Volume 31 Issue 6

The Lion's Tale

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Volume 31 issue 6

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jUNE 6, 2014

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cesjds

page 12

Parental assistance 06 Student Jobs 08 sports highlights 10 photo provided by Rick Silber

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editorial the

lion’s tale

editors

editors-in-chief

jeremy kaplan, nina simpkins managing editor, copy

dina rabinovitz

Staff editorial

Sacrificing Kavanah?

managing editors, design

malka himelhoch, david kulp managing editor, web

matt litman copy

cole cooper, yonatan greenberg news

uri schwartz, jonah shrock & mark reichel chadashot

mijal altmann, margalit zimand & michael berkowitz features

emma hofman, alysse weinberg & hannah nechin

entertainment

sj hyman, shira ungar & hannah wexler in depth

maddie dworkin, carol silber & josh paretzky sports

evan kravitz, brian schonfeld & gabi pilarski multimedia

yosi vogel graphic

r’ay fodor

It’s been a good year for student voice. From allowing juniors to take history electives and offering genetics to sophomores to asking for student feedback regarding moving clubs to lunch, students have had the opportunity to make their opinions heard.

That was, until the administration began to heavily consider moving minyan from first thing in the morning to after first period for the 2014-2015 school year.

The Lion’s Tale recognizes that the current minyan situation is far from ideal; too often, students spend their minyan time goofing off, roaming the hallways, doing homework or simply sleeping in.

We believe this is a problem that should be solved. But if students do not care about minyan, it

should be the school’s responsibility to make it more worthwhile.

Instead of addressing the value of programs, the school has simply tried to solve the attendance problem. And judging by the number of students who receive detention for attendance lapses, this clearly does not address the root of the problem: students do not want to attend minyan.

We do not object to this new schedule because we value minyan less than we value our classes. We object because we value minyan, and want to ensure that we can get the most out of this program.

The new minyan schedule would disrupt students’ kavanah.

There is something special about beginning the day with minyan, whether by opening a siddur, dis-

cussing God or participating in tikkun olam. Once we start learning, it is significantly more challenging to separate ourselves from the rigorous school day and fully absorb ourselves in the minyan program.

Minyan provides the mental space for students to prepare for the day.

It is not intended to be a time to slack off, but rather a moment of transition, to reflect upon oneself.

In his State of the School speech, Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus praised the fact that CESJDS is one of two pluralistic Jewish high schools in the world that requires students to attend minyan every day. The Lion’s Tale appreciates this privilege, but we firmly believe the only way to preserve the sanctity of the minyan program is to have it remain the

first thing students do in the day.

But as much as the Lion’s Tale urges the school not to adopt this schedule change, we must submit a plea to our peers as well. We cannot continue to treat minyan as a buffer period, an insignificant 30-minute period during which we can arrive at school whenever we please. We cannot continue to make the argument that we deserve to have that block of time to acclimate to the school day. Beginning the school day with minyan is a privilege, and we must appreciate it. We ask our school to value minyan, and in doing so, ask our peers to do the same.

-The Lion’s Tale

photo

ariella kulp, dahlia lehman

social media

jeremy schooler business

alec schrager, allie wiener

senior reporters robbie belson, danny waksman

reporters naomi cohen-shields, isaac dubrawsky, jonathan foldi, jacob gross, talia horowitz, yonah hyman, ethan kane, danielle katz, miriam minsk, abigail mintz, aaron schonfeld, brian shorr, gabriel swagel, joel vardon, elizabeth warrick & arielle weinstein

Stu Krantz. Micah Cowan.

It is not a male. It is not even a single person.

No, CESJDS Compliments

It was not

It is not

is run by two female high school students, and for the

first time

they have sat down with The Lion’s Tale.

staff adviser claire burke

adviser emerita susan zuckerman The Lion’s Tale Editorial and Ethics Policy As the student newspaper of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, The Lion’s Tale is a forum for student opinion and expression. All content is determined by students. Its purpose is to inform the CESJDS community and to express the views of its staff and readers. The staff has made every effort to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of its news.

View the full story on www.lionstale.org Scan the code at the right or visit goo.gl/5YT9wu

Signed columns reflect the opinion of the writer; staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of The Lion’s Tale editorial board.

The Lion’s Tale staff welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns, all of which must be signed. The staff reserves the right to refuse any material and may edit letters or columns for length, clarity, libel, obscenity and/or disruptiveness.

Submissions may be emailed to jdslionstale@gmail.com, mailed to The Lion’s Tale, or brought to room 328.

The Lion’s Tale is funded by The Simon Hirshman Endowment for the Upper School Newspaper and The Kuttner-Levenson Endowment for the Upper School Cultural Arts and Student Publications, and community advertisement. The Lion’s Tale reserves the right to refuse advertisement for any reason.

The staff will adhere to the ethics policies of The Society of Professional Journalists and the National Scholastic Press Association.

The adviser will be held to the Journalism Education Association’s Adviser Code of Ethics.

For more tales from the lion’s den, visit:

lionstale.org

fb.com/jdslionstale

@jdslionstale

@jdslionstale

opinion

03

It is time for Hebrew accountability The majority of Hebrew classes at the Upper School will follow an online curriculum developed by the Center for Educational Technology in Israel starting next year, according to Hebrew by yonatangreenberg Department Chair Yaffa copy editor Dagony. A few lower level Hebrew classes experimented with the program this year, to apparent success, and the department has decided to deploy it on a larger scale. The new curriculum will provide Hebrew classes with a structure it has been sorely lacking for the past few years. However, the curriculum change itself will not suffice to turn Hebrew from a low priority class to a worthwhile academic course.

Currently, many students see the class as a chance to catch up on the homework, sleep

or 2048 that they did not get to the night before. Some teachers do a great job teaching Hebrew, and their students look forward to the class as a chance to learn a beautiful language, but those cases are the exception and not the rule. The current state of CESJDS’s Hebrew program should be disturbing to a Jewish school whose connection to Israel is central to its mission.

While there is blame to direct at students, a big reason for our apathy towards Hebrew stems from the way it is taught. Every day, I see students go from enthusiastically engaged in chemistry one period to sinking into their computer screens during Hebrew the next. Some students do not take Hebrew seriously because they do not expect it to be useful in their futures. Others find the language fascinating, but believe the class offers them nothing and are content to take an hour off from their hectic schedules. Either way, if the class were taught in a more serious manner, it would be treated accordingly.

A main source of student dissatisfaction with the Hebrew program is its lack of structure. I am hopeful that next year’s curriculum will help weed out the flimsiness that has plagued JDS’s Hebrew classes since the NETA curriculum was abolished three years ago. However, as was evident from the debacle that NETA was, structure alone is not sufficient to ensure that real learning takes place in Hebrew classrooms.

As it stands now, students and teachers alike have very little accountability for the material that is taught in Hebrew. Plenty of students walk out of their Hebrew classes at the end of the year feeling as though the Hebrew sections of their brains have shrunk, rather than grown, but no one is held responsible. Those students likely find respectable grades on Powerschool — not necessarily A’s, but not F’s either —and as a result, their teachers get off scot-free as well.

Final assessments should be administered in all Hebrew classes to certify that

students make tangible advances in their Hebrew abilities. The content of these tests should be determined by the Hebrew Department before the start of the year, so that it will be clear which teachers imparted the necessary material to their pupils — and which did not.

A true Hebrew final, like those given at the end of the year in other classes, would add too much work to students’ already overflowing academic plates. However, without some sort of final assessment, it is difficult to separate the teachers who consistently do a great job of teaching the language from those who actively contribute to the feelings of intense frustration and boredom felt in many Hebrew classrooms.

Guest Column

The school can recycle (if you do too) Photo by Jeremy Kaplan

by the social action minyan

It is a common JDS myth that our school does not actually recycle the contents placed in the recycling bin. This myth has led students to think it is acceptable to put their trash in the recycling bins because as one student puts it, “It’s not like they are going to recycle ... ” This way of thinking might be acceptable if students were in fact

Social Action Minyan members sophmore Shira Pantich, junior Aviva Braier and junior Maya Bornstein stand next to the compost bin the minyan built for the school.

correct, but this belief is misconstrued and incorrect. The truth is that the school does in fact recycle and county statistics show that 261.6 pounds of mixed paper was recycled by the school in 2013. Students should understand that by placing their trash in the recycling bin, they are making it harder for the maintenance staff to recycle everything in

the bin because they do not have the time to sort through everything in it. It should be our responsibility as students to make sure that we make the maintenance staff’s job not only easier but also possible. Contents that can be placed in the recycle bins, otherwise known as the blue bins are bottles and cans. In the paper bins, otherwise known as the white

bins you can put paper and cardboard. The Social Action Minyan is excited to restart the recycling program with students, and we ask that each student make an effort to take the time to please place the proper items in their respective bins.

04

malkus plans for the future

State of School Address starts new tradition by jacobgross reporter

At CESJDS’s first State of the School address, Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus outlined his vision for the future of the school. A complete redesign of the middle school, the status of the school’s three principal searches, pluralism and changes to the Judaics program were among the topics mentioned.

The ideas discussed in the address signal an upcoming period of great change in all areas of the school, most notably in the middle school.

One of these potential changes is the addition of the sixth grade to the middle school program, which would make the middle school more like other ones in the area.

Malkus wants to make JDS’s middle school program more unique by creating a program that is “very different from a high school environ-

ment” but also “very different from a lower school environment.”

“A lot of the curriculum is driven by the next level of education and the need to prepare the students,” Malkus said. “That creates a certain rigidity. We don’t need that rigidity in the middle school.”

Malkus plans to change the focus of middle school from helping students reach their high school diplomas to fostering the skills necessary to succeed in academic settings. He aims to achieve this by increasing social-emotional and spiritual learning.

JDS parent Aliza Lerner, who has one child in high school, one in middle school and one in the lower school, is excited about the potential changes to the middle school.

“The more creative education can be, the better,” Lerner said. “I am thrilled my youngest child will get the benefit of this.”

Regarding the middle school, Malkus confirmed that current Upper School Admissions Director

Rebecca Weisman will be the new middle school principal starting next year.

Malkus is excited about this decision because Weisman has already spent time working at JDS and “she knows our culture and she knows the students.”

As for the Lower School principal search, the adminstration named Rabbi Matthew Bellas the new Lower School principal a few days after the address.

A new high school principal has not yet been chosen, but two candidates have already visited the school and, according to Malkus, the search committee will decide where to go next.

In addition to the updates about the principal searches, Malkus discussed the findings of the surveys given by the school to JDS parents regarding their family’s religious affiliations.

According to Malkus, the survey found that 68 percent of JDS families affiliate with a Conservative synagogue, 20 percent affiliate

with an Orthodox synagogue, 7 percent affiliate with a Reform synagogue and 2 percent affiliate with a Reconstructionist synagogue. The rest either do not affiliate or prefer being referred to as “just Jewish.”

Malkus believes that the Reform movement is underrepresented at JDS. He said that a Reform rabbi suggested that this might be because of the requirement for all males in the school to wear a headcovering, something which is not required at Reform synagogues.

Malkus said that this requirement will remain in place because he views it as “a communal norm at our school.”

Malkus added that although some Jewish traditions will exist in the school, pluralism will remain a core value of JDS and will continue to influence how students see the world.

In his speech, Malkus spoke about a possible change in the Judaics program that would give students more choice in what they study and help students who are

new to the school or have never taken Judaic classes. He especially wants to give high school students who have studied Judaics from kindergarten to eighth grade more choice because they already have a “core foundation.”

Another topic Malkus addressed was JDS’ upcoming 50th anniversary in the 2015-2016 school year, which will be celebrated with a yearlong celebration to appreciate the accomplishments of the school and to figure out how to “chart the course of the next fifty years.”

Malkus hopes that the State of the School Address will become an annual tradition.

“Going forward, it would be a great opportunity to do something like this every year,” Malkus said.

“As we start to develop it … I would love to work with the student body to think about what they would want to learn or what they might want to see so that we will include faculty, parents and students in what we are doing.”

race for gilad

A race to remember

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Students hold race in memory of Gilad Nissim (‘12) by naomicohen-shields reporter

Bright and early on June 15, members of the CESJDS community will gather to participate in the second Race for Gilad. The race honors Gilad Nissim’s memory and raises money for The Aneurysm and AVM Foundation (TAAF).

Nissim passed away on Nov. 17, 2013. He had been in a coma eight months due to an AVM, a tangle of abnormal arteries and veins.

Last year while Nissim was still in a coma, Hilary Druckman (‘14), a close friend of his, held the race to support him and his family. Proceeds went both to the organization Bikur Cholim, a Jewish organization that provides medical support, and to funding the transport of Nissim to Israel for medical care.

“I knew I had to do something to keep Gilad’s spirit alive,” Hilary wrote in an email.

Last year, with food, shirts, a race course and more to coordinate, Hilary was uncertain as to how it would all play out. However, her concerns were put to rest as the race proved a success.

“The day of the race was the

best day of my life,” Hilary wrote. “I ended up raising over $3,000. I never thought I could put on something so successful.”

Alumnus Nate Druckman (‘12), Hilary’s older brother and a close friend and classmate of Nissim, was similarly impressed by the community’s support.

“Last year was incredibly successful,” Nate said. “All these people who were around and were there to show their support were just amazing. There were just so many people.”

As this year’s race approaches, a major goal is to accumulate more participants and generate more awareness of AVMs. But possibly more importantly, the race is about remembering Nissim and the impact he made on people’s lives.

“This year the race is in memory of Gilad,” Hilary wrote. “When people show up, they will be there to remember someone amazing, funny and kindhearted. Just because Gilad isn’t with us doesn’t mean we can’t still find aspects of his character to inspire us.”

Though the race is about remembering the past, Nate and other

attendees look to the future with hopes of continuation and growth.

“I really want to see it continue on and I really want to be there and see more and more people every year,” Nate said.

Hilary hopes not only for a larger attendance each year, but eventually also for an “official race course with a timing system.”

The active element of the race — either running five kilometers or walking 1.2 miles — is something which many believe is vital to the spirit of supporting a cause.

“I think people need a task,” JTTP teacher Paul Blank, who attended the race last year, said.

“They need something to do. It’s not just enough to just sit around and reminisce; you need something physical.”

Nate expressed his gratitude for the support the community has given to the race.

“Just seeing so many people from the community at the race showed me what a special thing we have here,” Nate said. “I really couldn’t be more thankful that people are standing up for the cause and showing their support and honoring Gilad’s memory at

photo provided by Hilary Druckman

Alumna Hilary Druckman (‘14) at last year’s Race for Gilad.

the same time. It’s really something special. Not a lot of communities are like that.”

Junior Hannah Jacobs has been getting ready for the race.

“I started running a bit this year, so maybe I’ll run a little more than I did last year, because last year was a majority of walking,” Jacobs said. “But I think it is obviously going to be different this year, because of [Gilad’s death], but

hopefully a lot of people are going to show up because Hilary puts a lot of work into it, and it was really great last year, so I’m sure it will be great again.”

The race will take place on June 15 at 9 a.m. at 7115 Greentree Rd., Bethesda, MD 20817. Running bibs, refreshments and awards for the top runners will be handed out on site.

Administration tests out new clubs schedule by miriamminsk reporter

T

The CESJDS administration has decided that the current club situation is ineffective and is exploring the option of holding clubs during an extended lunch period.

On Tuesdays May 13 and May 20, the administration extended lunch to an hour and 15 minutes to test out this new idea.

Some support having clubs during lunch because they would be longer and participation would not be mandatory.

On the other hand, this schedule could awkwardly split up the

day, create chaos in the hallways and cause athletes to miss more class time for their sports games.

Dean of Students Roz Landy explained that clubs have been a concern since their inception seven years ago. Juniors and seniors have never been required to take part in them and this has been a catalyst for further issues.

“When juniors and seniors are permitted to hang out and not attend clubs, students in other grades want to do the same,” Landy said. “Club period is wonderful for students who attend clubs but there are a large number of kids who do not [attend] clubs and they end up just hanging out. We want to find a better alternative to what has been the status quo.”

Science teacher Nicholas Miller leads the Latin and Greek clubs at JDS and believes that, no matter what happens with clubs next year,

students should continue to attend.

Prior to testing out clubs during lunch this year, Miller was excited for the experiment. He recalled having clubs during an extended lunch when they first began in 2007 and found them to be successful. Miller supports the idea of elongated clubs during lunch because he would have more time to teach his students Greek and Latin.

“We would have a longer period of time,” Miller said. “The focus would stay on the language, but the additional time would open up opportunity to study things like architecture and art and history and culture.”

Junior Maya Bornstein, president of the Community Service Club, disagrees with Miller and believes that the end of the day is a more effective time to hold clubs.

She thinks that having clubs during lunch would inconveniently break up the day and turn a relaxing period into a very hectic one.

According to Bornstein, lunch is

a time “when people are going to be tired, or might not want to participate.”

Having clubs during lunch could also negatively impact athletes that would otherwise miss clubs to attend sports games.

“The JDS golf team ... left school during Tuesdays and Wednesdays early most of the time, and it would hurt missing class,” freshman Alex Missner said. “So clubs at the end of the day is a smart idea especially when the school ends at 3:45.”

During the first test trial on Tuesday, May 13, Miller said some of his students thought they were supposed to try out other clubs for next year, while others did not know when to leave lunch and go to his club.

“If clubs are at lunch next year, I hope that there will be a bell at the midpoint,” Miller said.

In response to this confusion, the administration decided to cancel an extended lunch that had been scheduled for Friday, May 16 during which students would have attended their Wednesday club.

Landy believes that after extended lunch was reconsidered Tuesday, May 20 was more successful and students attended both their Tuesday and Wednesday clubs.

Landy emailed students on Monday, May 26 regarding their input on clubs. Additionally, faculty will meet before a final decision is made.

“We will have to wait and see,” Landy said. “We are holding the trial club session during lunch to see if we think it would be a positive change. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer, but we feel it is time to make a change.”

06

parental assistance

HELPING HURTING

YES no

Do you use your parents as a resource when doing

homework?

by gabrielswagel reporter

Y

our essay stinks. Its vocabulary is boring, the organization is confusing, and the thesis makes no sense. It is almost midnight, and there are only six hours until your alarm will go off. Somehow, your essay needs to be completed and turned in by first period. Mommy to the rescue.

Sixty-six percent of respondents to a recent Lion’s Tale survey of 105 students reported receiving parental assistance with their schoolwork.

Freshman Alex Missner said

academic dishonesty.

Some students whose parents are not capable of assisting them find parental help especially unfair. that he gets help from his parents approximately once every two weeks.

“Usually when I need help looking over an English essay, my parents help me,” Missner said.

Missner does not consider this type of minimal assistance academic dishonesy.

“They’re not going to go to school with you, [and] they’re not going to take your tests with you,” Missner said. “But if they need to help you with homework a little bit, then that’s okay.”

Teachers tend to agree. According to the survey, 92 percent of teachers say that they do not consider parental help a form of

ents are Israeli and English is not their first language. Shilo believes that this puts her at a disadvantage.

However, there are many other forms of assistance students can get that give them an advantage.

“

They’re not going to go to school with you, they’re not going to take your tests with you. But, if they need to help you with homework a little bit, • then that’s okay.”•freshman alex missner “If we have an English essay to write, my parents can barely help me as they can barely write a proper English sentence themselves since they are foreigners,” sophomore Sivan Shilo said. Shilo’s par-

“I always complain that my parents cannot help me with my homework, but when I think about it, there are always ways that some kids have advantages over others,”

junior Annie Mendelson said. “My parents are willing to get me tutors for which subjects I want. However, there are many kids who possibly can’t afford tutors, so that isn’t fair either.”

According to Dean of Students Roz Landy, it is important that CESJDS parents be involved in their childrens’ education. But ultimately, the work a student turns in should be his/her own; the parent should only provide guidance.

“We are here to educate students and therefore, we need to see their work, not the parents’,” Landy said.

This line is supposedly delineated by the Academic Honesty Contract, which defines cheating as having “someone else, including another student, parent or tutor, write all or any part of the paper for him/her.” However, Landy noted that it is difficult to determine

parental assistance

07

s

ent

d stu

% 66%%

Do you consider parental help a form of cheating?

85% said no

92%

said no s her c a te

% D

%

according to Landy, the same is not always true of parents.

“Parents tend to know,” Landy said. “When the ideas are coming from them, when the rewrites are coming from them, that is over the line.”

Teachers are the first people responsible for reporting a plagiarism case, and it is up to them to determine whether or not cheating has occurred. According to Landy, teachers are usually understanding of the unique circumstances surrounding each possible case of cheating, especially when parental help is involved.

Fisanich has had multiple cases where parents have completed work for their children. According to her, it is vital to determine “whether the student wanted that much help.”

“If the kid is really asking for help from the parent then you deal

MO

M

50

DA

what the line is since it varies with different assignments and different grade levels.

“It depends on the assignment, it depends on the child, [and] it depends on a lot of things,” Landy said.

English teacher Melissa Fisanich made a clearer distinction between helping and cheating.

“The work should be the student’s, the ideas should be the student’s, [and] wording should be the students,” Fisanich said. “If it seems unclear, I think it’s okay for the parent to suggest, ‘Would this be clearer? Is this really what you are trying to say?’ But really [offer only] minimal editing and stuff like that. The work should really be the student’s.”

When over zealous parental assistance occurs, students may not recognize it as cheating. However,

For which class do you get parental help?

%

50

34%% %

WHICH PARENT HELPS YOU MORE?

with it one way,” Fisanich said. “It’s sometimes the other way if the student sort of wishes that the parent would back off. Then I’m really gentle when I handle that issue when it comes up. I try to figure out which camp it’s in, then deal accordingly.”

One of the ways in which Fisanich attempts to determine whether a parent has written a paper is by asking the student in question to define vocabulary words within the paper.

“If the student doesn’t know what they mean then that is a pretty good sign the parent has written it,” Fisanich said.

The most recent cheating case involving parental assistance at JDS occured several years ago. A parent came in to complain about a grade the student received on a paper. After being questioned about the rea-

65% History son he was unhappy with the grade, the parent admitted to writing the essay for the student.

Though potentially helpful in the short term, parental help can have a detrimental impact on students’ abilities to function independently and be responsible for their own work. University of Maryland Economics Professor Robert Schwab, who teaches nearly 900 college freshmen each semester, has seen a “significant” change in his students over the past two decades.

“Parents, by and large, are just much much more involved with their kids’ academics in K-12 than they used to be,” Schwab said. “Taking responsibility for your schoolwork is like almost anything, it’s an acquired skill, and if the kid hasn’t had the opportunity to acquire those skills in K-12, then freshman year in

86 %% 86 English college is going to be quite a shock.”

According to Schwab, his students are “less well prepared to take lots and lots of responsibility for their studies” than they used to be.

Schwab’s students come from across the country, so parental help is not unique to JDS, an idea Landy confirmed.

“I don’t think that CESJDS is any different than any school in the area,” Landy said. “I think all schools wrestle with the same issuses.”

Schwab noted that the increased intensity surrounding college admissions could be the source of so much parental intrusion into students’ schoolwork.

“It’s almost like an arms race,” Schwab said. “Other parents are so involved in their kids’ school work, how can I not be involved in mine?”

08

“

student life

Unclassified: Student Jobs

Students find value in having jobs outside of school

by taliahorowitz reporter

After a long eight hour school day filled with tests, quizzes and

assignments, junior Drew Hein finds himself driving to report to work for the next four hours.

Hein, who is one of many JDS students with a job, works at a retirement home.

“I’ll get [the residents] juice, I’ll get them water, I clean up also and set the table.

I’m just basically there to make sure everything goes smoothly,” Hein said.

Balancing school and worl has been hard for Hein, but he has been able to manage.

“It can be kind of difficult when you

Photo by Alysse Weinberg

A day in the life of

have a test the next day or something and you want to study and [the job] takes up a good amount of your day,” Hein said.

“Otherwise, it hasn’t been an issue.”

A study conducted by

“

Whether it is a job or something else, I like the idea of working towards a goal or working with people,“ •Junior DREW HEIN Northern Illinois University concluded that service jobs, such as Hein’s, are the most common among American high school students.

According to high school guidance counselor Rachel Soifer, many teenagers take up jobs to feel a sense of financial independence.

“Kids find it

Joseph Gelula 6:45 a.m. Sense my Dad walking in to wake me up in my dream, and my dream shatters. :( 7:05 a.m. After brushing my teeth, washing my face, etc. I get back in bed, periodically answering my Dad’s calls from downstairs with “No, I am not back in bed.”

7:10 a.m. Jump out of bed and race to get something on before my Dad makes it up the stairs so it looks like I was doing something 7:30 a.m. After slowly getting my shoes on, I am in the car 10 minutes late.

7:50 a.m. While eating breakfast in the car, my father rants about the traffic lights and fellow drivers, often paired with words such as moron, idiot, stupid, etc.

8:05 a.m. My school arrival routine: late sign in, add another 50 cents to my $1,000 kippah debt, drop my stuff in the atrium, go to minyan, and pray I’m still a good five lates away from detention.

8:38 a.m. Go to first period hoping that today will be the day that I don’t hear a poorly sung cover of “Let it Go” from Disney’s “Frozen.”

4-5 p.m. Wage a battle between my will and procrastination as I try to get my work done before a cappella.

6-7:30 p.m Go to crazy awesome a cappella rehearsal where we rehearse songs other than Nachamu and “True Colors” that you would get to hear IF YOU WENT TO THE CONCERTS!!! :) 8:30 p.m Having not realized

gratifying,” Soifer said. “It’s a time investment. Not just [having] money is gratifying, but the earning of money is gratifying.”

As Soifer suggested, much of the enjoyment Hein derives from his job is seperate from the

my phone was on silent, I have missed all of my mother’s increasingly graphic texts and am very late to get out. I “pack up” (grab everything into a giant pile of chords and papers) and run out the door thinking up an excuse as I go.

8:45-9 p.m Eat dinner and watch my mom’s favorite soap opera from the kitchen: cops/lawyers with secret affairs/scandals.

9-10 p.m Take a very brief shower (1 hour) where I ponder the meaning of life (I’m actually dead serious about this).

10:00-10:20 p.m Have a snack, brush my teeth, get all comfy in bed ...

10:21 p.m Realize THE LIGHTS ARE STILL ON!!!

money.

“Whether it is a job or something else, I like the idea of working towards a goal or working [with] people,” Hein said. “Actually, in this case, it is enjoyable for me. I enjoy being with the residents, they are nice people, [and] they always give some interesting wisdom.”

Another popular job for teenagers is being a camp counselor.

Junior Dorina Langer works as a counselor at Valley Mill Camp which “is sort of like a second home” to her.

“I had such great experiences there that I wanted to be able to provide [them] 10:30-11:30 for others,” Langer said. p.m Do random Unlike Hein and stuff on my phone Langer, when like check Facebook freshman Elan or watch stupid YouTube Arnowitz videos, quickly placing started my phone on my desk, DJing, plugging it in, putting my he glasses under my covers and

did not do it for money.

“At first it wasn’t a job, it was a hobby,” Arnowitz said.

“And I started DJing at some parties that my friends had for free and then they started to pay me, and then I thought wow, this could be big ... Now I am doing a gig every weekend.”

Though some students believe that one must have a seemingly impressive job to attract colleges, this is not necessarily the case.

According to Director of College Guidance Susan Rexford, colleges just like to see that students are busy.

“Jobs show that you have developed a work ethic,” Rexford said.

Futhermore, jobs also instill values that are applicable to everyday life. Students who have jobs confirmed that they have helped them develop many important skills for their own actions and others.

“I have learned a lot about patience and organization. Just about being cautious and being careful and looking out for other people’s safety, [and] normal life skills too. Langer said. “To be a counselor you have to be certified in CPR and first aid … That type of thing is also beneficial in real life.”

Though it can result in extra stress, Hein, Langer and Arnowitz have learned that outside of school jobs provide benefits other than monetary ones.

“It has definitely helped me build my self worth and build my character,” Arnowitz said.

fake sleep when I hear my folks come upstairs. (I have perfected this art to achieve maximum speed and minimal noise.)

11:30 p.m-6:45 a.m. Go to sleep hoping that Mr. Goldman meant that test I just suddenly remembered is a week from tomorrow and not actually tomorrow.

View more on

lionstale.org Scan the code or type the link to read about the scarcity of field trips this year.

evaluating the israel trip

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New and ... improved?

Changes to senior trip provoke mixed responses copy editor

The first suggestion that changes were coming to the Israel trip came last May. “We’ve been looking at making changes to the trip for years,” said Jewish History Department Chair and Israel Engagement Chair Aileen Goldstein. “We do an evaluation every year with the students, both as administrators and as a school ... With the way that education has been changing in the last [few] years, we’ve been looking at ways to make the program more reliable.”

The school’s changes to the Israel trip included opting to run the trip entirely through the Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) as opposed to AMHSI leading the trip only after students returned from Europe.

With AMHSI in charge, students went to Israel first, then to Poland and then back to Israel.

AMHSI’s programs are staffed by counselors, or madrichim, who are involved in all aspects

of the students’ lives during the trip. The graduating senior class spent extensive time with their madrichim, who accompanied them to both Israel and Europe.

Having the madrichim travel to Europe sparked mixed reactions.

“In the beginning there was some skepticism but there was also a lot of excitement ... particularly about the fact that [the trip] would have the same staff for both parts,” Goldstein said.

The new format increased the madrichim’s involvement with the students now that they traveled with them to Poland.

The madrichim accompanied the graduating seniors to Poland after bonding with them in Israel.

Recent graduate Ari Charnoff (‘14) enjoyed his time in Poland with the madrichim.

“I think [going to Israel first] added to the trip,” Charnoff said. “It allowed us to already be comfortable with our teachers and madrichim, and I think that it helped that we could be emotional

in front of them.”

Scott Gershman (‘14) found that his trip was significantly impacted by his experience with the madrichim. Gershman returned home after Pesach break and was critical of the lack of responsibility that the madrichim gave him.

“We were treated more like elementary school kids than the adults that we should have been treated as,” Gershman said.

The madrichim appear to have been the main factor that affected the students’ enjoyment of the trip, impacting it far more than students’ attitudes coming into the trip.

“I started out very skeptical about the change they had made,” Aaron Boxerman (‘14) said.

Nevertheless, Boxerman now thinks that the changes “worked out brilliantly.”

“It was great to go [to Poland] with our madrichim,” Boxerman said.

Boxerman spoke passionately about how much the madrichim added to the trip and about the

direct, positive impact they had on his experience. Other seniors, such as Kobi Fodor (‘14) had similar experiences with the madrichim.

“They really helped make the trip what it turned out to be,” Fodor said. “I am happy to say that I am close friends with all of the madrichim.”

For Daniel Thorne (‘14), his experience with the madrichim was neither completely positive nor completely negative. “[There] was a really weird dynamic because one minute you could be laughing with them about something super inappropriate, and the next minute they were punishing you for being four minutes late to rooms-in,” Thorne said.

Though they had a strange relationship at times, Thorne had a great time with his madrichim.

“The madrichim themselves were all really awesome people who really fit into our grade,” Thorne said. “I’m sure that every person on our trip found at least one madrich or madricha with whom they felt comfortable being around, and because of that, I think that our grade was able to have a really memorable and fun three months away from home.”

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TOP10 this year in sports

The Lion’s Tale

The Lion’s Tale compiled a list of the best moments in CESJDS varsity sports from the 2013-14 school year.

1 2 3 4

Girls cross country won the championship for the fourth consecutive year, setting a PVAC record.

5 6 7 8 9 10

Junior Harry Wandersman won the 2-mile event with a time of 10 minutes, 36 seconds.

Junior Benjamin Lieberman was named the PVAC MVP, First Team All-PVAC and Player of the Year in varsity golf after going 6-0 in the regular season.

JDS hockey returned after a three year hiatus and finished the season 3-0.

Girls varsity volleyball swept McLean in the regular season after losing to them twice last year.

Girls varsity basketball won the PVAC championship.

Boys varsity volleyball defeated Hebrew Academy in three sets to snap their fivegame losing streak.

Girls varsity soccer won second place in the playoffs after going undefeated in the regular season.

Daniel Kravitz (‘14) scored his 1,000th career point for the varsity basketball team.

Girls varsity softball sent sophomores Daphne Lerner and Alexandra Wolff to the PVAC All-Star game.

Tennis coach recounts journey from Ethiopia by arielleweinstein reporter

It is 1991 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The roaring sound of a jet paired with the shouts of thousands of people overwhelm a young girl. In the years to come, these noises would turn into cheers from crowds of fans.

The girl was Dvorah Marsha, the assistant coach for the CESJDS boys and girls varsity tennis teams.

The plane carried Marsha and other Ethiopian Jews to Israel, where her tennis career began.

Part of Marsha’s family, including her father and his relatives, took a different and more dangerous route to Israel in 1984, six years before Marsha’s trek. They traveled on foot through Sudan and were then flown to Israel through Operation Moses. The operation, a secret undertaking organized by the Israeli Defense Forces, airlifted around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the span of several weeks. “[The IDF] landed the airplane in the middle of the desert without the [Sudanese] knowing and they just put everyone in one big

airplane and flew them [to Israel],” Marsha said.

While most of her family survived the treacherous expedition, Marsha’s grandmother was one of the thousands of Ethiopian Jews lost along the way.

“They had to walk months in the desert, sometimes without water or food,” Marsha said. “They were robbed, some of them raped, by the [Sudanese].”

Following her relatives, at the young age of 7, Marsha traveled hundreds of miles with her brothers and her mother’s family from their small village in Ethiopia to Addis Ababa, the capital. After living there in a refugee camp for over a year, Marsha finally made the last step to Israel.

In 1991, Marsha immigrated to Israel with Operation Solomon, a similar yet larger undertaking than Operation Moses that evacuated over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews.

Four years later, after Marsha settled into a new home, she began her tennis career.

“Tennis came into my life when I was about 11,” Marsha said. “... I used to run and be number one in everything, so this was just

another sport for me, but I [fell] in love and never left the court.”

The Israeli Tennis Centers (ITC), at which Marsha played is a foundation dedicated to improving the lives of children in Israel through tennis. With locations scattered around the northern half of the country, the ITC offers many courses that unite children with special needs, children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods and children of new immigrants.

After years of playing and steadily rising to be one of the best competitors in her age group, Marsha went on to serve in the Israeli army. She worked there as a sports instructor for two years and then returned to the ITC to teach classes.

“It was natural to go home again and to do something that I know how to do, and I love kids,” Marsha said. “I’ve always loved kids.”

For her, coaching was the most rewarding experience.

Marsha was able to see the young children she worked with turn into competitive athletes and top tennis players in Israel. Marsha took pride in seeing her students’ growth as

athletes.

“It’s something that you did on your own,” Marsha said. “You build someone.”

After coaching in Ashkelon and then later in Tel Aviv, Marsha moved to the United States, where she currently works as a development manager in ITC’s New York City office.

Part of Marsha’s job includes attending fundraising exhibitions.

These exhibits, which tour in Israel and the United States, play a pivotal role in raising awareness about the ITC’s mission. At one of these programs, Marsha met Julie Rabinowitz, the head coach of the JDS boys varsity tennis team and the parent of two JDS alumni.

Soon after their encounter, Rabinowitz brought Marsha onto the girls varsity tennis team as an assistant coach. There was an instant connection between Marsha and the players.

“I came here for the girls’ season,” Marsha said. “I really loved the girls, I really loved all of them. I love to coach them, [and] we just had this really great relationship.”

Sophomore Shoham Lewin,

a member of the tennis team, believes she benefited considerably from training with Marsha.

“Dvorah always did drills with us,” Lewin said. “She helped us with our form and technique, so I felt like we got a lot more out of practices with her coaching.”

Jacqueline Glodstein, the vice president of Global Development for the ITC Foundation and Marsha’s supervisor, was thoroughly impressed when she first met her.

“It’s been fabulous working with Dvorah,” Glodstein said. “She is a wonderful human being ...

I’ve enjoyed teaching her how to fundraise.”

Looking back, Marsha believes her journey from a small Ethiopian village to the ITC office in New York had a huge impact on her determination to succeed.

“I probably wanted to achieve more than others because you are coming from being an underdog,” Marsha said. “Coming from the bottom you need to build yourself, [and] coming to a new society you need to be the best [at] something.”

11

@zimriyahtweets zimriyah

Students reflect on their experiences at Zimriyah Jared Bauman @freshman

6 May

“It’s meant to celebrate Israel and Yom Ha’atzmaut ... [but] all of the focus goes to preparing the dances and winning the competition and focusing on the songs. We’re not very connected to what happened in 1948 and the miracle that is the state of Israel.”

Eve Strickberger @eighthgrader

6 May

“I thought [Zimriyah] was really fun and I got to be with my friends the whole day and going outside is always very enjoyable. I think all of the classes were really good and awesome. It was just a great experience.”

Sophia Godin @freshman “When our entire grade just linked arms with each other, put our arms around each other, and we formed a circle and we were all just singing, that was really nice.”

6 May

Micah Cowan @junior

6 May

“When the Israeli dancing happened right after all the grades performed and the judges went out judging. ... I was the person in my grade that was doing the Israeli dancing and everyone in my grade started cheering my name and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, they really appreciate this.”

Elie Katz @sophmore 6 May “Overall, it was a great experience. I do banner every year and I love doing banner and it was so stressful. It all paid off in the end, which was good, but it was really stressful leading up to it. The night before I stayed up and got 3 hours of sleep because I stayed up until 3:30 and it was awful ... [But] it was really fun. Our banner turned out well and it’s always a good experience.”

Freshmen sing together at Zimriyah. They won second place at the school-wide celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut.

compiled by ariellakulp photo editor

photos provided by Benita Berman, Yearbook and SJ Hyman

12

what to do this summer

“I am probably excited for the Katy Perry concert this summer ... because I’m going and I have never been to a concert before ... I like her music ... She’s one of my favorite [singers].”

- seventh grader Caroline Weinstein

Katy Perry performs at the Verizon Center June 24June 25.

“If you’re a thrill rider then [I would definitely recommend] King’s Dominion. There are so many amazing roller coasters.

It’s a great experience and during the summer its open really late. ... Every year we [my family and I] go to an amusement park and this year it’s Kings Dominion … It’s gonna be awesome because we get to hang out together and I’m all relaxed and I love roller coasters. Any roller coaster that has a large drop, I love.”

- junior Zoe Orenstein opens at

King’s Dominion 10:30 AM all summer.

Summer 2014

Students look forward to upcoming summer events

“[I’m looking forward to] the Fault in Our Stars, I’ve read the book ... I really like Hazel Grace’s character. I really like the way she speaks about her life, it’s kind of cynical but in a good way ... The characters are really likable and relatable and the story is so sad and amazing at the same time. It’s able to encompass so many emotions.”

- sophomore Shira Gould

“Guardians of the Galaxy looks awesome ... Marvel’s pretty good. It’s a new type of superhero team for the Marvel Universe that looks pretty cool and has a lot of good actors.”

- eighth grader Joey Shoyer

s

Galaxy open Guardians of the st 1. in theaters Augu

ens in

p Our Stars o The Fault in 6. ne theaters Ju

photos provided by Walmart Soundcheck, Ashley Harrigan, littleprincessdiaries and BagoGames