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Adar 25, 5777 / March 23, 2017
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Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 6:55 404 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 7:56 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
properly. Indeed his RJJ yearbook (left) quotes Pirkei Avot: “Who is honored? He who honors others.” He passed away in the last hour of Shabbos, after sharing a Machtzit HaShekel vurt and davening Mincha with Rabbi Feldman, discussing a school matter with Rabbi Rubin, recalling a story about Rabbis Lau & Auerbach about the importance of Science (he even said he’d try to find the SALO STEPER, OBM page number of that story!) He was careful to A major Jewish Albany landmark, Salo Steper wash Netilat Yadayim with a Bracha just an was a pillar on whom much depended, yet he hour before his passing. MHDS middle and was very humble & unassuming. Both deeply HS students attended his funeral, to sophisticated and honestly simple, he worked learn from his priorities, values and for NYSIF and lived for Torah learning and conduct and all that was shared about being a decent upright person. Dressed plainly, him. We will continue Salo’s vision and legacy he supported Torah study and helped others at Maimonides. Our condolences to his dear anonymously. Rabbi Roy Feldman said at the wife Johanna and to all whose lives he touched funeral: “These are the kind of stories you read during his meaningful lifetime. Shiva continues about in legends but Salo was the real deal, a at the Steper home: Thurs 9am- noon & 6-9pm, hidden Tzadik of Albany. It seems that David Friday 10am-2pm, Sat Night 8:30-9:30pm. wrote these Psalms with Salo in mind.” Salo served on the MHDS Board, and was a dear friend of Rabbi Rubin, who described him as CONDOLENCES RABBI KELMAN “a gem with many different angles and facets, On the passing of his mother, Yenteh bas Shlomo. Rabbi A. Kelman (Schenectady) will each shining in its own way.” Rabbi Rubin return for local Shiva, Monday 4pm-10pm. observed that instead of using Torah study as an escape, Salo used Torah to build bridges, CONDOLENCES AMANDA TOLL both between ideas—as is our “Maimonides Amanda taught Yoga in our HS before Integrated Connections” theme (he was very interested in connecting Torah teachings with moving. Her brother passed away after valiantly fighting a long difficult illness. Many secular knowledge or worldly of us have been praying for him. experiences—often recommending specific connections to explore with MHDS students) and for Torah to MAIMONIDES be a connecting bridge between diverse people, 404 Partridge Street institutions and communities. MHDS Albany NY 12208 Alumnus R’ Chananya Rosenblum recalled studying 1,000+ pages of Talmud with Salo over several years, extolling Salo’s legendary consistency, never missing a day, personifying the vision of Rabbi Meir Shapiro, Daf Yomi’s founder. A cousin recalled Salo’s sense of honor, always honoring & respecting others, “not with judgement, but with respect and honor” an especially valuable inspiration in situations where people weren’t treated
This newsletter is dedicated in memory of Salo Steper
Shlomo Yaakov ben Mordechai & Henna Chaya May his memory be a blessing!
A SILVER TROPHY WINNER! We are proud (and excited! - see Shira cheering in the crowd) that our 8th grade Chaya R. won the silver medal at the international Chidon 613 Mitzvot competition in Brooklyn last weekend! She’s pictured on top, back at school with her fellow Maimonides participants holding her “silver award trophy”. This weekend a group of MHDS boys from 4th grade are going down to Brooklyn to compete in the Chidon. We wish them success!
MAOT CHITTIM As Passover approaches, it is time to think of those who need holiday assistance. Speak to Rabbi Rubin or your synagogue Rabbi to discreetly support individuals or families in need, or to Mrs. Clara Simon who runs the Keren Yehoshua Fund for many years supporting local needs, or contact Rabbi Zalmy and Chani Simon who run the Kosher Food Pantry in Albany-area or Rabbi Abba who does it further north in Saratoga-area.
PARSHA CLASS WITH “WALDO” AND “HORTON”?
Yup! Rabbi Mendel was subbing 4th grade one day this week, and he showed them how messages from “Horton Hears a Who” and the Waldo concept are reflected in the Rebbe’s Rabbi Rubin has been researching Halachic insight to the joint Parsha titles of this week’s double-Parsha of “Vayakhel” (which means legal definitions of minor children’s Torah gathering, community and sum total) and “Pekudei” (which means accounting and details, study for a long time now, hypothesizing about individual strengths and qualities). There are so many areas where this is expressed, and the certain Alter Rebbe rulings based on his students helped come up with them like: what individual kids each contribute to a choir and unique view of the definition of Torah study. how the overall choir compliments and compensates, the zooming out and zooming in of Rabbi Rubin was discussing with the boys an camera lenses, thinking of a classroom as a whole or as individual students, a big interesting Halachic opinion of allowing beautiful Lego edifice vs. all the uniquely intricate pieces its made of, and so much minors (under Bar-Mitzvah age) to read the more. For links to more learning on this concept, search online for: “Come One Megillah (or even the Torah) publicly. Hershey Come All” Shabbaton 2017 theme at shabboshouse.org V. piped up in class that he read in a biography book that the Alter Rebbe’s 8-yearBOOK THIEF: BOOK VS. FILM old great-grandson Baruch Shalom (btw, who MACCABI GAMES LOOK FOR In Mrs. Crawford's English class, 7/8 graders LOCAL had a handicap) read from the Torah in the Alter Rebbe’s Minyan in 1812, the last year of HOSTS THIS are “The Book Thief” movie after reading the book for quite a while. One student shared the Alter Rebbe’s life (this story is sourced to SUMMER her impressions of how the movie portrays the the Rebbe’s diary). You never know when your This is a big deal! characters very differently than she imagined reading comes in handy! This story was of Our local JCC’s in the book. Liesel appears much more shy exceptional interest to Rabbi Rubin’s research, are hosting the and quiet in the film than they imagined her advanced scholars whom he consulted with Maccabi Games to be in the book. Reading the book they were amazed at the discovery and relevance of this summer, and thought Papa to be youthful but in the film this source! Rabbi Rubin submitted this looking for local he’s all gray and older. And Max is taller than research to a Torah journal publication, families to help they imagined him to be. It just goes to show crediting Hershey in the footnotes! with hosting the how jarring and surprising even slight changes 700 (!) expected can be once an image settles in your mind. THE READING OF THE PRINCES student athletes. 7/8 grade Chumash is now learning Parsha They are also looking for volunteers. Events Naso which describes (repeatedly!) the are in early August 2017 but the planning, offerings of the Princes (or presidents) of each arrangements and preparations start now. of the twelve tribes during the dedication of the Mishkan. Timely learning, because starting next week: Rosh Chodesh Nissan is the date when the princes began their series of offerings, and the twelve days of their offerings at the start of Nissan is why we do not say Tachanun in the daily prayer all these days.
A MAJOR MINOR DISCOVERY!
BREMEN TOWN MUSICIANS
CLEANING UP THEIR ROOM 7/8th grade girls decided to sharpen up their classroom by cleaning for Pesach. Can you believe what they found? A rotten bagel, an old dried out apple, a bag of crackers, lots of markers, a bag of fake bugs, two empty containers, and more! They vacuumed their carpet and also emptied out and cleaned the desks that they share with other classes in the afternoon. Please don't eat anymore in the 7/8th grade girls classroom, please!
Ms. Arika Ford took her students on a trip to the Doane Stuart school to watch a live performance of “The Bremen Town WIRE BASICS—WHAT’S INSIDE Musicians” a book What’s inside a wire? Why does each part do? that they read in What part conducts electricity and what keeps school. When they that current safe? Pictured above, Mrs. Kirkley got back to school showed her students how to strip a wire, they did a compare/ removing its protective casing to expose metal contrast between the lines within to allow for students to connect book and the wire to batteries in the circuits projects. performance.
SOON TIME TO SELL CHAMETZ! Meme jokes aside, selling our Chametz before Pesach is serious business, not to be left to the last minute. You can sell your Chametz via Rabbi Rubin, your Shul Rabbi, or even online.
THE SPRINKLE CONNECTION Morah Mushky baked cookies with 4th graders and as they put Sprinkes on top, Chaiki remembered the “Vayakhel-Pekudei” idea (see Horton and Waldo on page 2) sprinkles are individual pieces with color (and flavor) but they all come together as a unified group!
NYS MUSEUM FIELD TRIP Mrs. Maher’s 4th graders enjoyed their longawaited trip to the New York State Museum. Their main focus was the museum’s Native American exhibits: longhouse and wigwam, which is what they’ve been studying in Social Studies. One student reported that she had seen the longhouse at the museum many times before but now that they learned all about it in Social Studies class, she sees it in a very different way and notices many more things about it. While there they were very interested in the 9/11 exhibit (one movie of a man describing how he narrowly escaped the towers fall, and how he could barely see ahead of him in all the smoke and dust), they saw the Holocaust section, and went upstairs to see the last day of CANstruction and get a ride on the Carousel. They found so many connections to their learning! Here are a few of the connections: At the NYC Subway exhibit they saw a cutaway model of “Grand Central Station” and the kids said: “Just like Rabbi Rubin’s Grand Central Siyum!” Point of reference! While looking at the wigwam at the museum, they started noticing right angles, obtuse angles, line-segments—things they’re learning about now in math class. They stopped off at the Gift Shop, but not everyone had money with them, or wanted to buy anything, so they were just browsing— and browsing is actually one of their spelling words this week! They got to see the CANstruction up the 4th floor. This year’s theme was sports and games, giant models all made up of cans (later donated to the Food Pantry).
DO YOU HAVE BOXTOPS? Each one is worth a dime to the school. It adds up! If you find a bunchof boxtops while Pesach cleaning please bring them into the school office, thanks!
REPORT CARDS General Studies report cards went home on Thursday and the Judaic report cards should be going home at the start of the week.
UNTRANSLATABLE
NURSERY CLEANS FOR PESACH Morah Rivka wanted to bake “Matzah” with them, but first they had to get rid of their Chametz and prepare for Pesach. So they searched through all their toys for play bread and toy cookies and the like, put them behind a closed-off (but see-thru) shelf, and then covered their toy kitchen counters with silver foil—and then they were ready to start baking their own “Matzah” (not for Passover use).
MEME IN HALACHA
Rabbi Rubin studies Gemorah L’Girsoh (to cover ground, quicker Talmud) with our older boys. They are now learning a chapter in Gemorah Megillah (in time for Purim) that has a lot of relevant things about Torah reading and how many aliyot, and issues in prayer. One thing they learned is the wisdom how some things shouldn’t be translated because they won’t go over well outside their original context. Rabbi Rubin illustrated that using an example from an event the boys attended, bringing the Talmud to life.
GOT QUESTIONS? These MHDS Kindergarten students have questions, too! At least four of them. They are now learning all about Pesach, and eager to share what they’re learning at the Seder Table…
This meme is a joke or satire (all memes are by definition) because Chametz should be sold through a Rabbi as an agent due to complex Halacha involved. But this can be a discussion about selling Chametz to someone whom you are very 5/6 RIVER CONNECTIONS connected or related to and from whom you They’re learning about rivers and erosion in may directly benefit... Our students learned science, Yellow River in China came there are 3 prohibitions of Chametz on up in Social Studies, and the Nile is a Pesach: (1) eating & drinking (2) benefit (3) big landmark in the Exodus story. ownership. (Most Torah food prohibitions only have 1 or 2, only Chametz has 3). And 3 ways to deal with the ownership problem: (1) COPIER UPDATE? Old part was found and fixed for now, but nullify (2) search & destroy (3) sell it. we’re exploring new copier options.
at Maimonides and in the Community 3/24: FBI TOWNHALL AT J-FED TownHall Meeting at the Jewish Federation ($5pp) with FBI and State Police representatives on what they are doing to keep us safe. Light breakfast & coffee. 7:30-9am at 184 Washington Ave Ext.
3/26: “FROM BITTER TO SWEET”
“BETTER TOGETHER” DISCUSSION ABOUT AGING
Audrey Seidman (who studied aging and is involved with eldercare and is furthering her studies in “age-ing to sage-ing”) came in to speak to our students Beth Israel, about their interactions with seniors. She had opportunity to read their Schen. $10 recently written “Better2Write” essays and quoted from some of their writing. Sisterhood members, $15 She shared perspective and insight from her studies and experiences.
3/24-25: SPECIAL SHABBOS AT CBAJ 9:30am at Special program with guest speakers this weekend from Brooklyn and Israel, an ambassador and a scholar-in-residence at CBAJ.
3/24-25: REGIONAL SHABBATON Chabad on Campus Regional Upstate NY Shabbaton with students from 10 NYS colleges hosted at Shabbos House: JewishWeekend.org
for others. Breakfast & film on seniors and Ladino sponsored by sisterhood, open to men and women. RSVP/ Info: 377-3700.
STAY TUNED FOR PUBLIC SEDER INFO.
4/10-19: PESACH SCHOOL BREAK
Maimonides is off for all of Passover, plus the day before (Erev Pesach) and the day after (Isru Chag). Shows at 1pm, 3:30pm & 6pm. Kids $8 each, adult School resumes 8am on Thursday, April 20th. tickets $28, but some adult tickets are available for This week is a (very long) double-portion (about the $10 online at www.GardenBrosCircus.com ANY IDEAS FOR CHOL HAMOED OUTINGS Mishkan’s construction) that concludes the Book THIS YEAR? LET’S SHARE THEM IN PREof Shmos (Exodus) so we end off with a strong PESACH “MC” NEWSLETTERS! 3/27: RABBI A. KELMAN (SCHEN) Chazak! And the Maftir is the 4th of 4 seasonal SITTING SHIVA FOR HIS MOTHER Torah readings where we read about establishing 4pm-10pm, for one night of Shiva in Schenectady. 4/13: KINUS TORAH LEARNING the new moon & calendar and the laws of the Stay tuned for a special “Kinus Torah” session this Our condolences on her passing. Paschal Lamb. And we bless the new moon, too! year (especially) on Thursday evening of Chol HaMoed Pesach. MHDS alumni returning for the 3/25: STARK KIDDUSH THIS WEEK 3/28: ROSH CHODESH NISSAN holiday share short words of Torah between and 8am Minyan at Maimonides. 2 weeks to Pesach! by Sid & Debbie Stark at Shomray Torah in after Mincha/Maariv at Shomray Torah. This year memory of his mother Rose Stark for her yartzeit. for an expanded edition in the days leading 3/30: CHAMETZ-TIME AT SCHOOL hoping to Salo’s Shloshim. Get your last pizza fix before Pesach! 3:30-5pm at 3/26: JEWISH IMMIGRANT STORY Jewish Federation & NYS Museum will be hosting school. Order 2 pies ahead of time, get free fries. 4/25: DR BERK ON ANTISEMITSM a special workshop for 4th grade school children on Sushi only by pre-order. Pre-Order at: Professor Berk to speak on new wave of antithe Jewish immigrant experience to New York State bnoschayaprograms@gmail.com Semitism—at the Jewish Federation. $5pp. on Sunday, March 26, 10-11:30am. Questions? Call Marci Galinkin at the Jewish Federation: 783-7800. 4/4: RUBIN-DENBURG SHEVA
3/25: VAYAKHEL-PEKUDEI, CHAZAK & HACHODESH
3/26: PRICE CHOPPER PREPASSOVER OPEN HOUSE EVENT 10am-2pm at Kosher Price Chopper Colonie, meet with vendors from major national Kosher food producers, enjoy free samples of Pesach cakes and pastries & more. They say they have 1,000+ Kosher for Passover items on display!
3/26: GARDEN CIRCUS @ ARMORY
BRACHOS AT SHABBOS HOUSE
6/11: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE WALK
10am-12pm in Tawasentha Park, Guilderland. Mushky’s Albany Sheva Brachos, 7pm on Tuesday. More info: tinyurl.com/Walk4Friends NOTE TIME CHANGE: 7:00pm start instead of the originally announced 6pm. Those attending are STILL OPEN FOR CONTIBUTIONS: asked to RSVP: AlbanySimchaRSVP@gmail.com Stay tuned for more specific parking info, as there www.maimonidesschool.org/ScienceLab is a major speaker on campus that evening. Vayakhel and Pekudei are both construction
Parshas, one Parsha title emphasizes the collective endeavor, the other focuses on all the 3/26: SUNDAY FARBRENGEN WITH Thursday and Friday before Pesach will be half-days individual contributions that made it possible. General-Studies only, ending 11:30am. This allows “CHITAS FOR KIDS” AUTHOR Judaic teachers some time to prepare for Passover. As our Science Lab effort reaches closer to its Rabbi Mendel Hecht and his wife Nechama Dina goal, we thank all those who have made this produce the “Chitas for Kids” study materials that 4/4: EREV PESACH SIYUM @MHDS ambitious project more within reach, and we thousands of children (and adults!) enjoy learning This year’s annual Erev Pesach Siyum is dedicated look forward to collectively making the goal! (and listening to) around the world. He will be in Albany to farbreng with our community 5-7pm on Sunday at Shomray Torah followed by Mincha Maariv. All are welcome to this pre-Nissan (YudAleph Nissan) farbrengen.
4/6-7: HALF DAYS, AM ONLY
in memory of Salo, within his Shloshim, for he enjoyed Talmud so! Stay tuned for times and details for both Chametz eating and Chametz burning at school. No school, but school is open for community.
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!”