Maimonides Community

BH. Kislev

20, 5775 / Dec 12, 2014

Candle-Lighting: Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 4:04 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 5:08 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

CONDOLENCES TO BINDELLS

This newsletter is sponsored by a

Condolences to Yisrael and Binah Bindell and family on the passing of Binah’s mother, Mrs. Shirley Kalish, in Florida on December 1st.

LABER’S 19 KISLEV UPSHERN

grateful 87 Traveler for the Minyan, warm welcome and taste of lively learning while enroute to Montreal.

Keep up the good work!

HEBREW CHANUKAH POEMS

You can’t miss this big Menorah that’s bright Schneur Zalman was born 3 years ago on Yud- with Hebrew poems as you enter school! See Tes Kislev, and their family came back to inside this “MC” for more poems on display. school for the communal Farbrengen that night after visiting their newborn baby in the RAFFLEhospital. This year it was a very snowy night so AUCTION it was hard for many to UPDATES! come, especially those  Early Bird who live further away.

Deadline is But those who came extended to enjoyed delicious Dec 17th, 1st Day of Chanukah. Buy tickets meatballs & spaghetti, by this date to get a free $10 in tickets.

Kasha (traditional for  There are many ways to buy tickets: Send in Yud-Tes Kislev) with Order Form in the mail along with check (or Varnishkes (bowtie CC info), call the School Office 453-9363 to noodles), split-pea soups buy tickets over the phone using a Credit and an array of creative Card, or online via PayPal at this website: homemade desserts, all crafted carefully (yes, www.maimonidesschool.org/auction each Shin for Shneur is handdrawn!) by his (there’s a special Out-of-Town group of prize older sister Chana. Plus, R’ Yehoshua Sussman packages only available online), or at the masterfully played many of the Alter Rebbe’s event on the 8th night of Chanukah! melodies from Keili-Ata to Bnei Heichala and  We already sold $3,000+ in Raffle-Auction Kol Dodi on violin. Mazal Tov to the Labers! tickets, but need everyone’s participation (in both buying tickets and sharing with others) to exceed last year’s total of $12,000 and to reach this year’s ambitious goal of $18,000.

THE TRAIN CAKE AT LUNCH & THE VERY DEEP CONNECTION! The Labers left the big train cake for the kids to enjoy at lunch the next day. Morah Rochel asked the students, “What connection can you think of connecting this train cake to Yud-Tes Kislev?” Nesanel’s hand shot up and he shared a very deep insight (for a 4th grader, no less!): This train’s locomotive is a very dark brown, the next car is red, then a light blue, and finally a bright yellow. Things start off darker at first but it gets lighter and brighter the further you go in!”

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

A CAMEL LOADED WITH FLAX AND A MENORAH OUTSIDE THE SHOP This is a Mishna about liability, negligence and Chanukah, and as Rabbi Rubin and the older boys Talmud class discovered it may also be the elusive yet obvious key to a much-disputed modern-day Chanukah Halacha. They published this Chiddush novella in a Brooklyn Rabbinic publication and have started to get some feedback. Find out more about the issue and the solution at the Sunday 5th Light of Chanukah Breakfast at Shomray Torah…

CHANUKAH IS THIS TUES NITE! Check out Chanukah events on page 4!

YUD-TES KISLEV BREAKFAST

RAFFLE-AUCTION F.Y.I.

The older boys enjoyed a special Yud-Tes Kislev breakfast at Shteeble (while the rest of the school, like Albany City Schools, had a 2hour delay on Thursday). In addition to fried eggs, orange juice and bagels, what the boys were most excited about was the whipped butter that was easily spreadable! Rabbi Caras tied it in to the story of Reb Avraham the Malach, the son of the Maggid of Mezritch.

The Alter Rebbe studied with him, and once saw that his Chavrusa was soaring so high spiritually, that he needed to be grounded before it went too far. So the Alter Rebbe, then a student, put a bagel with butter in front of Reb Avraham the Malach and that brought him back to his senses.

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CHAI-KUS BY KITAH BET This bulletin board displays Hebrew Haikus (hence Chai-Kus) written (then typed up) and illustrated by our 2nd graders. They are all about Chanukah, from Greeks to Latkes, Lights to Elephants, and much in between!

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SODIUM IN WATER, Do not try this at home, as it can actually be quite dangerous without proper supervision and safety precautions. HS Girls with Dr. Sahay put a very small piece of sodium metal into a water solution (that a reactor liquid inside so they could visibly tell when the PH level changes) and watched it bubble and disintegrate, and emit hydrogen gas, as the water changed colors and turn green.

Some elements are highly reactive by nature and others are less, and Sodium Metal just goes “crazy” as soon as it hits the water. The clear liquid on top of the test-tube is the protective oil that the sodium metal was stored in.

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ECCENTRICITY IN ORBIT HS Boys are learning about orbits, and made these artistic renderings that range from circles to ovals based on where the two foci are located on the range. The closer the two foci points are, the more circular the orbit will be; the foci being further apart makes for a deviation from the circle, which becomes more and more oval shaped. They basically put two tacks at different points along a range, then used an equal length of string wrapped around those foci to create the circle or oval orbit. Then they moved the tacks to create a change in the foci.

SNOW DAY POLICY

Maimonides follows snow-day RUVAIN’S JASMINE FLOWERS policies of Albany City Grade 4 learned about the flowers Ruvain Schools (that’s why we had 2thoughtfully brought to hour delay on Thurs) unless his mother Leah, and public schools are on vacation. Either way, we how Rochel was jealous still do the chain-calls early that morning. of them (and how her sister had a son who could bring her flowers) and how this led to some family trouble. Rashi says that these Duda’im flowers are called Yasmin in Arabic (Lashon Yishmael). Bassie said that she knew people named Y/Jasmine. There was a nice CHANUKAH PERFORMANCES classroom discussion about the different Our younger children are practicing songs and feelings and emotions in this story. During poems to perform both at school (on the last TNT reporting, Eli G. said this story and all day of Chanukah) and also at senior homes in the involved feelings and behaviors are a good the community. Some classes are preparing example of finding “Maimonides skits, this scenery was painted this week.

Middos” in texts that we learn!

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There are 3 Remote Helicopters in #T “Active Kids” Package. Fly them all at once, or save them if they crash/break. Plus 3 sets of Maze’NRace, you can add sets to make a longer and more complicated race.

In addition to the total number of LEGO pieces listed in #X ‘Build Up” package, please note that these are not just random pieces, but 5 Lego & LegoFriends sets, and there’s also the Clics and the Knex, too!

Our Home Improvement Package #C has improved! There’s $250 at Wolberg, $150 at Home Depot, a rug from Modern Carpet, & paint & supplies from Sherwin Williams.

Big thanks to Koren Publishers for the full set of original Hebrew hardcover Steinzaltz Talmud for prize package #B. Word has it that the multi-colored graduated pearl necklace and matching earrings could be a prize package for itself.

Come see it at the Raffle-Auction event on the 8th Night of Chanukah!

Magnatiles are all the rage and are a new prize this year, thanks to LullabyBaby.com. #J “Room for a Guest” includes a nice set of linen, Royal Velvet Dark Java towels, and a handwritten Mezuzah for a $10 ticket.

The Dell Laptop has a touchscreen! It’s Intel i3, 500GB hard drive… Package #A. $250 at “A Silver Breeze” a silver jewelry store in Saratoga! Plus #F includes silverpink sapphire earrings from 1sale.com.

Colonial Cleaners on North Allen has been supporting this Raffle-Auction every year!

For a $5 ticket to #N, you can win a selfstanding mini table-tennis (ping-pong table) plus two table-top games, too.

It’s a Keurig 2.0 Carafe in #M, but package also includes 100 cups compatible with earlier Keurig or K-cup machines.

A&B Housewares again donated a nice assortment of small Kitchen appliances!

There are more $5 tickets than ever before!

ON TEACHING HISTORY (1908) This 1908 quote from Andrew Sloan, NYS’s first Education Commissioner, rings true today more than a hundred years later, for both secular history and Jewish history. It’s from an article by Bruce Dearstyne in the Perspective section of this past Sunday’s “Times-Union” newspaper.

What did one math book say to the other? Not sure about you, but I have lots of problems!

Why is your sense of touch affected when you are sick? Because you don’t feel well!

Knock, Knock? … Who is there?

Itch! … Itch Who? Gezuntheit!!!

GRADES K-1 CHANUKAH PUPPET SHOW Morah Aviva brought in puppets & puppet stage for grades K-1 to enjoy a show about Chanukah as they enjoyed lunch earlier this

KIDS MENORAH CONTEST! MATCH DREIDEL COLORS TO CARD Here’s one of the Nursery’s Chanukah Learning Centers where they had to match the Dreidel color to the Dreidel on the card (card actually goes longer than pictured) they had all kinds of handsSEQUENCE: PUTTING THE STORY IN ORDER on activities (including some Mrs. Hoffman’s Nursery students read the story of “Little Hen” and full-body action) preparing then colored (R) in the story in 4 panels. After they were cut out, for Chanukah and at the they each tried to paste them (L) on a storyboard in order of how it same time utilized key happened in the story. Mrs. Hoffman read it again with each student learning skills. once they finished their storyboard.

Win prizes for the most original, creative and unusual Menorah! It must be Kosher for use on Chanukah, actually light-able. In addition to the winners prizes, everyone who enters gets free bake-sale! Due on Dec 18th!

5 THINGS ABOUT YOSEF prominent in this week’s Torah portion and coming weeks, too.

Some grades studied this recently.

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LOOKS: Yosef’s obsession with his looks, playing with his hair, got him into trouble.

The Talmud also says we learn from this story that parents should not have favorites among their children, every child should feel loved and special, in their own way.

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WORDS: Yosef did speak negatively of his brothers to his father, as the verse says. But some understand this to come from a sensitivity he had for the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, whom he felt were not being treated right by Leah’s children.

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STRUGGLE: It wasn’t easy for Yosef to resist Mrs. Potifar’s advances, we know this from the Shalsheles Trope atop the word “and he refused”. This rare trope is used in places of hesitation, wavering, indecision.

But he did muster the courage to refuse her after all. Rashi says he saw the image of his father appear in a window…

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F.O.M.O.: despite being away from home for so long, and even if he had right to be upset at his brothers for selling him, he was afraid of disconnecting, and that’s another thing that helped him stick to his family’s values and refuse Mrs. Potifar.

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CARE: The Rebbe says that Yosef’s 4 words to the butler and baker “Why are you sad today?” changed the course of history. Yosef could have not said anything, after all, everyone has reason to be sad in prison. But Yosef noticed, he cared, reached out and asked them, which set the wheels in motion and set the stage for Yosef to interpret Pharoah’s dreams, and that led to…

DALED SHAPES IN PLAYDOUGH Nursery used playdough to make their Daled shapes, and make sure they had the little tag of the Daled sticking out the back.

WAYS TO PAINT WITH Q-TIP These Kindergarten boys traced this ship, and using just a Q-tip & orange paint, painted it a bunch of different ways: they traced the outline in solid line, or dotted line; filled it in with dots or filled it all in solid color. It shows how you can use a simple tool like a Q-Tip in many different ways.

SOUP-OF-THE-WEEK Parents, please sign up with Mrs. Wildman if you haven’t already! Thanks! The kids love it!

IDIOMS ARE NOT IDIOTS! Idioms are expressions, figures of speech that are not meant to be taken literally, like: “It’s raining cats and dogs” or “that news just breaks my heart”. 5/6 happened to learn an idiom in Morah Rochel’s Navi class and soon after learn the same with Mrs. Maher, too!

GOTTA GET MOVING!!

5/6 were sluggish, tired and lazy one day in class, so Rabbi Mathless had them all get up and exercise so they could improve focus!!

APPS “FUEL” DEADLINE EXTENDED: DUE ON MONDAY, 12/22

at Maimonides and in the Community 12/13: THE SANOFFS AT THE YUDTES KISLEV MELAVA MALKA

12/17: EARLY BIRD AUCTION DATE 12/23: MHDS RAFFLE-AUCTION & Entries by December 17th (it was extended from ANNUAL CHANUKAH DINNER

the 15th) are entitled to a free extra $10 ticket in H Now in its 12th year! Printed version was mailed to -Z package of your choice. area homes this week, online version as well at: www.maimonidesschool.org/auction. There’s 12/18: COIN MENORAH & PARTY some new prizes this year. Check online or call the near Boscov’s Clifton Park Center, 4:30pm & on. office if you want to get a print brochure. The prize Call Rabbi Yossi 495-0772 for more info. Bring viewings & drawings, 5-7pm at Maimonides, will be some coins to add for Tzedakah! on the 8th night of Chanukah, together with a delicious themed Chinese dinner prepared by the 12/13: ORCHESTRA OF EXILES 12/19: CBAJ ACAPPELLA SHABBAT Kochmans at “Nathan’s Kitchen”. Stay tuned for more updates!!

Schenectady JCC screening a film about Bronislaw Shabbos Chanukah Dinner and Concert is $20 Huberman who saved European Jewish musicians adult, $12 child or $65 for a family. Silver, Gold & from Holocaust by bringing them to then-Palestine, Platinum sponsorships are available. RSVP by Dec 12/24: CHANUKAH SONGS & SKITS creating forerunner of Israel Philharmonic 14th online at CBAJ.org. Shabbos daytime classes Half a day, Hebrew only. Chanukah class Orchestra. 7:30pm. Individual events in Jewish and more acappella singing as well. performances that morning at Maimonides Film Festival series $9pp for non-JCC-members. followed by dismissal and pickup. Last morning of school before winter vacation. ` 12/20: TEENS FROM ESHKOL 12/14: CHANUKAH RENACTMENT Havdalah and Menorah Lighting at 5:30pm at the 12/25-28: WINTER VACATION 1:30-3pm multi-sensory experience at Troy’s Beth SA-AJCC at 340 Whitehall Road, with Maor Tephilah synagogue on River Street. Call 894-3491. Rosenberg, the Federation’s new Israeli Shaliach.

12/24-25: Half-Day Hebrew, Performances 12/26-30: Winter Vacation, No School GE-KIDS-IN-FREE MiSci SUNDAYS 12/20: SAT NITE w/ SHMALTZ BEER 12/31/2014-1/1/2015: Half-Day Hebrew Only 1/2/2015: First full day back…

GE offers Kids-In-Free (one child 12 and under free 6:30pm at the Brewery: 6 Fairchild Square in per each paying adult admission) on Sundays in Clifton Park. A Chanukah night for singles and Nov & Dec this year at MiSci in Schenectady. couples (no kids please) with Clifton Park Chabad. 12/25-28: JGR WINTER RETREAT Taste their new Hanukkah Beer: it’s made with 8 This year back at Dunhams Bay on Lake George.

Malts and 8 Hops, and is 8% ABV. For more info call Nechama Laber: 727-9581.

12/15: ALBANY WOMENS CIRCLE 7:45pm at the home of Chaya Bracha Rubin, 419 12/21: CHANUKAH BREAKFAST Partridge Street (across Maimonides) with an oil 12/29: WOMENS BEIT MEDRASH workshop led by Rivka Davis, refreshments and HS Boys will help present Rabbi Rubin’s public Raizy Rubin will lead this month’s learning, inspiration, celebrating Aviva Miller’s birthday.

Menorah lighting Bracha Chiddush at a breakfast focusing on our matriarch Rivka. 8pm at after Shachris. Chanukah’s 5th Candle has a lot of Maimonides, open to women of all learning levels.

12/16-18: E.S.P. CHANUKAH TABLE significance, including being the date that the Losices came to Albany just before the Holocaust.

Chanukah info booth and food in the Empire 1/4/2015: WORDS TO ACTION State Plaza downstairs on the Concourse Level.

Federation hosting ADL’s “Words to Action” 12/21: CHANUKAH XTRAVAGANZA program for teens and college-age students to 12/15-22: DISPLAY AT CROSSGATES activities, fun with Bethlehem Chabad at Delmar’s prepare students to deal with anti-Israel, HolocaustFour Corners. Call 866-7658 for more info. denial, hate-speech etc. in their schools. 12-4:30pm Look for the Chanukah display and info table at interactive workshop at the Federation, facilitated Crossgates Mall. Spread the light!

by Beverly Geisler and Evelyn Loeb Garfinkel. Call 12/21: CHANUKAH ON ICE 783-7800 for more info or to register.

3pm at the Ice-Rink, 30 Wiebel Ave in Saratoga, 12/16: FOUR CORNERS MENORAH Outdoor public Menorah lighting in Delmar, 4:30. call 526-0773 for more info.

1/11/2015: WIN BATTLE 4 ISRAEL Call Rabbi Simon 439-8280 for more info.

Linda Scherzer, former Middle East correspondent 12/21: TROY ATRIUM MENORAH 5pm Menorah lighting and celebration with Troy’s for CNN, will be the Federation’s Joint Society 12/16: “IN & OUT CHANUKAH” speaker at Temple Israel, with dinner & desserts Mayor. Call 274-5572 for more info.

The first night of Chanukah falls in Finals Week beginning at 7:15pm. Cost $25pp or $10 for those this year, so Shabbos House will have an in & out 22-40, prices rise if not pre-reserved 783-7800 or via 12/22: APPS FUEL PROJECT DUE Chanukah evening for college students, 5-9pm. www.JewishFedNY.org by Jan 9th.

Please bring in your APPS Project on Fuel so we 12/16: YOUNG PROFS CHANUKAH can have it on display for the Raffle-Auction.

2/8: SPA FOR BODY & SOUL A Chanukah event for young professionals with The 10th annual: Special for this year, MegaUniversity Heights Chabad 7-8 at 147 South Lake. 12/22: LATKES & LATTES PARTY Call 522=1872 with any questions or to RSVP. 4:30pm at East Greenbush Library, 30 Community Challah Bake! Stay tuned for more info..

7:30pm at Maimonides on Motzai Shabbos.

Annual local tradition by Capital Chabad Chassidic stories, melodies and Melava Malka/ farbrengen atmosphere for kids and adults. Also will be the Rambam Siyum. Rabbi Daniel and Dalia Sanoff, Shluchim to Vasser College will be the guest speakers, both sharing inspiration.

Way, w/Drum Circle! Call Rabbi Laber 727-6037.

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!”