Long Live Shakespeare Tu Bishvat Celebrations Turn a New Leaf

On February 7th, 2023, Ramaz held their own Shakespeare Reciting Competition giving students the opportunity to express themselves through acting out soliloquies written by the Elizabethan writer. With a total of 9 students competing, the entire program consisted of the performances as well as refreshments afterwards for the juniors, seniors, and participants. Dr. Honig began the program by introducing the competition and announcing that both the winner and runner up will qualify for the New York State Shakespeare Reciting Competition. She explained that the two winners will need to film themselves performing their soliloquy along with a sonnet for the statewide competition. The show then began, and the audience was ready to see their peers perform as they cheered loudly and enthusiastically.

The first few students who performed spoke confidently and passionately.

During Abby Gurwitz’s ’23 performance of a monologue from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, her words and actions captured the feeling of despair and jealousy felt by Helena, the character she was portraying. Thea Katz ’25 also conveyed the emotions of Helena by using physical motion to engage the audience. Such tactics allowed both the performer and the viewers to connect with and feel the emotions of the character being portrayed.

Despite the sense of ease that the performers presented, they spent a lot of time preparing and understanding the role that they were to embody. Aravah Chaiken ’25 said that while preparing for her performance, “I had to analyze the character of Helena in a way that I hadn’t really done in English class, thinking more about what she’s going through rather than the symbolism.”

The competition provides a unique opportunity for students to experience what they are learning in English class in a new light.

When Tova Solomons ’23, the runner up, was picking a soliloquy to perform, she “looked through all of the soliloquies preferably to find one that was said by a woman with a lot of spunk or strength or self righteousness.”

Tova explains that she found it “more compelling and easier to play the characters” with whom she connected on a personal level.

Tova preferred to relate to the character in order to portray them in the best way possible, while others instead attempted to mimic the character’s personality in order to play the character.

Abe Kohl ’23, the winner of the competition, used the personality of the character he played, Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing, as a confidence boost to help him if he were to get nervous while performing in front of the crowd. Abe said that “I am Benedick, and Abe might be nervous but Benedick is not.” Abe tapped into his role and used it to his benefit. Additionally, a big part that led to Abe’s victory was the sense of humor that he incorporated into his acting. Although in the original version of Shakespeare’s play there were humorous parts, Abe wanted to add his own touch to the performance.

The Environmental Club Has Begun To Take New Initiatives Including Giving Out Special Tu B’shvat Treats.

Ramaz embraced new programming this year for Tu Bishvat to celebrate the holiday on a larger scale. To mark the birthday of the trees, school administrators encouraged an interdisciplinary celebration featuring various aspects of the holiday throughout the school day.

Determined to raise awareness of nature through a Jewish perspective, the Environmental Club, with the help of Associate Principals Ms. Miriaim Krupka and Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz, planned curriculums for classes. For science classes, the Environmental Club encouraged teachers to show a brief video about climate change and to try to relate their curriculums to environmentalism.

The video “was enough to [give] a basic understanding of climate change,” said Environmental Club co-president Andrew Spielfogel ’23. “But it’s not like one of those holistic things like ‘this is everything you need to know about climate change.’ Because in one class, one day out of the year, for 10 minutes, it is just hard to accomplish all of that…Hopefully we’ll do more in the future.” For Judaic Studies classes, the administration discussed how to incorporate Tu Bishvat into the lessons. Tu Bishvat “is also about preservation of the natural world…you can’t celebrate something while you’re actively destroying it,” Ms. Krupka said. The Tanakh curriculum incorporated questions of how Tanakh presents the idea of the world of nature and our responsibility for it. The Talmud curriculum included discussions about wasting resources, particularly one of the Halakhot of wasting food.

The Environmental Club also set up a table with a variety of dried fruits, displayed books about the holiday, collected used batteries for recycling, and sold reusable water bottles. In addition, the Environmental Club put together a Tu Bishvat “green raffle”—any students and faculty wearing green were entered in a raffle to win two tickets to the Central Park Zoo. Charlotte Newhouse ’23 said she was excited to win the raffle and posted on Snapchat to ask who wanted to join her. “Thirteen people asked me if they could come with me,” she said. “So that was a fun bit.”

To aid in conservation efforts in honor of the holiday, Ms. Abramson also replaced plastic plates in the cafeteria with paper plates. “We wanted to raise awareness of [our] abundant, beautiful natural world… [and] the great waste we create everyday and its contribution to so many environmental concerns,” said Environmental Club faculty advisor Ms. Barbara Abramson. “Reducing plastic use in school is an ongoing concern,” added Ms. Abramson, and the club is trying to persuade the administration to replace plastic plates, utensils, cups and bowls from the lunchroom with a more sustainable alternative.

Students praised the programming as a new way to experience an often neglected holiday. “The interdisciplinary day helped me and my friends learn more about a holiday that we’re not so familiar with and more about environmental issues that we should be more aware of,” said Zoe Brisman ’26. Other students thought that the programming taught them more about Jewish values. “I think that learning about Tu Bishvat was a helpful break from learning that helped us realize that it is our responsibility as Jews to take care of the environment,” said Ashley Rechtschaffen ’25.

However, the Environmental Club still thinks more can be done to highlight the significance of Tu Bishvat. “Ramaz has the potential to be known for being an environmentally conscious school. We’re in New York City, so we have so many resources we can work with… I think we have a lot of potential,” said Spielfogel ’23.

Mock Trial: The Law Was in Their Favor

team members, as the past few years’ trials have been held over Zoom.

team attends each trial.

Ramaz’s mock trial team had their very first competition of the school year in the courthouse Manhattan Criminal Court on 100 Center Street. On February 1, the team beat All Hallows High School, displaying the “potential for a strong team,” said Aaron Green ’23, a starting lawyer and one of the team’s captains. The experience was novel and intimidating for some of the mock trial

Each year, New York State creates one case for its Mock Trial teams, and the cases alternate between civil and criminal matters. The cases are always released in December. This year, the mock trial team had two preseason trials using cases from previous years: one trial for the starters and one for the alternates. This year, the state assigned a civil case, and in their recent victorious trial, Ramaz argued on behalf of the plaintiff side. Once the team is informed of the case for the year, the students are immediately divided into the plaintiff and defense sides. Each side consists of three starting lawyers and three starting witnesses, aside from their alternates. Regardless of which side the team is selected to argue on behalf of, the entire

Typically, the first trial begins in March and the ensuing trials transpire monthly. To determine the winner of the trial, the judge uses a point system whereby every direct examination, cross-examination, opening statement, and the closing statement is rated out of five points. The whole team receives a rating for professionalism, which is out of ten points. This year’s case concerns a homeowner who hired a company to renovate her house. One of the company’s workers got electrocuted by a wire after falling from one of the ladders the homeowner lent him. He then sued the homeowner for an unsafe workspace even though the homeowner claimed to be unaware that the wire’s electricity was on. The case law that the students