Maimonides Community

BH. Iyar

26, 5776 / June 3, 2016

Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District Candle-Lighting: 8:11 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 9:22 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

‫בחוקותי‬

This newsletter is dedicated in loving memory of

Kay Greengarten ‫חאשא בת שמעון‬

- Yartzeit today: Iyar 26 By her daughter Morah Devorah & Sid Stark and family

TRULY A WONDERFULLY MAZAL TOV AHARON SIMON MEMORABLE SCHOOL DINNER! Mazal Tov to the Simons on MHDS alumnus Anyone who was there will tell you that this year’s school dinner was extraordinarily special it was deeply meaningful, memorable and enjoyable. Mrs. Silverman was very gracious in accepting the Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award, this year engraved on a pewter Pushka with stick figures holding up each corner.

Pictured above are the three couples honored with the “Local Long Distance” Dedicated Parents Award. Each one was warmly introduced by one of their children (all MHDS alumni or students) and presented with a leather-bound album of hundreds of pictures of their children at Maimonides over the years.

All the speeches were short, crisp and meaningful, from Ronald Goldman’s “American Pharaoh” introduction to Rabbi Rubin to Ruvain Kudan’s speech about the five words that changed the future of his family and the direction of our community.

Efraim Backman spoke with no notes about how Maimonides prepared him for an MBA, Chaya Simon shared how her parents are teachers even outside school, Rivkie (Kudan) Dubroff shared things she learned nearly twenty years ago at Maimonides and timely Parsha Bechukosai reflections from her own twelfth grade graduation. See more about the dinner and pictures on pages 3 and 4 >>> of this MC newsletter. The gorgeous anemone flower (thanks to Carl!) added bursts of color, there was so much delicious food, and the program started and ended right on time.

Aharon Simon’s engagement to Rivka Felberman of Crown Heights. This Sunday and Monday nights were back to back Albany L’chaim engagement parties in Crown Heights: Motti Rubin on Sunday and Aharon Simon on Monday. More Simchas!

PIRKEI AVOT EXIT SURVEY At the Chapter 5 (which concludes original Mishna of Avos, though we add a 6th chapter) Siyum of Torah365 last week at CBAJ, Rabbi Rubin did an “exit survey” asking the audience for the Mishna in Avot that stands out as most musical, most colorful, most philosophical or psychological, most animated — and lead into a discussion of the meaning, relevance & application of Yehudah ben Tayma’s teaching.

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

THE EMERGING CECROPIA At the Corning Preserve, after the parade on Lag B’Omer, some students found this (above) underneath their picnic table: A moth (we found out later it was a Cecropia moth) as it emerged from its cocoon—that very moment!

How appropriate for Lag B’Omer, in honor of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who emerged from his cave and was transformed by it, much like a caterpillar changes when it comes out of the (cave-like) cocoon.

Several of our Gemorah classes are learning about why Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son fled to hide in the cave in the first place and how their coming out back into the world was transformative, especially after seeing a man run with 2 flowers for Shabbat!

DONNA GRACIAS MENDEZ Rabbi Kelman (Beth Israel) was substituting 6/7 grade and taught them about a famous Sephardic woman, an Esther of her time: Donna Gracias Mendez. Even though they already learned about her in Jewish Women class, they loved his details & storytelling!

FLOWERS FOR HAR SINAI

A GREAT BIG PIZZA THANKS!

Nursery students now have a big mountain on the wall of their classroom, with two bright blue Luchot on top of it. And all along the mountain are the flowers they colored in to make Shavuot pretty!

3rd graders were so happy to have one of their classmates back after a sudden surgery, they celebrated with a Seudas Hoda’ah (thanksgiving to Hashem meal) with pizza pies that they made in “Nathan’s Kitchen.” They made one section of a pizza pie with no cheese because one of their classmates is lactose intolerant. It was heartwarming to celebrate the recovery of a friend, and also to be sensitive to the needs of one student.

THE MAP TEST, CAPITALS TOO! GRASS HEADS IN NURSERY 4/5 graders are learning the States of the Union, capital cities, geography and features.

One thing about flowers at Har Sinai is that they grew where you’d least expect it, so too, with these “grass heads” planted by the Nursery, grass growing right out of them will be quite surprising—even as we expect it!

IN LESS THAN ONE MONTH... these eager Kindergartners finished this entire Hebrew language workbook!

FROM ROME TO BYZANTINE GIRLS NIGHT SLEEPOVER What an adventurous night! The HS girls prepared food, games & activities for the girls in grades 4+. They played emoji bingo, Escape from Russia, had a wacky photo-booth, played balloon dodgebal, & lots of fun with MinuteTo-Win-It (a series of quick wacky games like moving noodles with spaghetti, moving cups with balloons, and all kinds of other creative fun). They slept over at school but were up at 6:15am to make sure to get everything cleaned up and away and ready for the next day of school. Boys were a little jealous, incoming 8th grade boys hope to plan one for next year…

6/7 Social Studies learned about the fall of Rome (and the critical factors that led to it) and the rise of the Byzantine Empire.

BETTER TOGETHER RECIPES We’re STILL looking for recipes our students can get from seniors, relatives or family friends. Hopefully we can get enough recipes (each with short stories, descriptions or backgrounds) to make a cookbook! Email to: maimonidesschool@gmail.com Please ask your friends & relatives! Thanks very much!

AVOS ON BULLETIN BOARD Just went up! Pictures in next week’s MC…

PUBLISHED IN SKRIBBLERS Ms. Arika Ford is so proud of her first and second grade students that got their writing published in the most recent edition of “Skribblers Magazine”.

TRIPLE “CULTURE” 3rd grade read a story about culture, they’re learning it in Social Studies, too, and in G.U.M. they wrote about a holiday!

(Above) Hon. Ronald Goldman, the dinner’s emcee, in a light moment with Reb Moshe Losice and Rabbi Rubin. Ronnie introduced Rabbi Rubin with a surprise passage about Rabbi Rubin and Maimonides from a book

by Joe Drape (left) titled “American Pharaoh” about the Triple Crown winning horse.

Extra copies of The Tribute Journal/Yearbook (pictured on right) are available from the school office. 76 pages filled with tribute ads, year in pictures essay excerpts and much more!

The Backmans. Efraim presents the award & photo album to his parents Avrami & Sharona Backman. He shared memories of Maimonides along with the other “Local Long Distance” awardee families. He spoke of how it “takes a village” and thanked all (teachers, school families and friends, and his parents) who helped him grow & fulfill his dreams.

Sharona shared how all her children each in their own way thrived because of the school and excelled even when moving on to big city institutions.

(Above Left) This year’s “Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award” honoree Phyllis O. Silverman with her son Ethan of NYC who presented her with the award, using the speech prepared for the occasion by Ilene Sykes, who could not attend in the very last minute. The award—for “Sharing & Caring, Personally & Communally” was in the form of a pewter Pushka (seen above right) with four stick-figure people holding it up on each of its corners, symbolizing Phyllis interest in and appreciation of people and how they contribute to the social fabric of a giving community.

The Kudans. Ruvain & Shayna along with many of their MHDS alumni children after sharing their remarks. Their oldest daughter Rivkie Dubroff introduced them, reflecting back on her own years at Maimonides, the lessons that stick with her decades later, and how her HS graduation speech is the same as this week’s Torah portion of “Bechukotai” that learning be etched, engraved and part of who we are. Ruvain reflected back on the five words he heard from Rabbi Rubin 33 years ago at the Kosher Pizza Shop “Yes We Have A School!” and how those five words allowed him to accept a job with NYS PSC and his family to settle here, and helped his kids blossom, and how the school directly and indirectly benefits the greater community. Shayna shared how Maimonides reaches each child in his/her own way, and shared meaningful school memories and milestones in the lives of her children, especially Moishy whose birthday was the night of the dinner, and who is now graduating Maimonides High School.

The Food! The mini-trifle cups were only one part of the huge dessert buffet. The first course had salmon, salads and dips, and the main course featured chicken and meat and vegetarian, too. It was a great spread, Raizy and the volunteers went all out to make this dinner a really special treat for all the supporters who came out for the honorees and for the school.

The Simons. Chaya, soon graduating Maimonides Bnos Chaya High, thanked her parents for their role modeling a love of learning, and finding teachable moments throughout life, her father’s fun examples and her mother’s patience and understanding. Rabbi Simon spoke about character, and how the school teaches a lot more than just text or skills, but helps our children grow in well-rounded ways, even better than in other places. Clara echoed this theme, saying how Maimonides students are able to relate well to all types of people.

The Program! Although there were quite a few speeches, they were all short, crisp, personal and honest, meaningful and memorable. It began on time and ended on time. Our only regret is that we didn’t videotape it. Some of the speeches were written down and those we can hopefully share another time. Others were just said from the heart, and you had to be there to hear it experience it yourself!

WHAT DID YOU DO ON MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND? 4-day weekend off, Fri-Mon. We asked students what they did: Watched the Parade / Looked for a new place to go fishing / Enjoyed a BBQ / Smoked meats all day long and it rained when it was time to eat / we traveled to family Simchas in Brooklyn / We enjoyed Kosher-flavored Slurpies at the new Speedway in Delmar / traveled out of town to see cousins & saw the parade there / shopped for camp clothes / had an amazing boys sleepover at Max & Jacob’s house with bike rides and scooters, they watched some funny videos and enjoyed midnight snacks / we did gardening / I jumped into big gushing water fountains / bounced around at SkyZone / had fun at the Crossings Park / biked on the Albany Rail Trail / did a lot of baking at home...

at Maimonides and in the Community 6/3-7: GRADUATION TRIPS

6/11: LATE NIGHT LEARNING

The school’s year-end trip will be the day after Shavuot. HS Girls leave for Boston today (Friday) to return for Regents Prep Week. 8th graders head to D.C. on Sunday. Safe and enjoyable journeys!

It’s customary to stay up studying Torah on the first night of the Shavuot holiday.

• CBAJ has a “Breakfast for Dinner” then several classes lined up until midnight and then YU students will lead study groups after that.

• Shomray Torah Tikkun Leil Shavuos at 1am.

Rabbi Rubin will also summarize his recent “Nano DNA Power of Single Torah Letter”

6/3-4: PROBAH WEEKEND @CBAJ Rabbi Daniel and Amanda Rosenfelt are visiting this weekend at CBAJ, classes, onegs, meet & greets are planned throughout Shabbat.

6/4: WOMENS SHABBOS SHIUR This week given by Mrs. Gittel Laber at her home 321 South Main Ave at 4:45pm.

6/5: SPECIAL DAFYOMI SIYUM This Sunday’s Daf-Yomi Siyum honors Stan Rosenberg for his 7.5 year milestone, his first completion of the entire Talmud, as the Daf-Yomi study cycle finishes Kiddushin and begins Bava Metziah. Come celebrate with Stan and friends!

6/5: RHINEBECK TORAH SIYUM

6/12-13: SHAVUOT HOLIDAY Sunday and Monday. No School on Monday 6/13, school resumes 9:30am on Tuesday 6/14. It’s customary to eat dairy foods, and people make a special effort to bring even the smallest children to the synagogue, since “children are our guarantors” for continuing Torah into the Jewish future.

6/13: TORAH365 SIYUM (auspicious secular date!) Maimonides students will be part of the celebratory Torah365 Siyum at CBAJ on the second day of Shavuot morning. They began to prepare their presentation this week.

11:30am conclusion of the writing of the “Sobel Torah” scroll and its celebratory dedication at the 6/14: YEAR-END SCHOOL OUTING Rhinebeck Jewish Center. Just in time for Shavuot! NOTE DATE CHANGE: We’re going to enjoy a sneak-preview of bowling and other games at the all 6/6: BETTER TOGETHER MINYAN -new “Lucky Strikes Social” at Crossgates before it Our HS Boys at Parkview (Bnai Brith) Apartments. opens to the public, followed by lunch & activities in a park. The place is SO NEW it wasn’t ready for Contact Rabbi Yossi 495-0772 or Rabbi Mathless us yet, hence the date change. We need parent 522-1872 for more info. 1pm Torah reading, volunteers for transportation, parents are brunch, and presentations, just prior to Shavuot. welcome to come enjoy with us as well. All children should bring $3 to defray some costs.

6/6: TRADER JOE’S FLORAL DEMO @ ALBANY WOMENS CIRCLE

Pre-Shavuos womens circle with a dairy salads and a presentation on floral design by Trader Joe’s.

7:30-9pm, at the Caras home, 96 Grove Ave.

6/8: MESIBAT SHMONA-ESRAY 2nd graders have learned the Shmona-Esray with Morah DL and will be celebrating this milestone with a presentation and celebration at school at 9am. Parents are very welcome!

6/8: MEET THE KALLAH @RUBINS Motti’s kallah Chana’leh Paltiel will be in Albany for an evening before Shavuos, come by to wish Mazal Tov on their engagement at the Rubin’s home 122 South Main ?? -8pm.

6/9: PRE-SHAVUOS KIDS RALLY 3:30-4:30pm at school. If your kids are staying, please pick up at 4:30pm instead. Motti will be leading a kids rally getting into the holiday spirit!

6/21: MOVING UP & GRADUATION • • •

Moving Up Day ceremonies begins 9:30am.

Stay tuned: possible before-noon BBQ to follow!

Graduation (HS and 8th grade) at 6pm that evening. Families & Community very welcome!

6/21: LEAP OF FAITH: FOOD NET..

Airs 10pm @Food Network. Look for Rabbi Hecht

7/11-8/19: CAMP GAN ISRAEL Registration is now open! A great staff is lined up, and there are exciting plans in the works for this summer. Call Camp Director Devorah Leah Mathless 698-1836 for more info. The day camp is based at Maimonides, but you don’t have to go to Maimonides to attend and have a really fun, enjoyable and meaningful time. You can sign per week or for the whole summer season. Check out the FB page “Camp Gan Israel of Albany” or visit: tinyurl.com/ganisraelalbany for registration forms.

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!”