Notebook Vol 1, No 2 - November 2016

JEWISH COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL OF THE BAY

notebook

Volume 1, Issue 2 November, 2016

D’VAR TORAH In the first week of the 2016-17 school year, as seniors welcomed the Class of 2020 to the community, Vicki Maler ’17 took a moment in her d’var Torah to reflect on the opportunities ahead for freshman students as they entered...

A place flowing with

Exactly a year ago, I was in the same situation as you, except that I was entering into my junior year at JCHS, two whole years later than you. Going to a new school can be scary. But there are also so many important lessons to be learned from putting yourself in a new environment with new

opportunities

Photo of the Grand Canyon by Shayna Dollinger ‘18.

COVER: Naomi Moskowitz ‘18 advances to state sectionals representing the JCHS Varsity Cross Country Team. Photo: Brian Dean

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JEWISH COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL OF THE BAY

people, however terrifying it may seem now. For me, transferring to JCHS was initially scary, but in the end, an immensely positive experience. So I encourage all of you to push past any fear and take it all in.

In this week’s parashah, Eikev, everyone’s favorite “nice Jewish boy,” Moses, continues his closing address to the children of Israel. As they are about to enter the land of Israel, Moses promises them that if they will

by Vicki Maler ’17

PARASHAT EIKEV fulfill the commandments, or mitzvot, of the Torah, then they will prosper in their new land. For them, standing on the eastern bank of the Jordan, gazing out at their new home after waiting for forty years to arrive, this message is more poignant than ever.

Similarly to the children of Israel, you, Class of 2020, are now at the border—not of Jordan, but of your freshman year, the beginning of your journey at JCHS.

In addition to telling the Israelites about their new land, Moses reminds them of their shortcomings in the desert: the golden calf and the sin of the spies, for example. But he also reminds them of God’s great forgiveness. By reminding the people of their mistakes, he gives the Israelites an opportunity to reflect back on what they can improve on upon entering their new land.

“This is your school, it’s your experience, and it is your four years.”

Middle school is over. You have a clean slate, a “new land.” So I encourage you to reflect today: What are things about yourself that you would like to improve on or change? What is something new you want to try? What is holding you back?

with, and the people who will be on the dance floor at prom with you. Finally, these are the people whom you will be graduating with. It may seem like it is four long years away, but trust me that looking back on high school, it went by in a flash. These are just highlights. These are the people whom you will study—a lot—with for your Physics final, people whom you’ll chill with in the Commons after a long day, and people whom you’ll dance around the halls with when you need to get your stress out in the middle of the school day. We’ve all been there, especially me.

Moses describes the land they are about to enter as “flowing with milk and honey,” and blessed with the “seven kinds,” wheat, barley, grape vines, figs, pomegranates, olive oil, and dates.

Like the land of Israel, JCHS is flowing with opportunities.

Whether it be playing music, sports, writing, singing, drawing, chess, history, or anything else, JCHS has it all and it’s all waiting for you, just across the border.

Look around! These are your friends for the next FOUR years.

These are the people who will be at the center of your high school memories. These people will be at the Shabbaton with you in September. They will be volunteering with you at St. Anthony’s later this year. They will be the people you spend two incredible weeks in Israel

Be patient. It can be pretty annoying to have to learn all the names of the people, places, teachers and classes again from scratch. But things will fall into place for you at JCHS if you give them time, and I promise you that soon enough you will walk down the halls like you own them, because you do. This is your school, it’s your experience, and it is your four years. You have the opportunity to make it into everything you want it to be and more.

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In the “flame test lab,” students identified metals based on the color emitted when placed in a flame.

Photo: Elle Grintsaig

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Sparking CHEMISTRY

JEWISH COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL OF THE BAY

While the presence of technology in classrooms and laboratories comes as no surprise, teachers are constantly looking for new ways to harness the tools available to tell the story of their subjects in innovative ways.

The prevalence of smartphones and personal digital devices coupled with sharing applications has made a remarkable level of personalization not only possible, but valuable.

In Michael Fitch’s Chemistry class, students learned methods for calculating the densities of various materials; investigated the magnetism and solubility of iron filings, sand, and table salt and how these properties can be used to separate mixtures into their constituent parts; and studied how various chemical reactions manifest themselves.

Throughout the first semester, students also used a class blog to share what they were learn-

ing in the lab this year with each other and the world. Each student blogged an action shot of themselves or group members doing lab work, as well a photos of their lab questions and homework problems. To review for the unit test students made compilation videos of those pictures with explanations of what was learned in each lab.

Photos by Kaela Mandler ‘19, Maya Menachem ‘19, Ben Robinow ‘19, Idan Sharabi ‘19, and Jared Kasoff ‘19.

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Speaking the

Language of Rabbinics What does it mean to “inhabit” a language and culture? How does one demonstrate comfort in a second or foreign language?

In many ways, Rabbinics is a “language” that has particular codes, forms, and values. Students in Adam Eilath’s Advanced Talmud class created their own Rabbinic compositions demonstrating their comfort in the “Rabbinic language.” Hodayah Miller’s composition (translated below) is modeled after a philosophical dialogue between Rabbi Gamliel and a Greek non-Jewish interlocutor which appears in the Mekhilta.

One philosopher asked Rabbanah Miller, “It says in your Mishna, ‘these are the things which humans reap the benefit of in this world but the foundation (benefit) lasts into the next world: respecting parents, acts of love and kindness, making peace between two people and the study of Torah outweighs them all.’”

“Why does the Holy One, Blessed Be He, wait until the next world to reward you?”

The philosopher responded, “So what meaning did the second rich person have in their life?”

She replied to him, “Rewards you receive in the future are more valuable than rewards one re c e i v e s immediately.”

He said to her, “There is no reason for this, what is your opinion based in?”

Rabbanah Miller responded, “Every reward you receive in the next world is worth more than the rewards of this lifetime.”

by Hodayah Miller ’18

She said to him, “Let me recite for you a parable: One rich person in the hour that they received their money spends all of it at one time. Another rich

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person, when they received their money, placed the money in a treasury and never took it out. In fact, they never thought about their riches again. Time passed and the two rich people passed away. The first rich person died with nothing and the second rich person died with a bank full of money that was never spent.”

JEWISH COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL OF THE BAY

He responded to her “I don’t accept this answer.”

Rabbanah Miller responded “Fools of this world, there is no changing your mind!”

Photographic study by Ma’ayan Epstein ‘17.

Mira Kittner’s poetic composition toys with a Mishnaic proverb which states that anyone who changes the standard order of prayers is not exempt from the obligation of prayer. Mira’s composition does not mirror the form of Rabbinic literature. However she demonstrates her mastery of the language by toying with the word “order,” or Matbe’a. Using derivatives and wordplay, she writes a beautiful composition expressing the challenge of finding meaning in prayer in fixed communal settings. Below is a translation with exposition in italics by Adam Eilath.

Rab Yosi said, “Anyone who strays from the standard order of prayers that the Rabbis decreed, does not fulfill their obligation to pray.”

In this line, there is a play on the words “reside” and “generation.” Also the word “cell” contains an allusion to a musical note in the way Mira uses it.

(Someone) answered him, “Let me put before you a parable in the form of a poem.”

Cry until the tears fill an entire sea around you and the songs of the congregation drown like the best of Pharaoh’s officers (an allusion to the Song of the Sea in the daily prayers) and you are on the other side of the water.

Tefillah is the standard order of the Rabbis and sometimes it is drowning itself.

In Hebrew, the words for “drowning” and “order“ are similar.

Don’t let the words drown you in the sea, even if they threaten you with drowning.

Grab the words as a baby grabs its mother’s breast.

Taste each word as if it were a ripe fig in a time of hunger. Feel that every cell that lives by Mira Kittner ’18 in your body is an entire generation of Jews from the past that is dancing to your tune.

Cry until the crying becomes prayer itself. Until the courage of your voice brings rain to the bones of your ancestors. If the ocean of tears reaches your face, turn to the Siddur (prayerbook) as a rescue boat. Plant the words on your lips and rely on the congregation.

And then, only then, will you fulfill your obligation.

Rav responded, “Great waters cannot extinguish love” (a reference to the “Song of Songs”). Do not read love, rather, faith.

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Diario de mi viaje

by Leila Pifko ‘19

In June, 2016, sophomore Leila Pifko and her family traveled to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Kho Tao and Kho Samui in Thailand—Leila’s first visit to Asia. Determined to keep practicing her Spanish, she agreed to send JCHS Spanish teacher Elizabeth Abbott a weekly diary of her travels. Besides writing a travelogue in Spanish, she also read BBC Mundo to keep up on Spanish news and translated pop songs in Spanish.

Below is her reflection on visiting Chiang Mai. “I loved being bathed in all the languages and cultures. It changed my worldview and I appreciate Asian cultures more than I ever did before,” says Leila.

Cuando llegamos en Chiang Mai, había sol y hacía calor. Además no había tanta polución como en Bangkok, aunque el río era lodo.

Los tuk tuks recorrían toda la ciudad. Tomamos algunos tuk tuks en Bangkok pero aquí era más divertido y simpático para ver la ciudad. El primer día anduvimos en la antigua ciudad de Chiang Mai y en una calle llena de tiendas de moda.

El siguiente día hicimos una visita del pueblo Karen, el pueblo donde las mujeres tienen cuellos largos. Me sentí triste en el pueblo Karen, donde las mujeres se sientan todo el día y cuidan a sus hijos mientras que sus esposos hacen el resto para sobrevivir. Cuando entramos, muchos hombres cortaban árboles. Para ayudarlos, compré un brazalete. Originalmente, esas mujeres birmanas se ponían esos collares porque su princesa les pidió hacerlo para que pudieran regresar a Birma cuando la guerra terminará. Entonces los collares son un símbolo de belleza en su cultura.

When we first arrived in Chiang Mai, the sun was out, and it was really hot.

Additionally, there was a lot less pollution than in Bangkok, even though the river was made of mud. In contrast to Bangkok where the tuk tuks are small, the tuks tuks in Chiang Mai covered the whole city and offered a much nicer view. The first day we walked around the old city on a street filled with little clothing boutiques.

Above and below, cooking at the Thai Farm.

Photos courtesy of Carolyn Malestic & Leila Pifko.

Cuando volvimos a nuestro autobús, platicamos de la participación de las mujeres en la sociedad actual. Lo más triste es que las mujeres Karen no son obligadas de llevar esos collares y quedarse en los pueblos llenos de mosquitos. Pero entiendo que se ponen los 8

JEWISH COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL OF THE BAY

On the second day we visited the Karen village where the Burmese women wear the neck braces and have long necks. Seeing the women sitting down all day taking care of the children while the men did everything else to survive was a sad experience for me. When we first entered, the men were cutting down trees for firewood. Feeling pity towards these people, I bought a bracelet. Originally, these Burmese women started wearing the neck braces because a princess in Burma told them to do it so they could return to Burma (Myanmar). As a result, the neck braces are a sign of beauty in their culture.

When we got back into the private bus, my family and I discussed the role of women in our current society.

The most depressing part about the Karen women was that they weren’t obligated to stay in these villages wearing these neck braces amidst all these mosquitoes. Although I understand that wearing these braces keeps them closer to the Burmese culture.

After visiting the Karen village, we

At the elephant reserve in Chiang Mai. Photos courtesy of Carolyn Malestic & Leila Pifko.

collares porque quieren sentirse más apegadas a su played, swam and walked with baby elephants at an cultura birmana. elephant reserve outside of Chiang Mai. This visit was included in the general tour. Having a water fight with Después de nuestra visita ahí, jugamos con elefantes the mahouts, or the elephant trainers, was my favorpequeños en una reserva para los elefantes. Caminamos y ite part. However, my brother and I were at a disadnadamos con ellos en un lago pequeño. Pero mi actividad vantage; while we had buckets, the mahouts used favorita fue una “lucha de agua” contra los cuidadores de the trunks of the baby elephants to spray us. What a elefantes. No era justo porque los cuidadores utilizaban unique and incredible experience that was. las trompas de los elefantes para salpicarnos. Mi hermano y yo solamente teníamos baldes para mojar a los The third day we participated in a Thai cooking class cuidadores. Esa experiencia fue muy divertida y singular. called Thai Farm. This was by far the best cooking adventure; we went to the market where the teacher El tercer día asistimos a una clase de cocina tailandesa, showed us how to pick the best ingredients. Then, Thai Farm. Fue nuestra mejor experiencia de cocina. we picked fresh plants for the required recipes at the Fuimos al supermercado donde la maestra nos mostró farm, and started to cook the dishes. After cooking cómo escoger los mejores ingredientes. Pues, volvimos preparing a couple dishes, we realized that these reca la granja donde escogimos las plantas del arbusto, y ipes aren’t that difficult. In fact, when we got back to empezamos a preparar los platos. En realidad, todas las San Francisco, my dad and my brother made spring recetas no son tan difíciles. Cuando volvimos a San Fran- rolls for the Fourth of July. cisco, mi padre y mi hermano prepararon los rollitos primaveras para el 4 de Julio. En Thai Farm, conocimos a un At Thai Farm, we met an American who had been estadounidense que viajaba y vivía en Las Islas Filipinas, traveling and living in the Philippines, two people from dos japoneses, dos británicos que viajaban a Camboya y Japan, two British people who traveled to Cambodia en Asia, y un alemán que viajaba con su novia. ¡Fue muy and the rest of Asia, and a German who was traveling internacional! ¡A mí me encantó! with his girlfriend. It was so international. I loved it!

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Moriah Chedekel‘18

Among the many tefillah options offered this quarter was Jennifer Sturgill’s artinspired Visions of God in which students explore different spiritual concepts as catalysts for creating visual art. Concepts such as Sacred Space, the Sh’ma, and the symbols of unity and wholeness in the form of a mandala were guiding inspirations.

Chloe Ticktin ‘19

of God

Techniques ranged from plaster casting of hands, to drawing, to creating shrinky dinks. For each project, Ms. Sturgill invited a special guest to frame a spiritual concept. Adam Eilath spoke about the creation of mandalas, Rabbi Howard Ruben discussed ideas of sacred space, and Evan Wolkenstein used the Sh’ma as a framework for leading students through a guided visualization.

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Chloe Ticktin ‘19 working on a cast of her hand.

Mya Elkins ’18 and Sara Carrasso ‘18 clasp hands as Liora Ami ‘18 helps apply plaster.

Mya Elkins ‘18

Liora Ami ‘18

Avima Aniela Zuliani ‘19 painting her cast.

Maya Reihanian ‘19

Jackie Milter ‘19, Moriah Chedekel ‘18, Chloe Ticktin ‘19 and Kaela Mandler ‘19 working on a plaster cast.

Jackie Milter ‘19

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The

Seven Days of Beauty

by Eli Zadik ’18

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“These photos prompt many personal memories, and I encourage viewers to find ways in which they relate to their lives as well.”

Junior Eli Zadik conceived of “The Seven Days of Beauty” series for Brian Dean’s Photography class and exhibited it during the JCHS Arts Evening as a collection of mounted prints in a longer wall installation.

Eli says, “I have been constantly invigorated by nature and driven to capture its beauty.

What I immediately associate with nature is God, and I attribute my awe of nature to him. This is why I have chosen to depict through these images the seven days of creation.

“Some photos were shot with a 35mm Nikon camera, and others with a digital Canon. I chose to depict most of the people in black and white, while natural and urban areas are in color. I felt that black and white format emphasized

the countenances of my subjects, while color was better able to capture rich areas such as skies, grass, and water.

“These carefully selected photos are of great personal significance to me. The seven days of creation are an integral part of Judaism, itself a source of great comfort and strength in my life and where I come to find solace from a hectic outside world. Thus, I have chosen to show the people, places, and things that soothe me. The tropical ocean, for instance, with colors of the Israeli flag, reminds me of time spent as a child with my family on the beaches of Tel Aviv playing in the sea.”

Viewers may notice that the artist has selected nine photographs to represent seven days of creation.

In the original installation, photographs were placed against a Star of David and certain images also represented intersection points between the two triangles.

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Philanthropy D’var Thoreau:

Photo by Sophia Felson ‘17

by Shayna Dollinger ‘18

After reading Henry Thoreau’s Walden, students in Dr. Jonathan Ayres’ AP Language and Composition class were asked to engage with the author’s ideas in the manner of a d’var Torah, hence the following assignment’s name, “D’var Thoreau.”

Sweating in eighty degree heat, covered in mud, surrounded by seventeen other Jewish teens somewhere in a field of a run down outskirt of Granada, Nicaragua, I could only ask myself: how much good are we really doing?

My ten-day URJ Mitzvah Corp mission promised us the opportunity to help others and improve their lives by making bricks that would build houses for families in need. I was overjoyed at the idea of leaving a lasting, positive effect in the world and seeing the benefit of that work.

But what if philanthropy actually harms those that we seek to benefit? In his work Walden, Henry David Thoreau disapproves of the ways most people engage in philanthropy. He believes that “goodness must not be a partial and transitory act, but a constant superfluity.” Thoreau considers philanthropy brief and intermittent, compelling us to think about the negative impact that shortlived philanthropy leaves on the individual in need. Only by turning philanthropy into a “constant superfluity,” can we truly leave a lasting impact on the world.

In addition, Thoreau condemns philanthropists for caring more about themselves than the people they aim to help. Thoreau argues, “philanthropy is… greatly overrated and it is our selfishness which overrates it.” We only hold philanthropy, Thoreau argues, to such a high standard because we remain more invested in praise from others than we are in the actual good we seem to do. He describes a

deep selfishness in philanthropic work, noting how he would feel if someone else tried to help him; if a man richer than he tried to feed or clothe him, he prefers no help at all. Philanthropy, he’s concluded, only comes out of one attempting to make themselves feel better, rather than actually contributing to society.

Lastly, Thoreau contends that the ultimate lifestyle, self-sufficiency, cannot be achieved by the poor if they are constantly receiving aid.

Thoreau speaks of his hatred for people who don’t value self-sufficiency: “A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one.” Throughout all of his essays, Thoreau stands for self-sufficiency.

This is portrayed when he reacts negatively to philanthropists’ constant support of the poor, suspending their ability to become self-sufficient.

With Thoreau’s model for philanthropy in mind, it makes us question the work we did in Nicaragua.

Were we actually making the world a better place when we dropped into Granada for just a few days, waiting for the locals to offer their thanks so that we could return to our wealthy homes feeling better about ourselves? As the Rambam himself taught, give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for the rest of his life. Were we just giving a man a fish to give ourselves the illusion that we were changing the world? These thoughts crossed my

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mind throughout the time spent in Nicaragua and once I returned.

We were there for ten days, not nearly enough time to leave a lasting impression, touching on Thoreau’s objection to short-lived philanthropy. All our work—662 bricks—proved only enough to make one third of a house. We just seemed like a group of foreigners coming into a village far, poorer than our own, thinking that we were better than them and could build houses for them. This, Thoreau would argue, takes away their self-sufficiency and shows our selfishness in wanting to make ourselves feel like we were changing the world. According to Thoreau, this is not the kind of philanthropy that would positively impact the world.

That said, there is the idea that every penny counts, or in our case, every brick counts. While Thoreau may be correct about the fact that philanthropy can come from a selfish mindset, I believe that there is a way to shift this mindset. Going into our work in Nicaragua, asking ourselves, what can we do to help the villagers achieve their goals, might have been a more productive way to approach our work. Instead of going into developing nations and imposing our ideas and behaviors onto them, we should be learning from the people themselves and aiding them in achieving their aspirations for their own communities.

JCHS ATHLETICS

JCHS Soccer made history this year by winning its first Private School Athletic League (PSAL) championship, capping a superlative season. Though the Wolves lost their first two games, the team went 8-0-1 over the next nine games, outscoring opponents 55-5 in the process and shutting out the last four adversaries, including a 6-0 victory in the championship game. Led by captains Oliver Bass ‘17 and Noah Feldman ‘19, nine JCHS players earned All League Honors, including Idan Sharabi ‘19, who was named Most Valuable Player of the Year and Eddy Nikoff ‘18 (pictured below with Coach Mark Lipkin ‘11), who joined the team this year after transferring to JCHS from Hebrew Academy and whose remarkable goalkeeping held all JCHS opponents to a total of 13 goals for the entire season. In addition, Coach Aaron Pollock was voted PSAL Honor Coach/Coach of the Year.

Led by captains Sydney Ticktin ‘17, Sara Carasso ‘18 and Kaela Mandler ‘19, the Girls Varsity Volleyball team retained the Kiddush Cup, overcoming rival Kehillah Rams 3-1 and finishing the season with a 5-5 record in the league.

The Cross Country team had an historic season under captains Oksana Chubrikova ‘17 and Jake Libenson ‘17, fielding the largest team to date and qualifying two runners for the Central Coast Section meet: Naomi Moskowitz ‘18 and Henry Denberg ‘20.

Photo by Brian Dean

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JCHS Drama Tech Crew members Aaron Gilbert ‘20, Nathan Magid ‘19, Avram Rosenzweig ‘19, Elle Grintsaig ‘19, Olive Fox ‘19, and Avima Aniela Zuliani ‘19 working on the set for the fall musical “Cinderella.”

The Notebook is a showcase of work by students at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay. To comment or contact the editor, please email notebook@jchsofthebay.org.

The Jewish Community High School of the Bay (JCHS) is a unique college preparatory high school committed to integrating deep learning, universal wisdom, and Jewish values. We empower each student to embrace her or his Jewish identity, generate empathy and compassion, delight in lifelong education, and improve the world.

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