Students Perform "Schechter Night Live"

by Hannah Fineman, SSLI '25

Today, Schechter's high school gathered in the gym for this year's annual Schechter Night Live (SNL) performance. This comedy sketch show, inspired by Saturday Night Live, is the Schechter community's spin at playfully poking fun at various aspects of the school.

The show began with a funny skit about the Teacher's Union. (Schechterli Instagram)

Samson Mildron, the director of Schechter Night Live, shared, “SNL is…our annual sketch comedy show where members of our kehillah come together to brainstorm, write, produce, and act…about Schechter related topics.”

“Preparing for Schechter Night Live is a multi-month process,” explained Mildron. “We started preparing for SNL at the end of October, where we came together and we brainstormed ideas for skits. After that, we decided which ideas we would flush out and assigned different writers to different scripts. We have been working on these scripts, writing them alone, [and] reviewing them in groups…especially looking for ways to make them more funny. These past two weeks, we have been rehearsing the skits with the actors. Additionally, we have also been sorting out various logistical aspects of Schechter Night Live, such as the sound system and props.”

Cast member Sam Levenson explained that Schechter Night Live is “fully led by the students.” He continued, “We can make jokes about our school that give it a stronger culture and community because of the humor and the relationships that we have with our teachers at Schechter. We write our own jokes and can…even design our own skits. All of the students are excited for Schechter Night Live and enthusiastic about it, and so are the teachers, which makes it a really special experience.”

“My favorite part of SNL is always writing the scripts [because] I love the writing process,” said junior Shay Ginzburg. Ginzburg added, “I like to write outside of SNL anyways, but coming up with the jokes and especially the ones that are a little bit scandalous and trying to get approval [is] always the most fun part.” Ginzburg emphasized that “[i]t feels good to make people laugh.”

Levenson agreed: “My favorite part of SNL is that we’re able to write our own skits. It gives us the freedom to make jokes about specific things in school, and include a lot of inside jokes that go beyond the surface levels of our school and deeper into the community of our friends. I also love the way that our jokes about teachers aren’t seen as rude, even though they are all approved beforehand, and the teachers have a good laugh at our impersonations of them.”

Mildron explained that Schechter Night Live is unique because it isn’t a specific club or group. Instead, it is a group of students working together to boost school spirit and produce a funny show. Mildron continued, “This characteristic of SNL allows so many different people with different interests in our Schechter kehillah [to] come together and create something truly amazing and beautiful.”

During one part of the show, students were introduced to the new Schechter mascot! (N. Gordon)

Student Body President Elinor Schlissel shared, “I think what makes SNL special is how tight-knit our community is. Because we know each other so well, we are able to poke fun at one another in a loving way. Another thing that makes SNL so special is Samson’s commitment to putting on an amazing show. He works really hard to organize the entire thing, and it always makes for an amazing result.”

This year's results were definitely amazing. Audience member and senior Addison Pravato said that Schechter Night Live is “[o]ne of my favorite parts of the year.” Junior Sarah Shlefstein, another member of the audience, said, “SNL makes me feel very happy. I get to watch my peers make jokes about our teachers and hear the laughs of the crowds.” Pravato added, “My favorite part of SNL was the ‘teacher-besties’ skit. Shay Ginzburg was so funny and was the best at imitating Ms. Dubow.”

“Well, truly my favorite part about Schechter Night Live” Mildron stated, “is how people can really come together to create something so beautiful. I also really love thinking of funny scenarios and being able to portray our amazing teachers in such a humorous manner.”

Shay Ginzburg summarized Schechter Night Live perfectly: “It's a place where students can come together and all share jokes. We're a small school,[and] it's really rare that you have everyone talking about the same thing at the same time, but SNL gives us a chance to do that and also gives us a chance as kids to…make our teachers laugh.”

Hannah Fineman is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since November 2021. Hannah is currently a senior at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: hfineman25@schechterli.org