BH. 22
Adar II, 5779 / March 29, 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 7:00 Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 8:01 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
CAPTAIN MICHEL BACOS OBM Captain Michel Bacos was the heroic captain of Air France Flight 139 that was hijacked in 1976 by Palestinian & German terrorists and flown to Entebbe, Uganda. When the terrorists separated the Israelis/Jews and non-Jews and allowed non-Jews to leave, Captain Bacos famously decided to stay with the Israelis/Jews, because as captain he felt responsible for all passengers, so he and his crew stayed with the Jews as hostages. At that time, no one had the slightest idea that Israelis would come rescue them in the famous Operation Thunderbolt, the daring rescue raid. He passed away this week at age 95 in Nice, France. Our school made a Kiddush in his memory, for he made a decisive and courageous life-threatening sacrifice in defense of the Jewish people.
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
This MC Newsletter is sponsored by a Maimonides alumnus who enjoys reading the MC Newsletter even from afar and appreciates and misses our school’s unique Chinuch, style & approach. Regards to Albany! DR JONATHAN PASTERNAK OBM LUNAR LANDER WATERCOLOR
MAZAL TOV KUDAN & BERMAN This was a very special Albany wedding as it is a local Albany Shidduch! Mazal Tov to Avi & MHDS alumna Miriam (Kudan) Berman and their parents and families. Much Nachas!
In STEAM class this week, 3rd graders painted the various different parts of the SpaceIL lunar lander module using different colors to learn about the various parts of the spacecraft. Rabbi Yossi also did this same watercolor project with our Better 2 Lead high school girls and the seniors at the Massry Residence. It was especially interesting for the seniors who had vivid memories of the moon landing in 1969—fifty years ago.
Dr. Pasternak, a former air force surgeon, had been long-time pediatrician and Rofeh Yedid (a doctor & friend) to many area & Maimonides school families before his retirement. He was an excellent diagnostician, serious about his craft but with an easy-going calm and practical non-alarmist approach. He passed away in Tucson Arizona (where he lived in retirement). The funeral will be back here in Albany this Wednesday April 3rd at 2pm at the Levine Memorial Chapel (with a military burial at the Saratoga National Cemetery). Condolences to his wife Lois and the Pasternak family.
PAINTING MAZAL TOV BRENNERS Mazal Tov to Dr. Arthur and Nanette Brenner BRICKS on the recent engagement of their daughter
PESACH CLEANING Nursery students have begun Pesach cleaning of their tools and toys. Note their excited enthusiasm and eager investment. Hopefully this extends to their helpfulness at home as families get ready for Pesach—3 weeks away!
Nursery kids are painting, too, but they are painting bricks to remind them of the hard brick-making & laying work the Jews did in Egypt as they learn about Mitzrayim and the Pesach story in a hands-on multi-sensory way.
Lianna (who studied at Maimonides) to Eli Peltz. Wishing them much happiness and their parents much Nachas!
MAZAL TOV TO THE LOSICES Mazal Tov to Adina (Losice) & R’ Simcha Herbstman on the marriage this past Tuesday of their son Alexander to Deena Bard. And R’ Moshe Losice had a bracha under the Chupah.
INDEPENDENT VS DEPENDENT 11th graders are learning with Ms. Coffey about the difference between independent and dependent when it comes to probability in Algebra II-Trig.
PESACH VERBS Morah Devorah and the first graders did not waste any time! As soon as Purim was over, the new Hebrew Pesach verbs started to go up around their new Pesach bulletin board. They JOSHUA BELL IN THE SUBWAY learned terms like Bo’er = burn/destory, Bodek 6th graders saw a video of one of the world’s = search, Motzei = to find, Tovel = to dip, Shover greatest violinists playing in the Metro where = to break, Maggid = to tell/say… and of course no one recognized him and hardly anyone the masculine and feminine term for each. paid him any attention. But the same people might have paid a lot of money to hear the same violinist play the same melodies in a fancy theater! It shows you about the oversized role that context and setting play. The boys were especially interested in the animated vigor and passionate emotional investment that Bell plays with, his whole body gets into it (as the verse says we should do when we pray)!
A RECIPE CHALLENGE Mrs. Chaya Rubin had 5/6 grade girls over for a recipe challenge. They were divided in teams, given the ingredients and had to come up with a cookie-dough. Tziporah also showed her friends how to make their own origami designs out of paper.
COLONIAL SCHOOL KIDS GANVACH, RAKVASH SUKKAHS Mrs. Maher’s social studies students are now HISTORIC OVEN TYPES Rabbi Shmuly’s Mishna students learning tractate Pesachim came across the same oven types that Rabbi Shmuel Kochman made with the 8th grade boys to better understand the Halachot of Shabbos cooking. So, they went out to the WOW—Outdoor Learning Center and got a closer look. They saw the words of Rabbi Ovadia Bartenuro in three-dimensional actual physical concrete!
6th grade Talmud learned this week (had the test yesterday) about 2 sets of 4 types of Sukkah huts, all 8 were not built for the sake of Mitzvah/holiday, but did match its requirements. They learned why 8 Sukkah-huts are grouped into 2 sets of 4, each with its own Braysah and how Rav Chisda interprets the condition that makes these not-for-Sukkot Sukkahs Kosher!
THE OREGON TRAIL GAME
6th grade history played The Oregon Trail via KING AHAB & QUEEN JEZEBEL Powerpoint in their classroom as part of their Social Studies unit on westward expansion. HS girls are learning about this wicked king & They earned/lost points (or lives!) & resources queen back in the days of Elijah the Prophet based on choices, decisions and circumstances in their Navi class with Morah Dini as they along their virtual journey westward. journey through the Book of Kings. Right now they are learning about this royal couple’s devious appropriation of Navos’ field through WHY DO SOME ROCKS FIZZLE? Mrs. Ramsay’s science students each brought manipulative execution of its owner. in sample rocks. When they poured vinegar over them some rocks fizzled & bubbled but LATIN AMERICA some did not. The difference is whether rocks High School’s World History class with Ms. have calcium carbonate or not. Limestone is a Ramsay are now learning about Latin America commonly found local rock type that has it. post-1600’s; its leaders, politics, economics, Their volcano project? It is still in the making, and societal structures, and the changing they’re working their way towards eruption. effects of European influence and conquests.
learning about school children in Colonial times. Turns out it was common then to go to bed at 8pm and wake up at 4:00am to do chores (which included chopping wood, carrying water from the well, making soap or caring for the farm animals). They did more household or farm chores when coming home from their school day. Two of their most important classes back then were penmanship and manners.
KERIAHMETER IS OFF THE CHARTS Wow! 3rd graders have been doing a lot of reading practice! Their Keriah-Meter has been climbing steadily higher and now they are at the top! But keep on reading, it helps a lot!
RED ROBOT TOY Our kids had some STEAM fun playing around with this 3 -wheeled red robot toy, which has several game modes and a remote control (he can also go about all on his own, depends on the setting/programming).
MATH PROBLEM ENDS UP AS… A Hebrew letter “Shin”. Not sure if you can see the screen pictured, but the math problem E is dealing with presents itself as a letter Shin!
JEOPARDY IN ENGLISH CLASS
KASHRUTH LESSONS
Mr. Conley tested HS girls knowledge of the “Old Man and the Sea” by Hemingway with a jeopardy game in these 5 categories: Locations, Characters, Literary Devices, Vocabulary and “Something Fishy” (it’s a lot about fish).
Kosher is a big theme in this week’s Torah portion. Our 8th graders have been learning Talmud Chullin for a while now with Rabbi Rubin, and this week will be having a special Shiur on Chullin from the Chassan Avi Berman who is learning Chullin and Shulchan Aruch for Semicha at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Yossi showed younger grades a video about “60x nullification” and how it works by Rabbi Berel Bell of Montreal.
STARTING TO FEEL LIKE SPRING Mrs. Hoffman’s Kindergarten students made these Springthemed drawings. But we still may have some cold spells yet so please be sure kids are properly dressed for outdoor play.
MINUTE TO WIN IT—THE DROP
“LONG SHORT” COMIC BOOK Mrs. Levin brought back from Israel a kids comic book of Tanya teachings in Hebrew that Morah Dini is using in Ivrit classes to enjoy the Hebrew text (some of it is quite difficult, but they are enjoying it and catching on). Comics are another fun way to learn!
This week’s “Minute-toWin-it” challenge in Mrs. Maher’s class was to drop ping-pong balls from the height of standing atop a chair down into a cup on the floor. Another pingpong ball challenge was getting into bounce into an open egg carton.
GRASSHEADS AND SOIL IN 2ND THE WORLD ON A PLATE
IVRIT CLASS AFIKOMAN BAGS They thought they had Ivrit class but instead Morah Rivi surprised them with an pre-Pesach Afikoman bag craft project where they would make their own fabric Hebrew lettering. Jacob proudly displays his stitching, next comes a closing button and the Hebrew lettering.
Mrs. Mattice’s 2nd grade learned about soil types & what makes fertile soil and then made (funny ) face grassheads using soil and grass seeds. Adults, this is also a thoughtprovoking life question: Using soil as an example, what helps the mind be as fertile & growth-supportive as possible?
KING SAUL AND JONATHAN
These students colored in the continents and oceans in blue and green on a paper plate!
“HOW’S THE WEATHER OUT?” Morah Dini planned an outdoor MitzvahMavens trip for the girls this Thursday but it was too cold and windy out. They stopped for lunch in Price Chopper and someone who was working all day inside asked them, “How is the weather outside?” Morah Dini was about to say how bad it was (because it affected their trip) but Odelia said, “It’s really nice out, much better than it has been in a while!” Wow, what a nice lesson about positive attitude and perspective!
6th grade Navi class (Book of Samuel) is now learning about King Saul’s jealousy & pursuit QUADRILATERALS IN MATH In Geometry class with Ms. Coffey HS girls are of David, and the special friendship of Saul’s learning how to identify and classify properties son Jonathan with David despite his father’s intent to kill David. They are now learning of different types of quadrilaterals (4-sided DECIMALS IN GRADE 4 MATH shapes) from kites to how that deeply affected the relationship Mrs. Maher’s students are learning about trapezoids to rhombi between Saul and his son Jonathan. Complex! decimals. The precise placement distance from and parallelograms— the decimal is important, too! It may be only a even good ol’ squares REGARDS FROM ISRAEL little tiny dot, but it makes a huge difference! HS student Chaya L. there for family wedding. and rectangles!
at Maimonides and in the Community 3/26: CBAJ UNIVERSITY
4/1: GORDON UPSHERNISH
3 Tuesday evenings at 8pm with Rabbi Feldman: 3/26: How it all Began: Who wrote the Bible & what really happened at Sinai? 4/2: How Rabbis Read Bible: Midrash & Medieval Interpretation. 4/9: Modern interpretation of the Bible & traditional response to Biblical Criticism.
R’ Itche and Morah Dini Gordon will celebrate the Upshern of their son Mendel 10am during the school day at Maimonides. This will also include his “Hachnosa L’Cheder” (his formal introduction to school and the Alef-Bais) and the community is welcome to attend.
3/28-4/1: GIRLS CHIDON WKND
4/1: A TAILOR’S TALE
We have a very nice group of girls representing our school at the international Chidon Shabbaton this weekend. Boys who qualified will go the following weekend. Other Maimonides students who made an effort for this challenge will have a special trip with Morah Dini on the corresponding weeks.
3/29-30: SHABBOS SHEVABRACHOS The Kudans and Bermans are happy to invite the community to (1) Friday Night Dessert and Sheva Brachos (approx 9:30/10pm) at the Kudan home 6 Peyster Street as well as (2) a Shabbos Day Grand Kiddush Luncheon after Musaf at Shomray Torah.
3/30: SHABBOS SHEMINI, PARSHA PARAH & MEVORCHIM NISSAN This Shabbos we read Parsha Shemini, plus the bonus seasonal reading of Parsha Parah and also bless the new month of Nissan! That means Pesach is really coming up soon…
3/30: CBAJ MYSTERY SHABBOS For those signed up to be mystery Shabbos hosts with CBAJ you will find out who your mystery Shabbos guest(s) are this Shabbos Lunch at 1pm.
3/30: RABBI REISMAN NAVI CLASS Sat nights live from Brooklyn at CBAJ now (that Shabbos ends later) at 9:30pm.
3/31: (INDOOR) GREENMARKET Year ’round farmer & crafts market at Proctor’s Theater Arcade, 10am-2pm every Sunday.
3/31: BUTTERFLIES BACK @ MiSci MISCI Museum in Schenectady has their indoor interactive butterfly exhibit house back through early April. Exhibit/experience is free with museum admission. (If you go, wearing bright light colors may help attract butterflies).
3/31: RIVERSIDE MAPLE FARMS Go between 12-3pm for a sweet taste of Sugar on Snow, tour the facility and Schenectady County’s Maple Syrup week at Riverside Maple Farms 7152 Amsterdam Road in Glenville.
Arnie Adler has a special way of sharing his father’s Holocaust survivor story. Our children heard it once at school, but now adults can hear it as well— 6pm at the William K. Sanford Colonie Town Library, 629 Albany Shaker Road (near Wolf Road). This event is co-sponsored by the library, Colonie Chai Center Chabad and the Sage Colleges Colonie Jewish Community Lecture Fund.
4/2: BEFORE ISRAELI ELECTIONS Big elections are coming up in Israel. JNF and the Jewish Federation are bringing Dr. David Pollock, Bernstein Fellow at the Washington Institute (who has past experience at the US State Department) to speak about the politicians and issues in play. 7pm at Beth Emeth. No charge. RSVP’s appreciated.
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.
MEASLES OUTBREAK A Letter from Dr. Lev Barats The measles virus is reported to be one of the most contagious viruses known to medical science. It is said that 90% of unvaccinated people that are exposed to the virus will become infected. Patients that are infected with measles will start spreading the disease before they are symptomatic. Now for some good news…. Vaccine has long been available to prevent measles infection! MMR vaccine – also known as Measles Mumps Rubella vaccine - is well tolerated, and is highly effective against these diseases. Recommendations are to vaccine all children age 12 – 15 months, and to repeat the vaccine again at 4 – 6 years of age. Women that are of childbearing age should be screened for their immunization status if there is no record of having received 2 vaccines in childhood. Unfortunately, there are several regions in NY State that recently declared a measles emergency and have established restrictions for unvaccinated individuals. Persons that do not have an immunization record should see their physician and request a blood test to confirm immunity. Please reach out to your physician if you are unsure whether or not you have been vaccinated even if you are not planning on traveling to the affected regions. Lev Barats MD
4/8: PRE-PESACH GIRLS MISHMAR
SCHOOL PESACH SCHEDULE
Monday after-school Mishmar for girls in grades 2+ with a Pesach-themed craft & activity. $2pp.
4/11: High School Pesach Break begins. 4/17-18: Half-Day General Studies classes. 4/19-28: No School—Pesach Vacation 4/19: Erev Pesach Shacharit, Siyum Break-fast & communal Chametz Burning at Maimonides 4/29: School Resumes 8am
4/19: EREV PESACH SIYUM Annual tradition at Maimonides. Shacharit, Siyum on Daf Yomi tractate Chullin, a First-Born BreakFast and Chametz Burning. Stay tuned!
4/22-25: CHOL HAMOED PESACH Monday thru Thursday this year. Does anyone have ideas for outing and activities? Keep us posted so we can share as it gets closer. No school all of Pesach, look for detailed school pre-Pesach off-dates in next week’s MC Newsletter.
5/1: COMMUNAL YOM HASHOAH Albany-area communal Yom HaShoah Holocaust commemoration 7:30pm at CBAJ.
6/4: MAIMONIDES DINNER Stay tuned for honorees and info. Important annual school fundraiser & communal event.
SUPPORT LOCAL KOSHER DINING
KOSHER DINING AT INDIAN is back on at UAlbany’s Indian Quad Dining Hall for lunch and dinner this coming week after a week off for Spring Break. And they will be open for Chol HaMoed Pesach as well!
THE K.P.C. WEEKLY SPECIAL Pesach season is now in full-swing at the Kosher Price Chopper. Best way to know if the weekly prepared dinner specials are on or what’s on the menu is sign up for a weekly email from Chef John Piccolo: JohnPiccolo@pricechopper.com to be added to email list with menu, pricing...
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!”