Maimonides Community

BH. THURS Cheshvan

28, 5775 / Nov 21,

Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 4:10 404 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 5:13 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

This newsletter is dedicated in memory of those killed in the Har Nof Synagogue, Jerusalem: Rabbi Mosheh Twersky Rabbi Kalman Levin Rabbi Aryeh Kopinsky Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg and the heroic Druze Police Officer Zidan Saif. Hashem Yinkom Damam.

IS TERRA FINALLY OPENING? Seem so! Moshe K. is our communal news student correspondent at the MC Newsletter, and most eager for this local Kosher restaurant to finally open. He reports that the opening date is just around the corner! For more info visit: www.terraalbany.com, call: 463-5600, or see them on Facebook. In fact, there will be a $100 gift-certificate at Terra in our soon-to-be published school’s Raffle-Auction.

PRAYING FOR JERUSALEM This week’s recent terrible terror attack on a Har Nof synagogue in Jerusalem during prayer (and before that a terror attack on the light-rail) is on all of our minds and hearts.

The verse “pray for the welfare of Jerusalem” could not be more appropriate now.

UP TO THE CHALLENGE OUT WITH OLD, IN WITH NEW Mrs. Levin’s art students keep on making new projects, so they took down these “Van Gogh” and “Texture Library” to take home, making room for their new “Informal Balance” project which will now be on display upstairs.

MR. D’S “DO NOW!” 3/4 graders pictured here with Mr. D, doing what they do at the start of every afternoon: “Do Now!” math & ELA exercise to jumpstart their day, even before getting into anything specific. Do Now! Is also a great life message: Don’t always wait until you have all the info or the whole project! You can get started with something small, even one sentence or one math problem, but you should get going right away without delay! Mitzvot are like that, too, Just Do It! as the Nike slogan goes.

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

2nd graders are taking on harder work & standing up to get it done, even if it takes some erasing and trying again!

LIGHTING VS. PLACEMENT

A ROOM CHANGE It’s a few months into the year, time for a setup change in Mrs. Carroll’s classroom. It’s a fresh feel, new and different, changes the class atmosphere & learning dynamic.

Last week we reported on 7th grade learning this issue in Gemorah class with Rabbi Shmuly. This week the HS boys learned the same piece with Rabbi Rubin. Not only did they learn it in the Gemorah, but they also learned the Shulchan Aruch on it in OC 674, how this plays out in using one candle to light another. Then, they learned a piece from R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev’s “Kedushas Levi” about a life-applicable lesson about the ups BOOKS FROM COLONIAL TIMES and downs of spiritual inspiration, and how Well, not exactly. They were made this week Mitzvot can still be done even if we’re down. in Mrs. Maher’s class. But these string-bound books try to depict life back then in Colonial America, which they continue to fill as they learn more about it in Social Studies class.

SOLAR PATH THRU SEASONS

AND A PEEK INTO 5/6 ROOM 5th graders are at working individually on their assignments in the picture foreground, while 6th graders study as a group at the table in the back with Mrs. Maher - balancing the multi-age learning environment while each grade meets their needs.

Mrs. Sahay’s HS science class studied about the changes in the sun’s path that determine the seasons. They learned about the summer solstice and winter solstice, and the equinox.

Did you know that the sun is actually closer to us during the wintertime, but our tilt of the axis away from the sun is what makes it LEARNING BACKGAMMON wintertime. Interesting tidbit: the sun is never There was some free time at the end of the day at 90 degrees directly above us in NY State. on Wednesday, so Mr. D. allowed his students some free-play time in the classroom. He taught the students pictured above how to play Backgammon. Aside for luck, there’s actually quite a bit of math in playing backgammon, some of which the students can understand now and some of it as they grow older and sharpen their math skills.

COOKIE-JAR OF EMOTIONS

PIZZA AND SUSHI SIYUM All of Rabbi Shmuly’s Mishna and Gemorah classes enjoyed a pizza and sushi Siyum this week for completing a unit of study (some learned Sukkah, others Rosh Hashanah) and for each student producing their own set of Powerpoint slides to make the learning all more visual, understandable and memorable.

DVARIM, VA’ETCHANAN...

Rabbi Simon’s Chumash class is making good time, they are almost done with 2nd Parsha.

TNT student photographers came back with this photo of 2nd graders baking cookies in “Nathan’s Kitchen”. We didn't find out the story of the cookies in time for publication, but their faces are a mix of a spectrum of emotions, each face tells a different story!

T.E.I.: GUMPTION! This week 7th grade TEI (Torah Emotional Intelligence) class focused on gumption: bold initiative, positive gutsy Chutzpah, not waiting for others to get it done.. they thought of biblical examples, like Esther, Yehudit and Nachshon, and Rivkah who was a rose among thorns in her childhood, offered Eliezer to give his camels water, and took matters into her own hands when she thought Yaakov should get the blessings.

THE ANNUAL LENTIL SOUP Every year for Parshat Toldot (with the famous Lentil Soup Jacob made and sold), Morah Devorah’s class peels, cuts, chops & prepared a delicious lentil soup for the whole school.

They did all the prep work and cooking on Wednesday and will be serving it on Thursday.

K-GARTEN LINES UP TO SHARE THEIR LEARNING (L) Mrs. Hoffman introduced Kindergarteners to non-fiction reading.

After reading “Animal Babies” they each drew a picture of one of the animals, and shared one FACT they learned about that animal.

(R) This week Kindergarten learned with Morah Chaya Bracha the Hebrew letter “Ches”. On the board above their heads is an 8-car train (because Ches is the 8th letter) of Chet letters, each carrying a different Ches word, such as: Challot, Chanukiot, Chatulim (cats), Chalonot (windows). They also painted with the color Chum (brown) and did other such related projects that bring the letter to life.

INFORMAL BALANCE ART

“MC” NEWSLETTER VIA MAIL

Informal balance is interesting, because it doesn’t follow the laws of symmetry, but it isn’t totally out of wack either. It has a balance of its own. Mrs. Levin’s 3/4 grade students painted random points with connecting lines that didn’t line-up with each other and then used the in-between spaces to color in segments. So there’s some form and pattern, but not an exact one.

For those receiving this newsletter via U.S. Mail, this year we have begun to mail 3 MC newsletters together, so you should get the newsletters every 3 weeks. This saves a lot of postage. Some mail recipients have been telling us that it sometimes arrives torn, so we will try looking into a good envelope option but we do want to keep the mailing costs down. Of course, we do send the newsletter each week via email! Sign up for that via: maimonidesschool@gmail.com

A NICE BIRTHDAY PRESENT Usually kids like to get presents for their birthdays, but Nachman Aryeh brought in a present for the first-grade class in honor of his birthday. That was really nice! It’s a box of PlayStix that his classmates really enjoy playing with during free time or indoor recess. All kinds of creative options!

NURSERY’S SOCK PUPPETS In this week’s Torah portion of Toldos, twins are born, the first one, Eisav, was reddish complexion and hairy. They made hand puppets of socks decorated with googly eyes, yarn for hair, and accessories like bow & arrow for Eisav (he was a hunter) and a pair of Tzitzit (although before Mattan Torah) for Yaakov.

Why did the man throw butter out the window? He wanted to see a butterfly!

Why did the man throw a clock out the window? He wanted to see time fly!

What has 4 wheels and flies? A garbage truck.

What do you call a fake noodle? A impasta!

What happens if you eat shoepolish & yeast?

(Don’t actually try this!!) You will rise & shine!

LEARNING THE STATES Mrs. Carroll’s 2nd graders each made a poster about a different state, from Tennessee to Morah Rivi came back from a week-long visit Nebraska, Arizona to Florida. They each did to Kfar Saba in Israel to surprise her father for their own research on interesting things about his birthday. She showed her students Kfar that state and then put it together on a poster.

Saba on a map of Israel - it’s near Ra’anana and Herliya and quite close to the West Bank’s Qalqilya. She brought yummy Israeli chocolates for students and teachers. The 5/6 grade really enjoyed the Etzbaot chocolate “fingers”. By the way, Kfar Saba is home to SanDisk in Israel, and Teva Pharmaceuticals.

BACK FROM KFAR SABA

ANDY WARHOL IN 5/6 GRADE The 5/6 graders are doing an art project based WHAT WOULD YOUR COIN SAY on Andy Warhol, a very famous artist with a distinctive style. They’re drawing self portraits, HS students did this coin project with Morah Chaya Bracha, modeled with special attention to the bones under their after the custom coin faces. Then they take a clear, pliant sheet of minted by Avraham & plastic and using a permanent marker trace Sara (Medrash). Each their face onto the plastic. Then they painted student designed their the faces with abstract wild crazy colors. There own coin with quotes will be a display at the Bach Library in about a & graphics that month of some of their artwork. represent them.

at Maimonides and in the Community 11/21: NO SCHOOL THIS FRIDAY Enjoy the extended weekend, & another extended weekend the following week for Thanksgiving.

12/13: KISLEV 19 MELAVA MALKA

Annual local tradition

by Capital Chabad As some will be away at the Chabad Conference (earlier with R’ this weekend in Brooklyn, and being the one of the Zalman Levine), earliest Shabbosim of the year, anyone who can Chassidic stories, come out to the Minyanim is most appreciated. melodies and Melava Malka/farbrengen 11/22: SHTEEBLE KIDS PROGRAM atmosphere. Also will 10am-11:15am for kids through 1st grade led by a be a Rambam Siyum. BROWING BOOKS AT THE ESTY LIBRARY rotation of older girls. Thanks to those parents who This picture wasn’t posed, our students really do like to read! And are supporting their efforts.

12/13:

11/21: KINUS WEEKEND

ORCHESTRA 11/22: CBAJ PARENT CHILD STUDY OF EXILES

thanks to those who’ve contributed, the Esty Library (now together with the Media Center/Computer Lab) continues to gradually grow.

6pm at CBAJ, K-8th. Bring your own study texts or Schenectady JCC screening a film about Bronislaw materials will be provided. All children must be Huberman who saved European Jewish musicians under free per each paying adult admission) on accompanied by an adult. Pizza, Torah & Prizes. from Holocaust by bringing them to then-Palestine, Sundays in November & December this year at MiSci in Schenectady. creating forerunner of Israel Philharmonic 11/23: ROSH CHODESH KISLEV Orchestra. 7:30pm. Individual events in Jewish Sat Night into Sunday is Rosh Chodesh. Add Yaale Film Festival series $9pp for non-JCC-members.

2/8: SPA FOR BODY & SOUL v’Yavo, Hallel and Musaf, & Torah Reading.

The 10th annual: Mega-Challah Bake this year!

COMMUNAL CHANUKAH EVENTS Stay tuned for more info..

11/23: KELMAN OPEN HOUSE Hope to post listing soon. Looking forward to a Rabbi & Rabinessa Kelman of Cong Beth Israel fun, luminous and exciting Chanukah holiday! invite the community to their open house at their MORE SNEAK-PREVIEW home: 2047 Central Parkway, 12-2pm.

11/23: KINUS BANQUET ONLINE Program begins 6pm, available on Jewish.TV or Chabad.org for live streaming. Mr. Yuli Edelstein, speaker of the Knesset and a former refusenik is this year’s guest speaker and Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov of England is the keynote speaker.

11/24: WOMENS BEIT MEDRASH This month’s biblical woman is Leah, presented by Morah Leyee. 8pm at Maimonides, open to women in the community. Come and study!

11/26: HALF-DAY SCHOOL We’re changing from the original plan and having half-day Hebrew only on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Dismissal at 11:45am.

11/28: ICE-SKATING OPENING DAY Empire State Plaza Ice Skating opens for season.

Free skating. Skate rentals $3 kids, $4 adults. Free skate rentals on Fridays courtesy of Hannaford.

12/2: THE ART OF DRAWING - SJCC “Concerning the Art of Drawing” an exhibit by Charles Steckler is on display at the Farber/Miness Gallery at the Schenectady JCC, through Jan 30.

12/23: MHDS RAFFLE-AUCTION & ANNUAL CHANUKAH DINNER

Now in its 12th year! Printed version to be mailed to homes before Thanksgiving, online version as well. The prize viewings & drawings, 5-7pm at Maimonides, will be on the 8th night of Chanukah, together with a delicious themed Chinese dinner prepared by the Kochmans at “Nathan’s Kitchen”. Stay tuned for more updates!!

Some new prize packages this year…

OF THE RAFFLE-AUCTION Going to the Printer by this weekend, see full RaffleAuction spread by Thanksgiving or just afterward.

This year back at Dunhams Bay on Lake George.

For more info call Nechama Laber: 727-9581.

Some of the prize-packages tentatively include:  A 6-month membership to CNSE-CMOST, $40 plus 4 passes at “Flight” the trampoline park, 2 passes at Maple Ski Ridge, and giftcertificate at FunPlex, too!  The iPad Mini comes along with 1-year subscription to the JEM app, as well as a digital subscription to Ami Magazine.  There’s a full set of the original Hebrew Steinzaltz Talmud, small-size hardcover, thanks to Koren Publishing.  The Build-Up package contains Lego sets, Lego Friends sets, Clics and Knex…  Magnatiles, all the rage now, 100 pc set!  More $5 tickets than most past years…

12/25-28: WINTER VACATION

CAN WE UP OUR GOAL?

12/24: CHANUKAH SONGS & SKITS Half a day, Hebrew only. Chanukah performances that morning followed by dismissal and pickup.

Last morning of school before winter vacation.

12/25-28: JGR WINTER RETREAT

12/24-25: Half-Day Hebrew, Performances 12/26-30: Winter Vacation, No School 12/31/2014-1/1/2015: Half-Day Hebrew 1/2/2015: First full day back…

GE-KIDS-IN-FREE MiSci SUNDAYS

Last year’s Raffle-Auction raised $12,000. This year we’re going to shoot for the stars to raise $18,000! It’s an ambitious goal that will take an effort on all our parts to buy & sell more tickets, spread the word, and involve more people. Our school needs the extra boost and support!

GE offers a special Kids-In-Free (one child 12 and

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!”