Maimonides Community

BH. Nissan

28, 5775 / April 17, 2015

Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 7:21 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 8:25 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

MAZAL TOV KUDANS Mazal Tov to MHDS alumnus Rabbi Sholom Ber and Chana Kudan on the birth of a baby boy on Chol HaMoed Pesach. Mazal Tov to the Kudan grandparents of Albany, and to the Luchins grandparents of Scranton PA (Rabbi Yossi Luchins grew up in Albany).

MAZAL TOV GRAND & GREAT...

Mazel Tov to Mark and Marta Koblenz on the birth of a grandson, born to Arielle and Jason Kay, and to the great-grandparents Bill and Adrienne Rockwood (honorees at this year’s Maimonides dinner).

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

FIFTY CHILDREN

This MC Newsletter is

On Thursday this week, for sponsored in loving memory of Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day, thanks to Rabbi Yossi, Grades 3+ Yartzeit today, 28 Nissan watched a documentary about a Mr. and Mrs. Kraus from Philadelphia The annual Maimonides who saved fifty children from the Holocaust.

Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award The film showed many bureaucratic obstacles is presented in his memory. (both in the US and as well as abroad) and grave danger the Kraus couple faced by going to Nazi Germany and Austria in May 1939 to DR. JANUZ KORCZAK bring 50 children to safety. At least a halfdozen of the survivors (their elderly pictures Morah Rivi read (in Hebrew) matched to childhood faces at the time of their with some of her classes the rescue) told their stories & vivid recollections, story of the famous doctor and and the film was also narrated by an actor beloved author and educator based on entries from Mrs. Kraus’ journal. with a unique approach to Their bravery, determination and selflessness children, who refused offers of was very inspiring, and much can be learned personal rescue and instead from the film about President Roosevelt, the walked to deportation with the children under Congress, and even some US Jewish leaders his care as he would not desert them in their during that horrible time. It also shows how darkest hour. much one couple can accomplish, despite all the odds, with effects lasting for generations!

HELPFUL

Dr. Morton Berger obm

GRANDPA’S THIRD DRAWER

THIS PESACH

Many (if not all!) of our students were very helpful at home this Pesach, This is a children’s but Aharon Meir book about a and Orley’s Pesach grandfather’s preparations were reluctance to share the horrors of childhood Holocaust memories, captured in this “Times Union” newspaper hidden away in the always closed third drawer. photo by John Carl D’Annibale! And not only TOWARDS MOUNT SINAI were they helpful with holiday preparations, Passover is just behind us, but it’s not too early It tells the story of “unlocking Holocaust but our students were very eager to share their memories”.

Morah Rivi read this story in for Nursery to start preparing for Shavuos! projects & insights at their Pesach Seders, too!

Hebrew translation with some of her classes.

Here they are decorating the mountain with crayon (top) and cutting out flowers (below) to adorn the mountain and count up with the MAIMONIDES daily Omer to the Giving of the Torah.

404 Partridge Street

STEP BY STEP TO BIG CHANGES Speaking of the one day at a time Omer count leading to momentous change, Mr. D’s 3/4 grade students read two stories this week: “My Brother Martin” is a story about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s childhood experiences from the perspective of his sister Christine King Farris; and “Rosa Parks Started Something Big” about how her staying put on a bus seat led to important changes for many people.

Albany NY 12208

ANIMATED TALMUD VIDEOS Rabbi Shmuly’s 3/4 grade Mishna class is now transitioning to Talmud study! Before they begin Talmud, they are first watching “Animated Talmud” online that gives the background and history to the Talmud.

SHAVUOT IN THE TALMUD THE TWILIGHT ZONE HOW DID ERIC CARLE DO IT? Mrs. Levin showed 1st graders Eric Carle’s work, which they’re all familiar with from classics like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”.

Then she asked them if they could guess what art form he used to make his unique type of illustrations. He first hand-painted papers with shades and designs, then cut & collages them to make the illustrations in his book. Other Eric Carle features include die cuts (like holes in the foods that the caterpillar ate), sounds (at the end of “The Very Quiet Cricket”) and little lights (as in “The Very Lonely Firefly”).

There is an Eric Carle Museum in MA!

BILLS TO LAWS AND TAX TYPES Mr. D’s 3/4 graders are learning about NYS and government in general.

They learned how bills are proposed by legislative sponsors, how they have to pass certain committees, and then are brought for a vote.

The governor (or an executive like the President) has veto power, but the legislative body can overrule it with a 2/3 majority vote. Since it was April 15th, they discussed different taxes such as income tax, property tax and sales tax and some of the things that these taxes pay for.

PRESIDENTS FROM NEW YORK Also in 3/4 grade learning about governments, they found out that four Presidents of the United States were born in New York State: Martin Van Buren (from Kinderhook, close to Albany), Millard Fillmore and both Teddy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland were also from NY but not born here. Chester Arthur, who was the 21st President, is buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery. (See below).

Rabbi Rubin’s HS Talmud class is learning about the complexities of the Halachic flex time of Bein-HaShmashot, between sunset and nightfall. Particularly they are learning about its application in the laws of setting an Eruv extension for Techum Shabbos.

Ironically, the Talmud tractate “Shavuot” has nothing to do with the Shavuot holiday.

Instead, one of the places to study about Shavuot is on page 88 of tractate Shabbos, and that’s what grades 5/6 are now learning with Rabbi Shmuly.

M.L.A. RESEARCH PAPERS

In Mrs. Crawford English class HS students are writing research papers complete with bibliography and a visual presentation. The students chose their own topics to research and write about, including:  Should the US lower Drinking Age to 18?  How Social-Media affects social interaction?  History of the Emancipation Proclamation  Do Presidential debates influence Elections?

TAKING CHUMASH OUTSIDE  Pros and Cons of Cellphones It was so gorgeous outside that Rabbi Mathless  “Operation Bodyguard” during D-Day took his class outdoors to learn Chumash. In  Jewish Fashion Designers fact it was so bright and sunny that some  and more! students had to shield their eyes to see the Some of these topics are more sociological words. Such weather is very welcome after a type research, others more historical, but the harsh cold winter. And we can learn intent of these papers is to be scientific and anywhere, inside or out! fact-based, not opinion papers. They will be presenting their topics to their classmates at A MIDRASH MOMENT/MINUTE the end of next week.

Hershey loves to read up on Medrash at home and often pops up with Medrashic extras in GRAPHIC DESIGN PORTFOLIOS middle of class. Rabbi Mathless thought of a Dr. Paul Shapiro came into school this week more constructive and focused way for and visited Leah Caras’ graphic design class Hershey to share his Midrashic research by with our HS Girls, now in its 3rd year. Each instituting the “Midrash Moment” in their HS girl now has quite the impressive portfolio classroom, for which Hershey prepares and of design work, as well as the valuable skill-set presents in a concise way for the class to enjoy. learned along the way, and they are not stopping here! We ought to one day showcase more of their work and talent in this TEI: ON CHARACTER BLENDS In addition to counting the Omer nightly, by newsletter, they’ve learned a lot, are very saying it is this many days and this many weeks invested in it, and have a lot to show for it. to the Omer, many have the custom to also mention the particular Kabbalistical “Sefirah” LAG B’OMER “JEWNITY” for that day, which is a blend of two Sefirot , CARD CONTEST say Netzach and Tiferet, or Hod and Malchut.

Take a large index card (measuring 8 inches wide While the HS classes are now studying the and 5 inches high) and design/draw/etc a meaning and life application of these Sefirot in a “Spiritual DNA” class with Rabbi Mendel, message or illustration about Jewish Unity.

Submit these to your school (in this case 7th graders TEI class focused on the concept Maimonides Office or any local school can join) that the Sefirot are blends of each other, and each school will bring these to the JCC, because personality and character is complex where they will be displayed as a big wall of cards and nuanced, and multi-faceted. They at the Lag B’Omer event co-sponsored by area discussed situations where black and white is Chabad Centers and the JCC, and judged for prizes! It’s not too early to start thinking about it best, and other times when recognizing the and working on it! many shades of an issue is more mature.

NEW MANAGEMENT AT CAMP GAN ISRAEL Thanks to Morah Rivka Kochman for ably leading the camp for several years after Morah Clara, and now this year, Morah Devorah Leah Mathless will be the Camp Gan Israel director, with help from Morah Dini. Efforts are underway to bring talented, capable & dedicated staff and add some new exciting programming.

Contact Devorah Leah with questions, stay tuned for info. Registration forms coming soon.

Nesanel welcomed some of the younger boys into the game.

Morah Dini helped the girls make the teams for soccer because the kids just couldn't work it out that day.

Mendel (Schen) was nice to younger kids who wanted to sit at the bigger boys table.

Yitzchak and Zion are helpful in making sure that they bentschers are put away after lunchtime Bentsching and making sure the tables are clean. Please remember to clear away all your lunchtime garbage.

You just can’t trust Atoms. They make up everything!

Which city in Israel is always looking at you? Ai! (3/4 learned about it in the Book of Joshua) Why did the baseball player take a ride on Amtrak? Because he needed more training!

Why couldn’t Yaakov eat chicken drumsticks?

Because they didn’t have the right cymbal!

What do you get when you cross a kangaroo and a banana? A Marsupeel!

What are the opposite traits of smoking? It kills live people but cures dead fish.

When Joseph’s neighbor saw his fancy coat, he said to his friend: “Those Jews must be rich!” But his friend replied, “The coat is no proof. Some of the most colorful flowers don’t have a scent.”

An optimist looks at a glass as half-full, the pessimist looks at it as half-empty, but the designer -engineer sees it as double the size it needs to be!

A psychologist evaluated a client. “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” The client drank the halffull glass on the table and said: “I am a problem solver!”

Have you heard the joke about the butter? Maybe better not, it might spread!

PRACTICE HISTORY REGENTS HS boys are now doing practice Regents each week, as they prepare for the exam this June.

INEQUALITIES IN MATH Mrs. Roland’s 6th grade Math students are learning about inequalities: greater than or less than, because not everything has to equal-up in Math! Here’s an example: “S<15” would mean that there are “less than” 15 S=students in the class, or “C>10” means that there are more than ten computers in our Media Lab.

UNALIENABLE RIGHTS This term means that these basic rights can not be denied nor taken away. It may seem obvious to us now, but in Jefferson’s time it was quite revolutionary. Mrs. Maher’s class is now learning about this early period of American history, with the Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, etc.

THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE Dr. Joe’s Earth-Science class took a look at the incredible journey of the Monarch butterfly, which has four generations each year, each generation going through the 4 cycles of egg, the larvae (caterpillar), the pupa (chrysalis), and the adult butterfly. The first three generations live shorter life spans, but the fourth generation flies a great journey down to warmer climate in Mexico where it lives long enough to come back north and start again. Here’s the amazing thing: How does the 4th generation Monarch know to fly back to the same place? How does it get passed down thru the 4 generation, and through all those stages in each? Wow, think of how relevant this is to the Jewish people, passing on the tradition and keeping the connection, generation after generation!

CALDER CIRCUS Alexander Calder was a sculptor who made a whole miniature circus out of small everyday objects. The largest collection of his work is at Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC, but some of his work is at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield which commissioned some of his early works.

It’s been a while since Mrs. Levin did this as an art project with our students, so the 5/6 graders worked on it this year and did a great performance for other classes this Friday, to great applause and audience enthusiasm.

Their show included a sword thrower, weight lifter, a jumping horse and a tightrope walker.

There was even a magical acrobat. Yochanon was the dynamic Master of Ceremonies!

NO “HI-5” THIS WEEK...

But we hope to bring it back next week! The students enjoy adding to it in TNT class, and Many of our students are avid readers so the books in the Esty Library are getting good use! we get positive reader feedback about it, too.

This is especially true of our readers in grades SUSPENSE IN CHUMASH CLASS 2-6. The following books are missing, we ask Even though everyone knows the end of the parents to check for them during Pesach story of Yosef and his brothers, its quite cleaning or any other Esty Library book that suspenseful to learn it in the text, especially needs to be returned so others can enjoy. the part where the hidden goblet is found  The Three Merchants inside Benjamin’s sack. 5th grade Chumash is  Room 210 up to that part right now…  The Fur Traders  Shikufitsky I SUPPORT MAIMONIDES!  SuperShoes  Penina’s Plan Anytime: www.tinyurl.com/MaimonidesPayPal

MISSING ESTY LIBRARY BOOKS

at Maimonides and in the Community 4/17-18: H.S. SHABBATONS

4/20: WOMENS BEIT

HS Boys will be at Shabbos House this weekend MEDRASH and will be participating in the Cholent Cookoff This month about prophetess contest along with the students there. HS Girls are Chana, mother of Samuel, led having a Shabbaton in Albany this weekend.

by DL Mathless for all learning levels. NOTE 4/18: WOMENS SHIUR RETURNS LOCATION: This month’s This annual longstanding tradition starts up every class will not be at MHDS as year on the Shabbos after Pesach. 4:45pm on usual, instead at Mathless home: 147 South Lake.

Shabbos afternoons hosted in different homes with classes by different women. This week the 4/22: JFED HOSTS SIX13 ACAPELLA Shiur will be given by Mrs. Rochel Rubin at her Six13 (www.Six13.com), a NYC acapella group home 122 South Main Ave. will performing for a communal Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration at The Egg at Empire State Plaza. See 4/18: T.C.N. SATELLITE TORAH www.JewishFedNY.org or TheEgg for more info.

The Luchins Media Center at CBAJ hosts weekly long-distance Torah lectures. Rabbi Reisman 9:30 4/23: ISRAEL LUNCH & PROGRAM on Sat Nights, Rabbi Frand is 9pm on Thursdays. The school is serving a felafel lunch and having a special program for modern Israel’s 67th birthday.

4/19: JCC PILLARS 15 HONORS M. Some of our classes will be working on poster presentations about different cities in Israel. Stay LOSICE & CARL BLOOMBERG tuned for details, try to wear blue and white.

Reb Moshe Losice, well-respected in our community, is one of JCC’s Pillars event awardees 4/23: TORAH AT PARKVIEW APTS this year, along with Mr. Carl Bloomberg, a past recipient of the Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Our HS boys are doing a “Better Together” Torah Award. The event is this Sunday at CBAJ. reading with some of the seniors at the former Bnai Brith (now Parkview Apts) some of whom 4/19: CBAJ EARLIER MINYAN TIME may never had an opportunity to be called to the To accommodate the AJCC Pillars Brunch held at Torah before! 10am this coming Thursday. the Shul, CBAJ Shacharit will be at 7:45am.

4/24: ISRAELI SALAD AT O.S. APTS

4/19: LAST DAY FOR $5 TICKETS The Federation’s Yom Ha’atzmaut Six13 concert are only $5 per ticket if purchased before Monday April 20th. After that it goes up to $10 each.

Tickets are purchased via TheEgg website using presale access code: ISRAEL67

4/19: SOME STUFF TO DO SUNDAY 

 

UAlbany has Earth Day programs for families and kids at their main campus in the Lecture Center Concourse. 1-4pm, Free.

It’s the last day for the Butterfly experience at MiSci in Schenectady. Call for costs and info.

Toy, Comic Book and Collectibles Show at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road. Even if not to buy, it can be a walk down nostalgia lane. $5pp.

4/19-20: ROSH CHODESH IYAR Two days of Rosh Chodesh, Sunday and Monday.

4/20: MINYAN AT SCHOOL The usual 8am Shachris at Shomray Torah will move to Maimonides so our younger students can get a monthly Minyan taste at school.

Our girls will be going over to Ohav Shalom Apts at 2:30pm to make Israeli salad with the residents, if you know a resident, invite them to join!

A VISIT TO BEVERWYCK SENIORS Our 7th grade girls visited the residents at Beverwyck in Slingerlands this week as part of the “Better-Together” program. Shaina L. read them her “Better Together” essay and Mrs. Clara Simon led a “What If?” game which both the seniors & our students learned from & enjoyed.

A day or two later our school got the handwritten note above in appreciation. Indeed, it captures the “Better Together” spirit: “It seemed to benefit the students as well as the seniors”! We are now looking forward to starting “Better Together” visits at Daughters of Sara as well!

4/27: “ABOVE AND BEYOND” Clifton Park Chabad and the Clifton Park Library present “Above & Beyond” a film about JewishAmerican pilots who smuggled planes, trained abroad & served in Israel’s War of Independence.

Discussion follows with Professor Steven Berk.

6:30pm at Clifton Park Library, Moe Road.

5/7: LAG B’OMER On a Thursday this year after several years of Sundays. Look for the return of the Maimonides daytime Parade & also a special communal event being planned for late afternoon at the JCC with a BMX ride show, booths and activities. Stay tuned!

6/1: MAIMONIDES DINNER This year’s Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award recipients will be Dr. William “Bill” and Adrianne Rockwood, and the school’s involvement and our partners in the “Better Together” teen-seniors program will also be recognized and highlighted.

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!”