BH. Cheshvan
17, 5780 / Nov 15, 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 4:15 Shabbat 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
THINKING OF ISRAEL This has been a very difficult week for Israel with hundreds of rockets raining down (many caught BH by the Iron Dome) on its citizenry and some global news not covering it or sadly confusing terror and defense. Some of our students saw photos of a joyous wedding in a bomb shelter or a whole bunch of newborns born during the rockets. AM YISRAEL CHAI, even in challenging circumstances. We pray for a peaceful Shabbos and good times ahead.
maimonidesschool@gmail.com
MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208
This MC Newsletter is dedicated in memory of a beloved and respected pillar of the community
Moshe ben Yitzchak MY FATHER’S BURIED GOLD COINS - A HOLOCAUST STORY Dr. Mark Biederman (a horse vet by profession) wrote a book about his long & difficult search for his Holocaust survivor father’s gold coins buried at the start of the Holocaust, and shared much of his fascinating story (an Indiana Jones type adventure) at school with our students, including pre-war family history he learned along his quest. He spoke about growing up without extended family, no grandparents or any uncles and aunts, the dark shadow over his Bar-Mitzvah date, his parent’s many hints to a past life they didn’t want to talk about, things he discovered that even his mother didn’t know about his father’s Holocaust experiences. The random ways he chanced upon key clues to find out more about his father’s past, including how he was the third name on Schindler’s List. Dr. Biederman spoke locally at several venues this week (Schenectady, Saratoga & Clifton Park) we’re lucky he spoke for us in school, too!
MY HOUSE ON THE BLOCK Nursery kids now have pictures of their houses on wooden (literal) blocks as they learn the sounds of the letter Beis/Bet for Bayit (house) and blocks. And homes are indeed building blocks of a community. See the excitement when this boy on left discovers his own house on a block!
W.O.W. GUESTS AT SCHOOL We’re bringing back this old school program this year, opening wide the windows of our students’ minds, with guests of all types of hobby, interests and expertise. This week we had some very interesting guests. Would you or someone you know have something interesting to share with our students?
MAZAL TOV SIMMY & CHAYA And the baby’s siblings at Maimonides on the birth and Bris of their newborn son/brother whom they named Shalom Dov Ber. We wish them much Nachas!
On his first yartzeit: Monday, 20 Cheshvan May his memory be a blessing
DR. JACOBS FOR VAYERA Two of the 3 angels that came to visit Avraham in Parsha Vayera were related to the medical field: one to heal Avraham after his Bris and another to tell Sarah the good news she was going to have a miracle baby. So, it was a good idea to have Dr. Ed Jacobs, a good friend and medical doctor who helps deliver babies to come speak as our WOW guest. He very sensitively and delicately told our students that while Yitzchak’s birth to an elderly mother Sarah is considered a miracle, every natural birth is also a miracle! He was present at more than 10,000 births as a OB/ GYN doctor and still marvels at the real miracle of birth (never takes it for granted) which needs so many things to go right to have a BH healthy baby birth. He talked about the births of twins and we had two sets of twins right there in the room and they were very excited to tell him that!
THE NINTH GRADE TESTERS 3rd graders finished Parsha Lech Lecha (their 3rd Torah portion) with Morah Devorah Leah and the tradition is to usually have Rabbi Rubin to come and ask them questions as part of their Siyum celebration. But Rabbi Rubin was not available that day, so Morah DL asked the ninth grade boys to fill in! And they did, they came in to test the 3rd graders… (in some way also tested themselves at the same time!)
NEW CHUMASHIM NEEDED It’s a great sign of much learning, but our first and second grade Chumashim (Breishis) are getting worn and weathered and probably won’t last much longer. We’re looking for a few sponsors for brand new, fresh, crisp Chumash Breishis (we’d need 16+ books) at least for next year, or maybe even the end of this year, for many more years of eager, beginner Chumash students at Maimonides. If interested in sponsoring, please contact Morah Devorah Leah or the school office.
TALKING COMPOST AT C.T. MALE ENGINEERING Our school received an environmental education grant for our Outdoor Classroom from the Eastern NY chapter of the Air & Waste Association and was invited (along with a school and the River Center of Schoharie) to present at their meeting. Each of our students involved in the Compost Project shared a different aspect of it from worms to smells, speed to citrus, mixes and mixing and more with a slideshow of our experience playing on the screen behind us. Our MC Newsletter got mention, too! The AWMA got our kids Kosher lunches from Price Chopper and the member engineers asked us some questions and gave us some tips going forward. It was a great experience, and we also learned a thing or two about public speaking!
SOUP OF THE WEEK
The weather turned colder and Mrs. Wildman ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE is once again volunteering to coordinate the Ms. Brown’s chemistry students enjoyed soup-of-the-week which our kids very much adding yeast (an activator or catalyst) to a enjoy. Parents: please pick a date bottle of hydrogen peroxide and soap because to sign up to prepare, cook and it created a chemical reaction, a huge foam cleanup (all in “Nathan’s oozed out of that bottle something that looked Kitchen” at school) a delicious like elephant toothpaste, with the texture of big pot of yummy hot soup for shaving cream but shaped and oozing like all our students (and teachers, too) to enjoy toothpaste! And it kept that form even when during lunchtime this cold winter! they tossed it about. They were also interested to learn the reason why hydrogen peroxide is TIPS FROM THE FOOT DOCTOR always stored in dark brown containers. Last Friday for Parsha Lech Lecha (about Avraham’s long journey) HS Girls had a HAFTORAH EVERYWHERE WOW guest podiatrist Dr. Raisa Yeshayev This week’s Haftorah is the story of the speak to them about foot care and foot health. prophet Elisha and the widow’s “fill your She spoke to them about supportive footwear vessels” with endless oil story, and then the that isn’t loose and flimsy, and has a little bit miracle with her child. This is the week that of a heel instead of just being Sephardic Jews and Chabad end the story on a flat (some of this depends on cliffhanger with the word Shalom. Our HS foot type, of course). She spoke Girls learned the Haftorah with Morah Raizy about common expected in their weekly Haftorah class, and they are problems that people come in also learning the story now in Morah Dini’s to her office for, and also things you might not Navi class (as they learn Kings II) and it also expect like lower back pain (which can be popped up in their Gemorah class with Rabbi caused by foot problems). She explained how Rubin. This classic Elisha story got a lot of socks help our feet regulate moisture, and how mileage (with varied angles) this week in our important it is to make sure our feet are warm High School classroom! in winter weather.
EQUIVELANT FRACTIONS Each “ice-cream” scoop has a different fraction on it but all the scoops on one cone are all the same even with different numbers, example: 2/6 is the same is one third.
COORDINATE PLANE PROJECTS Ms. Coffey’s 6th grade math students used X and Y axis to create colorful detailed graphs with plotting points and to determine exact coordinates for specific items on their charts that were spelled out on their legends. They learned about different applications for this math skill.
CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES
IMMIGRATION DBQ’S
Ms. Ramsay’s HS history class had a quiz on basic principles of the US Constitution including definition and examples of each of these & other principles: Limited government, separation of powers, checks & powers, elastic clause, implied powers, the amending process..
6/7 history are writing DBQ (document based 4th grade Navi is learning about Devorah the essays) about the immigrant experience and Prophetess and how her husband Barak have to cite their sources. listened to her instructions. It ties into this week’s Parsha where Hashem told Avraham to be sure to CAN YOU TASTE THIS? listen to his wife Sarah! Ms. Ramsay’s 6/7 science experimented with PTC paper that has a chemical on it that you need a certain gene to be able to taste it. Turns BAKE SALE ON WEDNESDAYS out that most people in middle school were on Wednesdays, morning recess-time. Families able to taste it, and it did run in families. can set up a tab or limits and make that arrangement with the HS Girls.
AVRAHAM 1.0 & 2.0 HS Girls learned interesting differences between Avraham in Parsha Lech Lecha and Vayera (this week and last week).
LISTEN TO SARAH & DEVORAH
CONTRASTING THREE CASES
HEBREW FALL POSTERS
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC 6/7 Talmud learned 3 similar cases in Bava Kama 31a and did four Are they separate agendas and policies worksheets with questions & charts or are they closely intertwined? 12th to understand each case and also how these graders are discussing this in Participation in cases compare & contrast with each other. Government class, and also learned about it as a parable for a Chassidic teaching in a class with Rabbi Mendel. WHAT TYPE OF WIND? 9th grade advanced Talmud learned a Tosefos with Rabbi Motti about things falling off a roof and the law depends on the type of wind that blew it off. It was timely to learn it on a day that the winds were particularly strong and blustery!
First and second grade students made these Fall posters and sentences about Fall.
STILL SHORT COUPLE DOZEN Cans… but we need Hanover Brand white cans (either black bean or garbanzo etc) that are 15.5 ounces. Latest we can get them is this Monday morning as the build at Crossgates begins on Monday early afternoon. And please join us 4pm at Crossgates Mall for the Shalom Kosher Food Pantry Kids CAN Build display and judging along with four schools! Look for 3D NAVI PROJECTS our design & theme, and the messages on the Morah Chana’s 5th grade Navi class worked in pairs to make Navi projects and displayed t-shirts our middle school builders will wear! them this week to other classes. The project pictured above (made of clay) was about the SALT DOUGH AND SALT ART Shiboleth mistake and misunderstanding that After school Tzivos Hashem Mishmar this unfortunately led to a major tribal conflict. week made salt dough (like playdough) and salt art (using glue and salt) in connection with the pillar of salt in this week’s Parsha Vayera.
HOLOCAUST RESCUERS 5th grade English class are reading stories of non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. They read about a Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara throwing the last visas out of the open window of his train, and those people were saved, too!
SCHENECTADY MISHMAR Ninth grade boys enjoyed pizza and learning at in Schenectady on Wednesday afternoon along with a good game of lively basketball with Mitch at the Union College Field House.
LETTERS FROM YOSEMITE
PAINTING WELCOME MATS Hospitality is a big theme in this week’s Parsha and Kindergarteners eagerly painted their own welcome mats with big bold words “Baruch Habah” (welcome in Hebrew).
SNOWFLAKES IN ART
Once it snowed a bit, it was time to make 4th graders are reading this family’s detailed snowflakes in art class with Morah Rivi. Their descriptions of the natural beauty in Yosemite. main takeaway is that while the end result None of these students have ever been so it is looks very complex and hard to do, the interesting to learn so much about a place just technique behind it is much easier than you from a book. You kind of get the picture! would imagine, and math is part of it, too!
1ST CHIDON TEST COMING UP … this coming week! Our students have been reviewing both in school and at home, using practice tests, audio, and the book itself. The more review, the better! Good stuff to know!
RANDOM PICTURE POEMS 6th graders were each given a random photo to write a quick poem about it.
PITGAM POETRY Speaking of poetry, 6/7 grade girls with Morah Raizy learn a Pitgam (classic saying) each week which they write about and express themselves, often using a poetic medium.
at Maimonides and in the Community 11/15: SHORT FRIDAY, REMINDER! 11/21: FRIENDS-GIVING MEAL Dismissal at 2:15pm on “short” Fridays. Please be on time, especially on these short Fridays.
11/16: SHABBOS VAYERA Angels as guests, big news for Sarah, destruction of Sodom, Lot and his daughters, and the Akeida.
11/16: RABBI REISMAN IS BACK Rabbi Reisman’s Navi Shiur is screened live from Brooklyn 9pm on Sat Nights at CBAJ.
11/17: SUNDAY CHASSIDUS
Kosher Dining on UAlbany’s Indian Quad is having a Friendsgiving Meal on Thursday the 21st. Cost is $17.44 all-inclusive - soup to nuts. Chef Olga is a superb cook. Parking is available in the visitor's parking lot to the side of Indian Quad.
11/21: BLOOD LIBEL AT NYS-M UAlbany Judaic Studies, NYS Writers Institute and NYS Museum host Dr. Edward Berenson of NYU for a lecture on a chilling American Blood Libel in the NY State town of Massena (his own hometown) in 1928. Reception at 6pm, talk 7:30pm.
Sunday night Mincha Maariv at Shomray Torah is 11/27: HALF-DAY + LUNCH around sunset time, with a quick vurt between Mincha and Maariv and a nice Chassidus class after After-school optional Mishmar/Tzivos Hashem will meet after 11:30am dismissal with a program and Maariv. Regardless of clock changes this is on! lunch. Lunch costs & more info, TBA.
11/17: CUNNING COYOTES
A talk geared to adults & walk at the Pine Bush on 11/27-: THANKSGIVING SCHEDULE Rt 155 about these smart elusive alpha predators in 11/27: Half-Day Judaic Only (see re lunch above) 11/28-29: No School our area. Free, but RSVP required. Info/Signup: 12/2: School Resumes 8am 518-456-0655 or AlbanyPineBush.org/events
11/17: CHILL & SHMOOZE LODGE
12/7: PIZZA NIGHT II
Another Chill & Shmooze get together at Beth Tephilah in Troy, 1-3pm this Sunday. $5pp. More info? Call Leibel and Elisheva 518-894-3490.
12/8: SEPHARDIC GENEALOGY
11/18: “KIDS CAN BUILD” - COME TO CROSSGATES MALL AT 4PM
Second Pizza Night of the season… Stay tuned!
1-3pm at Jewish Federation. The Capital Region Jewish Genealogical Society (CRJGS) is hosting Sarina Roffe, professional genealogist, editor of DOROT and author of “Branching Out from Sepharad” and author of Sephardic cookbooks.
Parents (community is welcome, too!): Please come from school 3:30pm dismissal to the 4pm display, judging and ceremony at Crossgates Mall on Nov 12/9: WOMENS NIGHT OUT 18th. Please come to support our kids efforts on this project. All cans (from all participating schools) Bnos Israel Mikvah of Albany welcomes all women will be donated to the Shalom Kosher Food Pantry. to a night out at the JCC with soup, desserts & hot drinks, homesteading demos including soap felting, 11/18: SHTEEBLE MAARIV CHANGE recycling weaving and preserving lemons, and a Now that the clocks changed, Maariv is each night humorous meaningful talk on “Secret of Jewish Femininity” by Chaya Reich of Mikva USA. In (Monday thru Thursday) at 8pm. Sunday Minchaaddition there are raffles, Mikva tours & more. Maariv will be at the Zman. We are still exploring $20pp (or sponsorship levels of $54, $180 & $360) the possibility of a 3:15pm Mincha Minyan at or for more info call or text Susannah 518-833school (Mon-Thurs) before pickup but that will 0633 or Devorah Leah at 518-945-0229. depend on how many are able to come.
11/20: CBAJ BOOK CLUB MEETS At a CBAJ member home. The first book is Elie Wiesel’s “Souls on Fire”.
11/20: RABBI HAMMER AT C.B.I. Beth Israel in Schenectady hosts Rabbi Shalom Hammer for the annual Lauber Lecture. Dinner 5:30pm, lecture at 7pm. $18 for dinner and lecture, $10 for lecture only. Info/RSVP: (518) 374-0685
12/11: PARENT-TEACHER CONF. Parents Teacher conferences will be on Wed, Dec 11. No school that day so teachers can meet with parents to discuss educational goals and student progress. Parents: If you are unable to attend on this date, please let the office know ASAP so we can plan the schedule accordingly and you can be in touch with teachers to discuss your child(ren).
12/23: MAIMONIDES AUCTION Monday night, second night of Chanukah, 5-7pm. Save the date for this special event! The Kochmans always prepare a delicious Chanukah feast - this time a deli-cious old-style deli, with homemade corned beef and sauerkraut and all the fixings!
1/10-12: WOMENS SHABBAT At the historic Gideon Putnam Resort in the heart of Saratoga Spa State Park for an inspiring, relaxing, and invigorating Shabbat weekend together with local Jewish women. Organized by Capital Region Chabad’s Jewish Womens Circles, at an all-inclusive rate of $250pp (per doubleoccupancy). Price goes up after Dec 1st. For more info & to register, see: WomensShabbat.com
1/23: F.C. WINE AND DINE EVENT At Glennpeters to benefit the Friendship Circle.
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!”