BH. Cheshvan
ב“ה
10, 5779 / October 19, 2018
Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 5:49 404 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 6:47 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
MAZAL TOV RABBI YOSSI AND MORAH LEYEE ON BABY BOY Mazal Tov to them, to the baby’s siblings at Maimonides and to the whole Mishpocha on the birth of a baby boy on Wednesday night. Much nachas!
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
MAZAL TOV KAUFMAN-BOMZER Mazal Tov to Yonina (Bomzer) and Shloime Kaufman on the birth of a baby girl. Mazal Tov to the grandparents Rabbi Moshe & Rebbetzin Bomzer.
This MC Newsletter is dedicated in loving memory of
Bluma Galperin
Yartzeit on Shabbos: Cheshvan 11 By her granddaughter Raizy & Mendel Rubin and family MOTHER HEROINE IN ISRAEL All of Israel is abuzz about the single mother from Beer Sheba who awoke at the siren and ran upstairs to get her kids out of bed into the safe room, and just in time: the rocket landed and exploded on the 2nd floor of their home where the children’s bedrooms were, and her quick thinking and quick action literally saved their lives. In Ivrit class with Morah Rivi, our students read in Hebrew parts of this “Yediot Achronot” newspaper article, which included a diagram of their home, the background of the rocket attacks against Israel and this woman’s alacrity and heroism. It tied back into what they learned in Ivrit last week how a lioness is especially protective of her cubs.
IS THIS MEZUZAH KOSHER? Rabbi Avraham Kelman showed 8th grade boys a series of Mezuzahs with different issues, ranging from rolled backwards to missing crowns, issues with letters etc, and discussed differences of lchatchila and bd’ieved, and how that traces back to differences in opinion amongst Rishonim, along other Halachos they learned about Kashrus of a Mezuzah & what scribes look for when they check them.
7TH CHESHVAN CORRECTION Avid newsletter readers noticed a mistake in last week’s edition when we wrote that on Zayin (7th of) Cheshvan “we switch to v’Tayn Tal uMatar” in the daily Amidah. That’s only true in Israel (and that makes this date significant in both practical and figurative ways), but in America we make that switch on December 4th. Thanks for your careful reading and bringing it to our attention!
“THE LITTLE HOUSE” BOOK Why did Rabbi Mendel bring in this old children’s book classic (from 1942) by Virginia Burton to the boys Talmud class? Because it connects to (and illustrates) both R’ Zeira’s explanation and Rava’s answer in Talmud Sukkah page 2a!
PJ LIBRARY: THE CRICKET AND THE ANT EXPLODING RAINBOWS In STEAM class last week these girls mixed baking soda, vinegar and food coloring to get these simultaneous bursting rainbows! It didn’t fit in last week’s MC, so here it is now.
This week’s PJ Library story hour at school was about a cricket and an ant each preparing for Shabbos. The best part was when Nursery kids starting sharing their recipes & instructions!
SEEING THE SEA DIFFERENTLY Several classes happened to learn about seas and oceans this week and last (timely then for Parsha Noach) whether it was about seafloor spreading, oceanic floor crust, or about how higher or lower sea temperatures affect storms and how its part of the global water-cycle.
TALMUD GOES FOR A STROLL One morning this week, 6th grade Talmud boys seemed tired, so Rabbi Mendel took them for a refreshing, rejuvenating walk around the block in the crisp, fresh fall air, while they discussed and reviewed the Talmud orally as they went.
TURNING SHAPES INTO A… Robot! Mrs. Mattice gave her students a bunch of shapes to turn into a person or robot, and it was interesting to see the different ways that shapes can be used, turned or put together to get the desired look.
Kindergarteners are doing math sheets that have corresponding tangible coins that match the colored circles on their paper.
Many are familiar with the Midrash story of young Avram breaking the idols in his father Terach’s idol shop. Morah Rivka made moonrocks with a cotton-ball center, coated with hardened flour and water paste mixture and then painted. Each kid got a “hammer” and a chance to break the rocks (safely). It had a cool effect, with the paste cracking under a little pressure.
MATH/SCIENCE INTERACTIVES Beyond Kindergarten, a number of elementary school grades now have math and science manipulatives that are part of the workbook activities. It could be a dial, a dice, a foldable, some kind of physical reinforcement of the concept studied.
BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS It’s really cool that 8th grade Yahadus class happens to be learning the Mitzvot and laws related to various business transactions, what constitutes and finalizes a Kinyan acquisition.. during the same year as they are running bakesale and drink-sale at school, getting a hands-on taste of some of the Halacha they are studying about business.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SID STARK! Last week’s MC forgot to mention that the Noach Kiddush at Shomray Torah was in honor of Sid Stark’s birthday/Bar-Mitzvah anniversary. Happy birthday Reb Sid!
Mrs. Mattice provided the frogs for the story, but her second graders each illustrated their own and wrote their own short story based on their illustrations. Some had it rainy, others had it sunny, some had the two closest frogs as brothers, others had them as friends.
ANIMAL BOOKS BREAKING THE IDOLS
COLOR-CODED COIN MATH
FROG STORIES
CHANGING BLOCKS These Nursery blocks are really cool because they are painted with chalkboard paint and the images, letters and numbers can change!
PILGRIMS COME TO AMERICA 6th grade history is landing at Pilgrim Rock! They are learning many angles of this historic voyage and settlement, from seeking religious freedom aboard the Mayflower to relations with the Native Americans (which wasn’t as rosy as often depicted) and how this played a role in the historical events that followed in this country.
This goes back to last week with Noach, the Ark and the Flood, these students each created their own animal books, with their own writing and illustrations. Hashem created each animal with unique strengths and characteristics, and the lessons we can learn from each of them!
UPCYCLE ETROGIM Kindergarten is now learning letter Beis/Bet and since Besamim starts with letter Bet, they worked on inserting cloves into used Etrogim to bring home as a fragrant and upcycled Mitzvah to be used for Havdalah. This is keeping with the theme that Rabbi Rubin has been recently developing about re/upcycling Mitzvot after their prime time use.
BAKE SALE UPDATE This past week, 8th grade girls bake sale made banana muffins, cinnamon cookies, rice-crispy treats, and cinnamon and chocolate rugelach. See what’s in store for this coming week! Info? Contact them at: 78bakesale@gmail.com
DIGGING FOR FOSSILS Using a National Geographic fossil digging kit, STEAM class picked away to find and identify and classify fossils. Rabbi Yossi showed them a section of Tiferet Yisrael commentary (printed in Yachin uBoaz Mishna sets) that explains fossils from a Torah perspective as well.
KEVER ROCHEL IN CHARCOAL This Shabbat (11th of Cheshvan) is yartzeit of the biblical Rachel, so Morah Rivi’s art classes did traced charcoal rendering of her iconic tomb in Beit Lehem, Israel. They came out beautiful and are hanging at the school’s main entrance. Some classes also listened to the “Mama Rochel” Shwekey song, with the background verse & story from Jeremiah, on what makes her tomb all the more special.
THANKS RABBI MEIR! Rabbi Meir Rubashkin of Oneonta, a parent at Maimonides, went beyond weekly recess duty with the boys—he showed them some cool basketball moves and techniques!
GHOSTLY CONNECTION 8th graders learned about the deadly costs of the ghost dances of the Sioux Indians which were fatally misinterpreted by American soldiers as a preparation for war. And then in Navi (Book of Samuel) class they learned the story of Shaul and the Witch, the eerie story of speaking to voices from the past, and how that, too, had deadly consequences.
THE FANCY TEFILLIN CAKE At the school assembly for Zayin (7th of Cheshvan) everyone got to enjoy a delicious piece of a very fancy Tefillin cake in honor of LONG & SWEET—LECH-LECHA Daf Yomi’s founder Rabbi Meir Shapiro’s This Parsha is about Avraham & Sarah’s long yartzeit. Rabbi Shapiro’s big project was a travels. Every day there are luxurious Yeshiva in students at our school who Lublin where yeshiva travel an hour or more (!) to students who be well get to school and back home cared for and be able again. Morah Rochel gave each to study carefree. of these students a special That’s why this cake sticker about their long daily was served in honor journeys to do sweet learning of our 6 Bar-Mitzvah boys, for all to enjoy a and she gave each one a “fruit by the foot” taste of rich, luxurious & creamy Torah! which is both long and sweet.
DECODE A PATTERN Mrs. Coffey’s 6th grade students worked to simply math expressions to arrive at the code needed to create these color patterns.
MRS MAHER’S SURPRISE PARTY
RAFFLE-AUCTION PREVIEW Some of this year’s prize packages will include: (1) A flip 2-in-1 touch laptop that turns into a tablet, thanks to Pavilion Electronics (2) A McLauren Stroller courtesy of “Everything but the Baby” (3) A trendy, practical knapsack-type bag from designer Rebecca Minkoff (4) large and varied Kitchen package with many useful small appliances (5) a Canon DSLR T6 camera with both 18-55 and 75-300 lenses (6) $300 at A Silver Breeze in Saratoga (7) Gorgeous rose gold, diamond & pearl earrings from Delmar Jewelers in Canada. (8) the Breakfast Package once again has a hot-water urn paid & shipped by the Horans in Baltimore! (9) New for this year is a Sewing Machine package! (10) Also new this year, look for the Amazon Echo, sponsored by the Kudan family… & more!!!
WELCOME NEW H.S. STUDENT We are very happy to welcome Tanya M. a new, out-of-town student who is joining our high school.
DID YOU SEE THE NEW T.T.N.? Yes, Rabbi Caras and the 8th grade boys have a new “Torah Times News” video episode. See a link for it at: www.TheTorahTimes.com
YAHADUS CURRICULUM Now after the holidays the Yahadus is back in full swing in grades 4-8 students please need to take the after-school time to study and review.
DRINK-SALE ON MONDAY
Hot-cocoa is a big hit! It costs 50 cents per cup Her 4th and 5th grade students surprised her BET FOR BAYIT (HOUSE) and marshmallows are 10 cents extra. More with a birthday party this week, which had This cute drawing of a home was made by a info, allergy questions, to set up a tab, contact everything from confetti, to birthday cards, to Kindergartener as they learn the letter Bet. See 8th grade boys: MHDSdrinksale@gmail.com a delicious cake (even if they forgot some stuff) page 4 for how it turned out with watercolors.
at Maimonides and in the Community
UAlbany’s Kosher Kitchen in the Indian Quad Dining Hall is open for lunch and dinner and is under Vaad Supervision. Visitor parking is located just outside Indian Quad. Call 518-442-2668 for info, menu and cost.
10/20: SHABBOS PARSHAS LECH LECHA It’s also 11th of Cheshvan, yartzeit of Rachel Imenu.
10/21-11/4: NON-MEMBERS WELCOME AT BJ’S BJ’s opens its doors to non-members through Nov 4th to try the wholesale club, and shop and save as a member until that date.
10/21: FALL FAMILY FUN AT ASHOKAN CENTER The Ashokan Center in Olivebridge NY (near the Ashokan Reservoir) is about 80 minutes drive from Albany. This fun day 10am-4pm is $5pp, kids under 12 are free, includes: apple-cidering, black-smithing, broom-making, hay-rides, nature-hikes and more. See www.AshokanCenter.org
10/26-27: URBAN SCHOLAR AT CBAJ Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger teaches at Wagner College and is a Rabbi in Bayonne NJ. He will speak at CBAJ on urban policy and Jewish thought.
DOES THIS LOOK LIKE KINDERGARTEN ART? It is indeed! They each drew an Armon (mansion/palace) for Alef, and Bayit (house) for Bet, and then added watercolors. Morah Chani backed and framed each one on black paper, and then hung it in their classroom. It looks like a fancy art gallery!
10/28: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN JEWISH COMMUNITY 12/9: VIOLINS OF HOPE—A HOLOCAUST FILM Dr. Amy Weintraub of Manhattan (also of Albany) directs Center for Victim Support at Harlem Hospital and will speak on this issue at Beth Emeth, 10am on Sunday. Info? dsokoler@bethemethalbany.org or 518-436-9761 x230
11/4: CHABAD SHLUCHIM KINUS BANQUET Sunday evening, see it streaming live online on Chabad.org
11/4: FEDERATION’S GRAND EVENT WITH LIEL L. 6pm at Agudat Achim in Schenectady, featuring Tablet Magazine Editor and talented and insightful writer Liel Liebovitz speaking on “How the wise ol’ sage of Rock and Roll saved my life”. This event is open to Federation contributors of $1,000 annually per family.
11/4&8: CLOCKS FALL BACK ONE HOUR
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library on Moe Road screens “Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust” 6pm. Yehoshua Sussman will also play melodies. Sponsored by Clifton Park Chabad. Info? 518-495-0772.
12/9: A JOINT COMMUNAL CHANUKAH EVENT... Stay tuned for something special planned for the last evening (& second Sunday) of Chanukah. Still in the works, more details soon.
12/10: ANNUAL MAIMONIDES RAFFLE-AUCTION It’s not too early to start thinking about prize packages to solicit or donate for this school fundraiser. The event and drawings will be Monday, the 8th and last day of Chanukah. If you’d like help, call Raizy 518-772-7299.
12/21-25: JEWISH GIRLS WINTER RETREAT
After midnight on Sat night November 3rd into 4th. The first “early Friday” at Contact Nechama Laber for more information on this annual overnight school will be that week on November 8th. Timely pickup is very important. midwinter camp experience: 518-727-9581 / NechamaLaber@gmail.com
11/8-9: ROSH CHODESH KISLEV Two days. Thursday morning 8am Minyan at Maimonides.
11/9-11/11: R’ HAMMER SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE Rabbi Shalom Hammer of Israel (who once spoke at Maimonides) will be the weekend scholar-in-residence all Shabbat at Cong. Beth Israel in Schenectady culminating with the Jack Lauber Memorial Lecture on Sunday.
11/12: VETERANS DAY: PARENT-TEACHER CONF No School on Veterans Day (observed on Monday) there will be parentteacher conferences instead. PARENTS stay tuned for meeting schedule. If you can not make it please let office know ahead of time, to adjust schedules.
11/17: DAUGHTERS OF SARA MYSTERY CHALLENGE 7:30-10:30pm at the NYS Museum, a fun, engaging annual benefit with proceeds going to the DOS Senior Community.
11/18: MEGA KIDS CHALLAH BAKE AT THE JCC 2:30-4:30pm, contact Chanie Simon coordinator for more info: 439-3310
SOME COMMUNAL CHANUKAH EVENTS PLANNED Stay tuned for updates in upcoming MC Newsletters… 12/2: Sunday night, 1st Night! Chanukah programs at Bethlehem Chabad (south of Albany) and Clifton Park Chabad (north of Albany) and a Menorah Lighting at Troy’s Victorian Stroll 12/3: Monday night, Chanukah event at UAlbany for college students 12/5: Wed night, Chanukah Bowling in Saratoga 12/6: Thursday, Friendship Circle Chanukah Event 12/7: CHANUKAH FRIDAY, NO SCHOOL AT MAIMONIDES 12/8: Sat Night Chanukah on Ice at the YMCA in Delmar, stay tuned for Chanukah Menorah lighting at Colonie Center 12/9: Joint Chanukah event and Car Menorah Parades, stay tuned!!! 12/10: Chanukah Dinner & Raffle-Auction at Maimonides Stay tuned for more events and event updates
SCHOOL DATES TO KEEP IN MIND: 11/12: Monday, No School, Parent-Teacher Conferences. 11/21: Wednesday, half-day, Hebrew Only (before Thanksgiving) 11/22-24: No School Thanksgiving Break 12/7: No School on the Friday of Chanukajh
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!”