Maimonides Community

BH. 7

Nissan, 5779 / April 12, 2019

‫ב“ה‬

Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District Candle-Lighting: 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org 7:16 Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 8:18 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

BETTER TOGETHER ESSAY CONTEST WINNERS Aharon Dov (left) was the middle school first place winner for Maimonides, and Ita G. (below) came in first place for our HS students. Runner ups included Chaiki and Bassie in Middle School and Tonya and Goldie in HS. Special thanks to our local judges Johanna Steper (who came to the certificate award ceremony), Sue Ann Grosberg and Ellen Kaplowitz for taking time to read through all the essays and judge them thoughtfully. Now our best essays go on to the Better 2 Write national competition for the Better Together program. Thanks to all the students who wrote such nice essays about connecting with and learning from seniors.

Many thanks to Rabbi Yossi for all his efforts for the Better Together program.

This MC Newsletter is dedicated in loving memory of

Leib Yisroel ben Eliezer - Yartzeit on Erev Pesach by his wife Maxine Morgenbesser and family LUNAR LANDING LIVE

SEDER PREP IN NURSERY

These nursery students are getting the Seder plates ready for their classroom Model Seder. They peeled BLACK HOLE IMAGE and cut, cleaned Big news this week when a and polished, major coordination of sorted and set, and scientists and telescopes all even dressed up in around the world captured festive clothing for this image of a never-before-seen black hole & this special exciting surrounding bright gases in a far-off galaxy. We classroom occasion.

We’ll have photos of their discussed the excitement when research or a actual model Seder in next week’s newsletter. theory is actualized, evident in physical reality, coordination needed to make this happen, is darkness more than absence of light, humility MHDS DINNER HONOREES… science has on how little it knows about black See page 4 for more info! Annual School Dinner invites coming soon. Save the date! holes despite this great achievement…

Maimonides had a watch party near dismissal time to see the live lunar landing of the long-awaited Beresheet Israeli spacecraft. Kids enjoyed round knishes and moon-looking “refrigerator cake” as they all sat together and watched the lunar approach live. Unfortunately, after 278,000 miles from earth it crashed on arrival (just after dismissal, so our kids missed seeing the problem). Yes, Beresheet did reach the moon but the mission can not continue as planned.

But the journey was still very significant and Israel isn’t giving up! There is much to learn from failure, indeed, resilience is a big factor in all of life’s successes. See another Dvar Torah message about this on page 3. But our school had a nice success—we got word that our video won 2nd place in the “Fly Me To The Moon” Israeli Embassy contest about introducing Judaism to aliens. Watch our 2-minute video at: tinyurl.com/maimonidesmoon

TALMUD SIYUM TRIP TO SEE THE END OF CANSTRUCTION AT THE NYS MUSEUM Rabbi Mendel took his 6th grade boys Talmud class to see the CANstruction exhibits at the NYS Museum just a day or two before they would be taken apart and donated to the regional food bank. They also brought their own cans to vote for their favorite sculptures. It was interesting to see how many cans and of what type went into each project and the various awards judges tagged them with: “Most total cans”, “Best meal of those cans” “Best in structural integrity” (do you see that wavy cat tail above?) “Best use of labels” and more. The historic carousel (well over 100 years old) is now back in use after being closed for repair and refurbishing so they had to hop on for a ride before heading back to school.

CHEMICAL CHAMETZ ADDITIVE 5/6 grade Talmud class learned with Rabbi Shmuly responsa from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein about chemical additives that can alter food so that “a dog wouldn’t eat it” but a different chemical changes it back to edible and Halachic status of such foods for Chametz & other issues.

HOW DID WE MISS THESE FISH? Not sure how we missed this school of colorful fish swimming in our lunchroom! It was made for Adar, which has the zodiac sign of a fish, and even though it isn’t Adar anymore, we thought they were too beautiful not to share!

SAVE PEELS & SCRAPS

THE DEPRESSION IS OVER High School girls and Ms. Ramsay finally

KINDERGARTEN finished their history unit on the Great PESACH ART Depression of the 1930’s in the United States.

BACKDROP Kindergarten students ABRAHAM’S painted an outlined TELESCOPE

backdrop painting for Over Pesach them to take pictures in people end up front of for Pesach. with a lot of peels and fruits and vegetables scraps.

Save a bag of those to bring to the WOW Learning Center outside school on Monday of Chol HaMoed (no school, but a special late morning AFIKOMAN BAG STITCHING program) as part of an Earth-Day Chol These students are proud of their handiwork.

HaMoed celebration. See more on page 4.

Not only did they learn to stitch these bags with Morah Rivi BOX GUITARS IN 2ND GRADE for their Seder Mrs. Mattice and her 2nd grade students made table but they box guitars with rubber band strings. They also learned how varied the rubber-band thickness and used to stitch lettering pencils to modify the sound depending on for it, too. Like their placement further and closer to the the Afikoman, central hole. This was STEAM class at work, children have much hidden to-be-discovered having fun while experimenting and tinkering, potential & they are our anticipated future creating something that works. and we get there one stitch at a time!

Well, actually it was ?? Patashnik’s backyard telescope but our third graders went to see it (and the sky) after learning about the promise G-d made to Avraham about his children being like stars in the sky. Mrs. Hoffman and Morah Devorah Leah enjoyed the visit, too!

EXODUS IN PSALMS Morah Raizy’s HS Tehillim class found and learned a bunch of references to the Exodus in a bunch of Psalm chapters (especially in the late 70’s and early 80’s and also in 105…)

SEDER PLATE MAKING AT THE MASSRY FOR BETTER TOGETHER Seniors shared their Passover memories with our HS students. One told how their extended family all lived together in a 3-story house and for Pesach they all went up to the top floor where the grandparents lived and extended the table using sawhorses & wood planks.

Together they made decorative Seder plates and since one of their grandchildren was there they all sang the Mah Nishtana, too!

A GOOD SPORT (COACH) 8th grader Mendel (Schen) played kickball with grades 1-3, he’s a very positive coach!

BEAUTIFUL ALBANY REGARDS AT ALUMNI WEDDING

Rabbi Rubin and Morah Rochel went to the Sohn wedding last night, MHDS alumna and MINUTE-TO-WIN-IT THIS WEEK also Maimonides teacher Elianna (Sohn) got Mrs. Maher’s students each tried to blow a ball married to Benji Cohen in Passaic NJ. There from one cup to another, the challenge was were so many Albany-connected families with that they were filled with water. Wasn’t easy! fond memories and warm regards, a beautiful Simcha! Also interestingly, the “younger” Rabbi A.M. Teitz (now 80) remembers Rabbi FRENCH & INDIAN WAR Rubin’s mother as a teacher in his father Mrs. Maher’s 4/5 social-studies class are now Rabbi P.M. Teitz’s school back in 1946!! learning about the French & Indian War (about 20 years before the Revolutionary War) A TALE OF TWO VERSES AND when the French & Indian nations joined forces against the British but lost.

THE BERESHEET LUNAR CRASH Rabbi Mendel shared with some classes two COTTON AND HISTORY verses Haazinu verses that he thought of when Nowadays, cotton is just an type of material in hearing of the lunar crash. First: Rashi's clothing, but going back in American history, commentary on the verse ‫ על גוזליו ירחף‬an there were many side effects of this natural eagle is a strong and powerful bird that pumps product including slavery and plantations, and its brakes and comes in for a soft landing so it the latest technology (back then) affected that comes down easy on its nest and eggs. Rabbi as well, including Eli Whitney’s invention of Rubin uses this teaching to explain the famous the cotton gin machinery. It was a good Avot expression ‫ קל כנשר‬light as an eagle, not invention that because of the situation of the about how it soars, but how gently and softly it times had a bad effect on people. comes down on its nest. First Rabbi Mendel thought the module crashed because it came down too hard on the moon. But then he LEARNING A ROCK SONG This wasn’t a “Rock ‘n Roll” song. It is a song heard it was about loss of communication, not a hard landing. That's from a different verse in about rocks, sedimentary to igneous, about pressure and heat, layers and more to the tune Haazinu, a few verses later where it says: ‫ותשכח‬ ‫ל מחוללך‬-‫ א‬that seems to be the culprit that of “Row Row Your Boat”. It’s a fun song and crashed #Beresheet. That second verse is about it helps you remember a lot of science facts. "forgetting G-d, our origin/source". Like the SHIMSHON PLAY IN NAVI CLASS lunar lander 238K miles away from home "forgot" and lost communication with 5th graders are working to prepare a play earth. Interestingly, the unusual word this about Samson (from the Book of Judges) in verse for source/origin ‫ מחוללך‬shares the same their Navi class with Morah Raizel. root as the modern Hebrew word for outer space ‫ חלל‬and space craft ‫!חללית‬

NEW LOCAL AUTHOR BOOKS Rabbi Michoel Caras “The Bitcoin Rabbi” just published a kids picture book about Bitcoin and how it works, you can get it at: BitcoinMoneyBook.com, Sarah Maddali has a new kids book out about Modeh Ani called “I Thank Hashem” that you can get at Israel Bookshop online.

SCAVENGER HUNT AT NYS-M 2nd grade enjoyed a Chumash Siyum trip to the NYS Museum where they worked in teams on a scavenger hunt.

PREP FOR PARKVIEW APTS

6th grade girls pictured here preparing boxes of Shmurah Matzah for seniors at Parkview 8th graders with Ms. Coffey did a fun bottleNEED A PLACE FOR THE SEDER? Apartments which they delivered today along flipping lab to demonstrate statistics. Ahava S. Call Rabbi Rubin 518-423-4103 to arrange for with holiday food packages from the Shalom came in first place. Students recorded their Food Pantry. Think of how you can enhance a place at the Seder table this year! outcomes and plotted it on a graph. someone else’s Pesach!

BOTTLE-FLIPPING LAB

at Maimonides and in the Community 4/13: SHABBOS HAGADOL DRASHA Shul. Info? Call Rabbi Rubin will be speaking at Shomray Torah about the (Passover absent) “Mizmor L’Todah” thanksgiving psalm, which has a connection to R’ Moshe Losice obm. Rabbi Roy Feldman will be speaking at CBAJ on “Passover’s Special Guest”.

4/13: RABBI REISMAN NAVI CLASS Sat nights live from Brooklyn at CBAJ now (that Shabbos ends later) at 10:00pm.

4/14: (INDOOR) GREENMARKET Year ’round farmer & crafts market at Proctor’s Theater Arcade, 10am-2pm every Sunday. This large Farmers Market moves outdoors in May.

4/14: LAST DAY OF BUTTERFLIES MISCI Museum in Schenectady has their indoor interactive butterfly exhibit house through April 14th. One day left! The Exhibit/experience is free with museum admission. (If you go, wearing bright light colors may help attract butterflies).

4/17: KLEZMER IN QUEENSBURY By clarinetist Paul Green at SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury, in the Dearlove Hall at 6pm.

4/19: EREV PESACH SIYUM PLUS

Asher Handler: 845423-0404 4/23: Six Mile Waterworks (on Fuller Road) Fishing Festival at 10am.

4/23: Erie Canal Design Challenge for kids, 10am11:30am in the NYS Museum Classroom.

4/23: Build-a-Bird A VINTAGE PHOTO OF “THE ALBANY HAGGADAH” project at NYS These Maimonides alumni are now living with their families and enriching Museum 2-3:30pm 4/23-25: Gallery of their communities in Kingston Ontario, Woodmere NY, Miami Florida, S. Barbara California, Schenectady NY, Dayton Ohio. They are pictured here in Earl Dotter’s photographs of the a “Times-Union” photo with Rabbi Rubin in a story about their research about the 5 Sages who stayed up all night at a Seder in Bnei Brak which dignity and danger of work in America became the basis of Rabbi Rubin’s 400-page (now nearly 1,000 pages digitally) are on display at the sefer titled “Marbeh L’Saper—the Albany Hagaddah”.

LOB Building Concourse Level 8am-5pm.

4/25: Crime Science Lab 2-3pm at the Albany Main Library run by MiSci. 518-382-7890 4/28: Garden Bros. Circus comes to town, on the day after Pesach! 3 shows on Sunday at the Albany Armory. See online for tickets, times etc.

Annual tradition at Maimonides. 7:55am Shacharit 4/29: MISHNA FOR MOSHE LOSICE at school, 8:45am Siyum on Daf Yomi tractate Because of the Pesach holiday, a formal “Shloshim” Chullin, a First-Born Break-Fast and communal is not observed, but on the first day back at school Chametz Burning. All welcome! after Pesach, which is a month since his passing, some of our classes will learn Mishnayot of R’ Moshe Losice’s name: Eliezer Moshe. May his 4/22: MID-PESACH EARTH DAY Special program outside Maimonides in the WOW memory be a blessing.

Learning Center 10:30am-12pm. It begins with a kids program led by Rabbi Motti, that will grow 5/1: COMMUNAL YOM HASHOAH into a special Earth-Day twist. Please bring a bag of Albany-area communal Yom HaShoah Holocaust your Pesach fruits and vegetable peels and scraps to commemoration 7:30pm at CBAJ. add to our compost bin. More info coming, save the date. Program ends at noon in time to enjoy >> NEW ANNOUNCEMENT!!! the rest of the 1st day of Chol HaMoed with family.

6/4: MAIMONIDES

DINNER

This year’s Maimonides Dinner will honor Josh 4/22-25: CHOL HAMOED PESACH and Amanda Gurock, who are dedicated parents, Monday thru Thursday this year. Does anyone have an invested school family with broad and lively ideas for outing and activities? Keep us posted so communal vision and involvement. The dinner will we can share as it gets closer. No school all Pesach. also recognize our school’s first 5-year completion of the Yahadus curriculum and our students Here are some local & nearby Chol HaMoed ideas: achievements, recognized nationally. This dinner 4/20-28: 1pm-11pm Rockland Fair with free will also be a communal remembrance for R’ admission and shows, pay for rides, all at the Moshe Losice who recently passed away after a Palisades Mall just past Monsey off the 87 Thruway. lifetime of local leadership and dedication. Look 4/22-24: Chol HaMoed at Skate-Time, 5164 Route for more info and dinner invites coming soon.

209 between Kingston and Ellenville. Arcades, Inflatables, Skating and more! $15pp benefits the Hebrew Academy of Sullivan County and Ellenville

SCHOOL PESACH SCHEDULE 4/11: High School Pesach Break begins.

4/17-18: Half-Day General Studies classes, 8am to 11:30am. Send snack, no lunch.

4/19: Erev Pesach Shacharit, Siyum Break-fast & communal Chametz Burning at Maimonides 4/19-28: No School—Pesach Vacation 4/22: Kids Rally and Earth Day Program outside Maimonides in the WOW Learning Center 4/29: School Resumes 8am

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!”