Maimonides Community

BH. THURS Shvat

18, 5779 / Jan 24, 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 4:41 Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 5:45 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

AN ALBANY MATCH! Mazal Tov to Harvey & Lynn Berman and Ruvain & Shayna Kudan on the recent engagement of their children Avi Berman & MHDS alumna Miriam Kudan—a beautiful double Albany Simcha! Mazal Tov!

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

MAZAL TOV MATHLESS BABY Mazal Tov to Morah Devorah Leah and Rabbi Mendy Mathless on the birth of a baby boy last Shabbos. The Bris will be IYH this Shabbos at the Maimonides School after Shabbos davening at the Shuls. Much Nachas!

In appreciation to all the donors to our Science Lab initiative which resulted in the school’s hands-on Makerspace, Science Lab, Outdoor Classroom & Media Center projects. Many thanks to Legacy Learning Labs for spearheading and matching this important initiative. These projects are now in use!

LOOKING FOR NEW SYMBOL By now our MC Newsletter readers are wellfamiliar with the “Maimonides Middos” hearticon about character lessons in memory of EXPERIMENTING WITH BOKSER/CHARUV FOR TU BISHVAT Rivka Losice, the “Maimonides Integrated Bokser (Yiddish) Charuv (Hebrew) or carob (English) is an annual Tu Bishvat tradition because Connections” gears of stories about sages Choni HaMe’agel (the Circle-Maker), Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai and R’ logo & “Maimonides Chanina ben Dosa—each with their own Talmudic carob stories. This Tu Bishvat, each student Moves” arrow logo for got a piece to feel, taste, & learn a little about this “Jewish superfoods” history: it sustained physical activity, and people in times of famine, poverty & adversity, it’s famous as a chocolate substitute, it is rich in the Talmud studies carbs, sugars and fiber. It’s inedible seeds are a key ingredient in locust-bean-gum (used in Beis Medrash book modern foods). 6th graders prepared it in different ways to get a better feel for its properties. logo in memory of Salo They boiled it (it became softer), they baked it (it lost its distinctive smell), and they smashed it Steper. Now we’re to see how it breaks down. They learned about the effects of gaining/losing water content… trying to think of a new icon image for all the STEAM activities & ONE SHOVELFUL AT A TIME MORE LEGACY learning at school.

The big train steam logo we Morah Dini was very impressed and proud of MEZUZAHS used for our Legacy Learning Labs campaign is the student volunteers who worked Students are eagerly 3Dtoo big for weekly use.

Ideas anyone? as a team to shovel the walkway in printing more Legacy-logo front of school. While Mr. Scott Mezuzahs for doors of our PJ LIBRARY STORY Dolph plows the parking lots and main Makerspace & Labs with Mrs. Amy’s story this week entrance (huge thanks!) these students the flame-book logo. We was called “Bitter & Sweet” made sure the old entranceway was cleared of hope to know soon the about Hanna’s mixed snow, making a nice path for outdoor recessprecise placement of the feelings her family time.

It was both “Maimonides Moves” AND Makerspace Mezuzah. has to move.

“Maimonides Middos”. Thank you!

PAPER RECYCLING PROBLEM

SOUP-OF-THE-WEEK IS BACK

As a school we’ve been very good at recycling waste paper and cardboard thanks to pickups by the T.A. Predel Company of Schenectady which sadly, is no longer collecting paper. We’re looking for leads on other recycling companies that would pick up our paper/ cardboard for recycling at no or low cost (Predel actually paid us for it!) Please let our office know! In the meantime, we’re putting some paper cuts & shreds in our new composting bin which should be part “green” (food scraps etc) and part “brown” (paper & leaves etc).

Parent volunteers, please contact R. Wildman.

BETTER TOGETHER ESSAYS PLEASE NOTE as some of the essay criteria has changed from years past: (1) The essay contest is open to middle & high schoolers who have participated in 70%+ of the school’s Better Together activities.

(2) Essays can no longer be fiction. They can be based on interactions with elderly in the Better Together program or outside of it, but can not be based solely on experiences with family such as a student’s own grandparents.

(3) The essay must be a students’ own work, though teachers and parents can assist.

(4) Topics can be from a variety of angles/ perspectives/issues but should be about senior citizens, the elderly, growing old, or intergenerational experiences. (5) Essays are due in the last week of March. Don’t wait until the last minute! Get started soon…

SOFTWARE TO HARDWARE How does computer software coding translate to computer hardware? Avi Rydnerman did a basic workshop on this with our students, showing both the software and hardware sides of it and how they intersect. You could say it is like the body (hardware) and soul (software) of a person, the seamless connection of which Torah considers “maflee La’asos!”

Hashem is wondrous in connecting!

LEARNING THE TORAH TIMES

TUR AND SHULCHAN-ARUCH Rabbi Rubin’s 8th graders have been learning about the laws of meat & milk mixtures in Talmud tractate Chullin (the current Daf Yomi) and now are exploring the same issues as it filters through the Jacob Turim’s Tur and Karo’s Shulchan Aruch, witnessing the journey and development of Halacha as we know it. They are looking at the different variables: temperature, material-type, points of contact, liquid or solid states, whether it is extractable or not—among other variables to determine if this mixture can be Kosher or not. And there are various opinions to consider, of course!

Rabbi Rubin had “Torah-Times” newspaper class with 6th grade, a fun way to learn Parsha and to develop skills to present learning in a relevant, contemporary and engaging way.

NAMING POLYNOMIALS Ms. Coffey’s 8th grade math is now learning how to classify polynomials by the degree and number of terms within it. The “first name” is the degree and the “last name” is the number of terms within each polynomial.

ABRAHAM LISON, 96, ISRAEL

BORAX CRYSTALS GROWING Mrs. Mattice’s first graders keep dipping their eggshells in the blue fluid solution every day, so they grow a little thicker and stronger over time. They started off as a thin fragile eggshells but got pretty hefty by now.

This week a 96-year old man passed away in Israel who was famous for his heartfelt and melodious hours-long Friday Night prayers.

Rabbi Mendel’s davening class heard a story of MINUTE-TO-WIN-IT hearing this man one summer Shabbat in Students have been enjoying Mrs. Maher’s 1991 through a couple’s dining-room window. Minute-to-Win-It games & activities, which all have an educational component or tie-in. Can you tell which direction he’s trying to blow the ping-pong ball towards?

ONE MEGA CHUMASH TEST

STARTING PROGRESSIVE ERA Actually, it dates back to the early 1900’s but Mrs. Ramsay’s 8th grade history is starting to learn about it now. It’s about people who wanted to fix the social ills of the gilded age.

HEBREW GRAMMAR GAME Grammer isn’t always fun for everyone, but computer games can help with that.

It took most HS girls 90 minutes to finish it, and it was only on one chapter of Chumash, but with many commentaries.

LONG WEEKEND, SEE PAGE 4 No school Friday, classes resume Mon 10am.

KITA ALEF SIDDUR PARTY WITH MORAH DEVORAH An annual first-grade tradition and a rite of passage at Maimonides with Morah Devorah when students present their Siddur knowledge to their parents and formally receive their own first Siddur. They design their own hats with the portions of prayer for which they will lead their classmates and also prepare “cookie-words” using the opening Hebrew words of those prayers as refreshments. This event is a big Nachas for parents, a great treat that’s even more delicious than the cookies!

BETTER TO LEAD This week in the “Better To Lead” program our HS girls played games with seniors and chatted and connected. They also 3D PENMANSHIP IMPROVING THEY MADE A USEFUL CRATE served hot drinks in the Magen David These kids are so exciting to practice their 3D Not only do these Nursery students play mugs that they made together at an penmanship in the new Makerspace Lab! It around with Magnatiles, they built a useful earlier program. heats spools of plastic thread called filament at crate out of them! Well done! various temps and thicknesses. They have been trying to write their names in 3D and have them stand upright as nameplates and they are getting better at it. They realized using a piece of wood or metal as a base helps you keep it straight if that’s desired.

ANOTHER KIND OF TEST Rabbi Mathless’ students were all geared up for a Chumash test, having studied & reviewed and prepared a lot for it. But then there wasn’t a test after all! But he explained that the true test of learning is how much you put into it (time, energy, thought-process, head -space etc) and all the students passed that test with flying colors.

WHY A FORMULA CONTAINER 4th graders take turns bringing in an object that connects with the Parsha of this week.

Yehuda’s is dairy, sweet & nurturing as Torah (Sinai this week) is compared to, the 3 rings = Torah’s many 3 connections!

DR MLK STREET IN ISRAEL Thanks to the snow we ended up having MLK Day off after all. A friend of Maimonides sent us this picture of “Martin Luther King Street” in Israel so you can see his name spelled in Hebrew, Arabic, & English, too!

TALMUDIC INFERENCE 6th grade Talmud just got through a difficult twisty piece that uses logic like inference based on omission, juxtaposition of contradictory texts and differentiating contexts to arrive at a satisfactory explanatory conclusion. After a few weeks of working through it, a bunch of worksheets and reviews, they finally had their test on it and are now looking forward to the next piece.

THE TU BISHVAT BREAKFAST Tu Bishvat was a snow/ freezing cold day this year so we had the annual Breakfast one day later. There were nuts and dried fruits and fruity cereals (and Bokser, see page 1) and lots of fun tree trivia led by Morah Dini.

at Maimonides and in the Community

TU BISHVAT AT NYS CAPITOL Our High School girls attended the annual Tu Bishvat Jewish New Year for Trees celebration at the Capitol outside the Assembly Chambers, once again sponsored by our local Assemblywoman Pat Fahy. Also in attendance was newly elected freshman Brooklyn assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, and other legislators.

1/25: FRIDAY OFF, NO SCHOOL Enjoy Friday off and an extended weekend!

1/25: CRAFTERNOON/BOOK SALE Clifton Park Library’s 1-hour “crafternoon” for kids 4+ (with an adult) is a fun, free opportunity to create art out of random paper, buttons, foam, feathers, pipe cleaners etc 2-3pm on Friday, plus at 1pm starts their 3-day weekend used book sale.

Chabad.org/Kinus after 6pm on Sunday night.

2/6: THIRD CHIDON TEST

1/28: 10AM SCHOOL START

The 3rd of 3 Chidon tests will be on Wednesday, Feb 6th, the 1st of Adar I. Keep on studying!

This coming Monday school will start at 10am to allow some of our teachers and students to return in time and start a fresh new day. Please have children daven at home so they are ready for classes at 10am on Monday.

1/13-2/24: SUGAR ON SNOW

1/25: E.S.P. ICE SKATING RINK

1-3pm every Sunday from Jan 13th to Feb 24th, Empire State Plaza’s ice-skating rink (in the shadow Riverside Maple Farms offers tours of their maple of the NYS Capitol) is open every day of the season syrup facility including freshly made in front of 12-8pm (closed 3:30-4:30pm for rink maintenance) your eyes maple-syrup-shaved-ice-taffy. 7152 Amsterdam Rd in Glenville. Call ahead for info. and is free to skate. Skate rentals are $4 for adults & $3 for kids. Open every day in the winter but 1/30: THE WEEKLY WED SPECIAL we’re off this Friday so worth mentioning.

To pre-order the weekly Wednesday prepared dinner special at Kosher Price Chopper, email 1/25-26: SHABBOS YISRO JohnPiccolo@pricechopper.com to be added to the This week we read the story of the Giving of the weekly email list with menu, pricing & other info.

Torah at Sinai and also of Jethro’s advice to delegate and establish a hierarchical court system.

1/30: HOME TEAM ISRAEL FILM

1/26: MATHLESS SHABBOS BRIS 12pm (after the Shuls davening) at Maimonides to be followed by a festive Shabbos meal. Mazal Tov!

1/26: RABBI REISMAN NAVI CLASS Sat nights Navi class live from Brooklyn at the CBAJ Media Center at 7:30pm.

1/27: (INDOOR) GREENMARKET Year ’round farmer & crafts market at Proctor’s Theater Arcade, 10am-2pm every Sunday.

1/27: RAIZY RUBIN TO SPEAK AT CHABAD SHLUCHOS BANQUET This is a big first for Albany! Our own Raizy Rubin will give the closing address to several thousand women at the annual banquet for Chabad Shluchos. You can watch it on livestream at

“Heading Home: A Tale of Team Israel” is a film about Israel’s unlikely baseball team, its players, and their “Mensch on the Bentsch” screened by Daughters of Sarah at the Jewish Federation, 7pm.

2/3: CLARK’S FIRST SUNDAY FREE First Sundays of the month are free admission 14pm at The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown MA. It’s a classic museum with beautiful grounds.

This month’s theme is hearth & home. The road to get there is scenic but best in decent weather.

2/3: SUPERBOWL LIII (53) The New England Patriots vs. the Los Angeles formerly St Louis) Rams. It’s the biggest football game of the year and will be played in Atlanta. Any ideas of Jewish connections or life lessons?

2/8: A NIGHT AT THE MAGIC CLUB CBAJ hosts Ben Cohen for Friday Night dinner & entertainment of magic, comedy and mentalism.

RSVP at cbaj.org by February 1st at the latest.

2/17: JEWISH DATA GUILDERLAND Rabbi Laber will be presenting his extensive “Jewish Data” research database with tools and interesting examples of the many things that can be learned from gravestones and public records, 2pm at the Guilderland Public Library.

2/22: FED SCHOLARSHIPS DUE Don’t wait until the last minute! The Jewish Federation camp scholarship applications are due mid-February. Forms are available at the school office (you will need a school letter, too) or online at the JewishFedNY.org website.

3/3: SPA FOR THE BODY & SOUL 1-4pm joint communal event at Shabbos House.

Featured presenter is the dynamic, humorous and meaningful Miriam Lipsker of Emory University Chabad in Atlanta, Georgia. She will be speaking on relationships. Stay tuned for updates & details.

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 the Maimonides School) and its overseas and Israel partners for the Jewish community. Maimonides parents are asked to kindly volunteer a shift for this effort.

4/7: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE GALA Stay tuned for info. To be held at the Elks Lodge in Albany.

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!”