Volume 78, Issue 7 (April 2016) - The Rampage

The Rampage The Newspaper of the Ramaz Upper School

New York • Volume 78 • Issue 7 • April 2016 • Nisan 5776 • the-rampage.org

Ramaz Hosts First Ever Day of Giving

Elianna Schwartz ’17

This year, Ramaz launched its first-ever Day of Giving, “a day of school spirit and pride, and a day to inspire parent support and participation”, according to Ms. Jocelyn London ’02, Annual Giving Officer. On the morning of the Day of Giving, the school was filled with blue and yellow decorations. At first, it seemed exactly like Ramaz Spirit Day, but soon students learned that there was more to the day than they had anticipated.

Ramaz Day of Giving was not only about school spirit and pride, but also it provided students the ability to thank the parents and supporters of Ramaz. “I was so happy that I was given the opportunity to write a letter thanking those who contribute to the school that I am lucky to attend every day,” said Shelli Cohen ’17. “We never have a chance to really acknowledge those who do so

much for our school and show them our appreciation, so I was really glad I got to do that. And I always love a reason to dress in Ramaz apparel and show my Ram pride!” added Julia Krevat ’17.

Ms. London explained how the Ramaz Day of Giving was born. “This January, I attended the joint CASENAIS (Council for Advancement and Support of Education – National Association of Independent Schools) conference where I learned how schools across the U.S., rural and urban, big and small, have been successfully incorporating days of giving. I was inspired, and saw it as an opportunity for Ramaz to have its own exciting day for families and for building school pride and unity.” Ms. London went on to explain how “with the support of the Ramaz central administration, my colleagues in our talented

Ramaz Marks Day in Memory of Alum Natalie Kahn and Ayelet Monas ’19

On March 10th, Ramaz joined a nationwide group of people involved in the Judah Marans Day of Loving Kindness. The day, marked by schools around the country sch as NYU, Berkeley, Yavneh and SAR, was created to mark the memory of Ramaz alumni Judah Marans ’06, who died in December.

At Ramaz’s event, the program opened with speeches by Rabbi Grossman and Judah’s older brother, Gabriel Marans ’04.

Mr. Marans discussed the way his brother’s positive outlook, good sportsmanship, and love for chesed enhanced his Ramaz experience and affected his life. He talked about how his brother always seemed to surpass him in every area except for athletics, but their relationship was such that Judah never encouraged a competitive environment.

He was shocked and devastated to hear that the boy he had grown up with and gone to school with had passed

away, and he engaged the audience, asking questions such as, “How many of you have overlapped for a year or two with your siblings in school?” He discussed aspects of his relationship with his younger brother that all siblings experience, so it was easy for students to understand the bond established between the brothers, since many of them also had that bond.

Even though a lot of students were not personally connected to the Marans family, Mr. Marans’s speech enabled them to empathize with his feelings of loss, as reflected by Paola Mattout ’19: “Even though I have never spoken or seen Judah, when his brother spoke, I felt such a big connection to Judah’s chesed mission in life.” Esti Beck ’19 echoed these sentiments, saying that “The speech that his brother gave really Continued “Marans” page 2

Inside this issue...

institutional advancement team, our academics to the best co-curriculars. dedicated parent leadership, liaisons, The day exuded Ramaz spirit. and parent body, our Ramaz student The school was decorated in blue and leadership, students, faculty, and staff,” yellow, the lunch was themed to the day, this idea was implemented very quickly. and there were fun photo-ops in each The Day of Giving had two ob- building. Great pictures were posted on jectives. The first initiative was to have Facebook and Instagram under the spea day where all of the divisions of Ra- cial hashtags #RamazDayofGiving and maz could join together and show their #ParticipationIsKey. The day began with school pride. “As a part of the first goal, ECC, Lower School, and Middle School we incorporated an element of Hakarat students being welcomed by administraHatov, Giving Thanks, to our parents tors, staff, faculty, and parent greeters. and supporters who make our school Exciting and funny videos that featured possible, with students writing Thank the Lower School, Middle School, and You notes about what they most appre- Upper School were “unlocked” throughciated about the school,” Ms. London out the day as milestone achievements. said. The second goal of the Day of Giving was to encourage parent participation in the 2015/2016 Annual Campaign, to ensure the best opportunities Continued “Day of Giving” page 2 for all Ramaz students, from the finest

Aaron Dahan Wins Award at YUNMUN Abigail Huebner’18

The Ramaz Model United Nations team set off for the annual YU Model UN Conference late last month. They expected to enjoy themselves, but they were also acutely aware that no Ramaz student had won in years.

The team was soon to receive a shock. Aaron Dahan ‘16 did not even made it onto the team when he tried out for his sophomore year, and was rejected yet again when he tried out for junior year. This year, the team finally accepted him. As they sat at the closing ceremony listening to the names of students from a range of schools be called up for awards, one school was not among those being called-Ramaz. And then, all of sudden, the moment came.

“Second place in United Nations Development

Programme: Aaron Dahan, Ramaz.” Ramaz was finally able to cheer as every other school had done when their students were called, full of pride that a Ramaz student had won.

“I felt like an enormous load was lifted off the shoulders of Ramaz; we went in as a team and left as a team” explained Aaron Dahan ’16 about

his incredible win. “It was great to bring the trophy back to Ramaz. After being in the school for 13 years, I feel like I left my mark.

No Ramaz student has won anything in 15 years. That’s before I came to Ramaz in kindergarten. I felt that finally I paid back Ramaz for everything this community gave to me.”

The entire team was proud to participate in the year when a Ramaz student won. As captain Ben Kaplan ‘16 said, “The fourth year student exceeded all expectations and brought home the silver.” The Model UN team is now full of hope for the future. ”If we did it this year, then we can do it again next year!” said Gabe Klapholz ‘17.

Ramaz Retreats... Juniors and seniors enjoy respective weekends away page 3 Mr. Miller and Dr. Koplon... A longform retrospective on two impressive carreers page 4 Beards are Weird-No More... An Op-Ed response to last month’s to Beard or Not to Beard CrowdSource page 9 We Are the Champions... Girls Varsity Volleyball wins championship over SAR page 12

News 2

The Rampage

April 2016/Nisan 5776

Seniors Commemorate Memory of Daniella Moffson ’12

Jasmine Levine ’17

After the untimely, tragic passing of Daniella Moffson ’12, Ramaz students tried their best to do something meaningful in her memory. After Daniella’s Shloshim, Ramaz planned two events to help commemorate Daniella’s memory.

The events were held on Sunday, February 28th, and the following day, February 29th. Since it was clear to all that Daniella centered her life around chesed and giving to others, Ramaz set up a day of chesed in her memory. One of the programs on this day was recommended by two sophomores, Marcus Lerner ’18 and Emily Stemp ’18. They knew a woman named Dvorah Biderman from their neighborhood, and they thought she was a very admirable person. For many years Ms. Biderman has been involved in helping the Jewish community in Uganda.

She is studying to become a dentist, and when she goes to Uganda in the summers, she helps the community take care of their teeth. So, to honor Daniella’s legacy, the seniors brought in dental supplies to donate to the Jewish community in Uganda.

In addition, Jonathan Dishi and Ido Denti thought of the idea to have a clothing drive, because if there is one thing kids at Ramaz have enough of, it’s clothing. So, in addition to dental supplies, the seniors brought in clothing, books, and shoes.

Dvorah delivered a speech at this event to explain herself and why she was participating in this effort to honor Daniella. She said, “Daniella, I did not know you well but I feel like we have a lot in common.

We have taken a very similar chesed path,

and I feel we have a strong connection. We went to the same seminary in Israel, Midreshet AMIT, where we both volunteered our year working in an orphanage. We both have set aside time to go to foreign countries on Dental/Medical missions to help those in need. It is my honor to participate in this Ramaz program that is dedicated in your memory.” Ido Denti’s father, who owns a moving company, was very helpful in transporting the clothing. Not all of the clothing and other items went to Uganda, because it is very expensive to ship things there, so a lot of the collected items went to local charity centers as well.

The day started at 9:45 AM, and from then until 1 PM, the Ramaz senior grade collected, sorted, and packed clothing, medical supplies, books, and shoes by themselves. Then, the seniors went to the gym to help set up for a carnival that was taking place at 1:30 PM with Friendship Cirlce. The seniors played on a moonbounce, danced, ate, and drew with Friendship Cirlce children for two and half hours.

One of Daniella’s cousins also stopped by for the day with phone backs that say “#WWDD (What Would Daniella Do)” in Daniella’s memory. She sold her merchandise to the seniors, with the proceeds going to charity.

The second day in memory of Daniella was devoted to chesed and learning. The senior grade worked on a project that was already underway in memory of Daniella– writing a translation and commentary on Mishna Pirkei Avot. Rabbi Schiowitz organized this project, and was

Marans

continued from cover made me feel the pain of the family: they were going through something so horrible, and it really resonated with me.”

The second part of the program involved a variety of chesed activities, including packing soap bags for the organization “Soap and Bubbles”, founded by Ramaz’s own Maya Shpanzer, making mishloach manot for the underprivileged, and organizing packages with ingredients to make Hamentashen for a food pantry. “I think it was a really great idea to do chesed in Judah’s memory.” Emily Abraham ’19 said.

At the first activity, students packed Mishloach Manot for Masbia. However, because so many kids were involved, before anyone knew it, all the baskets had been made already, and there were no more left. At the second activity, students packed bags full of ingredients to make hamentashen. The bags were filled with flour, sugar,

not sure how much the students would actually accomplish. He hoped for at least a perek. It turned out that they have continued this mission and anticipate completing the entire Pirkei Avot! (The project can be seen at www.ramaz.org/pirkeiavot.) It is customary to learn mishnayot in memory of a person’s neshama, but in memory of Daniella, Rabbi Schiowitz was hoping to do something a little more creative and more lasting. He chose Pirkei Avot because of Daniella’s incredible ethical character.

Rabbi Schiowitz wanted the commentary to have a focus on explanation of the text as well as application to our lives. The ethical lessons of the mishanyot of Pirkei Avot have a lot of meaningful applications to life, he explained, but sometimes it takes a few minutes of reflection to realize this.

The school divided the mishnayot and students wrote about one or two mishnayot each that they were interested in. Although it is written mostly by seniors and most of the Talmud teachers made it a mandatory assignment that was completed in classes, many mishnayot were prepared on a voluntary basis. The school also purchased a few new sets of Pirkei Avot with contemporary commentaries for students to use for this project. Right now, Rabbi Schiowitz is editing the project along with student-editor Adie Present ’16. The goal is to ultimately publish this project as a book, hopefully in time for the spring, when many people learn Pirkei Avot on Shabbat.

On Monday, February 29th, in the morning, Rabbi Shiowitz and others decided to print the Pirkei Avot commen-

tary and distribute hard copies, as well as iPads (the project was accessible online).

Students spent time learning Pirkei Avot in groups, using this project as their text.

Teachers joined the groups of students, as the learning took place in a Beit Midrash environment, set up in the auditorium. There were also presentations to the entire group, given by students who shared their insights into the mishnayot that they prepared.

Then, after the students finished with the learning for the day, the seniors were divided into two groups. One group worked on gathering all the ingredients necessary to bake challah to deliver to Masbiah clients in Brooklyn. The other group of seniors worked with Yachad workers who came to Ramaz to help pack mishloach manot. The impetus for working with Yachad children was the fact that Daniella, who was very involved with helping the disabled, met with a boy with disablities named Mikey every Friday for lunch. Those who gathered to bring the challah ingredients to Masbiah had to carry a large amount of heavy ingredients. Some of the boxes were also taken over, at a different time, by students during RamCorp trips. The group who worked with Yachad worked with the yachad designer to make professional baskets for Mishloah Manot. The seniors were so efficient at their task; they even had extra Mishloach Manot which they distributed to each Ramaz teacher the following days.

Day of Giving baking soda, and all the other necessary components of the hamentashen.

At the final activity, students wrote cards for children who would be receiving the little soap packages from Soap and Bubbles.

“

I realized how something as insignificant to us as soap could have so much meaning to kids who really need it and lack it.”

-Harry Shams ’19 Students really enjoyed this station, as it was something new and different. “I thought that it was interesting to write cards that would be read by kids in another country. I realized how something as insignificant to us as soap

could have so much meaning to kids who really need it and lack it. It puts everything in perspective,” says Harry Shams ’19.

Overall, students seemed to enjoy the activities and appreciate the effort to do chesed.“I think that the activities were so meaningful, and it really gave everybody an opportunity to do chesed, what Judah Marans and his family really wanted,” says David Gad ’19. “It made me very happy to see everyone working together to perform acts of chesed as a community.” Overall, the assembly, especially Mr. Marans’s speech, and the creative activities, were a very meaningful way to engage the students and allow them to come together as a community in a time of pain, and to help build a better future in the memory of someone so closely connected to them.

continued from cover Students in the Upper School and Middle school wrote beautiful notes about what makes Ramaz special.

Ms. London shared the successes of the day. “In addition to a fun day filled with school spirit, we also raised awareness of parent participation and gained important support from our families.

159 parents (22% of our parent body) participated in the Day of Giving fundraising effort. That is an amazing accomplishment that we are so proud of. With that participation, we increased from 51% to 66% full school parent participation. We also raised around $20,000 from parent support, which funds essential areas of our school, including financial aid, academics, and co-curriculars.”

This Day of Giving, hopefully, will be the first of many to come. “This year was an opportunity to test the waters, and we were

proud of the results,” said Ms. London. As much of a success as this year was, Ms. London already has new ideas and plans for Ramaz Day of Giving 2017, which will include special programs, speakers, and events around the theme of giving. She would also love to incorporate the concept of “going beyond our walls to give back and give forward.” Ms. London further explained that she hopes the Day of Giving will add a chesed and volunteering component. “Also, for this first Day of Giving, we focused on parents, students, faculty, staff, and administration, but for future Days of Giving, we could look to expand the day to include alumni, grandparents, parents of alumni, and other community members,” she added.

The students felt good vibes from the day. “I really felt a positive energy around the building

throughout the day.

All the teachers and the administration came dressed up. You could just feel the appreciation and love of Ramaz in the air,” said Olivia Schwartz ’17.

“I think that the Day of Giving should become an annual event. It adds something really great and meaningful to our school year,” said Brianna Rubinstein ’18.

Ms. London concluded, “There is so much potential for how, we as a Ramaz community and family can work together. I learned as a student at Ramaz, how important it is that we each become inspirational and impactful members of society. And, now that I’ve been a professional at Ramaz, I see what a difference we each can make here at home, at Ramaz.”

April 2016/Nisan 5776

Gabriel Klapholz ’17

The-rampage.org

News 3

Juniors Retreat and Reconnect

On March 10, the juniors embarked on the annual Junior Retreat. This year, the grade traveled to Bushkill, Pennsylvania. Serving as a bonding experience, the retreat – a three-day trip – is one that is specific to juniors. The retreat is an extended version of the classic grade-wide Shabbaton, which lasts for two days – a Friday and a Shabbat. A select group of students was placed in charge of arranging the retreat with Dov Pianko. The theme of the retreat was “The Big Picture,” an important message for juniors, who deal with some of the toughest academic challenges of their time in high school. “It was amazing just to leave behind all the stress and spend time with my friends and classmates,” said Jessica Fouzailof ’17.

On Thursday morning, the juniors met up to depart for their first destination.

Arriving at the Funplex in East Hanover, New Jersey, the juniors were delighted to be away finally from all the stresses that life brings back at home and at school. In this indoor amusement park, the juniors took advantage of everything from go-kart racing to laser tag. After distracting themselves with arcade games, prizes, and indoor thrill rides, the juniors had pizza for lunch.

After leaving the Funplex, the juniors were driven to their hotel for the weekend in Bushkill. They were given a long period of relaxation time to hang out with friends, play basketball in the hotel’s facilities, go for a long walk, or simply take a nap. Many of the

juniors found the freedom quite refreshing.

After eating dinner and davening, the students had the pleasure of hearing from Dr. Milowitz and Mr. Lupinacci, who spoke about the retreat’s theme. They shared personal stories and feelings about how the big picture has played into their own lives. From there, the juniors divided up into smaller discussion groups for their first educational session. In the group setting, led by a faculty member, each student was given one or two pictures. Each picture depicted a different image, and the students had to connect the images into one larger storyline using only their words. The juniors soon recognized that they were dealing with one picture that was both zoomed in and zoomed out. By describing their pictures to each other, the juniors found out that all of their images were linked together and that if they just shifted their perspective slightly, they would be able to recognize the larger significance of the image. That night, the juniors also had the privilege of hearing Caroline Jaspan ’17 speak about her experiences in faraway places, including India and Hungary.

On Friday, after breakfast, the juniors were driven to a ropes course called Pocono TreeVentures. “Getting to spend the day at the ropes course really made the grade bonding much greater because the difficulty of the ropes lead to a lot of trust between students that was necessary to complete the course,” said Rachel Wahba ’17. Juniors were forced out of their comfort zones to deal with

the challenging ropes course. With multiple difficulty levels, each carrying its own surprises, juniors had to strategize how to overcome the obstacles, using strength, stamina, and teamwork. The ropes course also featured a long zip line that allowed students to lay back and enjoy the cool breeze as it whipped against their faces. “My favorite part was the ropes course because everyone was climbing with each other, helping them get across, and you really felt a connection with your friends,” said Daniel Jaspan ’17. “It seemed even more special because they were fun activities we had never done.” Fouzailof agreed, saying that “helping each other through the ropes course provided for really nice bonding.”

When Shabbat finally arrived, the juniors were eager to welcome it with joy and celebration. After spending a couple of hours napping and preparing for Shabbat, the juniors joined together in dance and song. A new set of faculty members arrived, including Rabbi Grossman, to add to the Shabbat experience. Thanks to two senior boys, Jeremy Gruen ’16 and Ben jaminShiff ’16, as well as Rabbi Albo, the juniors enjoyed pre-Shabbat music. After davening, the juniors had a nighttime learning session with faculty members. They then ate dinner and enjoyed a sizeable amount of free time during which they played board games and caught up with friends. Later on Shabbat night, Rabbi Weiser led a tisch for the juniors. They sang songs and heard stories from Rabbi Weis-

er while being served warm chullunt. Yaffa Kornsgold ’17 also delivered a Dvar Torah.

On Shabbat day, the juniors had a quiet breakfast before davening. After davening and kiddush, they had another learning session during which students had to decide on the seven most important elements of their lives. Following lunch, the juniors heard from Matthew Hirschfeld ’17 about the weekly Torah portion and an interesting phenomenon in the mepharshim. The juniors then davened minchah and had a long time in the afternoon to explore the area around the hotel and socialize with friends. At Seudat Shlishit, Evan Straus ’17 addressed the students and spoke passionately about his grandparents. By nightfall, the juniors davened maariv and sang havdallah to bid Shabbat farewell. After dancing and singing together, the juniors packed up and enjoyed dinner and ice cream. That night, the juniors also had the opportunity to sit around a bonfire and warm themselves by the flames. Boarding the buses, many students reflected on the incredible experience. “I thought that it was special because the activities created a bond between the students of the grade and allowed kids to open up to others with whom they had not spoken in three years,” said Daniel Jaspan.

Park, New Jersey. As they settled in, some students explored the hotel while others went across the street to the boardwalk promenade and the beach. A few even ventured out onto the rocks jutting out into the surf. The sky was overcast, but “I walked the boardwalk a lot… We were able to explore the outdoors close to the hotel,” said Julia Lipman ’16.

Before Shabbat, the seniors and the faculty danced together as the band (consisting entirely of other seniors) played, for some pre-Shabbat Ruach. “It was wonderful to be the source of the Shabbaton’s Ruach and to give back to Ramaz,” said band member Jeremy Gruen ’16. “After, they helped me develop both musically and as an individual.” That night, after a songfilled davening and dinner, the seniors were addressed by Rabbi Grossman, who spoke about what it means to live “the good life”.

Does it mean serving God? Does it mean freedom? After explaining seven different

opinions about “the good life” to the seniors, the grade broke up into smaller discussion groups—each headed by a faculty member—to talk about the seven ideas and what they thought worked best. Later on, the group reconvened to share their thoughts.

On Shabbat morning, the grade came together for davening and Kiddush, and then broke up into small groups for discussion sessions on being Jewish in college. Topics discussed included clothing, dating, explaining Jewish traditions to the uninitiated, and engageing with others on campus. “I thought it was really important to have conversations like that because we need to know what to expect [in college],” said Yakira Markovich ’16.

Then, after lunch, came some free time. The weather was far nicer than the previous day, and so many students walked with Dov Pianko or Rabbi Sklarin to the beachfront promenade for a chance to hang

out by the beach. “It was a nice walk, but cold,” said Claire Ifrah ’16. In the late afternoon, the grade reconvened for Mincha and seudat shlishit, which featured Divrei Torah from students and from Ms. Krupka.

The Shabbaton came to a close with Maariv and a lively Melave Malke, where the band returned to play as the others danced through the ballroom. Given that this was the end of the final Shabbaton, and that students wanted to savor it as much as they could, the energy and intensity in the room during the dancing was palpable. “The dancing was mamish amazing,” said Jack Hartstein ’16.

Not every student enjoyed the weekend. “I thought the Shabbaton was too predictable,” said Josh Silberstein ’16.

“It was the exact same as every other Shabbaton I’ve ever been on.” But others felt it was a worthwhile experience. “It was a great way to close off the [four year] Shabbaton experience,” said Elisabeth Buchwald ’16.

Seniors Spend One Last Shabbat Together

Oren Oppenheim ’16

The Class of 2016 came together in February for its final grade-wide Shabbaton, after a delay of a couple of months. The Shabbaton had been originally scheduled for November, but was pushed back due to a scheduling conflict with the hotel. This Shabbaton’s theme was Transitions, an apt subject matter for seniors on the verge of transitioning from high school to college or Israel.

While the locales of the Shabbaton had already been visited by the other grades, this was the first time that the seniors as a group got to see them. The Shabbaton began with ice skating and laser tag at the Jersey Arena, along with a pizza lunch. For many, the ice skating felt like a throwback to the grade’s very first Shabbaton in Stamford, Connecticut, which also began with a visit to a rink. “The ice skating itself… was cute,” said Daphna Ash ’16.

The grade continued on to the hotel, the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in Asbury

Gabriel Klapholz ’17

Students Celebrate Purim at Lenox Hill

Every Purim, Ms. Benel takes a contingent of Ramaz students to Lenox Hill Hospital on East 77th Street.

The students not only read Megillah for the patients, but also gave them specially packed Mishloach Manot. After reading through the entire Megillah for all the Ramaz volunteers – students, faculty, school parents, and alumni – as well as for a group of relatively able-bodied patients, everyone split up to read the Megillah for those who requested it.

Some students had come to the hospital to visit and deliver Mishloach Manot, while others committed to learning a chapter of the Megillah to read. The hospital staff, especially the chaplain, was very helpful, guiding the students through the hallways and directing them to the proper rooms.

The experience may have appeared depressing in many ways, as students read for individuals strug-

gling to survive in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but the joy of both patients and their families upon seeing loving and caring young volunteers added a sense of purpose and happiness to the white hallways of the hospital. Addi-

“

undergone childbirth and deserved a hearty mazal tov, they also showed concern for their newborns, who needed direct medical care upon birth.

“The most meaningful part of the experience was seeing the patients smile

I chose to go to the hospital instead of shul because I wanted to help people…who do not have easy avenues to get the great mitzvah of hearing Megillah” -Yoni Linder ’18 tionally, students had the opportunity to visit recent mothers whose children were in the Neonatal ICU (NICU). Reading Megillah for these mothers was also bittersweet – while they had just

and being so grateful to us,” said Yoni Linder ’18. “It helped me realize that all our hard work paid off,” he said. These students decided not to go to their local community’s shul, but rather wanted to

make a meaningful contribution to those in need. “I chose to go to the hospital instead of shul because I wanted to help people…who do not have easy avenues to get the great mitzvah of hearing Megillah,” said Linder. Indeed, many of the patients and their families wouldn’t have had the opportunity to hear Megillat Esther had the Ramaz students not come to read.

In many cases, the Ramaz volunteers were reading Megillah more for the family of the patient than for the actual patient. In the ICU, one woman was happy to see the Ramaz students arrive. Her elderly father was lying on the bed, hooked up to a number of machines. She informed us that he used to read Megillah and that although he might not hear the sounds of our voices with his ears, his neshama would hear us, she said. “It was truly an experience I will never forget,” said Linder.

News 4

The Rampage

April 2016/Nisan 5776

A Glimpse of the Past, A Glance to the Future: 51 Years, 2 People

Jasmine Levine ’17 and Elianna Schwartz ’ 17

With the recently announced changes in the Ramaz administration, Ramaz has reached a crossroads in its educational path. On February 22, Mr. Ira Miller, a pivotal figure in the Ramaz family for thirty four years and current Dean, announced to the community that this will be his final year at Ramaz. This message came just a short time after the news that Dr. Renee Koplon, a Ramaz leader for 17 years and current Assistant Dean, will also be leaving Ramaz, having accepted a new position as a high school principal in Maryland.

Mr. Miller: Early Beginnings

Mr. Miller joined Ramaz in 1982 as an English teacher but quickly undertook many more roles. He initially taught 32 periods a week, at a time when the school had no rotation in the schedule. Mr. Miller was promoted very quickly, and after his first year of teaching, he was brought into the administration as Assistant Dean, Educational Administration, joining an incumbent headmistress and a dean. After a certain period of time Mr. Miller was promoted from Assistant Dean, Educational Administration to simply Assistant Dean. This change occurred when the headmistress left Ramaz. Soon after, he also became Chair of the English department. In 1988, Mr. Miller was placed as head of college guidance as well. Eventually, Mr. Miller earned the title of Associate Dean. As time progressed, Mr. Miller became Co-Dean with the since departed Rabbi Eliezer Rubin, and eventually became Dean.

Looking back to when he began at Ramaz, Mr. Miller recalls fondly how different the school was. At that time, the office was on the third floor in the area that there are now the classrooms 306 and 307. The photocopy machine and business office were also at this location. 406 was a small computer lab with 3-4 Apple computers. Despite his administrative role, in his second year at Ramaz, Mr. Miller continued to teach two sections and worked as well with the GO and student leadership. He was responsible for making the calendar for all the events and tests.

Mr. Miller started bringing PCs into the school, first to the administration and then into the classrooms. He also introduced individualized periods. Prior to his changes, students were broken up into an x, y, or z section, and all the classes would be with that section. The only classes the students would separate for would be math, science, and language.

A Game Changer

Organizing a new, more complex schedule was very difficult, especially given the technology that was available at that time. Mr. Miller recalls devoting much time and effort to the schedule revisions. Ramaz even had to send the data to a computer service to be organized. At the same time that Mr. Miller was revamping the schedule, he had to deal with administrative life and with teachers and students. He was also the school disciplinarian.

Mr. Miller made many important changes in Ramaz culture. One of which he is proud is the teacher advisor program. At first, there used to be only one advisor for the entire grade. Then, after looking at other schools, he eventually came to the idea of for a small group of students.

Mr. Miller became more involved in curriculum decisions and in addition to technology and logistics, he looked more at the academic program and he in-troduced the 6 day rotation schedule. He also worked on improving senior year at Ramaz, and he changed the electives and the academics.

He also introduced the beit midrash program for juniors; a program in which juniors used to have three periods in a row of Talmud with time delegated to shiur and chevrutah.

Also, grades used to be called ‘forms’- ‘form three’ was 9th grade and ‘form four’ was 10th and so on, and Mr. Miller stopped this naming system when seventh and eighth grade moved from the high school to the middle school.

When Ramaz started building the Middle School, Mr. Miller was an educational representative of the building committee and he was part of the educational committee for designing the Middle School. He, along with members of the committee, would visit different schools and a committee of teachers would then meet and create curriculum for the new middle school. Along with the since departed Rabbi Eliezer Rubin and Ms. Judith Fagin, he designed the model for the middle school schedule—which included a core humanities block, as well as flexible time for group meetings and advisory sessions. By this time Mr. Miller also oversaw the educational technology of the three divisions (Lower, Middle and Upper). Mr. Miller was also involved in the performing arts at Ramaz, and he helped nurture the Celebration of the Arts, a proud Ramaz tradition.

A Look Back

Mr. Miller’s first memory at Ramaz was walking into the building for his interview to be a teacher. The building was new – it was its second year open, and he thought it was a beautiful building. He thought that the students were very impressive, and he specifically remembers the air conditioner being on full blast—very efficient. He thought that the teachers were very serious and the conversations in the hallways were at an extremely high level. There was also a lot of Hebrew being spoken because at that time there were many children of Israeli diplomats at Ramaz.

According to Mr. Miller, Ramaz is still similar today to the day he started in that Ramaz has always been tremendously academically oriented. The culture, the energy, and the fact the students are very verbal are the same. The whole Jewish world, however, has moved to the right, so a Modern Orthodox identity is very different now than it was back then. When Mr. Miller started at Ramaz, there was a debate as to whether the school should even have a davening period. There was a culture that it wasn’t meaningful, and on Friday the school didn’t even have davening in the schedule.

The religious culture has changed and the observance of the student body has been enhanced. The level of religious learning has grown, and the student activities have grown exponentially. The academic pressure has also changed, but this is partly a result of society’s values becoming more intense. In general, not just in Ramaz, the academics, according to Mr. Miller, have really advanced, and there has been a growth in different types of research and mentoring. The learning center has also seen significant development over his time here.

Mr. Miller’s craziest memory at Ramaz was when a few teachers (including himself ) for Purim decided to be a rock band from the 60s and dressed up as hippies. Teachers were wearing jeans and bandanas and they got up on the stage and played “House of the Rising Sun” for the whole school.

And Forward

Mr. Miller plans on spending the summer with his family. One of his children is moving and is going to be staying with him for the summer, so he will be busy spending time with his children and taking care of his grandchildren. Professionally, Mr. Miller’s future involves education; specifically, Mr. Miller is project oriented and plans on helping other schools.

Mr. Miller is grateful to his colleagues and the many students who, over the years, all collaborated in the making the Upper School such a dynamic and vibrant school. As he noted, “It has been a privilege to be a member of the Ramaz family for over three decades. I thank the lay leadership over the years for their support and for providing the resources that enabled the school to grow to its current excellence. I thank Rabbi Bakst who was my closest mentor for many years, and Rabbi Lookstein who provided the visionary leadership and created a culture that allowed for opportunity and institutional growth. I thank Rabbi Moskowitz for his friendship, support and inspiration. I also want to recognize Dr. Shudofsky, z”l, who was instrumental in realizing the vision that animated Ramaz and established its legacy for future generations.”

Mr. Miller has left his mark on Ramaz. So much of what we think of as “uniquely Ramaz” was started by him.

His innovation and incredible dedication to Ramaz has made our school what it is today. He will be missed, and we wish him continued success in this next chapter of his career.

Dr. Koplon: An Easy Fit

Dr. Koplon has also been a longstanding Ramaz family member and influential administrator. Over 17 years ago, Dr. Koplon visited Ramaz and gave her model lesson on permutations and combinations. She remembers the students filing out of the classroom and each one saying ‘thank you’ to her on their way out. “I was blown away,” said Dr. Koplon. Dr. Koplon had taught college students previously so this was her first experience teaching high school students and the level of enthusiasm had her hooked right away.

The rest is history. In 1999 she started at Ramaz as a math teacher and over the years she took on more responsibilities. She first became the math department chair, and then in the fall of 2013 she became Assistant Dean and moved from freshman to sophomore grade coordinator.

“My first year here, everything impressed me” said Dr. Koplon. The level of academic engagement, the variety of clubs, and the ruach on shabbatons- these were all new to her.

“Nothing has really changed in terms of that, I’ve just gotten used to it.” What’s really changed over the years at Ramaz, she said, is the sensitivity that teachers have towards students.

She explained that the teachers used to be much more harsh.

When Dr. Koplon started at Ramaz, the ‘test schedule’ was a schedule on a white board. Teachers would be able to add

tests to the board as they pleased. Now, with the new technology, there is a system in place, and the faculty has learned to become much more sensitive to the students’ needs.

A New Dawn, A New Day

Not only is Dr. Koplon leaving Ramaz, but she is also leaving New York City. She will be moving to Baltimore, Maryland where she will be the High School Principal at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School. She definitely is going to miss walking to and from school through Central Park every day. In the suburbs, she is going to have to adjust to a new way of life-- driving everywhere. She also will sincerely miss Ramaz’s lunch pro-gram; all of the food options, the salad bar, and on top of that, the lunch culture. Ramaz’s lunchroom has a certain feel to it because all of the teachers sit and eat together, which is something Dr. Koplon expressed she will miss.

While Dr. Koplon will certainly miss many things about the city, she will have an easier time saying goodbye to the physical space limitations at Ramaz.

There might not be a Central Park in Baltimore, but Beth Tfiloh has a lot more room than the Ramaz building and lots of outdoor space as well, something foreign to many Manhattannites. The building itself is spacious and every teacher has his or her own area, Dr. Koplon described.

In Retrospect

Dr. Koplon has done so much for Ramaz over the 17 years that she has been here, but she feels the biggest mark she is leaving is in terms of the scheduling. The new schedule with all of its changes, like B4 and Mincha in the classrooms, has been immensely successful. It is hard to remember Ramaz before these improvements.

When asked what she has learned from Ramaz over her time here, Dr. Koplon thought for a minute and said, “If you have high expectations of high school students, they will always live up to them.” If the faculty expects a lot from the students, the students will not disappoint. “We have always had that, here at Ramaz; other schools don’t really have that.” She hopes to take this with her to Baltimore.

Man with a Plan

When asked about all the changes the school is undergoing, including Mr. Miller and Dr. Koplon’s departures, Rabbi Grossman quoted Heraclitus who said, “Change is the only constant.” Rabbi Grossman joined the Ramaz family this school year and indeed it has been full of change. He said that although it was not for long, it has been great working with both Dr. Koplon and Mr. Miller. He doesn’t work directly as much with Dr. Koplon, but he has worked closely with Mr. Miller. And as for their departure, he is not interested in ‘filling positions’; rather he is trying to figure out what will be the best administrative structure for the school.

Rabbi Grossman stressed that Ramaz’s mission is set and that he’s not looking for anybody who is going to shift or change the school. “I myself am very aligned with the mission and academic rigor of the school,” said Rabbi Grossman. He also emphasized that he wants school to be a place where students love coming every single day.

He comes to school excited every morning and he thinks everyone should share in that excitement.

“We have nobody specific in mind. We are conducting a search nationally and really keeping the ideas of positions and people wide open”, said Rabbi Grossman.

He explained that it’s about finding the right mix of people. Right now, he is focusing on the high school but over the past couple of years the administration has made a real effort to have more conversation between the schools (Lower, Middle, and Upper) and all three schools even meet once a week. While the three schools have the overall same philosophy and mission, the divisions are at different stages and this specific transition is about the upper school. Having “a K-12 school can get stagnant, so it’s good to have different personalities under the same mission.”

“Change does not frighten me,” said Rabbi Grossman. He explained that life is constantly about change. What he so admires about Ramaz is that its mission has remained constant for the past eighty years. But over the past eighty years, the world has changed; what it means to be an orthodox school today is extremely different and the world of education has changed. Rabbi Grossman explained that it is our responsibility to keep up with the constant changes. “We crave both change and for things to stay exactly the same,” said Rabbi Grossman. He reiterated how important it is to both look back on the past and ask when we need to reinvent, but to also keep what works and take the best parts with us.

April 2016/Nisan 5776

The-rampage.org

Sophomores Visit YU Seforim Sale

Julia Levi ’18

The tenth graders had the opportunity to go to Yeshiva University in Washington Heights for the day and to buy Seforim at its annual Jewish book sale. During homeroom on February 23, the sophomores boarded two school buses and headed to YU. At the university, they first attended a lecture on Adar Aleph and Adar Bet, given by Rabbi Dani Rapp, Yeshiva University’s Associate Dean of Judaic studies. After this, everyone was led to the Seforim Sale, where there were books ranging from Jewish children’s books to scholarly books and cookbooks. “The sophomores go on this trip because we believe that it is a worthwhile experience for students, to be able to learn about and grow their Jewish library as soon as they can,” said Dov Pianko. “We think soph-

Julia Levi ’18

News 5

omores can appreciate this value more than freshmen, and we don’t want to wait until junior or senior year.”

After perusing through and buying some of the books at the sale, the sophomores received permission to

go out for lunch at the different kosher restaurants and cafes in the area, such as Golan Heights, Chop Chop, Dunkin Donuts, and Lake Como Pizza, and enjoyed themselves despite the rainy weather.

There was also a campus tour of YU offered for any students that wanted to see it at this time. “I really enjoyed the free time we were given to just go for lunch with friends,” said Netanel Kamel ’18. “It really made the trip very fun.” The trip proved to be overall a success as the students came back to school for 9th period. Noa Attias ’18 said: “It’s nice to get out of that classroom environment and do something different; I had a great time!”

Ski Team Takes Trip to Hunter Mountain

Just last year, the Ski Team was added to the list of sport teams that Ramaz has to offer. Led by captains Sam Freilich ’17 and Daniel Jaspan ’17, the ski team takes a group of students up to Hunter Mountain one winter Sunday for a day of skiing and snowboarding. “I have been skiing for as long as I can remember, and it is something I, along with many other students, love to do but cannot do so often,” said Freilich ’17 about the idea of making the club.

Twelve students, accompanied by Dov Pianko, met early Sunday morning in the school building on February 29th to be driven up to Hunter. Last year, only six students went on the trip, but this year that number was doubled. After arriving at 10 AM, they bought lift tickets, and those who needed equipment rented skis and boots as well, and then everyone was off to the slopes. The day was unusually warm for February, going up to 60 degrees, which created a very pleasant, but slushy environment to ski in. “I don’t think I have ever seen so much of the ground and grass at Hunter before, but with the fake snow it didn’t even make a difference,”

Rebecca Araten ’18

To recite or not to recite--that is the question! Students were faced with this question this March, when given the opportunity to participate in a Ramaz Shakespeare recital competition. To participate, they need to memorize lines from any monologue of Shakespeare’s plays. Considering the difficulty of this requirement, there were not many participants this year, but six students stepped up to the challenge.

After the English teachers, who were also judges, and participants sat down, the performances began, and the participants’ monologues captivated the audience

said Naomi Freilich ’18. The students skied all morn-

of the day, and due to the warm weather, most did not even need to wear coats. Some tried getting in all the slopes that they could possibly ski in one day, while others did not ski the entire time and instead sat inside the mountain’s lodge eating lunch or talking to friends. Leaving Hunter that afternoon, the group was tired and in good spirits from a great day of skiing. “It was a great success,” said Freilich ’17.

“We can’t wait to continue this ski trip in the future.”

ing, breaking off independently into small groups, and stopping to eat lunch sometime in the middle

Shakespeare Recital Contest with their personality and emotion, whether they were acting as Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream or the villainous Iago from Othel-

lo. At the conclusion of the contest, the judges admitted that their decision had been a difficult one to make, as all of the performances were ex-

tremely well done. They decided that the winner of the contest would be Estee Halpert ’16, who had acted out a monologue from The Two Gentlemen of Verona as Julia. Estee’s comical portrayal of Julia, a major character in the show, won the judges over. Sarah Araten ’16, another participant in the contest, said,“I thought that everyone there did an amazing job, and I thought it was really cool to see other people’s interpretations of classic characters that we learn about in class.”

Estee walked away with a complete collection of Shakespeare’s works.

The text of Estee’s monologue: From Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1 Scene 2

“O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!

Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey And kill the bees that yield it with your stings!

I’ll kiss each several paper for amends.

Look, here is writ ‘kind Julia.’ Unkind Julia!

As in revenge of thy ingratitude, I throw thy name against the bruising stones, Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain.

And here is writ ‘love-wounded Proteus.’

Poor wounded name! my bosom as a bed Shall lodge thee till thy wound be thoroughly heal’d; And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss.

But twice or thrice was ‘Proteus’ written down.

Be calm, good wind, blow not a word away Till I have found each letter in the letter, Except mine own name: that some whirlwind bear Unto a ragged fearful-hanging rock And throw it thence into the raging sea!

Lo, here in one line is his name twice writ, ‘Poor forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus, To the sweet Julia:’ that I’ll tear away.

And yet I will not, sith so prettily He couples it to his complaining names.

Thus will I fold them one on another: Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.”

News 6

The Rampage

April 2016/Nisan 5776

“The Ramaz Renaissance”: Takeaways and Questions From the Email

Akiva Gold ’16

Late-Breaking News: The following news broke too late for the Rampage to prepare a full feature before layout and press time.

Expect more coverage in subsequent issues.

On March 31st, Rabbi Grossman sent out an email to the entire school about the future of Ramaz’s administration, given that after this year two key administrators are departing. Not much is known right now, but the following points are some takeaways from the email, some information about a newcomer to Ramaz, and some questions that remain.

Takeaways: • Ramaz will initially hire no new administrators to fill the offices vacated by Dr. Koplon and Mr. Miller.

• Rabbi Stochel will have no official change in job title, but will see an expanded role .

• Rabbi Grossman will work closely with Rabbi Stochel and Upper School staff .

• There will be an “interim administrative team” who will help run the day to day business of the school.

• Ramaz has begun a “comprehensive assessment of our school’s past and current administrative infrastructure,” in

order to see what structure will be needed in the future. Additionally, rather than hire new administrators, the school will be “taking the time to thoroughly assess the specific areas where our students and teachers require support.”

•

Although Ramaz will experience a “Renaissance,” this new period will still “preserve our commitment to Judaism and Israel, the academic rigor and excellence, stellar college acceptance rates, clubs, and programs that have

“Over the past eight months, we have begun a con-

versation around the idea of a Ramaz Renaissance — the opportunity to re-imagine our school as we enter our next era.

-Rabbi Grossman in the opening of the email

•

•

Ramaz will be working with Dr. Bruce Powell to “evaluate and strategize our new Upper School structure” Ramaz will begin a search “to find a new Head of Upper School,” and will look both outside and within the school to “identify administrators who will work with our teachers to deliver the finest education.”

Ramaz plans to have a new administrative team in place for 2017

come to define our Upper School.”

Who is Dr. Bruce Powell?

(Info courtesy the Covenant Foundation) • Undergrad at UCLA with degrees in English and history • Doctorate in education at the University of Southern California • Spent a year in Israel at Hebrew Union College learning Jewish texts

•

In 1979, became general studies principal at Yeshiva University of Los Angeles High School for thirteen years, • In 1992, he became the first Headmaster of Milken Community High School • In 2000, he became the founding Head of School of the New Community Jewish High School.

• Founded the Jewish School Management, a consulting company to help Jewish schools in North America Questions that Remain: • How many administrators will be hired this coming year? The email initially says to find a new Head of School, but then says it will identify multiple administrators to lead.

• Who exactly will be part of this “interim administrative team”?

• Exactly what will the responsibilities of this new administrative team be?

Penn Model Congress 2016

Gabriel Silverman ’16 and Akiva Gold ’16

The Model Congress team attended the annual Penn Model Congress Tournament at the University of Pennsylvania. There, team members competed as US Representatives and Senators, as they debated bills on various political, economic, and social issues affecting our country today. In preparation for the three-day conference, each member of the team had to author his/ her own bill, which was presented before a congressional committee.

Additionally, the team met weekly to practice debating and mimic what would be happening at the real event.

Since they stayed at Penn, the team also had a chance to experience what Jewish life on campus is like, eating every meal at the Penn Hillel–commonly known as the best dining option on campus–and spent Shabbat there as well. The team was very successful, with numerous students winning individual awards. Danielli Gutkind ’16 won Honorable Mention in National Security Council, Tess

Solomon ’16 won Honorable Mention in Committee (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions), Ben Kaplan ’16 won Honorable Mention in Committee (Transportation & Infrastructure), Outstanding Delegate in Full Session, and Jacob Berman ’16 won Honorable Mention in Committee (Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs). Additionally, the team won the award for Best Small Delegation, successfully defending their award and winning for the second consecutive year. According to Gabriel Klapholz ’17, “Model Congress was not only an intellectually stimulating experience, but also a great time to bond with upper and lower classmen. I really enjoyed serving on the Supreme Court, where I had the opportunity to learn about the intricacies of judicial review and debate. I can’t wait until next year, and I encourage all students to try out for the team!”

Battle of the Crews: Dance and Dilemmas

Becky Tauber ’19

For the past few years, members of the Ramaz dance team have competed in Battle of the Crews, a friendly competition between several dance crews from different schools in order to raise money for charitable organizations. This year the competition raised money for Beit Elzraki, a children’s home located in Netanya, Israel. Yeshiva high schools from around the area including Frisch, North Shore, and SAR competed in this competition.

Battle of the Crews consists of three rounds, and after each round teams are eliminated. In the first two rounds, groups must perform a prepared dance, where the judges critique based on choreography, togetherness, costume, and music. For the teams that make it to the third round, two team members are selected to do a freestyle for about thirty seconds, where they must make up the moves completely on the spot to a randomly selected song.

A recurring controversy surrounding this competition is whether it is really crew competing against crew, or school against school. Originally, the competition was designed for dance crews to compete against each other, without the judges having any recognition of where the students attend high school. However over the years, the competition evolved to more of a battle between schools. This

switch has caused several teams to drop out every year, which leads to less money raised for tzedakah.

Because Frisch is the closest to the JCC on the palisades, where the competition takes place, and is the

largest of the schools involved, it tends to bring the most fans and enter the most teams. For many years the winner would be decided by which ever team was cheered for the loudest, which in the end would always be Frisch. Because of this, they recently rescinded this rule and had the judges decide the winner.

Even with this new rule, the Frisch freshmen took the win, which didn’t help with the schools’ frustration.

Rachel Kraft ’17 says, “After my third year of being a part of Battle of the Crews, it’s sad to say that each year there are less and less teams. It seems that the focus isn’t to raise money anymore, or else the problem would have been dealt with a few years ago.”

Opinion

The Rampage • April 2016

The Rampage Ramaz Upper School

New York • Volume 78 • Issue III • December 2015 • the-rampage.org

Editors-in-Chief: Akiva Gold* Oren Oppenheim* DJ Presser* Associate Editors: Eliana Doft* Alexander Glaubach* Tess Solomon* Faculty Advisor: Dr. Milowitz Illustrators:

Gabrielle Amar-Oumiet

Contributing Writers: Nicole Aboodi Abigail Huebner Gabriel Klapholz Julia Levi Jasmine Levine Josh Sarachek Elianna Schwartz Naomi Freilich Rebecca Araten Anaelle Elhadad Caroline Jaspan Johnny Povman Louise Sitt Rebekah Fenster Natalie Kahn Paola Mattout Yasmine Sokol Mollie Blaustein Emily Weissman Oriya Romano Sam Schair Jacob Hochheiser David Grinberg Harry Shams Derek Korf-Korn Becky Tauber Yonatan Weitzner Natalie Kahn Jeremy Ascher The Rampage is the student newspaper of the Ramaz Upper School. It is published on a monthly basis. Letters to the editor may be submitted to rampage@ramaz.org. Letters must be signed and may be edited for space and to conform to Rampage style and format.

The opinions expressed in the Rampage are of the author’s alone, and do not represent the views or opinions of Ramaz, the Rampage, or its Editors.

Denotes member of the Rampage Editorial Board. *

Black History Month Assembly

Nicole Aboodi ’17

As everyone knows, February is Black History Month.

Since this seems like the perfect opportunity to pop the Ramaz bubble a little bit, one would think that Ramaz would arrange for a speaker to address the student body about black history and maybe even share a personal anecdote.

While Ramaz did arrange for a black woman to speak to the students, she focused far more on her Asian history, as her family had multiple connections, such as being imprisoned in camps and their adamant activism. The speaker spoke of growing up in a home where the political activism was vibrant. She also expressed her grandmother’s activist roots and accomplishments.

It was a wonderful assembly; it was informative and inspiring. However, the whole focus of the speech was the speaker’s

connection to her Japanese roots.

The focus of the speaker should have been Black History Month and discussing her connection

students learned nothing of black history during that assembly. The speaker spoke beautifully and passionately, but, again, it had

to it. As Black History Month is an important part of American culture, one would hope that the student body could be exposed to a little bit of culture and a different point of view. Yet, the Ramaz

nothing to do with the topic of the assembly. [Editors’ note: The speaker addressed very briefly her grandmother’s relationship with civil rights activist Malcom X, but elaborated on him very little.]

they actually plan to do for the grade and for the school, people end up voting for their friends, meaning that the more popular kids win. You can’t tell what someone is going to do based off a little poster with some kind of slogan.”

Students of the Ramaz Upper School might pick their

times affect the entire grade. The correct thing to do is to listen to every candidates suggestions, because by picking your friend you might be doing it just to satisfy them.

GO Secretary Shelli Cohen ’17 said, “I definitely think [popularity] plays a big role [in class president elections]

In fact, I, for one, completely lost sight of what the assembly was meant to be, and I am not the only one. Josh Sarachek ’17 said, “I definitely thought it was a little odd that it was not so much about her black history.”

The choir’s tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. with “We Shall Overcome” definitely put the assembly back on track, though, and it ended on the appropriate note.

Although the speech wasn’t fitting for the specific assembly, it was a very important speech for the student body to hear. Sarachek ’17 continued, “I think that it got the point across, because she spoke about being a minority and her family. I think it was important that she spoke about her family’s activism and their efforts.”

The Real Winners: Are Presidential Elections Fair?

Paola Mattout ’19

Every year, Ramaz elects a new class president for every grade. Students have debated whether these votes are based on popularity or not. Some have said that they base who they vote for on who is running. This means that many vote in the elections basically based on popularity; they vote for someone because they trust the person as their friend.

Freshman class president David Gad ’19 said, “I think it is false that school elections are based on popularity. I don’t think it is based off popularity but on how social one is and how they are able to portray their personality.

People want someone who they know and who they can trust, not someone who they know nothing about. I don’t think I won because of my popularity; I think I won because of my personality.”

However, others argued that it is highly important to listen to the candidate’s ideas. Natalie Kahn ‘19, like Gad, also disagreed with the opinion that elections are based off popularity. She said, “I think that since the presidents aren’t given a chance to say what

One might think that running for a class president can be easy once you are very popular but that can actually be false.

Depending on whether it is your friend or not, it is critical to listen to what everyone has to say.

“It’s not a coincidence that every president is always the most popular person running, but it can also be legitimate that the popular kids usually want the things that you want,” says David Adler ‘19.

From previous Ramaz elections students have seen both sides to this opinion. In some cases, we see the popular student winning the election; however, in others we see the student with the most alluring ideas and goals for the year wins. Most of the time, most students might assume that the popular student always wins but occasionally there are times that when students apprehensively listen to the candidate’s speech, it is when those candiSenior class presidents Ava Adler ’16 and Jack Laboz ’16 dates are best for the position. friends as their class presidents but the best thing because there aren’t speeches to do is to pick who is fit for the or anything to base your vote job. Picking your friend can some- off of like the GO election.”

The RamPage is always looking for more writers and reporters! If you are interested in joining the staff, becoming a better writer, or joining a group of like-minded students, feel free to reach out to any of the editors or Dr. Milowitz.

Opinion 8

Max Koffler ’16

The Rampage

CrowdSource Response: “The Rights of Man: A Beard”

Jan/Feb CrowdSource: Do you think that the rule banning any sort of facial hair is correct? Does a double standard exist?

Or is Ramaz lenient enough with it already? Should the rule be kept? Should facial hair on students instead be regulated? Or perhaps, no regulation at all?

I believe that Ramaz’s stance on students’ facial hair is outdated and an unnecessary show of force. I fully understand the school’s wishes of maintaining a cleancut and neatly-groomed student body. As a private academic institution, Ramaz has every right, if not flat-out responsibility, to distance its pupils from donning the appearance of an unkempt hobo. However, outdated principles aside, does the ban of facial hair really make sense?

Outsiders looking into Ramaz won’t be passing judgement on the school based on the state of the students’ facial hair. Furthermore, in terms of recruitment, no prospective student is going to have his decision influenced by the facial hair of the students he encounters. If anything, he may catch a glance at an inspiring follicle growth, perhaps falsely assume that Ramaz is as fun and liberating a place as Heschel or SAR, and then become more inclined to join Ramaz over competitors!

With most students already harboring resentment and adamant opposition to the current dress code, many feel that facial hair is their only expression of personal, individual expression. Certainly Ramaz doesn’t subscribe to a philosophy of repressing personal expression! If girls can dye their hair unorthodox colors and certain students can sport a Mohawk, both undeniable freedoms of personal expression, why can’t a male student grow a respectable-looking mustache? Are the tiny hairs on his upper lip truly that heinous that they warrant administrative intervention? Is the PR on the issue so devastating as to be a major factor as to why it’s become so difficult for Ramaz to recruit freshmen against competitor Yeshiva day-schools? I’d argue the opposite–that it’s because Ramaz has been so noticeably lagging behind the wave of change that many students from both outside and within have been turned-off by such oppressive and unnecessary policies. If Ramaz wants to stay true to its core identity and values, and resist external pressures to do otherwise, good. However, there is no compromise socially or practically by allowing a practice that is commonplace and that has no negative impact on anything but vague allusions to…well, no one’s quite sure. Let’s take a look at Preludes: A) “…Dress code has less to do with halakhic norms than it does with the more amorphous dictates of social convention and etiquette. This certainly makes a code more subject to the whims of fashion and the debate of conflicting tastes than halakhic norms.”

Gabriel Klapholz ’17

April 2016/Nisan 5776

The times have changed. If I decide to grow a beard, it is in no way a reflection of inner-rebellion or disloyalty; it’s me trying to grow a beard because I feel that I look more attractive with a beard. Disagree? Go tell the freshman who wore a polka dot tie over a striped shirt that he can’t do that, then we’ll talk.

Additionally, role models in all realms of the public sphere sport facial hair today. From CEOs like Steve Jobs and Sergei Brin in Silicon Valley, to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and politicians like Paul Ryan (Speaker of House), Jon Corizine (former Gov. of NJ), David Patterson (former Gov. of NY) and former Presidential candidate Ben Carson, beards are less taboo than they used to be. They are leaders of our generation and seen as professionals in their fields—not rebellious hippies. In today’s age, facial hair is just yet another accessory, no different than a necklace, bracelet or make-up.

However, there is no compromise socially or practically by allowing a practice that is commonplace and that has no negative impact on anything...

B) “We wish to create an environment in which the learning process is treated with respect and dignity even as the students and faculty themselves work toward treating one another that way”

This seems to be the epitome and guiding principle of Ramaz’s dress code, from which all the details were derived. Facial hair does not interfere with this (certainly not more than a student getting a Mohawk haircut!!).

Those close to me, or those who review my Facebook pictures with a microscope, likely noticed a thin line of prickles adorning my cheeks, lips and neck for a few weeks in February. My luscious playoff beard, which lasted a seemingly-eternal three weeks, looked formal and high-class in comparison to the everyday baggy eyes of the sleep-deprived juniors. Running on an average of perhaps five hours of sleep per school night, the average Ramaz kid will not exactly radiate an appearance of a tidy, tie-pulledup-to-the-neck, well-groomed prep student; no amount of makeup will change that. The spotty patches of hair on my face didn’t detract from the “learning process” or diminish “respect and dignity.” At all. On the other hand, walking into school looking like an intoxicated zombie after pulling an all-nighter studying history probably does.

C) “Finally, on a practical level, a dress code’s guidelines must be clear and enforceable.”

It is impossible and unrealistic to expect every student to show up every single day clean-shaven. Kids just don’t, and won’t, shave every night. De facto, the heavy majority of facial-hair growing males arrive to school with varying degrees of hair jutting out from their faces. Unless Ramaz utilizes a boot camp-like approach (if it does, then Godspeed to future students) the status quo practice will continue indefinitely. Why not just allow students to sport creative patterns that they enjoy? With all due respect, what gives the administration moral authority to allow underclassmen to grow stubbles (faculty “enforcers” will never tell every freshman to shave his scruff), yet bar seniors from growing goatees? Perhaps the issue at hand regards the notion of “professionalism”… except that at least four members of the secular faculty have had (at one point or another), or currently have, non-traditional facial hair patterns, grown for explicitly irreligious and strictly-stylistic purposes. That’s how they’re showing up to a professional workplace environment.

----------------------------------------------------- There was once a day when lacing-up Converse sneakers in the hallways was as punishable a crime as wearing sweatpants. Yes, that’s right, sneakers were not allowed.

Ramaz, thankfully, has since evolved and the “professional footwear” mandate has been nixed. Just as none of us students could imagine a stroll through the lobby sans-Stan Smiths, so too we cannot accept a restriction on our hair follicles, our minds and, most importantly, our personalities.

An outlaw on male facial hair is antiquated and needs to go.

Is There Value in Group Projects?

From collaborative presentations to science labs, every student must eventually complete a group project during his or her time at Ramaz. The “group work” model is often an important element of the classroom experience. Teachers promote the concept to help develop their students’ communication and cooperation skills. But are group projects valuable? And, more importantly, are group projects so important in an individual’s education that they should take time away from individualized work?

There is a distinction between group work and group projects. Group work includes everything from Chavruta learning in Gemara to small discussion groups in English class, while group projects refer to a far more specific subset of collaborative work. Group projects are those in which a teacher divides up a class, or allows the students to divide up on their own, and assigns each group of students a certain project or task that usually results in a group-wide grade. It would be very difficult to argue that all forms of group work have no value, as dividing a class into smaller groups often serves as a great way to allow individual students to have more of a voice and to hear the opinions of their peers more clearly. The format can often encourage the more reserved shy students to speak up in the intimate setting of a group of fellow students as opposed to the oftentimes-intimidating atmosphere of a full classroom with a teacher leading the

conversation. Group work is not only healthy for individual students, but also helpful in spreading ideas in the classroom at a faster pace. A far larger number of ideas are generated during ten small conversations than in one large one.

Nevertheless, group projects can become quite

problematic. When students are working together for a grade, or even for the completion of an assignment, the group work atmosphere can often backfire. Instead of encouraging shy students to speak up, it can lead to monopolization from stronger students. This monopolization occurs when the rest of the group has little to no interest in the subject matter, forcing more motivated students to become more involved. It also occurs, however, when students deliberately “check out” upon realizing that the

more motivated students in the group would be willing to take on all the work in order to succeed. Without direct involvement from the teacher, the responsibilities of each member of the group can be incredibly unbalanced.

It is important to remember that while group work has value, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t serious flaws in assigning group projects. Group projects can cause unnecessary amounts of stress for all those involved, and they often raise questions about fairness in grading. After all, why should a student who did five minutes of work receive the same grade as the student who spent five hours?

Ultimately, however, these assignments are important because they prepare students for the realities of the workplace. During one’s career, working with colleagues is part of the daily routine, and without the background in managing group projects, it can be difficult for individuals to accept the realities of working in a group and to deal with them effectively. By introducing the concept to students at a relatively young age, they can learn either how to delegate responsibility when necessary or how to take on additional responsibility when other members of the group don’t want to contribute in a meaningful way. For some, teamwork is a blessing and for others it is a curse, but ultimately, the school should expose its students to group projects so that they know what to expect in the years to come.

Have a response to any of the opinion pieces or news articles in this issue?

Email your thoughts to rampage@ramaz.org!

April 2016/Nissan 5776

The rampage

Tanach: Ivrit B’Anglit

Abigail Huebner ’18

Ramaz used to have an Ivrit B’Ivrit in Hebrew is there Shivim Panim La’Torah. program, where Tanach was taught solely in Translations are often wrong, incorrect,” she Hebrew. This policy has changed, and both explains. “Why didn’t G­od write the Torah students and teachers have diverse opinions in 70 languages? Only one is Kadosh! We on the issue. “It’s about the Tanach experi- rob our students of the genuine words of ence,” says Ms. Krupka, “If students come Hashem in translation.” out with language skills as opposed to To- Students, too, express varied opinrah understanding, we haven’t done our job. ions about the language in which Tanach Some discussions happen with much more should be taught, and recognize the compower in English.” In a discussion ­ heavy plexity of the issue. Many students move class, the value of English is evident. Rabbi from year to year between teachers who teach Schimmel agrees with this, explaining that Tanach in Hebrew and those who teach in it’s hard to expose English, and therestudents to a high fore have the oplevel of thinking portunity to experiin a secondary lanence both methods. guage. “Setting a Naomi Freilich ’18 policy,” he says, is frustrated by the “fails to acknowllack of Hebrew in edge the different her Tanach class, levels of ability of explaining that “It different kids and is really hard to be classes­­. Some classable to maintain a es will become too language if you are basic, and turn rarely speaking it. into just a Hebrew -Ms. Weinstein Since there really is language class.” Alno way to add more though opposed to Ivrit B’Ivrit as a manda- Hebrew periods to our schedule, I believe tory policy, Ms. Krupka and Rabbi Schim- that through using Hebrew in Tanach class, mel both acknowledge the value of teaching a student will be able to understand Hebrew Tanach in Hebrew. “There are pros and cons well.” However, she sees the other side too, to both sides­­, you’re going to gain and lose continuing to say that .“On the other hand, things. There are certain skills they’ll miss out this year I am in a Tanach class that is not on if a class is taught in English,” says Rab- Ivrit B’Ivrit, and it would be impossible for bi Schimmel. Other teachers, however, feel us to learn all that we have learned in Hemore strongly that one way is the right way. brew. Therefore, I think that teachers should Mrs Weinstein, for example, feels very pas- only use English when needed.” Max Koffler sionately that Tanach should be taught en- ’16 added that he thinks “it’s tough to intirely in Hebrew. “Transmitting the beauty, corporate external philosophical ideas and the depth, the breadth and the true meaning sources when Hebrew becomes the founof the words of Tanach, can only be achieved dation of the discussion. However, as Ms. by teaching it in the language it was spoken Krupka highlighted to her senior honors originally: Lashon Hakadosh –Hebrew. All Tanach class, “translation is betrayal, and of the above are lost in translation, for the you certainly lose a significant layer of the words are Kadosh, holy, and contain with- meaning without the Hebrew.” in them layers and layers of meaning. Only

“

Transmitting the beauty, the depth, the breadth and the true meaning of the words of Tanach, can only be achieved by teaching it in the language it was spoken originally”

Jasmine Levine ’17

Features 9

Hitlahavut

This is the second article in my series highlighting a few of the diverse Hitlahavut projects in our institution. For anyone not familiar, the Hitlahavut program is for students who exhibit excellence in a particular field. Areas of study range from science to arts, politics to athletics, and more. Hitlahavut scholars are given a mentor, and throughout the year the students work on an individual project under the guidance of his/her mentor. At the years’ end, there is a luncheon for all the participants with a few select presentations.

Noam Kaplan ’16, and Arianne Rothschild ’16 are Hitlahavut scholars doing a joint project on 3D printing and design under the mentorship of Dr. Rotenberg. Noam said, “It’s pretty exciting to be working with such a new technology [desktop 3D printing] that is already proving to be the future of prototyping.” The main focus of their project is the design aspect. Noam explains that he finds it most interesting to work with 3D design software because he gets to see firsthand how real engineers design products, and then he observes them come to life a few minutes or hours later, after printing. It’s a very different type of design than one would be doing when painting, he explains; it’s much more similar to mechanical drawing. The work is all in 3D, and rather than judging with one’s eyes, one evaluates with real measurements. They design parts to fit together, and move together, to make a larger project. Noam said that having an idea is the easy part, but actually making it work and figuring out the mechanics is difficult. For example, last year they began building a gumball machine, and actually designing the parts to fit together, each part doing its proper job, was much more difficult than anticipated. There are also limitations due to the method of printing.

The printers melt plastic in layers from the

bottom up, so anything with a bridge or certain degrees of incline is not printable.

Noam and Arianne must find creative ways of getting around this challenge. For example, they design multiple parts and print each one separately, or they change the orientation or the design to accommodate for the printer’s limitations. Noam and Arianne were offered this opportunity

by Avi Schwarzschild ’13 during freshman year, and they stuck with it throughout the entire program.

Another member of the Hitlahavut program is Julia Levy ’18. Her project is focused in Biology. Every Tuesday she goes to Cornell Medical School (on York Avenue) where she shadows and helps out a post doctoral resident in her experiments with pharmacology. There she learns many different experimentation techniques.

She takes notes and will write a paper for the end of the year on the research. Julia came up with this idea because she knew she wanted a “hands on” experience with science and not to just write a research paper. Since laboratory work is not offered in school, this opportunity is most exciting to her. Julia’s mentor is Dr. Bergman.

Ariel Attias ’18 is also a member of the Hitlahavut program. His project focuses on epidemiology and microorganisms. He is writing an essay about current events (e.g. Zika and the role of mosquitoes). His mentor is Dr. Aharon.

One of the major reasons that Ariel decided to pursue this project is because he has always had an interest in biology and epidemiology. Ariel said, “Learning about diseases is more important than ever, as we are primed to have another global outbreak, especially from diseases that originated from other animals.”

CrowdSource: Spearhead Spirit?

In every printed issue, this feature will pose a question to the entire Ramaz community, and asks for responses to the question. If you have a response, an opinion, or any new perspective related to the question that you would like to share, please email rampage@ramaz.org. The Rampage reserves the right to edit responses for writnig quality and length. The best answers will be printed, and the rest will be displayed on the Ramapage website under. Submissions are welcome from any faculty, staff, or student who has an opinion they would like to share.

If there is one thing all Ramaz students, administration, and faculty can agree on, its that school spirit at Ramaz is lacking. Most games are played in empty gyms, teams can barely scratch together team buses for playoff games, and championship games go virtually unattended. Students accomplishment’s are mostly forgotten, and no one pays attention to the majority of the sports. On the other side of the coin, it seems half of the student body has doctors appointments at the same time as the play, and this year, no one could be bothered to show up for Color War. It would be an overstatment to say that school spirit at Ramaz has been lacking for some time. Everyone agrees about that. The question though, is how to solve it.

There have been a few advancments recently to combat this problem. This publication has worked hard to improve its sports coverage, opening Facebook and Twitter accounts, to promote games. The G.O has stepped up its game as well, posting sports and and other team scores on Facebook, and arranging fan buses for big games. Additionally, they have recently instituted “10:10 Wins”, where they recap the big recent accomplishments on the loudspeaker at 10:10 in the morning. Finally, a “Ramaz Athletics” account has been established on SnapChat, where members of

the sports teams can post fun pictures and videos of themselves and their games to draw attention to their games and accomplishments. There has clearly been movment to try to improve Ramaz spirit, but how much that will accomplish remains to be seen.

CrowdSource: Is this a greater issue than just school spirit? Coversely, is school spirit still an issue at Ramaz? Is it even worth worrying about? And if it is, how do we combat it? What steps can be taken to improve school spirit? What do you think is the best way to combat the lackluster turnout Ramaz sports? Do you have a plan to develop some school spirit? Whats the best way to do it?

Send in your opinion to rampage@ramaz.org by May 1st, 2016 to be featured in next month’s CrowdSource A response to last month’s CrowdSource regarding beards by Max Koffler ’16 can be found on page 4 of this paper, as well as online at the-rampage.org.

If you would like to respond to that post, or the origional CrowdSource, feel free to do so, and direct all submissions to rampage@ramaz.org.

Drawing by Gabrielle Amar ’17

Features 10

The Rampage

Nicole Aboodi ’17

Tests Redefined: Don’t Take Them

It is no secret that the most challenging year of high school is the feared junior year.

The stress of college visits, ACT/SAT preparation and the looming history paper added to the regular course load is enough to make Ramaz students want to lock themselves in one’s room and hide under the covers. However, as a disclaimer: junior year is not as difficult as everyone says. Yes, there are weeks when the workload and the anxiety can be overwhelming, but for the most part, it isn’t too much to handle. Although this is true, junior year is terrifying for a reason: during those few weeks, which occur every once in a while, it seems like one doesn’t even have enough time to eat, sleep or think. Some, however, have found a new tactic to deal with the overwhelming amount of work: don’t come to school. Whether it is the day before a test or a day when there seems like there is too much to be done, some students will not attend school in order to gain time to accomplish more.

It is not a rare occurrence when students do not show up either the day before or the day of an exam, because they need more time to study. “Yeah, there have been days when I just need more time and there isn’t enough. I’m involved in extracurriculars after school and I can’t keep going to sleep every night at 2 AM. I have homework to do and by then, it is already so late so the choice is to either not study at all, stay up all night studying or just not come to school the next day. The last option is the most appealing, as I would be well rested and be able to properly prepare for my test,” said Moses Zevulun, junior who wishes to remain anonymous.

Although this problem is understandable, it does give an unfair advantage to the people that miss school. There are rules put in place for this very reason; those who obey them

Oren Oppenheim ’18

April 2016/Nissan 5776

must do the best they can to maintain a balance of work and sleep, while also setting aside time to study. It is nearly impossible to catch a kid who cheats this system, as one can not accuse someone else for missing school for an invalid reason. It is unfair that people just avoid the test and take it later, because everyone would want more time to prepare, just not everyone takes advantage of that flaw.

There are also those students, most of whom live in the city, who leave school early, as they deem their afternoon classes “unimportant” and want to go home to do work or catch up on sleep. To the students who must stay, attend classes and miss out on time that could be spent studying for an exam the next day or doing a history paper assignment this seems very unjust.

“It’s very annoying that my friends could email the school, be admitted to leave and then just walk home. I obviously would rather be at home, doing the homework that I need to do, but I’m supposed to be in school, so that’s where I am. Maybe if I was in their position, I would take advantage of it, too, but it definitely irritates me that they work the system. It just seems unfair, because I make it work with my schedule, so why can’t they make it work with theirs?” said an anonymous student.

The administration has put rules in place to avoid this problem, but it is incredibly difficult to make sure that no one slips through the cracks. The system is constantly being manipulated, especially by those who have the largest workload, and it delivers an unfair advantage to some students, leaving other students angry and resentful, as they are playing by the rules. Every student is in the same boat, but not every student is playing fairly.

AIPAC Reflection

During the AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) 2016 Policy Conference, there was an area called the AIPAC Village, a collection of booths manned

by Israeli and American companies, as well as a bunch of exclusive clubs and food stands.

I came across a booth showing a virtual reality headset, the Gear VR, running a program that allowed people to virtually travel to Jerusalem. After trying it out for a few minutes, I asked a woman running the booth what was the Israeli connection to the Gear VR headset itself. I knew its maker, Oculus, is an American company—but perhaps the technology was developed originally in Israel? I was hoping that the technology was some sort of unique Israeli innovation that would exemplify the “start-up nation”.

Her response: the software, with the tour of Jerusalem, was made in Israel, but the headset was fully American.

At first I felt a bit disappointed. After all, it would have been so cool if the VR headset was through and through Israeli! But then, thinking about it, I realized that what the VR headset and software together represented was significant in and of itself. It represented the fusion of American and Israeli work, where an American innovation was iterated on and improved in Israel—a true partnership between the two countries and allies. That, to me, is a microcosm of what the entire AIPAC Policy Conference showcased.

I’ve known about AIPAC as an organization for a long time, and had seen pictures and clips from its annual policy conference. But this year was the first year I was able to actually attend, thanks to the generosity of Ramaz and Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun. I had somewhat of an idea of what to expect: a lot of speeches, massive general sessions, smaller classes on focused issues (I had signed up for them in advance), and likely half of the Jewish world in attendance! But I wondered how it was all going to be in person, in the flesh.

My delegation, consisting of a handful of my classmates and Dov Pianko, left early on Sunday morning to make the journey from New York to Washington, D.C. We arrived a bit later than we expected, and I was only able to make it to the tail end of my first small breakout class, which was about Palestinian public opinion regarding Israel and their leadership. I’m not going to speak about the specifics of the session itself, as it was off the record and closed to the press (like many AIPAC sessions), but it gave me a taste of what to expect at the AIPAC breakout sessions. These sessions featured a table of panelists, discussed a difficult topic in depth, and weren’t afraid to delve into tricky topics. One session, for instance, discussed the nuances of the Syrian refugee crisis, delving into opinions that disturbed me but that I appreciated getting a chance to hear.

Later on there were the general sessions, which took place in the massive Verizon Center. Our seats were all the way in the nosebleed section, but we still had a full view of the AIPAC stage. The general sessions, which addressed the entire population in attendance, lacked the nuance and in-depth discussions of the smaller breakout sessions, but made up for it in sheer spectacle, excitement, and star power. The crowd was constantly cheering, the speakers captivated the audiences for the most part, and political celebrities—Joe Biden, most of the current presidential candidates, Paul Ryan, and oth-

ers—reaffirmed their support for Israel.

Over the course of the general sessions, I realized how AIPAC was different than other pro-Israel organizations I had encountered before, and how the policy conference was far different than other pro-Israel events I had gone to before: it was about both America and Israel, about the relationship between the two countries. This made sense; AIPAC is partially about lobbying government members and convincing them to support pro-Israel legislation (sadly I missed the third day of the conference, which was the day of lobbying). But it didn’t hit me until I started seeing both Israeli and American politicians talking about the two countries; until the conference attendees sung both countries’ anthems; until I perused the Israeli and American innovations at the AIPAC Village. It made me appreciate how the two countries work together, in fields of innovation, security, and far more.

I’m not going to claim that everything at the conference was perfect. Sometimes it felt as if the various speakers during the general sessions were rehashing the same ideas over and over. A friend and I had a fake drinking game for each time someone referenced “bipartisanship”! Also, and of course this is superficial: the food was overpriced to the point of absurdity (the chicken nuggets averaged out to $3 a nugget). But flaws aside, being at the AIPAC Policy Conference was not only an inspiring experience for me, but also a unique one. I learned to appreciate not only the state of Israel, but the relationship between the United States and Israel. I was not only proud to be a supporter of Israel, but also to be an American.

This article originally appeared in The Jewish Link of New Jersey.

Arts &E ntertainment Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice The Rampage

Netanel Kamel ’18

TThe movie opens two years after Superman’s

(Henry Cavill) colossal battle with Zod (Michael Shannon). The loss of life and collateral damage left many feeling angry and helpless, including crime-fighting billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). The film begins showing what the scene looked like as many people were killed and hurt during the battle. Many people now believe that Superman doesn’t listen to the will of the people, but rather his own will. Convinced that Superman is now a threat to humanity, Batman wants to end his reign on Earth, while the conniving Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) launches his own crusade against the Man of Steel.

Lex Luthor creates this hatred between Batman and Superman so that they would hate each other, and kill each other.

Spoiler Alert: Ironically, Superman and Batman end up forgiving each other (after hearing “Martha’s” name) and end up working together to stop Lex Luthor.

Additionally, the film included an appearance of Wonder Woman who helped stop Lex Luthor.

According to Forbes, Warner Bros.’

Batman v. Superman performed significantly worse on the Friday after it opened, than on opening day, earning $15.35 million. Compared to its $81.5 million on opening day, which includes the $27.7 million from Thursday’s showings, Dawn of Justice dropped a whopping 81.2 percent. When compared strictly to its $53.8 million figure on March 25, the film saw a Friday-to-Friday drop of 71.5 percent. Warner Bros is going to scale down the number of films they release in order to improve the success of the release slate. Warner Brothers purposely made Batman V Superman with a “dark” theme. There can definitely be dark elements infused in certain stories. However, I think that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had a lot of depressing moments.

•

April 2016

Sam Schair ’18

Batman v Superman was a big movie. It had an A-list cast, was full of special effects, and featured three of the most iconic superheroes of all time. However, does that make it good? This is the question that was very much on my mind after seeing this movie. There are aspects of the movie that are clearly flawed; it’s too long and very confusing. However, there were also parts that were a lot of fun, such as the special effects driven action sequences. Overall, Batman v. Superman was a fun, yet highly imperfect movie.

Batman v. Superman starts with the end of its predecessor Man of Steel, the 2013 Superman movie that debuted Henry Cavill in the role, in which Superman and General Zod battle in Metropolis, and in doing so, nearly destroy the entire city. However, this time we are looking at the battle from the perspective of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) as he watched Superman and General Zod destroy a Wayne Enterprises building during their fight. This leads Wayne, and therefore Batman, to believe that Superman has too much power, and that this power must not be left unchecked. Meanwhile, Clark Kent also believes that Batman acts as if he is above the law and has no right to be fighting crime in Gotham. Also, the absolutely insane Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), who is a young, wealthy owner of a technology company, does not support either of these two, and has a plan to take them down.

These are three of the main factors that lead to the two heroes fighting, as the title of the film suggests. However, this synopsis doesn’t even come close to covering all the elements of the plot or describing all of the main characters in the movie.

There are so many plot lines and so many characters that the story threads, including Luthor’s plan, become confusing. The movie has too many conflicts and storylines, which become hard to keep track of. The overuse of plot is at fault for the movie’s two and half hour run time, which proves to be way too long in this particular case. The excess of these elements causes confusion and takes away from the overall experience of watching the movie.

Despite the long runtime and confusing plot, there are a great deal of positive elements of this film.

First, the acting is extremely impressive. Ben Affleck is fantastic as Batman and even though Christian Bale occupied the part just four years ago, Affleck had me convinced from the first moment he was on screen. His version of Batman, that of an older Bruce Wayne, who has grown to be darker and more cynical, proves to be more compelling and complex than the other variations of the character. Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman, steals nearly all the scenes in which she appears, but is underused over the course of the movie.

However, this might prove to be a good thing, as a solo Wonder Woman movie will be released in 2017.

The other aspect of this movie that I really enjoyed was the action sequences, which mainly occurred in the last third of the movie. The script does a fine job of setting up the various fights that take place, but the fights themselves were the more memorable parts. The best fight in the movie is the Batman versus Superman fight, which I thought, before watching the movie, would be easily won by Superman. However, the battle turns out to be exactly what one would hope it would be: an equally matched clash of Batman’s intellect versus Superman’s strength.

Room: A Movie of Tragedy and Recuperation of the Human Spirit

Natalie Kahn ’19

Five-year old Jack has lived in a tiny

one-room garden shack his entire life. He calls the shed “Room,” but Jack believes that Room is the world in its entirety. What he does not know is that his mother has been held captive for seven years by a man who abducted her when she was only seventeen-years old, and Jack himself is imprisoned. However, when Jack’s mother finally breaks the truth to him about the world, he and his mother struggle to devise a plan to escape so that Jack can see the world outside of Room for himself. In a story of tremendous courage, Jack and his mother gain their freedom and grapple with the challenges they face due to being hidden from the real world for so long.

The movie begins with the details of the lives of Jack and his mother in the shed. Joy, Jack’s mother, has him say good morning to all of the objects in Room each morning, tells him

endless fairytales and stories of novels that she has read, celebrates birthdays with him, makes art with him, and teaches him to distract himself so he does not understand that their captor, “Big Nick” as they call him, has enslaved them both. However, most importantly, she creates an entire alternate universe for Jack to keep him content.

Brie Larson as Joy gives an outstanding and nearly flawless performance, definitely worthy of her Academy Award, filled with the depression and nightmares depicting Joy’s attempt to recover from seven years of horror and captivity. She is a passionate and

loving mother, always trying to think first for her son and trying to deceive her son into believing that Room really is the entire world, clever when she devises a plan for she and Jack to be able to escape, and angry and frustrated with the world and the nightmares she encounters both during and after her imprisonment.

Jacob Tremblay as fiveyear old Jack has incredible presence for such a young age. He beautifully portrays a young boy, curious but oblivious to the world. He is smart but stubborn and allows the audience to understand that he is very much traumatized by everything that has happened to him but also is willing to learn about and accept the new world that is unveiled to him.

The movie’s dark setting with continually rainy skies and a cold, colorless home that Joy and Jack return to only further emphasize the depression that Joy faces, and frankly, the sadness that I felt watching her suffer. The movie forces the audience to feel emotional during the emotional scenes, tremble in suspense during intense scenes, and smile during the occasional happy or hopeful scene. It also does a good job of not overdoing it with violence or disturbing images and making it a psychological film rather than a thriller, but there are still no dull moments throughout the entire film that is nearly two hours.

A story that is deeply moving, evokes tremendous emotion, and informs us about the human condition after experiencing terrible trauma, Room is a must-see for everyone.

Sports 12 Elianna Schwartz ’17

The Rampage

In their championship game against Frisch, the Ramaz Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team tied a beautiful bow on an amazing season. They had an almost flawless record of 9-­1, losing only once in the ninth game of the season; “After our first loss against SAR, it was difficult for our team because we had been winning for eight straight games. As always, I reminded the team that in order to succeed we had to fail,” said Captain Shoshi Larios ’16. Just a few days after the loss, the team came home with the championship trophy in their final win against Frisch.

It was not always smooth sailing.

In December, the team lost one of their most valuable players, Leeael Assyag, which definitely caused anxiety amongst the team members. They were worried it could affect their season. However as Sarah Cabot ’17 said, “Even after losing a player mid-season we managed to make it to the championship and win in only three games.” The girls have only positive things to say about their awesome season. “We were just really strong, played hard, went into every game as if it was the first, and had a great time,” said Shelli Cohen ’17.

The seniors especially feel a sense

Volleyball Wins the ’Ship! of accomplishment. “After working so hard for four years it meant so much to me and all the other seniors on the team to make it to the championship and win it.

That night was definitely one of the highlights of my entire high school career,” said Adi Present ’16. Sarah Ascherman ’16 added, “I’m so proud of our team, and am really going to miss everyone next year!”

Captain Larios could not have been happier with the outcome. She shared her initial concerns, “Going into this season I was skeptical about how far our team would be going this year. I never thought

we would make it to championship. After a while I realized that my mindset on our team reflected on how we played. Every practice and game I constantly reminded the team how amazing we were and if we lost we would just come back stronger each game.

As a captain I had to keep a positive outlook always and just be hopeful that we all would work together as a team.” The right attitude and mindset combined with the incredible talent on the team definitely was the recipe for success that took them all the way.

That talent obviously came from both the seniors and the juniors on the

Girls Soccer Leads the League

Jasmine Levine ’17

After a devastating loss in

the semifinals last year, the Girls’ Soccer team is back for a new season and is better than ever. With fierce captain Talia Davidovsky ’16 leading the squad, the team plans on winning the championship. Mr. Enis, the coach of this team, has high hopes for these athletes. He said, “My expectations for this season are the same for every season, which is to just play the best we can and hopefully win the championship.” Mr. Enis thinks that every year the team has a good chance of winning the championship, but they haven’t gone farther than the semifinals in the past number of years, after being undefeated in almost every regular season since Mr. Enis started coaching the girls’ team.

This year, three quarters of the team is juniors and seniors, and there are a total of six seniors on the team.

Luckily, Girls’ Soccer only had two seniors on last year’s team­­Naomi Bouaziz and Margo Oshry—so this years’ team is mostly experienced.

Mr. Enis coached the boys’ team, either as assistant or head coach from 2005 until this last year, and he has been coaching the girls’ team for 8 or 9 years. Mr. Enis is hoping that this will finally be the team’s lucky year.

What Mr. Enis likes most about coaching is the fact that the teammates get along well. He explains that the girls work together to help each other out, are open to constructive criticism, and overall, listen to his opinions on all aspects of the game.

They also know what to expect from him and after all these years, Mr. Enis knows what to expect from them. Mr. Enis said, “I obviously love winning, but I also want them to have fun.”

Mr. Enis thinks that the girls work particularly well together this season. They are communicating on the court, have sharp passes, and are taking more shots. He thinks that as long as they keep that going and keep up their “we can win” attitude, the team can definitely make it to the championship. The three biggest competitors every season, which the team

April 2016/Nissan 5776

only meets during playoffs and/or the championship, are Ma’ayanot, Bruriah, and, of course, SAR.

When asked if coaching girls’ soccer has changed over the years, Mr. Enis said that he doesn’t think much has changed in the realm of coaching.

He thinks the attitude of the players to the sport and their time management issues have changed. Everyone has many extra­ curricular activities after school, and it is hard for students to juggle so many time commitments. In the past, when students joined teams, they would never miss a game or practice for anything. Now, there are so many other things on their plate, and they cannot do it all, no matter how much they want to or try.

Mr. Enis is upset by the misconception that people think the Girl’s Soccer team is just a club. That is clearly not the case. Mr. Enis would like anyone who thinks that to come to a practice or game and see how much effort the girls give every time they step onto the court. They work hard to have an undefeated (or close to undefeated) regular season every single year. Mr. Enis said, “I couldn’t be more proud coaching them and wouldn’t give up coaching this team for anything.”

Mr. Enis even thinks that he has some players who could probably play in college. He could not say for sure because the team plays indoor soccer, which is different from outdoor soccer, but he thinks once put on a regular field, there are a few girls

who could definitely play at the college level.

Raquel Michelle ’17, the starting goalie of the team, thinks that the team will win the championship. She said that she thinks the team is just as good without the two seniors that they lost from last year. The team has also gained a few new players who really contribute to their playing. Laura Lancman, a freshman, is a key contributor to victories. The team also gained a new back­up goalie.

The definite starters of the team are Raquel Michelle, Talia Davidovsky, and Anabelle Ritz. Raquel thinks that the team’s stronger side is the defense. They are definitely working on improving their offense; they want to score more. She said that SAR “killed” them last year in the semifinals, but this year Ramaz won’t let that happen. Her favorite part of being on the team is the great time that they always have together.

Talia, the team captain, also has a lot of confidence in the team. She said, “We have been practicing a lot, so that should help with playing well as a team.” To her, one of the team’s biggest competitors is Central.

Anabelle Ritz ’16 said that her favorite part of being on the team is winning, watching Talia score 5+ goals per game, hanging out with Mr. Enis, and getting to know underclassmen.

Ritz’s goal for the team is to win every game of the regular season and hopefully make it past the second round of the playoffs. She too thinks they have a good chance of winning the championship, “Especially with Talia scoring an average of 56 goals in 9 games.”

Ritz feels that the team has been practicing more this year and that the team members have been passing more during games, leading to wide open shots. The team has gotten more aggressive and all the other teams are scared of Ritz (in her opinion).

Wearing new Adidas jerseys (as of last year), the girls soccer team is ready to fight to the finish!

team, but Yael Larios ’18, a sophomore, played for the varsity team as well. Even as the youngest player on the team, she was a real asset. Her sister and captain, Soshi Larios ‘16. said, “I had the pleasure of playing with my sister who is AMAZING. I’m so proud of Yael and she really helped the team even though she was nervous about being on a varsity team.”

Coach Rachel Kohn praised her team and summed up the sensational season; “This year’s Varsity Volleyball team was a fun group of girls to coach. They all are passionate about volleyball, extremely committed and worked hard all season. We only lost 1 game all season, and I think losing that game helped the team grow even stronger. We focused on the importance of defense, communication, and having faith in each other. I enjoyed every single minute coaching this team, and their championship win was well deserved.”

Boys Soccer

Tyler Mandelbaum ’17

The pressure is on together as a team and share for this year’s boys’ soccer something in common ­­it reteam. The team has gained ally makes the team a more a lot of new players, and Dr. cohesive unit.” Sam Iofel ’17 Sclar is the new coach. Dr. said that “At first, suicides Sclar has recruited Adam were a pain in the neck, but Lassner ’15 to return to the when I realized that they were Ramaz court and help him only for my benefit, I was coach the team. The team’s much more receptive to them main goal is to make the play- because I understood that offs, and they definitely have they would really improve my the manpower to do it. With game”. the combined talent of the When asked how old team, and the addition they were preparing for the of new members across the season, captain Alex Mosseri grades, fans can likely expect ’16 said, “We run a lot; we go favorable results. With the on the treadmill, we go outaddition of seniors such as side ­­we do anything we can Max Koffler ‘16 and Jared to make sure that we are nevFeingold ‘16, the team has ac- er standing idly around when quired a bunch of experienced we can be preparing.” When players. Evan a s k e d Straus ’17 ofabout the fered advice to practices the new team that the members, saysoccer ing that they team can “shouldn’t be often be afraid to take a seen holdshot out of fear ing on the that they will third floor let the team during down. We are Evan Straus ’17 hr oo omme -, a really close Mosseri family, and we each support each other on said, “Arik and I organize it.

We really feel that the only and off the court.”

As the new coach, way to make sure everyone is Dr. Sclar is making sure that committed is to organize adthe whole team stays in shape ditional practices so that we and is constantly on their feet. can prepare ­­both physically He has instituted the notori- and mentally ­­to work togethous “no elevator” rule for his er on the field as a team”.

At the end of the players, saying that it is to ensure that the team always regular season the Rams socprioritizes their health and cer team is 5-3. While they fitness. If any team members were unable to clinch a playare found in the elevators, the off victory in their final regentire team has to do suicides ular season game, depending (rapid sprints back and forth on the outcome of some other across the gym). In addition, teams’ games, they may still Dr. Sclar said that it is ex- have a chance at a championtremely critical that everyone ship. does the suicides together so that “the players can come

“

We are a really close family, and we each support each other on and off the court.”

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