Maimonides Community

BH

Adar 26, 5773 / March 8, 2013

Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District Candle-Lighting: 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org 5:35

produced by Rabbi Mendel & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

Shabbos Ends:

6:36

SPRING FORWARD This Sat Night we move the clocks ahead one hour. This is important for any events you plan on attending this Sunday (Daf Yomi Siyum and or the Shabbos House Torah Celebration etc) so you get up and come on the new time.

This newsletter is sponsored in honor of

Moshe Rubin’s Bar-Mitzvah

Celebration this Shabbos & Sunday

by his parents Mendel & Raizy and the Rubin & Galperin Families FLOUR+LIQUID EXPERIMENT Nursery students put the same amount of flour and yeast in 5 cups, but added a different type of liquid to each cup. They used orange and apple juices, lemon-juice, sugar-water and plain water… to see which would rise highest. They stirred them up and then waited to see what would happen (the sugared water rose the highest). Actually, this is a complex Talmudic issue and the Halachic background for this (<) inscription on boxes of Egg-Matzah or products made for Pesach with flour & any liquids besides water.

Thanks to Morah Rivka, Morah Elisheva and Morah Stephanie for introducing our kids to scientific method early on, and for integrating Judaic & General Studies in a wholesome, hands-on &practical way. There’s real learning in the Nursery! (Goes without saying...)

PESACH IS COMING! Contact Rabbi Rubin 423-4103 or your Rabbi to:  Arrange for the sale of your Chametz  Purchase Shmurah Matzah (at least for Seders)  Find a place for a Seder if not at your home  Ask Halacha questions as you shop/prepare  Contribute “Maos Chittim” for Passover needs of the poor in our community

DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? Support Maimonides using online secure PayPal:

tinyurl.com/MaimonidesPayPal Thank you for your generous support, all size contributions are helpful & make a difference!

ALBANY @ BACKMAN WEDDING Mazal Tov to MHDS alum Yaakov Backman & family on his wedding on Wednesday night. At this lively Albany table picture you can also see MHDS alumnus Dovid Vidrin, as well as other alumni, current students, Albany friends…

MHDS “EL-BNAY” JOURNAL SEEKS TORAH SUBMISSIONS FROM ALUMNI & COMMUNITY

CLEANING UP THE HOUSE?

As you clean for Pesach, you might find stuff that you no longer need, which our General Studies teachers can sell at their Spring-time Garage-Sale to benefit the year-end trip. Items Once again MHDS alumni are preparing a can be brought into school and will be stored interesting and varied journal of Torah thoughts, inspiration and discussion. Hebrew at the Garage Sale site. Limited pickups may be possible, please also call ahead before bringing and English submissions are both welcome. in larger items. No large appliances and no Please email: lebedik1@gmail.com to submit your piece or if you have any questions. Time’s TV’s. Last year this sale was very successful. running out as Pesach is quickly approaching.

MAZAL TOV TO BEN GELBMAN

As his former classmates turn Bar-Mitzvah this month, so did Ben (same weekend as Chaim Because the clock springs forward this Sat Kudan) but in his new home in Philadelphia.

Night, the days get longer, and next week we’re Best wishes to Ben and all the Gelbmans! back to 3:30pm dismissals on Friday.

NEXT FRIDAY 3:30 DISMISSAL

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

EARTH SCIENCE INTROS

BREAKFAST + ACTIVITY = ?????

6th grade is about to begin a new unit on Earth Science, but before they do, Mrs. Sahay wanted to whet their appetite with a few fun and interesting experiments in the Dr. Jonathan O’Brien Science Lab. First they took blue rocks and put them on a burner, which turned them white. Then they put them in water, and they became blue again. They also played with floating paper-clips because of surface tension of the water. And she showed them different compounds of sulfur and what happens when you do things with it (under supervision in the lab and not at home).

2nd grade with Ms. Livingston spent some time this week on the “Think Breakfast” and “It All Adds Up” campaign which encourages kids to eat a healthy breakfast and make sure to have physical exercise and fitness. They learned a lot about the many benefits (improved focus, being more alert, healthier bodies, balanced weight and more). They have a big chart on the wall (behind them in this picture), they got free pedometers (to measure their daily steps), and also did mazes and fun pages about the many benefits from a good morning breakfast and daily physical activity.

MUKTZAH LAW IN HALACHA Rabbi Shmuly’s class is now learning in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch the laws of Muktzah (what can or can’t be used, touched or moved) on Shabbos, and the various exceptions and parameters of the Muktzah Laws.

We’re trying something new with this “To Be Continued” feature. Chaya A. wrote the start of a story, next week we look forward to another student writing the next few lines of it. Let’s see how it goes!

The Mystery of the Library File Tzvi turned his head this way and that. He had to make sure nobody saw what he was doing.

He quickly pocketed the file, and escaped to recess outdoors. He breathed in the fresh air, and relaxed. Suddenly, he felt someone staring behind him. He froze, and to his surprise, it was his best friend, Yoel...

6th grade Gemorah is now learning about a later Rabbi Hillel arguing against (or clarifying) the position of the earlier (more famous) Rabbi Hillel. The later Hillel brings up an issue with the former’s “Korech” sandwich because of a concern that Mitzvot of varying levels may cancel each other out if done at the same time. It’s complicated, and involves a bunch of factors, but it explains why at our Seders today, we first eat the Matzah and Maror separately, and only afterwards eat the Korech Matzah & Maror sandwich. Rabbi Shmuly gave an interesting example of some medicines being a conflict with others.

LETTUCE HAVE LETTUCE? Another Seder issue 6th grade Gemorah recently learned about is whether lettuce can be used for Karpas and Maror, and if it’s OK for both, when to say the Ha’Adama blessing?

RABBI RUBIN ONLINE ABOUT THE MAH NISHTANA REPEAT Some have a custom for older siblings and even parents to repeat and also ask the same four Questions after the youngest asks. On Wednesday this week, Rabbi Rubin gave a live online class about this subject & background reasons for and against this custom. He offered an important educational and psychological insight about “active listening” and validating the question (& the questioner) before rushing to answer. This is a valuable message at Passover and all year ‘round.

BALLOON & RULER STATIC 7/8th used balloons rubbed against their hair and sheets of paper to learn about negative electrical charge. They also were able to move a large wooden yardstick using a small 6” plastic ruler (that was charged with static charge) without one ruler even touching the other.

HILLEL VS. HILLEL? AND ONE MITZVAH AGAINST ANOTHER?

MOCKINGBIRD PROJECTS HS did projects on “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the two projects pictured above are (top) favorite quotes from the book surrounded by colored glue dots, and (above) “Calpurnia on Empathy” quotes from her in the book that show her thoughtfulness and understanding of human nature. Other projects included “A Letter to Atticus from Scout” (when she gets older), an essay contrasting two relationships in the book: Mr. Ewell & Mayella vs. Atticus & Scout. See next week’s “MC” for a game based on the story and a 3-D canvas project.

IT’S NOT ALL FUN AND GAMES Morah Dini brought real horseradish root into class and showed her students how it grows and what it looks like whole, and they even got to smell and taste the bitter herb Maror.

PLAGUES IN EUROPE, EGYPT

6th graders are now learning in history class about the Bubonic Plague or “Black Death” that hit Europe in 1347 and lasted years causing widespread death & great devastation.

PESACH PILLOW Our students now know that it was caused by unsanitary conditions and carried by rats and IN THE WORKS fleas, but the people at the time didn’t and This Kindergartener is tracing Hebrew letters in many blamed the Jews, because it was noted that Jews as a group suffered a lot less than pencil (first step in a multi-step process) on his others did. This was attributed to the many pillow, which he hopes to Mitzvos of handwashing which helped many Jews avoid the plague, but unfortunately, many use to lean and recline comfortably at his Seder. died at the hands of anti-Semites who said that Jews poisoned the wells. At the same time, 6th

PESACH POTATO IDEAS For Ashkenazic Jews who don’t eat Kitniyot (rice, corn, beans etc) on Pesach, potatoes are a familiar holiday staple. Our 5th graders started this list of different ways to cook or bake a potato and a few other classes helped with it, too. Please note that some families vary when it comes to their extra Pesach food stringencies, so not all families will be able to use all ingredients listed.

JOKES… TO “MARCH” AROUND WITH A “SPRING” IN YOUR grade is learning in Chumash class about the plagues in Egypt, so they are learning about plagues (where Jews were less affected than their non-Jewish neighbors) on all sides!

FIND THE CHAMETZ IN YOU That’s the theme of the lunchroom bulletin board, and the focus is not pretzels or cookies or bread, but a spiritual form of Chametz which is negative character traits like puffed-up arrogance, anger or laziness (which is what happens if you let the dough sit around).

DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD ENJOY READING THIS? It might be a local friend who wants to keep up with communal events, or a grandparent who likes to see happy kids learning faces, or a neighbor who enjoys reading what the kids are learning about… they can sign up to get this “MC” newsletter via email each week (in an easy to open, view or print PDF format). The school also mails some hard-copy editions each week, but we prefer e-mail distribution if possible due to the postage cost. If you’d like to sign up for email or mail, please call the school office 453-9363/3434 extension #1 or email: maimonidesschool@gmail.com.

A WHIRLWIND PURIM

Have you seen full-color “The Purim Report” about Chabad Purim events or this week’s “Jewish World” article about the Motti and his 5 Yeshiva student friends, and their local Purim outreach? If you’d like to get your own copy of the report call 522-8478 or email: mottel770@gmail.com. The JW article has a few great stories, too! Read about the Twersky descendant who came to Beth Tephilah because of an encounter on a bus, the Long Island boy whose first food at Albany Med after a skiing accident was Challah, and the fastest Megillah for a young professional who FINDING OLD MHDS JOURNALS just found out about Purim in the last 20 minutes of the holiday! The Yeshiva students Thanks to those who have come forward, we also assisted at area holiday programs, visited are narrowing the list of missing school Nursing senior centers with Mishloach Manot, journals, now only missing 1990-1992 and ‘94 Megillah Readings and festive Purim holiday and ‘96. If you have these journals, call Rabbi spirit. One of the boys did a hypnotism show Rubin 423-4103 or the school office. Thanks! at the Maimonides “HotSpot” Purim Prunch!

1) Roasted Potatoes (with spices &/or onions) 2) Baked Potato (tastes good plain, some may want to add a dairy topping - butter, sourcream, cottage-cheese or regular cheese are all good - after its baked but whole still hot) 3) Potato Chips (even for those who don’t prefer store-bought, make homemade!)

4) Sliced Potatoes under Chicken (baked together with sliced onions) 5) French-Fries (homemade or store bought: seasoned, plain, deep-fried or baked) 6) Sweet Potato Steak (thick cut) Fries (are surprisingly good, especially with seasoning) 7) Kugel! (plain potato or “vegatized” with shredded zucchini and carrot mixed in) 8) Fried Latke (even it isn’t Chanukah) 9) Potatoes & Eggs (nice for breakfast) 10) Mashed Potatoes (regular or sweet potato) 11) Potato Salad (with or without mayo) 12) Cholent or Stew (minus the barley & beans) 13) Diced Sweet & Reg Potatoes (seasoned & baked with a little oil underneath) 14) Doughless Knishes (balls of mashed potatoes egged & baked to get a crisp crust) 15) Potato Soup (makes for a hearty, thick soup) 16) Potatoes cooked with fish (like whitefish or salmon, kids might not like this taste) 17) Hash Browns (cubed and seasoned, with scrambled eggs on the side) 18) Meat Shepherds Pie (potatoes sliced underneath the chop-meat mix instead of dough) 19) Tater-Tots (ground up with onions and fried in small rounds, like mini-Latkes) 20) Tzimmes (with sweet potatoes and carrots, some add pineapple - and sugar) 21) Beets & Potatoes (and carrots, cooked and diced, served as a cold salad) 22) Potatoes in Salt-Water (some do for Karpas) 23) Crunchy Potato Sticks (thinner than fries) 24) Potato-Starch Cakes (bought or made) 25) Mustard Potatoes 26) Mashed Potato Casserole 27) Onions Fried in Shmaltz (may not be the healthiest but taste amazing with potatoes) 28) Stuffed Baked Potatoes (sweet potato, or with assorted vegetables)

BH

at Maimonides and in the Community 3/8-9: NCSY ACTIVITIES

Lorence Alumni Torah Dedication

3/10: CCJE AT NYS MUSEUM

Senior NCSY Friday Night at Lehrfield 10am-11:30am for 4th graders. Call Marci at home, Junior NCSY at CBAJ Seudahthe Jewish Federation: 783-7800.

Shlishit, after-Shabbos outings planned, too.

dedicated by Bruce Lorence UAlbany Class of 1970 in memory of his paternal great-grandparents Jacob Lorence & Mary Ringler-Lorence

3/11: ROSH CHODESH NISSAN 3/9: DOUBLE-HEADER+BONUS 8am Morning Minyan at school (instead of Shomray Torah). Happy Rosh Chodesh! +CHAZAK & MEVORCHIM It’s Shabbos Mevorchim Nissan (think 3/12: OLD ILLUSTRATED Seders in 2 weeks!), we read a doubleportion of Vayakhel and Pekudei, it’s HAGGADOT ART LECTURE Chazak! (for end of Shmos) and we read the “Old Haggadot for New Audiences” is the bonus Maftir (and Haftorah) of HaChodesh topic of Dr. Marc Michael Epstein (the last of 4 special seasonal readings).

(Professor of Religion at Vassar College), 7pm at the CNSE Nano College’s South 3/9: KIDS PROGRAM Auditorium 255 Fuller Rd. The talk is 10:45 to 11:30am, led by Chaya Andrusier. sponsored by UAlbany Center for Jewish Those who’d like to sponsor the weekly treat Studies, the University Art Department and please email: shabbosprogram@gmail.com.

CNSE. Program and parking are free.

3/9: GARDEN OF EMUNAH

3/12: WHOLY FOOD

Weekly class 3:30-4:30pm at Martinez: 275 S. Allen, side door, knock on window.

3/9: RABBI REISMAN’S CLASS

Jewish Womens Circle & C.P. Hadassah event with nutritionist Hollan Schwartz, 7pm at Clifton Park Library on Moe Road.

Call 495-0779 for more info.

Now begins 9:30pm on Sat Nights, screened at CBAJ. Rabbi Frand on Thursdays 9pm.

3/13: THE “19 THINGS” CLASS

3/9: CHANGE CLOCKS

8pm at CBAJ. Rabbi Lehrfield will share 19 things to know for your Seder.

Spring forward one hour! Sunday’s events will be on the new time.

3/14: PRE-PESACH PIZZA

3/10: DAF YOMI SIYUM Shabbos is one of the longest tractates, and among the most relevant! All welcome to celebrate with a 9am breakfast at Shomray Torah, dedicated in memory of R’ Moshe Rubin (yartzeit Erev RC Nissan), and Rabbi Chaim Zev Bomzer (around Shloshim), and Mr. Max Rosenberg (recently passed away) and Mrs. Eleanor Rosenberg (mother of Stan). R’ Shragie Bomzer will start the new tractate Eruvin directly from Israel!

3/10: LORENCE TORAH & MOSHE’S BAR-MITZVAH 12-4pm Lorence Alumni Torah dedication at UAlbany’s Alumni House followed by procession to Shabbos House, for dancing, festivity and buffet luncheon (seating/ standing-room) along with Moshe Rubin’s Bar-Mitzvah celebration. Park at Dutch Student/Gold ($5 due to game) or Dutch Faculty Staff, at Colonial Student Parking or at Stuyvesant’s Executive Park, (in the lot closest to Fuller & Shabbos House).

5-7pm Pizza Nite at Maimonides’ “Nathan’s Kitchen”… 3:30pm takeout available only by reservation bnoschayaprograms@gmail.com.

If interested: babysitting 3:30-5pm at $2 per child. Stay tuned for post-Passover Pizza 4/4!

Welcome to the

Sunday, March 10, 2013 28th of Adar, 5773 12pm Letter Writing & Torah Completion at UAlbany Alumni House University Drive West, between Alumni & Tricentennial Drive Located just behind the CBAJ cemetery on Fuller Road

1pm Procession to Shabbos House University Drive West to Great Dane Drive to Fuller Road Police will close one lane but ask that we stay on sidewalk when possible

1:30pm Hakafot Dancing With live music at Shabbos House, 320 Fuller Road

2:15pm Buffet Luncheon (seats/standing room) 3pm Moshe Rubin’s Bar-Mitzvah Program 4pm Desserts Info/RSVP: 438-4227 / mail@shabboshouse.com

IMPORTANT PARKING UPDATES: Due to the America East Tournament at SEFCU Arena, parking in Dutch Student/Gold costs $5. Parking is also available in Dutch Faculty/Staff and (slightly further in the) Colonial Gold/Student Lot. We also made a one-time arrangement to park in Stuyvesant’s Executive Park lot closest to Shabbos House. * please do not park at Shabbos House and please try to minimize parking on side-streets *

3/15: 3:30 FRIDAY ARE BACK Remember, now that days are longer, the Friday dismissal and pickup will be 3:30pm.

3/17: CHRIS GIBSON SPEAKS The Congressman will speak at Agudat Achim in Schenectady for the Federation’s Joint Society event about “Major Domestic and International Challenges facing the United States: 2013 and Beyond.” Call 7837800 for info, cost and RSVP.

3/25: EREV PESACH 8am Shachris at Maimonides (instead of Shteeble) followed by a First-Born Siyum by Rabbi Simon and a communal Chametz burning. Finish eating before 10:57am, finish burning by 11:59am.

MAIMONIDES SCHOOL & COMMUNITY (Nursery / Elementary / High School) 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 maimonidesschool@gmail.com Founded in 1980, Maimonides is chartered by the NYS Board of Regents and is a JF-NENY Beneficiary “A Beautiful Blend: Torah & Worldly Experience!”

COMMUNAL SEDERS AROUND TOWN If you are not planning a Seder of your own, many local families love having guests - or you can try one of these communal Seders: CBAJ (1st night) $40 adult/$36 child (members: $36 adult/ $30 child) RSVP by 3/10: cbaj.org or 489-5819.  Shabbos House (2 nights) primarily for students, community please call to RSVP: 438-4227 / mail@shabboshouse.com  Bethlehem Chabad (1st night) at Normanside Country Club $25 adult, kids $10, RSVP by 3/20. BethlehemChabad.com  Saratoga Chabad (2 nights) $18 adult, $10 child. 526-0773 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Or if you’re interested in getting away for a stay-away holiday, check out the Laber’s full-service Pesach Holiday Retreat at Fort William Henry Hotel in Lake George. Call 727-9581 for cost and details.