Maimonides Community

BH. Cheshvan

17, 5777 / Nov 18, 2016 ‫ב”ה‬

Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District Candle-Lighting: 4:18 404 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 5:19 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

‫וירא‬

This newsletter is sponsored

by Dr. Alan Auerbach in memory of his parents Both yartzeits in Cheshvan CONDOLENCES TO THE FOGELS AT VETERANS DAY PARADE Our condolences to Mrs. Sharon Fogel (former President of Maimonides, seated above second from right near her late husband Usher and Kalichman friends at a Maimonides Dinner years ago) and children Joel, Lisa & Jamie (MHDS alumni) on the untimely passing of husband, father and grandfather Usher Fogel, buried earlier this week in Israel. Usher was a talented local attorney and served as CBAJ Cantor for nearly twenty years while they lived in Albany, before moving downstate to the Five Towns. Usher was very active here with his singing, a wry clever sense of humor, and dedication to Jewish life and communal affairs.

THIS SAT NIGHT AT MHDS: • •

First Pizza Night of the season, and the first one by our new HS students! Begins 7pm.

First in series of in-depth Shiurim by Rabbi Rubin, this one researching 500 years of learning behind the question of a blessing on a public Menorah lighting. 7:45pm

Some of our older students marched in the Veterans Parade last Friday as Boy Scouts, but our first and second graders were excited to be active cheering onlookers as the parade marchers went by, leaving from Partridge (our school’s street) down by Central Avenue.

PLANNING HOSPITALITY Nursery students crowded ‘round to think of different ways that they can be hospitable and welcoming to guests the way Avraham and Sarah were in this week’s Torah portion. They also painted this < place-setting as part of this unit about guests and hospitality, and things everyone of all ages can do HEY, WHAT HAPPENED to help out.

TO THAT SHELL?

In Science-Enrichment, Mrs. Kirkley put brown eggs (to best show contrast) in vinegar and water solutions for different RAFFLE-AUCTION IS OFF TO lengths of time. These 4th grade students were PRINT! SOON ONLINE, TOO. amazed by what happened to the egg shells Prize Packages A-Z are now finalized, the Raffle where the vinegar was strongest & longest!

-Auction booklet is off to the printer and we MAIMONIDES hope to soon have these packages online at: 404 Partridge Street www.maimonidesschool.org/auction for Albany NY 12208 online purchases as well. The early-bird special ends on December 18th, and the drawings with Chanukah dinner (the general election voting was this week at school) will be on the 5th Night of Chanukah, Wednesday, Dec 28th at school. Tickets can be purchased online, via mail, at the school office or at the event. There are some nice new prizes and changes this year, see inside this newsletter or the Raffle-Auction booklet for more details.

CONDOLENCES TO SUSSMANS on the passing of R’ Yehoshua’s grandmother Erica Ann Sussman (and great-grandmother to the Sussman kids at school) in Philadelphia this week, just shy of her 101st (!) birthday.

ELLIS ISLAND VS ANGEL ISLAND

MAKE ME DELICASIES (PLURAL)

Mrs. Ramsay’s students learned similarities differences in immigration through Ellis (on the east coast) Angel (on the west coast) Islands. Ellis Island had 29 questions for would-be immigrants, while Angel Island had 132 questions, which were more detailed and intrusive. Ellis Island welcomed more than 12 million immigrants while Angel Island welcomed less than 200,000. This was due to several factors, including immigration patterns at the time, whether people were coming from east or west, but also had to do with how strict immigration policy was and how welcoming they were to immigrants. Angel Island had far more requirements and restrictions than Ellis Island.

Rabbi Mathless & 4th grade Chumash class are learning these words of Yitzchak to his son Eisav before Yaakov came dressed as Eisav to get the blessings. HS learned the same words with Rabbi Mendel as an eternal call for Jewish people everywhere to make two types of pleasure, both “sweet and savory” analogous to two important and everyday approaches in life and spiritual applications.

THREE DOTS ON “AILAV” ‫אליו‬ Rabbi Rubin has been learning with our older boys the Gemorah in Bava Metziah chapter HaSocher Es HaPoalim which goes into great detail and rich depth about Avraham and Sarah—this week’s Parsha. They learned the reason why there are 3 dots on this 4-letter word, and its Derech Eretz life message about human decency in which the angels inquired about Sarah. At morning Minyan Rabbis Rubin & Simon pointed this out in the Torah scroll so they could see with their own eyes what they learned about in the Talmud (quoted in Rashi on Chumash) OIur student Yochanon was the Torah reader that morning. The Daf Yomi daily Talmud study group (now studying about currency and interest) will be reaching these pages of Talmud in week of December 20th.

HORNED TOADS EVERYWHERE FACES AND FAMILIES IN FIRST Mrs. Maher’ 4th graders read a story in their ELA reader about a horned toad, and then horned toads (which are actually lizards) also showed up in their G.U.M. book (GUM stands for grammar, usage & mechanics).

Morah Devorah’s Kitah Alef first graders are learning Hebrew terms for faces, from Ozen = nose and Aynayim = eyes, to Santer = chin and Tzavar = neck.

They drew faces and then labeled the facial parts in Hebrew. And they are also learning about families (perfect timing as Avraham and Sarah have and raise children in these Torah portions) so they drew pictures of their families outside in park settings and then labeled the figures with parents and sibling names!

USE OF CALCULATORS 4th graders are quite excited that Mrs. Maher is allowing students who scored higher than 90% on recent multiplication tests to use calculators for new math work (at least for now). Nearly half her students reported on this for TNT!

BIOMES IN SCIENCE Ms. Brennan’s students have been learning about biomes, habitats and ecosystems where animals live and interact with other animals.

BIG TEST ON AFRICA HS Girls are taking a big test on Africa in their Social Studies class with Mrs. Ramsay, everything from geography to resources, cultures to achievements, religions to political systems, history to current events.

FAREWELL MS. B! It’s been short-lived but HS Girls enjoyed math with Ms. B. who took another job. They look forward to more math learning ahead!

LEARNING ABOUT AVRAHAM AVINU based on recent student learning

1

MEETING UP WITH THE PARSHA: 3rd graders are now learning Vayeira in Chumash class, and it’s now the Parsha of the week. It’s always special when that meets up. The Parsha is so familiar to them!

2

GIDEON = AVRAHAM CONNECTION: 4th graders in Morah Mushky’s class learned about parallels between Gideon & Avraham: (1) They both referred to the angel(s) that visited them as Mister or My Master. (2) They fed the angels similar foods. (3) Both stood to the side while their guests ate. (4) Gideon pleaded and argued with Hashem in defense of the Jewish people similar to Avraham’s argument in defense of the people of Sodom.

3

AVRAHAM & SARAH’S HOSPITALITY IN YAHADUS CLASS: Classes that are learning Yahadus Book One learned about hospitality this week, including lessons from Avraham & Sarah: (1) Accessibility: doors open on four sides (2) Reach out to guests the way Avraham sought them out and didn’t wait for them to come. (3) Provide for varied needs: Avraham gave food, warm welcome, even water to wash up. (4) Make sure guests feel comfortable! Avraham situated his guests in the shade of a tree. (5) Go all out!

Avraham served them fancy meats (tongue!)

(6) Involve all your family members in the Mitzvah: He, Sarah and Yishmael all helped out in preparing the food for the guests.

4

ZERIZUS! Usually translated as alacrity, this trait of Avraham “rising early in the morning” is a combination of things like eagerness and enthusiasm, being timely and energized. It’s a good character trait for everyone to have or work on, especially for school students!

5

PIONEER, INNOVATOR AND ADVENTURER: In history classes we learn about how such people changed the course of history. Avraham dared to be different, he was dedicated to that difference, and happily taught it to others. He traveled to places unknown, changed the world around him, and withstood ten great challenges & tests.

This doesn’t mean it was easy, it was actually quite difficult at times, but if Avraham took the easy way out, the outcome would be very different. We wouldn’t be who we are today!

HOW MUCH WOULD THAT BE? “If Ms. Brennan would give you a dollar a day for a year, plus 7 cents every other day, and a quarter once a week—how much would that be?” It may be a math question, but putting it that way makes it more interesting—even if that’s not actually going to happen, of course.

REFLEX MATH UPDATES Speaking of making math fun—some of Mrs. Maher’s 4th grade students are working their way up the ReflexMath website and now able 3D LETTER A’s IN GRAPHIC DESIGN to earn things like tree-houses for their avatars To better appreciate what calculations & proportions go into fonts (that computers do automatically by achieving more advanced levels of math. for us) Morah Rivi had her HS graphic design students make their own 3-D letter A’s, so that they can stand on their own and be proportionate and measured to size, which is easier said than done.

Now that they are done with this phase of the project, they will be artistically decorating their letter A’s with a theme and motif, textures and materials of their choice. Stay tuned for the final version!

MA(R)BLE CAKE Today (Friday) is the 17th of Cheshvan, the Hebrew date 4,121 years ago when the Mabul flood began. So, 7/8 graders made a Ma(r)ble cake for the whole school today.

MEGILLAH CHAPTER FOUR It’s not even Chanukah yet, but HS Girls with Morah Raizy are moving along in Megillat Esther which they hope to finish by Purim.

They are learning the familiar story with various classic commentaries as well as meaningful life application.

SCIENCE CENTER PROJECT This is a major ambitious project to expand the MAIMONIDES S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) program with new, improved facilities, equipment and program. Please speak to Rabbi Rubin (518) 423-4103 if you’d like to get involved in this great effort to raise the funds necessary to receive dollar-for-dollar matching funds from a respected national organization eager to get us new state-of-theart hands-on science facilities. Help us make this project a reality for our students and the (ir) future!

BETTER TOGETHER KOSHER SOUP DELIVERY After learning this month’s “Better Together” unit on Kosher, Rabbi Yossi brought 5/6 graders to Shoe Repair on New Scotland to bring some delicious chicken soup to Michael who owns and runs it. Some other classes in the Better-Together program took a trip to Price Chopper where they did a scavenger hunt for unusual Kosher symbols and enjoyed some ice-cream!

MORE FUDGE! “Double Fudge” to be exact. Mrs. Maher’s 4th graders are onto their next Judy Blume book (the fourth one) in the Fudge series, this time it deals with Fudge being very (perhaps too much) interested in money, and also deals with his best friend moving away to a different side of town.

ON TOP OF THE WORLD! This Kindergarteners may feel that way atop BARUCH HABA WELCOME MAT the jungle gym at the park. Actually, #TheLastWord of this week’s Torah portion is Kindergarteners made these beautiful and “Ma’acha” - which is really a name. But useful “Baruch Haba” welcome mats in the commentaries say that the 4 letters of ‫מעכה‬ spirit of Avraham and Sarah’s welcoming can also stand for: ‫מלך על כל העולם‬ hospitality in this week’s Parsha Vayeira. which means: (G-d) King over all the world!

at Maimonides and in the Community 11/18: SECOND SHORTER FRIDAY

12/2-3: Y-STUDS @ CBAJ A CAPELLA

2:15pm Friday dismissals until clocks change in the Spring. Please be prompt so faculty can get home to prepare for Shabbat. PARENTS with earlier pickup, please remember: Early pickups ONLY at class break intervals: 12:30, 1:05, 1:40pm. Thank you for respecting class instruction time.

A Cappella Shabbat returns to CBAJ with Y-Studs performing at Friday Night services and a sit-down dinner, again on Shabbat morning and SeudahShlishit and musical Havdalah. Register by Nov 27 at CBAJ.org online.

11/19: SHABBOS KIDDUSH Caras family sponsoring Kiddush at Shomray Torah for their daughter Rivka’s first birthday.

12/3: RENA BERNSTEIN: “BITTER FREEDOM” A SURVIVORS STORY

An incredible story of Holocaust survival. Hear Rena tell it in person at a Maimonides Motzai Shabbos Café. Please purchase the book online 11/19: THE FIRST PIZZA NIGHT! ahead of time at: tinyurl.com/bitterfreedom for A winter-tradition! Pizza Nite at “Nathan’s her to sign at the event after her talk. 7pm at Kitchen” at Maimonides, first of the season, and Maimonides with soups and teas. For more info first of our new 9th grade High School class! Starts call Rabbi Shmuly: 496-0779 (Union College 7pm. Order ahead: bnoschayaprograms@gmail.com students very much appreciated the book & talk).

11/19: DOS MYSTERY CHALLENGE

12/10: ISRAELI WOMENS THEATER

Annual Daughters of Sarah Mystery Challenge at the NY State Museum. $100pp or $50 under 40.

Sat Night 7:30pm at Schenectady JCC, all women cast, based on Lorca’s play: “La casa de Bernando Alba” no charge, donations welcome, for ages 14+.

Info? call Judy: 377-8803 or speak to Morah Rivi.

11/19: IN-DEPTH SHIUR AT PIZZA Rabbi Rubin will be giving a series of in-depth Shiurim, with the first one given upstairs at Pizza Night (while pizza is sold downstairs and kids enjoy a video) tracing an Halachic question about saying a blessing on a Public Menorah Lighting going back 500 years to the Tur and Bais Yosef down to more recent and current Rabbis like R’ Ovadia Yosef, R’ SZ Auerback, R’ JB Solveitchik and R’ Y. Reisman.

Men and women are welcome. Stay tuned for future in-depth Shiurim times and locations.

11/20: MINCHA/MARIV/FARBRENG Mincha/Maariv at Shomray Torah begins 4:05pm followed by a “Chaf Cheshvan” farbrengen starting at approximately 5pm.

11/23-27: SCHOOL THANKSGIVING Thanksgiving Weekend Schedule for Maimonides: 11/23: Half-day Hebrew only on Wednesday 11/24-25: Thursday and Friday—No School

11/23: NO WEDNESDAY AGGADAH Rabbi Rubin’s Talmud Aggadah/stories class will be suspended this coming Wednesday for Thanksgiving Break, but will resume 2:30-3:30pm Wednesday Nov 30th. Men & Women welcome!

11/27: ANNUAL KINUS BANQUET Once again the Chabad Shluchim Kinus will be live-streamed online for those who wish to watch, see Chabad.org or Chabad.TV on Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving. Malcolm Hoenlein will give this year’s guest address.

Menorah Lighting and entertainment as well.

Tickets can also be purchased in advance (most are) though US Mail, the office, and an online link.

PIZZA NIGHTS AHEAD: More Pizza Nights: 11/19, 12/17, 1/28, 2/25

CHANUKAH EVENTS: 12/25-26: Friendship Circle Camp, contact Chaya if you’d like to be a part of this or assist in any way 12/26: Bethlehem Chabad Ice-Skating, Delmar Car -Menorah Parade & Chanukah Dinner back at the new Bethlehem Chabad at historic Adams House 12/27: East Greenbush Library Chanukah, and a Clifton Park Center Chanukah event, stay tuned...

12/28: School Raffle-Auction & Chanukah Dinner (with the voted-on menu!) 5-7pm at MHDS 12/29: Chanukah Bowling in Saratoga 12/31: Bethlehem Chabad at Delmar’s First Night Stay tuned for Car-Menorah Parade from school dismissal either 12/27 or 12/29.

VIA—AQUARIUM IS NOW OPEN

Opening Day is now scheduled for Saturday 11/12.

Plan is to have 25,000sf of oceanic treasure, 2000+ Melava Malka at the school. Niggunim, stories.. fish & aquatic species, including walk-thru tunnels and a sting-ray touch-tank. Cost is $19 per adult, $10 for ages 4-17 and kids under 4 are free. Rabbi 12/11: CARTOONIST AT J-FED Dov Smiley is a cartoonist with books on the Jewish Mendel did get a PJ Library small subsidy for holidays. He’ll be at the Jewish Federation starting families who wish to arrange for a group trip, let’s be in touch and arrange a time that works. with an interactive presentation for school-age children 1:30pm. There’s no charge to attend but RSVPs are appreciated at JewishFedNY.org. See www.JonahComic.com to see his work and style.

12/10: TEN KISLEV FARBRENGEN

12/23: CBAJ MYSTERY GUEST A Mystery Guest Shabbat—guests and hosts sign up secretly via CBAJ (hosts must be Sabbath and Kosher observant as per CBAJ standards) and then the guest shows up at host door on Friday Night!

12/27-29: CHANUKAH @ MHDS Parents, please note (slightly changed) school schedule: 12/23: Friday, Half-day Hebrew only 12/26: Monday No School 12/27-29: Tues-Thurs, Half-day Hebrew only 12/30: Friday, No School 1/2/2017: Monday, school resumes at 8am.

12/28: SCHOOL AUCTION NIGHT Wed, 5th night of Chanukah. This exciting annual school fundraiser includes the celebrated themed Chanukah dinner by the Kochmans (TBD by our special election) prize packages on display and last chance to buy tickets before drawings that night.

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!”