BH. Iyar
23, 5777 / May 19, 2017
ב“ה
Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 7:56 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 9:06 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
Only a few more newsletters left to the school year (and occasionally over the summer). If you’d like to sponsor a week in honor of a special occasion or memory of a loved one call 453-9363 or email: maimonidesschool@gmail
ONE WEEK LEFT FOR JOURNAL EVE KNEZNEK’S 20TH YARTZEIT On Monday, the 19th of Iyar (day after Lag B’Omer) our school marked the 20th yartzeit of Eve Kneznek, Chava bas Baruch, a gracious benefactor of Maimonides. Her generous $400,000 legacy bequest enabled us to finally purchase our permanent home in 2005 after 25 years of rentals at various local synagogues (the old Beth Abe on Federal Street, Temple Bnai Shalom, Watervliet Ave office building, Temple Beth Emeth & Cong. Ohav Shalom). Our classes heard her story and studied Torah in her memory. Her memory is indeed a blessing! A social worker in Albany, Eve lived on Highland Drive, and passed away at age 87 in 1997. We encourage all supporters and friends to please include the Maimonides School in their will to perpetuate their legacy and local Torah study in the Capital Region.
Thanks for your support of this important annual fundraiser, this year honoring Rabbi Mendel and Raizy Rubin, celebrating the Science Lab S.T.E.A.M. Center Campaign (gaining steam!), establishing Salo’s Talmud Studies at Maimonides (in memory of Salo Steper), and highlighting our school’s 3rd year in the Better Together program. The dinner will be Tuesday June 6th at Shabbos House, but journal ads have to be in before that date to be ready in time. Journal ads can be submitted until May 26th, either online: maimonidesschool.org/dinner or via email: maimonidesschool@gmail or regular mail to the school office. Ads arriving after the 26th will go into the Journal supplement.
APPROVAL PROGRESS We are pleased to announce further approval progress from the City of Albany for the school’s Science Lab STEAM Center expansion project. Stay tuned for details!
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
ON THE COURTHOUSE STEPS Thanks to Hon. Lawrence Kahn, US Federal judge, for a very interesting & detailed courthouse tour in honor of completing the book of Judges—and for the yummy rugelach!
SLIME/GOOP IS A POLYMER! 4th graders in science-enrich made multi- color slime/goop as they learned about polymers. The different color dye was not only to make it more fun, but to differentiate between recipes. All had the same ingredients, but the amount of water varied in each recipe, so keeping them apart by color demonstrated the effect of the water on the texture of the resulting goop/slime. Borax along with glue were the other key ingredients. Borax can be a dangerous substance to handle (though found in household products) that’s why they are still wearing goggles. Mrs. Kirkely made the Borax solution in those pitchers. Regarding the varying water amounts, Rabbi Mendel explained it can be an analogy about “Lachluchis” a Chassidic term for “spiritual moisture” - a warm connective elasticity.
SIX DAY WAR—50 YEARS! Rabbi Kelman used this illustrated Hebrew book interwoven with the personal story of his childhood friend Mordy Willig (later a Rosh Yeshiva) to tell these boys the story of the build-up to and the Six Day War in 1967, and the broad emotional swings from panic to exhilaration, terror to hope and faith that happened during the short span of a few months that fateful year. They traced the tank routes in the Sinai desert, learned about the fierce battle for Givat HaTachmoshet, and laughed at some of the crazy ironies of the war, including BBC reports of Egyptian tanks were marching on Tel Aviv and that one lone Iraqi plane, and Nassar’s wartime phone-call to King Hussein. Most of all—the incredible feeling to be able to see the Kotel again!
TRIP TO DOANE STUART’S GREEN ROOF AND STEAM ROOM Ms. Ford took her students on a field trip to the rooftop of the Doane Stuart School which has a large and varied garden growing on top of it—if you didn’t know you’d think you were down on the ground in a small farm! They also did skyline art (you had a good skyline view from the rooftop) which they are displaying (above right) back in their Maimonides classroom. Their students asked ours to join their game of kickball and some of our students did!
HEBREW OPPOSITES SO MANY WAYS TO LAUGH 5/6 grade Ivrit used the Hebrew root of laugh and learned how many ways how to say the same word for laughter in Hebrew depending on if its past, present or future tense, if its talking about one person or many, if its firstperson or third-person, masculine or feminine. Hebrew grammar made happy!
Katan vs. Gadol = big vs. small, Samaech vs. Atzuv = happy vs. sad, Kahr vs. Cham = cold vs. hot, Me’at vs. Harbei = few vs. many, Ra’ash vs. Shaket = noisy vs. quiet, L’at vs. Maher = slow vs. fast… and many more inside & outside the first/second grade classroom.
BIKURIM BASKETS KOSHER CRAILO COOKIES 4th graders enjoyed their trip to Fort Crailo (see last week’s MC) but couldn’t bake cookies there because of Kosher. So Mrs. Maher took the simple Dutch recipe for them to bake it back at school in “Nathan’s Kitchen.” They reduced the amount of caraway seeds because it’s not their favorite taste, but they were good!
Kindergarteners made all kinds of fruit out of clay and then put them in these decorated flowery baskets—like Bikkurim (the first fruits in Temple days brought on Shavuot).
NEWPAPER IN THE MAKING
FROM FLOWERS TO COOKIES
Mrs. Maher’s 4th graders are working on a These Nursery students started off making Har class newspaper, one edition. She pulled out Sinai flowers, then morphed it on their own an edition HS girls made years ago, and they into a very productive green cookie factory. all were surprised to see it and remembered it.
SPIRITUAL DNA
FINISHED YEHOSHUAH!
In connection with the character development component of the Omer count, Rabbi Mendel taught the HS Girls a series of in-depth slides on the personality traits of each of the Sefirot and what they represent in our own lives, how to utilize, develop and express each of them and their blending with each other.
TENNIS BALL SQUEEZE Mrs. Ramsay had her 7/8 grade science students squeezing tennis balls 70 times a minute to get a feel of what our hearts do all the time. Boy, were they tired!
3rd graders finished the Book of Joshua, their first book of Navi! Wow, what a milestone…
TALMUD ON NEGLIGENCE AND CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
WHAT A SHABBOS TABLE! During free play these Nursery students set a Shabbos table with 3 Challahs and so many different types of play foods. Yummy!
Older boys are now learning a new piece of Talmud (Bava Metziah 36b) which is a specific case about watchman negligence that may or may not have contributed to a sheep’s death but the underlying principles have much broader application, so much so, that Abbaye and Rava would consider this ruling in their hiring practices of judges!
DOUBLE-PARSHA, CHAZAK!
SLURPIES AND TALMUD
This Shabbos we read both Behar and Bechukotai, which conclude Chumash Vayikra. It’s also Shabbos Mevorchim, with Rosh Chodesh coming up on Friday…
7/8 finished a chunk of Talmud, so Rabbi Shmuly took them out to get Slurpies but they had to review the Talmud all the way there and back—they did a whole blatt in the car!
ROAMING AROUND ROME Mrs. Ramsay’s 5/6 graders are learning now about ancient Rome.
TORAH-SHAPED BOOKS Kindergarten is learning about Shavuot in these books cut-out in the shape of a Torah!
GREAT PARADE REGARDS A very nice Albany contingent went down to NYC to march in “The Great Parade” for Lag B’Omer. They were proud to march as Albany group, loved the official announcement from FLOWERS OUT OF ANYTHING the main stage. These boys did a simulation of Morah Rivka gave Nursery students a bunch of random stickers, and asked them to make their excited march in their t-shirts back at flowers of it. Pictured above are some results. school. Some of their favorite highlights? A Fidget Spinner on a float (with 3 Jewish themes), Mitzvah Boulevard and Benny Friedman in concert, the stunt bike show, and the great weather despite the gloomy forecast.
HUCK FINNS LAG B’OMER And we had student reporting from the local Lag B’Omer event at Huck Finns Playland. Highlights included: Fidget Spinners (yes, they are a popular fad now) for rally prizes, and fun rides on the Banana Split!
THE 7 KINDS Morah Rivi did this Shivat HaMinim project with the Kindergarten, it is hanging on their classroom wall.
WHO IS PLAYING ON JUNE 7TH? Our year-end Better-Together event will be at the Royce on the Park (formerly Bnai Brith) 2-3pm on Wednesday afternoon, celebrating Yom Yerushalayim. Two acclaimed musicians will play: Jonathan Greene is an active jazz, world and classical multiinstrumentalist. He’s played in Albany and Glens Falls symphonies. His clarinet video is the 10th most watched clarinet video on YouTube with over 1 million views. Sergei Nirenburg is a veteran accordion player and folk-style vocalist. As a youth, he spent ten years studying the accordion, which allowed him later to make a nice living playing it during his college years in Kharkov, USSR. Sergei started pumping the bellows again about fifteen years ago and has played both solo and in ensembles in Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia and the Capital Region. Recently he released a CD by the Russian songwriter Mikhail Ancharov on the Chesapeake Records. Community is welcome. RSVP: maimonidesschool@gmail.com 495-0772
SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!! PIRKEI AVOT LEARNING Many of our classes are now learning Pirkei Avot including these third graders practicing and reviewing the Mishnas they now know.
Please forward digital versions of this newsletter to family and friends, and ask those who’d like a free digital subscription via email to sign up at: maimonidesschool@gmail.com
THANKS FOR THE BALLS! We now have more sports balls thanks to those who sent in, we could use a few more softer balls and an extra football.
at Maimonides and in the Community 5/20: GRAND CHAZAK KIDDUSH Kiddush at Shomray Torah this week is sponsored by: the Kudans in honor of Moishy’s 21st birthday, the Mikhaylovs in honor of the birth of their new granddaughter and the Starks, in honor of Morah Devora’s mother’s yartzeit.
5/20: WOMENS SHABBOS SHIUR
5/29-6/2: MEMORIAL DAY WKND & Better Together III, a celebration of the Science Lab/STEAM Center campaign and a memorial SHAVUOT SCHOOL SCHEDULE 5/29: Memorial Day Monday—No School 5/30: Erev Shavuot (Tuesday) No School 5/31-6/1: Shavuot Holiday—No School 6/2: Friday, Isru Chag—No School (note change!) 6/5: School resumes on Monday, 8am.
dedication at school for Salo Steper, obm. See invitation in the mail or use this page online: www.maimonidesschool.org/dinner Thanks!
6/7: JERUSALEM CELEBRATION
“Better Together” is hosting a communal program 4:45pm on Shabbos afternoon, this week given by 5/30: SHAVUOT NIGHT LEARNING (all welcome!) at The Royce on the Park (formerly Bnai Brith Apts) culminating another year of Better Leah Caras in her home, 96 Grove Street. 12am-1am at Shomray Torah: “Not just a -Together visits and a celebration of Jerusalem (in Children's Story!” Following individual tikkun Leil honor of Jerusalem Day) with live Klezmer music. 5/21: WILDMAN YARD SALE Shavuot study, a midnight inProgram will be 2-3pm on Wednesday afternoon. 10am-2pm, 18 Marwood Street. depth study of Talmud Kidushin Call Rabbi Yossi for more info: 495-0772. 31a with Rabbi Rubin, the famous "Dama Ben Nesina" story 5/23: SCHOOL 6/11: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE WALK of the Gentile who refused to PICTURE DAY disturb his father's sleep at great 10am-12pm in Tawasentha Park, Guilderland. Once again, Carasmatic Design More info: tinyurl.com/Walk4Friends financial loss, and the drama of will be taking individual, class & Dama's unusual "hitting the school photos that will be Lottery" with a Para Adumah win, 6/15: YEAR-END TRIP available in print/digital format for sale to parents. Grades 2+ stay tuned for details. The school will be also how Dama dealt with his Look for the form or online link to order. renting a bus, the trip has at least two components mother’s dementia (not usually addressed). Rabbi Rubin will address 15 puzzlers in this story from 10 that are 1.5 hours away from Albany. There will be 5/24: YOM YERUSHALAYIM great luminaries, Maharal of Prague to the "Ketzos" a minimal cost per child (tentatively $6) with the Yerushalayim crafts and learning already started at and R. Chaim Falagi of Baghdad to Gerrer Rebbe. rest of the cost subsidized by the school. school, we will have a program on Wednesday Free Shavuot Dinner at CBAJ celebrating 50 years of Jerusalem’s reunification! at 9pm, followed by a shiur by 6/21: THE LAST DAY: MOVING-UP, SCHOOL BBQ, & GRADUATION Rabbi Roy Feldman part of a 5/25: ALEF-BAIS PARTY This will be a big Wednesday at school, with the Shavuot “Judaism in America” Kindergarten is celebrating! Thursday, May 25th. Moving-Up Day ceremonies in the morning, on Coca-Cola Kashruth, & Parents, grandparents, family—are very welcome! followed by a big brunch family BBQ, and 8th Shabbat Candle-Lighting time in the New World. Tour-Tours grade graduation in the evening. 5/25: MISHMAR ON THURSDAY will be back for varied learning 3pm-4pm for boys and girls, grades 3+. $2 per opportunities all night. THINKING SUMMER? student, please pay ahead so they can buy supplies. Think Gan Israel Day Camp! Contact 6/4: C.P. JWC GALA & AUCTION Morah Devorah Leah 698-1836 for 5/26: SHAVUOS FAIR AT SCHOOL Clifton Park Jewish Womens Circle’s 9th annual info… Program is based at the school, Run by 5/6 with Rabbi Caras, 11am at school. Gala & Auction features Tamar Helfen guitarist staffed by great team of very fine nurturing &percussionist. RSVP $18 before 5/25, $25 after. counselors, with a whole schedule of activities, crafts and 5/26: MHDS JOURNAL DEADLINE 495-0779/JWC@cliftonparkchabad.com Program trips. Special program at different parts of summer. Yearbook/Tribute Journal ads until Friday May includes buffet, silent auction, drum circle, etc. 26th by emailing maimonidesschool@gmail or by visiting: maimonidesschool.org/dinner 6/4: ISRAEL PARADE NYC
5/26: ROSH CHODESH SIVAN Friday morning 8am Minyan at school.
5/28-29: MEMORIAL DAY PARADES There are a number of area Memorial Day parades with marchers & bands, veterans, flags and fanfare… including these two parades: 5/28: Rensselaer Parade: Ceremonies 1pm at Doane Stuart School, Parade begins 2pm, ending at Rensselaer City Hall. 5/29: Albany Parade: 10am start at Partridge & Central down to State Ed Building near Capitol.
Federation buses leave 7:30am for $25pp (includes round-trip + tshirt!) Parade in NYC is 57th to 74th St. on Fifth Ave. Buses return 8pm. Participants must be able to walk entire parade route, adult must accompany children. RSVP by 5/17: 7837800 mgalinkin@jewishfedny.org or online: jewishfedny.org/events/israelparade2017.
6/6: MAIMONIDES DINNER This year’s Dr. Berger Memorial Award will be presented to Rabbi Mendel and Raizy Rubin for 20 years of dedication to Maimonides and Shabbos House. Recognition will be made of this year’s
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!”