Volume 29 Issue 4

dorefeith reporter

Inside

“We urge you to be at home if a party is to be held at your house and to make certain that only non-alcoholic beverages are served,” Dean of Students Roslyn Landy wrote in a Prom-related email to parents of seniors.

CESJDS’ usual steps to prevent underage drinking include bringing in outside sources to present programs about the effects of drinking. In addition to in-school programs, the administration has sent emails, such as the above, to alert parents to potential parties and big student gatherings. Perhaps the most controversial consequence is the suspension or expulsion of students getting caught drinking.

Upon being caught with alcohol, a student can be suspended, banned from the senior trip to Europe and Israel, expelled or even referred to the police, according to the Upper School student/parent handbook.

In addition to following school rules, students must, of course, follow state and federal laws. Maryland and Virginia have passed new laws regarding underage drinking and driving. While the legal driving blood-alcohol concentration, or BAC, for adults over 21 is below 0.08 percent, the new Maryland law mandates that people under 21 may not have a BAC above 0.02 percent, equivalent to one drink per hour for a 120-pound person. In Maryland, a person under 21 pulled over with a BAC above the limit must participate in an interlock system program, under which participants must consent to have a device installed in their car that measures their BAC and will not allow the car to start if their BAC is too high.

An ignition interlock system requires a breathalyzer test to start a vehicle’s ignition.

Failing the breathing test results in a locked ignition, not allowing the car to turn on.

Virginia also uses the interlock system and minors can be fined a minimum of $500 and lose their licenses for a year, which is double the fine for adults over 21 convicted of driving under the influence (DUI).

Junior Ethan Walfish believes that Maryland and Virginia’s ignition interlock systems are fair and effective when it comes to preventing DUIs. “[The ignition interlock system] should be the punishment because anything less than that, like if you were to ticket them, is not really severe enough. Drinking alone is bad enough, but getting into a car?” Walfish said. “If you’re over 21, it’s bad to drink and drive, but you are allowed to drink, so therefore the punishment should be a little lesser than [that of ] people who are not allowed to drink.”

JDS takes underage alcohol consumption concerns seriously, and will do its best to prevent a party from happening upon suspicion that there will be alcohol. However, the school may not prevent a private party from happening, but it can advise parents to be present at the party and supervise the students.

Before school events, such as Zimriah and Color War, the administration contacts parents to ensure that they will be in attendance at any scheduled party.

“We’d be inclined to be active in helping the parents with the details because we know students drive to school the next day,” Principal Michael Kay said.

“Very often the administration calls parents to recommend protocols that they should put into place to prevent alcohol consumption,” he continued.

These protocols can be as simple as just being at home if the parent expects a large group to come over.

Most of these issues, especially those

IN DEPTH Prom fever

Prom is on Feb. 2, but students prepare for the night in advance, planning promposals and dealing with Prom-related stress.

See Pages 8-9

SPORTS Eitan Chemerinski

The JDS alumnus returned home to play for the Cornell University basketball team against the University of Maryland’s team.

See Page 15

involving law enforcement, are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, Kay said.

“We take pride in having a system that allows us to take into account the circumstances of every individual action. That said, we obviously would take very seriously any scenario when a student of ours is in trouble with law,” he said.

Senior Nicole Nabatkhorian believes that the administration should stay out of the business of private parties.

“I don’t really think the administration has the right to stop parties or call parents and say ‘Don’t host this party.’ As educators, they’re teaching us good morals … about underage drinking and smoking, but I don’t think they have the right to call up our parents and tell our parents, ‘Your child cannot have this party,’” she said.

Walfish disagreed.

“The school should come in and talk to the people responsible for providing the alcohol, the parents, the person whose house [the party is] at and any people associated at the party,” he said.

Walfish also pointed out that the preemptive action taken by the school is based on assumptions, meaning that the event may or may not actually happen.

“They can say, ‘no Color War parties’ or ‘no Zimriah parties,’ but they’re not going to call every parent. If people really want to have a party, you can’t just stop people from having parties,” he said.

INDEX News Chadashot In Depth Opinion Features Sports

photo illustration by Jonathan Reem

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{charles e. smith jewish day school • 11710 hunters lane, rockville, maryland • vol. 29 issue 4 • thursday, january 19, 2012}

2-4 5-7 8-9 10-11 12-14 15-16 *No alcohol was consumed in the creation of this design.

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news january 19, 2012

Caring for local community Volunteering social hours for the greater good haleylerner reporter

For the past 14 years, the CESJDS community has provided warm and nutritious meals to the homeless women of Washington, D.C., through programs coordinated by the nonprofit organization Thrive DC. JDS families prepare and serve food to nearly 100 homeless women from the area.

Starting this year, families will serve dinner on the first Thursday of every month from January through June. As part of the program, volunteers prepare and serve the food to the women and help clean up after dinner.

The program has been more popular among Lower School students, but coordinators hope to involve the older members of the school.

“We need all the volunteers we can get,” Thrive DC coordinator Polina Pinchevsky said.

The ability to receive community service hours provides an incentive for Upper School student attendance. Some students also prepare and serve dinners for their b’nei-mitzvah projects.

Sophomore Gabrielle Cohen volunteered at the shelter with friends and family for her bat-mitzvah project.

There were a couple of reasons why Cohen chose to participate in Thrive DC.

“It seemed like a good cause, and I like to cook,” Cohen said.

To Cohen, it felt good to help others and made her feel grateful for what she has.

“They don’t get to choose what they get. ... Whatever they get is what they get,” Cohen said.

Cohen was not the only one who found the program to be successful.

Former program coordinator Marlene Schooler praised for the program.

“This has been probably the best PTO program that JDS has had all these years,” Schooler said.

A second outside organization that some students are involved with is the Stepping Stones shelter in Rockville.

According to the JDS website, the shelter is a transitional spot for men and women to regain their independence through an offering of education, training, food and shelter.

The shelter can support up to six families at a time, providing them with food, clothing, support services and educational programs.

Two JDS families attend the shelter one Sunday per month to prepare for and participate in an activity with the residents such as a game or cooking project.

Volunteers also bring donated items to the shelter.

School gathers at pep rally

Along with these larger organizations, that do community service. Hidden Gems JDS has a few internal clubs that give and HaDash are both school clubs that students the opportunity to participate help the homeless population, children in community service projects. These with special needs and the elderly. organizations T h e s e and clubs not s c h o o l only make “They get out of it as much as clubs and it easier for they give ... they learn a lot organizations students to make it easier achieve their and give a lot.” for students community —Guidance Counselor to achieve the service hours total hours Rachel Soifer 80 but also of service benefit both required to the local and greater communities. graduate. The hours are broken up into Peer tutoring is one of the most two parts. popular ways that students earn their At least 40 hours must come from community service hours. helping people “directly in need,” according Sophomore Ben Shemony tutors to the student handbook. Twenty hours a freshman student in conversational may be completed in middle school, Hebrew, vocabulary and grammar starting the summer after sixth grade. concepts. He is satisfied that he can help Eighty hours total must be recorded on a someone, having found a tutor helpful for transcript in order for it to be sent out to himself. colleges.

“Peer tutoring really helped me in Although some students only do Spanish, and why not help someone else?” community service in order to meet the Shemony said. requirements, guidance counselor Rachel Although he has already completed Soifer said, others love it and get a lot out his community service requirements, of it.

Shemony thinks that “[tutoring] is a great “They get out of it as much as they idea if you need some hours.” give. ... They learn a lot and give a lot,” In addition to peer tutoring, the school Soifer said. offers student-run organizations and clubs

Blood donations thicker than money reubencohen reporter

photo by Josh Lempert

Juniors Michael Gould and Jake Mintz welcome students to the pep rally before the Hebrew Academy basketball game. Mintz and Gould are Student Council co-presidents.

Inova Blood Donor Service’s bloodmobile made it to CESJDS for a community blood drive on Dec. 14. Students aged 16 years or older were able to donate blood to benefit patients in hospitals around the Greater Washington area serviced by Inova. Twenty-five members of the JDS community, 21 of whom were students, donated blood, making for a successful blood drive, according to Inova’s Sandi Bourget.

“It beat my expectations,” Bourget said. “I was only expecting 20, and we collected 25, so that was very good.”

The response to this drive was the best Bourget has ever seen at JDS, where Inova has held blood drives for the past seven years. The high turnout came with unexpected negative consequences. Some hopeful donors were forced to wait up to two hours before being able to donate, which Bourget attributes to the unexpectedly high participation.

“I had scheduled the drives based on historical data,” Bourget said. “The students were scheduled triple, so if I was expecting two, I got six, every 15 minutes, and that’s what backed us up right off at the beginning. We never did get a chance to catch up.”

Junior Benjamin Steren had an exceptionally difficult experience with Inova’s logistical problems. He waited two hours past his scheduled appointment time of 3:15 p.m., only to find out that his blood was not eligible because of his summer activities. Steren spent his summer in Peru, a country with a high rate of malaria. He predominantly lived in a malaria-free zone, but one evening of potential exposure disqualified him for blood donation.

“It was pretty annoying because I wanted to donate, and I wish someone had been able to tell me beforehand instead of having to wait like two hours,” Steren said. “If I had gone and waited like 15 minutes, and they told me I couldn’t come, then it’s understandable. I waited like two hours. ... I don’t have tainted blood. I don’t have malaria. It’s pretty clear I am not sick.”

Senior Ori Gutin, whose donation was completed earlier in the drive, did not identify any problem with logistics. His donation ran smoothly, he said, and he felt like he made a positive difference.

“It’s a good experience,” Gutin said. “It made me feel like I was helping people.”

Donors were eager to contribute, but some students, like junior Ethan Walfish, were scared of the process.

“I am deathly afraid of needles,” Walfish said. “The thought of needles scares me, and I don’t want to be in pain.”

Junior Jillian Griminger had similar trepidations.

“I’m not giving blood because I think I would pass out.

I’ve had a fear of blood and veins my whole entire life,” Griminger said.

Bourget addressed those concerns, explaining that most side effects of donating blood are psychological.

“There are some young people who will experience a lot of anxiety about donating and that could cause them to have what we call a reaction,” Bourget said. Symptoms of these “reactions” include lightheadedness and upset stomachs, according to Bourget.

Bourget emphasized the impact that JDS’ donations had on local patients. Each blood donation benefits three different patients, she said, because the different components of the blood — red cells, platelets and plasma — can each treat different conditions.

“Every time a person donates whole blood, they can save three lives,” she said. “So when we had our blood drive at school, those 25 people effectively saved 75 patients. The community is grateful to the school for participating like that.” art by Noah Zweben

january 19, 2012 news

English depar’tmen’t institutes changes eitansnyder

senior reporter

Gears are turning in the English department, where teachers are working to establish consistent standards for classes and making major long-term changes to the overall curriculum.

English Department Chair Thomas Worden stressed the importance of having students learn at the level of the class and its set standards, as opposed to teaching down or up to the level of some students.

“For many, many years at this school we have taught to the level of the students. We haven’t had a clear, external set of standards and expectations, which we can then use to measure everybody equally,” Worden said. “If anything, we have erred in the side of generosity in this program, and we are trying to bring that into line. This is going to also help us articulate the differences between levels.”

Worden plans on changing the types of assignments that students do in their classes, adding more types of essays and oral presentations.

“Not only are we going to do more presentations and try to develop more oral speaking and listening skills, but we will also be able to diversify the writing,” Worden said.

“My goal is to give students more opportunities to write different types of essays while still keeping dialectical argumentation as the primary piece.”

The department’s attempts at change began after CESJDS changed the trimester system to a quarter system this year. Because it already had to adjust some of its curricular requirements to fit the new system, it saw an opportunity to begin making changes and took it.

“This [was] an opportunity for us to try things we haven’t tried before,” Worden said.

One of the issues being worked out in this wave of change is the iSearch, the research paper that juniors write during the first semester. The main argument in the department has been over whether the research paper should be moved from eleventh grade and instead be offered as a distribution course for seniors.

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“I think if we had a full semester, [the iSearch ] won’t be a time problem, and it would be a heck of a learning experience,” Worden said.

However, he noted that there are probably scheduling reasons that could preclude the change.

In addition to possibly moving the research paper, Worden brought up what he thinks might be an issue with the current English curriculum.

“I think it’s a potential criticism of our program that we don’t have substantive distribution courses,” Worden said.

“We need to offer more substantive distribution courses.”

Distribution courses are courses that are not part of the essential curriculum but that are taken as electives in order to fulfill the state of Maryland graduation requirement of four years of English courses. He explained that having more substantive distribution courses would im-

“I am feeling that we have made some progress. ... We certainly have our challenges moving forward, but I think we are going to see some real achievement here.”

—English Department Chair Thomas Worden prove the department’s reputation with colleges and would be to the students’ benefit when they apply to college.

“When a college looks at a student’s transcript and sees that the student was in 12th grade scholars or [a single level elective], it makes us look soft,” Worden said.

Worden also noted that the department is slowly incorporating grammar in the curriculum.

“We are teaching grammar on a very limited basis,” Worden said. “It’s slow-going. It’s not a perfect study,” he said.

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With all these changes, Worden noted that the program has improved since he came to the school 13 years ago.

“This curriculum was really reading-heavy 10 years ago. Students were reading so much and writing so much, I didn’t feel like we were getting anything done well,” Worden said.

He is quick to remind that these changes are longterm and are still being worked on. The changes will probably not be seen fully for a few years. This is partly due to the large number of new teachers. There are four new English teachers this year, all of whom are still getting used to the curriculum. The department is made up of eight teachers total.

“For many of these teachers, it’s the first time through this curriculum, so we’ll have to figure out a way to go through this more expeditiously,” Worden said.

New English teacher Allison Schaeffer said that she is adjusting to the program just fine.

Schaeffer commends the English department on its strict rules resisting five paragraph essays, calling it “probably the most important and valuable asset of the department.”

Schaeffer, the former writing program coordinator at Georgetown University, thinks that the strict essay length rules “really prepare [students] for college courses,” she said.

Schaeffer also commended the department on its open-mindedness toward change.

“It’s great to be in a department where everyone is open to change and re-adjusting things which don’t work and perfecting things that do,” she said.

In regards to the changes, Worden says that he has already seen improvement.

“I am feeling that we have made some progress. We probably need to iron out some things, and we may have to revisit this,” Worden said. “We certainly have our challenges moving forward, but I think we are going to see some real achievement here.”

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news january 19, 2012

Economics class takes part in urban planning competition matthewfoldi reporter

photo by Elise Kolender

Seniors Jonathan Block, Jordan Tuwiner, David Dabrow and Jonathan Ben-Harosh collaborate on their UrbanPlan project in their Economics class while talking to a project facilitator from the Urban Land Institute.

Eighth grade takes ERBs gefenkabik reporter

Senior wo rksh Prepping senio rs f

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was to address immediate student and parent concerns, the workshops taking place after the seniors’ finals were established to help students in the long run.

Senior Noah Rosenfeld will be attending workshops on Sex Ed, Healthy Relationships and Finances.

“When I’m in Israel, I want to be able to know what I should spend my money on and manage my money well when I’m there,” Rosenfeld said.

He thinks that the workshops will help mostly in the short-run.

“There are some important workshops that you definitely need to take in order to be prepared for Israel,” he said.

Rosenfeld, however, was not sure if the workshops would have a lasting impact on his classmates.

“It wouldn’t stop kids from doing what they’re going to do, because an hour workshop won’t do that. But it definitely makes them more aware,” Rosenfeld said.

The workshops are planned to take place from Jan. 26 through Jan. 31.

o

3, 2, 1 — as the number of days in the seniors’ CESJDS careers dwindle, they will begin to spend more time learning about life after high school, rather than physics, English or history.

Between final exams and graduation, the seniors will attend five workshops led by school faculty and professionals, in addition to pre-Poland and Israel trip programming. These workshops include: Sex Ed, Drugs and Alcohol, Life After JDS, Healthy Relationships, Finances and Palestinian Issues on Campus. Students are required to sign up for three of these options.

Aiming to ease the long-term separation of parents and students as they leave for the Israel trip and college, a separation workshop was held Jan. 4. During the program, parents learned how to effectively set standards for their children, seniors and their parents learned how to interact while being apart and were prepared for how they will be affected after the departure. About 20 students and their parents attended the optional workshop.

Senior Samuel Yeroushalmi was among them.

“I thought that it was very touching, but I don’t know about helpful. Basically, they put the parents and students in separate rooms and had us say what we would miss about each other. They also had us write down if we could say one thing to our parents when we were leaving what would it be. ... I thought this was nice, but I don’t think anyone got help in terms of the actual separation,” he said.

While the separation workshop’s purpose

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Eighth-graders completed their third and final round of ERB testing on Dec. 15. Students take the ERBs in third, fifth and eighth grades.

The tests were held in the gym during the first two periods of four consecutive school days. The ERB is a standardized test that measures verbal reasoning, reading comprehension, quantitative reasoning and mathematics.

They are used chiefly as a way to assess students’ learning progress. “[The tests] check students’ general learning throughout middle school,” guidance counselor Sarah Kingdom said.

This year, the testing was spread over four days rather than the three days of previous years. “[The tests are] quite a lot for students over three days, so we spread it over four days this year,” Kingdom said.

Even though students missed class periods, teachers did not feel that the tests were a major schedule disruption.

“We missed a couple classes, but I’ve been teaching eighth grade for several years. We’re used to it,” math teacher Dominic Lee said. “We schedule around it, basically, so we didn’t give any quizzes or tests during that time.”

Teachers were allowed to give homework, but some, such as Lee, reduced the usual amount.

According to Kingdom, students were not expected to study or prepare for the tests. “[The students] really didn’t need any preparation for the ERB. …

Their preparation is throughout their years of learning at JDS,” she said.

Eighth-grader Ian Subin felt that the school did not properly prepare students for some parts of the test.

“It wasn’t hard, but [the school] didn’t really prepare us for the English portions. We learn more about literature in class than what was on the tests,” Subin said.

The ERB tests are used as a basis for qualifying for the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) summer program at Johns Hopkins University and other campuses. Students who do well on their ERBs receive a letter from CTY with information about taking the SCAT or SAT to get into the program.

For the past six years, the senior economics class, taught by history teacher Marc Dworin, has been building cities from the ground up. No detail is too small for the students, who are competing, mostly for bragging rights, to design the best city through the Urban Land Institute’s UrbanPlan program.

The neighborhood the students have been tasked with improving is Elmwood. The city has not been effectively planned and is mostly deserted. The task at hand is to change the layout of the city. The final plans are judged by a panel of judges through the Urban Land Institute.

This is a national program, with over 100 high schools across the nation trying to improve the fictional Elmwood neighborhood, in the equally fictional city of Yorktown.

For a plan to win, it must remain financially solvent, encourage new residents to flock to Elmwood, break even, and turn a 15 percent profit for the contractor, otherwise the City Council will not approve it.

The mission of the program is “to create a more sophisticated level of discourse ... through education of tomorrow’s voters, neighbors, community leaders, public officials, and landuse professionals [and to] create better communities.” More than ideas are required to build communities, and students have had to work in three groups of five to six students to determine optimal living conditions, proper prioritization

of land use, and increased profit for the investors in this town.

Dworin’s class has been working on this project for the past couple weeks, and they have begun to see the progress that they have been making. Senior David Dabrow, the financial analyst of his team, was “surprised” to see how quickly they began building their model.

Students have experienced some challenges with the project, similar to those they believe that professional urban planners have to go through. However, they have not encountered many difficulties because “there hasn’t been enough time for difficulties to arise,” Dabrow said.

Students had to start from the very beginning. Armed with a general layout of the town, what they’ve learned in economics class and Duplo blocks, students have begun to work on the layouts of the city. Each Duplo peg represents around 1,250 square feet on the map that they were given of Elmwood, and they have had to rebuild this city.

Their tasks ranged from the obvious, such as building residential housing, to the obscure, such as building a skatepark to appease the skaters in town. Dabrow’s first reaction to this project was, “wow, this is going to be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.”

“I expect the teams will pull together great presentations, and will get a lot out of the feedback they will receive over the course of this project,” Dworin said.

january 19, 2012 chadashot

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Putting the middle east context

The Arab Spring

matthewfoldi reporter

Every year, Time awards a Person of the Year award for the person who changed the world the most that year.

While most awards are given to a specific person, there have also been instances of awards given to groups, such as the American soldier as an entity in 2003. 2011’s Person of the Year award was given to an entity that undoubtedly played an immense role in shaping world history: the protester, reflecting the significance of the Arab Spring.

The protests began on Dec. 17, 2010, when Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor living in Tunisia, had his merchand i s e confiscated. Bouazizi marched to the provincial capital, where he was greeted with silence.

He then coated himself in paint thinner, lit a match, set himself on fire and prompted a revolution.

News of Bouazizi’s act of defiance spread quickly through news outlets and the Internet. Protesters took to the streets. They refused to back down until Tunisia’s president, Zine Ben Ali, fled to Saudi Arabia. The ensuing upheaval ultimately cost over 200 Tunisian lives.

Bouazizi ignited revolutions in over 15 countries, with goals of regime change, human rights and democracy.

Now, after over a year of protests, approximately 32,000 people have lost their lives during these protests but have left a lasting impact. Their achievements have been extensive. Moammar Gadhafi was killed, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s government was overthrown and women will be allowed to run and vote in local government elections in Saudi Arabia.

Within our own government, there is support for peaceful democracies in the Middle East.

“We are always better off being on the side of democracy, but we have to keep our eyes open because there is no guarantee that this is going to be an easy road for the people, or, frankly, for us,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated.

Clinton has affirmed U.S. support for the victors of the elections, as long as they are “committed to democracy [and] reject violence, they must abide by the rule of law and respect the freedoms of speech, association and assembly. They must respect the rights of women and minorities. They must let go of power if defeated at the polls … what parties call themselves is less important than what they do.”

Israeli politicians are equally conflicted over whether to support the Arab Spring because of the potential harm anti-Western regimes could bring to an already volatile Middle East climate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly condemned the Arab Spring, saying it is an “Islamic, anti-Western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli and antidemocratic wave.”

Israel’s opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, said that the world “should take a close look at what’s been happening [in the Arab countries] lately. The neighbors are at least trying to achieve democracy, even if in the end the Islamists seize positions of power and exploit the democratic process.”

Closer to home, students and teachers at CESJDS have disagreed when it comes to the Arab Spring.

Sophomore Sara Bender-Bier supports the Arab Spring’s democratic goals.

“Democracy is always good, and there should be more democracies near Israel,” she said.

Sophomore Jason Cohen disagreed with Bender-Bier’s opinion.

“I fear that the Muslim Brotherhood has the potential to be a major threat to Israel and Middle East stability,” he said.

“The stage will change, but Israel’s problems remain internal: education, health and growing tensions between secular and religious groups,” Aharon said.

Jewish History teacher Doran Katz believes that some people have been “naive” when it comes to understanding the “multilevel implications of the Arab Spring.”

Katz believes that it is impossible to “transplant Western desires for freedom and democracy onto a society where those constructs simply do not exist.” Even if those constructs do exist, “they exist as very different paradigms from which we are familiar.” Katz said that we can not “fool ourselves with selective decisions of how we want to perceive the reality of the Middle East.”

In addition to expressing doubts about the Muslim Brotherhood, Katz doubted the ability of the “extremist” Salafist party, which came in second in Egyptian elections, to embrace freedom and democracy. Katz questions whether a country “which outlaws homosexuality, does not allow women to travel abroad without permission of their husbands, ban abortions and subjects its criminals to consequences indicated by Islamic traditions” will be able to “suddenly become Egypt 2.0.”

Katz believes that the protesters in “Egypt did not even try to hide their antiAmerican and anti-Israeli hatred.” She said that “the signs held by demonstrators clearly indicate virulent anti-Semitism.”

“The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is a branch, has already made clear that they will do all they can to overturn the peace accord with Israel,” Katz said, recalling the storming of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, in which the lives of dozens of Jews were saved by U.S. commandos.

Sameera Syed, a political scientist, spoke to JDS Judaism, Islam and Christianity classes about her life as a Muslim. After her speech, the Lion’s Tale interviewed her about the Arab Spring and the role she believes Islam plays.

The Arab Spring has “values of religion, but it’s not proclaiming that the movement is Islamic, Christian or Jewish,” Syed said, commenting on the plurality of people of all religions taking part in the protests.

Syed believes that the Muslim Brotherhood can effectively run Egypt, as long as they don’t corrupt the Islamic values they claim to hold dear. There is “no place within Islam for brutality or terrorism,” Syed said.

Despite the potential hazards of the Arab Spring, especially in regards to Israel, people are torn over whether there is reason to fear its outcomes. The potential presence of a revolution within the revolution is troubling to some, though others see it as bringing about a wave of democracy across the Middle East.

History teacher Michael Connell sees a parallel between the Arab Spring and Soviet Union premier Mikhail G o r b a c h e v ’s policy of glasillustration by Noah Zweben nost toward the end of the Cold War. Glasnost allowed for increased transparency and a freer press in the Soviet Union and “allowed people to begin to realize how corrupt the system was,” Connell said. Although the revolutions in the aftermath of the Soviet Union caused political upheaval, the countries ultimately stabilized.

• Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father, announced his candidacy for a seat in the Knesset repreHebrew teacher Chen senting the Labor Party on Jan. 9. Shalit’s decision came out of his desire to serve the Aharon believes there is a public and to influence the Israeli society. “revolution within a revo• A young Israeli woman refused to follow an Ultra-Orthodox Jew’s demand to sit at lution: there is the liberal the back of the bus. Along with trying to separate bus passengers, Ultra-Orthodox revolution, centered on deJews posted signs on streets stating that men and women should walk on opposite sides of the road. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered officials to remove mocracy, and the Islamic revthe signs. olution, and the latter is far • An eight-year-old Orthodox girl from Beit-Shemesh fears walking to school every more dangerous.” Although it day due to harassment she was subjected to by Ultra-Orthodox Jews. The girl was is “tough to predict what the harassed for dressing “immodestly.”

Muslim Brotherhood will do,” • Israel offered to help after a national park in Chile was consumed by a forest fire.

Aharon feels that the Islamic • Israel made South Sudan a new ally, as the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Marevolution within the revoluyardit, talked with Israeli President Shimon Peres about locating their embassy in tion may corrupt the ideals of Jerusalem. the Arab Spring.

Israel update box:

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chadashot january 19, 2012

Israeli ad camp aign spurs discu ssion photo illustration

by Emily Dworkin

yaelkrifcher reporter

In response to a dramatic rise in the rate of intermarriage among Jews living outside of Israel, as well as directed toward the 127,000-plus Israelis estimated to be living in the United States, Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption (IMIA) sponsored three commercials depicting Israelis living outside of Israel, along with their children, as losing their Israeli identity.

If you looked up those commercials today, however, you would find one to be missing. Due to adverse responses from within the American Jewish community, the last — and most controversial — commercial was removed. The pulled commercial featured the daughter of an Israeli family in America telling her grandparents that she celebrates Christmas, not Hanukkah.

Senior Noam Schildhaus, whose mother is Israeli, approved of the cancellation of the campaign.

“It kind of bothered me because it alienates Israelis from their families,” Schildhaus said. “It makes Israel seem not welcoming … [by] alienating Israeli Jews from American Jews.”

Schildhaus said that the commercials cast Israel in a negative light.

“For them to separate who is really Israeli and who is not is a bad move on their part,” she said.

Others found the commercials to be both relevant and accurate. Senior Stephanie Aseraph, the daughter of Israeli parents, agreed with the stance of the IMIA. “When you

come from Israel to America, your kids aren’t going to be as Israeli. It’s a fact. I think that they have a point.”

Aseraph added that the message isn’t offensive, but practical. “It’s hard to get kids to understand what Israeli culture is until you experience it. … You have to go there and feel it.”

Sophomore Aaron Boxerman added that the unique circumstances of Israeli life make difficulties for Americans trying to understand the different culture. “We in America can’t look at Israelis and pretend we understand the matsav, the situation,” Boxerman said. However, he disagreed that any former Israeli resident can be defined only by his or her new home.

“They will always be Israeli, but they will be American as well,” Boxerman said. “You can’t just describe someone as having an American identity or an Israeli identity.

They’re going to have both.”

Some, like Hebrew teacher Merav Luger-Hamer, found a positive note within the advertisements. She said that the goal may not have been to influence all Israelis to return to Israel, but rather to “wake people up and get them thinking.”

Luger-Hamer said that no insult was intended toward Americans. “The concept [of the commercials] is good, but the execution could have improved,” she said. “There was a misunderstanding” between the intention the Israeli government had and the way it was received by Americans, Luger-Hamer said.

The issue of understanding and appreciation between the two countries extends beyond culture. Some found that the advertisements made a religious statement as well.

“Israel is declaring that you [should] be Jewish, but you aren’t genuinely Jewish if you don’t live in Israel,” freshman R’ay Fodor said. Aseraph shared Fodor’s viewpoint.

“There’s a lot of stereotypes [about Israelis], but we’re all Jews, we’re all a part of one community,” she said.

Junior Alexa Bennaim agreed that geography should not come into play. “No matter where you live in the world, if you’re Jewish then you’re Jewish,” Bennaim said.

The festival of lights

Hanukkah celebrations brighten the week as seniors honor teachers that inspire them eitansnyder senior reporter

photo provided by Penina Graubart

Science teacher Daniela Munteanu lights the Menorah with senior Samuel Yeroushalmi at the school-wide Hanukkah assembly. Seniors nominated their favorite teachers to light candles at the assemblies held the first few days of Hanukkah.

CESJDS was filled with an air of joy and celebration, not just because of the upcoming winter break but because of Hanukkah, which started on Dec. 20.

The entire school got into the holiday spirit — planning parties, dancing in flash mobs and lighting candles.

Each grade government planned some kind of activity to celebrate. The Class of 2012 sold small packages of candy in the cardo. The Class of 2013 held a Hanukkah party during clubs on December 21. The Class of 2014 planned a Hanukkah-themed flash mob that was performed in between periods eight and nine on Dec. 22.

Knesset, the middle-school grade government, also held their annual Hanukkah party. The party was held during sixth period and clubs on Dec. 21. It was primarily planned by eighth-graders Adam Kline and Yonaton Subin. “[The administration] left it all up to us,” Subin said.

“We had to have some good activities, because a lot of people get kind of bored,” Kline added.

Erev Hanukkah also brought its share of holiday cheer with the faculty concert. The concert was

originally performed after the science fair, but it was brought back for an encore presentation to celebrate Erev Hanukkah. The concert featured many different members of the faculty, from math teachers to librarians.

From the first day of Hanukkah until winter break, Director of Jewish Life Miriam Stein hosted daily assemblies immediately after minyan. At these assemblies, seniors honored teachers who they considered their heroes by lighting the Hanukkah candle of the day with them. The assemblies were planned by the Jewish Activities Club, run by Stein.

“The idea was to have some kind of celebration as a school,” Stein said. “I love that the school all came together because it’s so rare that we ever do that.”

Stein also said that it was important that the assemblies followed in the theme of Hanukkah.

“Last year, each grade had a Hanukkah party which was just a party, which was fun, but it didn’t relate to Hanukkah specifically,” she said.

Stein says that reception to the program was positive.

“This year was a great step in the right direction of having a daily program to honor our JDS heroes,” Stein said. “I’d like to see it happen again next year, and I think we could do more.”

Living in America: Kurdish style Kurdish Jews are neither Sephardic, Mizrachi or Ashkenazic.

They come from a region rich with over 2,000 years of Jewish history, dating back to the Babylonian Exile of the sixth century B.C. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, Kurdish Jews have emigrated from the tumultuous regions in northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and eastern Turkey.

CESJDS has only a few Kurdish Jews. In a school dominated

by Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, Kurdish Jewry is often overlooked as one of the Jewish ethnicities.

According to first-year Hebrew teacher Lea Magali, a difference between the Kurdish Jews and Jews of other lands is that the Kurdish Jews were a nomadic people. They moved across the region as circumstances demanded of them and almost always had to live among non-Jews.

Born in her home in Iranian Kurdistan, near Lake Urmia, Magali was given the name Atlas, which was changed when she was a child in Israel. Magali’s exact birth year is unknown. Her mother, 40 years younger than her father, was sold into the marriage, as was the custom in the region.

“I think she’s amazing,” Magali said of her mother.

She said that she tells her mother “I know you went through a hard life, but for me, you’re a hero.”

Magali’s mother, who taught herself how to read and write in Hebrew, insisted on sending her children to receive a proper education. Magali’s father, who lived until he was 110 years old, never learned any Hebrew, and spoke a Kurdish dialect of Aramaic.

Over the course of about four years, Israel Defense Forces General Moshe Dayan led a covert operation to smuggle Jews from Magali’s village from Kurdistan to Israel, through Turkey. He sent officers to deliver money for the Jews to bribe the Shah’s police force. The Iranians permitted the Jews to leave in peace on the condition that they leave everything, including jewelry, money and goods. The Iranians “didn’t shoot, didn’t kill. They took everything,” Magali said. What convinced her father, an owner of seven fabric stores, to leave was a statement he once heard from his own father — “There is nothing like Israel.”

Magali’s family was sent to live in a run-down moshav, called Pa’amei-Tashaz, in the Negev. Every family was required to farm, as it was an agricultural settlement.

From the age of about four, Magali helped her father gather cotton from the fields.

Through all the struggle and hardships, the Kurdish Jews always kept their heritage alive. When in Kurdistan, the Jews maintained the

s

reporter

ty l e

dorefeith

january 19, 2012 chadashot

laws of kashrut and celebrated the holidays. Once in Israel, they held on to their Kurdish heritage.

Sophomore Ben Shemony, whose father’s grandparents are from Kurdistan, said that one Kurdish custom his family holds onto is the food, and in particular dishes like kibbeh and chamousta.

“I am, perhaps, most proud of my role in keeping our ancient dance and Aramaic language alive for future generations,” Magali wrote in an email. She emphasized that Kurdish Jews were fighters.

They fought “for respect, for self and for religion.”

Kurdish Jews may be best known for their hospitality and warmness. Magali described how, in the event of a wedding, which took place over seven days and nights, a different neighborhood would host and take care of the bride and groom for each day. Kurdish Jews always have food and tea prepared to offer to a guest.

The Kurdish policy is that you “don’t take from another if you don’t share,” Magali said.

Hebrew teacher Lea Magali shows students traditional Kurdish fabrics (above) and jugs (left).

The fabrics were handmade by her mother in Israel.

photos by Rebecca Panitch

7

8

in depth january 19, 2012

Prom: Living the Ka-ching! Money Prom-blems As the excitement of “promposals” and find- you’re with your whole grade, not because you spend money on ing both a date and the perfect Prom attire fades, dresses and tuxes and clubs and party buses. But if that’s the way in depth editor seniors sit down and contemplate the real price people want it, then that’s the way it will work,” Kader said. tag of Prom.

Eighty-two percent of students surveyed think Prom is both Girls are known for their tendency to obsess over the “per- expensive and that the experience is worth the expense. fect” Prom, and some are willing to “I think the price is all right, spend hundreds of dollars to make “I think that the price is too high. There considering all the things it their dreams become reality. covers. Obviously everyone “Finding the perfect dress is re- is too much hype about Prom, and we wishes Prom were cheaper, ally important for a lot of girls. I’ve but it would mean giving up should not be spending that much.” been looking for months, and I have on some parts of the experia few options, but I still haven’t made –Senior Jonathan Kader ence,” senior Jaime Benheim a final decision. It’s very time consaid. “I think Prom would still suming,” senior Shaina Wasser said. be fun even if we left out some In a recent Lion’s Tale Facebook survey administered to girls of the extra expenses, but I understand why the price is the way going to Prom, 41 percent of respondents said they are spending it is.”

200 dollars or more on their Prom dresses, and 10 percent are Wasser said that for CESJDS students, Prom is extra special. spending 400 dollars or more.

“I think Prom is worth the experience. We don’t have home“I’m worried I’m spending too much. The dress cost more coming or any other real dance at JDS so Prom is the only time than I expected, so I will probably spend less on other things,” where we actually go all out,” she said. senior Danya Czarnolewski said.

For girls, the complete appearance is a lot more than just the dress. Ninety-two percent of girls plan on getting their hair done, 85 percent plan on getting a manicure and/or pedicure and 67 percent plan on getting their makeup done.

When it all adds up, the complete “Prom look” can get pretty pricey.

Sixty-two percent of girls answered their total Prom appearance will cost more than $300. Ten percent of girls answered their Prom look will cost more than $600.

Boys typically do not spend as much money as girls.

“Boys don’t search for the perfect Prom dress for months. We just wait for our date to buy a dress, match it with a tuxedo and show up,” senior Noah Rosenfeld said. “It ends up being a lot less expensive for boys.”

“I am going to spend probably about $50. I think that I will spend that much because it is important to look good for your Prom date,” senior Jonathan Kader said.

Although boys do not spend as much money on their appearance, some will pay for their dates’ tickets.

Seniors Andrew Yanovski, Noah Rosenfeld and Kader all said they will pay for their date’s tickets.

Forty-nine percent of girls expect their date to pay for them.

“Rumor has it that tickets are going to be close to $80. So a bunch of boys are going to spend a lot of money on tickets for them and their dates,” Wasser said. “I think I’m going to force Alex [Tritell] to let me pay for my own Prom ticket. It’s just too expensive.”

The after-Prom Committee also asks parents to donate money that is not provided by the school. An email was sent out to the class’ parents asking for a donation of $130 for after-Prom and the Faculty Appreciation Luncheon.

Chair of the after-Prom Committee and mother of senior Ilana Soumekhian, Ellen Soumekhian contacted parents to both donate money and volunteer to chaperone the event.

“We have received responses from about half of the class’ [parents] thus far. We expected that we would need to make some reminder calls. Parents have contributed financially and have offered their time to volunteer before and at after-Prom,” Soumekhian said.

The question everyone is asking is, “Is it worth the money?”

Kader thinks that too much money is spent on Prom, and that the experience depends more on the people than on how much one person spends.

“I think that the price is too high. There is too much hype about Prom, and we should not be spending that much. The reason Prom is so fun is because

merylkravitz

‘Promposa

Patiently waiting in the trunk of Maya Lieber’s car, senior Daniel Neuberg prepared for the moment to pop out with a bouquet of roses and ask Lieber to be his date for Prom. This “promposal,” as these surprise events are known, are part of the attempt by seniors to create as many memories as possible to remember senior year. Throughout the school day, students and faculty look forward to the creative ways in which seniors ask each other to Prom. Whether it’s spelling “Prom” with thumbtacks or a school-wide flash mob, seniors continue to think of creative ways to snag their dates for the big event.

Senior Max Ungar asked fellow senior Meryl Kravitz on Friday, Jan. 6 at the school-wide pep rally. After the boys varsity basketball team was introduced, the team laid on the floor spelling out the word “Prom” using their bodies.

“I wanted to do something big and original. With all the promposals happening in these few months, I wanted to do something that would stick out,” Ungar said. “It was harder than I expected to get the team coordinated, but it was all worth it because I wanted to make it really speSen cial for Meryl.” sen Ungar’s promposal surprised and impressed the audience.

“It was absolutely adorable! All of my friends and I were cooing over how original it was. The letters on the ground were hilarious,” freshman Sarah Hirsch said.

The elaborate promposal had the school clapping with joy as Kravitz happily accepted U n g a r ’s promposal.

N o t all seniors go with members of their c l a s s .

Senior Zachary Pinkham decided to ask junior Ilanna Starr.

Pinkham set up a photo by Penina Grauba projecSenior Zachary Pinkham donned stilts i tor at the entrance of order to ask junior Ilanna Starr to Prom the senior alcove and played a video that he and his friends had prepared. Pinkham was

rebeccarubin features editor

january 19, 2012 in depth

9

Teenage Dream?

als’ excite

excited to ask Starr after the two became friends while acting in various musicals together.

“It wasn’t necessarily that she was a year younger, but more that I was interested in going with her and that we have a lot of common interests,” Pinkham said.

Pinkham’s humorous and sweet video caused a large crowd to form as students gathered to stay and watch.

Many students felt that promposals were a chance to be original and memorable.

S e n i o r Tamar Gasko’s goal in promposing to another senior girl, Shawn Eliav, was to break the norm and show the CESJDS comphoto by Penina Graubart that nior Shawn Eliav is surprised by munity friends of the nior Tamar Gasko’s promposal. same sex can go to Prom together.

“I did not know exactly what going with a date entailed, and I knew that going with Shawn I wouldn’t have to worry about the social aspects that happen when you go with a ‘date’ and by going with Shawn, I can just have fun,” Gasko said.

Both Eliav and Gasko believe that if it is socially acceptable to go to Prom with a good guy friend, it should be equally okay to go to Prom with a good girl friend.

“I guess we are trying to make a statement in a way, that there isn’t only one path you can take when it comes to who you bring to Prom,” Gasko said.

Though promposals are often public, there is sometimes a more intimate component to them. Senior Brenden Pell felt that making senior Eden Katz happy was his main concern while thinking of an idea.

“Asking Eden to Prom was a personal thing. I wasn’t really thinking art about how my idea compared to othin ers,” said Pell. m.

Whether asking a friend, a girlfriend or someone from out of school, many agree that promposals are an exciting addition to graduation festivities.

Feeling the pressures of Prom As seniors get ready to leave high school academics behind, they begin to prepare for graduain depth editor tion festivities. But the Prom, of all of the different events, draws the most attention from the senior class. Boys try to out-do one another with creative “promposals,” girls shop for dresses and “prama” (Prom drama) abounds. But Prom is not all fun and games. The evening of dinner, dancing and fun also affects, sometimes negatively, different social aspects of the grade.

The first part of Prom excitement is stirred by the boys as they create extravagant ways to ask their dates to Prom, called promposals. (For details on different promposals look at “Promposals excite” to the left of this article.) However, these promposals can lead to pressure and drama.

“Promposals are definitely the highlight because they catch you off-guard, you don’t even know. My promposal from Sammy [Yeroushalmi] was really creative, and I was impressed at how much work he put in,” senior Aviva Weinstein said.

Some students and administrators see a downside to the promposals.

“It’s probably a lot of pressure on the guy to think of a creative way to ask the girl and then if it’s public the girl has to say yes … then, the guy might worry if the girl was disappointed,” Weinstein said.

rananadine

photo illustrations by Ranana Dine

Dean of Students Roslyn Landy worries about the pressure promposals cause and how they might affect the school day.

“I think [promposals] put a huge amount of pressure on specifically the boys because once someone comes up with something cute they have to top it or the girls are disappointed,” Landy said. “I also think sometimes it interferes. Kids are late to class, not coming to their class, interfering with the class and so forth, and that’s when it crosses the line.”

However, some students, like senior David Dabrow, disagree.

“I found promposals a fun way to be creative and to do something big. I don’t think they’ve gotten out of hand, and I think they add something really special to the school,” Dabrow said. He promposed to senior Nechama Nelson outside school in Washington, D.C. using a cupcake that said “Prom?”

Above all, students worry about whether to bring a date to Prom and who they might go with as their date.

“There is only pressure [to go with a date] if all of your friends have a date and you don’t,” sophomore Olivia Wasserman said. Wasserman will attend Prom as the date of senior Noah Rosenfeld.

Some students feel that they need to go with a date and feel left out when not asked by a friend from the grade.

“As much fun as it was to watch the various promposals, which got more extravagant as time went on, it kind of gave me a false sense of hope that someone would ask me, and when it became increasingly clear that no one was going to ask me, I had to ask a friend from another school and missed out on the fun,” an alumna from the Class of 2009 wrote in a recent message. The alumna requested anonymity in order to give an honest opinion.

However, it is not uncommon for students to choose to go with a group of friends or to go alone, often referred to as “stag.”

“There are enough kids every year who come alone or in a group that it really doesn’t matter [if you go with a date or not],” Landy said.

Other aspects of Prom have been troublesome in the past.

These include groups of friends trying to get together to rent a limo, go out for dinner and take formal pictures.

“I think one of the things that has always been most difficult and divisive about Prom is that it sometimes separates groups of kids. And we’ve tried to stop that by dinner. So we have the preProm dinner and one of the main purposes of that was, there was so much angst about who was going to a restaurant with whom,” Landy said.

The pre-Prom dinner, party buses and after-Prom have cut down on some of the most challenging social aspects of Prom, but students still feel that Prom can lead to hurt feelings.

“The downside of Prom is that things get really clique-y and unnecessarily dramatic,” Weinstein said. “Save the prama for your mama.”

Prom also brings up issues of religious observance and cost.

Religious issues have included the kashrut of dinner, girls dress code and mixed dancing, all of which can be problematic for more observant students.

“The religious issue that’s come up is kosher food at the grade dinner,” Dabrow said. “There was this awkward tension about the dinner [possibly] not being kosher. And the school supporting this.”

For the most part, religious issues have not been a problem because even the most observant students find a way to participate and have a good time.

“The most religious person we’ve had came to Prom and had a blast. He had a wonderful time, and he had a date,” Landy said.

Prom night is about having fun, but carefully-planned promposals, fancy dinners and expensive dresses do not always add up as planned.

“As it turned out, I had the best time at my Prom with the guy I asked, whereas all of the girls who felt like they had to say yes to the crazy promposals did not have as much fun with their forced dates,” the same alumna added.

Although Prom, like any other social event, can lead to hurt feelings, most students feel that Prom is exciting and just a fun night spent with friends.

“I’m excited for Prom. It’s a big event to do with the grade, and it’s a sort of nice way to close your high school experience,” Dabrow said. additional reporting by Scott Goldstein

10 opinion

Do you dare to drink?

january 19, 2012

Consequences for off-campus alcohol consumption lack clarity “Beer is the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.”

While not Homer Simpson’s most profound quote, students at JDS and all over the nation are targeted by different viewpoints about alcohol consumption ranging from the media’s to what they get in school health classes.

Every year, as JDS students sign a contract stating that they “agree and understand” the rules within the student handbook, they subjugate themselves to the “JDS laws” in addition to those of the state in which they live. Maryland and Virginia have recently changed their laws regarding alcohol consumption and the severity of punishment alongside driving under the influence. While the laws of Maryland and Virginia offer clear punishments, “JDS laws” fail to clearly state consequences for student actions on various issues including the consumption of alcohol.

A recent email was sent to the parents of seniors regarding Prom, urging them to be certain that no alcoholic beverages are present during parties held at their homes. As with past pre-Color War and Zimriah parties, administrators did not order parents to cancel parties, but they informed parents that they do not support the parties.

Regarding the lack of specificity in “JDS law” along with how the administration goes about canceling parties, the Lion’s Tale Editorial Board sees three major problems. The school’s lack of trust, the way in which the school acts to ensure the safety and health of students, and the lack of clear punishment for breaking school rules on the issue of alcohol consumption.

By urging parents and students to closely monitor, “I can’t believe this is the last issue on the Lion’s Tale! Shira Becker, Elana Schrager and Samantha Wiener, you three are going to be amazing editors!“

EDITORS • • • • • • • • editors-in-chief danielliss eitansayag

managing editor danimarx

copy editor jacobschaperow

news editors brianafelsen ariellepanitch

or even cancel, their parties due to the concern of the presence of alcohol, the administration is displaying a clear lack of trust in their student body. We find this to be a problem because while the administration is choosing to reach out to parents, there currently exists no direct conversation between the administration and the students. The school administration has stated that its intentions behind involvement with events that occur outside of school is directly related to the safety and welfare of students. However, we find this method ineffective. While we do not see a point in the administration pulling out all the stops to keep a party (which they happen to be aware of ) from happening, we do understand that as students, we will be presented with the opportunity to make poor decisions in our future, no matter the administration’s actions.

It is the school’s

responsibility to educate us and prepare us for these encounters. This education will not arise in the cancellation of a single party, but in discussion and lectures at school.

“It was amazing working with the new staff this issue! I can’t believe that the seniors are already leaving. I am so fortunate to have worked with the best co-editor in the world!”

in depth editors

photo editor

rananadine merylkravitz

alexzissman

senior reporters

graphic editor

michaelgreenberg emilyshoyer eitansnyder scottgoldstein sydneysolomon

chadashot editors emilydworkin shirabecker

features editors haleycohen rebeccarubin elanaschrager samanthawiener

Different ways to better ensure the overall safety of the student body through education include inviting guest speakers to the school and implementing a more effective health class into the curriculum that continues throughout high school.

It is not enough for the school just to say “drinking is bad.” The curriculum should include the serious harms of drunk driving or alcohol poisoning in a way meant to inform us of the possible dangers we may face under the influence of alcohol. Even when we eventually turn 21 and are legally allowed to drink, it is important that we understand our limits and the health risks associated with drinking too much.

We want to work to the point where the administration trusts us and has educated us fully on these serious issues and no longer must contact our parents and attempt to cancel the events we plan outside of school. As teenagers, our encounter with alcohol and drugs is inevitable, and it is the school’s responsibility to teach us more about these issues. We also think that the conversation between students and administrators regarding these issues should be open. Instead of finding out from our parents that they received an email from the school urging them to be cautious when hosting a party, or even that a school administrator contacted them asking them to cancel a party, the school should also approach students to raise their concerns.

While these suggestions mainly cover the concern of health risks that alcohol poses on students, if the administration decides to open up the conversation with the students regarding these issues, it must be prepared to clearly state the punishments associated with breaking such aspects of “JDS law.”

No clear punishment currently exists for students who are caught with alcohol or various other illegal substances outside of school. The student handbook vaguely states that all occurrences will be judged on a case-by-case basis by the administration, but this allows the administration to judge a student’s fate without true regard for any regulations. In the case that a student happens to find himself or herself in trouble with the law, he or she should immediately understand the consequences he or she will face in school as well. The administration must consider that an ambiguous punishment is not an effective deterrent. Punishment must be objective, not subjective.

So L’Chaim, JDS. We hope to work with administrators this year in making “JDS law” more specific, while working to improve the curriculum regarding consumption of alcohol so students are made aware of the serious health risks of drinking.

noahzweben

web editor devinyolles

STAFF • • • • • • • • • •

photographers

abigailbirnbaum jacobdorn

ariellefontheim symonginsburg samhofman elishurberg

sports editors

business editor

reporters

jonathanblock joshsinger

jongalitzer

colearonson • aricharnoff

assistant copy editors

“Having Jon Block’s support throughout the creative process of the Lion’s Tale is only matched by his extreme dedication and love for the paper. I will miss working by his side.“

– The Lion’s Tale “Whew! One production week down, something like 19 more to go!”

adeenaeisen • jeremyetelson dorefeith • alexanderflum matthewfoldi • matthalpern miriamisrael • gefenkabik samanthakevy • alisonkraner stuartkrantz • yaelkrifcher haleylerner • avichaiozurbass jonathanreem • stevenreichel sarahrubin • ericsayag davidsolkowitz • ethansteinberg jessezweben• alextritell

staff adviser claireburke

adviser emerita susanzuckerman

The Lion’s Tale is a forum for student expression. Its purpose is to inform the CESJDS community and to express the views of its staff and readers. The staff has made every effort to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of its news.

Editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the LT board. The Lion’s Tale encour­ages its readers to write letters to the editor and reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. All letters must be typed and signed. Letters may be emailed to lionstale@cesjds.org.

The Lion’s Tale is made possible by The Simon Hirshman Endowment for the Upper School Newspaper and The Kuttner-Levenson Endowment for the Upper School Cultural Arts and Student Publications.

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School 11710 Hunters Lane , Rockville, MD 20852 phone: 301.881.1404 www.lionstale.org

*No alcohol was consumed in the creation of this design.

11 • • • • ourvoice: staff columns • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • january 19, 2012 opinion

AP curriculum takes over English class A profound new love for the letter ‘K’ Sitting with my SAT tutor, I looked over a grammar worksheet on participles and conjunctions, terms that I had not heard before.

Thankfully, this samanthawiener year, the English defeatures editor, partment has reinfuture managing editor troduced sentence diagramming, saving me some embarrassment on the writing section of the SAT. Incorporating grammar into English class provides students with the tools to comprehend how grammar functions within a sentence.

Some rules of grammar can be learned simply by reading and writing.

However, a vocabulary for discussing literary techniques enhances students’ abilities to deeply engage with the text.

The English department is working to convey this complementary relationship by teaching grammar techniques in context.

The English department has also begun to incorporate Advanced Placement style exams in junior year English. Unlike grammar, which blends seemlessly into class discussions, the strategies we learn are test specific to the AP, and many students don’t even take the exam. Admittedly, AP exams can help students obtain college credits; however, JDS should not compromise its emphasis on not teach-

ing to the test. JDS offers prep during lunch to learn strategies for the exam.

The AP English exam includes a multiple choice section and an essay. It is a standard test format which limits teachers’ flexibility in the classroom. These time intensive techniques specific to an exam that is not even required at JDS. Teachers spend time in class teaching to the test, as opposed to learning for the sake of learning, a value that is included in the schools’ mission statement. Incorporating standardized testing into the English curriculum detracts from developing critical skills and focuses on teaching to the test.

Beyond high school, the critical thinking skills developed at JDS will remain with us, however, is an AP-style exam relevant to the English curriculum?

When curriculum is changed, the English department should continue to teach grammar and critical analysis, tools that enhance class discussions and serve a useful purpose throughout life. The AP-style exam should be removed from the English curriculum, and other assessments can be created that allow students to develop critical thinking skills. We may not always remember the dates, names and formulas we memorize in school, but at least we will have learned how to learn.

• • yourvoice: letters to the editor • • Where was YOUR letter to the editor this issue?

Have an opinion? Share it!

Send us your letter by Feb. 3 to get your letter in Issue 5.

Dear Editor, One hundred percent of your Occupy article contained opinions shared by 99 percent of JDS students. We are the one percent.

Firstly, this letter is in no way

I am in love. The object of my affection is tall and dark and handsome.

His name? It doesn’t do him justice. Here’s a picture instead:

elanaschrager features editor, future editor in chief

I’ve always had a love affair with words, but recently I’ve started to appreciate the finer details of language — the alphabet itself.

When I first learned to read, English was not about the letters, but about the words the letters created and the worlds the words led too. Letters, words, books — they were all means to an end, a way to visuals and feelings that I could not find anywhere else. The illustrations that words created in my mind often made me shiver in appreciation of their beauty.

And then something changed. The macro picture that books had always provided for me shifted. Instead of the image behind the words, the words themselves began to thrill me. It was like going behind the scenes, looking at the inner workings of the world that I’d fallen in love with so long ago.

I began to notice how the letters themselves sometimes curled deliciously around one another but sometimes wanted their own personal space. Some letters squished their neighbors unpleasantly, and some seemed to reach out, welcoming their friends into their arms.

All my observations led to a new area of study for me: typography. Typography, the study of type, is in my opinion an all-toooften overlooked subject. Living in a digital world, we are all unknowing students of typography. Ever designed a shirt online? Ever had points taken off an assignment for setting it in the wrong size or type of font? Ever written a paper, and then realized that you

personally directed towards any particular JDS student who participated in Occupy protests or any other JDS student with similar views. It is also not an article about the different political beliefs surrounding the Occupy protests. We are writing about the biased viewpoint and false image of JDS students that the Lion’s Tale presented last issue in its article about the Occupy protests.

Dear Editor, Many people have an idealistic vision of Prom being one of the best nights of their lives; getting the promposal, the dress and having the perfect date. The vision of Prom at JDS is particularly hyped up and idealized. However, are these views of Prom really shared by everyone?

Just last year, my friends and I were ecstatic about Prom while watching the grade above us in an enthusiastic manner. However, my friends and I were not aware of what ‘prama’ was awaiting us the year to come.

Imagine, having your fellow classmates rave about Prom, while standing next to them and wishing someone would ask you. I am not speaking for myself here when I say that many girls in the Class of 2012 have no interest of attending Prom. In their mind, why would they want to attend an event to watch their peers be communal and feel left out.

JDS students feel obligated to attend Prom, unlike in most other schools. I am aware that in previous years at JDS, the boys made sure that even the “dorkiest” girls had a date to Prom be-

K.

The article said the the Occupy protests were affecting students here at JDS, which we agree with. It talked about students from JDS who attended Occupy DC protests and what they thought about the issues central to the protest. However, this article did not say anything about students who were affected in any other ways, students who disagreed with the protests, of which

fore asking underclassmen. Is there something different with our grade? Is there any reason why a man should ask a ‘trophy date’ instead of a fellow classman that is attending Prom alone?

I am aware that there was much controversy over having a kosher meal at Prom. Many parents argued that it is unfair how the meal would exclude their children from the rest. In my opinion, instead of spending many long hours deciding whether the food should be kosher, our administration should open their eyes and see the exclusion happening within the Class of 2012.

There are a number of beautiful, funny, smart and charismatic girls in our grade who were simply overlooked and left dateless.

Promposals must be approved by the administration, yet no teacher or administrator thought to encourage the seniors to make sure everyone has a date and that no one is excluded. Instead of asking a junior or a sophomore that they didn’t even know, the boys in our grade should have looked around at the girls who didn’t have dates in our own grade, and reached out to them.

Sarah Rubinstein Senior

could have written much less than you did because your teacher wanted it in Verdana and not Times New Roman? Typography affects your life.

Everyone who owns a computer is a typographer. We have thousands of fonts at our fingertips, fonts in all different shapes, sizes, weights and styles. The easy access to fonts that we take for granted is a recent development. Fonts have never been so easy to come by. For example, the eighteenthcentury font “Romain du Roi” took 65 years to design, cut, mold and cast. Of course, that was an exceptionally long time period for the production of a font, even in a time when every letter and punctuation mark had to be carved by hand on an iron rod. “Times New Roman,” the font of every paper I’ve ever written in the Upper School, was designed between 1931 and 1932 for the New York Times. “Georgia,” another commonly used font, is a derivation of “Times New Roman.” It was designed in 1993 for Microsoft’s collection of fonts for the Web. Unlike “Romain du Roi” and “Times New Roman,” “Georgia” was designed specifically for viewing on a computer screen, the serif companion to sansserif (and Dr. Worden favorite) “Verdana.”

The designers of the letters that make our world work have put their creations in our hands. Respect them. Use them well. The next time you write a paper, think carefully about the font that you choose and what message it sends. When you read a book, turn to the copyright page and read about the font in which the book is set. As you continue to read this newspaper, take a look at the fonts we’ve chosen — none of them is accidental.

But the straightness and delightful strength of “Myriad Pro,” the font in which I am writing this column, is distracting me. I am going to get back to hanging with my new guy friend: K. His arms are wide open and waiting. there are many at JDS. By only showing how proponents of the movement were affected by the protests, the article made it seem like every student at JDS supported the Occupy protests, which is not true.

Dear Editor, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. Senior Alcove. Locker 280. What is in it? Who knows?

Once owned by a lesser-known student, an Israeli who is referred to by the title “The Aswaf,” locker 280 has become a desolate, empty space, which emanates a stench akin to 2-year-old hummus. Flies swarm the beige colored metal. Students in the general area (lockers 277-283) have been scared to open their lockers. No. They are fearful to even go near. The flies stare at them with dark red eyes. It is impenetrable. It is unbearable. It is an enigma.

Upon the locker are notices, messages, possibly from some twisted scientific experiment gone wrong. “Quarantine.” “No entry.” These are the warnings scribbled upon the cabinet most likely by a once deranged man.

In between, an eerie parch-

Robbie Shorr and Josh Eisdorfer Juniors

ment states, “Thursday, January 12th wear your senior shirt.”

What this could possibly mean is a mystery to both the students who pass by and the flies that make residence there.

We ask of you to defer temptation. Do not open the locker.

What unimaginable curiosities lurk past that door? Could it be a dead man? Old gym clothes?

A turkey sandwich, crushed orange, two different types of Doritos, strawberries, the juice of a rotten banana, an apple, pieces of cake and a scooter? Definitely not.

Sammy Yeroushalmi and Jonathan Kader Seniors

12 features

january 19, 2012

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to i

yaelkrifcher reporter

Creativity is normally encouraged in school. However, creativity when it comes to thinking of the next best way to text discreetly during class — behind a binder, pencil case, in a shoe or a sweatshirt — is another story entirely.

Such methods of hiding a phone during school hours create difficulties for teachers.

“There’s probably lots of texting going on that I don’t notice,” math teacher Victoria Ball said. “I think that as a teacher, I strive to be interesting and engaging, so there’s a piece of me that feels a little hurt that a student doesn’t want to pay attention to what I’m saying.”

Sophomore Samantha Gruhin said that texting dur-

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Classroom cellphone use persists

ing class isn’t meant as a personal offense toward teachers, but that at times students “just don’t feel like they need to be talking or participating in class in order to get a good grade.”

Junior Natalie Eyob agreed. “[Students] feel like talking to their friends is better than learning,” she said.

However, Eyob continued, teachers acknowledge this when doling out punishment for students who text.

“Teachers kind of feel like [texting is] just hurting the students. They don’t want to be telling us what to do because it’s just hurting us,” she said.

Senior Samuel Yeroushalmi said that being in his last semester of high school has contributed to teachers’ lax attitude toward texting.

“It’s not as a big a deal as it was when we were younger,” Yeroushalmi said. “Teachers have realized we’ve checked out.”

Yet the question of how harshly a student should be punished for texting in class remains.

“If there’s a consequence, [students who text will] fight it. They’d keep doing it,” Eyob said.

As disruptive as texting may be, calling out a student for texting takes time out of the class period as well.

“A lot of teachers won’t want it to be a disruption in the moment. … We don’t really have clear consequences for smaller disruptions … so there’s a lot of stuff we let go more than we should,” Ball said.

Report Card Subject and Grade

Teacher feedback

Math: Hebrew: Spanish:

Science: Talmud: Jewish History: History: English: Ceramics: JSA: Debate: Minyan:

jonathanreem and stukrantz reporters

Once a year, traditional roles get reversed: parents return home from a day at school and it is the students who are eager to hear about their day.

Parent teacher conferences, which occur annually during mid-December, offer parents an insight into their students’ performance and activity at school. Parents and teachers come into the conferences with different goals in mind, and they differ about what the purpose of parent teacher conferences are.

“I think the sort of obvious purpose is to help parents understand what’s going on with their kids better,” math teacher Victoria Ball said.

“I know other teachers focus on purely updating student reports. With me, I find that I talk more about the students’ personality,” Director of Jewish Life Miriam Stein said.

There is no set structure for what teachers need to be discussing or communicating with the parents they meet.

Some subscribe to the theory that parent teacher conferences should only be a straightforward update on the student’s academic progress in class.

“I explain what assignments we’re doing in class, what the student’s doing well on in class, what the student needs to work on and if the student is missing any assignments,” history teacher Michael Connell said.

However, some teachers are changing their approach to parent-teacher conferences, in part due to the launch of PowerSchool, where parents can see their children’s grades anytime.

“Parents can just see grades on a portal, for me it’s not about grades,” Stein said. “For me it’s about helping the student grow, so how can I partner with the parent to make sure the student is doing what he or she needs to be doing to succeed, not just in school but beyond.”

Ball agreed with the notion that parent-teacher conferences need to be about more than grades.

“I feel sort of silly telling the parents of an 11th grader, ‘Your child hasn’t been doing his homework,’” she said.

Ball also said that in her experience, required communication between teachers and parents has increased since she was in high school. However, she also called for increased student independence.

“My memory of my academic career was that I was an independent person. My parents would check in on me, but [homework was] mostly my responsibility, so I was a little bit surprised when I found out how much we were supposed to be contacting parents about people’s grades,” Ball said.

Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teacher Paul Blank agreed with Stein that while grades are important, the emphasis of parent teacher conferences should be on a student’s character.

“I think the school underestimates the importance that parents place on character development as well as grades,” he said.

Sophomore Daniel Grossman is asked the same questions about school by his parents almost daily, leading him to believe that the amount of parent teacher conferences should increase.

“I think conferences are necessary. I think they should happen more often. My parents ask me, ‘What happened in school today?’ every day. Parents have as much of a right and desire to know what’s going on as [students] do,” he said.

This year, student teacher conferences are taking place at the beginning of the second semester during Judaic classes. Students will be able to meet individually with all of their teachers to discuss the first semester and goals for the rest of the year.

At the end of last year, the Class of 2015 participated in the pilot program of student-teacher conferences. After receiving their schedules for the upcoming year, the then-eighth-graders met with all of their teachers to reflect on the year and discuss future placement options.

Freshman Sara Hyman believes that switching the conferences from the end of the year to the beginning of the second semester will improve the efficiency of the meetings. The program will be used this year.

“In the beginning of second semester you actually can do something about your placement that you can’t really do at the end of the year,” she said.

january 19, 2012 features

From home to school reubencohen reporter

A great premium is placed on private education. This is for the individualized attention it gives to students and its lack of restraint to a certain geographical area. CESJDS families pay a high tuition for their children to attend this school, but for some students, because of the geographic flexibility, paying for JDS becomes much more costly than the tuition.

While the school is located in central within Montgomery County, there are JDS students in many other parts of the region, such as Prince George’s County, Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. Those students are sometimes forced to find alternative methods of getting to school each morning.

Senior Jaime Benheim has one of the longest commutes in the school, from Fairfax, Va. She takes a JDS school bus to get to school, which introduces uncertainty into her schedule.

“In the afternoon, [my trip takes] anywhere between 40 minutes and [several] hours,” depending on the level of traffic, Benheim said. Taking the school bus also does not give her any flexibility to stay at school late, which has affected her academics.

“It’s hard to stay late after school because both my parents work, and I don’t have a car,” she said. “It’s hard when I have to stay late to work on a project.”

Junior Avi Felman lives in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Most days, he comes to school as part of a carpool of other students who live in Washington.

“I enjoy the system because last year I used to take the Metro a lot into school,” Felman said. “It was really stressful to have to wake up early and then take public transport in because there’s a lot of transferring involved.”

Now, Felman is more relaxed on the way to school. He has more independence on what he does during the trip, which varies depending on who is driving.

“If I’m in my car, I will probably play music,” he said. “If I’m in other people’s cars, I will probably fall asleep.”

Junior Mariah Finkelstein, who lives in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, is another member of Felman’s carpool.

She agrees that carpooling has its benefits.

“It’s good for the environment,” Finkelstein said, “and it’s more convenient to not have our parents have to drive us every day.”

However, Finkelstein is not fully content with the system. She wants more independence than the carpool offers and looks forward to eventually being able to drive herself to school.

“I’ll be on my own schedule,” she said. “I won’t have to rely on anyone else to be somewhere at the right time.”

Even students who live closer to school appreciate the benefits of driving themselves. Senior Mathew Goodman, who lives in Gaithersburg, has driven himself and his siblings to school since the beginning of last school year. Goodman agrees with Finkelstein about the expected benefits of self-scheduling.

“It’s good,” Goodman said. “I get to leave school whenever I want.”

Goodman does regret that driving himself means that he cannot do other things in the car that he would have when his parents drove him to school.

“I used to sleep in the car,” Goodman said. “Now I’m kind of tired in school.”

Several members of the math department take alternative modes of transportation to get to school. This includes math teacher Howard Weinstein, who bicycles to school.

“I get to school on two wheels,” Weinstein said. “It’s healthy, environmentally friendly and fun.”

Another option many members of the JDS community use to get to school is public transportation. Math teacher Sam Smedinghoff takes the Ride-On bus to school every day, and he says that that works well for him.

“I like [the bus] a lot,” Smedinghoff said. “It gets you where you want to go quicker than driving.”

Smedinghoff enjoys being able to read on the bus, which he would not be able to do if he drove to school. He also said that taking the bus costs less than buying gas, so he saves money by not driving.

Felman has found a system that works for him and gets him to school. Still, he is still frustrated with the length of his commute and has thought about leaving JDS because of it.

“I have thought about [leaving] a lot,” he said. “I talk to [my parents] about the distance.” He then joked, “They’ve offered to rent out the house near the school for me.”

13

CESJDS students and faculty take different modes of transportation to school every day

“I get to school on two wheels because it’s healthy, environmentally friendly and fun.”

—Math teacher Howard Weinstein

photos by Shira Ungar amd Rebecca Panitch

14 features

january 19, 2012

a day in the life of Carolyn Holmes Carolyn Holmes

January 9, 6:30 p.m.

Was informed by Cole I would be doing “Day in the Life,” which is due tomorrow. He recommended I visit a zoo tomorrow to make my ordinarily mundane Tuesday more interesting.

Carolyn Holmes

January 9, 6:33 p.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 9, 7:00 p.m.

Snow falling from the sky. #justsayin’

Yoga — crashed onto neighbor’s mat. #namaste

Carolyn Holmes

January 9, 9:00 p.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 7:00 a.m.

Dinner with @stevejobs. #bethewouldnteattomatosoup

Usual coffee and tea ritual.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 7:30 a.m.

Walking to car — Did I turn off the hair straightener? Run back up stairs to check. Nope, counter is on fire. #justkidding

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 7:40 a.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 8:00 a.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 8:53 a.m.

Good morning fantastic department!

Boker Tov duty, worried I did not have to send Aviv Shamny to minyan. #hopeheisokay Students very kindly asked if they should “act out” to make my “Day in the Life” more interesting. #notneeded #butthanks

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 12:30 p.m.

Seriously impressed with Mr. Kugler’s commitment to extraordinary lunches. #homemadecroutons?

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 12:30 p.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 2:03 p.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 2:17 p.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 5:21 p.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 4:00 p.m.

Carolyn Holmes

January 10, 5:30 p.m.

Grammatical catastrophe, didn’t learn this in kindergarten.

Still think it is Wednesday.

Minor panic with Miss Burke about having a boring day. Yes, she’s still alive. @jordanlipp Trying to complete my “Day in the Life” with Mijal Altmann. Try not to laugh at her witty banter.

Middle school girls basketball game against Burke — we finally learned how to scream! Thanks for the bailout Daphne.

Off to yoga again. Hopefully, I don’t crash. #Ommmshanti photos by Haley Cohen

Working in the real world alisonkraner reporter

When most students are rushing off to sports practices, extracurricular activities and homework, others are getting a taste of what it is like to leave the school environment. Students who have jobs balance school and work environments.

Freshman Leah Fogel works at Dynamite Gymnastics Center. She leads birthday parties on Sundays for children ages two to eleven.

She originally got involved a year ago because she was recommended for the job.

“I was offered the job because I was on the team there originally, and they said my personality was perfect,” Fogel said.

Junior Elise Kolender received a job offer to be a receptionist at a law firm in Bethesda, and accepted.

She said that she likes the job because it gives her a chance to be in charge of herself.

“I like feeling responsible for myself and just knowing that I’m able to [have a job]” she said.

Kolender also enjoys meeting new people and considers some of her coworkers her friends.

Fogel’s job lets her stay connected with friends on the gymnastics team.

“I didn’t have time during the week anymore for

photo provided by Elise Kolender

Junior Elise Kolender answers phones at the receptionist desk at Paley Rothman’s law firm, where she has worked since the start of this school year. The job taught her how to be mature and also gives her a chance to make friends. doing gym, so this was a way for me to keep doing gymnastics and make money,” she said.

Fogel said that although she does not work primarily to earn money, she does see the benefits of earning her salary.

Kolender agreed with Fogel’s stance. “[It is] nice to be able to buy my own stuff and be responsible for myself,” Kolender said.

As well as learning how to be responsible for herself and her money, Fogel learned that a job introduces problems that she does not encounter in school.

“I’ve ... learned that you’re going to have problems with your co-workers

and your boss, and ... you can’t handle your problems like you would handle drama in school,” she said.

In addition to balancing school with work problems, Fogel learned how to balance homework and seeing school friends.

“I do [have trouble balancing school and work] sometimes. That’s also why I have been working less often now because ... I want to hang out [with friends],” she said. “It’s hard to find that balance, especially because with work you sign up on Monday, while for school you never know how much work [there will be] or if there is an event on the weekend until a couple days before.”

Kolender has figured out a way to dedicate herself both to her job and schoolwork. “[During] slow days at work, I can still study. [Having a job] makes me have to stay up later to do homework, but I think it is worth it,” she said.

Kolender said that having a job in high school has taught her that “you need to work hard no matter what.”

She also anticipates that her job will help her when she applies for a different job later on.

“I think [this job] is a good thing I can put on my resume in the future,” Kolender said.

Seniors explore alternatives to Poland and Israel tri p haleycohen

probably just chill and pack for Israel.

I don’t know that I’ll really miss the grade because it’s such a short amount In just a few weeks, the senior of time, and I know we’ll have time class will start its three-month trip to to bond in Israel. I think Israel will be Poland and Israel. more enriching, and I’d be sad about “I’ve been waiting for this trip missing that,” Hirsh said. since kindergarten. It’s the highlight of Weiss said he felt pressure from being a JDS student,” senior Mathew his friends to join them in Poland and Goodman said. “Although I am excited Israel. for the trip, I am sad that I won’t get “That was the only group of peoto experience it with all of my ple I felt pressure from, friends,” Goodman said.

“In Poland there is nowhere for me to though. My parents were One of those friends is senior collect my thoughts, it’s one disturbing cool with whatever deciDaniel Weiss. Weiss is one of eight sion I made and all of my image after the next. I would be miserstudents, 10 percent of the Class teachers respected the fact of 2012, who will not be attend- able, and I don’t think I’d get anything out that I had my priorities in ing either part of the trip. Six per- of the trip.” order,” he said. cent of the class will be traveling –Senior Ilana Hirsh Although Weiss is conto either Poland or Israel, but not fident in his decision and both.

“Is it really worth that financial said it was not a hard choice to make, Weiss said he has always known burden? Another problem is that in he realizes he will be missing out on that he would not be attending the Poland there is nowhere for me to col- some grade bonding experiences and senior trip. Instead, Weiss will try out lect my thoughts, it’s one disturbing memory making. for competitive hockey teams. He says image after the next. I would be miser“[It is] regrettable, but because I that all of the tryouts take place in the able, and I don’t think I’d get anything want to play hockey in college and I spring so it would not be possible for out of the trip,” Hirsh said, referring to love it so much, missing some expehim to be in Israel and play. the concentration camps that the se- riences to be able to do something “Hockey is my number one prior- niors will be touring.

I love almost every day I feel is a fair ity. If I were to go to Israel I would be Hirsh is looking forward to the trade-off,” he said. missing out on months of training and longer portion of the trip in Israel. tryouts. Hockey is such a big part of “While everyone’s in Poland, I’ll features editor

my life and being without it for such a long time would be very hard,” Weiss said.

Senior Ilana Hirsh cited cost and a low tolerance for disturbing images as her two main reasons for not accompanying the senior class to Poland. The Poland trip alone costs $3,550-$4,250 if the student is going on the Israel trip as well — to cover airfare to Israel from Europe.

january 19, 2012 sports

Promising future for Lions basketball aricharnoff reporter The boys junior varsity basketball team started out the year slow but picked up its game and are now on a roll.

The team started the season with two straight losses to Grace Brethren Christian School and Covenant Life School, before starting a four-game winning streak that included a win against Hebrew Academy before losing to St. Anselms.

Head coach Brian Westerman attributes the team’s recent success to their hard-work on the court.

“We struggled in the first two games, but we persevered in practice, ‘gelled’ together as a team and are now being extremely successful,” he said.

Another change between the team’s first two losses and recent four-

game winning streak is their center sophomore Joey LaFountain. LaFountain did not play in the first game and only played limited minutes in the second due to his late joining of the team. In the team’s third game, against the Edmund Burke School, LaFountain eased into the game, scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds.

LaFountain’s abilities became clear in the fourth game against Sandy Spring Friends School. He scored 13 points and totaled eight rebounds. Besides helping out with the rebounding and scoring, LaFountain’s shot-blocking ability helped the team on the defensive end.

LaFountain and fellow sophomores Matan Meloul and Adir Hakakian start in the front court while sophomore Kobi Fodor and eight-grader Daniel Kuhnreich start in the back court.

Their recent victory over Hebrew

Blood, sweat, snow

Academy was their biggest win of the season. They won 31-29 in a nail-biter.

The girls junior varsity basketball team has started off the season well.

The have a 3-1 record. The team is led by freshman Talia Gasko who is averaging eight points per game. Sophomore Alison Kraner, freshmen Emma Hofman and Sophia Kader and seventhgrader Danielle Katz round out the starting five. Their most dominant performance of the season was a whopping 41-12 win over Hebrew Academy.

Gasko had 15 points.

Their new coach, Becky Silberman, has them working extremely hard.

“She runs us really hard. One practice, Coach Silberman made us run so much. She made us run down and back 20 times,” Hofman said.

“Coach always motivated us to try our hardest and that is why we have been so successful,” Gasko said.

Chemerinski’s return attracts supportive crowd at UMD alecschrager, davidkulp and robbiebelson reporters At CESJDS, Eitan Chemerinski dominated the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference. During his senior year he led JDS to the conference championship but lost to Washington International School. He averaged 20 points, nine rebounds, six blocked shots and four assists per game his senior year. He is also one of few players in JDS history to dunk in a game.

Chemerinski also holds the record for most points in a JDS game with 55 points against the McLean School during his senior year.

After he graduated from JDS in 2009, Chemerinski was recruited to Cornell University’s basketball team, the Big Red. He spent most of his time on the bench in his first two seasons, but was still able to be a part of the Cornell basketball team’s run to the 2010 NCAA tournament Sweet 16.

This season, Chemerinski is the starting power forward for Cornell. So far, he is averaging seven points and two rebounds per game.

On Jan. 3, Cornell played the University of Maryland, giving Chemerinski a chance to return to his home state. He had one of his best games, scoring 10 points on five-for-six shooting.

During the Maryland game, Chemerinski matched-up against Alex Len, a 7’1” forward from Ukraine. Despite a four-inch height difference, Chemerinski played good defense, accumulating three steals and one block.

“[All I had to do was] work our offense, look at the different options, get good position in the post, make a move, and hope it goes in,” Chemerinski said.

Maryland won the game 7062.

For Chemerinski, his first game playing against the University of Maryland had special significance.

When he stepped onto the court at the Comcast center, an entire section started cheering. The section was filled with JDS students, parents, and alumni all coming to support Chemerinski. Also in that section were members of Beth Sholom, the synagogue Chemerinski attended when he lived in Potomac, Md. Every time Chemerinski scored, he got an overwhelming ovation from this section.

Chemerinski gets support from all around him. At first, playing basketball was just something Chemerinski loved to do. Once he started playing more and more, he became more passionate with basketball, and it became part of his life.

“I took it up from a young age. I really like to do it,” Chemerinski said. “I like the team aspects and my teammates are like my best friends. I love playing a sport I love to play.”

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photo by David Kulp

Practicing to make perfect times come spring season may involve heavy snow this winter stukrantz reporter Although the spring sports season is not quite here yet, the track team still manages to meet up at off-season practices.

The official workouts, held from 4-5:30 p.m.

Tuesday-Thursday, are led by the track and crosscountry coaches Jason Belinkie and Azeree Katledge. Belinkie normally leads the long-distance runners while Katledge leads the sprinters.

The unofficial workouts are led by the captains and usually include casual runs that range between four and seven miles.

Freshman Daniel Waksman, who describes himself as “attached to running,” said the unofficial workouts are sparingly attended.

“The unofficial workouts are much easier because there’s often only a few people there,” he said.

“A lot of what we do [at the unofficial workouts] is just running, so it’s pretty individual,” sophomore Hilary Druckman said. “We don’t really need the coaches there every practice.”

Sophomore Aaron Boxerman likes the relaxed atmosphere of winter track.

“I think the best part is the lack of stress,” Boxerman said. “There’s no pressure to push too hard, so everything is casual and fun.”

Boxerman is also attracted to winter track because of the team synergy it builds.

“It’s a great team bonding experience because of shared experiences,” he said.

Druckman views winter track as a refreshing end-of-day activity.

“We spend a lot of mental energy during the day learning,” Druckman said. “After that, you’re ready to release physically.”

Waksman builds self-esteem through running.

“I like the idea of running five miles. Lots of people can’t do that. It builds self-pride,” Waksman said.

The chilly weather of winter also challenges the runners.

“Winter makes it much more difficult because it’s much colder outside, which makes it harder to get started,” freshman Harry Wandersman said.

According to Boxerman, being laid back is the ruling principle of winter track.

“The idea is to have fun, get some good times and be ready for track in the spring,” he said.

Wrestlers find success in positive coaching alexflum reporter CESJDS varsity wrestling team coach Jordan Lipp has brought the wrestling team success and significant roster growth.

“Because of Mr. Lipp, JDS wrestling is still alive,” junior, captain Max Smith said. “He is the sole reason why we’ve improved so much, and there is success on this team.”

Smith is team captain along with seniors Daniel Neuberg and Sam Cohen. The team has six members from seasons before Lipp was coach: Smith, Neuberg, Cohen, seniors Scott Levengard and Noah Rosenfeld and sophomore Samuel Felsen. The team comprises five seniors, five juniors, six sophomores, six freshman, two eighth graders, one seventh grader and three sixth graders.

So far this season, the team has maintained a 4-1 record.

In Lipp’s first season, the team finished with a record of 7-3.

“In these last two years with Coach Lipp, he has changed this program tremendously,” Felsen said. “We are now a respected program in the school.”

This season, the wrestling team has reached another milestone. For the first time in its four-year existence, there is a female wrestler on the team: freshman Leah Fogel.

Wrestling is traditionally a boys sport, but girls have begun to take part in it.

At first Fogel had trouble feeling comfortable being one girl among 27 boys.

“I had a lot of questions, but I was nervous to ask them,” Fogel said. “Over time that just faded.”

Fogel began this season with no wrestling experience. She had done ballet, played volleyball and danced.

“Leah is one of the hardest and photo by Symon Ginsburg smartest workers we have on the team,” Captain Sam Cohen, a senior, blocks a takedown fro’’m a St. Anselm’s wrestler. The team’’’s next match Lipp said. “Every Friday she asks me is on Jan. 24 against McLean and Covenant Life. what she can work on in her free time over the weekend.”

Looking into the future, the wrestling team has six Much of the wrestling team’s sucmembers that are not yet in high school. One is a seventh cess has come from Smith. Smith has many accomplishgrader, Joseph Gelula. Now in his second season, he has ments outside of school in wrestling. He is the Maryland received the nickname “Chuckles.” state champion in Greco-Roman freestyle, he took fourth “I told a lot of jokes, ” Gelula said. “I told this story once at folkstyle and is ranked as the second best wrestler in the about a guy named Mr. Schmuck. Everyone cracked up state of Maryland. This year he has his mind set on being and henceforth I was named Chuckles.” the national champion.

While the wrestlers do joke around from time to time, Lipp has many people at his disposal to help him they have managed to create a winning atmosphere and coach the team because of his wrestling connections. build a family mentality amongst the players and coach.

“I can call or text wrestling coaching wizards and geniuses whenever I want, and learn from them,” Lipp said.

sp rts

page 16 • january 19, 2012

Boys, girls teams victorious against rivals Fans pump up confidence in players, coaches alike to beat Hebrew Academy

alexflum reporter

celebrated their second win of the night. The girls won the first game 46-35. After trailing in the first half, the girls Down by eight, heading into the fourth quarter against took control of the game and won by 11. its main rival, the CESJDS boys varsity basketball team needWith the wins, the boys improved to 3-2 in the PVAC, ed the soldout crowd to step up. For much of the fourth while the girls improved to 3-1 in conference. quarter, fans cheered and the team battled back. “[During] halftime we decided that we weren’t going With five seconds left on the clock, junior Ethan Walfish to lose to Hebrew Academy our last time at home,” senior was sent to the free-throw line down, 43-42. Walfish would Paige Siegel said. “Then [in] the second half we came out lead the team in scoring 15 points. Once Walfish stood at the strong and won.” free-throw line, the crowd fell silent. When Walfish missed During the pep rally the day before, girls varsity basthe first free throw, fans began to panic. ketball coach and science teacher Nicholas Rich implored “I was trying to breathe, pacing, [trying] not to think fans to come to the girls game, as fans sometimes only about it, ” Walfish said. ”And luckily I made it.” come to the boys game, which takes place after the girls After Walfish made the second free throw to force over- game. time, the crowd erupted.

“This year at the game, the crowd was electrifying.

Fast-forward to the last second in overtime leading They did a really great job and even came early for the 49-46, sophomore Noah Soumekhian was fouled. With the girls game which was huge,” Rich said. game locked up and within reach, the JDS students began Many fans attended the game, more than usual. Rich chanting “scoreboard,” bragging to Hebrew Academy fans. thought it made a highly positive impact on the team.

Soumekhian made the first free throw, missed the secThe annual pep rally was held on the Friday before the ond and the clock ran out. As the game ended, the students game in the gym. The pep rally introduced the wrestling stormed the court celebrating a 50-46 win. team, the winter track team, both junior varsity teams and “It was very chaotic. Everyone was very happy that we both varsity teams. had won both of our games and everyone was hyped up,” It also featured a tag-team three-point shoot-out eighth-grader Annie Rodney said. “I almost got trampled, competition between seniors Noah Rosenfeld and Daniel but it was really fun.”

Neuberg and structured study hall teacher Brett Kugler The Hebrew Academy fans watched in agony as JDS fans and PE department chair Steven Forestieri. The shoot-out

Varsity Review Boys Varsity Basketball Record: 5-3 Recent Games: W vs. Hebrew Academy

W. vs. St. Anselms

W. vs. Field

L. vs. Covenant Life Upcoming Games:

Jan. 19 vs. Grace Brethren

Jan. 24 vs. McLean School

Jan. 28 vs. Hebrew Academy

Girls Varsity Basketball Record: 3-1 Recent Games: L. vs. Covenant Life

W. vs. Sandy Spring

W. vs. Hebrew Academy Upcoming Games:

Jan. 24 vs. Burke

Jan. 26 vs. McLean School

Jan. 28 vs. Hebrew Academy

photo by David Kulp

ended in a tie. It was all finished off with a “promposal” from senior Max Ungar.

“We’re all scared to come out for that game. We’re also really excited and [the pep rally] gets everybody else excited for the game,” sophomore Jon Prigal said.

Prigal scored six points in the game on two threepointers.

Pumped from the pep rally and with the will for their teams to win, the JDS student section cheered on their teams continuously. For much of the game, fans booed while the Hebrew Academy players shot free throws, encouraging the Cougars to miss many key free-throw attempts.

First-year boys coach David McCloud was impressed by the intensity of the crowd.

“By far it’s one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever experienced as a coach, even as a fan, just being there at the game,” McCloud said. “The whole gym was rockin’. I’m looking forward to every game we play against Hebrew [Academy].”

Co-Student Council president and basketball team member Michael Gould thinks that the Hebrew Academy game is a great way to express JDS spirit.

“The Hebrew Academy game is certainly the cornerstone of JDS high-school spirit,” Gould said.

as of Jan. 17

Varsity Wrestling Record: 4-1 Recent Games: W. vs. Burke

W. vs. McLean School

L. vs. Modell Upcoming Games:

Jan. 24 vs. McLean/Covenant Life

Jan. 30 vs. The Heights School

Feb. 7 vs. Heights/Georgetown Day