Introduction:!

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Marni: Just one week ago the Jewish world, dressed in every imaginable costume, gathered together in respective communities to celebrate Purim and read Megillat Esther. As we sat in shuls, in school and in friends houses, adorned in outts of all sorts, we read about a young woman whose efforts in the Persian court saved the Jewish people from fatal persecution in yet another exilic empire. ! In !" #!$% :& #'% the megillah describes Esther as she prepared to present herself in the Persian courts fashion show. (! When the turn came for Esther to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except for what Hegai, the king's eunuch, guardian of the women, advised. Yet Esther won the admiration of all who saw her. ! In this verse, we see the uniqueness of Esther's character. While the Persian court is lavish and opulent, Esther only wears the bare minimum of oils and perfumes. Her beauty and her success as an individual represent the value of modesty and natural beauty. In a sense, her character, who is able to be a saviour for an entire nation, comes to reveal the importance, the success, and the massive contributions of the natural world. ! Ronit: How tting that the next megillah well be reading in the fast approaching chag hapesach, Passover, also celebrates the beauty of the natural world. Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, celebrates nature throughout the text. In Song of Songs Chapter 2 verses 11-13, the text reads:! )*+, ,'!-. /!#! ;)01. '0*2. -) ,3'4& !4', 50,60,. ,!/ 7/. 8/9 5+1. ,'&) !-$. .,. 0: 7/ 0:/! ,0-%0 0-0)' (7/) 0:/ 0*!# ;90' !,-, ';*$ 50,%1.! ,.01% .",9 .,4-. .!,6'4&. ! The text runs through all of the diverse aspects of nature, celebrating owers, vegetation, animals, and food. Invoking sight, sound, and smell, the pesukim explore nature in all its multifaceted beauty. ! Talia: And as we sit in the middle ground between megillat esther and megillat shir hashirim, nding ourselves at the fusion of Esthers unadorned beauty and Natures beauty, we are also at the transition point between seasons. As the winter is, we hope!, coming to a close, we enter spring, a new season that marks the rebirth of the natural world. ! Sandro Botticelli, a fteenth century Italian artist, depicts the beauty of spring in his painting Primavera. The artwork is an allegorical representation of the season, showing gures that represent Spring herself and Flora. In addition, the painting shows three women dancing. In ancient mythology, these women appeared in scenes that portrayed harmony and goodness, and so this work of art celebrates renewal, rebirth, and harmony, themes that are so closely tied with pesach, with springtime, and with our theme here this evening. In fact, we think its very appropriate that the painting connects the natural world with dance, which is something were doing tonight as well.!

Amanda: Tonight we celebrate the environment: Through fashion and the arts, were bringing to life the worlds biomes. A biome is a particular ecological community. Our planet is lled with immense biodiversity, and its biomes contain an astonishing variety of plants, animals and

climates. The worlds biomes are classied in various ways, but include the desert, the tundra, the temperate forests, the marsh lands, and the aquatic. !

! http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/! ! ! !

Each grade tonight will bring to life a different biome. The 9th grade will embody the aquatic biome, while the 10th graders will represent the Rainforest.! Of course, the 11th grade biome is the desert, and thats because the long, hard slog through junior year seems like a march through the Sahara. ! The 12th grade will be presenting the different biomes of the Land of Israel: the chaparral -which includes forests, woodlands, scrubs -- , the desert and the aquatic. As the seniors go off to their new lives, which, for some, will be beginning in Israel next year, the seniors pay homage to the place that is so rich in bio- and religious diversity.!

! (Freshman - Aquatic Biome) ! ! !

Elisheva: In evolutionary history, life rst began underwater; water is the source of life on earth. Today, the aquatic biome comprises nearly 75% of earths surface and harbors an array of animal and plant species. The worlds water bodies regulate the global climate, serve as a drinking source for life, and provide us with soul-restoring experiences such as a day at the beach or a swim in a lake. There are two types of aquatic biomes: ! Marine regions, which are divided among coral reefs, estuaries and oceans, as well as freshwater regions. Did you know the deepest part of the ocean is called the abyssal zone? Sounds like what we feel like when we fail a test. !

! http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/aquatic.html! ! ! !

Marni: For the fashion show this year we created a banner depicting four women who greatly inuenced our views on the environment. The rst woman wed like to point out, as we explore the aquatic biome, is Miriam (speaker point to Miriam on the banner). Just think of how many times we see Miriam near a body of water: In Shemot, we rst meet Miriam as she is standing near a riverbank, watching over her brother Moshe. ! Another time we see Miriam is when she is singing and dancing near the sea after God has saved Bnei Yisrael from the Egyptians. ! Finally, as Bnei Yisrael wanders the wilderness, Miriam becomes associated with the well of water that follows the people around. The Rabbis link Miriam to a well because after the Torah -in BaMidbar -- reports Miriams death, it immediately states that Bnei Yisrael lacked water. The Rabbis depict Miriams well as a wondrous thing that owed from itself, and an image from Dura Europos, a synagogue from the 3rd century in modern-day Syria, shows the well owing directly into the homes of the twelve tribes. !

! http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/miriam-midrash-and-aggadah! !

Amanda: The freshman grades fashion explores these themes of water and life through their exploration of the aquatic biome. The freshman designs represent the diverse forms of aquatic life that exist in the lakes, ponds, oceans, rivers, streams, reefs, wetlands and estuaries that span the globe. !

! (First four freshmen walk)! ! ! Introduction to Dance #1: ! !

Elisheva: Last year the fashion show and dance team partnered to bring you this evening of female arts. This year, weve once again coordinated our themes. In fact, the dance teams rst dance is an enactment of the aquatic biome and helps us in creating the link we described among the natural world, spring, and even Jewish tradition. The dance focuses on owing movements, some broad and some small, that imitate the character of water. Heres the Frisch dance team for its rst dance of the night!!

! ! Sophomore - Rainforest Biome! ! !

Talia: Although rainforests cover less than 2% of earths surface, they contain 50% of life on earth. Over 15 million species of plant and animals exist in the rainforest, and did you know that 40% of the earths oxygen comes from this biome? Rainforests also regulate weather and keep erosion and ooding in check. ! Rainforest owers are uniquely beautiful and rich in hue. The sophomores did a great job bringing the colors and animals of the rainforest to life. Their clothing imitates the hues of rainforest owers and the snakes and other animals you can see against a backdrop of greens and browns.!

! http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/plants.html! ! (First four sophomore models walk.)! ! Introduction to Dance #2:! !

Marni: In Brazil, which houses 30 percent of the remaining tropical rainforest on Earth, more than 50,000 square miles of rainforest were lost to deforestation between 2000 and 2005. Biologists worry about the long-term consequences, which may include drought. Some rain forests, including the Amazon, began experiencing drought in the 1990s, possibly due to deforestation and global warming.!

! http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/rainforest-prole/! ! !

What can we as Jews do to create a more sustainable environment? A Jewish woman has the answer. ! Evonne Marzouk is an Orthodox woman and a leader in the world of Jewish environmentalism. She began an organization called Canfei Nesharim, which connects traditional Torah texts with

the most recent scientic discoveries. She and her organization educate and allow Jewish individuals, organizations, and communities to participate in helping to protect the environment and create a cleaner world. [Point to her on the banner] We brought her to life on our banner, showing a woman covered with the letters of the Torah as well as a variety of owers. The letters not only remind us of the Torah sources Ms. Marzouk uses, but of the many berakhot we say when we see and hear beautiful and awesome sights such as rainbows and storms. !

! http://www.canfeinesharim.org/mission/! ! ! (Dance #2) ! ! Juniors:! ! The Desert Biome: ! ! ! ! ! !

Now we have the dance team again, depicting the lushness of the rainforest. This dance evokes a jungle feeling. Its continual addition of people to the dance, starting with few and growing to many, imitates the awe-inspiring speciation of the rainforest; the rainforest cultivates the continual growth of diverse life.!

Ronit: In contrast to the wild, ranging colors of the rainforest, the deserts color scheme is limited to varying shades of brown. Instead of receiving 60-160 inches of rainfall a year, the desert receives less than 9.8 inches. And unlike the rainforests more than 15 million species, the desert hosts only several thousand different species.!

American culture also celebrates the beauty of the natural world. The Hudson River School, a mid-19th century American art movement and fraternity, romanticized beautiful natural landscapes in their art. Frederic Edwin Church, a Hudson River artist, depicts the serene scene of the wilderness at sunset. ! It reminds us of one of the starting points of Bnei Yisrael, the midbar, the wilderness that we wandered for forty years. This wilderness was anything but a place of arid life. Instead, it was a place of spiritual revelation, a place where the lack of color and the redundancy of the landscape had meditative effects on Moshe and became a place where Bnei Yisrael could transition from a nation of slaves to a nation of Gods servants. ! In the rst junior collection, representative of the desert biome, you will see colors such as dark greens and varying shades of browns but also the deep colors of a desert sunset.!

! (First four junior models walk)! ! Seniors: Israels Biomes! ! !

Marni: Israel is the classic teenager. A relatively new entity in its modern form, it is still searching for its concrete identity, cultivating its strengths, reecting on its weaknesses, and looking towards future pursuits. In other words, it is much like the seniors right now.!

All the contradictory aspects that make up the complex, infuriating, endearing, and charming State that we call Israel are reected in the countrys biodiversity: Israels chaparral biome is part of the Mediterranean basin -- one that contains forests, woodlands, and scrub -- and it also contains a desert and aquatic biome. Only ve regions of the world contain the chaparral biome; but though the habitat is globally rare, it features great ecological variation, boasting animals that can survive long, hot summers with little rain. This great adaptability no doubt accounts for the hardiness of the Israeli sabra! !

These rst four design of the senior collection represent the shrubs and owers of the Israeli chaparral regions. These various short plants occur in the wetter climate regions of Israel. !

! https://worldwildlife.org/biomes/mediterranean-forests-woodlands-and-scrubs! ! (First four seniors walk)! ! ! Freshmen Round Two:! ! ! ! 2) Theres about one cup of salt for every gallon of water in the ocean.! ! ! http://www.softschools.com/facts/biomes/ocean_biome_facts/164/! ! ! ! Sophomores -- Round Two! !

Talia: Were back, taking another dive into the aquatic biome with the freshmen. Here are some fun facts about ocean biomes:! 1) The salt in ocean water comes from rocks on land that get swept into the ocean. I did not know that. Did you?!

3) And although the temperatures of the oceans vary, the average temperature of any ocean is 39 degrees F.!

Here are the second set of freshmen models, wearing their version of the coral reefs, the ocean tide, the sh that swim through the sea, and the setting sun of a new day on the water. !

Ronit: The rainforest, as we know, is teeming with life. Thats why its only appropriate that the next woman on our banner represents the mother of all life, eim kol chai, Chava. The pasuk in Bereishit where Chava is called the mother of life is actually not in the middle of a positive story: It is right after the pesukim in which were told that Adam and Chava sin by eating from the forbidden fruit and are then punished for their actions by God. Chava is told she will bear children in pain, while Adam nds out he will have to sweat for his bread -- and then he will die, returning to the earth from which he came:!

! !

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'! 3:19!

! And yet right after this pasuk Adam gives Chava her name:! ! 0<9-/<= 5>4 ,.?-@0<. 4!A. 0A= :.BCD9 ,EFGHA4 5>H 5I<4<. 4JKALM!! ! And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.! ! 3:20! !

The pasuk, given its placement, seems like an afrmation of the will to live and to keep on reproducing and sustaining life even in the face of death. It also shows that even though man is given a particular fate, he still has a choice to make about how he lives. Adam chooses to focus on life and on the fact that his wife is a woman who can produce life. That seems like an appropriate message for our night as well. We have choices to make every day about the kind of world we want to create and about the way we want to nurture all forms of life on this planet. !

Amanda: Over the past month, the sophomores spent time learning about Africa and the way Innovation: Africa, founded by an Israeli-born woman, is working to improve life on the continent using green, Israeli technologies. The sophomores recorded the following song as part of their month-long activities, and were sharing that recording here for the rst time. The song, like our fashion show, is called We Are the World, and its all about the choices we make to sustain life or ignore those who are in need of our help. !

! Play We Are the World and show slide show about disasters affecting the natural world.! ! ! (Second set of sophomores walk)! ! Juniors Round Two! ! !

Amanda: That was awesome, sophomores. And now lets bring the rainforest to life with two rainforest animals -- the monkey and the bird -- alongside the beautiful mother nature dress sewn by junior Ayelet Schorr.!

Elisheva: The March SATs are over, and were gearing up for AP season, but that doesnt mean a junior cant look her best. Though our terrariums suggest that some of us may have been a bit prickly this past year, we can assure you that once testing season is over, well be smooth as sand. ! Heres the dance team once again, depicting the wonders of the desert biome. The harshness in their movements and the extreme sound of the music create a military feel that shows you need perseverance and determination to get through junior year -- we mean, the desert. !

! (Dance #3)! ! Elisheva: And now here are the second set of junior models:! !

This nal junior collection explores the desert animal and plant life. The rst two models sport the outts of the desert bobcat and the cactus wren. The wren is a desert bird, found in the western regions of American, known for its brown feathers with white stripes.!

! (Second set of juniors walk)! ! Seniors Round Two! ! The last dance of the night is a celebration of Israel!! ! (Dance #4)! !

Marni: Did you know that every day 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water? Many of those people live in Africa, where the water is so dirty that it causes both disease and death on a regular basis. As we mentioned, the sophomores have just spent the past month learning about the amazing work of Innovation: Africa, which uses green, Israeli technologies to improve life in Africa. Inno Africa was founded by Sivan Yaari, whom weve chosen to depict on our banner as another woman working to help the natural world and its people. By bringing water and light to African villages and doing so using sustainable technologies, Sivan is a modern example of a woman who uses her power and talents to care for the world. Sivans rst trip to Africa was actually with a multinational clothing company, and it was because she was so moved by the poverty she saw there that she founded Innovation: Africa. !

! https://www.innoafrica.org/! ! !

Talia: Sivan has a masters in energy management, which sounds awesome and cool. We know that Abigail Katcoff, one of the senior models, is heading off to MIT next year, where shes going to major in something equally not-understandable -- but impressive. Here are the seniors, showing theyre as ready to change the world as any one of Israels amazing socially conscious innovators and entrepreneurs!! In the seniors last collection, their designs represent the water and desert of Israel. The desert outts take a oral spin on the usually colorless desert, showcasing how Israel changed the nature of the desert, bringing sustainable technologies to allow it to bloom. ! The other two outts showcase Israels aquatic biomes, highlighting the important role of water in Israel and its capability to vitalize formerly struggling regions not only in Israel but all over the world. !

! (Second set of seniors walk)! !

Amanda: We have another musical treat tonight: Seniors Esther Meir and Tamar Palgon are going to treat us to an original song composed by Esther. !

! (Esther and Tamar perform)! ! Amanda: Last but certainly not least:! !

The natural beauties youre about to see -- who will be representing all the biomes together -remind us that our future is in the hands of the next generation of Jewish women, who come from the members of the Frisch faculty. The teachers at Frisch spend their days educating us

about what it means to make good choices and to take care of each other and the earth. Please welcome the daughters of the Frisch faculty. !

! (girls walk)! !

Marni: Wed like to call out all the designers who worked so hard to put this night together. Thank you, girls! !

! Talia: Thanks to Jodi Fishbein, Malka Iskowitz, and Sammi Maza.! ! Thanks to Liana Chesir and Lila Wiener for designing Frischs take on the rainforest!! ! ! ! ! ! !

Amanda: Thanks to the junior designers Maddie Rosen, Nicole Samoohi, and Ariella Yomtobian who brought the barren biome of the desert to blooming life. ! Talia: And thank you to Sabrina Benmoha, Melissa Maza, and Julia Schneebaum who showed us Israel in all its natural beauty. ! Ronit: And thank you to the amazing Glam Salon for once again doing the models makeup and hair. Marcias Attic loaned us four outts for the evening. Thanks so much! Home Depot on Route 17 donated the runway to us. We thank our corporate sponsors so much and hope youll patronize them.! Marni: Thank you all for coming! Please continue to enjoy our sele station and to buy t-shirts from tonight. All the proceeds from our event will be going to Innovation: Africa. Thank you again for coming!!