Rashi Brashevitzky | Jewish News https://jewishnewsva.org Southeastern Virginia: Chesapeake • Norfolk • Portsmouth • Suffolk • Virginia Beach Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:53:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 Shavuot Mitzvah Fair at SIA https://jewishnewsva.org/shavuot-mitzvah-fair-at-sia/ Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:52:55 +0000 https://jewishnewsva.org/?p=35600 This year, Shavuot celebrated 3,338 years since the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. To this very day, Jews continue to study the Torah, cherish it, and hold it close. The Torah serves as guidance on how to live and make the world a better place.

SIA’s Primary Years students prepared for Shavuot with a celebration sponsored by the Glasser family in memory of Richard Glasser, whose mantra was, “Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason.” Glasser understood the value in being a “mensch” and leading a life based on values and doing good in the world. The Torah, which teaches how to do the right thing, was given on Shavuot, making this holiday the perfect time to honor Richard Glasser’s memory.

The Shavuot celebration included a variety of activities designed to foster a love of Torah, Jewish tradition, and helping others. Students learned to help those in need by packing lunches to be distributed to families in the ForKids family shelter. Students created paper flowers for a Shavuot service at a local senior living community, encouraging students to value and brighten the lives of others. Mt. Sinai cupcakes, complete with flower sprinkles and alef-bet cookies, served as a reminder to serve with joy. The celebration was rounded out with students decorating and filling vases with flowers as part of the tradition to decorate with flowers for Shavuot.

The Shavuot celebration was a beautiful way for students to recognize the gift of the Torah and learn how to put Torah teachings into practice.

Rashi Brashevitzky is Judaic Studies director at Strelitz International Academy.

]]> SIA students pick strawberries for ForKids https://jewishnewsva.org/sia-students-pick-strawberries-for-forkids/ https://jewishnewsva.org/sia-students-pick-strawberries-for-forkids/#respond Thu, 11 Jul 2024 18:45:41 +0000 https://jewishnewsva.org/?p=30134 At Strelitz International Academy, a love for tzedakah, kindness, and helping others is fostered at each grade level. As students learn new tefillot (prayers) they explore Hashem’s kindness, and brainstorm ways to care for others. Tzedakah, helping those in need, is a foundational Jewish value, and students take these lessons to heart, bringing coins for charity and organizing a wide variety of mitzvah and tzedakah projects throughout the school year.

On Tuesday, May 21, SIA Primary Years students went on a tzedakah field trip. Students were very excited as they headed to Greenbrier Historic Farms to pick strawberries. Arriving at the strawberry fields, the students got right to work choosing bright red, juicy strawberries. After a quick snack, students played on the playground and jumped in the inflatables.

The strawberry picking field trip was held in memory of Richard Glasser. Ahead of the field trip, students learned about Glasser’s motto in life, “to do the right thing at the right time for the right reason.” In his memory, the students not only picked strawberries for themselves, but also for children living in a family shelter run by ForKids. The students took this mitzvah very seriously and some even offered to donate their entire basket of strawberries to the ForKids families.

Once back at school, SIA students donated more than 600 strawberries to ForKids. What a beautiful and tasty mitzvah!

Rashi Brashevitzky is director of Judaic Studies at Strelitz International Academy.

Teresa Licato with ForKids collects strawberries donated by SIA Primary Years students.
Teresa Licato with ForKids collects strawberries donated by SIA Primary Years students.
Quinn and Levi display their strawberries.
Quinn and Levi display their strawberries.
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