BH
Iyar 2, 5773 / April 12, 2013
Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District Candle-Lighting: 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org 7:15
produced by Rabbi Mendel & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
Shabbos Ends:
8:18
SETH EBEN SHAPIRO OBM
NURSERY BAR YOCHAI BOOKS
Seth Shapiro was a member of Saratoga’s Bais Masha Orthodox Minyan (and also frequented CBAJ in Albany), he worked first as an attorney and then for the Vaad HaKashruth, and was a friend of a number of Maimonides families. His untimely passing, after suffering a heart attack last week, was a shock to many. The funeral will be Sunday (4/14) at noon, at the Independent Benevolent Society Cemetery on Fuller Road (near CNSE/Nanotech).
Nursery students are making books about the life of the Mishnaic sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, whose yartzeit we celebrate on Lag B’Omer. These girls are happy to read it!
This newsletter is dedicated in loving memory of
Dr. Morton Berger on his 25th Yartzeit - Nissan 28
MAZAL TOV MORGENBESSERS A week after Dr. Morgenbesser’s passing, his son MHDS alumni Avi & Shoshana Morgenbesser had a baby boy, named “Leib Yisroel” in his memory. In attendance at the Shalom Zachor and the Bris was the respected Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yerachmiel Olshin. Stay tuned for Albany Shloshim Memorial, possibly Tuesday the 17th.
ISRAEL’S BIRTHDAY
On Tuesday this coming week there will be a free Felafel Lunch, and a special Israel program. Morah Devorah’s students are working on this (<) big wall map of Israel. We are HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE looking for a lively children’s See page 3 inside for different things done at video titled “Israel You Have school to remember the Holocaust this week: It All!” (made by the same Mr. Adler told his father’s survival story to group that did “Miracle middle and high school students. Days”) but it does not seem 7/8 grade Jewish History class learned about to be available for sale AVIV/SPRING BULLETIN BOARD Rabbi E. Oshry’s Holocaust Responsa. anymore. If you have it at Ms. Livingston’s 2nd graders made the top home, we’d greatly appreciate if you can send it bulletin board “Changes in Spring” & Nursery HS did “Righteous Gentiles” in Hebrew. 2nd grade read a book called “The Lily in for us to show at school on Tuesday. made the blue “Aviv” (Hebrew for Spring). It Cupboard” by Shulamith Levy Oppenheim. really felt like Springtime earlier in the week, 3rd graders learned the story of Irene but it turned quite chilly (and felt a little Sendler who saved 2,500 Jewish children. wintry again) at the end of the week. See page 3 (>) for more on these stories.
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
ROSH CHODESH AT SCHOOL There were two days of Rosh Chodesh this month, so on Wednesday, the first day of Rosh Chodesh, the 8am Minyan came to school. Pictured above (R) 7th grader Azriel reads the Torah, and (L) 4th grade JJ was honored with wrapping the Torah because he did a great davening that morning!
MAZAL TOV MORRISONS
MT. SINAI VS. MT. MORIAH
MHDS alumnus Eliyahu and Rochel Leah Morrison had a boy last night in Cincinnati.
3rd grade Chumash class with Rabbi Yossi is learning the end of the Akeida story, and why the Beis HaMikdash was built - not where G-d revealed himself (Mt. Sinai), but where Jews dedicated themselves (Mt. Moriah). Moriah has lasting holiness and historical heritage and Sinai does not.
NAVI STRATEGO WAR GAME Morah Clara’s 6th grade Navi students are working on projects depicting King Saul’s war against the Plishtim. They will be presented to other classes this coming week. For now, this stratego game is pictured above. Students debated a lot how much each character should be “worth”.
PLAY-DOUGH MAKERS Nursery kids enjoy their play-dough freeplay time, especially with tools & devices to shape the dough, and then reshape it again, differently!
TORN BLUE PAPER
CABBAGE JUICE CHEMISTRY Mrs. Ballard’s Science Enrichment students went into the Dr. Jonathan O’Brien Science Lab to do an acid/bases test on 6 different liquids and record their observations.
TORAH FOR ITS OWN SAKE
Morah Rivka asked her Nursery students to gently tear blue paper into small pieces and glue them on as “leaves” on thin twigs they brought in from outside. Tearing small squares is a fine motor skills activity.
LAMED MAKES IT... Kindergarteners use this book to learn basic Hebrew grammar, like this “Lamed” for Shayachut - possessive who does this belong to?
HS with Rabbi Mendel learned a classic Jewish philosophical argument between R’ Chaim Volozhiner and R’ Schneur Zalman of Liadi, about “Torah for its own Sake” and the intent WANTED: HANGERS! of Torah study, and how it relates to Tehillim. General Studies Garage Sale (to benefit yearThis argument formed the basis of Rabbi Dr. end trip) needs a stack of used hangers to hang Norman Lamm’s PhD dissertation, and later a fine clothing brought in for the sale… full book that he wrote.
ON TIME START TO THE DAY We ask all families (especially those with short driving distances) to please make every effort to be at school at 8am, so your children can get a good, timely start to the learning day.
4TH GRADE HEBREW ICE-CREAM SHOPPE SIYUM Morah Devorah Leah’s 4th graders had a wonderful Siyum party this week. They turned their classroom into a Hebrew Ice-Cream Shoppe and had to conduct all “business” only in Hebrew. Here are some of the words they used: Tafrit = Menu, Kaf = scoop, Seerop = Syrup, Katzefet = Whipped, Tah’im = Delicious, Taamim = flavors, Gaviah = cone, Piruri Shoklad = chocolate sprinkles, Pirurei Egozim = chopped nut toppings, Zul = cheap, Koneh = customer, Ohdef = coins/change, Chenvani = storekeeper, Meltzarit = waitress, and many more words!
The Mystery of the Library File Part 5… to be continued in next MC… … Tzvi was in a quandary. He didn’t know what to do. This library file problem was getting out of hand, it went too far. The reason he stole the library file was because he could not find the book he borrowed last. He looked everywhere. He turned his bedroom upside down, searched under and behind everything but could not find the book, no matter how hard he tried. His mother was upset. She wasn’t so happy about him borrowing books, she didn’t understand how much he enjoyed reading. And now that the book was lost, she was angry and didn’t want him borrowing books ever again. Tzvi didn’t know what to do. He thought he might get rid of the library list so there would be no record of him borrowing it. It was impulsive, he felt desperate, so he did it. Now he wishes he never took it, there had to be better ways to deal with a missing book. He knew he was in trouble, because he had the library file in his pocket, and didn’t know how to get out of this mess. Who could he speak to? Who could help him? Can you continue this story next week? All students are welcome to help this story BE CONTINUED…
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE See below for what our students learned this week about the Holocaust.
THE RIGHTEOUS GENTILES Keren Silberberg, HS Hebrew teacher led the girls in a Hebrew discussion of the Holocaust, especially focused on the righteous gentiles who saved or hid Jews during the War.
LILY CUPBOARD Ms. Livingston’s 2nd graders read “The Lily Cupboard” which is a story about a child hiding in a secret space behind a wall during the Holocaust.
IRENE SENDLER: A HEROINE 3rd graders learned the story of Irene Sendler, a non-Jewish Polish nurse/social-worker who risked her life repeatedly, to save as many as 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto and find them hiding places outside the ghetto. She was eventually caught by the Nazis and sentenced to death but she escaped and continued her efforts in hiding. She died in Warsaw, in 2008 at the age of 98. (She is pictured here in 2005).
HOLOCAUST RESPONSA Rabbi Rubin’s 7/8 Jewish History class learned about the Holocaust Responsa “Shaalos uTeshuvos MiMamakim” written by Rabbi Ephraim Oshry during the war. He saved and buried scraps of his responsa to complicated Halacha questions and wrote them into five books after the war. They learned about why the Lubavitcher Rebbe didn’t want him to have these books translated. The questions tell a lot about what Jews went through in the Kovno ghetto and how much they still cared about Halacha, and his answers show amazing knowledge and insight. He was a Rabbi for many years on the Lower East Side of NYC, he founded boys & girls schools in the Bronx and also visited Saratoga often in the summertime.
ADLER HOLOCAUST STORY Mr. Arnie Adler of Albany came into school on Tuesday to share his father Bernard’s (pictured above, photo from NY Times story about him and the Jewish Home for the Aged in Riverdale NY) story of surviving the Holocaust, with our middle and high school students. Mr. Adler told the story as if he was his father, and used a slideshow of actual Holocaust photographs to give a visual image of the events. He told the story in such detail and in such an animated and personal way, that the listeners felt very involved and engaged. The students followed Mr. Bernard Adler (then 23 years old) from a small town in Hungary, to the larger town where the Nazis took them, to the train to Auschwitz where his younger sister was killed in his arms, the transport to Mauthausen, and finally to a concentration camp in the Austrian Alps called Ebensee (where they dug giant tunnels in the mountain for the Nazis to hide weapons) where he was finally - after much danger & daily life- threatening experiences liberated by American troops, and how he later found his wife at a train station near his hometown in Hungary - how she survived is a whole different story… The sewing machine is an important feature, because it was his tailoring skill (and that “all important pocket”) that helped save his life in Ebensee.
20 SENTENCES IN 20 PICTURES
Morah Rochel did this in Hebrew class with Mrs. Ramsay’s 7/8 history class watched “The 7/8: A young boy survives the Holocaust and Road to Victory: Rattling the Saber” arrives in Israel. He doesn’t yet speak the language, but wanted to tell his experiences. with commentary by John The students read 20 sentences about this Eisenhower (a general, and son of boy’s life, and drew 20 small numbered the general and president) with illustrations to tell the story in pictures. original film footage from events leading up to and during the war.
WWII: ORIGINAL FOOTAGE
at Maimonides and in the Community 4/13: SCOUT SHABBOS @ CBAJ
5/11: CANSTRUCTION END @NYSM
Scouts honor! We have some boys representing..
CANstruction is back at the NY State Museum, a fundraiser for the Food Pantries. Vote for favorite designs by giving a can. Exhibits up until 4/11.
4/13: WOMENS SHABBOS SHIUR 4:45pm by Lori Calka at her home, 359c Hackett.
4/14: SUNDAY CHASSIDUS A mini-study of a Chassidic Maamar for 10-15 minutes after Mincha/Maariv on Sundays at Shomray Torah, ongoing since Simchat Torah.
4/14: SAAJCC PILLARS EVENT Honoring Dr. Richard & Kelly Alfred, Dr. Stephen & Roberta Berk, and Herm & Deb Ungerman, 9:30am at Beth Emeth. Call: 438-6651 x114.
4/29: MHDS ANNUAL TRIBUTE 6pm at Maimonides with an elegant buffet dinner, program, and ending with a dessert buffet and tea room. This year reflects on 25 years of annual dinners, the Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award and associated awards. It also recognizes (on her yartzeit) the bequest of Eva Kneznek which allowed the school to purchase its own home.
5/2: ISRAEL BONDS COCKTAILS
Capital District Israel Bonds hosts gala cocktail honoring Rodney & Carol Ann Margolis at CNSE 4/14: YOM HA’ATZMAUT EVENT Nanotech, 257 Fuller Rd. Guest speaker Shahar 1:30pm Israeli Dance Festival at Temple Israel, free Azani, Israeli consul for media affairs. $36pp. Info/ for community, with guest appearance by Brandeis RSVP w/ Israel Bonds: (800) 724-0748. Dance troupe, and music & dancing with Strosberg Orchestra. Call 438-7858 or Federation: 783-7800.
5/5: WALK 4 FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE
4/16: FELAFEL LUNCH & ACTIVITY This year’s “Walk 4 Friendship” will be in at MHDS Nathan’s Kitchen. No charge to families. Special Israel program is being planned.
4/18: ORIGINS OF YOM HASHOAH Lecture by Dr. Artie Brenner to the Cardozo Society at Albany Law School, 7-9pm at Matthew Bender (Room 425) open to community.
4/21: EARTH DAY FAIR @ S’JCC Open & free to community, exhibitors & vendors w/ presentations, water & soil testing & kids activities. Call Schenectady JCC: 377-8803 ext 235.
4/22: MHDS JOURNAL DEADLINE Ads arriving after this date for this year’s Tribute Journal/Yearbook will be included in the journal supplement. Please call the school office 4539363/3434 ext 1 with any questions or email: maimonidesschool@gmail.com.
4/23: PESACH SHEINI LUNCH Matzah & Shmears served at Lunch at school, in honor of “Pesach Sheini” the 2nd Passover.
4/24: THE RETURN OF THE KIDS Jewish Family Services Miriam Adler lecture: “Adult Kids filling Empty Nest” 7-9pm at the Federation Golub Center. Contact JFS 482-8856.
4/28: LAG B’OMER DAY
Chabad joins JCC at their scenic Camp Olam site for Lag B’Omer festivities (campfire, archery, gaga, Israeli dancing, nature hikes, etc) Kosher food (organized by M. Caras) available for sale. Call Rabbi Simon 439-8280 for questions/info. Birthday & BBQ at Clifton Park Chabad 5pm. Some families are headed down to “The Great Parade” in Brooklyn. Thanks for representing!
Guilderland’s Tawasentha Park on Rt 146. Find out more at: www.capitalfriends.org
5/5: BETH ISRAEL DINNER Beth Israel’s dinner honors Debbie Gatoff, past president & current VP of the congregation & Rabbi Rami Strosberg, HACD head of school, soon headed to Westchester. They’re also honoring past sisterhood presidents. Call 377-3700 for info.
5/22: JERNY’S “UCJ” UNITY CELEBRATION OF JERUSALEM 5-10pm at Proctor’s in Schenectady. Visit: TheIsraelCenter.org. Look for info on this year’s live concert, Israeli food court, Israeli vendors and many local organization booths and activities.
6/2: CBAJ DINNER/INSTALLATION This dinner will be the formal installation of Rabbi Binyamin Lehrfield, and also honor the long-time dedication and leadership of Mrs. Bev Shor for the Beth Abraham-Jacob synagogue.
6/6: J.F.S. ANNUAL CELEBRATION Jewish Family Services annual celebration, this year at Shabbos House, honoring Jerry and Ilene Sykes. For more info visit: www.jfsneny.org. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.tinyurl.com/LchaimUnite2013 A $5 or $10 vote supports Shabbos House/Lchaim
Annual Maimonides Scholarship Tribute Monday, April 29th, 2013 6pm at the Maimonides School 404 Partridge Street, Albany NY 12208 Elegant Buffet Dinner & Desserts Couvert: $72pp/$126 couple Tribute Journal/Info/RSVP: (518) 453-9363 / maimonidesschool@gmail.com
EVA KNEZNEK Yartzeit Memorial Recognizing Eva’s generous bequest that enabled the purchase of the Maimonides School Building
25 YEARS OF DR. MORTON BERGER MEMORIAL AWARDS & associated individual Maimonides Dinner Honorees Dr. David Axelrod* Sharona Backman Wendy Barnet Yefim & Galina Baskin Rabbi Mordechai Besser Milton* & Anne* Bindell Carl Bloomberg Hirshel & Debbie Ellenbogen Sharon Fogel Robin Freyer Hon. Ronald Goldman Col. Jacob Goldstein Lewis & Beth Gray Dr. Ed & Laura Jacobs Gloria Krimmer Ruvain Kudan Dr. Norman Lamm Bruce Lorence Avi Losice Moshe & Rivka* Losice Noah Losice* Hon. Jack McEneny Benjamin & Ruth Mendel Dr. Leonard Morgenbesser* Eli Nash Hope Berger-Nathan
Dr. Jonathan O’Brien* Leo & Ruth Phaff Dr. Richard & Vera* Propp Jack Rosenblum Sandy & Dina Rosenblum Harry Rosenfeld Marcia Rosenfield Nathan Rosenstein* Rabbi Yisroel & Rochel Rubin Seymour* & Marjorie* Saslow Norman Schimelman Faye Silton Hon. Sheldon Silver Rabbi Nachman & Clara Simon General Nolan Sklute Linda Berger-Spivack Debbie Stark Salo & Johanna Steper Ilene Sykes Dr. Bernard* & Joyce Teitelman Ira & Sheri Woren Gordon Zuckerman * of blessed memory
We apologize for inadvertent omissions. We also appreciate and recognize all the Maimonides Dinner Group Awardees (Rashi 900 Educators, Israel@60, Zahir!, Hudson 400 Explorers etc.)
MAIMONIDES SCHOOL & COMMUNITY (Nursery / Elementary / High School) 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 maimonidesschool@gmail.com Founded in 1980, Maimonides is chartered by the NYS Board of Regents and is a JF-NENY Beneficiary “A Beautiful Blend: Torah & Worldly Experience!”