Maimonides Community

BH. Kislev

13, 5775 / Dec 5, 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

This newsletter is dedicated in honor of the birth of

Aria Liat DAVIS UPSHERN AT SCHOOL

MAZAL TOV TO THE JACOBS

Mazal Tov to the Davis family on the Upshern of their son Eli (who was a very good sport) which took place this Wednesday at school on his 3rd birthday. Pictured above, Azriel L. (a Levi) was honored with cutting a little snip of Eli’s hair. All the kids enjoyed yummy bakery cake, lollies and winkies candy, and young Eli licked the honey off an Aleph-Bais chart, because Torah and learning is sweet!

Dr. Ed and Laura Jacobs became grandparents for the first time, and the baby was named this past Shabbos at the North Williamsburg Chabad. Dr. Jacobs was pleased to learn that the congregation’s Rabbi is a cousin of Raizy Rubin, was inspired by Satmar Chassidim who love Chabad and walked over to participate, and enjoyed meeting Dr. Margareten a pulmonary specialist from Monsey, who is a grandson of the Matzah company founders and related to the Horowitz and Margareten families that lived in Albany. The Jacobs dedicated this “MC” newsletter in honor of their granddaughter.

MAZAL TOV BACKMANS on MHDS alumnus’ Maishy’s wedding in Monsey this Monday, and two Sheva Brachos in Albany. Both the Chassan and Kallah (from the Klein-Aronson family) have deep Capital Region roots going back a few generations! Mazal Tov to Sharona (our dedicated school office manager) and Avremi Backman and the whole Mishpocha!

TERRA OPENS NEXT WEEK

bat Eitan Shmuel v' Zvia Leora By her proud (first-time) grandparents, Dr. Ed & Laura Jacobs RAFFLE-AUCTION MAILED! Yes, its out, was mailed to area homes and you can already buy tickets by mail and get the early-bird special. If you didn’t yours and would like a hard-copy call the school office at 453-9363. The raffle-auction is also available online: www.maimonidesschool.org/auction.

Please share the link with out-of-town family and friends, and there’s also an “out-of-town package” only available online. The drawings and Chanukah dinner will be on Tuesday evening, Dec 23rd, last night of Chanukah!

HS PIZZA NITE PREP

To get ahead of the game and Call Terra at 463-5600 for minimize wait info and RSVP, looks like times HS prepared they’re finally opening for a regular schedule the pizza doughs ahead of time for Pizza Nite CONDOLENCES TO KOCHMANS of lunch and dinner starting this coming week. this Sat Night. The sauce and pizza are put on Condolences to Rivka & Shmuel Kochman on Located at 238 Washington Ave, between Lark fresh that night. As always, online pre-ordering the passing of her mother in Virginia, may the and Henry Johnson, under supervision of the makes things much more efficient. Email them family be comforted during this difficult time. Vaad HaKashruth. Don’t forget there’s a $100 at bnoschayaprograms@gmail.com. MediumTerra gift-certificate in one of the Maimonides size Pies are $9 each, $10 with toppings.

Raffle-Auction prize packages!

BAT-MITZVAH MAZAL TOVS 7th graders Sara Rubin and Goldie Kochman both turn 12 around this month. Sara’s BasMitzvah celebration was on Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend, while Goldie’s will be rescheduled due to her grandmother’s passing.

We look forward to celebrating with her when the time is right!

MAZAL TOV SILTONS on the marriage of their youngest daughter Shira to David Wildman, a few weeks ago, right here in Albany. Wishing them much continued Nachas!

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

RAFFLE-AUCTION CREDITS

REMEMBERING THE COLONIES

Raffle-Auction tickets bought or sold by school families are credited towards their Give/Get obligations. There’s a SOLD BY line on the order form to indicate that. Also we will be announcing at school an incentive program for students to earn tickets by selling tickets, which can be indicated the same way, and which are credited both to the students & to ALEPH-BAIS JUMPING JACKS the family Give/Get obligation.

A 5/6 grade TNT photographer got this midair action shot of this Kindergartener doing SOUP-OF-THE-WEEK jumping jacks to the letters of the Hebrew Brr… its that time of year, alphabet! As the Talmud says, the more (ways) again! Getting cold out and of our body is engaged in the kids really appreciate a hot study, the better we will retain it. bowl of soup at lunchtime.

Once again Mrs. Wildman is organizing (thank you!) and parents are asked to signup with her to volunteer to prepare the once-a-week soup in Nathan’s Kitchen.

Mrs. Maher’s students are learning about the 13 Colonies and they’ve been using these mnemonics to remember all 13, their regions.

MA CuT Rice Near Home (New England Colonies: MA, CT, RI, NH).

PA DENY NoJudges (Middle Colonies: PA, DE, NY and NJ) MonDay GAS(c) up the VAN(c) (Southern Colonies: MD, GA, SC, NC, and VA).

JEOPARDY AS TEST PREP In preparation for a Social-Studies/History test on the 13 Colonies and the Revolutionary War, Mrs. Maher and her students played a jeopardy game which they all enjoyed.

MIXED EMOTIONS (T.E.I.) Rabbi Mendel didn’t have a specific emotion prepared for this week’s TEI (Torah Emotional Intelligence) class, so he asked the 7th graders if they had anything they’d like to discuss. Chaya H. brought up Mixed-Emotions (an excellent discussion topic) because they WEEKLY LIBRARY HOURS discussed it in Mrs. Crawford’s English class as These kids like books! Library hours are they read “Esperanza Rising” (2000) by Pam usually on Thursdays, but occasionally on Munoz Ryan, set in post-Revolutionary Mexico other days as well, as class and California during the Great Depression. schedules allow. Please In TEI Rabbi Mendel explained the benefits of remember to return books trying to sort, separate & compartmentalize you borrow so you can take mixed emotions (to the extent possible) as out new ones, and your explained in Tanya chapters 28 and 34. friends can enjoy the book

POPSICLE STICK MENORAHS You can’t actually use these Menorahs, but they sure got the Nursery kids in the spirit of Chanukah. You know how kids like to choose the colored candles from the box? They each decorated their own popsicle stick candles with the color or design of their choice before gluing them onto the “Menorah” in as straight of a row as they could.

THE YAHADUS CURRICULUM

After learning about the Mitzvot of loving G-d and fearing G-d, 3/4 grade is now up to the you read. It’s nice to see kids Mitzvah of Ahavas Yisrael in their Rambam (and teachers!) describe or study of the Mitzvot in their new recommend books to other Yahadus curriculum books and so students who haven’t read they thought that would be an easy fit them yet. for the “Maimonides Middos” symbol (the heart with handshake and the 2 M’s).

IMPORTANCE OF MORALE JEWISH DIVERSITY Morah Dini’s 3/4 grade learned about the differences (and similarities!) of Sephardic and Ashkenasic Jews, & are preparing a Chanukah skit with this theme of valuing & appreciating all types of Jews and realizing we are indeed “Am Echad!” one people. The music video they are watching here is about neighbors in Brooklyn, one Sephardic and one Ashkenasic, who learn about each other’s cultures and realize how much they share in common. Morah Dini told her class that her own parents blend both heritages and cultures, because her father is from Russia and her mother is from Turkey!

7th grade history class is learning about the American Revolution and how valuable positive morale (confidence & upbeat spirit, in the face of challenge) is in wartime and throughout life.

The students also made the connection between the American Revolution and the Chanukah story, as the ragtag but dedicated American troops fighting the British a more experienced, well-trained and better-armed army recalls the unlikely Maccabee victory against the mighty Syrian-Greeks.

Morah Rochel and the parents who send in soup or other nibbles for the boys who stay after school for the Mincha/Maariv Minyan. On Wednesdays they enjoy leftover TorahTuesday food from Shabbos House and this Thursday even had a full Sheva Brachos at the Minyan!

Mara ran to get Nesanel an ice-pack when he hurt his hand.

Esther W. helped me when I didn’t understand the homework.

GOOGLE TRANSLATE!?

This road sign in Jerusalem is traveling the internet. The Hebrew word Bohr means a pit, hole or ditch, but the same spelling can be pronounced boor which means (as it does in English) ignorant. The lesson? You can’t rely only on literal translation, you need context!

THE MOTHERS IN WHEEL ART 7th grade made these wheels in art class, each wheel is symmetrically divided in 4, for the 4 Matriarchs, each “slice BEHIND THE “FUEL THE SCHOOL” CARTOON of the wheel” decorated No, we’re not getting a new school bus, although that would be very nice! This with motifs/icons etc cartoon by Marcus K. Anderson shows how eager, interested & invested from her life story. communal support fuels our school and gives our students what they need to get ahead and succeed. The school bus in the drawing is not only a way to get to school but symbolizes the journey of education. A Maimonides education is much more than just knowledge and skills, we are going places! This cartoon was made in time for the Raffle-Auction (and is featured on the back of the Raffle-Auction brochure) which is a good opportunity to give to Maimonides in a fun and exciting way. All who support Jewish education are winners!

A BLAST FROM THE PAST Morah Devorah found posters that date back from when today’s 5/6 graders were in 2/3 grade. The students were quite excited about them, there’s so much that can be deduced and remembered from a poster like this (and the poems on the back). There were a few other posters, too, all from the same time.

WHY WE LOVE POWERPOINTS

CHANUKAH ALREADY? Our HS Girls went up this Thursday night to assist with

Rabbi Shmuly’s Mishna students in Grades 3-6 on why Mishna Powerpoints helps them learn (Student responses edited & organized by Rabbi Mendel)

1

FUN: No question about it, it’s a lot more fun this way. And fun and learning can and should go together! Since not everyone has the same learning style, adding this vivid interactive visual component to regular learning helps some kids enjoy learning who might not be as interested otherwise.

2

UNDERSTANDING: If you have to make a slide describing the Mishna, you have to understand it. It makes you think, it makes you ask more questions. It also helps the teacher see very quickly if it needs to be better explained one more time.

3

SHARING & REMEMBERING: Since we work on explaining the Mishna using graphics and animation, its easier for us to explain it to someone who never learned it.

Plus, all the effort and thought you put into it, and all the pictures and visualization makes the learning much more memorable than just reading text.

4

COMPUTER SKILLS: It may be Mishna class, but we learn a lot of computer skills, from graphics to animation by making these powerpoint slides for each Mishna we learn.

5

MAKE IT YOUR OWN: Learning is best when we put it in our own words, with our own expression. We all work on the same Mishnas, using the same texts, but our slides turn out quite different, each set is unique. Everyone has their own style.

WORDS IN ENCYCLOPEDIA Mrs. Maher’s journal project this week was to see how many words students could think of using the letters in the word Encyclopedia.

What’s the best day to go to the beach? A Sunday, of course!

Saratoga Chabad’s Pre-Chanukah awareness at the well-attended annual Victorian Walk on Broadway. They rode the pedi-bike, gave out lots of hot MatzahBall soup, dreidels, chococoins etc. and answered lots of questions.

Past, Present and Future walk into a bar. It was tense!

Are you feeling cold? Go sit in the corner, it’s 90 degrees there! That was acute joke.

What did one wall say to the other wall?

Meet you at the corner!

Why did the donut shop close? The owner got tired of the (w)hole business!

When do you go ahead at red, but stop at green? When you are eating watermelon!

PHAFFS BACK FOR A VISIT Gail (Grayman) Phaff (center) & youngest daughter Leah (far right) were in town for a visit. Leah was born after their move to Jerusalem, but most of her older siblings are proud Maimonides alumni (they lived next door to the Rubins on South Main)! This picture was taken at Sara Rubin’s Bas-Mitzvah this past Sunday, with long-time Albany friends: Morahs Devorah, Clara & Rochel.

at Maimonides and in the Community 12/6: PIZZA NITE AT MAIMONIDES

12/16: FOUR CORNERS MENORAH

12/22: LATKES & LATTES PARTY

Second of the winter season. Get out and enjoy some fresh hot pizza and support the HS Girls extra -curricular programming. Aside for pies, there’s fries, sushi-rolls etc, plus usually a Jewish video playing for the kids. Eat-in or Take-out, order ahead to save time: bnoschayaprograms@gmail.com

Outdoor public Menorah lighting in Delmar, 4:30.

Call Rabbi Simon 439-8280 for more info.

4:30pm at East Greenbush Library, 30 Community Way. Call Rabbi Laber 727-6037.

12/16: “IN & OUT CHANUKAH”

12/23: MHDS RAFFLE-AUCTION & ANNUAL CHANUKAH DINNER

12/6: CBAJ PAJAMA HAVDALAH

The first night of Chanukah falls in Finals Week this year, so Shabbos House will have an in & out Chanukah evening for college students, 5-9pm.

5-6:30pm at the Playdium on Ontario Street with the Friendship Circle. Call Chaya

Now in its 12th year! Printed version was mailed to area homes this week, online version as well at: www.maimonidesschool.org/auction. There’s some new prizes this year. Check online or call the office if you want to get a print brochure. The prize viewings & drawings, 5-7pm at Maimonides, will be on the 8th night of Chanukah, together with a delicious themed Chinese dinner prepared by the Kochmans at “Nathan’s Kitchen”. Stay tuned for more updates!!

12/18: COIN MENORAH & PARTY

12/24: CHANUKAH SONGS & SKITS

Coffee House (with a discussion on “Does Chosen People make us Racist?”) & a Pajama Havdalah 6:30pm this Sat Night at CBAJ.

12/16: YOUNG PROFS CHANUKAH

12/10: S.Z. LABER UPSHERNISH

12/17: F.C. CHANUKAH BOWL

5pm on Wednesday (the eve of Yud Tes Kislev) at Maimonides, celebrating the 3rd birthday of their son Schneur Zalman, born on Yud-Tes Kislev.

12/10: CHURCHES & MOSQUES

A Chanukah event for young professionals with University Heights Chabad 7-8 at 147 South Lake.

Rabbi Lehrfield to lecture on whether one can enter a church or mosque. 7:15pm at CBAJ.

near Boscov’s Clifton Park Center, 4:30pm & on.

Call Rabbi Yossi 495-0772 for more info. Bring some coins to add for Tzedakah!

12/13: THE SANOFFS AT THE YUDTES KISLEV MELAVA MALKA

12/19: CBAJ ACAPPELLA SHABBAT

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.

12/13: ORCHESTRA OF EXILES

Shabbos Chanukah Dinner and Concert is $20 adult, $12 child or $65 for a family. Silver, Gold & Platinum sponsorships are available. RSVP by Dec 14th online at CBAJ.org. Shabbos daytime classes and more acappella singing as well.

Chanukah info booth and food in the Empire State Plaza downstairs on the Concourse Level.

6:30pm at the Brewery: 6 Fairchild Square in Clifton Park. A Chanukah night for singles and couples (no kids please) with Clifton Park Chabad.

Taste their new Hanukkah Beer: it’s made with 8 Malts and 8 Hops, and is 8% ABV.

12/21: CHANUKAH XTRAVAGANZA activities, fun with Bethlehem Chabad at Delmar’s Four Corners. Call 866-7658 for more info.

12/21: CHANUKAH ON ICE 12/15-22: DISPLAY AT CROSSGATES 3pm at the Ice-Rink, 30 Wiebel Ave in Saratoga, Look for the Chanukah display and info table at Crossgates Mall. Spread the light!

12/25-28: WINTER VACATION 12/24-25: Half-Day Hebrew, Performances 12/26-30: Winter Vacation, No School 12/31/2014-1/1/2015: Half-Day Hebrew Only 1/2/2015: First full day back…

12/20: SAT NITE w/ SHMALTZ BEER 12/25-28: JGR WINTER RETREAT

Schenectady JCC screening a film about Bronislaw Huberman who saved European Jewish musicians from Holocaust by bringing them to then-Palestine, creating forerunner of Israel Philharmonic 12/21: CHANUKAH BREAKFAST Orchestra. 7:30pm. Individual events in Jewish HS Boys will help present Rabbi Rubin’s public Film Festival series $9pp for non-JCC-members.

Menorah lighting Bracha Chiddush at a breakfast after Shachris. Chanukah’s 5th Candle has a lot of 12/14: CHANUKAH RENACTMENT significance, including being the date that the 1:30-3pm multi-sensory experience at Troy’s Beth Losices came to Albany just before the Holocaust.

Tephilah synagogue on River Street. Call 894-3491.

12/16-18: E.S.P. CHANUKAH TABLE

Half a day, Hebrew only. Chanukah class performances that morning at Maimonides followed by dismissal and pickup. Last morning of school before winter vacation. `

call 526-0773 for more info.

This year back at Dunhams Bay on Lake George.

For more info call Nechama Laber: 727-9581.

12/29: WOMENS BEIT MEDRASH Raizy Rubin will lead this month’s learning, focusing on our matriarch Rivka. 8pm at Maimonides, open to women of all learning levels.

1/4/2015: WORDS TO ACTION Federation hosting ADL’s “Words to Action” program for teens and college-age students to prepare students to deal with anti-Israel, Holocaustdenial, hate-speech etc. in their schools. 12-4:30pm interactive workshop at the Federation, facilitated

by Beverly Geisler and Evelyn Loeb Garfinkel. Call 783-7800 for more info or to register.

2/8: SPA FOR BODY & SOUL The 10th annual: Mega-Challah Bake this year! Stay tuned for more info..

GE-KIDS-IN-FREE MiSci SUNDAYS 12/21: TROY ATRIUM MENORAH 12/15: EARLY BIRD AUCTION DATE 5pm Menorah lighting and celebration with Troy’s GE offers Kids-In-Free (one child 12 and under free Entries by December 15th are entitled to a free extra $10 ticket in H-Z package of your choice.

Mayor. Call 274-5572 for more info.

per each paying adult admission) on Sundays in Nov & Dec this year at MiSci in Schenectady.

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!”