Volume 34 Issue 2

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The Lion’s Tale

the lion’s tale

New voters prepare for first election, pg. 02

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Volume 34 Issue 2

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October 10, 2016

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CESJDS

THE ELECTION ISSUE

Back to our European roots, pg. 06-07

Senior recruited to Division I, pg. 11

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News Briefs Oct. 14, all day event Daniel Pearl World Music Day Kabbalat Shabbat and musical performances will be dedicated to Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl, who was murdered by Pakistani terrorists in 2002.

Nov. 2, all day event Community service day Middle-schoolers and freshmen will volunteer at a variety of organizations in Maryland and Washington, D.C. for the day.

Nov. 3, 4 p.m.

Powder puff football game After school, junior and senior girls will participate in their annual powder puff football game.

Nov. 4-5, all day event Freshman Shabbaton The Class of 2020 will travel to Capital Camps in Waynesboro, PA to celebrate Shabbat together and bond as a grade.

Nov. 6, 7 p.m.

A cappella concert Shir Madness will perform at the A Cappella Showcase Concert organized by the University of Maryland Hillel. compiled by talia denicoff and isaac silber

For breaking news and school coverage, check out lionstale.org or scan the code below.

Seniors hit the voting booths First-time voters prepare for momumental election sara sporkin reporter Senior Elizabeth Warrick entered the voting booth on April 26 for the first time during the Maryland primaries. On Nov. 8 she will vote again, this time in the national election.

Fifteen out of 87 CESJDS seniors will be eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Whether it be through their parents, history classes or Facebook pages, many of these students are doing their best to be politically informed going into their first election.

Warrick’s decision regarding whom she will vote for has been mainly influenced by discussions with her parents, but she also reads articles online about the election and other current events. She “liked” news sources on Facebook, including Foreign Policy and the New York Times, and also subscribed to theSkimm’s daily newsletter.

“If I see something interesting I can read it on the website or on the app, and then I also talk about things with my parents,” Warrick said.

Although Warrick does not often talk about politics with her friends, she said that most of them have similar views to her own. She does, however, listen to her few friends who have opposing views in order to understand other opinions.

In addition to discussing politics with her parents and friends, she also enjoys discussions with teachers in class. “[Teachers have] definitely helped me, in some cases, solidify my own [opinions] or give me the tools to assess my opinion,” Warrick said.

“Nothing has drastically changed it.”

Like Warrick, senior Maya Fontheim voted in the primary and will be voting in the general election.

Fontheim has always been interested in politics. She reads articles, watches CNN and listens to NPR to strengthen her understanding of political issues. Fontheim thinks that the majority of people’s political opinions depend on the news outlets they use and the perspectives they hear in discussions.

“I kind of hear both points of view, and sometimes I’ll float towards the middle and most of the time I’ll float towards the left, but it’s really just finding out both sides and then seeing, really, what I agree with,” Fontheim said.

Fontheim is taking Contemporary Issues in America, a history elective in which students are encouraged to develop their own political opinions. The course covers U.S. foreign and domestic policy and had a two-week-long unit about issues related to the election.

Jewish history teacher Aaron Bregman, who teaches the course,

The polls are in

does not share his own political opinions in class because he does not want his students to think that his beliefs are the only correct ones.

Instead, Bregman encourages students to listen to their peers’ ideas before they make their own arguments about the issues at hand.

“My main goal for this class is for the kids to have a balance and an understanding of all the different arguments out there,” Bregman said.

“Then they can decide for themselves how best they want to utilize that and vote for a candidate or connect to a party that they most believe in.”

History teacher Natalie Levitan also teaches Contemporary Issues in America and, like Bregman, said that it is important to present an unbiased view of the election. She said that many students walk into the class with an idea of whom they are going to support without carefully looking at and trying to understand the other point of view.

“One of the discussions that the classes have all been partaking in is this issue of polarization in society,” Levitan said. “We want to see if we can sort of more respectfully understand the other sides so that we can better understand our own positions.”

Throughout the course, students look at sources to gain exposure to a wide range of political is-

sues, including race and poverty. The class will read “Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America” by Jonathan Kozol, and will also look at articles from news outlets such as the Washington Post, Vox and FiveThirtyEight, a polling site, among others.

“You name it. As long as it’s a credible site that I think has a lot of legitimacy and strong writing and strong historical context, I will use it,” Bregman said.

In addition to reading a variety of news sources, students in the class discuss political parties’ views, beyond their basic platforms.

Levitan uses direct quotes from the party platforms to discuss specific issues and ensure a minimal amount of bias. Levitan thinks that it is important for teachers to present unbiased information in all of their classes so that students can have a better understanding of the election and be better informed in general.

“I think that kind of puts a new light on it when you’re not just saying, ‘This is this party and what they believe and this is this party and what they believe,’” Fontheim said.

“You see how [the candidates] react to the issues of the moment because you want to vote for someone who you agree with how they’re dealing with things that are happening right now.”

The Lion’s Tale asked 187 high school students which presidential candidate they support.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton 103 students, 55 percent Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump 26 students, 14 percent Undecided 58 students, 31 percent Each photo represents 20 students.

photos provided by Creative Commons photo illustration by talia denicoff

Government grant funds updated security measures

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For the new school year, CESJDS received the maximum amount of money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which annually allocates money to schools and organizations. JDS applies for the grant every year, and this year was the third time in the past six years the school has received it.

Over the summer, the school used the $75,000 grant to make significant changes to its security practices at both the Upper and Lower School campuses. The Security Task Force, a group of school officials and security professionals from the community, has been working to improve the school security. According to Chair of the Security Task Force Ayala Nuriely, JDS is upgrading security on the buildings by installing more cameras and upgrading the Aiphone system, which gives the security guards greater control over who enters the building through the side and back doors. New bulletproof glass film was installed, which took up about 55 to 60 percent of the grant. “[The security changes] definitely do represent our efforts, constantly trying to make security best

at our school,” Nuriely said.

Security buttons on the entrances to the school are an addition to the existing Aiphone system. Through the system, the school’s security guards are able to control access to all of the exterior doors through the system and see who is outside of the building and trying to get in.

Additionally, a rotation of three Montgomery County police officers are also stationed at the Upper School and Lower School for a few select number of days each week during arrival and dismissal times.

The addition of the police officers was recommended by JDS’ Security Task Force.

Although there is no increased security risk or threat specifically at JDS this year, the Security Task Force thought it would be beneficial to have an officer on each campus.

The police presence is unrelated to the grant. “[We] want to be prepared for the worst, and make sure [security guards] had everything they needed to make sure everyone stays safe,” security guard Jamal Hall said.

Like Hall, sophomore Maya Cohen-Shields said she believes that the increased security helps students feel safe.

“I think it’s important that the students feel safe because of every-

thing that is going on in the world,” Cohen-Shields said. “Even if [the security] is not all completely necessary, it may seem overdone in the long run, they are being cautious just in case, and it’s good for the students to feel safe.”

Although some students see the importance in the increased safety, other students such as senior Yoni Weiner-Tobin find parts of the new security policy inconvenient.

“I think that it’s important to keep a balance between our security but also our freedom,” Weiner-Tobin said. “Especially considering the fact that school is like another home for students because we spend so much time here, and it’s a little bit intrusive and even uncomfortable having a police officer standing guard and all of these restrictions on entry and exit.”

While some may find the security measures to be excessive, Hall believes that all measures taken are necessary to make sure that the school is as safe as possible.

“I just think security throughout everything is one of the main important things you need to focus on and tackle, as far as keeping the kids and keeping the staff and everyone inside of the school safe,” Hall said.

prayer experiences during Zman Kodesh, while also allowing for productive use of phones for academic purposes.”

Lindner met with students on the second day of school to discuss cellphone usage. He then met with a faculty committee and they wrote the policy together.

“Some things that some of students said, they really led “Since [students] cannot avoid the directly into the way temptation of looking at screens, the policy was written,” Lindner said. we teachers need to help you.”

Hebrew teacher -hebrew teacher yaffa dagony Yaffa Dagony was on the faculty committee that helped Lindner write the policy. and teachers regarding cellphone Dagony uses a “phone box” to collect usage, but that this policy gives ev- phones at the beginning of class, and eryone a uniform policy to folow. she has not been met with opposi“In many ways, it’s not a huge tion from her students. shift,” Lindner said. “It’s very similar “Since [students] cannot avoid to what’s been done before.” the temptation of looking at screens, According to the policy, its pur- we teachers need to help you,” Dagpose is to “limit disruption to the ony said. learning process in classes and to In addition to the implemen-

tation of this policy, JDS is trying to educate students about cellphone and other technology use in and out of school. On Sept. 23, middle school students watched “Screenagers,” a documentary about teenagers’ addiction to digital devices and the negative impacts technology can have. High school students watched the film on Sept. 26.

Senior Jared Horwitz said that he enjoyed the movie and that it brought up some important issues.

“I think that a lot of teenagers do have problems with too much screen time or screen addiction, and a lot of us can be in denial,” Horwitz said. “It’s hard to look at ourselves and say we have a problem.”

Since the new phone initiative launched, Lindner has received mostly positive feedback. The negative feedback he has received has been split; some people think the policy is too lenient, while others believe that it is too harsh.

Lindner noted that the policy can help students learn how to use their phones productively instead of

using them as a distraction. While suggestions from students varied greatly, a few included an increase in cellphone usage in the classrooms through applications such as Quizlet and Poll.ev.

“I definitely think there are positive uses of cellphones in school,” Lindner said.

Horwitz went to the meeting and appreciated Lindner’s openness to students’ opinions and ideas. He is happy with the new policy, but he does not think it was necessary.

“I haven’t noticed a recurring problem of phones in classrooms,” Horwitz said. He said that even if students do use phones, they are not disruptive to the entire class.

According to Lindner, the policy is not intended to tell students that they are doing something terribly wrong, rather, it is an adaption to changing times and technology.

“We are all going through something with this relatively new phenomenon of smartphones,” Lindner said. “Let’s work on how to better manage them together.”

photo courtesy of ayelette halbfinger A Montgomery County policeman stands by the door and monitors the building as students enter the Upper School in the morning.

addie bard and emily cohen reporter and contributing editor

New policy restricts students’ use of cellphones isaac silber news editor In order to limit student usage of cellphones during school hours, the administration revitalized the school’s cellphone policy. The official policy was introduced to students on Sept. 19.

The policy states that middle school students must keep their phones in their lockers the entire school day. High school students may carry them during the day, but they must ask permission to use them during class or Zman Kodesh.

If students use their phone without permission, on the first and second offense their teacher will take it to the front office until the end of the day, at which point students can pick them up and an email will be sent home to their parents. On the third offense, a parent must pick the phone up at school. On the fourth offense, students will meet with an administrator and will lose their phone privileges at school for a determined period of time.

Additionally, high school teachers can choose to collect phones at the beginning of class or Zman Kodesh, and then give them back to students at the end of the period.

High School Principal and Associate Head of School Marc Lindner said that previously there was not clarity among the students, faculty

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the

Staff editorial

lion’s tale Take the road less traveled: Combat political polarization

editors-in-chief talia horowitz, miriam minsk managing editor, copy jonathan foldi design editor ariella kulp copy editor aliza rabinovitz opinion editor gabe krantz news editors talia denicoff, isaac silber features editors izzy friedland, aaron schonfeld & rina torchinsky style editors emily cohen, ari feuer in-depth editors dahlia lehman, arielle weinstein sports editors bennett bramson, joel vardon photo editor noy dahan social media, video editor noah green videographer lily daroff editorial cartoonists beyla bass, ben shrock photographers ilan cohen, caroline weinstein reporters josh abramowitz, addie bard, ilan cohen, amelia davidson, devira friedman, shira godin, danny ingber, jessie lehman, aaron robinson, ben savarick, kate sosland, sara sporkin staff adviser jessica nassau adviser emerita susan zuckerman

You know that it’s Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton. This election, however, is about more than just the candidates’ names. It is about education, healthcare, the economy and many other issues that are troubling our country. As students, many of whom will be voting in the coming years, it is our responsibility to understand candidates’ policies, beyond the opinions we hear at the dinner table or in passing conversation.

Students’ unwillingness to open themselves up to a variety of ideas perpetuates the phenomenon of political polarization. This term describes the current state of our nation, in which people are not only inching closer to opposite sides of the political spectrum, but the number of people in the middle of the spectrum is rapidly decreasing.

According to the Pew Research Center, “the share of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over the past two decades, from 10 percent to 21 percent.” Due to this shift in political landscape,

As the student newspaper of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, The Lion’s Tale is a public forum for student opinion and expression. All content is determined by the students.

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.

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

The Lion’s Tale reserves the right to refuse advertisements for any reason.

The staff adheres to the ethics policies of The Society of Professional Journalists. The adviser will be held to the Journalism Education Association’s Adviser Code of Ethics. The Lion’s Tale belongs to the National Scholastic Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.

The Lion’s Tale prints 800 copies of every issue, which is distributed to students and staff at the Upper Campus. PDFs of the paper are available at issuu.com/lionstale. The Lion’s Tale website is lionstale.org. All contents copyright of The Lion’s Tale. All rights reserved.

the “amount of ideological overlap between the two parties has diminished.”

Political polarization creates contentious debate in the classroom, as students often take the side of their party without adequately recognizing the opposing opinion. In this way, political polarization also leads to a constant tug-of-war as opposed to productive dialogue.

In order to combat this issue of polarization, we need to put more time into understanding the ideas of others. Taking initiative can be as simple as reading or watching the news, or even engaging in respectful discussion with another classmate about important issues. At the same time, questioning your own beliefs and what you hear around you fosters productive political dialogue.

CESJDS provides many outlets

-The Lion’s Tale

Athletes kneel as a way to stand tall

Editorial and Ethics Policy

Signed columns reflect the opinion of the writer; staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of The Lion’s Tale editorial board. The Lion’s Tale staff welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns, all of which must be signed.

The staff reserves the right to refuse any material and may edit letters or columns for length, clarity, libel, obscenity and/or disruptiveness.

Submissions may be emailed to jdslionstale@ gmail.com or mailed to The Lion’s Tale at 11710 Hunters Lane, Rockville, Md., 20852.

cartoon by ben shrock

to express one’s stances and learn from others. Organizations like Junior State of America, a student-run national club for politically interested high-schoolers, conduct debates that expose students to differing ideas. Debating political issues is important, because it requires students to study the opposing side’s arguments, and in turn question the validity of their own. The History and Jewish History departments also offer contemporary issues courses on American and Israeli politics, where students use a variety of sources and news outlets to become politically informed.

Listening to others’ opinions creates open dialogue that is not seen enough in our country. Just because our beliefs may be different does not mean that we have to butt heads with one another. Reducing the presence of political polarization must come from us, the new wave of voters, who are responsible for the future of this country.

daniel baumstein guest columnist As Americans, we take great pride in our country and have many ceremonies to show our patriotism. We get easily offended if anyone questions America’s greatness, but sometimes questioning and even protesting is necessary to progress as a country.

Such is the case with the relatively new practice of athletes taking a knee rather than standing for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Started by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, taking a knee has continued to gain support from both professional and high school athletes.

The protest sparked an ongoing discussion surrounding the history

of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” as well as racial inequality in today’s nation. Only the the first two verses of the poem are recited as our national anthem, but the third verse reads: “Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution / No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, / And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave. / O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. / O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand.”

As the Huffington Post’s John R. Burbank wrote, the “ode to slavery embedded in its original words, it makes you wonder why we should stand at attention, or even sing, this anthem.” The national anthem was a poem written not for people of color, but for the “freemen,” the white men who ran the country, and it did not recognize those who were enslaved. By protesting the anthem, athletes are simply recognizing the injustices in our country that are still far too prevalent.

Although the national anthem

as we know it today does not contain this clause, the oppression of the black community in the United States which it references is still widespread. According to a 2013 report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, there is a massive disparity in prison sentencing, as black men receive almost 20 percent longer sentences than white men who get charged with similar crimes. White Americans use drugs more than black Americans, but black Americans are arrested at an almost 3-to-1 ratio according to a survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice. Following today’s current trends, it is expected that one in three black males can expect to spend a lifetime in prison. Most tragic of all, this year alone, approximately 200 black Americans have been killed by police. Just as they exist in our national anthem, these racial inequalities plague our society and highlight the biases many of us hold.

One of the main complaints over this method of protest is that it disrespects the men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces who serve

to defend the flag. This mentality, however, ignores a value that members of the Armed Forces fight to uphold: the right to a peaceful protest. As U.S. Air Force veteran Sunny Anderson put it, “I took an oath and served, so players on a team I don’t even like could have freedom of speech.” Kaepernick is using his First Amendment right to speak out about racial injustice by taking a peaceful stand, the exact same way that Americans have protested for years.

The continued acts of violence by police officers, the unjustly high incarceration rate, and the systematic oppression of people of color are just some of the issues for which taking a knee in protest is trying to raise awareness. While the method of protest may not be perfect, addressing the racial inequality that impacts almost every part of our country is not only a valid reason for protest, but a necessary one. Though some believe that the timing of the protest is inappropriate, we cannot focus on the method while we continue to ignore the message.

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The administration recently reminded faculty to keep their political views to themselves.

Should teachers be allowed to talk about politics in school?

Yes, teachers should share beliefs No

izzy friedland contributing editor Unless you live under a rock or, even worse, don’t read the news, you’re aware that 2016 has been a year of unusually high political tensions, chiefly because of the particularly charged and contentious election.

What you may be less aware of is that CESJDS faculty is going to particular efforts this election year to maintain political neutrality. Teachers have been asked to avoid sharing their personal political beliefs with students, particularly with regards to specific candidates, even outside of the classroom.

This is not the first year that the school has adopted this approach, but it is the first time that the guideline has become a de facto policy instead of an implied one.

While I understand and even approve of the rationale that led to this approach, I can’t help but feel that restricting teachers from sharing their opinions might be damaging to students’ education. I also fear that the sensitivity afforded to this one year may become the norm for all sensitive subjects going forward.

My best friend is a hard-core Trump supporter. My other best friend is a sworn socialist and would, if he could, leave the country under a Trump presidency. The three of us talk about politics all the time, and I understand as well as anybody the necessity to make space for people, in this case students, to share their opinions without making them feel as though they are somehow wrong or even immoral for holding them.

It is impossible to completely divorce personal opinion with the teaching of a

subject that is close to a teacher’s heart, and what good teacher is not passionate about their subject? The solution to this problem isn’t to have a teacher feign indifference because bias is present everywhere, whether intended or accidental.

What’s needed to create a safe intellectual space isn’t necessarily the removal of opinions, but an agreement and ability to treat opinions as equal, to identify personal biases and to examine ideas rather than the people who suggest them.

That ability is not only useful in class discussions, but crucial for “real-world” political discussions. Outside school, people who disagree with us often don’t feel the need to feign neutrality, and academic conversations revolve around disagreement and civil discussion.

I’m not arguing that every teacher should share their opinion, but rather that teachers should decide for themselves what is best to foster the conversations in their classes. I would be surprised if my math instructor felt the need to weigh in on the presidential election, but I would be somewhat annoyed if I didn’t know how my Contemporary Issues teacher felt.

This is not only because of the importance of considering whose perspective I’m being taught from, but because if they disagree with me, I want to be confronted with a dissenting opinion and understand the reasoning behind their ideas.

At the risk of sounding like a teacher, confronting and challenging our own viewpoints is how we grow, not just as students, but as understanding and open-minded human beings.

Teachers have a full understanding of how they teach, and if they think that sharing their opinion is harmful to a class conversation, they absolutely should feel free to leave their views at home. If they feel they can challenge students in a way that benefits them, they should feel free to do that, too.

I trust my teachers to make the right choice.

Yes No, teachers should not share beliefs

gabe krantz opinion editor Teachers’ political beliefs and opinions should never be present in school. While teachers should always stay neutral in the classroom, it is especially important now, as we are in the midst of one of the most important elections in American history.

In many liberal arts classes, the core learning of the class comes in the form of a discussion rather than from a lecture or through a textbook. In these cases, it is critical that the conversation remain neutral from the teacher’s end.

There have been times when knowing a teacher’s stance on an issue kept me from sharing my opposing ideas. Maybe it was a fear of being unfairly graded or simply being looked at differently by the teacher that kept me from contributing to the discussion. In many of these cases, I know that I would have otherwise jumped at the opportunity to share my ideas.

“It’s a practical issue of whether a teacher can share about which candidate or political party they support, without having it be misinterpreted that they are trying to influence their students or that the environment feels like it is not a fair environment to all the different opinions,” Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus said.

CESJDS is not like most other high schools in that it spans from pre-K to senior year. Although all teachers should remain objective, it is even more vital that teachers of younger grades avoid sharing political beliefs.

Elementary school and middle school

students are very influenced by those around them to the point that a teacher sharing a political view in front of them can shape the way they look at an issue and create a permanent bias. This must be avoided at all costs as students should be encouraged to shape their own belief system free of outside influence, not be guided to take on the beliefs of their teachers. In a country where people are easily swayed by those around them when it comes to political beliefs, a classroom free of political opinions from an authority figure is a necessity.

As students age, however, the importance of remaining neutral becomes less about hindering the development of students’ personal beliefs, and more about bias in many different aspects of the learning experience.

Teachers’ political views do not only reach students when teachers express them in the classroom. In one case, I read a tweet written by my teacher that was retweeted by a JDS alum whom I follow on Twitter. After reading the tweet, I was no longer comfortable sharing my beliefs on certain issues in class since I knew that my teacher did not agree with my beliefs.

It is for this reason that Malkus stressed to teachers that, even outside the classroom, they should not be sharing their political opinions with students.

“I feel the tension in that I want teachers to be able to share openly, but I do not know how to practically do that without it feeling like an unfair environment,” Malkus said.

Teachers obviously have a life outside of school in which they, like all Americans, are allowed to express their political views.

The role of a teacher, however, is to provide students with the best education possible, and being biased when doing so does not create the healthy environment necessary to achieve this goal.

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Back to our roots visits to eastern europe shed light on identity, education and regional history aliza rabinovitz copy editor Summer in Ukraine Over 4,000 miles separate Rockville, Md. and an area that 60 percent of Jews used to call home: Eastern Europe.

This distance leaves the majority of CESJDS students, like senior Sara Heckelman who has no family currently living there, unable to relate much to the region. For Heckelman, however, engaging with Eastern Europe in a modern setting helps link her to her great-grandparents who used to live in the area.

This past summer, Heckelman had the opportunity to be a counselor at Camp Ramah Yachad, a conservative Jewish camp in Ukraine. This was the first time Ramah offered the program to American campers

who would otherwise only have the option of going on Ramah Seminar, a summer trip to Israel.

According to Heckelman, her initial apprehension about traveling to and being a counselor in a foreign country was relieved by her familiarity with Ramah, along with having two other JDS students in the program. She also took comfort in “knowing that it’s okay to go out of your comfort zone and experience very different things from your normal life.”

Despite her prior experience as a Ramah Day Camp counselor in the U.S., Heckelman struggled with her job as a counselor at the Ukrainian camp because of the language barrier between her and her campers, who spoke either Ukrainian or Russian.

“A lot of it was learning how to communicate in ways other than language,” Heckelman said. “It was

photo provided by ena djordjevic English teacher Ena Djordjevic and her classmate stand outside a refugee shelter in Poland in 1993.

a lot of dancing and singing and talking with hand motions.”

Notwithstanding the language barrier, Heckelman was able to connect to her camp community on the first Friday night of the program.

The campers had short and simple services due to their limited Jewish education, but Heckelman was surprised to find that she recognized the same Hebrew song tunes sung by children that grew up halfway around the world from her.

“We have different first languages, but there we are, sitting and singing the same songs,” Heckelman said.

Later in the summer, campers in the Israeli dance elective gave a performance which Heckelman had choreographed for them. Heckelman said she felt grateful that the Ukrainian campers had the ability to demonstrate their faith in that way, and also that through their shared religion, she was able to form new friendships with kids from so far away.

Through her time as a counselor in Ukraine, Heckelman also developed her own Jewish identity.

“I realized how my religion isn’t just the school I go to or the prayers I sing,” Heckelman said. “It’s a culture and it’s a connecting factor between people.”

Teacher exchange Today, Eastern European Jewish communities like the one Heckel-

man visited are beginning to rebuild themselves and overcome the challenge of re-establishing a strong Jewish population. For a week this November, six JDS teachers will visit Budapest to support the Lauder Jewish Day School and its community in their effort to revive the Eastern European Jewish community.

The mentoring exchange program, created by the non-profit SOS International, is designed to match American and European day schools and to create a multi-year relationship between them.

Math teacher Victoria Ball, art teacher Benjamin Tellie, Jewish history teacher Rachel Bergstein, Jewish Text teacher Paul Blank, science teacher Daniela Munteanu and history teacher Natalie Levitan will be participating in the program. They will be teaching lessons and providing teachers in the Hungarian school with their knowledge of education from a Jewish day school in the U.S. In return, they will be observing another Jewish community and bringing their insights back to JDS. Ball looks forward to visiting Hungary, where she will also get the opportunity to tour and volunteer in the local community. She said that she is also interested in interacting with a very different school, with the ultimate goal of having both schools thrive.

According to Ball, the idea of having a relationship and supporting a school in Eastern Europe is particularly meaningful. When she

went on the Eastern Europe trip with the Class of 2010, Ball said it was striking to see towns that used to have large Jewish populations reduced to around two people.

“The idea that you wouldn’t just sort of put up a plaque that said ‘Jews once lived here,’ but actually again have a thriving synagogue and again have a thriving Jewish community feels like a really worthwhile thing to do,” Ball said.

In addition to seeing how she and the rest of the JDS teachers can assist the European school, Ball also hopes to gain an “increased international perspective.” By visiting a community dissimilar to the one at JDS, she hopes to see many different ways schools and classes can run and expand her personal ideas about education.

“I think the longer one spends in education, your job becomes not just doing the best job yourself, but helping others to do their best job,” Ball said. “I feel like this is a good learning opportunity for me to learn what another school looks like, but also to improve my skills in helping others grow as educators.”

Leaving home While Ball is prepared to learn how an Eastern European school functions, English teacher Ena Djordjevic is already familiar with the system.

Djordjevic was born in the former Republic of Yugoslavia, in what

photo courtesy of david zetley “The Shoes on the Danube Bank” memorializes the Budapest Jews who were shot during the Holocaust. Six JDS teachers will visit the memorial on their exchange program in November.

is currently divided into Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. When she was young, she lived under a socialist government that did not allow her to openly express views like religion.

In 1991, when Djordjevic was six, war broke out in Yugoslavia resulting in her and her family fleeing and living as refugees in Poland, Germany and Austria before ending up in Tennessee when she was 12.

According to Djordjevic, it was difficult to integrate into the United States, as she found many differences between her old and new communities. She said that she had come from a place that was very community-oriented, while her new American home was rural, traditional and harsh on both foreigners and outsiders, although she thinks it has changed since.

One summer, Djordjevic returned to Croatia where she attended school with her cousin. She saw that their learning was much faster-paced than what she was used to, and that second-graders were doing long division and complicated math problems that she was not capable of as a fourth-grader.

Djordjevic also observed that while students in Croatia were friendly, social and had similar lives to American children outside of school, the children in Croatia took school more seriously than any of the students she interacted with in her American neighborhood.

“I found the schooling to be much more rigorous and everything

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was much more supervised, much more controlled,” Djordjevic said.

“Everyone had done what they were supposed to do [and] sat in rows; it was a lot less of a free-spirited kind of classroom environment.”

Today, Djordjevic still has family living in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia whom she visits every year. During these visits, she finds that Eastern Europe is adapting more to a Western lifestyle and using developed technologies, but still holding on to many of its older traditions, such as in education.

“It’s now catching up to a lot of the thought process of American schooling and American education, but it still has some old footholds in traditional memorization of texts and more rigorous application to things,” Djordjevic said.

Although Djordjevic has now lived in the United States for the majority of her life, she continues to maintain her connection with her childhood and family through her visits with her relatives living both in the United States and Eastern Europe. Through programs like Heckelman’s camp, the partnership with a European day school or a vacation, those without an immediate connection to Eastern Europe can still venture back and forge a new one.

“It’s kind of hard to forget your roots,” Djordjevic said. “You’re always going to feel like there’s a part of you that’s somewhere else.”

photo courtesy of david zetley Glowing with pride, senior Sara Heckelman and her campers celebrate after their Israeli dance performance at Camp Ramah Yachad Ukraine.

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A day in the life

of math teacher Andrew Goldman andrew goldman guest columnist

6:05 a.m. Alarm goes off.

6:06 a.m. Backup alarm goes off. Acknowledge, once again, that one of my resolutions this year was not to use the snooze button. Tomorrow, maybe. Put on some “Discover Weekly” and slump out of bed.

6:40 a.m. Tie or bowtie? Blue laces or black? Trick question — always blue. Spread collar or cutaway collar?

7:01 a.m. Get to the Cleve-

land Park platform and see the Red Line isn’t delayed (yet)!

7:35 a.m. Walk into school through the middle school hallway (sixth-graders sure are small) and into the best department office in the school world.

7:40 a.m. Find Ms. Ball and grab some coffee. #muglife 8 a.m. Let’s do some math! (© 2015 Mr. Goldman) 9:25 a.m. Community time?

I guess that’s more time for MATH LAB! 12:11 p.m. Math Lab Part II: superfecta — I get to do some

Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus and Calculus!

1:42 p.m. The seventh MS bell rings in the middle of period 6. Well, at least nobody says “halftime!” any more…

4 p.m. Weight room duty.

I try to stop senior boys from grunting too loudly, but fail.

6:02 p.m. Catch the 38.

6:45 p.m. Remember to send a Snapchat to Mr. Silberman to keep our streak alive (95).

7:05 p.m. Start cooking: still going strong with my resolution to eat more fish.

8:30 p.m. Think deeply about mathematics.

10 p.m. Screens away! Read some of my book, then turn off the lights and prepare to do it all again tomorrow!

photo by aaron schonfeld During Math Lab, math teacher Andrew Goldman helps senior Zev Stravitz with his homework.

He has the magic touch

Junior brings back old club with a new twist kate sosland reporter Junior Aaron Liss skillfully shuffles his deck as he waits for the spectator to select a card: the five of spades. Without looking, Liss reorganizes the deck and pulls out the spectator’s card. Shocked applause from the audience echoes around the room.

Liss has been practicing magic for four years, and is the student leader of the revived Magic Club, which meets during Huggim and is also offered to high school students on Fridays. Middle school Jewish text teacher Rabbi Marc Blatt, who is also a magician, serves as the faculty adviser.

Blatt started magic when he was just six years old, after receiving a magic kit for Hanukkah. He decided to chaperone the club because he was looking for a way to get involved

with the school as a new teacher.

Blatt is not the first adviser of this club. In 2009, Jewish text teacher Rabbi Reuvane Slater spearheaded a magic club that closed after four years due to a lack of interest.

Slater thinks that the club attendance initially declined because the members were only interested in learning simple tricks and not in comprehending the art of magic.

Liss wants to change this mentality with his new approach, which is to teach members how to create their own tricks from scratch.

According to Liss, in order for magicians to be successful, they must be quick with their fingers.

Card illusions come a lot easier to Liss because of his background in piano.

“I’d like to believe that card magic can be done [by] anybody who has the patience with practice,” Liss said.

Two years ago, Liss was able to interact with fellow magicians at the Society of American Magicians convention. At the convention, he discovered a competition called Stars of Tomorrow, for which he and many

taken off, as he has performed as paid entertainment at bar mitzvahs, weddings and birthday parties. He may consider it as a full-time occupation after he completes college.

“I have found that it is good for me morally to make people happy, so when I perform magic “The whole point of magic is to I realize that entertaining is definitely entertain people and show them something I want to what they are least expecting ... do in the future,” Liss you have to question reality.” said.

While Liss sees - junior aaron liss magic as a career opportunity, sophomore Ethan Chanin views other contestants submitted indi- it as more of a hobby. When Chanin vidual videos of their tricks. Liss and is bored, he enjoys learning magfive others were chosen as winners ic tricks on YouTube. It takes him and invited to Annapolis, Md. to per- approximately 30 minutes to learn form for four days in front of profes- a new trick, but days to perfect it. sional magicians.

Chanin particularly enjoys learning Liss’ magic career has already sleight of hand tricks, such as ma-

nipulating certain cards discretely, and “like[s] the reactions” of his audience.

Like Chanin, Slater also enjoys watching his audience’s reaction to the intricacies of a trick. Sometimes, he even treats his students to a magic trick during or after class.

Ever since he was seven years old, Slater has been interested in magic. He even had a magic theme for his bar mitzvah party. He feels the most important skill necessary to succeed in magic is not as much doing the actual trick, but rather having the ability to keep an audience entertained. “[I like] the secrecy of [magic,] the idea of things going on without people knowing necessarily, and understanding that something that you see looks a certain way, but is totally different behind the scenes,” Slater said.

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Israeli Shaliach brings fresh perspective aliza rabinovitz copy editor Seeking a way to bring Israel to the classrooms, the CESJDS administration found their solution when the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington reached out to them and other local synagogues and schools about having an Israeli emissary, or shaliach, interact with students.

Israeli Shaliach Itsik Sayag came to JDS through a Shlichut Arucha, a long-term mission program, and will help out in JDS Hebrew classes and other programs related to Israel for one year. His parents’ hardship in making aliyah from Syria to Israel made a love of Israel a “sacred value” in his family, one that he hopes to bring to the JDS community this year.

Sayag worked in Israel as a film writer and director, which made him especially interested in the Hebrew language and the roots and connections between various words. He would like to spread this appreciation to students, and said that it “would be great” if at the end of the year, he heard students using

Hebrew words in their English sentences.

Because of his career, Sayag also found himself constantly immersed in Israeli culture through videos, art and poetry. According to Sayag, the best way to get to know Israel is through its art.

“If you see film on culture [or] on family, that’s a personal opinion and some director or artist wants to expose the audience to his own life without filters and without lies,” Sayag said.

In Israel, Sayag also taught junior and senior film classes for two years. He said that the classes were “one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had,” since they were full of creative students.

Sayag is working with Director of Jewish Life Stephanie Hoffman in the Upper School to share his knowledge of Israeli arts with students on Jewish and Israeli holidays. Sayag also hopes to plan a few Lunch and Learn sessions for high school students where he would show short movies on Israel and then lead a discussion afterwards.

“He’s trying to get a feel for what the students want so that whatever he’s offering is something that people will be interested in,” Hoffman said.

In addition, Sayag plans on visiting various Hebrew classes and joining them in some of their lessons.

According to Hoffman, Sayag will visit classes when it fits in with the curriculum. He splits up his twoand-a-half days a week with JDS between the Upper and Lower School campuses, and for the remainder of the week serves as the shaliach at Congregation Beth El. Hoffman said the goal is to have Sayag engage with students every time he visits and he will also join students on Shabbatons.

When he visits classes, Hoffman said Sayag’s participation will be dependent on the specific course, but that he might bring in an Israeli film that contributes to the lesson. He also might help facilitate or contribute to a discussion based on his own experiences.

For example, Sayag recently attended junior and senior Hebrew

classes where students watched and discussed a movie about a Sephardic Jewish family, which helped students learn more about the habits and the lifestyles of Sephardic Jews in Israel.

Sayag’s mission also involves learning from the students. For this reason, in the beginning of the school year, he attended Jewish history teacher Rachel Bergstein’s Contemporary American Jewish Society class. According to Bergstein, Sayag introduced himself to the class and observed one of their initial discussions transitioning them into the curriculum. “[The class is] for students to know about American Jewish society, and since he’s new to American Jewish society, I thought it’d be interesting for him to sit in,” Bergstein said.

Although Sayag’s participation in Bergstein’s class was mainly for him to learn, she believes that he can be “not just helpful, but enriching” to students in classes that focus on Israel.

To Sayag, his assignment in America is not just about teaching

students about Israel and what he knows, but also about seeing how Jews from different communities interact with Judaism.

“For me, Shlichut is a relationship,” Sayag said. “I came here to also learn and I want to meet and know a lot of streams of Judaism, to meet the kids, their stories and their ways to connect to Judaism.”

Sayag plans to use his interests to his advantage throughout the year and improve students’ awareness and insights into Israel and its citizens’ lifestyles. He also hopes that students and others in the JDS community will work with him to come up with new ideas for him to be involved.

“I’m sure that the people in Bethesda and in the area, they know about Israel, and I feel very welcome here and I’m really excited to be here, but I think I can leave a wide perspective of the Israeli society,” Sayag said.

Tips to survive the Yom Kippur fast

compiled by shira godin

photos by noy dahan and aaron schonfeld

Hydrate for a couple of days.

“Drink a ton of water,” freshman Matthew Wieseltier said.

Look at pictures of food. ”Which sounds crazy, but it helps me. It helps with the cravings,” junior Ariana Bennaim said.

Eat a big meal before.

“We have a huge dinner the night before,” senior Cami Cohen said.

Avoid kitchens.

“I might go home for a couple of hours in between morning and evening services, but I’m not near a kitchen, so there’s nothing really tempting me,” Director of Jewish Life Stephanie Hoffman said.

Occupy yourself.

“Playing board games with friends helps distract me from my hunger,” sophomore Daniel Morgan said.

Take a nap.

“My family and I have a tradition of after praying we just sleep all day,” senior Elizabeth Warrick said.

Come to terms with reality.

“I just pretty much suffer the whole time,” sophomore Isaac Gelb said.

Atone.

“There’s a reason I’m doing this and it’s not to suffer, but it’s really to clear my head of physical distraction so I can focus on atoning,” English teacher Davida Yitzhaky said.

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Sports Updates Girls Varisty Soccer Team record: 3-2 Leading score: Junior Dani Bernstein, three goals

Fitness comes first

Senior makes resolution to change lifestyle bennett bramson and jonathan foldi sports editor and managing editor, copy

Boys Varisty Soccer Team record: 1-4 Leading score: Senior Michael Weinberger, four goals Varsity Cross Country Fastest boys 5K race: Senior Reuben Winston, 15:59 (school record) Fastest girls 5K race: Sophomore Addie Bard, 24:38 Girls Varsity Volleyball Team record: 3-3 Most kills: Junior Sophie Handloff, 62 kills Girls Varsity Tennis Team record: 4-1 Best individual record: Junior Jenny Belson, 3-1 compiled by bennett bramson and joel vardon

After finishing his second set of pushups, senior Eli Rashti takes a brief break for a breath of air, and then returns to do his next set of 20 pushups.

Since choosing to change his lifestyle in the summer of 2013, Rashti has lost 37 pounds through what has been a transformative experience for him in every regard: physically, mentally, socially and academically.

Rashti’s first motivation to start working out was during freshman year when his dad introduced him to basic exercises, but when his dad stopped pressuring him to do them, Rashti stopped as well. It was not until he saw his friends exercising at the beginning of the summer that he felt the need to resume his workout schedule.

“I got to hang out with all my friends in the Hebrew Home and they were all fit and it just hit me: ‘I need to change,’” Rashti said.

After that realization, Rashti set up a 25-minute daily workout that consisted of curls and pushups. He

continued this routine for the next year and progressively increased the repetitions of each exercise.

Since he was working out by himself, Rashti’s only source of advice came from a family friend who is a bodybuilder. As a result of this limited guidance, Rashti was unsure whether or not he was having a legitimate impact on his health.

“It’s hard when you don’t know what you’re doing because you just have to keep doing the same thing not knowing if it’s gonna work,” Rashti said.

In the middle of sophomore year, Rashti began to change up his routine by adding in different types of exercises every other day, and he continued with this new schedule until the beginning of junior year.

At this time, Rashti changed his focus from losing weight to gaining muscle when he joined the wrestling team with his best friend and classmate, senior Eytan Layman.

“When I got back from camp I saw a picture of Eli on Facebook and was like ‘Oh dang, he lost a lot of weight,’” Layman said. “I felt like I didn’t lose any weight, so I started working out … and then I joined wrestling.”

During the workouts for the

wrestling team, Rashti and Layman pushed one another to work even harder. They made every workout a competition between the two of them.

“After wrestling, instead of stopping to work out, me and Eli would like go every day [to the gym],” Layman said. “We would push each other harder and when we ran the mile we would push each other faster and try to beat each other.”

The two seniors credit each other for their improved health and muscle gain. Without having the other there for motivation, neither thinks that he would be in the position he is in today. Layman even recalls a time when Rashti told him that he did not run nearly as fast as usual because Layman was not there to push him.

Rashti was also motivated by other students when he worked out in the Upper School gym. He did not see this type of peer pressure as harmful, rather he thinks that it is “very positive” and just another reason for him to train harder.

Math teacher Andrew Goldman is often in the JDS workout room after school to supervise students and to make sure that they do their exercises correctly and without hurting

themselves. Goldman has seen Rashti and Layman use their exercise expertise to help other people in the gym, and recognizes their dedication to working out consistently.

“I’m not there every day, but it’s rare that there’s a day that I’m there and [Rashti and Layman are] not,” Goldman said.

The enormous time commitment is Rashti’s biggest regret of working out, as he feels he prioritized it over everything else, including friends, family and school. Junior year was a very hard year academically for Rashti, and there were several occasions that he felt he had not studied adequately for a test because he had been too focused on working out instead.

Despite this conflict, Rashti believes that exercising helped him academically as well, as it was a stress-reliever for him. While he advises students to not follow him in terms of his priorities, he does highly recommend that students change their lifestyles if they are interested.

Once students begin on their path, his biggest piece of advice is “never stop, just never stop.”

An afterschool workout from senior Eli Rashti photos by noy dahan

Upcoming Events CESJDS boys varsity basketball will compete at the Cooper Invitational in Memphis from Nov. 3 through Nov. 6. This is their fourth year at the tournament. In 2015, JDS finished seventh out of sixteen schools.

Junior and senior girls will play in their annual powderpuff football game on Nov. 3 at 4 p.m.

compiled by bennett bramson

#2 Curls #1 Pushups

start with 20, work up to four repetitions

#3 Situps

do as many as possible

start with 20, work up to four repetitions

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11

photo by noy dahan

From blue and gold to (Big) Red First lion in eight years to commit to play Division I sport

bennett bramson sports editor With trembling hands, senior Bryan Knapp set down his phone.

The constant calls with coaches and stress-inducing national basketball tournaments that had consumed his life for the past two years were over. He had just committed to play Division I basketball at Cornell University.

Knapp will be the first CESJDS student to play Division I basketball since alumnus Eitan Chemerinski (‘09), who was also recruited to play basketball at Cornell.

Knapp began playing competitive basketball when he was nine years old after a family friend recommended he try out for an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team, a top youth travel basketball organization in the United States. Originally, Knapp’s athleticism was the only attribute that allowed him to keep up with the other players on the team, as they all possessed more skill and a higher basketball IQ than he did.

Knapp decided to dedicate himself to improving his skills and today believes that, thanks to his effort, he is a vital part of his AAU team.

“When I joined [AAU,] I was one of the weaker players on the team,” Knapp said. “My competitiveness was an impetus for me to work harder and get better.”

His hard work has also translated into success in PVAC, where he recently led the JDS Lions to an undefeated regular season record and a

championship appearance, all while winning the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

JDS varsity basketball coach Dave McCloud has the highest of praises for Knapp. He said that he has not seen anyone outplay Knapp and that he has never respected a player more. “[He is] one of the best two or three players in the DMV,” McCloud said. “He’s worked hard to get there, too; he deserves all the accolades.”

Knapp’s constant training has helped him get to the place he is today, but it has also had some downsides. Although Knapp said that his social life has been limited due to his commitment, he still supports his decision to prioritize basketball.

“I love basketball,” Knapp said.

“It’s not to say that I’m an introvert or an unfriendly guy because I am [not,] but I definitely like the grind.”

Another reason why Knapp rarely gets to socialize is that his AAU team tends to travel. A lot. He has played in many different places, including Las Vegas, Dallas, Cocoa Beach, Fla. and Orlando. Additionally, Knapp has played for Maccabi USA’s basketball team in Chile and, next summer, will go to Israel to play in the Maccabi Games. There, he will play against the best Jewish basketball players from around the world.

Knapp also went with the JDS boys varsity basketball team to Memphis to compete in the Cooper Invitational Tournament in 2013 and 2015, and will go back for his final time this November. The tourna-

ment allows Knapp to showcase his talents against strong competition on a national level.

In terms of the recruiting process, Knapp said that McCloud and JDS helped him by contacting schools that interested him, but the school’s main form of assistance in his recruitment process was academics.

“JDS has a very strong [academic] profile, which means that for academic schools that are looking at me, it gives me more legitimacy because I go to a school where academics are very important,” Knapp said.

When making his decision

“Jacques knows Cornell basketball like nobody else because he has been there for many years now, so he is obviously very well versed with their program,” Knapp said.

A former Cornell basketball player, Jacques was Knapp’s main Cornell contact throughout the recruiting process. He made Knapp feel comfortable at Cornell by guiding him through the recruitment process and helping him understand the way Cornell works for student athletes. (Under NCAA and Ivy League rules, Coach Jacques was unable to be interviewed for this article.)

Senior Nadav Kalender, a member of the JDS boys varsity “After I called Cornell’s head basketball team, has coach about committing, I was played with Knapp since they were in outside on the front porch, and I seventh grade. He and just hung up and started bawling Knapp have formed a because that was the end of the strong bond through their years of playing process for me.” together.

- senior bryan knapp “Basketball has made us competitive with each other,” Kalabout where to go to college, Knapp ender said. “We are both very comprioritized his education. He wanted petitive people. We went from being a school that valued its academics as friends that play basketball together much as its athletics, and while that to hardcore opponents on the court. is one of the reasons why he chose We are always best friends off the Cornell, Knapp said it is not the only court.” one. Cornell was one of the schools Kalender spoke with Knapp that recruited Knapp for the longest often throughout his recruitment amount of time and ultimately made process and acted as a trustworthy him feel the most welcomed. Knapp source in whom Knapp could confide also formed a special bond with Cor- in times of stress. nell assistant coach Jon Jacques.

Once Knapp committed to Cor-

nell, Kalender said he noticed that Knapp seemed much more relaxed and as if a large burden had been lifted from him.

“After I called Cornell’s head coach about committing, I was outside on the front porch, and I just hung up and started bawling because that was the end of the process for me,” Knapp said.

According to Knapp, his recruitment was a very difficult process, saying that the past year was one of the most stressful of his life.

“During the [AAU] season, when we would go to various tournaments I would find myself very emotional,” Knapp said. “If I had a bad game I would go home or go to the hotel and I would be upset because it really feels like by missing certain shots my future is hanging in the balance.”

Now committed, Knapp feels less stress and can focus on preparing for the upcoming school basketball season, his final one as a Lion.

“The goal is to win and unfortunately the expectations for us from the rest of the conference is not to win, but that’s fine and I think we will,” Knapp said.

Knapp has yet to win a tournament championship in his JDS basketball career and looks to change that with this upcoming season.

“I’ve been here for five years and we haven’t won,” Knapp said. “I have an expectation of myself that I will help my team win and I have not done that yet.”

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A new Shakesperience: Middle schoolers perform the Bard ari feuer style editor Sitting together, gazing at their laptops in the Beit Midrash on Thursday, Sept. 15, middle school students engaged in what could only be a theater teacher’s dream: they were reading Shakespeare, excitedly consuming their roles while singing show tunes from the Broadway hit “Hamilton.”

The middle school Shakespeare Club is a new version of an established program. It is run by social studies teacher Deborah Feigenson who ran the club for fifth and sixth-graders in the Lower School for 12 years. The 2016-2017 school year posed a unique challenge for the club because its student body and director moved to the Upper School, but according to Feigenson, in some form, the club was always going to come with her.

“When I came up and [the school] said I’m going to be a sixth grade teacher but at the Upper School, the first thing I said was ‘as long as I still get to do Shakespeare,’” Feigenson said.

One of the reasons that the club had such a strong case to continue was its stability and popularity.

There are 26 middle-schoolers in this year’s club. Since the club has more members than one play has roles, it will perform both “Julius Caesar” and “Twelfth Night.”

Feigenson allowed students

to choose roles based on seniority, with older students deciding before younger ones. Students who had been in the club before had the first choices within their grades.

Seventh-grader Rochelle Berman chose to play Cassius, who convinces Brutus to kill Caesar in “Julius Caesar.” Berman, a newcomer to both CESJDS and the Shakespeare Club, said that she was excited because she loves singing, dancing and acting and did not want to wait for the spring middle school musical.

“Last year, we read Shakespeare in school, and so it’s kind of cool seeing it come to life on the stage rather than just reading it out of a book,” Berman said, adding that she just studied “Julius Caesar.”

Seventh-grader Zach Arking, who was in the Shakespeare Club last year, will play Brutus. Arking originally joined the club because he enjoys being in plays. He continued this year after a positive experience in last year’s performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“I like it and it’s fun,” Arking said. “You get to learn kind of like a different language because it’s not the language you would use today, and it’s fun to act.”

After picking roles, Berman, Arking and the other students spread throughout the room and practiced their respective characters’ lines in the play. The students read lines from the full version online, analyzing them to understand

their character.

Meanwhile, with help from her mother, Feigenson wrote the script based on the full plays but accommodated actor requests and the necessary constraints of a middle school club.

One way Feigenson will put a new spin on Shakespeare is with the costumes and props. In “Julius Caesar,” the actors will dress in Star Wars costumes that represent their characters and will use toy lightsabers instead of swords during fight scenes. As Cassius, Berman will be wearing a Darth Vader costume while her fellow actors dress as Stormtroopers and Princess Leia, among others.

Feigenson said that she hopes students experience the “magic” of being part of a Shakespeare production with other kids. Sophomore Danielle Kronstadt, who is serving as the student director, felt this emotion while she was a member of the Shakespeare Club in the Lower School. Four years after her Lower School club tenure, Kronstadt now helps Feigenson and the cast.

“Fifth grade was when I really learned to love Shakespeare,” Kronstadt said. “I guess I have an affinity towards him because I can understand him more clearly than a lot of people. I was kind of indifferent to [Shakespeare’s plays] until fifth grade, when I just started getting really excited about them. Ms. Feigenson really brought me into it and

photo by noy dahan From left: Eighth-grader Drew Sadikman, seventh-grader Zach Arking, seventh-grader Isaac Odintz, seventh-grader Ari Cribbs, eigth-grader Jonathan Morris and seventh-grader Avigayil Fischman-Charry study their scripts during rehearsal.

ever since then I read them all the time.”

While the middle school has the Shakespeare Club, high school students currently have no way to engage with Shakespeare’s plays aside from reading them in class. Feigenson, however, thinks there may be a new hope for these older students if they want to perform Shakespeare in the future. Feigenson aims to bring Shakespeare to the high school, either through a separate club or by bringing students to out-of-school Shakespeare competitions to read monologues and perform in front of

judges.

“My thought is that if we have kids who have been doing Shakespeare and have been in plays six years in a row throughout the middle and Lower School, by the time they compete, they’re going to dominate,” Feigenson said.

The middle school Shakespeare Club will perform “Twelfth Night” and “Julius Caesar” at the Ring House on Nov. 10, the Upper School on Nov. 15 at the Landow House on Nov. 17.

At Naked Lunch cafe, MOM’s knows best dahlia lehman contributing editor

photo by dahlia lehman Naked Lunch’s sushi bowl contains brown rice, seaweed, tofu and vegetables and costs $8.75.

MOM’s Organic Market, located in Montrose Shopping Center, is a convenient five-minute drive from the Upper School.

Inside MOM’s, there is a small vegetarian to-go cafe called Naked Lunch. When I tell people I am going to eat at an organic cafe, the most common concerns are the sometimes high price and the poor quality of vegan and vegetarian food. I have noticed, however, that the quality and value of Naked Lunch’s dishes exceed both people’s expectations for an organic restaurant, as well as the expensive precedent set by other healthy alternatives.

Sushi Bowl ($8.75): This dish is my go-to recommendation for first-timers.

The generously-sized container comes

filled with brown rice, fresh seaweed, tofu, cucumber, carrots and avocado. While the rice’s texture is slightly drier than I prefer, the fresh vegetables and tofu are absolutely delicious. The bowl is incredibly filling and for a fairly modest price (considering the organic ingredients), is a great option for dinner or lunch during or after school.

Cauliflower Stew ($5.75): The stew is offered in both 8 and 16-ounce sizes and contains cauliflower, celery and root vegetables. It is warm, creamy and has chunks of fully-cooked vegetables dispersed throughout. This soup is perfect for a cold fall or winter afternoon, and it is my personal favorite dinner to get if I am staying late at school for a cappella or volleyball practice.

Service: Thoughtful and passion-

ate, Naked Lunch employees are usually smiling and very kind. While the service can be slow when the line is long, that is to be expected at a made-to-order restaurant of such high quality. As a testament to the staff’s kindness and understanding, an employee once even let my mom leave and come back with her credit card when she forgot it at home and our meals were already prepared. The employees’ dedication and kindness is very unique for a fast-casual restaurant, and is one of the best parts of Naked Lunch.

Naked Lunch is located at 5566 Randolph Road in Rockville, Md. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.