By Saralah Bresler, 12th Grade

The Derech Emunah girls have been having a lot of fun during the month of Adar, from spontaneous spirit days such as "Slipper Day,"  "Foreign Country Day"  and "Twin Day" to staying up until midnight to turn the school into a giant aquarium. Why an aquarium? Of course, it is to honor Adar as the month with Mazal of Dagim - fish.

The highlight for me was staying after hours to secretly place over 900 balloons in Rabbi Cohen’s office, much to his surprise the next morning. Here's the inside scoop.

Eleven students remained after school to blow up and herd all the balloons into his office. It was a great experience, full of spontaneous singing and dancing. We all learned how much fun we could have when accomplishing things together as a team.

The next morning, two students made sure to come in early to video Rabbi Cohen's reaction.  Once they were in position, one girl had to stall our Head of School so the other girl could get the camera ready. 

When Rabbi Cohen casually walked into the outer office that leads into his office, he did a double take upon seeing all the balloons peeking through his office door window. He started laughing out loud and could not believe what he saw. Then, Rabbi Cohen, taking our prank in good cheer, thanked us heartily for generating such wonderful Purim spirit for the school.

But it doesn’t end there. After coming back to our building from davening at BCMH, unsuspecting students walked innocently into their classroom, which, unbeknownst to them, had been outfitted with Rabbi Cohen’s “revenge:” all the balloons from his office were now vacationing in our classrooms. The next period, the whole school had a ball playing with the balloons while singing Adar songs.