BH. Tishrei
12, 5780 / October 11, 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 6:02 Shabbat Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 7:00 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
ANOTHER SHORT WEEK
MAIMONIDES
No school this week for Erev Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur - so that’s two less school days this week, no doubt they were valuable and meaningful learning experiences for our students, but it is challenging newsletter-wise!
404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
NO SCHOOL - SUKKOT BREAK No School Oct 14-22. Enjoy the big Sukkot Break and time with family. School resumes on the 23rd with 9:30am davening class.
This MC Newsletter is dedicated in loving memory of
Rebecca Amann - Rivka bas Shmuel Yartzeit: 2nd Day of Sukkos by her daughter Maxine Morgenbesser & family
GUT’S NUMEN - THE DAY AFTER
MISHNA SUKKAH MODELS AT MAIMONIDES Rabbi Shmuly’s Mishna students all made their own powerpoint visual presentations of the various types of Sukkahs that the Mishna discusses, and the boys also helped make these models: Sukkahs that are too tall or too short, Sukkot with walls on stilts, or double-deckers, coverings atop or within the Sukkahs, or with gaps between the walls and the Schach. And they learned more cases, too! Between the powerpoint computer work and these 3D models their learning vividly comes alive, much more than just black and white text.
MINHAGIM DIVERSITY Speaking of types of Sukkahs in Halacha, some of our students learned about the varied diversity of Minhag-customs (as many as 16 differences!) in many aspects of Sukkah and Lulav this upcoming Sukkot holiday. It’s nice to know & learn about (background, reasons, benefits) & respect each other’s customs, even as your cherish your own. Interesting because Sukkah represents unity of the Jewish people despite differences (as it says: All Jews can dwell in one Sukkah), and the Lulav is about unity because of our differences - you need the uniqueness of each species, you can’t do it without the willow!
LULAV BRACHA POSTERS First graders traced and colored their own Lulav Bracha posters so that they remember the blessing on the Lulav said each (week)day of Sukkot. If you are curious as to why some blessings (like Lulav) are said AL while some (like Tefillin) are said L’ - Rabbi Rubin has a lot of learning on that!
On Thursday several classes heard about Nathan Rosenstein’s Old Albany memories of the day after Yom Kippur, called “Gut’s Numen” (Yiddish for G-d’s name) when Shuls downtown (around South Pearl Street) would be lit with many candles as if it was a festive day and many people would come early to Minyan to demonstrate their continued and renewed commitment even if Yom Kippur had already passed. The reason why this date was called “Hashem’s name” is because this is when we switch back to “Holy G-d” instead of “Holy King” in the Amidah after Yom Kippur. Also because there are four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, representing the four letters of Hashem’s Name.
HAPPY PEOPLE HOLIDAY SIGN Morah DL’s 2nd and 3rd graders worked to make this people-centric holiday sign above the sink in the lunch room at school with the Hebrew letters: “Rejoice on your holiday, and be only happy!” It’s people coming together (and dancing!) that brings joy. People are a greater source of happiness than anything else!
GOT CANS? Our school’s “Kids Can Build” can project needs A LOT of (Kosher) tuna cans, especially ones that are bluish or greenish color. Please start sending whatever blue or green tuna cans you can (pun intended!) into school as we start building our project. At the end all cans will go to Shalom Kosher Food Pantry. Tuna cans can be more expensive but they do provide greater benefit to the recipients - and given their flatter shape and colors they also help us with our project!
YOM KIPPUR HIGHLIGHTS Students in various grades shared some of their Yom Kippur highlights, listed here in random order. Most people don’t like fasting, but I do. We had spaghetti & meat-sauce for pre-fast. The lively and loud shouts of the Pesukim at
the end, especially Hashem Hu HaElokim! I worked on a short Jonah skit with some of
the kids, we even had costumes. Bagels and Lox Break-Fast. Very traditional. A contemporary Cockadoodledoo (Baal Shem
Tov-esque) story at our Minyan. Our Chazzan was jumping a lot in the
davening, up and down, he was very into it. We ran groups and played games with kids &
SHOFAR FACTORY IN THE OUTDOOR CLASSROOM
fed them food even though we were fasting. I liked the songs from the davening. Impressed to see some college students
Rabbi Shmuly ran a Shofar Factory in the outdoor classroom before Rosh Hashanah (but didn’t get into newsletter yet) for our younger students who really enjoyed working at it and trying out Shofars.
IN AND AROUND TIBERIAS Rabbi Rubin’s Talmud Megillah with the 9th grade boys was learning about the city of Teveria (or Tiberias) on the shores of Israel’s Lake Kinneret and the small towns nearby it. To get a better sense they looked up an Israeli map with a close-up of that area and got a much better sense. This class ending up being Talmud, history and geography all rolled into one!
LAVA LAMPS Ms. Brown’s chemistry lab 6/7 biology did this experiment with Ms. students Brown: On Monday, they took swabs from made colorful objects and places around school (pencils, the lava lamps kitchen floor, an mp3 from ordinary player, shoes, keys, etc) household and then transferred to items: water, agar plates where they food dye, oil, were incubated for a and alka few days. On Thursday, seltzer tablets. they were able to see The oil is less how much bacteria dense than the water so when the alka seltzer grew: The most bacteria tablets were dropped in the bottle, they had to grew from the sample travel down to the bottom to react with the taken from the bottom water. Colorful gas bubbles were produced, of a pair of shoes! Did you expect that? which were less dense than the oil and the water so they floated to the top. Cool to watch STILL NEED A LULAV? it happen! Rabbi Simon may still have sets for sale. Call 439-8280 / DelmarChabadSimon@gmail.com
THE MOST SCHMUTZ?
challenging themselves not to use phones for the 25 hours of Yom Kippur and how excited they were that they were able to do it. Fasting was easier for me this year that Shul was located closer & it was more comfortable. The jokes in the speech were the best part. It is sounds really nice when people sing along or hum along with the Chazzan. My best highlight of Yom Kippur was hearing the Shofar at the end! It was interesting to read the Avodah in Musaf this year because I understood it better after learning about it in Yahadus class. I fasted halfway, so it was good to fast and also good to break the fast. It was cool to see different ways old people interact with the little kids in Shul. Kapores in Crown Heights was my highlight, (others said they appreciate the Albany-style Kapores much better). We had a trumpet player blow the last Shofar blast for us and it was funny to see him try to add trumpet style to the Tekiah Gedolah.
PAIRING UP SO NICELY... Morah Devorah Leah paired up 3rd graders to learn and review their Chumash work with 2nd graders. It was a good learning experience for both the older and the younger students!
WILLY WONKA CHOCOLATE... … is a fun read! But there’s also some nice Middos lessons to learn from it. Some of the kids who got the Golden Ticket were greedy or selfish and it didn’t work out well for them. 5th graders are enjoying reading the book now and if they fill their Bingo Behavior Chart they look forward to watching the (old original) film!
DID THIS HAPPEN TO YOU ON YOMKIPPUR? Do you know this book? Grover is so frightened of the title that he keeps trying to make sure you won’t turn the pages, is so worried and disappointed every time you do, but at the end he realizes on the last page that’s he is the monster at the end of this book. Rabbi Mendel says this happens with the Machzor, its so long, people are often afraid or worried about it, but once we realize that it is also a journey of self-discovery, that we might find themselves at the end of all that davening, then the whole book is a different story.
PREPARING FOR A DEBATE
HIGH SCHOOL MALL OUTING SCAVENGER HUNT Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur HS Girls went on a fun outing to Crossgates Mall with Morah Chani to enjoy an engaging scavenger hunt that turned into an amazing photoshoot at various spots along the hunt. This is just a small sampling of the photos they took. They also had a delicious brunch at Shabbos House (bagels, yogurt, etc) and cupcakes for Ahava’s birthday. They did Lchaims with toasts for her birthday over bubbly apple cider.
A CLOSER LOOK AT LEAVES 6/7 science with Ms. Ramsay collected leaves and looked at them up close under a microscope to see the cells inside! The cells of different leaves looked different!
HS Girls are preparing for debates. Students were assigned pairs, each one assigned a side of an specific issue. They have to look it up, research and develop arguments for that side.
HAPPY 4 SUKKOS! Need we say more?
READING THE CONSTITUTION American History with Ms. Ramsay are now reading parts of the United States Constitution, as they learn about the formation of the government - and the forms of government that were tried or explored before developing the system we have today.
PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE After a lot of computer simulation and research the personal finance class with Ms. Coffey played a round of The Game of Life to see it anew through the more complex lens of terms and choices they learned. They will play PayDay next.
MISHNA SLURPIES These Mishna Sukkah students went out for Slurpies today on the last day of school before Sukkot in honor of all the Mishna they learned about Sukkot!
SUKKAH CHAINS Morah Rivi’s 5th graders made long colorful paper chains for Sukkah decorations, one circle of cut paper at a time.
INSIDE EACH RECYCLED SUKKA Is a picture of that student shaking their Lulav BTW, many Nursery projects are specifically made of recycled materials, kids pick up on it!
TEFILLIN POPS UP @ CHUMASH 6/7 Boys Chumash class were excited to learn WELCOME BACK ALUMNI!!! about Tefillin in the 13th chapter of Bo, (story It’s nice to see our alumni back in town for of the Exodus) as they learn about Yom Tov! Hoping to hear Divrei Torah from Tefillin in their pre-Bar-Mitzvah class. them at Mincha/Maariv Chol HaMoed etc..
SIMCHAT TORAH FLAGS In Nursery… each topped by a colorful round repurposed squeezy apple-sauce cap.
at Maimonides and in the Community 10/12: SHABBOS HA’AZINU
10/15: MOTZAI MUSICAL SUKKAH
Shomray Torah Kiddush is sponsored by the Nice way to get out after a two-day Yom Tov! Rabbi congregation in honor &appreciation of Chazanim Rubin & Morah Rochel invite community to live Reb Avrami Backman & Rabbi Yaakov Kellman. music and celebration in the Sukkah in memory of their daughter Esty (Rubin) Cohen as her yartzeit approaches just after Sukkos. 8:30pm at the 10/13: MABEE FARM FALLFEST 10am-3pm Sunday at Mabee Farm Historic Site at Shabbos House Sukkah. Please park in the nearby Dutch Quad Lot in rows closest to SH. There will 1100 Main Street, Rotterdam Junction. All Free: Hay rides, boat rides, pony rides & petting zoo, dog be soups and desserts and live music. -herding demos, live birds of prey, fall activities and 10/16-17: GREAT ESCAPE SUKKOS! historic buildings right along the Mohawk so foliage should be nice, too. Plus vendors/artisans. Rent an Adirondack Suite (4 per room) for $179 at Great Escape this Chol HaMoed (or 2 nights for 10/13: PEAKFEST IN BALLSTON SPA $300) with unlimited access to indoor waterpark 12pm-4pm (in case someone wants to take kids out and gender exclusive swim on Wed & Thurs Sukkah on-site & outdoor food prep areas. https:// of the house before YomTov?) free admission and parking. Helicopter rides, entertainers, vendors and www.sixflagsgreatescapelodge.com/offers/specialoffers/overnight-stays-starting-at-179/ mention more at Saratoga County Airport 405 Greenfield Ave. Probably costs for some of the activities - as it Chabad. Rabbi Abba 518-526-0773 has more info. is a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, 10/16: SUKKART FOR WOMEN but many activities are free including pumpkin painting, photo booth and more. 6pm Soup & Sushi, 7pm Creative Torah Journaling Workshop with visiting Rae Shagalov of Joyfully Jewish in LA. $18pp for women & girls SIMCHAS BEIS HASHOEVA 12+ at 5 Mannix Rd, East Greenbush. Info etc… Open, welcoming Events/Gatherings/Farbrengens Call Nechama 518-727-9581. each night of Sukkot at a different host Sukkah… SUNDAY 10/13: First night after the Yom Tov Meal at the Gordon Sukkah, 29 Glenwood St. A good farbrengen to get into YomTov spirit! MONDAY 10/14: Second night after the Yom Tov Meal at the Kudan Sukkah, 6 Peyster St. TUESDAY 10/15: 8:30pm after Yom Tov for the community at Shabbos House with soups & desserts & live music in memory of Esty Cohen. Come get out after 2 days of Yom Tov! WEDNESDAY 10/16: 8pm at the Sukkah of Dr. Yehoshua & Chaya Bracha Rubin, 419 Partridge Street with live Niggunim played by Reb Yehoshua Sussman. Plus a SukkaArt journaling event for women at 6pm in East Greenbush (see details on right). CBAJ hosts NextDor for a shiur with Rabbi Feldman titled “Navigating our Narratives: Being a Jew in a Postmodern World” 7pm in the CBAJ Sukkah. THURSDAY 10/17: Sushi in the Sukkah event in Clifton Park (see info on right) and then a Womens Night (men, take care of the kids!) hosted by Susannah Levin at the Levin Sukkah on Holmes Dale Ave. FRIDAY 10/18: After the Shabbos Meal at Rabbi Rubin’s Sukkah, 122 South Main Ave. MOTZAI SHABBOS 10/19: Late Night learning and farbrengen for Hoshana Rabba at Shomray Torah/Shteeble’s Sukkah.
10/17: SIX WHO CHANGED WORLD Dr. Steven Berk’s lecture series at Agudat Achim, this lecture on Winston Churchill. 7:30-9pm at 2117 Union Street in Schenectady. Call ahead for admission cost and other info.
10/21-22: SIMCHAT TORAH CBAJ has a Dance-A-Thon and Pizza Dinner at night, and the Ungerman Breakfast and Lunch by day. Shteeble has a series of grand sit down lively Kiddushim both Shmini-Atzeres & Simchas Torah.
10/16: MUSICAL VETERAN SALUTE Memorial Concert Band of Colonie (a volunteer lay orchestra) is presenting “Pride of America: A musical salute to our nation’s veterans” 7:309:30pm at Colonie Central High School (1 Raider Blvd). Free Admission. Their next concert? will be at NYC’s Carnegie Hall on Veterans Day!
10/16: OUTDOOR AT FIVE RIVERS You can go anytime, and now with foliage changing is even nicer, but 4:30-5:30pm they also have an after-school kids program. Look it up for more info.
10/17: SUSHI IN THE SUKKAH Annual event at Clifton Park Chabad on Moe Rd. For more info call: 518-495-0772/9. 5-7pm. $5pp suggested donation, $25 max for family. Music, soups & salads, sushi, desserts and crafts.
10/17: BETH TEPHILAH SUKKAH Thursday Sukkah event at Beth Tephilah in Troy.
10/17: HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE! A great title! This talk is about “lessons from a year among the oldest old” by John Leland (NY Times reporter and author) at the Founders Room in Daughter of Sara. RSVP/Info: 518-724-3261 or email: foundation@dossc.org. No fee to attend, participants receive complimentary book.
APPLE PICKING SEASON Is just about over now with the frost kicking in. But there should be Apple-Picking on local farms for another week, maybe two. Call ahead and see what’s available. Some farms have other activities, too, including pumpkin patches, corn mazes, some have animals and playgrounds…
SIMCHAT TORAH KIDDUSHIM All welcome! If anyone would like to cosponsor/participate in costs for the multiple grand lively Kiddushim on both Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah at Shteeble, email macaras@gmail.com.
LULAV & ETROG SETS Rabbi Nachman Simon has sets available for $75 each. Contact him: 518-439--8280 or email: DelmarChabadSimon@gmail.com
COMPOST ON CHOL HAMOED Yes, you can bring compost to school on Chol HaMoed, but please put it directly into the bin behind the Outdoor Classroom and make sure to close the bin afterwards and take home or throw out anything that doesn’t belong in the bin. It got colder, but worms still at work!
DOWNTOWN IS PAWSOME See the 10 Nipper little dog Sculptures now on a Downtown walking tour: 683 Broadway, 30 S. Pearl Street, 374 Broadway, 25 Orange Street, Green Street btwn Beaver St & Hudson Ave, 25 Quackenbush Square, Tricentennial Park Broadway & Columbia Street, corner of Eagle & State Streets, 16 Sheridan Avenue. Riverfront Garage at Hudson River Walkway
END OF TISHREI MONTH MAIMONIDES SCHOOL SCHEDULE Oct 14-22—Sukkot Break, No School Oct 23—9:30am Late Start
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!”