BH
Cheshvan 14, 5773 / October 18, 2013
INSIDE THIS “MC” SUPPLEMENT: Page 1-2: APPS Trip to the Miller House Hoosick Falls Historical Society Museum Page 3: APPS Trip to Hemmings Vintage Auto Museum in Bennington & the Bennington Monument Page 4: Students’ creative APPS Projects about “Tishrei (Jewish New Year) Holiday Foods”
WHAT’S “APPS”? Apps is short for applications, best known for the programs that run on smartphones. At Maimonides, APPS is a extracurricular project led by Rabbi Mendel (this year for grades 4-8) with a different theme each month or two, for students to create a project about (poster, game, video, 3-D object, book etc) using their own research, creativity and talent. At the end of each set, the projects are presented and displayed for the rest of the school, and then the students enjoy an “APPS TRIP” educational outing or activity.
Small World! The night before this trip, Emunnah’s grandmother called. She knows that house in Hoosick Falls, the Millers were her Bubbe’s first cousins, she came with them to America from Europe! Emmunah’s Bubbe is Rochelle, the daughter of Mr. Joe Saidel (of blessed memory) & his wife Florence (may she be well), who many in Albany remember fondly! Emmunah & some For this APPS Trip we drove East, to Hoosick Falls NY & Bennington VT. Pictured here on the lawn of the Miller friends are pictured here in House, which became the “Louis Miller Museum of the Hoosick Falls Historical Society”. The boys in front are the Miller’s old Kitchen! The holding up a sign that has on it pictures of 3 segments of a communal record of the Jewish community in kitchen actually quite modern Hoosick Falls, dating back to the last decade of the 19th century, in the heyday of Hoosick Falls, when it was a for the time, all-steel cabinets, successful, thriving & prosperous town. Thanks to JewishData.com - see more about these records on page 2. with glass sliding doors.
There was a large display of uniforms and weapons from a variety of wars that Hoosick Falls citizens fought in, dating back to the Civil War. Two things that really caught our students’ eyes (Below Left) a “Pickle” Bomb that was filled with sand & used for training purposes. (Below Right) Nazi helmet brought back by a Hoosick Falls veteran. Rabbi Laber said, “Imagine what the mere sight of that Nazi helmet meant to Jewish people in WWII!”
Our tour guide Mr Filkins showed us this parlor room, which was the best-kept room of the house. It was usually a place to entertain guests or relax in the evenings, and back then children were usually not allowed in a parlor room.
Mr. Phil Leonard (one of the last remaining Jews in Hoosick Falls) stopped by during our visit. He is a former superintendant both the Hoosick Falls and Bennington School districts, and even in his late 80’s continues to take an active role in the community. He was our tour-guide’s HS principal! Mr. Leonard was very impressed with our students behavior and lively interest. The only Jewish artifact we found was this prominently displayed Menorah (<) a gift of Dora Miller, who lived in this house with her parents and siblings, who owned the Millers Supermarket in town.
The girls are pictured here on the staircase on their way upstairs to the exhibit rooms, which used to be bedrooms back when the Millers lived in the house. The house was originally built approximately 130 years ago, but the Millers first came to town in 1908.
Styles have changed quite a bit over the years, but you can still see the elegance in these dresses. They are quite Tzniyut (laws of modesty) too!
This is the largest room in the house facing Main Street. Mr. Charles W. Filkins III (who showed us a photo of his great-great-grandfather in Civil War uniform) is the museum curator/director and he explained the history of Hoosick Falls and its heyday in the late 1800’s when Charles A. Wood founded a huge factory of farm machinery including mechanical mowers, reapers and harvesters. It was a huge plant, with many buildings, employing 2,000 people and exporting equipment to Europe. It declined at the start of the 20th century and folded by 1923, once motorized tractors and equipment was invented. Jews who came to Hoosick Falls worked for Mr. Wood as well, and Rabbi Laber knows of some who paid rent to live in buildings that he owned. Other Jews serviced the factory workers with food stores (as the Millers did), department stores (as did M. Lurie) and other ways.
These historical documents (provided by JewishData.com) of the Jewish community records in Hoosick Falls sparked the idea for this trip. Above is a list of expenses: 10 cents for oil for the lamps, 85 cents for candles, and $4.00 (a lot of money back in the 1890’s) for a joint communal Esrog!
Mr. Filkins is showing us around a room filled with photos of the Wood factories, designs of the machinery, advertisements and promotions. Mr. Filkins also made a special booklet for us with historical data about the local synagogue and its board members (Richless, Ellenbogan, Koebel, Dinner, Pincus, Lurie, Ferber, and Hyman Miller and others). That was really nice of him! It seems they met once a month on Shabbos mornings, 8am and for most of the years they were at 20 Classic Street. There are records of the synagogue in the city directories from 1904 until 1931. Rabbi Laber’s JewishData records go even earlier to the 1890’s!
This entry (dated 1898) says that a motion was made for $10 to be withdrawn from the bank and donated to help a community member pay doctors bills for his sick wife. Now that’s Bikur Cholim! This is a rural school library collection. It’s a set of basic classics that even very small schools were expected to have.
“with tears and sorrows… and hopes… to escape all the troubles in their life for ever…” the community pitched in to help pay for the burial of Mr. Kalman Richless (who died young) and offered his widow $8.25 toward the costs. He was buried in the Fuller Road cemetery in Albany and his grave can be seen there today.
These top hats are still in good form! The museum saved all kinds of old artifacts & everyday things.
This Photo of the five Miller Siblings hangs in the entrance of the museum, as a tribute to the family who lived there (after a few other homes in Hoosick Falls), contributed to the community, and later donated the home on Main Street after moving to Florida for use as an historical society. They are cousins of the Saidel family of Glens Falls and later Albany, and the only remnant of their family who stayed behind in Europe and were killed in the Holocaust.
Do you see the 6-pointed star in the old Dodge Brothers Symbol?
At an old Shell Gas-Pump.
A Totem-Pole of License Plates from Canadian Provinces!
At a restroom stop on the way home, next to a giant black bear carved from a huge log.
This old BMW is strikingly similar to the new Smart Cars. Did you notice the phonebooth in back? The rotary phone above is inside it.
At the Foot of the Bennington Monument We were in a rush to get back to school but had to at the very least stop by the Monument since we were just down the block. We took this quick photo with General John Stark, and followed his lead in pointing (the way to NY?) and soon after left in that direction, going west into New York where the actual Battlefield took place, quite close to Hoosick Falls. The foliage all around was stunning, a shame we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a chance to stop and take photos, but we enjoyed it first-hand nonetheless.
Kids take a closer look at Adinah’s colorful Candyland game and give it a try!
Emmunah collected recipes & made a detailed cookbook!
A CandyLand-type game with Raizel the Raisin-Challah Princess, Avigael the ApplePicker etc..
Rivka’s mini-Table with very realistic miniature clay models of Rosh Hashanah Foods, from roundChallah to beets, fishhead, carrots, etc.
Esther made a sign welcoming customers to her “Tishray Food Market” offering an array for new fruits, all types of apples and even ready-to-eat Kreplach!
Students watch a food-show by Mussie on the least messy way to open a pomegranate!
Ita & Shira worked on this draft of a special machine that peels and prepares fruit to be ready to eat and enjoy.
JJ made double-sided cards with Tishrei food pictures on one side and interesting facts on the other side.
Orley’s 3-D pomegranate has little flags sticking out of its center, each with a different Mitzvah, for a fruit filled with Mitzvot!
Eli’s poster lists Stuffed-Cabbage’s many names in different countries.
Azriel did cool facts on Honey and Honeybees, based on both research and experience!
Goldie shared a Chaya found a lot of family Sukkot “weird but true” facts cheese dip recipe. on Tishrei foods.
Does this look like applepie? Sholom made it of salt-dough, shaped and painted it…
Mendel A. made a game to try and find as many pomegranate seeds on the board as you can. Kids took turns trying it…
Rivka made a poster of Sara made a recipe apple-facts, locally available! card flip-book
Chaya’s matching game & box.
S.D. made factfiles about a few foods.
Illustrated Mini-Book of Rosh Hashana food symbolism.
(>) Nechama’s Shaina & Chaya collected Sukkah Table a bunch of pomegranate with Tishrei foods! facts on a big poster. Not all projects are pictured. While the pictures might be small and descriptions brief - you get the idea! This time we were unable to display the projects at school following the presentation day, so we are happy to present and share them here. Thanks to all students for the effort & talent in producing such nice work!
Moshe R’s “Tzimmes Can” with TorahTimes style puns and creative design.
Moishy’s facts in color printing on orange poster.
Aharon Meir’s Poster was shaped as the pages of a Machzor.
This Game App has fun holiday games & even an advt, too!
Hershey’s Holiday Food Store had a pretty good sense of current prices!