Volume 47, Issue 4 (December 2013) - The Rampage

Volume XXXXVII Number 3

The Ramaz Upper School

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Chamber Choir on CBS

By Tess Solomon ’16 On Sunday, December 1, 2013, the Ramaz Chamber Choir, directed by Mr. Daniel Henkin, performed on CBS News. The event was preceded by several emails to the students and the Ramaz community reminding them beforehand to tune in for the early 7:55 and 8:55 expected performance times. It was also well publicized by the members of the chamber choir themselves via social media sites, especially Facebook.

Mr. Henkin received a call from a producer at CBS TV a week before the performance,

asking if Chamber Choir would be interested in performing one or two Chanukah songs on their Sunday Morning News Show.

When he asked how they knew of Chamber, the producer said that one of

the news directors at CBS had heard them sing before, but he said he didn’t get any specifics.

The choir arrived at the studio at 6am on the Sunday morning of Thanksgiving vacation. The choir sang two songs at two breaks in the news: first, a

medley of popular Chanukah songs called Rondo L’Chanukah, and second, an Al Hanisim to an alternative tune, featuring soloist Jeremy David. (The second song was cut off in the middle because the news station needed to go to commercial break so they could continue reporting on a tragic train accident that occurred that morning). Seventeen singers performed—the current Chamber Choir, plus former member Aaron Kohl ‘13, a Ramaz alum who was back from Israel for Thanksgiving.

Opinion Piece

Opinion Piece

Useless Snack Machines

By Sydney Sarachek ’14 When you walk down the halls of Frisch, you notice an assortment of vending machines with a mix of healthy and unhealthy choices. One thing is for sure; there’s enough variety at Frisch to find the snack you like. At the right price; nothing at Frisch costs more than a dollar, that’s right, 100 pennies. The same is not

true for Ramaz. If you’re a student or faculty member at Ramaz, it’s not a guarantee to whether you can even get a snack, let alone the poor selection.

The G.O. has been trying to address this problem since the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year without any success.

Nina Rohr ’13, the former G.O.

president dealt with this issue as soon as she became president.

“I am surprised this issue is not already solved,” said Rohr. She added, “It was definitely frustrating trying to get the school to do something about the machines.

I worked on this issue with Sam, who was Junior Vice President at the time, and I remember every

time we tried to speak to someone in the administration they told us to speak to the person who was in charge of the vending machines, or to FLIK, and we always felt like we just had to take a step backx.”

Continued on page 5

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Jokes Taken Too Far?

By Avi Goldman ’15

Three weeks ago, the Jewish comedian, Joel Chasnoff came to entertain the students of Ramaz as part of the effort to lighten the mood during the week of Chanukah. Mr. Chasnoff performed well, joking about such topics as yeshiva basketball, Chanukah and traveling with tefillin. However, one of Mr. Chasnoff’s jokes became controversial; his joke about Head of School in student affairs.

I believe Mr. Chasnoff’s exact words were, “Paul! These are the students of Ramaz!”

I admit, I laughed at the joke.

Not because the joke was true, but because jokes about Mr. Shaviv are kind of taboo, and everyone enjoys it when someone breaks a taboo. There haven’t been too many jokes made about Mr. Shaviv or certain other members of the executive leadership because we haven’t gotten an appreciation of their sense of humor yet. Other staff members who have been the subject of student jokes have come to own the jokes.

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Play For the Philippines GAMETIME: Varsity boys basketball played male members of the faculty in an event to raise money for the typhoon that occurred in the Philippines last month. For more pictures and an article about the event, see page 6.

INSIDE

2

FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE EVENT

SOPHOMORE CHANUKKAH PARTY

2

DELIVERY MAN REVIEW

11 DO RAMAZ KIDS GET ENOUGH SLEEP?

7

CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.

THE-RAMPAGE. COM

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The RamPage News

Friendship Circle Chanukkah Event: A Big Hit

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Sophomore Chanukkah Party

By Yale Buchwald ’15

By Oren Oppenheim ’16

On Monday, December 2, the Friendship Circle hosted a Chanukah party in school for its participants and their siblings. The volunteers from school helped with organizing and setting up for the festive event and also interacted with the children. “The goal of Friendship Circle is to provide friendships for children with special needs that can last a lifetime,” said Stephanie Felder ’14, one of the heads of the club. Another goal of the club, added Felder, Aliza Schub ’16 helping a child from Friendship Circle decorate a donut for the donut decorating “is to place a child with event. an amazing job by celebrating This was one of those times.” special needs in a Jewish Chanukah with the children from Friendship Circle truly did an environment. Although some of Friendship Circle, and the chilexcellent job with their Chanukah the children may not be able to dren continue to teach us amazing party. The volunteers took time attend a Jewish school, they still things every day,” added Felder. out of their busy school schedfeel wanted and loved by a Jewish Joe Hedaya ’15, another volunteer ules to help others and make the community.” in Friendship Circle, added that, holiday more meaningful for the To start off the special night, “sometimes you can tell when you children. participants and volunteers went really made a person’s day better. down to the gym for a carnival.

Activities in the gym included a bouncy house and dreidel designing.

Children were also given the opportunity to decorate donuts in honor of Chanukah. Next, everyone went upstairs for dinner, where the Chanukah candles were also lit. “It was very meaningful to see everyone light the Chanukah candles together,” said Felder. “In Friendship Circle, every child has the opportunity to be a source of light and the Chanukah party really helped to accomplish this. Rebecca Fenster ’17, Shelli Cohen ’17, Elianna Schwartz ’17, and Julia Krevat ’17 with children The Ramaz students did from Friendship Circle at the Chanukkah party on December 2nd.

The Sophomore Parent-Child Chanukah Party, on December 3rd, began with a classic Jewish tradition—that is, with food.

Chicken fingers and French fries, while nothing too fancy, kept on making people come back for seconds, although some sophomores were disappointed by the stunning lack of cookies. Rabbi Dov Pianko, one of the coordinators of the event, said it was “great to have two delicious fried foods, not just one.” While more and more people filed in, parents and children alike milled around and schmoozed with their friends. The mixture of two social spheres— one of adults and one of teenagers—created a “nice, intimate feeling in the auditorium,” Dr. Koplon commented.

At the same time, in the back of the auditorium, students could dress up in Greek togas and have their picture taken while doing their best ‘warrior poses’. Why the school provided costumes for the antagonists of the Chanukah story instead of the Maccabees is beyond me (maybe togas are easier to get?), but the people who dressed up had a lot of fun with it. Ava Adler ’16 went Greek-style with Adi Menche ’16, saying that the offbeat idea “was funny”.

Soon after, the families all sat down at their tables (decorated with jelly-bean filled dreidels) for the main events of the evening, MC’ed by Lizzy Bier ’16. The Ramaz Choir performed a few Chanukah songs, including Maoz Tzur and In a World Like This.

The Chamber Choir sung their renowned rendition of Al Hanisim.

Adina Weinberger ‘16, tonguein-cheek, said, “The choir sang very nicely, especially Adina who sang in the background with forty other girls.”

Then came the learning—but no handouts were passed out, nor was there the threat of any possible test. Instead, the learning component took place as a series of debates designed to teach about various elements of Chanukah.

Max Mailman ’16 and Ben Rabinowitz ’16 (who described the debates as “great”) argued over which is the better food, latkes or hamentaschen. Are gifts actually a good thing for Chanukah? Matthew Levy ’16 and Sarah Ascherman ’16 were at odds on that one. And Akiva Gold ’16 debated Rabbi Pianko over whether dreidel

Chanukah Festivities

By Jasmine Levine ’17 Just because Chanukah visitors. genstern from Scarsdale came to coincided with Thanksgiving did The sophomores also had the Ramaz to talk about the signifinot stop Ramaz from focusing privilege of having a learning night cance of Thanksgivvukah. We have and celebrating Chanukah to the with their parents for Chanukah. so much to be thankful for and fullest. Over Chanukah, Ramaz The opportunity to study torah the chance to step back and think integrated numerous activities with one’s parents on Chanukah about it was unique. that helped the students get in the is something to celebrate in and The celebration continued in mood of the chag and made the of itself. In addition, Rabbi Mor- the cafeteria as well as we were school week a fun week treated to sufganiot, Our Chanukah celejelly doughnuts at bration started off with lunch and potato a bang with a comedian latkes as well. On the performing during last day of Chanukah, school. He made evthe whole school gatheryone laugh and relax. ered together at the Most of his material was end of the day and lit funny; however, a few candles together. The of his comments were entire choir performed a little biting and may and then the chamber have insulted members choir performed as of the administration. well. Then we davened This was followed by maariv together. Overan after school event, all, Chanukah over the friendship circle Thanksgiving was very where Ramaz students enjoyable and helped had the opportunity to Ramaz get into the bond with special needs Jeremy Wilson ’14 lighting the menorah at the school-wide Channukah spirit of Chanukah. celebration on December 4th.

playing constitutes a form of gambling. After that came, of course, the desert: sufganiyot and fruit.

(I went for the healthy option, but those donuts were extremely tempting.) People mingled for a while longer, but the party began to wind down.

Was the event a success? The sophomores seem to have mostly positive but somewhat mixed feelings. Eliana Doft ’16 said that she “really enjoyed being with my friends and parents”, while Akiva Gold ’16 commented that “Rabbi Pianko and the organizers came up with a great idea, something… truly interesting.” But both of them noticed some of the flaws in the event. “I would have enjoyed it more if it was more interactive, if I could be a part of the program instead of listening to the debates,” Doft said. Another sophomore also felt uncertain about the debates, commented that they felt confusing and the points the debaters were trying to make didn’t get across clearly.

Also, while there was a fairly large turnout at the event, it was unclear how much of the sophomore grade actually showed up.

The event was billed as almost mandatory, yet many students and parents, for various reasons, didn’t make it. “I feel… that there wasn’t such a great turnout of kids, and for such a great program, it’s a little sad to see such a small turnout,” Gold said. One sophomore lamented how the event (which his parents couldn’t get to anyway) didn’t seem very compelling—had there been some sort of “outside entertainment” from somewhere other than Ramaz, it might have attracted more people. Rabbi Pianko, however, felt that the turnout was more than fine, saying that “attendance was great and the room had very positive energy”.

And most importantly, it was the type of event that the sophomores themselves were involved in planning. They created the invites, worked on the debates, and helped with the coordination of the event.

Dr. Koplon summed it all up by saying of the party, “It was a great opportunity for students to get involved in preparing, planning, and participating and for the grade to come together on a busy weeknight and have a chance to celebrate Chanukah,” she said.

Jacob Berman ’16 and his father at the Sophomore parent-child Channukah party on December 3rd.

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The RamPage News

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Record Number of Girls Apply Stuck in the Snow: to Seminary 3 1/2 Hour Busride Takes 10 Hours

By Zimi Sloyer ’14

Every year, part of the senior grade at Ramaz applies to gap year programs in Israel. This year is no different, except for the fact that an unusually large percentage of the senior girls are applying to Israel programs.

In an average year, 50 to 60% of the girls in the senior grade apply to Israel. This year, 38 girls are applying, which makes up almost 90% of the girls in the grade.

The girls are applying to various types of programs, however there is a concentrated number of girls applying to the same few seminary programs.

This year, some schools such as Midreshet Lindenbaum, Midreshet Harova, and Midreshet Amit will spend an entire day at Ramaz interviewing students.

“This has never happened before,” Ms. Krupka said. “We are not

sure why there are so many girls applying to these few schools. It could be totally random. Also, those schools could just be more popular this year in general.”

Another possible explanation could be that people got nervous this year and instead of applying to 2 or 3 schools, they applied to 3 or 4. Obviously, with 15 girls applying to some of the seminaries, it seems impossible that everyone could get in. However, the Israel advisors are optimistic. “ We work hard to make sure that everyone gets into at least one school,” Ms. Krupka said. “We have rarely had a student who doesn’t get in anywhere.”

Even with these reassurances, some students are still nervous about the competition. “It’s nerve wracking knowing that I might not get into the Israel school I

want to go to,” Olivia Kaufmann said. “Both the schools I’m looking at have a lot of other Ramaz kids applying, and the programs are not that big, so I know we can’t all get in.”

Despite the worries circulating among senior girls, the Israel advisors called applying to Israel schools this year “a buyer’s market.” First of all, there are so many different Israel schools out there. Also, schools like Midreshet Lindenbaum used to have over 100 girls, and this past year they had 60. They might be willing to accept more people since they have so much extra room.

“Even though things are slightly unknown because we’ve never had this many people applying to the same places, we will do our best to work something out for every student,” Ms. Krupka said.

Jacob Doft ‘87 Speaks to the Business Investment Club

By Skyler Levine ’15 On Tuesday, December 3rd, Jacob Doft, Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager at Highline Capital Management, L.L.C., and chairman of the board at Ramaz, came to speak to the Business Investment Club. Mr. Doft presented to us a stock he was considering investing in but was having trouble deciding if the investment was worthwhile.

He gave us the background of the stock and what the company was doing to further its growth. He then asked us for our opinion, to help him decide. Through explaining the stock he was considering, Starbucks, he taught us many basic business factors that analyzers use when trying to decide whether to invest in a stock. He taught us the meaning and significance of a stock’s sales, expenses, depreciation, net income, debt, entity

value, P/E ratio, and EV/EBITDA ratio. After he laid down the facts, each of us shared our opinions on whether he should invest in Starbucks and why. Then we compared the stock to other stocks that had similar products to Starbucks, like Dunkin Donuts, to see how Starbucks was doing in comparison. I found Mr. Doft’s talk to be educational and interesting.

The way he presented his lesson was engaging and stimulating, as we were not just listening to a lecture, rather we were helping him make an important decision.

DJ Presser ’16 said regarding this aspect of the speech, “I thought it was so cool how he came to us for an opinion because he himself was struggling to make a decision.”

I personally also loved that Mr. Doft explained to us what a lot of business terms mean. Many other

speakers assume we know certain seemingly simple business terms and do not give explanations throughout their speeches, leading many BIC members to being lost but too proud to admit it. During Mr. Doft’s speech there was not a minute BIC members were in the dark, and I personally learned a lot!

Interestingly, Mr. Doft attended Ramaz and was a member of BIC. He told us that BIC sparked his interest in business, and look where he is now! Many members of the club found this very inspiring. DJ Presser ’16 said, “I thought it was pretty cool to have someone who became interested in business through BIC, in the early years of its existence.” Mr. Doft also said he enjoyed returning to his BIC roots. It was a pleasure having him at BIC!

By Eddie Mattout ’14 After spending an exciting option to come late or not come three days in Maryland, the Juat all. “I was given the option niors were scheduled to head back of coming to school late or not home to the urban environment coming to school at all the next of NYC. Juniors were scheduled day. I chose to come late because to leave Maryland at 10 a.m. on I couldn’t afford to miss any more Sunday, December 8, but as a class than I already did,” she said. result of an incoming snow storm Many students surprisingly they decided to leave an hour enjoyed their 10 hour bus ride. “It earlier to make it back to Ramaz at was the best bus ride I’ve ever had. the scheduled time of 2 p.m. The It was just an extra 10 hours to girls varsity basketball team joined hang out with my friends. It really the Junior class on the busses back just added another great memory to Ramaz. to an overall fantastic weekend,” As a result of terrible weather said Andrew Lobel ’15. Some conditions the Delaware Bridge students even had a snowball fight was closed. This resulted in over a during their 30 minute bathroom three hour delay by the Delaware Bridge. To make matters worse, this was only a fourth of the entire trip, with the entire Jersey Turnpike remaining. At around 2:30 the bridge reopened and the buses were en route to NYC. Parents received constant updates about the bus situation.

Alex Agus ’15 and Gabe Low ’15 enjoy the snow while their After leaving bus was stopped at the Deleware Memorial Bridge on Sunday, the Delaware December 8. bridge the buses made the first of their two bathbreak. Most Juniors were ecstatic room/mincha stops. Following upon finding out that classes their first stop Junior parents were would be cancelled the next day. notified that classes for Junior stu- “The day off the next day gave me dents would be cancelled the next a chance to fully recover from the day. Members of the basketball awesome but exhaustive retreat” team however were not excused said Yale Buchwald ’15. After a from classes. “It was a little unfair long day, the buses finally made it that we had to come to school the back to Ramaz at around 8:30. “It next day. We had an equally long is those 10 hour bus rides that are bus ride and we it would’ve been stories we can tell in the future. nice if we could have at least come While they are tough in the to school a little late,” said Melissa moment they sure make a good Kaplan ’14. Beckie Cohen, a soph- memory” said Rabbi Weiser. omore, however, was given the

Chamber Choir Goes to Shul: A West Side Story

By Andrew Lobel ’15 The Ramaz Chamber Choir is one of the most talented groups at Ramaz. They have recorded CD’s and sung at Ramaz dinners. They have performed live on CBS television and competed in Virginia.

But this Fall there was one place the Choir could not sing… in shul.

When the Chamber Choir held its third annual Shabbaton, Choir members were hosted at the West Side home of choir member Ben Emmerich ‘15. At past Shabbatons, the Choir had sung on Shabbat morning at nearby Congregation Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim (KRA). This year, KRA was happy to host the Choir again. But because they had another event Shabbat morning, KRA asked the

Choir to abbreviate its performance. According to Choir Director Mr. Henkin, “we decided this would be an excellent opportunity to perform at a second synagogue, in order to broaden our exposure in the community.”

But, it turned out, finding a shul that would be willing to permit the coed choir to perform was not so easy. Mrs. Emmerich asked friends who were on the boards of other West Side synagogues to see if the Choir could sing at their shuls on Shabbat morning. The Jewish Center declined without giving a reason. At Lincoln Square, Rabbi Robinson is said to have declined because he did not want to take a stand that didn’t conform with the view of the

larger orthodox community. The students since, as Mr. Henkin who could not perform solo at Spanish and Portugese would have noted, “Kol Isha is a non-issue WSIS, remarked: “I was upset permitted the choir to sing after from our school’s standpoint.” but I understood that that is how services were over, provided there Also, Ramaz is not unique among certain people see things and were no female soloists. Unformodern orthodox day schools at the end of the day I have to tunately, given the busy schedule in permitting coed choirs and respect that decision.” But what at the Spanish and Portugese that female soloists: SAR, North Shore matters most to Menche are not Shabbat, the logistics could not Academy, and Yeshiva of Flatbush the solos, but that the Choir gives be worked out. Ultimately, the all have mixed choirs and permit her the opportunity “to tap into Choir did sing at the West Side female solos, as does Shalhevet in my heritage and sing the songs of Institutional Synagogue (WSIS), Los Angeles. According to Choir past generations.” but no female solos the Modern Ortho“The whole issue of Kol Isha seems very doxWhile were allowed. WSIS community is divided on retrogressive” did permit duets with their views on Kol Isha, Ramaz boys and girls, which students should feel fortunate to -Ben Emmerich ’15 Mr. Henkin points be able to listen to the Chamout is interesting, “beber Choir, males and females, cause that way you actually hear member Ben Emmerich ‘15, “the singing solo and together, all year the female voice more clearly.” whole issue of Kol Isha seems very long.

The reaction of the West Side retrogressive.” Talia Menche ’14, shuls came as a surprise to many one of the female choir members

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The RamPage News

Ramaz Email Frusturation

By Akiva Gold ’16 One of the most important, and yet frustrating utilities used in our school today is the email system. Microsoft Outlook Web Service, the email program used by the school, is supposed to be used as a tool for students to be in contact with other members of Ramaz. But, due to the archaic nature of the system, the email fails its students more often than not.

On a close examination of the email homepage, one notices that the email system used by Ramaz is from 2003. For some reference, in 2003, the United States entered into Iraq, MySpace was launched, and the iTunes store was created. Fast-forward ten years. The United States has since moved on from Iraq, MySpace has come and gone, and the iTunes Store is on its 11th version.

And yet, Ramaz continues to use the same antiquated email system used in 2003, to the great frustration of its students and faculty.

Many of the frustrations felt by the Ramaz community stems from the fact that while much of technology has advanced, the email system has not. With the advent of new email systems and technologies, simply sending an email has become a tedious task, and a task that may have to be repeated many times. Due to the old nature of the email system, often, if writing a lengthy email, the session will “time out”, prompt the user to log back in, and make them rewrite their entire email.

But, one can only reach this step if they are lucky, as many times, the email system will not even allow

for logging in. Gabriel Klapholz ’17 says that “there have been times when I have tried to log in but the site crashed and I couldn’t access my e-mail for hours at a time”. He also mentioned how this makes communication very difficult. This is the main problem with the email system, and it continues to undermine usage of the system.

But, another problem stemming from the age of the email system has to do with the security of the system. The Microsoft system used by Ramaz still uses older security systems, and that worries

students like Oren Oppenheim ’16. “The email system could be vulnerable to new types of hacking attacks that could break in and steal passwords or information.

If it were a modern email program, it would have up-to-date protection and be a much harder to crack.” Although a legitimate concern, this issue for some is not as important as the lack of usability compared to modern email systems.

Many of the modern email systems, like Google and Yahoo come

with new quirks and shortcuts that make using email a simple process.

Because Ramaz still uses an old email system, many students are annoyed by the lack of these newer conveniences not available on the current email system. On the up to date email systems, the client can search through their email history, easily select mail recipients, and even easily organize their emails. Most of these features are either in their earliest stages, or completely non-existent on Outlook. Said Noam Kaplan ’16, “when you type in names, as you type, it should allow you to click on the people whose names match what you have written so far to choose as a recipient. Although these problems are minor, and don’t completely ruin the system as the previously mentioned problems do, they are highly inconvenient when writing an email.

Because there are so many problems with the current email, using the system becomes a hopeless effort, and at points, completely useless. But, these problems could easily be resolved by a simple upgrade of the system, either to a newer Outlook server, or by switching to newer services like Gmail for school. Sadly though, according to Dr. Koplon, although there has been some talk about updates to the email system, nothing is imminent.

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Should We All Pray Together?

By Eddie Mattout’15

Towards the end of last school year, Mr. Miller announced that the administration wanted to know what the student body’s opinion was on whole school davening. Nobody expected that to mean that whole school davening would happen only occasionally this year. The school has only had it five times since the beginning of the school year, and three of those were scheduled in order to fit in a speaker.

Students shared mixed feelings towards whole school davening. “I never liked davening on Fridays.

It was impossible to daven with such a high level of talking and it was annoying to stop every five minutes because they had to quiet everyone down” said Jack Tauber ’15. Others loved the idea of the entire school davening as one. “I always used to look forward to Friday whole school davenings. It really gave me a sense of community. It was also nice to have the administration address us once a week, giving me a sense that there was an actual connection between the students and the administration,” said Andrew Lobel ’15.

When asked about the lack of whole school davening, Rabbi Stochel responded that, “there hasn’t been the chance to conduct an entire whole school davening.

Between the chags, shabbatons and extended davenings, davening as a school just hasn’t been an option. We have done it whenever we could but it there have been scheduling conflicts.” Rabbi Stochel continued to talk about whole

school davening in general. “It is very difficult to conduct davening with our entire student body. If we had carpeted floors and it was a formal shul than can accommodate 400 people and still keep the kedusha of davening we might have a different situation. Between students coming in at different times, the lack of permanent seats, whole school davening has unfortunately developed a more “casual” feeling, and that is unacceptable,” he said. In the past, Sphardics were unable to daven in their own nusach because of whole school davening. This year, sphardics have had the opportunity to daven in their own Sphardic tradition.

Some sphardic students were upset at the elimination of whole school davening. “I enjoyed having a weekly Ashkenazi davening. It was nice to change things up once in a while and join the larger community,” said Jacob Rahabi ’16.

Students felt that there was less interaction between the students and the administration. Friday davening was used as a springboard to announce news within the school community, such as individual accomplishments, sports team victories, and general issues applying to the entire school. Without the entire school gathered together it has been impossible to talk about these issues in one unified group. Rebecca Schwartz believes she spoke for a number of students when she said, “I miss whole school davening and hope to see more of it this upcoming year.”

Controversy Over the Pursuit of Happiness

By Akiva Gold ’16 “The Happiness Club aims to remind us of how great it is here at Ramaz by giving our minds a break and letting ourselves remember how happy we really are.” So said the founders and presidents of Happiness Club, Dani Wilner ’14 and Jeremy Wilson ’14, who created the club this year because they felt that Ramaz students were too absorbed in the stress and pressures of school.

They decided to create a club whose sole purpose would be to help cure the stress and promote happiness.

Last week, in pursuit of the Club’s goals, Wilner and Wilson decided to engage students in the classroom during class time.

In their words, “our main goal was to bring happiness inside the classroom so everyone could see the positive impact our club could have on students’ lives.” To this end, the club emailed several teachers asking them to conduct student surveys during specific periods throughout the day. The plan was for students take a survey

regarding their mental disposition before class. Then, Wilner and Wilson would engage students during class in interactive games, tell some jokes, and give out chocolate. At the end of the period, they would disseminate the survey again. Wilner and Wilson emphasize, “we were not focusing on the students’ specific survey responses.

Rather, we wanted to see if kids were ‘happier’ after we spent some time with them. We were simply trying to figure out how we could best change the happiness and stress level in the school.”

While the Happiness Club may have had noble intentions, several faculty members and administrators took issue with the plan. As Mr. Miller explained, “the email stated they would be taking a survey. This is not the same thing as asking permission to conduct a survey during class time. What gives students the right to write to teachers and expect compliance?” One teacher questioned Mr. Miller about the propriety of the survey. Mr. Miller

commented that this teacher’s actions “were based on common sense. He did not want to hand out a form asking whether kids are happy or not. This teacher understood that a survey on the mental health of students is a serious issue that is not to be conducted informally.”

When Mr. Miller found out about the surveys, he asked Ms. Malamy to collect them because, “I didn’t approve the survey, therefore it could not be given out. But I was not just making a point about administrative control in the school. There are significant moral and ethical issues at stake.”

Mr. Miller explained, “asking questions about students’ mental health puts the school in a vulnerable and exposed position. We have an obligation to follow up if we hear that students are unhappy and troubled.” Another serious issue was that the Happiness Club sought to “conduct a survey on the mental health of students without parental consent.” Mr. Miller concluded, “the survey was

irresponsible and ill conceived.

There is a reason things in this school do not happen without the administration’s approval.” While Mr. Miller took a strong stance against the Happiness Club’s attempted survey, he reiterated that the school is obviously not against happiness or the Happiness Club.

Rather, Mr. Miller was looking out for the best interests of the school.

Dr. Zeitchik echoed Mr. Miller’s Concerns. He said, “when you ask people if they are happy or unhappy you have a responsibility to frame the exercise sensitively.

While the survey may be harmless to most students, you have to be mindful of the atypical student.”

While Dr. Zeitchik may not have agreed with how the Happiness Club went about their survey, he certainly respects their intentions.

“I respect the attempt to bring thoughtfulness to the issue of how to help people feel happy; I respect that initiative. We just need to collaborate to ensure it is being carried out in a thoughtful

manner.” Morever, Dr. Zeitchik believes that “it is important for us, as an educational institution, to do research using our own population. However, it is our responsibility to teach ethics and standards that need to be taken into account when conducting said research.”

The Club presidents understand the administration’s concerns, but believe that they overreacted. As Wilner said, “there was no need to send Ms. Malamy out to each classroom to collect the surveys.” The club’s faculty advisor, Ms. Sarah Gluck, was called to Mr. Miller’s office following the confiscation of the surveys because, according to Mr. Miller, “the process, or lack thereof, in conducting this survey is the responsibility of the faculty advisor.”

While this episode may have resulted in some tension between the administration and Happiness Club, they all clearly share a common objective for Ramaz students: the pursuit of happiness.

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Better Tuesdays Singing Minyan

By Alex Leibowitz ’15

I am not the always the best davener in the room. I do not always feel the most inspired and I certainly am not the one most likely to get out of my seat to sing and dance. That’s why I am still shocked at how much I have been enjoying singing minyan.

Initially, I confess that I went to 601 simply to hang out with my friends. Most of them seemed to be going so I said that I would give it a shot.

However as the weeks progressed I found myself excited for Tuesday. I wanted to sing and dance, even if I am not the best dancer and certainly not the best singer (see my recent music test). However I was really getting involved. I found the tunes comforting and interesting. They were a welcome break from the daily grind. I finally understood why so many people rushed up to 601. It wasn’t for the donuts; it was actually for the singing.

Yet during the rest of the week I find myself disappointed. Ramaz only offers such an alternative once a week. So during other days, I find myself tired and uninspired. After experiencing

such a beautiful davening I find myself disappointed when all davening really consist of is getting screamed at for talking.

Therefore I think singing minyan should meet every day.

Why is Tuesday any different than Monday? Shouldn’t we strive to achieve meaningful prayers every day of the week? Teachers complain about the excessive talking during davening.

And while I do admit that this is partly the fault of students.

Teachers and administrators do require some of the blame.

They have not given students an option that captivates their interests. Walk into singing minyan and then walk into another davening. You will be amazed at the difference in behavior. Even though singing minyan has just one faculty member and other davenings have many, singing minyan has less talking. When students are inspired they don’t talk or interrupt. The school needs more inspirational davening options.

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Chamber Choir On CBS Continued from front cover When asked, the singers were all some combination of excited and nervous. “It was all taped live, but you didn’t feel as though you’re singing for thousands of people,” said Mr. Henkin.

“You’re standing in a news studio with a few cameras and maybe 5 people in the room. But this was probably the most public singing forum I have been on.” Gaby Stemp ’15 said, “The crew and anchors were all really friendly.

They gave us a tour of the studio, made us coffee, and we learned a lot about news and television. They made us feel really comfortable,” but as Victoria Spero ’15 said, “I think we were all a little nervous because it was the largest platform we’d ever performed for.”

Mr. Henkin said, “It was over Thanksgiving break, but the singers were eager to shuffle their plans to be there. Gabby Stemp returned early from a family trip.

Leora Huebner came to the studio straight off a plane from Israel that arrived at 5:45 that morning.” This is demonstrative of the commitment of the students in

Chamber Choir. “If you are in Chamber Choir, then the high school and Chamber Choirs must be the primary co-curricular

activities in your schedule,” Mr. Henkin explained. It is popularly hashtag-ed as “varsity choir,” and is “a group of twelve to sixteen carefully selected students in grades 10-12. Students must have a strong voice, a well-trained ear, and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to our choirs,” said Mr. Henkin. Depending on how many graduating Chamber Choir seniors there are, it will accept

roughly four new singers each year, and in a typical year, there are 25-30 students audition.

The event was well received and well publicized in the Ramaz community.

Videos were shared all over Facebook, and the school sent out emails with links to watch videos of the performances. Rachel Kastner ’14, a member of the Chamber Choir, said, “It’s been so cool to see the response to the video.

I recently got an email from my camp in Israel that they saw it! I was shocked and obviously ecstatic. I just love chamber!”

“I think we were able to perform at our best standards to our biggest audience ever,” said Ben Kohl ’15, another member of the choir. “It was a big Kiddush hashem,” said Stephen Eliau ’15.

When asked if Chamber Choir would be back on TV next year, Mr. Henkin said, “I emailed the producers to see if they might have us on again. Though I did not receive a definitive ‘yes,’ they seemed open to it at some point in the future.”

Extra Time

By Alex Leibowitz ’15 The bell rings and a teacher collects the tests. Many students are complaining; they just need five more minutes. However, the teacher calmly removes the tests from their hands. Yet throughout this commotion there are students who remain calm in their seats. They know there is no rush.

They get extra time on tests and therefore they will have more time to finish. The students who weren’t able to finish their tests walk out angry and confused; they feel that they deserve more time and are upset that there friends receive a competitive advantage. The scene is a familiar one at Ramaz.

Extra time is one of the most controversial issues in the school.

Students who have extra time see it as essential to their success in school; students who don’t have it feel that those who do are merely seeking an edge and are abusing the system. They feel that extra time is given out extremely liberally, and that the school needs to do a better job of assessing who actually needs those precious extra minutes on a test. As Sam Fried ’15 said, “I think that it’s fairly corrupt. There are definitely kids who use it who don’t actually need it. I personally don’t think that it’s fair because I am at a disadvantage to a kid who should be on the same playing field as me. Granted some kids actually need it, but a lot do not.”

Students cited good students who needed extra time as an

The RamPage Opinions

example. They claimed that if you are an honors student then why should you need more time? They could understand students who were struggling and getting the extra time, but they were upset that talented and capable students also received it. Daniel Cahn ’17 said, “Extra time is basically given out to anyone experiencing any kinds of trouble in school. The thing is, everyone has trouble. It seems unfair when you have kids in honors classes getting an unfair advantage from having extra time.

It provides an unfair advantage to people that don’t need it.”

Rachel Aboodi ’15 proposed a solution to this problem. She said that only students in learning center (those who don’t take Spanish and instead spend the period receiving help in other areas) should receive the extra time. Therefore extra time allowances would be restricted to students who are really struggling. She said, “I think that only students who take learning center should be able to receive extra time on tests because otherwise the system ends up giving extra time to students who don’t really need it and those people have an advantage on tests.”

Furthermore opponents of extra time argue that extra time actually hinders the learning of those who use it. There is no extra time in the workplace, therefore why should there be extra time in the classroom. If the purpose of testing is to prepare students

for the workplace, then isn’t it a disservice to make it easier for some students? Shouldn’t they be developing skills that are applicable in the real world? Dan KorffKorn ’14 said, “Extra time doesn’t exist in the “real world.” I believe, to some extent, that the easy access to extra time many students have trains them to put less devotion into their work, and eventually harms them when they reach the professional world.”

These angry students blamed the competitive environment of Ramaz for fostering an atmosphere where students were constantly looking for an edge. Alex Glaubach ’16 said, “In a highly competitive school like Ramaz it subconsciously encourages every student to ‘work the system’ ever more so than a regular school.”

Despite the strong response from students, the teachers and administrators involved on the extra time committee (the group of people who review each individual case to decide whether a student receives extra time) felt that the system was not abused. They said that the students did not understand each individual case and therefore were not in a position to pass judgments on their peers.

Dr. Zeichik said, “My sense is that we are very conscious of the importance of soundly deciding when an accommodation is called for and when it isn’t. Given that theoretically everybody would want to have more time, we want

to make sure that when we grant extended time we are doing it for consistent and sound educational reasons.” He added, “At the end of the day the educators involved in the decision are human. There is a judgment involved which isn’t always perfect, but we do the best we can. We can’t always explain to people for reasons of sensitive to privacy why one kid got it and another didn’t. We aren’t going to publicize that. We are committed to the integrity of the process.”

Dr. Koplon addressed the problem of honors students receiving extra time. She said that you could be brilliant and still have learning issues and need more time on tests. She said that the two had no correlation and therefore it made sense that some honors students would be entitled to extra time.

Dr. Koplon said, “I think many students think that if only they would have extra time they would be able to do better on tests and that isn’t really the case. Students who get the extended time process differently and it doesn’t mean they are any less smart than anybody else, so there isn’t a reason to say that an honors student shouldn’t have extra time.”

Responding to the issue raised about extra time in the workplace, Dr. Koplon felt that tests were a different setting and therefore necessitated different accommodations. Dr. Koplon said, “In the workplace you are also not taking tests. If you’re given a project

you’re given a deadline, but the deadline isn’t forty minutes from now. The deadline is having this project finished by the end of tomorrow. And you budget your time sitting a the desk however you feel you need to budget your time.” Rabbi Yasgur added that people should stop associating school with the workplace. School is not simply meant as a preparation for the real world, and therefore accommodations that aren’t made in the real world should be given in schools. He said, “The assumption in your question is an equation between the educational setting and a business setting. I find it very disturbing when I hear people who set the tone for the school comparing the school educational environment to the business environment. It is true --students might not get extra time at work. But that’s not where we are; we are in an educational period of life, similar to a fetus in the womb. There are different rules in the womb and outside of the womb.”

In the end it seems that with extra time brings extra conflict.

Students seem to be upset whenever they feel that they are at a disadvantage, while teachers and administrators see that advantage as necessary to the success of some students.

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The RamPage News

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Junior Retreat: A Weekend to Remember

By Andrew Lobel ’15 The junior class of 2015 boarded the buses to Reisertown, Maryland on Thursday morning excited for a weekend full of great activities, bonding with friends, and a break from the hard work of junior year. By Sunday, their expectations had not only been met, but also surpassed.

The first item on the agenda was an afternoon at the local Maryland JCC. After enjoying a brief lunch, the juniors were treated to an afternoon packed with activities ranging from basketball and soccer to kickboxing and zumba. Following the JCC, the juniors arrived at the place they would call home for the weekend, the Pearlstone Retreat Center. As described on its own website, the Center “aims to make every experience comfortable and meaningful.” Sammy Merkin ’15 was in total agreement: “the retreat grounds were homey in a way that put everyone in a great mood that set the tone for the whole trip.” Moreover, the cozy, intimate feeling of the retreat grounds helped foster a sense of grade-wide camaraderie. As Adam Bandler ’15, remarked: ”We were in an environment that wasn’t as stressful as school so people were able to be themselves.”

The theme of this year’s Junior Retreat was “Zooming Out- Understanding the Bigger Picture.”

Juniors were split into groups and teacher-led sessions ranged

from “Halakhic Dating for Guys” was pretty neat seeing how Mr. to “Schmoozing in the Dark: Lupinacci, Dr. Gaylord, and Dr. Connecting with Your SpiritualiMilowitz are all so close. I think ty.” Skyler Levine ’15 particularly seeing their friendship first-hand enjoyed the sessions because “it was something special that really was refreshing to get to know our helped the grade appreciate all our teachers outside the classroom. In friendships a little bit more.” Not school it’s easy to view teachers only did juniors feel that they were as disciplinarians, but over junior able to strengthen pre-existing retreat I feel like we got to know friendships, but they were also them in a much more important able to forge new ones. As Bandler capacity, as friends.” Many other observed, “Junior Retreat was an students echoed this sentiment, incredible experience. It gave me and while speaking on the condithe opportunity to find out new tion of anonymity, acknowledged things about kids I never knew that teachers they had previously much about.” resented became newfound faOver Shabbat, juniors were vorites. The teachers were equally eager to sing and dance with their enthusiastic. Ms. friends and Weinstein explained teachers. The that she loves Junior post-Friday Retreat because night dinner “students get to tisch was a see me outside the show-stopclassroom. They can ping event. see the real me and It was so I can see the real poignant that them. It makes our even the two relationships better bus drivers, and we can connect clad in their on a different level. strimels and And it’s an awful lot black suits, of fun!” couldn’t stop While sessions themselves play a key role in from particbridging the gap Juniors at Terrapin Adventures, an outdoor ipating with adventure center in Maryland. between students overflowing and teachers, ruach! That Junior Retreat is renowned for ruach endured throughout the the intergrade bonding it prorest of Shabbat. Jack Tauber ’15 motes. Margo Oshry ’15 said, “it described the Shabbat morning

service as “uplifting, exhilarating, and just downright awesome.” The day culminated with a beautiful havdalah ceremony. However, even though Shabbat had ended, the singing most definitely had not. Following the evening’s bowling activity, the juniors returned to freezing temperatures and howling winds. Notwithstanding the numb toes and fingers, the juniors gathered around a bonfire, and with the help of Ben Emmerich ’15 and Eytan Abergel ’15 on the guitar, sang into the early hours of the morning. The songs they sang weren’t as important as the sheer fact that the grade was singing in unison. Nathalie Kahn ’15 said, “I couldn’t believe that we were out there in the freezing cold, it was so sweet! All that mattered was being with each other and singing our hearts out. ” The juniors were so determined to keep singing, that when the teachers tried sending them back to their bunks at 1:30 am, chants of “Let us stay!” broke out! Kahn continued, “We just wanted to be with each other. I think just wanting to stay with each other by choice, even when the teachers tried sending us back, showed how much the Retreat brought us together.”

Eddie Mattout ’15 undoubtedly spoke on behalf of the entire junior class when he said: “Junior Retreat was literally the best weekend of all time!”

The Library: Our Newest Classroom?

By Yale Buchwald ’15 If you have ever been denied entrance to the school library due to a class in session there, you have witnessed firsthand a major problem that has become more and more apparent in school.

The combination of a relatively large student body with a limited number of available classrooms has forced the administration to utilize any open classroom-like space. Although the large student population seems to be a positive sign for Ramaz, it has also resulted in this scarcity of available classrooms, a fact which has both pleased and upset many.

Out of the six-day schedule rotation, there are fourteen classes held in the library. This number seems to be quite alarming considering that students who want to work in the library during the week are often sent away due to fears that they will disturb the class being held. In one instance, Jack Bonime ’15 noted that “I was quietly working at one of the computers in the library and a teacher kicked me out because he said there was going to be class there shortly.” “I was very disappointed because it’s the only quiet place in school for me to do my work,” continued Bonime. Other students, such as Sally Klapper ’15, shared similar experiences of not being allowed into the library.

“Many people, including me, need to use the library. Despite

my need for this resource, there have been many times when I wasn’t allowed in because there was a class in progress.” Klapper also added that she felt holding classes in the library is “ridiculous.”

According to Mr. Miller, the shortage of available classrooms “is a problem.”

Mr. Miller further elaborated on this point by saying that “Currently, in terms Dr. Milowitz teaches his Sophomore english class in the library every Y-day morning second period. of each grade in in comparison to having them in student to teacher ratios, it would the school, we the lunchroom or auditorium, it is help eliminate the need to hold are at a good size. However, we still an issue in need of a resoluclasses in the library.” like to maintain smaller class sizes tion.

Without the unhindered and low student to teacher ratios, Ms. Wiesman views the dilemability to use the library, students and at times we run out of availma as a “happy problem because are forced to look elsewhere for able rooms. Using rooms such as we want the school to grow.” available space to do work. With the Beit Knessest and the library However, it is crucial to remember lounges that are already often are our last resorts when every that the school’s growth is coming crowded, kicking students out other available classroom is used at the expense of an overcrowdof the library will surely result in up.” Mr. Miller also pointed out ed environment.

“To solve the hallways and lounges which are that “there been have years when problem, I think the school needs noisier and more disturbing.

It is we needed to use the lunchroom to add more students to each hoped by many that an adequate and auditorium for several periods class,” remarked Josh Garfunkel solution will be put in place to fix to accommodate the program.” ’14.

He continued by saying that this issue.

While having classes held in the “Although this would increase the library might seem fairly desirable

Opinion Piece

My Hectic Junior Retreat

By Skyler Levine ’15 The weekend of December 7th was the weekend of my junior retreat AND the Baltimore basketball tournament. When I first found out that I would be missing retreat, I was really upset, because I had heard from upperclassman how much fun their junior retreats were. After much planning, the administration came up with a solution. We were going to travel back and forth between the basketball tournament and the retreat, as they were both in Maryland. We went up Wednesday with the team and played games until Friday afternoon, when a bus came to pick us up and take us to the retreat center. We spent Shabbat with our grade and as soon as Shabbat ended we got on a bus with Rabbi Stochel back to the tournament, as we had our third place game right after Shabbat was over. After we finished the game, the bus came again to pick us up and take us to the bowling alley where our grade was bowling. We were able to spend Saturday night with our grade and returned Sunday on the bus with our grade.

This back and forth traveling between the tournament and the retreat left me somewhat confused.

One minute I was in my competitive driven basketball mode and the next I needed to focus on my classmates. One minute I was thinking about my basketball family and the next minute I was thinking about my junior class family. It was like I was going back and forth from two separate islands. Regardless, I was very happy that the administration and planners of Junior Retreat allowed us to experience both events. The basketball tournament was fun and a great way for our team’s relationship and skills to improve on and off the court. This will definitely pay dividends when the Yeshiva League playoffs begin.

The retreat was also a great way to enjoy the kids in our grade without the added stress of school.

Even though it was never what I pictured as my junior retreat, I was content with my hectic experience and will hold onto fond memories of both my first high school basketball tournament and my Junior Retreat.

Page 6

The RamPage News

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Play for the Philippines: Ramaz Students Raise Money and Awareness

By Eliana Doft ’16 After the tragic typhoon in the Philippines, students sprang into action, taking the initiative to design T-shirts and plan a student versus teacher basketball game. These activities helped raise money and awareness. The chesed committee sold the T-shirts, designed by Sydney Sarachek ‘14, during lunch on Wednesday to be worn during school on Thursday.

The $10 cost of the T-shirt was donated to various organizations that provide aid to the Philippines.

While enough T-shirts were made so that every student in the school could purchase one, “it was very disappointing that less than half the school bought shirts,” said Esther Malka Issiver ’14. Additionally, out of the students that did purchase T-shirts, fewer ended up wearing them to school. “I found that a lot of my friends bought the T-shirts to give money, but chose not to wear them to school on Thursday,” recounted Anabelle Ritz ’16. However, students did feel like they made a significant impact. “One of my former classmates, Joey Tabakin, reached out to me and told me that he heard that we were selling T-shirts, and asked if I could send him one, and he would make a donation,” said Sarachek. “It made me feel really great about what we were doing for the victims.”

On Thursday morning, students gathered in the gym to watch the boys varsity basketball team take on the faculty. Two games were played. Despite the 20-point lead given to them at the start of the game, the teachers lost to the students during the first game. However, during the second game, they retaliated and won. “The idea of having a game to raise money was a really cool and unique idea, and kids seemed to be really into it sometimes,” said Oren Oppenheim ’16. “I had a great time watching my teachers attempt to play basketball. It was also a good break in a really long, stressful day,” remembered Michael Low ’17. In the end, around $300 was raised for the cause.

More important than the money raised is the awareness these activities generated.

The boys varsity basketball team, other students, and faculty pose in their “Ramaz Play for the Philipines” shirts.

Opinion Piece

Sleep in Ramaz: A RAMpant Problem

By Gabriel Klapholz ’17 Ramaz student life is a diverse and complex playing field. Students come from different towns, cities, and even states. Yet, an unfortunate nightly trend presents itself in all different classes, social groups, and clubs. Sleep plays an integral role in how we live our lives as students and as teenagers.

Ramaz students have erratic and unhealthy sleep schedules that may actually be affecting school life and culture. In order to further understand the problem, one must address the actual issue and understand the underlying causes that may be driving it.

After conducting a poll via social media, results show that roughly 61-percent of freshmen (of the 57 participants of the poll) only get six hours or less of sleep each school night. Approximately 16-percent responded that they receive eight to nine hours of sleep on school nights. It is recommended that teenagers sleep for “at least eight hours a night,” says Dr. Ari Klapholz, M.D., co-director of the New York Sleep Wake Institute and a Ramaz parent. Nevertheless, a staggering number of freshmen fail to match those standards.

Daniel Cahn ’17, says that he only gets “five and half hours of sleep” each school night. Now, this may be due to a large commitment to certain extra-curricular activities or from other undisclosed matters, but the bottom-line is that if a freshman is only sleeping 5 and a half hours, how much are upper classmen sleeping? From such figures, one can pinpoint a problem present in the Upper School.

Students are simply not getting enough sleep.

Additionally, chronic sleep deprivation is considered problematic in the medical world.

Dr. Klapholz stated that “it can promote weight gain and obesity, which, in turn, could lead to diabetes.” He said that “sleep deprivation can also affect our immune system, predisposing us to infection.”

The problem is a blatant one.

But it is essential to know the underlying causes for sleep deprivation in upper and lower classmen.

Dr. Zeitchik pointed it out that “there is an element of learning the skill of balancing one’s time.”

He acknowledged “the challenge to get sound sleep” when students are confronted with a “duel-curriculum” and “that school work can contribute” to the problem.

Irregular sleep patterns can also have mental repercussions. Upon discussion with Dr. Zeitchik, he shed light on the issue and on possible solutions. He stated that “in general, sleep depravation is linked to poor attention, poor decision making, and more difficulty coping.” Such information brings out the direness of the issue. Bad sleep patterns could lead to worse performance in school, academically and even socially.

Dr. Zeitchik still believes that “it is not just the school” and he expressed that “if things are driving intense sleep deprivation, then I want to hear about it.”

The plain answer to the question is that students are overwhelmed with clubs and schoolwork that drive them to stay up the extra two hours rather than ‘hitting the hay.’ But Dr. Zeitchik offered another explanation. He claimed (after hearing about the

results from the freshman poll) that “it would be interesting to know if they had slept more in 8th Grade,” expressing his concerns that this is a “cultural issue” in the high school. Many students feel the obligation to stay up late, oftentimes the night before a test or large due date, in order to keep up with a very competitive and academically driven school culture.

On the other hand, Rabbi Stochel provided a different perspective on the subject. When asked what he believes is the core reason for erratic and unhealthy sleep patterns in Ramaz students, Rabbi Stochel replied that “I wonder if our students work in an attentive and uninterrupted fashion” and that oftentimes “social and electronic media interfere with our ability to focus on tasks in a deep and productive way.” He also raised the possibility that perhaps the sleep situation is a result of a lack of understanding among students about the most efficient way to absorb their learning. Rabbi Stochel suggested that “teachers can be more aware of the limited time students have and that some students may need more guidance as to how to study and work.”

Nevertheless, the problem appears pervasive within the school, making it one that should be addressed. Correcting sleep deprivation in Ramaz could be a major step in improving the lives of students. It would ultimately provide a more healthy, happy, and awake student body.

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The RamPage Opinions

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Snack Machine Failures Continued from front cover There are two prevalent issues which must be immediately addressed. First, the machines are rarely stocked with a reasonable selection of snacks. Often, you can only get trail mix from the vending machine on the fourth floor or pretzels from the vending machine on the third floor. The more popular snacks, such as popcorn, candy, and chips, are constantly out of stock. The second issue is that the machines are old and completely out of order. At times, students cannot even get trail mix out of the machine because it simply doesn’t work. With the former issue, there is no reason it should not be solved right away. If one ventures down to C level, there is a closet full of the snacks for the vending machine. What use are these snacks in this locked closet?

With these older, obsolete machines, it is obviously costly to replace them but it makes no sense that they are constantly out of order. Would you keep a broken down first generation Mac in the computer room? Ramaz isn’t a vending machine museum, we have limited space, let’s put it to good use. Yes, it may cost money to replace the machines but when the vending machines are out of order, the school is not able to profit from them as nobody is able to buy snacks.

Johanna Shlomovich, the Director of Operations for Ramaz, is in charge of the vending machines in the school. Ms. Shlomovich said “the vending machines have presented numerous problems for the four years that I have been supervising food service. I do not know the last time Ramaz replaced it’s vending machines and it predates my involvement in food service.” She commented, “The vending machines are quite old and expensive to replace.

Therefore, we do everything we can to fix and maintain them.”

Sam Feldstein, current G.O. president, said, “We’ve been trying to solve this issue all year with the administration. Since the vending machines only accept dollar bills, not coins, and are constantly breaking, we asked if we could buy new ones. We understand the school can’t replace the ones they signed a lease agreement for, and that it is costly, but at this point the vending machines are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.”

If the vending machines are of no benefit, why even have them?

If the school invests in buying or leasing a new machine, students will surely use this machine and ultimately it will be of benefit to the school. The cost and effort involved in constantly fixing the vending machines is probably greater than that of just getting new machines. Feldstein says, “the G.O. has brought up getting new credit card machines because they won’t constantly eat students dollars and break, and therefore they will be more lucrative to the school. However, we have gotten evasive answers.” Ms. Shlomov-

ich stated, “Adding credit card capability to any machine also means adding technology infrastructure to the walls behind to allow for phone line and internet connections which is a significant cost to the school.” At some point,

runs out of snacks. Aaron Cohen ’14, secretary of the G.O. says, “there is no way the machines are filled twice a week. Weeks have gone by where I see the same exact snacks.” Many other students also agree with Cohen. Sam Reich ’17

one would have to think that Ramaz is going to have to add this capability. While right now these machines are somewhat of a new phenomenon for the past couple of years, in five years, I am sure they will be the only vending machines in schools throughout the country. Wouldn’t now be a good time to start slowly replacing the machines with these newer credit card machines?

Ms. Shlomovich also responded to the issue of the finding machines being filled. She said, FLIK fills the machines at least twice a week. FLIK has to maintain their priorities of serving breakfast and lunch and cannot drop those priorities just because a machine

stated, “as a freshman, I can’t speak for how the vending machine situation was last year, but I don’t think I’ve ever been able to get a water bottle from the vending machine on SC. Every time I finish a long basketball practice, all I want is a water bottle, and all I can get is a gross flavored powerade or a diet iced tea.”

Students also do not have the opportunity to get healthy snacks. Especially for those who are more health-conscious and are not seniors who can leave school to buy a protein bar, the lack of healthy options in the vending machines is a huge problem. Ms. Shlomovich said, “In response to students several years ago, we

added two machines that we lease from a company. These machines were meant to have healthier snacking options. Due to the lease agreement, we do not have access to the insides of the machines and product.” However, many students do not feel that the school has done a good job picking a “healthy” vending machine to lease. “I go to Frisch for volleyball games, and I see vending machines with different types of protein bars, sometimes fresh fruit, organic snacks, and healthy drinks in one healthy machine,” says Margo Oshry ’15.

The G.O. has been working very hard to fix this problem, and it feels that this year especially the vending machine problem has gotten out of hand.

This issue seems easy to solve. While machines cost money and the school needs to set its priorities what is the point of having machines if they don’t work? They certainly don’t add to the décor of the school, especially when they are empty.

At this point, the G.O. is out of ideas as to how to resolve this problem. Mr. Rapp, faculty adviser to the G.O. says, “I share the students frustration. I think that there’s a lot of things that Ms. Shlomovich’s and Mr. Miller’s office have to balance but I can totally understand that asking for something for over two years is incredibly frustrating. I don’t really have any other options to advise the G.O. on other than to talk to the school.”

Comedian Comes to Ramaz: Jokes Taken Too Far? Continued from front cover For example, Jonah Klapholtz and upper schools, runs smoothly programs. While it is true, that at does an excellent imitation of Rab- and maintains the high standard times Mr. Shaviv may seem a little bi Goldmintz. He used to worry of education that has come to absent from school-wide events, that Rabbi Goldmintz would be be synonymous with the name his job is not to be a sixth floor upset with his imitating him. But, Ramaz. And he certainly has administrator who knows every when Rabbi Goldmintz gave kids Jonah permission to do his name. imitation on stage in front I feel of the whole school, that that just showed the students the that Rabbi Goldmintz has a reason sense of humor and is open stuto jokes as long as they are dents not offensive. So too, the expect way for Mr. Shaviv to let this this incident be forgotten is from to own the joke and realize him is no offense was meant by bethe joke or the response it cause evoked. his I’m not saying that the office joke was true, because it is in wasn’t; I always see Mr. our Shaviv in the hallway saying buildhello to students. Truthfully, ing, Alex Weinberg ’14 and Noah Marlowe ’14 laughing during the comedian’s a Head of School’s mission is but if show on Monday, December 3rd. not to know every student’s you name, but to ensure that all of Ra- done a great job of continuing to rewind two years ago, I don’t think maz, including the lower, middle elevate the quality of our academic you would even see Ms. Fagen in a

school-wide Chanukkah assembly. And that’s not to fault Ms. Fagen, she was an incredible head of school who was appreciated by everyone, it just wasn’t her job to be on a first name basis with over four hundred high school students.

I am hopeful that Ramaz won’t become paranoid about what guest speakers say in jest. More often than not, censorship limits of the speaker’s ability to connect to his/her audience. Last year Imam Latif of NYU spoke about how, after initial timidity, he and his other Muslim friends ended up smoking with their Jewish roommates. If our speakers were subject to a censor, an administration reviewer would have surely cut a story like this. Doing so, however, would have deprived the audience of a valuable lesson of how two groups bunch of college students who initially believed that they could never be friends eventually overcame these initial trepidations and were able to establish strong

friendships.

In my personal experience, I only feel comfortable making jokes about the kids I feel closest to because otherwise the joke may be taken the wrong way. Mr. Shaviv, the jokes are not meant to hurt your feelings, they are meant as terms of endearment, our way of welcoming you into the Ramaz community, viewing you as more of an approachable man for whom we have respect, admiration and gratitude.

December 2013/Tevet 5774

The RamPage Opinions

Page 7

The Thought Process Behind The Rules: Dress Code and Lateness Examined

By Alexander Leibowitz ’15 At a recent Parent Liaison meeting Mr. Miller said that this year the Ramaz administration has begun to enforce two old polices very strictly: “punctuality and dress code.” The reasoning for this policy change has been confusing to students, with many unsure why the school chose to enforce dress code and punctuality so strictly.

Rabbi Stochel, first year Head of School, explained the change in enforcement for dress code. He said, “We found that there was

a lack of attention to dress code.

And it created an imbalance where some faculty members were more aware of dress code problems than others.” He also added that dress code was important because people, “look neater and act differently when they are appropriately dressed.”

Rabbi Stochel said that overall he felt that the policy of dress code was working. He said, “I think that more students are actually adhering to those expectations - they are arriving at school on time

Too Many Tutors

By Alexander Leibowitz ’15 Tutors have become increasingly prevalent and some students are rushing at the chance to gain extra help on their work. Some use tutoring for standardized tests others use it for papers and schoolwork.

However this seemingly harmless practice of employing a tutor has become the subject of much debate. Students and teachers worry that tutors are doing the work for students instead of assisting them.

In addition, they feel that tutors aren’t necessarily the most effective way to receive help. However, despite the criticism the pervasive feeling throughout the school was that tutoring was necessary in order to do well on standardized tests.

Students conceded that they were aware of cases where a tutor had done the work for a classmate.

Gaby Stemp ’15 said, “I think they can be helpful as long as they are teaching and not doing the work for the student, as many tutors do.” Dr. Jucovy explained the reasons for this problem. He said that tutors were under a lot of pressure and sometimes the best way to insure that a student received a high score was to simply do the work for that student. He said, “The inherent problem is that there is an understandable expectation on the part of the parent that I am spending this amount of money and I want to see results. So there is an unspoken psychological pressure on the tutor to produce results. It is often very difficult for a tutor in that situation to recognize and abide by the borders between appropriate tutoring and not doing the work for the student themselves.

Appropriate tutoring can be time consuming; it takes a lot of time and effort. So the easiest way to achieve results is for the tutors to achieve rapid results themselves.

And certainly there are cases in which tutors write papers for students.”

Furthermore there was a concern that tutoring wasn’t all that effective and even led to students tuning out during class.

Bradley Brecher ’15 said, “Tutors are what you make them out to be. Some kids don’t pay atten-

tion at all in class and then just learn with tutors.” In addition students felt that tutoring could be made more effective. They felt that tutors didn’t always know the class as well as former students.

Stemp ’15 said, “I think the school should encourage a more active peer tutoring system. A fellow student who has taken the course, knows the material, and knows the style of the teacher would likely be more helpful than a random hired tutor.” Dr. Jucovy offered an interesting solution to this problem. He said, “I can do a much better job than any tutor to help a student to improve.”

However, when it came to standardize test students were adamant; tutors are necessary in order to do well. They felt that they would lose a competitive advantage if they didn’t use a tutor and that Ramaz did not teach the strategies necessary to do well on these tests. Jackie Mehl ’15 said, “I think they are very necessary for standardized tests because a lot of kids have them for these tests and it would be hard to compete with these kids without having one of your own. Also there is so much to these tests like strategies and stuff that is harder for a kid to do on their own because they have never been exposed to these kinds of test before.”

In fact, many wanted Ramaz to offer these services. They claimed that without the school offering test preparations they were forced to use a tutor. Brecher ’15 said, “It is very hard to study on your own for the sat. Since the school offers nothing to help you for them then you are left with no choice.”

Therefore tutors students claimed that tutors were more prevalent when it came to test preparation than regular school. Yona Kornsgold ’15 said he saw a lot of his friends using tutors for the SAT’s.

Stemp said that some of her classmates had even begun SAT tutoring over the summer.

Tutoring seems to becoming more prevalent and will continue to raise questions about help as the test prep business continues to expand.

more than in the past and they are more careful about appropriate dress.”

Some students disagreed with Rabbi Stochel’s assessment. Sam Fried said that there are still teachers who enforce dress code more strictly than others. Adi Menche ’16 added, “For sure, there are always those teacher who everybody knows that care and the ones you know you don’t have to be nervous around. This year and last year.”

Students who did find more teachers enforcing the dress code said that the largest impact was unintended. They said they have come to fear many of their teachers because they are worried that they will get in trouble for dress code. Elizabeth Ritz ’16 said, “I definitely feel more nervous knowing that teachers are skirting more and it makes me more aware of my skirt length.”

In regard to the enforcement of lateness, anyone arriving at davening after 8 AM is marked late.

If a student is marked late more than three times, he or she has to go to detention before school.

According to Rabbi Stochel, the decision to make students who come between 8 and 8:05 get late

notes comes from a very practical problem; davening was not starting on time. Rabbi Stochel said, “We observed that the minyanim were not running as smoothly as they should and with the proper dignity because students were arriving at a range of times.” In addition he added that the policy was meant to benefit students who needed more time for breakfast.

He said, “we want to make sure davening begins and ends on time, especially to enable students to eat an unrushed breakfast before class.”

Some felt that the new rule added stress to their day and in turn affected the amount of concentration they had during davening. Jonah Klapholz ’15 said, “The extra pressure of not wanting to be late creates increased anxiety that makes it harder to concentrate on other things like davening.” Ethan Katz ’14 added that his davening was better prior to the rule change. However not all students shared this feeling. Gaby Stemp ’15 explained, “I find that even if I ever do feel stressed about getting to davening, once I’m there and davening, I don’t think about it anymore and it doesn’t really have

any affect on my kavanah.” Some students were just nostalgic for the old days when they could come into school at 8:05 with no tie.

They said that they felt more ready to learn and daven because they were less stressed about coming into school.

A number of students also disagreed with Rabbi Stochel’s breakfast related explanation for the enforcement of lateness. Adam Lassner ’15 said, “I love time to eat breakfast and socialize in the morning but I find that the late note policy has not much of a connection to breakfast because davening can still start on time if a single student is late. Breakfast time depends on whose davening, laining, or speaking that day more than when a student arrives at school.” Bradley Waldstreicher ’14 added that eating breakfast wasn’t an issue for most students because there is, “no big deal bringing cereal to my first class. ” Rabbi Stochel has not addressed eating in class just yet, Bradley.

Are We Fulfilling Our Mission Statements?

By Eddie Mattout ’15 This month, new bright orange mission statements were installed around the school. They read exactly the same as the old mission statements. However, the small gray font, which blends in so well with the neon orange background makes the actual mission statement very difficult to read. Although this was probably not intentional, it is symbolic of a problem I find in the school.

Is the school itself really embracing the ideas stated in the mission statement, or are they just words on the wall? The first statement of the Ramaz Mission says,” As a co-educational, Modern Orthodox Day School, Ramaz strives to educate students toward the following goals: A commitment to menschlichkeit, reflecting fineness of character, respect for others, integrity, and the centrality of chesed in all its manifestations.”

The mission statement goes on to talk about Ramaz’s emphasis on Israel, Torah, and it is only until the later points that we ever get a reference to academic rigor. This, however, has not been the case. I feel many kids would agree that Ramaz puts the majority of its emphasis on how a student does. Furthermore, it is detrimental for an already competitive school to put such an emphasis on the grades of a student. It will only lead to students being more competitive and more selfish. The student body that comes to Ramaz will always

care about grades. There is no reason for the school to put that added emphasis on the grades.

How often are assemblies and other programs put off because of scheduling issues? Is it really more important to have one more class that a student will probably forget about or an assembly that will make a student sensitive to a certain issue, an assembly that he/

she will probably remember for some time.

Moreover, there is a very minimal attempt by the school to build Jewish character. Isn’t it interesting that the only element of the dress code that isn’t emphasized is tzitzit, the only one that relates to religion. Most kids see their Judaic studies as another class where all that matters are the grades. It is not about learning the values that the tanakh has to teach, rather

memorizing every Rashi so one can get a good grade on the test.

This doesn’t lead to kids knowing the material better, rather seeing it as another burden they have to deal with. The only time students ever get a chance to really explore Jewish values is Senior year. Most students are already set in their beliefs by then and it is very difficult to change a 17 year old’s mind. Even in davening the approach is not encouraging.

No, I am not suggesting that the school force every student daven.

Rather, their should be an attempt to teach students about davening and really give them an appreciation for it. The school has to work on building a character and really getting to that “menschlichkeit” they supposedly value so highly.

I am not saying that Ramaz does not put any effort into building character. Quite the contrary, I believe character is something that is very important to them.

The mission statement is not just a picture on the wall; it is a set of values which Ramaz holds at its core. The challenge for the school is to take those values that are so dear to the school, and exemplify them in the everyday programs of the school. Students at Ramaz will always value grades; an added emphasis by the school itself only leads to the student body being indifferent on issues which they would otherwise see as important.

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The RamPage Opinions

December 2013/Tevet 5774

A Rough Life on the Seas: Behind the Scenes of The Pirates of Penzance

By Oren Oppenheim ’16 All the audience saw was the show. They watched as Ms. Carol Goldberg made Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic musical, The Pirates of Penzance, come to life on the Ramaz stage. They heard music ranging from bombastic ensemble pieces to intimate love songs.

And they saw the cast working its hardest, whether as background pirates and policemen, or leads such as the young lad Frederic or the pompous major-general.

What the audience didn’t see might be more interesting. Like all Ramaz student productions, the musical performances came after two months of demanding rehearsals, with the cast often coming in to rehearse on Mondays, Thursdays, and even Sundays. But while every show goes through its ups and downs, the making of Pirates was a far bumpier ride than anyone—I included, as a cast member with a small role—could have anticipated.

The rehearsals began smoothly, as the cast got to know each other and become familiar with the show. But soon it became clear that this would not be an easy show to perform. “We had a ‘rough’ time getting into the show and getting adjusted,” Max Deutsch ’16, a pirate, said. He felt it was at first very “difficult to be able to create a character for myself.” For instance, one of the first musical numbers we worked on was the choreography for When the Foeman Bears His Steel, and every time we did it, something was off. Someone would mess up on the timing, or move in the wrong direction, or not walk in the right way. Learning the songs also proved challenging. Working

with Oded Levari, the musical director, the cast often struggled to hit all of the notes properly—we’d repeat a line again and again until we managed to get it to sound at least somewhat how it was supposed to.

At first, neither of those challenges threatened to derail the show. But as the date of the performance, November 26, drew closer, it seemed as if we weren’t making enough progress.

We spent a long time on a few numbers in the first act—would we ever get to the second one?

And it started to feel as if we were always messing up on the song numbers, or not remembering our lines properly.

Compounding these issues were the loss of two cast members, including one of the leads.

Rachel “Ray Kay” Kastner ’14, the student director of the show, had to step in to take on the demanding role of the major-general, who has an extremely fast-paced song. “We were rushing to think of who to cast in the role. Ms. Goldberg and I decided I should take on the role—but it was hard managing learning lines while trying to block other scenes.”

Some of the cast found their roles hard to learn as well. “It was hard at first to understand her, because she’s middle-aged and a pirate—difficult to act,” Lizzy Bier ’16 says of her role as Ruth,

an old nursery maid. Much of the cast, including myself, was unprepared for stepping into the shoes of characters very different from ourselves, especially given how long ago the play was written.

One standout was Jack Hartstein ’16, who slid into the role of the Pirate King with ease and was the first cast member to be completely off-book, having memorized all of his lines.

Soon the rehearsals began to feel like a drag to me. On most Sundays (even during the New

York City marathon), Mondays, and Thursdays, there was another rehearsal, and they soon became harsh for everyone involved. For instance, the lunch and occasional dinner was always pizza—which is surprisingly easy to get sick of.

Sometimes it was hard to keep our energy up. “I spent about $50 on Starbucks,” Aaron Dahan ’16, a pirate and a policeman, said.

The play wasn’t coming together—we were spending way too long on certain songs, took too long to actually start practicing onstage, and kept on being dogged by cast member issues. Shoshana

Edelman ’14 and Tzvi Merczynski-Hait ’13 both broke their legs (perhaps they took the old acting saying a bit too far?), and it almost seemed as if they wouldn’t be able to perform in the play—after all, the play involves a lot of dancing!

But they managed to work past their injuries.

Soon we were cutting it very close to the wire. We weren’t certain that we’d be able to pull off the show in time—we hadn’t even touched some of the songs! Small sections had to be cut, dances kept on being rearranged, and “as of the night before [the performance], we had not even run through the entire show to get a complete run-through down,” Benjamin Shiff ’16, who played Frederic, reminds me. Most rehearsals seemed to end with a lot of dejection, as we felt that we weren’t able to take on a musical like this.

A few members created fun sides to their characters that Gilbert and Sullivan probably didn’t intend: “I got to wear a kilt,” Deutsch proudly said. Everyone also became closer as time went on, creating a sense of camaraderie and family that’s hard to beat.

“I love spending time with the cast during lunch breaks, having the cast try on their costumes and just hang out,” Kastner said.

Gaby Stemp ’15 agreed, saying, “I

thought it would be hard missing all of last year’s seniors… the new cast brings something new to the table that is just as great and I love my new family just as much as I love the old one!”

And eventually, everything just clicked. “I like it when it gets closer to the end because everyone already knows their lines so it’s easy to just go ahead and do it,” Bier said. We started to get a sense of the show as a whole, not just as individual songs and dance numbers. “We finally bucked down and got to work, and made the play awesome,” said Deutsch.

Once we got on track, remembering lines and managing to run through whole scenes, we realized that the show was going to work.

The Ramaz stage and lighting crews also joined our musical ‘family’. “My favorite part of working backstage was definitely getting to put makeup on all the boys!” Alana Adi ’16 quipped, before saying that “I made friends with the cast members I wasn’t friends with, so it was great!”

Of course, when November 26 arrived, it felt extremely stressful. Now was the time where we would find out if we had rehearsed enough—if our rendition of The Pirates of Penzance would strike a chord with three different audiences (most Ramaz shows have one show for the school and one for family and friends, but this year the school was split up and had two performances). Thankfully, “everything came together at the end”, Shiff said. The performances, in my (admittedly biased) view, were true piratical masterpieces.

Backgammon - The New Poker

By Noah David ’14 Although the game has been played in the lounges of Ramaz for the past few years, backgammon has become enormously popular starting this semester. While sitting on the fourth and sixth floor lounges, it is nearly impossible to miss the constant clicking and clacking of dice as they hit the wooden surface of the board game. In addition, these sounds are almost always accompanied by the loud and emphatic reactions of students watching from the sidelines and waiting for a turn to take on the victor.

The sudden increase in the popularity of the game seems to be closely related to the informal banning of card games, such as poker. The logic behind why one is forbidden and the other is permitted, is that card games are closely associated with gambling and money, while board games are not.

There are several benefits to the game, which have made it so ubiquitous in Ramaz, as well as

a great alternative to Texas hold ’em. Backgammon has been able to form a link between many students from all grades who previously didn’t have any communication. For instance, Alex David ’16 can often be seen facing off with Justin Haber ’14, a friendship, which likely wouldn’t have been built if not for backgammon. While students would be seen solely playing with their friends during the so-called Poker Epidemic of 2012, backgammon players don’t differentiate between their opponents. In terms of etiquette, the student who gets to the board first and shouts “Next!” gets to play the winner.

Also, instead of having to

constantly carry around a deck of cards, the backgammon boards are left out in the public for anyone to play on. This makes it a possibility for any players to come to the lounge during a free period or

lunch and blow off some steam, while only taking up a relatively small amount of lounge space.

Additionally, you don’t have to be particularly skilled in the game

in order to play recreationally and possibly even win. Although a player who is more knowledgeable and experienced in the game is likely to have an advantage over one who doesn’t, the luck involved with the rolling of the die could easily negate this skill-differential. This allows new students to learn how to play backgammon quite easily, and improve exponentially even over their first few games.

Students of all ages have become so obsessed with playing backgammon during school hours, that they have even devoted time after school to it. Max Teplitz ’16 started the Backgammon Club (BC) this year, which has become an incredibly successful after-school

activity that occurs nearly every Thursday. One particular day, after noticing that most of the students who usually attend Arabic Language and Culture Club were mysteriously missing, I walked down the hallway to see them at BC in another room on the third floor. The club was filled with about 25 students who were either playing, anxiously waiting to play, or learning helpful tips.

Backgammon has been a great addition to Ramaz in the sense that it is loved by many, and causes little, if any, harm to others.

At most, the sound of it can be a slight inconvenience--nonetheless, it still pales in comparison to the usual loudness and commotion of the lounge. Whether the students learn the game from their families, like many of the Sephardi players, from the Sallah Shabati film watched in most Hebrew classes, or from other teammates, Backgammon will most likely continue to thrive and expand in the lounges and classrooms of Ramaz.

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Delivery Man

By Skyler Levine ’15

“Delivery Man” is writer-director Ken Scott’s remake of his 2011 French Canadian comedy “Starbuck.” While the Hollywood version features lead actor Vince Vaughn in place of Patrick Huard and Brooklyn in place of Montreal, the story remains the same. It’s the story of immature man-child, David Wozniak (Vaughn), who is given the opportunity to mature upon receiving the news that donations he made to a sperm bank in his younger years have made him the biological father of 533 children. 142 of these children are suing their anonymous father with a class action suit to find out his true identity.

Before David is hit with this news, we see just how much of an underachiever he is. Not only is he in debt, he is a disappointment to his father and his two younger brothers. His girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders) announces her pregnancy letting him know that she doesn’t consider him father material. Just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, he is hit with the class-action suit which comes with an envelope containing 142 pages.

Each page has the face and profile of one of the children seeking the identity of their real father.

Although his best friend, Brett, and his attorney warn him never to look inside, David is unable to

December 2013/Tevet 5774

Ender’s Game

By Eddie Mattout ’15

resist the urge.

Determined to prove his girlfriend wrong, David starts showing up in a few of his children’s lives trying to help them through random acts of kindness. In the real world, having kids can cause even the most immature adults to grow up. The movie highlights a few of his children who help David mature as a parent. Among them are an aspiring actor, a drug-addicted sales associate, a wheelchair-bound man unable to speak, and an emotionally needy gothic kid. The larger collection of children

speaks to a message of universal acceptance. David has children of all ethnicities, sexual orientations, and even special needs. The film is an exploration of fatherhood and what fatherhood can be. Scott gives us a playful exploration of the various emotions you can have as a father with an underlying warmth and optimism that is very powerful.

Ender’s Game, based on the best selling novel by Orson Scott Card, is about training a boy to lead troops composed of children into battle in a near future space age war. Humanity is being threatened to the point of extinction by an alien race. Wanting to be prepared in case of another invasion, the adults have taken to training their children at the Battle School. Harrison Ford, who is his usual competent self, is the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff. One of them is the quiet, often bullied Ender but who from an early age has shown a determination to win all his fights and shows no mercy for the enemies. Asa Butterfield, last seen as Scorcese’s Hugo, magnificently portrays Ender Wiggen.

Ender, who is being tested and turned into an empathetic killer, quickly masters increasingly difficult war games and soon is chosen to be the next great warrior for humanity by Colonel Graff and promoted to Command School.

Hyrum Graff to be the leader of the new generation of soldiers trained to fight the bugs called Formics. Well, it turns out that the old folks were not paranoid for nothing. The yucky Formics are

only a few days away from earth and Ender will now have to go to war.

The battle school of Ender’s game really feels an entire world away. The essence of Orson Scott Card’s source novel is captured, and as a fan of the novel I was satisfied. Not only did Ender’s Game have an action-packed plot but it

question their superiors. Never question. Just kill. War games are a way of life. Always told they are games, not real. Training. Until one day someone like Ender is really needed. As a Zionist the movie really hit home. I can never really place myself in the shoes of an Israeli child, growing up knowing he will one day serve

was also heavily thought provoking. It posed issues such as that of children’s natural compassion clashing with the adult-mandated need for decisive power-plays.

Why War? Why unnecessary death? How do we know what the enemy is thinking?. We are really put in the perspective of the child. Throughout the plot we see the the indoctrination of children being taught to fear and to hate by the military, but they can’t

his country. Issues like college are not what they worry about, rather what “battle group” they will be placed in.

At the heart of Ender’s game, is a well paced, beautifully imagined sci-fi actioner that feels fresh, satisfyingly complex, witch characters that won’t get stale any time soon.

Since Card wrote a dozen or more similarly themed books, I would love to see more come from this franchise.

Lorde: Pure Heroine Review

By Avi Goldman ’15

Lorde, the 17-year-old pop phenom, burst onto the musical scene with her first studio album, “Pure Heroine,” released this past September. To hype this album, Lorde released three singles before releasing the full album. These three singles were “Royals,” released on March 8, “Tennis Court,” released on June 7, and “Team,” released on September 13. Upon its release, the album skyrocketed to third on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 129,000 copies in its first week. In Oceania, “Pure Heroine” reached number one on the New Zealand Top 40

Albums chart in its first week on sale and was certified platinum.

The centerpiece of this first album is, without a doubt, the smash hit, “Royals.” “Royals” was an immediate commercial success, maintaining the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine straight weeks. Lorde stated that the song is a “response to everything that’s on pop radio.” The

song is written as a response lux-

urious lifestyles of contemporary pop artists. Rolling Stone and Time have lauded the song as one of the top songs of the year.

Lorde is a particularly special artist because, in contrast to other vocalists like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga or Christina Aguilera, her songs are commentaries on contemporary life, whether it is the obsession with materialism, busyness or the emphasis of words over actions.

To me, it seems that Lorde’s songs are more relatable than other vocalists because she is so close in age to us high school students that she is experiencing the same problems as we are, like the power of peer pressure, and offers some advice on how to deal, or not deal, with such problems.

The album features 10 songs: “Tennis Court,” “400 Lux,” “Royals,” “Ribs,” “Buzzcut Season,” “Team,” “Glory and

Gore,” “Still Sane,” “White Teeth Teens,” and “A World Alone.”

While I enjoyed all the songs on this fantastic album, my personal favorite was “400 Lux.” The beauty of the song comes from its simplicity: it talks about hanging out with one’s friends and doing

nothing forever. While this image is merely one of fantasy for me, a busy Ramaz student who devotes most of his time to work, just lying down, closing my eyes and listening to “400 Lux” lets me envision myself living this fantasy.

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December 2013/Tevet 5774

Tournament of Bonding

By Nicole Aboodi ’17

On Wednesday December 4th, the Girls Varsity Basketball team left school for what they thought would be a simple tournament in Baltimore.

However, the girls were in for much more than they had anticipated.

Having left school early Wednesday morning, the team did not return until late Sunday night, due to a lengthy bus ride. The tournament was hosted by Beth Tfiloh, a Modern Orthodox school in Baltimore, and included five other schools

including Yavneh, the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC), Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toron-

to (Chat Wallenberg) and the separate Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (Chat Kimmel).

After arriving in Baltimore for their first day of the tournament, Ramaz beat both HANC and Yavneh by a landslide. Furthermore, on Thursday, Ramaz was able to overcome the fans and home-court advantage of the hometown team, Beth Tefiloh, as they easily won again. Following the game, all teams attending the tournament went bowling together. As a result, this encouraged girls from all over the east coast to interact with one another and lead to the teams bonding as friends. After bowling, Ramaz played their second game of the day against Chat Kimmel. With the news that Chat Kimmel had a player who will be playing on a Division One team in college, the Girls Varsity team

expected the game to be more difficult than others. However, despite the skill of Chat Kimmel’s star player, Ramaz was able to win the game, beating Chat Kimmel by three points.

Going on a roll into Friday, the team went into overtime against Chat Wallenberg and eventually won. Later that day, in

the semifinals of the tournament, Ramaz lost in an intense game against Chat Kimmel. The Ramaz girls were devastated following the game. As Anna Cappell ’14 put it, “It was extremely frustrating, because we had already won against this team. I guess we were tired and ran out of ammunition to-

wards the end of the tournament.”

Ramaz went on to win a consolation game against Beth Tfiloh on Saturday night. As the tournament came to a close, two members of the team, Anna Cappell ’14 and Rachel Aboodi ’15 were named All Tournament First Team. Throughout the days and the blizzard bus-ride, the team bonded, and became a single whole.

As Beckie Cohen ’16 said, “Regardless of the lack of food and lack of sleep, we had an amazing time and I’ve never had a better weekend in my life. After this weekend, I know my relationship with my teammates will be forever.”

JV Basketball Hopes to Turn Season Around

By Jacob Hocheiser ’17

The JV basketball team has gotten off to a disappointing start this season. With a two and five record, it is easy to tell that something isn’t clicking within the team. However, fans and players are not sure as to why the season has begun so poorly.

Many players have their own unique opinions regarding the team’s struggles, and what they can

do to turn their season around.

According to Josh Sarachek ’17, the problems are not limited to the games themselves. As he put it, “Some of the players do not come to the practices, as a result, in game situations we often do not know what to do.” Another issue Sarachek addressed was the team’s poor play during the beginning of games. As he described it, “the

only games we came out strong for were the Frisch and Westchester games. Westchester was an easy game, and we were able to keep the Frisch game close until the second half.” Furthermore, he said “There is a lack of chemistry between the freshmen and sophomores on the team, and that translates to our poor play on the court.”

Varsity Basketball: The Beat Rolls On

By Russell Oppenheim ’14

Coming off of a nine-point victory over Frisch on December 15, the Ramaz Varsity Basketball team now boasts a 9-1 record to lead the Western Division in the MYHSAL (Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League). Despite their slow start to the game, the Rams came alive in the second half. As senior point-guard, Justin Haber ’14 said, “though we started off slow, we were able to rally to win in the second half ”. Through important steals, and shut down defense, the Rams were able to pull away from Frisch at the end of Sunday’s game.

Senior forward James Weiss ’14 said, “Frisch never had a chance”.

With the team’s extremely impressive record thus far, it seems that the team is ready to make a deep playoff run. Senior Captain Jamie Cappell ’14 expanded on this point, saying that, “while our defense was great against Frisch,

I think that if we improve our offense we will be unstoppable going into the playoffs”. In addition, Senior Captain Natan Tauber ’14 expressed his immense desire of returning to the Yeshiva League

Championship, in order to bring a banner of his own to Ramaz. As he put it, “since coming into Ramaz for our freshman year, we [the Class of 2014] have had constant expectations to win championships. Therefore, after our tough

loss in the finals last year, we were hungry to come back stronger this year. I think that the present seniors have been able to build lots of chemistry during their playing time together over the past couple of seasons, and I truly believe that this is the year we will finally bring the championship back home”. Despite all of the predictions and expectations, Senior Captain Daniel Berg ’14 knows that “nothing is guaranteed and we have to work hard, and take one game at a time if we want to win a championship”.

With the wise words and optimism from the three varsity captains, it is easy to expect great things from them. All Ramaz students should keep their eyes on the Boys Varsity Basketball team, as this unit of talented juniors and seniors has the promise of going deep into this year’s playoffs.

Sophomore Alex Eisenstein ’16 had a different view on the team’s struggles; he said that the team’s main problem is their inconsistency. As he put it, “We are winning for a period of time then we forget what we were doing correctly and we start losing.”

Similarly, freshman Mathew Hirschfeld ’17 said, “One reason we are struggling is because we play in sports. However, I think that if we stay focused and play hard for the full 32 minutes, we would be a much better team.”

In addition, one of the team’s captains, sophomore Noah Greenwald ’16, believes that the squad suffers from a common and fixable problem among sports teams:

injuries. As he said, “The team has only played one game at full strength. Hopefully, when we play a few more games at full strength we can play at our full potential.”

While the team has numerous problems that are leading to early season struggles, these problems are fixable. Once the team starts gaining confidence and cohesion, they have the potential to win and turn their season around.

The RamPage Editorial Staff Editors-in-Chief Alex Ratzker Sydney Sarachek

Associate Editors Zach Klein Layla Malamut

Arts Editor Zev Prince

Photography Editors Jen Mammon Ariella Schochet

Copy Editor

Esti Flamenbaum

News Editor Zimi Sloyer

Opinions Editor Noah David

Junior Editors Skyler Levine Andrew Lobel Eddie Mattout

Faculty Advisor Dr. Steven Milowitz

Sports Editor Russell Oppenheim