Maimonides Community

BH.

RC Adar II, 5779 / March 8, 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 5:35 Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 6:36 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

MAZAL TOV SIMONS On the engagement of MHDS alumna Chaya Simon to Aaron Mishulovin of LA. Mazal Tov to Rabbi Nachman and Clara and all the Simon siblings—and her nieces and nephew current students at Maimonides.

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

MAZAL TOV MADDALIS To Sara and Parnav and family on the birth of a baby daughter named Chana. Kiddush this Shabbos at Shomray Torah.

Much Nachas!

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by a visitor to the NYS Capitol who enjoyed our Minyan and was impressed by our school.

NURSERY SILLY HAT ADAR DAY AN ALBANY JEWISH SAILOR

Charles M. Stern Jr. was a US Navy ensign aboard USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. Recent Pentagon efforts to identify CRAFTS remains have confirmed First graders learned his death at age 26, his a unit on bees, and newlywed wife (they with Mrs. Mattice were only married 6 months) witnessed the they made cute bees bombing from their apartment in Hawaii. out of recycled Stern was one of three sons of Charles Mann materials: wings of Stern Sr. and Esther Barnet.

He was born in cut-up ribbed plastic Albany.

A Maimonides parent alerted us to bottles, the 3 body parts of head, thorax this information, perhaps one of our MC newsletter readers might know the family. & abdomen were made of egg cartons & squiggly antenna DAF YOMI THIS SUNDAY Will be taught by some of our 8th graders, made of leftover more details on page 4. Come and learn! pipe cleaners.

Nursery students are posing here with Morah Rivka with a varied assortment of fun hats for Rosh Chodesh Adar II. Straw hats, light-up hats, knit hats and striped hats, construction and fire hats, even a Spiderman hat!

RECYCLED BEE

TALMUDIC OVENS Rabbi Shmuel Kochman gave our 8th grade students a hands-on vivid learning experience (that few other Halacha students get!) about the various types of ovens Tanur, Kurayim etc mentioned in the Talmud and Halacha regarding cooking before and on Shabbos. R’ Shmuel built these ovens himself and then the boys tried melting snow in pots on them just outside the WOW Learning Center outside school. In addition to a much clearer grasp of the Halacha and all the associated terms, he also shared with them inspirational life messages learned from the shape of the Tanur oven and the reassuring inspiration from the fact that even when the coals are raked over and covered, a single determined spark can reignite it all— similar to how it is with the soul!

TRYING TO SAVE THE FAMILY FARM 4th graders are now reading “Stone Fox” about little Willy’s efforts to save the family farm while his grandfather is sick and there’s the threat from taxcollectors. The (dogsled) race is on!

KERIAH METER II 3rd graders are now filling up their 2nd Keriah meter of the year. Each time they read at home, they fill up more of it until they earn a class activity or outing. Reading practice in both Hebrew & English is very helpful!

EVOLUTION AND RABBI RUBIN Before High School began a science unit of evolution, Rabbi Rubin came in to discuss it from a religious perspective.

IDENTIFYING MINERALS Mrs. Maher’s science class learned criteria for identifying minerals: streak, luster, hardness and color. They also have varying densities & different properties under varying conditions.

REMEMBERING BEA GREENBERG OBM & MASSRY VISITS Mrs. Bea Greenberg passed away this week. Her husband was Sol Greenberg, a former Albany District Attorney. Our students (11th graders and alumni pictured) visited her and friends at The Massry assisted living for their Better Together/Better2Lead program.

MOMMY & BABY SNOWMEN Or snowwomen? Kids love playing in & with the snow. The days that weren't too cold, it was good to get out and play.

THE BIG HUGE PURIM BOOK

PAPER CRYSTAL MOBILES Mrs. Maher’s science students made folded paper crystals in the appropriate shapes and wrote their names and characteristics on each.

After each making 8 different crystal types they strung them up on mobiles in their window or around the classroom.

This week at Better2Lead with Massry residents, our HS students read the Purim story out of an oversized book titled “The Big Purim Story” and it STORY PLOT DIAGRAMS was a lot of fun. Plus they brought 6th grade are using plot diagrams in Mr. Dan the residents Hamantaschen.

Conley’s English class to write their own short stories. Even in short one page or two they AN ELDERLY CONTRAST need to include exposition, rising action, This week Mr. Conley had the HS Girls read conflict, climax, falling action, and resolution. and contrast two of Hemingway’s works about older people: The “Old THE KIDDUSH TEST Man & The Sea” contrasted with “A HS Girls had a Kiddush test this week (no, it THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE Clean, Well-Lighted Place” in how the wasn’t a wine tasting!) only 24 questions but Mrs. Ramsay and 6th grade history are older man is perceived.

It’s pretty included complex scenarios and statements, to learning about the Lewis & Clark expedition interesting, telling, and fits with the see when and under what conditions would and the major expansion of the United States. whole Better Together theme at school. certain statements be accurate, in what They did a worksheet about it alongside a instances would they apply? video about Lewis and Clark—Lewis was most interested in observing animals and plants and A MATH recording them, while Clark was the one who made detailed maps of this yet unknown land. MEGILLAH: WHERE, WHEN...

PLATE Ms. Coffey’s HS Rabbi Shmuly’s Mishna classes are learning DRINK-SALE TAB LINES students made this how early you can read Megillah based on the Some families have run dry! Boys are asking to size of the town, the days of the week, and easy visual to learn refill the tabs so kids can enjoy once-a-week about radians and whether it has a wall around it or not. Small treat of hot chocolate or fresh popcorn, etc. functions. towns have an early-bird advantage!

BEAUTIFUL LAYERED VILLAGE ART NOW ON DISPLAY Several grades did this artwork style with Morah Rivi, dividing their paper into layers and levels to create a tiered landscape perspective. Morah Rochel said it reminds her of the artwork style of “Shalom of Tzfat” layer upon layer with layers overlapping & melding into each other. These pieces and more are now all on display hanging up in the big upstairs room at school. There’s a lot of detail and design involved!

MISHKAN MATH Rabbi Shmuly and 8th grade tallied up numbers and did the detailed math of Pekudei’s Mishkan materials accounting and saw how it all adds up! They also learned units of measure of Kikar, Manah, Shekel etc, and how Mishkan Shekel measures were larger standard measures than for general or personal use.

FINDING THE AREA 6th graders have no problem finding the area of a square, but are now working on doing the same (each has its own formula) for triangles, trapezoids, & parallelograms, circles and rectangles. They worked in as teams to fit these coloring paper shapes to build a person on the wall with head, body, arms and legs—and then measure the total area. This ties nicely into Gemorah Sukkah where they learned a lot about minimum area size, but new formulas are needed to convert that area size if the shape is different than a easy to calculate square.

MISHKAN BUILDERS STEAM students in the Makerspace built Mishkan vessels out of Legos and used LED lights for Menorah lights and Mizbaiach fire.

IN PREP FOR PIZZA NIGHT...

High School girls learned and discussed “The Inner Mystical Significance of Pizza” in prep for their last Pizza Night of the season this Sat night. This Pizza Night will also feature parentchild learning and a special shiur by Rabbi Roy Feldman of CBAJ.

A SELFIE FROM SPACE! The top photo has been all over the internet, it’s a selfie from space with the earth in the background taken by the unmanned lunar module now in orbit that Israel is sending to the moon. We love the “Am Yisrael Chai” in the picture! The above image (yellow infographic) is all about the First Women in Space in honor of International Womens Day.

COLONIAL CLOTHING LAYERS Mrs. Maher’s social-studies students are learning about Colonial time and life back then. This week they cut out paper dolls and decorated paper clothing layers that people would wear back then to add to their interactive book on Colonial America.

BASEMENT ORGANIZATION 6th grade boys helped Rabbi Shmuly organize the “outdoor” basement storage area at school and found creative ways to store and stack things more efficiently. While cleaning up and FOR PURIM I WILL BE... putting things away they found this giant Mrs. Mattice’s first graders illustrated a page of colorful Megillah-shaped Purim sign with the what they each plan to dress up as for Purim 4 Mitzvot of Purim and were very eager to and then underneath it they will write work as a team to shlep it up and have to descriptive sentences about their planned displayed outside the main entrance at school.. costumes. Can’t wait to see them in costume!

PURIM TZEDAKAH & TUITION On Purim Day it is a Mitzvah to give to those in need. One way to do it is to give money before Purim to Rabbi Rubin or other Rabbis to distribute discreetly to the needy. Children and Jewish education feature in the Purim story, and it is now well into midyear, so it is also an appropriate time for those behind with tuition to please make arrangement to pay in a timely fashion so the school can function.

at Maimonides and in the Community 3/9: SHABBOS PEKUDEI-CHAZAK

3/11: ALB WOMENS GROUP EVENT

This Shabbos we finish Book of Shmot/Exodus!

Kiddush at Shomray Torah this week by Maddali’s in honor of their newborn daughter Chana.

Albany Jewish Womens Circle’ pre-Purim event, 8pm at Weisburg home 34 Davis for an art night making inspirational wooden décor signs. $7pp advance/$15 at the door. RSVP: 646-545-1228

3/9: THE LAST PIZZA NITE! Before clocks change, this last Pizza Nite of winter season will also feature parent & child learning 7:30pm and also a shiur by Rabbi Roy Feldman of CBAJ. Pizza should start by 7:30/45.

3/9: RABBI REISMAN NAVI CLASS Sat nights live from Brooklyn at CBAJ at 7:30pm.

3/13: K.P.C. WEEKLY SPECIAL To pre-order the weekly Wednesday prepared dinner special at Kosher Price Chopper, email JohnPiccolo@pricechopper.com to be added to the weekly email list with menu, pricing & other info.

3/20: PURIM NIGHT EVENTS  University Heights and NextDor plan a Purim

3/9-10: CHANGE THE CLOCKS After pizza night, the clocks change as we “Spring Forward” and the start of longer days and full Fridays at school. The official time switch happens at 2:00am Sunday. Remember that Sunday morning Minyan is on the “new” changed time.

3/10: DAF YOMI BY STUDENTS Sunday morning after Shacharit at Shomray Torah some of our 8th graders will lead study of tractate Chullin page 104 on laws of meat and milk, which they have been learning with Rabbi Rubin.

3/10: J-FED’S SUPER SUNDAY Call-a-thon reaching out to Capital Region area donors to support the Jewish Federation and its local beneficiaries (including Maimonides) and its overseas & Israel partners. Maimonides parents are asked to kindly volunteer a shift for this effort.

3/10: PJ LIBRARY SUPER-SUNDAY 1:30-2:30pm at the Jewish Federation, story-time and craft during the heart of Super Sunday. Please register ahead: Contact Amy Drucker at (518) 7837800 ext. 229 or adrucker@jewishfedny.org.

3/10: (INDOOR) GREENMARKET Year ’round farmer & crafts market at Proctor’s Theater Arcade, 10am-2pm every Sunday.

3/10: BUTTERFLIES BACK @ MiSci MISCI Museum in Schenectady has their indoor interactive butterfly exhibit house back, even with the winter cold outside. Exhibit/experience is free with museum admission, and some local libraries have museum passes to cover (part of that) as well.

3/12: KOSHER DINING AT INDIAN Kosher Dining (Vaad Supervision) at UAlbany’s Indian Quad is open for lunch and dinner with a new dedicated gourmet chef Olga. It is a student cafeteria, community is welcome.

party for grad students & young professionals.

7:30pm. Contact Rabbi Mathless 518-522-1872.  PurimTini at Bethlehem Chabad, a Purim night celebration for adults.  Shomray Torah to have festivities (and possibly Purim Seudas—stay tuned!) for night and day.  CBAJ Mincha 6:50 Megillah+Break-Fast 7:30pm.

3/21: PURIM PRUNCH AT MHDS Maimonides’ late morning Purim Prunch allows many to see each other in costume, swap Mishloach Manot and celebrate.

3/21: MANY PURIM DAY EVENTS Some of these Purim events have costs, please contact them ahead for more details.  Maimonides Purim Prunch: Megillah 10:30am, “POINTS TO Prunch follows. We’re going into Orbit along PONDER” with Israel’s “Beraisheet” moon mission!

ARTICLE  “Purim in the City” with Saratoga and Clifton See this coming Park Chabad at the Hyatt Place in Malta 5:30pm “Jewish World with interactive Megillah, a deli buffet, Graffiti Newspaper” for a wall art, Make NY-style deli pickles, and more! reformatted version  “Purim at the County Fair” 5:30 at Bethlehem of Rabbi Rubin’s Chabad with a dog show, caricatures, live game multifaceted Hashow, and fair booths, corn dogs and more! mantasch wisdom.  Purim Celebration with Labers and Chabad of S. Renssalear County at 12 Thompson Rd 5:30pm  CBAJ + Hebrew Academy Bounce Party, Purim Meal & Carnival—5pm on Purim afternoon.

4/1: GORDON UPSHERNISH  R’ Itche Gordon’s annual Purim Night men’s R’ Itche and Morah Dini Gordon will celebrate the farbrengen starting at 9:30pm at their home.

Upshern of their son Mendel at Maimonides.

3/21-22: SCHOOL PURIM-WISE While there is a Purim-Prunch event at school on Purim Day, there’s no school on Purim so families can enjoy all the communal and family festivities— and school starts at 9:30am on Shushan Purim Friday. Davening will be 9:30am-10am followed by the annual Shushan Purim Costume Parade…

Don’t forget to come in costume on Friday, too!

4/7: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE GALA 6:30pm at the Albany Elks Lodge. $54pp or $72/a couple. Register www.capitalfriends.org/events/gala honors Jeff Weiss of Glennpeter Jewelers & more.

For info call Chaya: 518-488-8992.

6/4: MAIMONIDES DINNER Stay tuned for honorees and info. Important annual school fundraiser & communal event.

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!”