BH.
Adar 15, 5778 / March 2, 2018
ב“ה
Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 5:28 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org Shabbat Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 6:29 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
TEHILLIM FOR RECOVERY We are all saying Tehillim for the complete recovery of Reb Moshe Losice, a true life-long central pillar of our community, very respected by all: Eliezer Moshe ben Bracha Yospeh. Wishing him and his family the best. May we share good news.
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
SHORTENED SCHOOL WEEK Thanks to Purim on Thursday and a snow-day on Friday, we only had a 3-day school week. This MC Newsletter will have some school week reports and photos as well as photos of Purim Prunch and Mad Science Show at school on Purim Day.
This MC is dedicated in memory of
R’ Michel Piekarski
YOSEF COSTA’S PASSING Yosef Costa passed away suddenly Erev Shabbat last Friday, his untimely passing is a great loss to his family and to our community. Below are ways he was remembered at school this week, והחי יתן אל לבוlifelessons in his memory: He personally cared a lot that a holy place (and even not holy places) be kept neat, clean and respectful. People nicknamed him “Yosef Mokir Shabbos” like the talmud story, because he cherished Shabbos, and enjoyed offering others the very best for Shabbos. Everything he did was dynamic with energy & gusto, he very much put himself into it. He didn’t do things halfway or just to get it done and over with. He was helpful in many ways, he was there even before people asked. He made Minyan and in general wanted to do everything the right way. Both Hebrew and English were second languages for him, he wasn’t as fluent in those languages as he was in his native Portuguese but that didn’t stop him from expressing himself and talking with others. May his memory be a blessing and may we share Simchas!
PESACH IS COMING! Now that Purim is past, Pesach is less than four weeks away! So much Pesach learning to cover and projects to make, not to mention the cleaning and prep at home. Also a good time to start thinking of “Maot Chittim”.
Yartzeit—Shushan Purim (Katan) By his daughter Morah Rochel and the Rubin family
HORSEBACK GRAGGER Morah Devorah’s first graders each made their own Purim noisemakers using bean-filled folded paper plates decorated as Mordechairiding horses led by a Haman.
PREY VS PREDATOR GAME “I SPY” GRAGGERS These Kindergarten graggers were a Purim gift from Morah Chani—repurposed water bottles filled with colored rice with 18 miniature objects added inside to find by shaking the bottle around. The items are all labeled in Hebrew on the outside of this special gragger.
Mrs. Maher’s science students did a prey vs. predator game, where the ideal isn’t to get the highest or lowest numbers rather an optimum in a herd healthy range in between. It’s a fun way to learn about the food chain and how species are interdependent on each other.
ALL SEASONS IN ONE WEEK!
It happened last week and this week again. Taanis Esther was a beautiful spring day out, Invites haven’t been mailed yet, but see it here and then a winter snowstorm right after first: Rabbi Israel and Morah Rochel Rubin Purim! Once again it felt like we all seasons in will be this year’s Dr. Morton Berger Memorial one week. Despite all the snow it Awardees, in its 30th year of the award, and as should be spring soon, as the clocks Rabbi Israel Rubin IYH turns 70 just after spring forward next Sat Night. modern Israel does.
THIS YEAR’S HONOREES
ABOUT ONE MONTH LEFT...
LEARNING FLOWERS It may be snow-covered outside, but Mrs. Mattice’s 2nd graders are learning about types of flowers, and writing and illustrating a sheet about them. This one is about Hibiscus, it’s pistil and where it is from—Hawaii!
For students and families to submit a nice picture of a student (any class: Nursery thru HS) doing something (reading, a craft, taking a walk, doing a Mitzvah, etc) with a senior (this could be a grandparent, a neighbor, a family friend etc) for a photo-book with meaningful intergenerational messages that our High School girls in the “Better 2 Lead” program will be making for the seniors they visit. More info or to submit your picture: speak to Rabbi Yossi or: BnosChayaPrograms@gmail.com There will be prizes for photos in each age category. This need to be in before Pesach. Thanks all!
A TIMELY RASHI EXAMPLE
LAYERS WITHIN THE EARTH
WHY THE MAGNIFYING GLASS? What is Max looking for outside? Actually, a spark of fire! Rabbi Rubin learned with 5th grade a piece of Talmud on Beitza 33a, where Rashi says that he learned this from a Dr. Donolo from Lombardo, about starting a fire with focused sunlight. Max went outside to demonstrate it. It actually worked!
2nd graders did a science unit about layers within the earth, far underneath our feet, and how sometimes in some places the heat from deep within can come forth as a volcano. Their illustrated writings are hanging on a bulletin board all about it.
PERSON VS. OBJECT 7th grade Talmud learned their 2nd Talmud piece that divides between the focus on the person vs. the focus on the object. While on the subject, they learned about “Reb Chaim” Brisker (and his lineage back to Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner and forward to Rabbi Dr. JB Solveitchik) who was fond of such person vs. object categorizations. Rabbi Mendel also explained how Chassidic thinking emphasizes person-object interaction and connections.
4th graders were learning a Rashi in Parshat Vayeishev about Judah and Tamar (that has nothing to do with the Purim story) and they happened upon a Rashi that uses a quote from the Megillah as a Hebrew grammar reference. Good catch Nachman!
CROWN RING TOSS Mrs. Mattice came up with this math game in time for Purim. Students tried to throw rings onto parts of the crown (that had different point values depending on the difficulty level). Then they had to each tabulate their scores and keep track of points, adding them up! That’s good math fun…
HAND-MADE PURIM TAGS
HEBREW PURIM POEMS Morah Devorah Leah typed them up but 2nd graders wrote them! Great job!
NON-FICTION LITERATURE 7th grade English is moving into a new unit now exploring forms of non-fiction writing, whether it be a newspaper article, a history book, a biography or autobiography.
Younger students wrote out individual Purim tags for Mishloach Manot packages to be shared with local seniors. It was both a good handwriting practice and a personal touch for the Mitzvah. They attached the circle tags with string to the Purim packages, working as a nice team together.
MORE ISRAELI WONDERS This wall-portion (“under student construction”) isn’t visible in the photo on page 4. Some of the “70 Modern Wonders of Israel” depicted here include: solar-hot-water, swallowable medical cameras, laser printing, Naot sandals, etc.
MAD SCIENCE SHOW AT PURIM PRUNCH In keeping with our new emphasis on STEAM lessons and engaging learning, we hired Mad Science to do another show, all-new this time, at the Purim Prunch. The show dealt with the power of gases, the effects of pressure and surface tension, evaporation and absorption and all kinds of science concepts. Fun for all ages!
LOCAL KOSHER DINING
MISSED COSTUME PARADE Thanks to the snowfall we missed the annual
One week now before Spring Break mid-March Shushan Purim costume parade at school but UAlbany’s Kosher Kitchen in the Indian Quad (not Dutch anymore!) Dining Hall is open for lunch & dinner under Vaad Supervision. Visitor parking is just outside Indian Quad (which is the south-eastern of the four towers, the closest one towards the Jewish community area). Call 518-442-2668 for info, menu & cost.
Purim Prunch costumes are a nice glimpse.
LITTLE REPORTING THIS WEEK As the last day of school was on Wednesday, there’s little reporting and therefore mostly Purim projects and the Purim Prunch but not as much of reporting. Look for it next week.
at Maimonides and in the Community 3/3-4: SHABBOS POST-PURIM PARSHA KI TISA Shul Minyans can be tighter in inclement weather, everyone counts!
3/4: CHAVI GOLDBERG OF CYBERSEM SPEAKS Bnos Israel Mikvah presents Dr. Chavi Goldberg the founder of CyberSem to speak for our community, 1pm this Sunday at CBAJ.
3/4: GREAT UPSTATE BOAT SHOW Are boats your thing? Sunday is last day of the boat show at the Adirondack Sports Complex, Queensbury NY. Look up for more info.
3/4: SARATOGA HOME & LIFE Sunday is also last day of Home & Lifestyle Show in Saratoga Springs City Center. So if you are headed north you can visit both these shows.
3/4: BETH ISRAEL SOUP-R-BOWL 11am-4pm variety of soups for sale. Admission $5. enjoy soup and play some games, too. For more info call: Tobi Applebaum at 518-3998476 or Sandy Miller at 518-374-3335.
3/4: SCHENECTADY JCC PURIM Their Purim Carnival will be this Sunday, 2-4pm. Free. Call or check online for more details.
3/4: SNOWSHOE AT DYKEN POND $5pp. 1-3pm at Dyken Pond, Cropseyville. Call (518) 658-2055 or dykenpond@gmail.com for info/confirm/RSVP your snowshoes.
3/7: SALO YARTZEIT OBSERVED
NURSERY PURIM PROJECTS: MEGILLA, MASK, & MORE Morah Rivka and Morah Esty hold up (a yet uncolored) Megillah story scroll that each student decorated cylinder container for. They also made masks and were discussing costumes they could dress up as (the printed words some of them are holding).
Talmud Presentations & Luncheon program at school at noon commemorating first yartzeit of Salo Steper, who loved and promoted Talmud study and was a dear friend and supporter of Maimonides.
3/10: PIZZA NIGHT AT MHDS Is this the last Sat Night Pizza Night of the season? Be sure to come out and enjoy eat-in or take-out and support our High School’s extracurricular programming while you are at it!
3/11: ISRAEL’S SECRET SERVICE A Federation Joint Society event with Dr. Michael Bar-Zohar, former paratrooper and intelligence officer, best-selling author, professor and former member of Knesset to speak about “Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service” at CBAJ. $18pp ahead of time, $20 at the door.
3/18: GIANT TRY IT @ARTSCENTER
THE NEW GATE: 70 MODERN WONDERS OF ISRAEL
12-3pm at the Arts Center, 265 River Street, Troy. Mush clay, hammer Morah Rivi’s art students designed this “wall” of various made-in-Israel inventions metal, and break glass to your hearts content, no charge, for this one ranging from foods like cherry-tomatoes, Bamba, Krembo and Bissli to military afternoon try any of their many art studios and programs. equipment like the Lavie Jet and the Iron Dome, to everyday technology like Waze, Whatsapp, text messaging and flash memory. They aren’t up to 70 yet (for Israel’s 4/22: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE AUCTION EVENT upcoming 70th birthday) but it’s already quite a diverse collection! At 184 Washington Ave Extension. Stay tuned for details.
6/5: ANNUAL MAIMONIDES DINNER Save the date! More details soon. This year, 30th year of the dinner & Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award honoring Rabbi Yisroel & Rochel Rubin.
7/9-8/17: CAMP GAN ISRAEL DATES Gan Israel Day Camp announces its dates for the Summer 2018 season. For more information call Morah Devorah Leah: 518-698-1836.
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!”