Maimonides Community by Maimonides School Albany

BH. Elul

6, 5776 / September 9, 2016

Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District Candle-Lighting: 6:57 404 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 7:56 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

‫ב”ה‬

‫שופטים‬

This newsletter is dedicated in honor of the recent

Maimonides Alumni Simchas! Much continued Nachas… by a Maimonides Alumnus

RECENT ALUMNI SIMCHAS •

5777—THE YEAR OF STRENGTH Also at the first day assembly Morah Rochel shared that this new year beginning on Rosh Hashanah (this year in October!) will be 5777 ‫ תשע”ז‬which can be seen as an abbreviation/ acrostic for: ‫ תהא שנת עוז‬May this be a year of Strength! We asked TNT students: What type of strength is needed at A REFRESHINGLY SWEET START school? Here some “schoolIt was a very hot first day of school and strengths” our students shared in TNT class: everyone got a ice-cream welcome-back-to• The courage to ask a question even if it school treat. There were cones of cookies & might not be such a good question or to try cream, éclairs on a stick and to guess the answer even if you’re not sure. chocolate covered vanilla. Wow, • The inner strength to control one’s temper what a yummy treat! They also as it says in Pirkei Avos 4:1. tried to think of a Torah ice• To have the strength to make it through a cream connection. See this full day at school even if you’re tired. week’s “High-5” on page 3 >>. • Sometimes a heavy backpack full of books requires a lot of strength to shlep around. NOTICING MAKES DIFFERENCE • You need strength to do what’s right! At the school year’s opening assembly, Morah • Strength is helpful in standing up to Rochel asked students to think of a person someone bullying you or someone else. and a story in Sefer Breishis who changed the • It takes strength to be yourself and not to course of history because of something he give in to (negative) peer pressure. noticed. It was Yosef! One day in Egyptian prison he noticed that the butler and baker looked upset. So he asked them why they were MAIMONIDES upset. That led them to each tell him their 404 Partridge Street dreams, which he Albany NY 12208 interpreted correctly, and later because of that became viceroy of Egypt… and it all began because he noticed that they looked upset. So Morah Rochel asked students to pay attention to their fellows this year, and see if they notice anything that they might be able to be helpful with—it could make a huge difference!

•

MHDS alumnus Aharon Simon got married this week in Crown Heights to Rivka Felberman. They are now in the week of Sheva Brachos! Mazal Tov!! MHDS alumnus Motti Rubin married Chana’le Paltiel two weeks ago with a Sheva Brachos last Shabbos and Sunday in Albany. MHDS alumnus Rivky Sivak (she studied in our HS for two years) got married in Toronto to Yosh Green. MHDS alumnus Sara Peninah (Stark) and Ari Kolker had a baby boy in Israel. Morah Devorah traveled there for the Simcha. She’ll be back soon (her class can’t wait!)

AND MAZAL TOV YOCHANON On becoming a Bar-Mitzvah earlier this summer and his celebration this Sunday.

WELCOME TO MAIMONIDES We warmly welcome new families to MHDS: Baker, Lazaroff, Reznik & Simon and our new General Studies teachers: Mrs. Sunnie Kirkley and Ms. Lisa Brennan. Bruchim HaBa’aim!

MISHNA = POETRY? Rabbi Shmuly told 3rd graders that in a way, Mishna is written like poetry. No, Mishna doesn’t usually rhyme, but like poetry it can be understood in different ways, you read and reread it carefully to seek a different angle or deeper meaning, and the wording is often very short, terse and cryptic.

SPEAKING OF MISHNA... 4th graders were happy to report that they learned the first Mishna of tractate Sukkah about the minimum (10 Tefachim) and maximum (20 Amos) height of a Sukkah. Well, the maximum height is actually an argument, because Rabbi Yehudah says there’s no maximum height for a Sukkah.

A FRIDAY OUTING TO THE BASEBALL FIELD… WHY?

OPENING NEW DOORS Kindergarteners were about the head outside for recess when a student TNT photographer came around.

ILLUSTRATING ROOT VERBS

Some of our students were quite curious about the heavy machinery digging up the baseball outfield and areas beyond it on Woodlawn Ave near our school. Rabbi Rubin found out that it was the “Hansen Ryckman Flood Relief Project” but asked Albany council member (9th Ward) Judy Doesschate if the engineers could explain this project to our kids (and introduce them to the type of engineering work behind such projects). So at 10am on Friday we went down to the baseball field (appropriate for the Hebrew month of Elul when “the King is in the field”) to hear a very interesting explanation from City Engineer Neil O’Conner including maps and charts, math figures and history, so the students will have a good idea of what’s going on there on the construction site until around Thanksgiving time. They can watch the progress at recess time. Basically: The Beaver Creek runs underneath this area, and early residents used it as a sewer up until the 1850’s when a 6’ diameter brick culvert was built over it. But the combined storm water and sewer can be way too much during heavy rain storms and the sewer backs up into area homes. Plus it causes excess water downstream. So this big project has two parts: (1) an Olympic size underground water-storage system to be built underneath the outfield to store storm water until the storm passes and the swollen underground Beaver Creek goes down to a more manageable size (good question Shira!) (2) the tangled forest behind the baseball field is being replaced with a specially designed wetlands (Nesanel knew all about that!) and those plants and trees appropriate for that environment will be planted in the Spring. This project is supported by Federal funds because it helps minimize discharge to the Hudson River, keeping it cleaner. Stay tuned for the progress, and hopefully some interesting lessons learned!!

Morah Devorah Leah’s second graders worked on illustrating Hebrew verbs on white boards. Drawing laughter or questions or leaving isn’t easy but the students were eager and creative and did a very nice job!

US HISTORY PART II Our 7th and 8th graders with Mrs. Ramsay will be studying the second half of American History this year. Closer to our times…

BAKE SALE IS COMING BACK

THUMB-CATCH ICE-BREAKER For the first day of 7/8 ELA class, Mrs. Crawford brought in a ball marked with questions all over it. You threw the ball to a friend and she had to answer the random but thought-provoking question written on the spot where her thumb was when catching the ball. It made for interesting conversation and good way to catch up after the summer.

MMMM… … is the phonic sound Ms. Ford’s first graders are working on here all around the big table in their classroom. And MMMM… also fits the delicious ice-cream we had on the first day of school this year (& how yummy the kids are!)

7th and 8th graders are organizing to bring back Bake Sale, this time for their year-end trip. Weekly on Wednesdays at morning recess. Look for details!

WHAT’S BOTHERING RASHI? Rabbi Mathless’ fourth graders are now learning about Rivka and Yitzchak in the Chumash but they are also learning to detect the questions Rashi is explaining, and to acquire the study skills to figure out new words and the meaning of verses and the context of things. And the courage to put in the effort and try your best and never give up or leave it to someone else!

THANKS FOR MODELING CLAY A community member donated a good deal of modeling clay to the school. Morah Rivi’s students hope to make Rosh Hashanah projects of it, and we hope to take the student artwork to a kiln to make something beautiful to take home and actually use. We hope to get proper paint and sealant for the clay and also useful shaping tools.

ICE-CREAM AND TORAH

SWEET TREAT: That’s what most students said. Ice-cream is sweet and it’s a treat, and Torah is compared to milk and honey (think dairy and sweet) and we have a 3-year old lick the honey off the letters so they realize that Torah is sweet!

IT MELTS! You can’t wait around with icecream or it will melt. Same with Torah, you shouldn’t procrastinate or leave for another time, but study right away as soon as you have the opportunity! Others said that just like ice-cream melts on your tongue, so too, as soon as you study Torah it melts right into you. Other said that the melting icecream symbolizes the overflowing dripping abundance of Torah teachings.

REFRESHING! Kids like icecream anytime, especially on a hot day, like our first day of school this year. Torah refreshes too, especially when we thirst for refreshing perspective in a world that needs it.

THE COATING: We had 3 types of icecream at school and all had a coating: (1) Cookies and Cream ice-cream in a cone covered with a cookie-coating. (2) Vanilla Ice-Cream in Éclair coating on a stick (3) Vanilla ice-cream coating in crisp layer of thin crunchy chocolate. In all cases you have to bite through the layers to get the icecream (and the same is with Torah) but the layers themselves are enjoyable, too, and add a lot to the flavor (and that’s true of the layers in Torah learning, too!)

CONES AND POPSICLE STICKS: All the kinds of ice-cream we had had some kind of handle, either cones or popsicle sticks to hold it with. Torah study has “handles” too, they are the tools and skills to be able to handle the information and make the most of our learning.

DAF YOMI UPDATE

NURSERY’S DOOR THIS YEAR Every year Morah Rivka has a new, different, creative door welcoming Nursery students to their classroom. Wise wide-eyed owls, indeed!

The local Daf Yomi Talmud study group (along with study groups all over the world) will be studying page 102 of Bava Kama this weekend, and the tractate ends on page 119 (Siyum coming up soon!). Join for learning if you can, it speaks all about damages and property and the like. Next tractate is Bava Metziah, one of the most commonly learned Yeshivot. Our 8th grade boys have now begun learning the 3rd chapter of Bava Metziah.

GLACIER, GLACIER... Mrs. Maher was teaching her 4th graders about glaciers in science, when they piped up that they remembered her teaching them last year about melting glaciers creating lakes— that’s a special moment when student retain info and bring it up at appropriate times!

INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS 4th graders will be working on their own individual interactive notebooks over the course of the year which will turn out in the end to be a really nice autobiographical piece. Stay tuned for reports about work on this.

KIDS SHOFAR VOLUNTEERS Our 6th grade boys (and some younger ones, too) have been volunteering to blow the Shofar each day, not only for their classmates but for other classes as well. It’s great practice and gets everyone into the Elul spirit.

MORE REPORTING NEXT WEEK about from their classes. But they got off to a

Our student reporters in TNT look forward to great start! And we welcome the new 3rd grade more reporting next week, once we’ll have a TNT reporters, learning how it works… full week of school and have more to report

at Maimonides and in the Community 9/9: LABOR DAY PARADE It might be way too close to Shabbos, but in case this might work for you, the local Labor Day Parade starts 6pm from the State Education Building and heads down to Broadway.

9/10: PARSHAS SHOFTIM This week we read Shoftim with verses like “Justice, Justice you shall pursue” and “a man is a tree of the field”, the thorough examination of witnesses and about setting aside cities of refuge.

9/10: WOMENS SHABBOS SHIUR We’re nearing the end of summer season for this weekly shiur given by and hosted by women in the community. 4:45pm. Given by Rebekah Wildman at Devorah Leah Kaufman’s home, 27D Weis Rd.

9/11: GUIDED 9/11 TOURS @NYSM Have you seen the NYS Museum’s 9/11 exhibit many times before but would appreciate a guided tour? The New York State Museum will offer guided tours this Sunday on the anniversary of 9/11 at 1-2pm and 3-4pm. Free.

community event. See list of sponsors on flyer and at www.shabboshouse.org/entebbe

9/18: BNOS ISRAEL MIKVAH HOSTS PAINT & SIP NIGHT AT CBAJ 7:30pm at CBAJ. $25 in advance, $33 at the door. Info and RSVP online: www.bit.ly/paint4mikvah program is for women only.

9/18: THE UPPER MADISON STREET FAIR The Upper Madison Neighborhood Street Fair is on the block of Steamer 10 closest to the fork with Western Ave. Free.

9/21: CHAI ELUL FARBRENGEN

After Mincha/Maariv (that week at 6:30pm) at Shomray Torah, all are welcome to a farbrengen at 7pm! Chai (18th of) Elul celebrates the 9/11: JCC’S “THE DUNKIN RUN” birthdays of the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter 8:30am at the Albany JCC, a 5K, 10K and 15K race Rebbe, and also the yartzeit of Maharal of Prague. with a Munchkins 1/2 mile for kids under 12. Entry fees are $33. See: albanyJCC.org

9/24: SAT NIGHT SELICHOT

9/11: THE CARROT FESTIVAL 10am-5pm at Cong. Agudat Achim Schenectady. There are booths, animals, activities and all kinds of prepared foods (check Kashruth as appropriate) and live entertainment.

9/11: TUGBOAT ROUNDUP This 3-day Tugboat festival in Waterford’s Lock 2 (across Peebles State Park) continues with activities on Sunday 10am until about 3pm. Anyone remember “Little Toot” or “Scuffy the Tugboat” other children’s tugboat books?

9/13: ENTEBBE COMMANDO TO SPEAK AT SHABBOS HOUSE Sassy Reuven was the second commando on the ground at Entebbe on July 4th 1976 for Israel’s daring hostage rescue raid that stunned the world. He’ll share his story at Shabbos House on Tues evening, event begins 7:30pm (talk will begin closer to 8pm). Please park at Dutch Quad parking lot. This event is open to all men and women in the community , as well as (older) children who are able to sit through a presentation. Thanks to the many co-sponsoring orgs, especially the Jewish Federation, there is no charge for this campus and

This year because Rosh Hashanah falls on Sunday night, the first Selichot will be on Saturday Night a full week prior: • 8:45pm Pre-Selichot Concert and welcome to new Rabbi Roy Feldman (performing) and his family, followed by Selichot at CBAJ. • 1:00am Midnight Selichot at Shomray Torah (Shteeble).

9/25: ADK BALLOON FESTIVAL Adirondack (hot-air) Balloon Festival is one of the biggest in the country, and you have to get there early to see the magnificent balloons rise, but no guarantees because it all depends on the weather… UNTIL 9/30:

ISRAEL PHOTO EXHIBIT @ THE FEDERATION

The Jewish Federation is hosting a photographic exhibition titled “Through Each Others’ Eyes” by 25 Israel young people from Jewish & Arab homes. It’s open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Noon-2pm through September 30th. For more info contact the Federation at: (518) 783-7800.

IS YOUR ADVANTEDGE CARD LINKED TO MHDS? Please check at any Price Chopper Customer Service. Your purchases will automatically add up to earn equipment for our school!

A NEW PLAYGROUND? The City is looking to put a new playground in on Woodlawn… stay tuned!

MAIMONIDES TISHREI HOLIDAY SCHEDULE 10/3-4: Rosh Hashanah, No School 10/5: Fast of Gedalia, 9:30am start* 10/11: Erev Yom-Kippur, No School 10/12: Yom Kippur, No School 10/13: Day after Yom Kippur, 9:30am start* 10/17-25: Sukkot & Simchat Torah, No School 10/16: Post- Simchat Torah, 9:30am start*

* on days with 9:30am start, grades 1+ please daven before school

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!”