cutting fruit and it was gone in a flash! It was a fantastic event which really celebrated healthy eating in a fun way.

D.A.Y.S Reward Trip

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On Wednesday 12th January, nearly 60 Year 7 boys were rewarded for attending the D.A.Y.S morning minyan every day for the whole Autumn Term.

They went to Flip Out, Brent Cross to enjoy a jolly morning of bouncing and jumping, accompanied by Rabbi Fachler (the D.A.Y.S co-ordinator) and the Minyan Monitors from the upper years. All the boys, both young (and young-at-heart) had a fun-filled and well deserved reward for their commitment to davenning.

Hasmonean High School for Girls Save Memory of Polish Shtetl

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Young Women of Hasmonean High School for Girls Save Memory of Polish Shtetl
Written by Ariella Garren

Six months ago, dozens of young women at Hasmonean High School for Girls organised themselves to translate the memorial book of the town of Parysow, Poland from Yiddish into English.

Over a thousand such books have been written, memorializing the life of Europe’s Jewry prior to the Holocaust, and documenting their tragic fate, but almost all were written in local Yiddish dialects. Due to the ever-changing nature of Yiddish as a language, a few decades later even native Yiddish speakers have a hard time understanding these books.

Year 12 student Ariella Garren found one of these books while researching her translation of the memoirs of a Holocaust survivor, Abraham Gutrejman, and her schoolmates volunteered to help her translate the memorial book of Mr Gutrejman’s hometown.

Using their knowledge of Hebrew and of Judaism, online tools, and with the help of elderly Yiddish speakers in our community, these young women have immortalized the memory of the town, now available at cost on Amazon as “The Parysow Yizkor Book: Life and Death of a Shtetl,” volume one of two. They have also compiled a glossary of difficult-to-translate Yiddishisms to help future generations of translators.

Students in the United States have volunteered to join the movement for the next translation in the series.

Hasmonean High School would like to express its pride in these young women who have, at such a young age, already contributed something of enduring value to the world.

The young women, themselves, hope that by raising awareness of the brutal potential of the human race, their efforts may help avoid future genocides.

Girls’ School – Football Update!

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The recent Girls’ School football match against St James Catholic School started off like a table tennis match: 1-0 to them, then an equaliser, followed by 2:1 to Hasmo. Another equaliser from SJC, another goal from Hasmo and SJC equalised again!

The intensity increased and SJC started mastering their substitutions. Our Year 7 team of Tsofia N, Racheli L, Bracha D, Adina Y and Michal BW played without any substitutes. This was a real challenge for the team, but they rose admirably to that challenge. The PE Fitness SOW paid off and girls showed good muscular endurance, cardiovascular fitness and skilful ball control in defeating their rivals.

It was an absolute pleasure watching the Year 7 girls play their first fixture representing Hasmonean- especially winning 6-5 against a school who are in 2019 Barnet Football league.

Well done girls!

Girls’ School – Production of Matilda

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This December, Hasmonean Girls pulled off their very own miracle of Page Street. Not Covid, not a burst water main, nor even a newt in Miss Trunchbull’s knickers could stop this sensational production of Matilda from being staged.

From the superb casting to the exciting ensemble and the phenomenal dancers- everything about this evening’s performance said loud and clear: ‘The Hasmo Show is back!’

The story of Matilda is a simple one, a tale of a young girl who finds her voice in the world with the help of her friends and her teachers. Dinah B shone as Matilda, with stellar support from Yehudit G as the charming Miss Honey, Sara B as the villainous Miss Trunchbull and Shoshi E, Shani J and Lily D as the rather revolting Wormwoods.

The two dances: School Song and Revolting Children deserve a special mention: after all, what is a Hasmo Show without the verve and vigour of the dance- can we have more next year please?

Thank you to everyone who made it possible to get this show on the road: Mrs Brice, Mrs Davis, Mrs Algranati; all the site team, the security staff, the administration team, and every single member of the Sixth Form involved in every single aspect of the production. You did yourselves and the school proud.

Matilda is not just about the performance, it is about the Achdus which is created amongst our girls, as well as the kindness and resilience they learn along the way. The show raises funds for the Poland trip, in order to ensure that no girl is left behind on this formative experience.

Kol HaKavod to all of you.

Multi-Faith Day at Hasmonean

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The indefatigable Mrs Abecasis created a wonderful programme for Multi-Faith Day.

Mr Marcus and Mrs Katz delivered a slick Multi-Faith Day where the students were able to hear from our own magnificent speakers: Mrs Brice, Mr Heddle, Mr Sidhu, Mr Khan, and Mrs Shah about their faiths.

All our teachers spoke eloquently about Christianity, Sikhism, Islam and Hinduism, enabling our students to understand more about the wide world of faith that surrounds us. They all found the similarities and differences fascinating, as well as learning that there is far more that unites us than divides us.