BH. Sivan
20, 5780 / June 5, 2020
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 8:16 Shabbat Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 9:28 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
CONDOLENCES GORDONS Condolences to Morah Dini, R’ Itche and the Gordon children on the passing of her father R’ Avraham Aharon Plotkin of Los Angeles. As we know him from his Albany visits, he was a very sweet, genuine and sincere Jew, he ran a small business in Los Angeles for decades. And at the same time Mazal Tov on her brother, their uncle Mendel’s “backyard” wedding, may there be much good news and happiness.
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
MAZAL TOV MORRISONS MHDS alumnus Shleima Morrison is engaged to Chaya Mushka Malinas from Iowa. Mazal Tov to Rabbi Leibel and Elisheva Morrison and the whole Morrison family!
MAZAL TOV RESNICKS Michael Resnick is an alumni of Maimonides going back to the 1980’s and this week he and his wife Sari celebrated their son Jonah’s BarMitzvah. Mazal Tov, much Nachas!
LAST FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL This was the last full week of school, and yes we’ve been having school throughout the Coronavirus, online since mid-March. Today is the end of the marking period (and the last day of High School). Next week the elementary and middle school have virtual online class on Monday and Tuesday and then Moving-Up Day on Wednesday to conclude the year. Parents and students, see page 4 for detailed Move-Up Day instructions.
SUMMER “MC” NEWSLETTERS We usually only do a couple of newsletters over the summer months, but there’s been a request to try to keep it more regular (perhaps every other week) as “it helps keep the community together”, especially in a time of social-distancing and many living alone. To keep this going, we'll need student (and some community) reporters to keep at it even when school is out this summer. Thanks!
This is the virtual confetti pouring down at midnight upon the campaign’s stunning completion! The two circled numbers tell the story: $90,576 raised from 405 donors and 9 matching donors.
THANK YOU! SURPASSED ALL EXPECTATIONS!
Wow! In 40 hours for its 40th year Maimonides raised $90,576 online in a crowdfunding campaign. This was more than double the original 20/20 $40K campaign goal, thanks to the 405(!) donors who contributed, with their donations doubled by 9 generous matchers. A committed donor added a $10K bonus atop it all in tribute to such an incredible outpouring of support getting us to over 100K! We had 25 family-teams each working to reach & exceed their fundraising goals. This is all the more incredible & appreciated considering this challenging time of turbulence & uncertainty. MORE CAMPAIGN NEWS INSIDE Many thanks to the 9 generous matchers: Seth & Michele Chaiken, Josh & Amanda Gurock, Jack It’s not just about the numbers! See inside this & Ellen Kaplowitz, Norman & Micki Massry, Chananya & Sara Rosenblum, Sandy & Dina week’s MC for more about the 4 online games Rosenblum, Yehoshua & Chaya Bracha Rubin, Jerry & Ilene Sykes, and in memory of Salo Steper. played both evenings of the campaign, some of Many thanks to the 405 donors! This includes alumni from throughout the years, local community, former Albany families who’ve since moved away but remember the school fondly, and family and the beautiful comments donors wrote, and friends connections of our dedicated and motivated school family-teams! THANK YOU!!! some of the post-campaign activities as well…
THE ROCKPILE
PLEASE RETURN TO SCHOOL As the school year comes to a close we ask all families to please take good inventory of the 3 types of items below and make sure to return them to school before year-end, by Wed June 17th - Moving Up Day (or earlier): (1) All borrowed electronic equipment. We are glad to help some families with tech needs but these must be returned and accounted for by end of the school year. (2) All textbooks (that are not workbooks or consumables) should be returned. This will allow us to take inventory to be properly prepared for next year or to return to the city district. (3) All of the Esty Library books should be returned. Thank you! There will be a table or space to return these materials at Moving-Up Day. If you can’t make that date please make arrangements to return them to school another time.
Dr. Muse’s HS English class read a “The Rockpile” by James Baldwin about an African American family and the challenges in JimCrow-era America. Obviously, this is more meaningful with the current events backdrop.
TALMUD TAANIT CONTINUES! School may be ending this week, but Rabbi Rubin’s 9th grade Talmud will continue to study Talmud Taanit together daily over the phone, and people in the community are welcome to join. Now that school ends on Wednesday, the 2:00pm daily study time is more flexible and can be rescheduled for a better time that might fit others schedules. Please call Rabbi Rubin if you would like to join. They are now at page 15, halfway through the tractate that is chock-full of stories, lessons, and teachings. Right now they are learning about prayers and fasts that were established for times of crisis and devastation - timely for the challenging times we are living in now.
THE DINNER TRADITION
RELEVANCE OF AREA Mrs. Maher’s 3rd graders have been learning how to measure area in math class, and realized the relevance of area to our current situation: Measurement of area can be helpful to calculate social-distancing capacity, and it also shows how life may be very different for families of the same size but with different size areas to live in and stay home during this long period of time.
HEBREW ALPHABET LISTS Some of Morah Rivi’s Hebrew classes have been doing fun trivia list exercises at the end of the year using basic alphabet lists: Fruits for example, think of as many fruits as you can to fill up the alphabet list (in Hebrew), or foods, or games, each day a different list, learning & reviewing lots of vocabulary in the process.
FINISHING “REDWALL” PART I It’s a longer fantasy series, but Ms. Tang’s middle school English students read and discussed a lot of “Redwall” by Brian Jacques.
CAMPAIGN COMMENTS
This year’s annual school dinner was cancelled BRAVO! SHOUTOUT! due to Coronavirus Covid-19 and the online This week’s High School Haftorah class took a Charidy campaign was done in its stead. But look at the last words of this week’s Haftorah some people asked if the annual dinner ( תשואות חןwhich the Lubavitcher Rebbe often tradition (since 1989 when it was established used in an abbreviated form ת“ח ת“חas an in memory of Dr. Morton Berger) could expression of thanks) which can be translated continue even in a To-Go option. So on as Bravo! or Shoutout! an exultation of grace Thursday this week (and some people on or beauty, in a dynamic kind of way Friday) local donors of $180 or more to the perfect timing actually for the reaction campaign got the offer of a dinner prepared at so many had for the totally unexpected Shabbos House to pick up to-go or deliver results for the crowdfunding campaign for the based on the signups for this special offer. school, and how we all feel for everyone who was invested in it and made it happen!
Some comments that accompanied the 405 donations...
In addition to photos of alumni shared on the Maimonides School Albany facebook page Last week we (scroll to see those posted with hashtag: featured this #40K40Hours40Years) twelve tessellation random photo memory image which slideshows (spanning school’s was part of a 40 years) were put together and math project shared on the school’s Charidy campaign but we didn’t page. This was a wonderful stroll down realize what Memory Lane, blasts from the past! Some of the image was. these photos were digitally scanned and shared Now we know! It’s an image of a person sitting for the first time just in time for this by a desk with a computer. And the image campaign. In addition to the school’s own keeps repeating itself on this sheet, with no extensive (yet not complete!) photo archives, overlap and no gaps between the images. we’re thankful for the wonderful photo collections submitted by Devorah Leah KINDERGARTEN BUTTERFLIES Kaufmann and Morah Devorah. You can see This week the butterflies Kindergarten kids the 12 slideshows now on Youtube: have been observing (via Mrs. Hoffman’s www.tinyurl.com/MaimonidesYouTube videos) emerged & are eating oranges & flying about (one almost escaped!) in their new butterfly habitat. As recorded in their journals!
TWELVE PHOTO SLIDESHOWS
THE TESSELATION PICTURE
To everyone who made this school year an amazing one!!! 40 yrs ago ? wow ?We could never Thank you enough ❤️Forever changed us! Thank you MHDS for a wonderful beginning to many things! Thank you for providing all our children with an incredible education! Best teaching experience of my life. In honor of everyone in my Albany family. Yosher koach for continuing high level Jewish education! From generation to generation… Wishing you many more successful years. Thank you Maimonides for taking care of my grandchildren - 2nd generation! In honor of the wonderful Morahs and the the entire school staff. Amazing kids, amazing staff, amazing learning. Greatest community and school ever!! MAZAL TOV on this terrific milestone! Great school and beautiful community! Thank you for everything!! Great memories of Maimonides. For the Future! Maimonides Education is a Model for all to follow. In honor of my wife who attended this wonderful school many years ago. Much success in the next 40 years! Thanks for being the בְּ ַ ַֽהעֲלַֽ ְּתךָ֙ אֶ ת־הַ נ ֵֹּ֔רתto UAlbany. In honor of Rabbi and Morah Rochel Rubin for their tireless efforts. Thank you Maimonides for everything you’ve done for me! Thank you for all you do for our community.
TEN COMMANDMENTS
READING “WINGS”
Morah Rochel’s 6/7 girls Chumash class will be finishing up the “Aseret HaDibrot” in these last few days of class this year.
Mrs. Maher’s students read a story called Wings about a kid who was different and ridiculed by his peers because of his unusualness.
YOUR FAVORITE CARD Rabbi Mendel and the HS girls finished up this week a years-long 130+-card all-new curriculum of contrasting interpretations and perspectives. New cards were designed for the classes each week, and many of the girls have full notebooks of explanation and discussion for each of the issues. For the last two classes this week they each chose one specific card that they appreciated the best and shared why. See more below:
NAVI CHARACTERS HS’ final Navi (Prophets) project for the Book of Kings II is to take one of the characters and develop it into a shared presentation, using Prezi, Fakebook and other formats.
HALACHA JEOPARDY THE FOUR FUN ONLINE GAMES Morah Leyee’s Halacha class split into three
As part of the #40K40Hours40Years campaign there were four fun online interactive games (designed by Maimonides students and teachers, great design by Chani Rubin) played CURRENT EVENTS INFLUENCE? over Zoom and livestreamed to Facebook. Some cards the HS girls chose as favorites (1) Kahoot Poll Game - see below for some (without going into the details or depth very interesting results. of the discussion) may be related or (2) “Guess the Staff” - as we had “error 404” influenced by our current events and and the teacher files got all mixed up. circumstances, or may just speak to the (3) a School Trivia Jeopardy game. applicable relevance of these issues everywhere (4) “Catch My Bluff” for students to catch the in life, including: the role (a selfless) attitude true & false of a given question. There was plays in making room, finding miracles in great energy around the games, students and everyday, seeing value in people you might adults alike really got into it! otherwise overlook, in big issues look for the impact on individual people, horizontal FAVORITE progress vs. vertical progress, the pros SUBJECT & cons of flipped realities, how Look at that! something as basic and intrinsic to life Did you see that as music wasn’t the same 200 years ago, seeing coming? In the (keys to) solutions in problems themselves… Kahoot Poll students were …ON THEIR OWN! asked for their Rashi at the start of this week’s Parsha speaks favorite General to the need for the lights of the Menorah to be Studies subject patiently kindled and lit until they can rise up and MATH on their own. Rabbi Mendel’s Gemorah class came up first, by is exploring the idea (for those whose 50% of the respondents! Impressive result! overnight camps are closed or not yet opening) of possibly continuing to meet for a little study and friendship online each day during the summer even when school is not in session without a teacher, on their own initiative.
FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS... … miss getting this weekly Maimonides MC Newsletter! This is a friendly reminder that CBAJ is now on a new Shul-Cloud system and you can no longer get this school newsletter that way. Friends and family can subscribe to get it in their inbox once a week. During the summer months we’re going to try to do the newsletter twice monthly if we can.
REMINDER ABOUT RETURNS... Textbooks, electronics, etc to school!
teams to play an online game of Halacha Jeopardy covering all the Halacha they learned this year: YomTov laws, Eiruv Tavshilin, the laws of Pas/Bishul/Chalav Yisrael and the laws of Tevilat Kelim (vessel immersion).
PIXELATED ART Usually people prefer that their screens and prints do not have a pixelated look but Morah Rivi showed her students an art technique that makes pixelated look beautiful.
SNEAK PREVIEW IN SCIENCE Ms. Brown’s middle school science students finished their biology units and books before the year’s end, so they are using their last classes together as a sneak preview to the science they will be studying next year.
SENIORS SHABBAT-TO-GO As a finale to this year’s “Better Together” program (which obviously had to change dramatically due to the situation) Rabbi Yossi and some families are delivering Shabbat-To-Go packages to some of the seniors we used to visit before the program had to change. Hoping for safe and healthy in-person visits to resume in the future.
THE UNFAIR GAME Morah Chani’s Chumash class played an online version of The Unfair Game as a review on Parsha Vayechi which they just learned concluding the whole Book of Breishis.
GONNA MISS SCHOOL AND TWO TELLING QUESTIONS Somehow more than ever, even with all this In two separate questions, students on the Kahoot Poll responded that “Learning is different at Maimonides, because… it’s FUN!” and they “like learning best with… educational games”. Both won by doubledigits over their runner-up options. This says something about learning at Maimonides!
online, more students have been saying how much they will miss school this summer!
TEACHER APPRECIATION Thanks to Chaya Rubin for organizing a yearend teacher token of appreciation from the school families. That too is much appreciated!
TODAY, SIVAN 20 RECALLS CHMIELNICKI POGROMS
at Maimonides and in the Community
The Cossack uprising in 1648 that decimated communities of Polish Jewry.
6/12: END OF MARKING PERIOD
6/17(18): MOVING UP DAY
This is the end of the 3rd marking period/trimester much of which was online/remote this year due to Coronavirus Covid-19. A letter was emailed to parents about the modifications to the grading formula given the circumstances, this was determined at a recent faculty meeting based on various formulas obtained from a number of other schools. This date (June 12th) is also the last day of High School classes for the year (and no Regents).
For a taste of normalcy we’re doing an in-person Moving-Up Day outside school with the following setup. Please follow these instructions and look for the email with your family’s arrival time.
6/13: SHABBOS BEHALOSECHA The opening of this week’s Parsha is the Mitzvah to “raise” the lights of the Menorah (with Rashi’s famous commentary on education). This Parsha also has the story of the Second Passover, the Jews complaint about the Manna, and the lesson of negative speech learned from Miriam.
6/15: HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION This will be held over Zoom 672-547-2221 (plus school address as password) 7pm on Monday evening. Guest speaker will be Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff of Houston whose daughter Chaya attended High School here for all four years and was a tremendous asset to our school! Please join online to honor our beloved graduates!
6/16: LAST DAY OF CLASSES The last day of (online/remote) classes will be on Tuesday, June 16th. See below for Moving-Up Day. PLEASE REMEMBER to return all electronic devices, textbooks and Esty Library books to school.
Amid escalating tensions in 1991 Crown Heights, this trio (Dr. Laz, Richard Green, Paul Chandler) brought together youth from the Chassidic and Black communities for much needed dialogue. Hear their story online Tuesday 8pm in a special virtual program with Capital Chabad over Zoom, ID: 927-281-21771 Password: Chabad. This is an uplifting dialogue of courage, acceptance and about forging a positive path forward.
BATTLE OF THE BBQ’S
This year’s Shalom Food Pantry’s Battle of the BBQ’s will be a virtual (1) Each family will be assigned a time slot to come event over Zoom, 4-6pm move up! Park in the first parking lot. Drop off from comfort of your books and electronics in designated boxes. One at a own backyard (with real time, students will go up to the table, get their gift actual food). For more and certificate, go up to the stage, have their details, participation cost picture taken and get Mazal Tov wishes from Rabbi (which benefits the Food Rubin and Morah Rochel and some teachers. Pantry especially during (2) Once students are back in their car, they’ll drive this time of increased over to the second parking lot for a special treat need) and to register visit: ShalomFoodPantry.com (this is still being arranged, stay tuned). (3) When families are done they can go home or 7/6-8/7: CAMP GAN ISRAEL drive around or go to the park, and at 11:45am Following NYS Guidelines allowing day camp there will be a line-up to wave goodbye to the operations, the CGI Albany program will open this teachers. The car-parade line up will begin at the summer, but has been adjusted and modified to top of Partridge street. follow summer camp guidelines set forth by the CDC, the state of NY and in consultation with 6/22-23: ROSH CHODESH TAMMUZ local health professionals. A new, updated and 2 days Rosh Chodesh: Sunday night thru Tuesday. comprehensive Parent Handbook, with updated information and details, will be forthcoming later when the NYS guidelines are confirmed and will 6/22: CBAJ GRAD KIDDUSH also be modified as needed. CBAJ is hosting a graduation Kiddush with an Below are some changes already in place: online montage and message with guest speaker, 1) Camp hours have been modified to: 9:30-3:00 7:30pm over a virtual platform. RSVP by 6/18. 2) There will not be any off-site trips unless guidelines change. 6/23: TIMELESS 3) Campers and staff will have temperatures taken LESSONS TO LIVE BY each morning at drop off. In preparation for Gimmel 4) All camp staff will be trained on appropriate Tammuz, the Rebbe’s Yartzeit, cleaning, disinfection, hand hygiene and respiratory local Shluchot Chabad women etiquette. directors will each briefly share 5) Campers will be in small groups of 10 campers a beautiful spectrum of Rebbe or less and each group will remain with their own perspectives and teachings counselors at all times, while social distancing from over Zoom ID: 259-888-9551 other groups. P: 393393, 7:30pm on Tuesday evening. For more info and registration, contact Camp Director Devorah Leah Rubin 518-698-1836.
6/25: MAYBE ALONE, NEVER FORSAKEN
6/16: SHARING TURF
i6/28:
This year, the Rebbe’s Gimmel Tammuz yartzeit will be June 25th and Capital Chabad Centers will jointly show and discuss (online in virtual format) a new 35 minute film about the Rebbe’s “Reshimot” notebooks (unpublished in his lifetime), many of which were written leading up to and during the war years, some written while fleeing the Nazis. Stay tuned for Zoom link & more info.
BE COUNTED! Be sure to fill out the US census form for you and your family! It helps everyone around here.
CALENDAR YARTZEITS It’s not too early to get yartzeit dates to Rabbi Yossi for inclusion ($36 donation) in this coming year’s Jewish Art Calendar. It is a beautiful way to remember a loved one and commemorate their yartzeit with the community. Call Rabbi Yossi 518-495-0772 or email: calendar@capitalchabad.com
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!”