hat does it take to be a jump-rop-
ing champ? Ask winner Jordan
Orley.
"You need energy," he says.
"You need confidence. You need
a beat, a tempo. It helps if you
play a musical instrument."
Ask second-place winner Liza
Shiffman: "I play the piano."
Or Stefanie Blechman, who
came in third: "I had to jump fast
and keep my concentration. I
didn't think about anything else."
And by the way, Stefanie
plays the piano, too.
Jordan, Liza and Stefanie
were among hundreds of stu-
dents who attended "Jump Rope
For Heart" at Hillel Day School
on Feb. 5. The annual event cou-
pled exercise with a blood drive
to benefit the American Heart
Association and American Red
Cross.
The jumping jubilee general-
ly raises between $6,000 and
$11,000 for the American Heart

RUTH LITTMANN
STAFF WRITER

Association. Hillel stu-
dents receive pledges, and
above a certain amount
the funds earn points to-
ward new fitness equip-
ment for the school.
"The students are hav-
ing a good time, but
they're very well aware of
the goal, which is to help
others in the Jewish com-
munity and outside of it,"
said Principal Rochelle
Iczkovitz. "That's part of
the total lesson."
Children jumped for-
ward, backward, single
and double-Dutch. "I like
to do things that are good
for the heart," said 8-year-
old Carley Sirlin.
While his daughter,
Liza, was winning her
award in the gym, Iry
Shiffman lay on his back
giving blood. The
goal for last Sun-

Iry Shiffman gives blood.

04

Molly and
Noah Spalter
try some
fancy footsteps.

PHOTOS BY LISA JAC KIER

Hillel Day School springs to serve.

The champs: Jordan Orley, Liza
Shiffman and Stefanie Blechman.

day: 60 pints.
"It feels good," he said. "I'm
helping others. It doesn't hurt too
bad either."
"It's for the cookies," corrected
Michael Miller, another donor.
Back in the gym, physical ed-
ucation instructors Cecelia Gin-
ger, Shelley Helwig Morse and
Alita Cyrlin twirled ropes for the
bouncing youngsters.
"Aerobically, it's wonderful,"
said Ms. Ginger, who heads the
department. "Jump-roping has
really been revived around the
country. Anybody can do it. You
don't have to have a lot of space,
a lot of friends, a lot of equip-
ment."
It's part of a total body work-
out, and often children who do
not excel in team sports come
alive with rope in hand, she said.
The Hillel event also featured
a Museum of Monuments. Cu-
rator Shelley Goldberg said the
children constructed replicas of
national landmarks, researched
the history behind them and soon
will act as docents for students
in the lower grades.
"This is a different type of
learning experience," she said. El