BH. THURS Tevet
19, 5779 / Dec 27, 2018
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 4:11 Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 5:17 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
MAZAL TOV ITKINS To Rabbi AB and Binie Itkin and the Itkin siblings at Maimonides, Mazal Tov on the birth of a baby girl! Much Nachas…
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
HALF-DAYS SCHOOL WEEK Monday thru Thursday this week were all halfdays and while school was a little lighter and some students were away, a lot was learned, enjoyed and accomplished, especially: Book Preparations & Breishis Chazak Fair Chidon Test #2 of Yahadus Curriculum Rambam Day of Learning All types of Judaic Learning See inside this MC Newsletter for more!
This MC Newsletter is dedicated in memory of
CONDOLENCES MRS RAMSAY
Joseph Saidel
Our condolences to our social-studies and science teacher Mrs. Abigail Ramsay and her family on the passing of her dear father.
Longtime Minyaneer at Shteeble & CBAJ, founder of local Daf Yomi, honorable attorney, avid bicyclist… Yartzeit: Tevet 24
CHUMASH-PARSHA MEET-UP This week it’s High School whose in-depth Chumash with commentaries class lines up with the Parsha of the week. They learned a detailed Ramban (Nachmanides) who explains the steps of the process of how Pharaoh’s antiSemitic plan started off subtly and innocuous at first, how its discriminatory aspects evolved gradually, until it become all-out persecution. Ramban’s commentary (as they learned it with Morah Leyee) addresses some psychological issues at play: motive and denial and how many were afraid to call it out and it was all part of the evil strategy. This is still relevant today!
THE TORAH OF BITCOIN Cryptocurrency is a big hot topic nowadays and Rabbi Caras put together an interesting NEW GREENHOUSE OUTSIDE detailed presentation on One of the best things about our new STEAM how money works and projects is how involved students are in setting how Bitcoin is somewhat it up. For example, this new greenhouse that the same and also they are seen pictured here putting it together different, a little bit of near the shed. They even helped with the solar how Blockchain works and tied it all in with panels that went up on the shed’s roof. You Jewish and Torah connections and Halachic might call this “Learning on the Job!” A big issues. Some of our upper grades part of the Makerspace concept is to increase enjoyed this out of the box concept hands-on learning, skills & experimentation— after their Chidon test on Wednesday. and this is already doing that!
CHIDON TEST #2 This is a big deal. All classes took the 2nd (of 3) Chidon test on Wednesday after much studying, review and prep, especially by students on their own, in their own time. Topics ranged the broad gamut of Jewish Law (depending on the Yahadus Curriculum Book #s 1-5 studied) including topics as diverse as construction of the Temple Altar, marriage and divorce documents and proceedings, laws of financial witness testimony, Jewish holiday observances and all kinds of things in between! Whether students do or don’t qualify for the Chidon Shabbaton, the breadth of learning is incredible and we’re proud of what they know!
AH, THAT EXPLAINS IT!
KINDERGARTEN GUIDED ART As Kindergarten learned the Hebrew letter “Pey” this week, they had another guided art lesson with Morah Chani drawing & painting these “Parah” cows. This type of activity combines instruction & independence, and helps develop and express a number of different important skills for that age.
Why is “8th Day” pictured here on the front page of the MC Newsletter? Are they coming to play in Albany? No, not yet. But their new album “Stronger, Closer” has a “Samach Tisamach” song that seems to be a mixed-up hodge-podge of quotes that our High School girls understood this week because of what they learned in Tehillim class. It all (or most of it) came together!