YSZ Girls High School Opens 5787 With “Let’s Get Real” Theme

Yeshiva Sha’arei Zion High School for Girls opened the 5787 school year under the theme “Let’s Get Real,” challenging students to live with authenticity, integrity, and a genuine connection to Hashem, the Bukharian Jewish Link reported on Sept. 18, 2026.

The theme is rooted in the teaching “Chotamo shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu emet”—“The seal of the Holy One, blessed is He, is truth.” YSZ plans to explore emet not only as truthfulness in speech but as knowing who one is, remaining grounded in Torah values, and striving toward who one can become. The school framed the return with “real memories, real friendships, real growth,” while returning faculty and new teachers launched classroom learning against the backdrop of Elul and the Yamim Noraim.

Dr. Rina Zerykier introduced the theme, telling students that authenticity means recognizing who they are capable of becoming and living bli masachim, bli maseichot—without screens and without masks. She asked what would change if Hashem’s “seal of approval” mattered most, and compared personal walls to the walls of Yericho that fell at the sound of the shofar.

A Rosh Hashanah program with Jackie Bitton emphasized Hashem’s enduring love for every Jew and the idea that each student is a bas Melech with unique light. Bitton’s practical call—“If you see something, say something”—was framed positively: notice and voice admirable qualities in peers. Looking ahead to the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, YSZ’s next theme is “Closer,” pictured as a ladder climbed one rung at a time.

Sources: Bukharian Jewish Link; YSZ Queens. AI-generated editorial illustration accompanying this report; not a documentary photograph or official promotional image.