Maimonides Community

BH. Tevet

27, 5779 / Jan 4, 2019

‫ב“ה‬

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 4:17 Shabbos Ends: produced by Rabbi Mendel Rubin & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program 5:23 Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY

MAZAL TOV KUDANS On the birth of a baby boy to MHDS alumna Rivkie (Kudan) & Binyamin Dubroff in Brooklyn. Mazal Tov Bubbe & Zeide Shayna & Ruvain, uncle Moishy & the Kudan family!

maimonidesschool@gmail.com

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

MAZAL TOV ELI & HADAS Mazal Tov to MHDS alumnus Eli O’Brien and Hadas Koresh on their wedding this week in Israel! Mazal Tov to Vicky, to the O’Brien, Koresh & Ungerman families & all his friends and the community Eli grew up in here in Albany. Wishing them & all much happiness!

This MC Newsletter is sponsored in honor of

Morah Devorah Leah for teaching the students how to daven Shmona Esray (the Amidah) - by appreciative parents

SpaceIL ISRAEL MOON LAUNCH On Rambam Day last week, Rabbi Rubin introduced Israel’s new Moon Launch project which our Science Lab/Makerspace will track from Maimonides along with others around the world. A key message of SpaceIL is that nowadays you don’t have to be a superpower with astronomical budgets to send a rocket to the moon. That’s a great message for our school as well, as we try to do great things with limited resources, our small size & numbers doesn’t limit our horizons! Why this announcement on Rambam Day? Rambam’s Mishne Torah is the classic source for the laws of sanctifying the monthly new moon and setting up the Jewish calendar. For more about Rambam Day (on the last of the half-days last week) see page 3 inside this MC Newsletter.

CONDOLENCES MRS RAMSAY Our condolences to our social-studies and science teacher Mrs. Abigail Ramsay and her family on the passing of her dear father.

SPORTS ON THE MOON? As part of following the SpaceIL program, students in our STEAM Room Makerspace watched an interview with 2 Israeli basketball players about how basketball would be different on the moon: and how tension is critical to basketball and how that’s affected by gravity, and harder coordination may affect the game. Fouls rules would be different: pushing other players upward instead of downward!

MAZAL TOV IOFFE BAR-MITZVA Mazal Tov to our former (years ago!) biology teacher Raya Ioffe and family on the BarMitzvah of her son Elijah at CBAJ this Shabbos. Elijah was the balloonist at this year’s Price Chopper Chanukah party, and is also seen performing at Beth Tephilah events.

NACHASH-SNAKE MAKING Nursery students threaded cheerios (one at a time!) onto a pipe-cleaners (each headed by a marble) to create wiggly Nachashsnakes for this week’s Parsha.

RAMBAM’S DAILY SCHEDULE—PLAY READING KINDERGARTEN GUIDED ART Speaking of Nachash for snake, Kindergarten drew and colored these snakes and Nesher eagles as they learned the letter Nun.

On Rambam Day, without much practice, 2nd graders got up to read the script of an old Maimonides School play (based on a letter exchange between the Rambam and his translator Shmuel Ibn Tibbon) that describes his exhausting daily schedule: caring for patients at the Sultan’s Palace and in the community, his role as Rabbi and community leader, and his scholarly writings.

YAHADUS BEYOND CHIDON One of the nicest things on Rambam Day was how familiar many of our students were with all types of Mitzvos (and their details!) presented inside the “books” based on their Yahadus learning curriculum. Chidon may be a nice bonus, but the greatest benefit of learning this curriculum is the breadth & spectrum of Torah and Mitzvot knowledge they acquire, in areas most Jewish schools would otherwise rarely study, especially at elementary & middle school level.

VOCAB WORDS

WET THERMOMETERS Mrs. Maher’s science students experimented with water-soaked cotton-balls placed on thermometers to see how that might change the temperature—and guess what, it lowered it!

Now, the question is: Why does it do that?

What are others ways this works in that way?

Another picture of Mrs. Mattice’s class working HOMEMADE on writing out a spelling BAROMETER list. Older kids often ask, Mrs. Maher’s science why spend time on students also made a spelling nowadays when homemade barometer there’s computerized to test air pressure, spell-check? First of all, it using regular materials helps a lot to acquire the like two jars and a skill and sense of spelling stretchy balloon. This and the only way to get is all part of their there is with practice and science studies of usage. And there’s much more to spelling weather instruments. words than just spelling them! Building a rich and robust vocabulary helps in many ways, ANEMOMETER OUTSIDE including how we think (yes, we think using language!), express ourselves & communicate. Speaking of weather instruments, the new science lab/makerspace has a hi-tech CHAZAK, CHAZAK—BIG SIYUM! computerized anemometer with outdoor measurement of wind direction and wind Rabbi Mathless’ 6th grade Chumash finished speed with indoor digitized readings. all of Chumash Breishis, from the first words of Torah to the last in Parshat Vayechi—and a MINUTE-TO-WIN-IT RACE great many Rashis, too! They learned the Mrs. Maher’s students were excited for a cupLubavitcher Rebbe’s explanation that the cry stacking minute-to-win-it race in their of “Chazak, Chazak!” is a response and encouragment to how the sad ending and last classroom on Friday. Maybe we’ll have pictures words of the book of Breishis can be uplifting. and results for next week’s MC Newsletter.

SPELLING WORDS PRACTICE Mrs. Mattice’s students practice their spelling words many different ways: In a notebook, on a dry-erase board and also using clay to shape them! More methods & ways aid in memory…

CAIN & ABEL This is a famous biblical story and our 2nd graders are learning it now in their 4th chapter of Chumash this year. They work with both the original Hebrew text and translation as well as a school-made workbook and projects as well.

LEGAL VS. MORAL OBLIGATION That’s the bottom line answer of page 37a of Talmud Bava Metziah in 8th grade.

RAMBAM’S MISHNE TORAH “BOOK-SPINES” & CONTENTS Groups were each assigned 2 of the Rambam’s 14 books to decorate its spines and creative sample visuals for that book’s contents (placed inside each of these decorated cardboard boxes).

This set of 7 boxes represents the spectrum of Rambam’s set of 14 Mishna Torah books.

THE LAST TWO BOOKS 8th grade boys worked on a big book cover for the last of the two Rambam Books: “Mishpatim” and “Shoftim” which actually relates to the Talmud they are studying in Bava Metziah and Navi classes as well!

SEEDS AND SERVICE “Zeraim” (seeds) is all about agricultural laws (which is why they made that 3D clay beautiful bottom of the book’s spine).

“Avodah” is all about Beit HaMikdash (for which they put in a Menorah and more!)

DAMAGES & AQUISITIONS The two books these girls worked on have to do with laws of damages and of acquisitions (some of their inside objects included a pit, judge’s gavel & for sale signs). Note the pretty designs on their book’s spine!

BOOK OF PURITY “Taharah” the book of purity is hard to depict, but these boys made a blue water Mikvah, with a sign leading towards it, and includes vessels, too!

KORBANOT

WHY A SNEAKER?

They built this altar from the cardboard up, complete with the “Ma’aracha” fire pile in one corner, and the ramp leading up to it. All inside the “book” box.

This box represented the 2 books of “Zemanin” all about holidays (hence the paper Lulav & Shofar, and the first verse of the Megillah) and “Nashim” laws of marriage and divorce etc (which is why they have a rolled-up Ketubah and a Get, and the sneaker is for the laws of Chalitzah which involves a laced shoe).

KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE “Madah” & “Ahava” are the first 2 books of the set. These girls made a Kohanim-blessing-hand, a Pidyon-HaBen baby, a heart for loving Hashem, and a cute Chumash Breishis for Torah study.

KEDUSHA AND HAFLA’AH For the book of “Kedusha” they made a whole basket of Kosher foods and for “Hafla’ah” they put inside a Tanach for an oath and a judge’s gavel to go with it!

at Maimonides and in the Community 1/4: EARLY BIRD FOR NCSY WINTER REGIONAL Sign up by this Friday at Upstate.NCSY.org for the early-bird pricing for this year’s winter regional Shabbaton in Hartford over Feb 1-3 weekend.

1/4: HIRSCHPRUNG & ARONSON YARTZEIT Today, the 27th of Tevet, is the yartzeit of the great scholar & Holocaust survivor (Rabbi Rubin’s teacher) Rabbi Pinchas Hirschprung of Montreal and also of Mrs. Marlene Aronson of Saratoga—both of whom benefitted our local community and our school in different meaningful ways.

1/5: SHABBOS VA’EIRA, MEVORCHIM SHEVAT This Shabbos we read the first 7 of the 10 Plagues, and we also bless the new month of Shevat, with Rosh Chodesh on Monday.

1/5: RABBI REISMAN NAVI CLASS BROADCAST Sat nights Navi class viewable at the CBAJ Media Center at 7:30pm.

1/6: FC’S RING AROUND THE SPECTRUM This month’s Sunday Circle of Friendship Circle is titled “Ring Around the Spectrum”. Call or text Chaya 518-488-8992 for more info.

2/17: “JEWISH DATA” TALK AT GUILDERLAND Rabbi Laber will be presenting his extensive “Jewish Data” research database with tools and interesting examples of the many things that can be learned from gravestones and public records, 2pm at the Guilderland Public Library.

3/3: WOMENS SPA FOR THE BODY AND SOUL 1-4pm at Shabbos House. Featured presenter is the humorous and meaningful Miriam Lipsker of Emory University Chabad in Atlanta, Georgia. She will be speaking on relationships. Stay tuned for updates & details.

3/10: JEWISH FEDERATION’S SUPER SUNDAY

This year ’round farmer and crafts market (as many as 60 vendors) moves indoors for winter inside Proctor’s Theater Arcade, 10am-2pm every Sunday.

Call-a-thon reaching out to Capital Region area donors to support the Jewish Federation and its local beneficiaries (including the Maimonides School) and its overseas and Israel partners for the Jewish community. Maimonides parents are asked to kindly volunteer a shift for this effort.

1/7: ROSH CHODESH SHVAT—MINYAN AT SCHOOL

4/7: FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE GALA EVENT

1/6: (INDOOR) SCHENECTADY GREENMARKET

8am at Maimonides. 1-day Rosh Chodesh begins Sunday night thru Monday.

1/12-13: JUNIOR NCSY SHABBATON CBAJ Albany hosts NCSY Hartford CT for a 5-7 grade Shabbaton. Contact NCSY/CBAJ for more details.

Stay tuned for info. To be held at the Elks Lodge in Albany.

More Newsletter News…

MONTREAL GUESTS, MEMORIES & Q&A

Mrs. Ariella Hazan who taught in our school last year stopped by to visit our school and her former students, on her way home to 7pm-8:30pm. Save the date! Eat-in or take-out, stay tuned for updates…

Montreal. Several former Montrealers passing through our area shared memories of their growing up in 1/13-2/24: SUGAR ON SNOW AT RIVERSIDE MAPLE Jewish Montreal in the 1960’s. One of the guests was Every Sunday from Jan 13th to Feb 24th, Riverside Maple Farms offers tours 1 Rabbi Carlebach and Rabbi Rubin shared an -3pm of their maple syrup facility including freshly made in front of your eyes maple syrup shaved ice taffy. 7152 Amsterdam Rd in Glenville. Call for info. interesting Halachic Q&A between a Rabbi Ephraim Carlebach (the visitor’s father, then in North Bay, Ontario) and Rabbi Yehoshua 1/17: AIPAC SPEAKER ON THE NEW CONGRESS Hirschorn (who was Montreal Chief Rabbi before Rabbi “… and the US-Israel Relationship”. Talk by Ed Miller, AIPAC’s national Hirschprung) whether a Torah can be taken out of the ark as an deputy political director. 6:30pm at Beth Emeth. educational experience for pre-Bar-Mitzvah boys or not?

1/12: PIZZA NIGHT III BY MAIMONIDES HIGH

1/19-20: “THE SAMUEL PROJECT” FILM AT SCHEN JCC 7:15pm-10pm at the Schenectady JCC Film Festival. Contact the JCC for more info and cost. This PG-13 film tells the story of a outcast teenage art student discovering his isolated grandfather’s past. The same film will also be screened on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.

1/21: ANNUAL TU BISHVAT BREAKFAST AT MHDS Fruity breakfast and “New Year for Trees” program at school. New for this year, look for an outdoor classroom nature activity for Tu Bishvat!

STUDYING MILK AND MEAT Rabbi Rubin’s 8th grade Salo’s Beit Medrash class is studying the original source texts in Talmud Chullin and Shulchan Aruch about the various wait times between meat and milk and the source of the German, Dutch and other Jewish customs.

NEW COMPOST BINS BUILT AT SCHOOL

FYI. An extended weekend off at the end of January.

Part of our new outdoor classroom area is a large compost bin for both brown (paper, leaves) and green (food scraps) recycling into dirt (over a long period of time). Stay tuned for more on this hands-on project, part of our overall STEAM Room Makerspace Project.

2/8: A NIGHT AT THE MAGIC CLUB

POWER OF WOMEN

CBAJ hosts Ben Cohen for Friday Night dinner and entertainment of magic, comedy and mentalism. RSVP at cbaj.org by February 1st at the latest.

4th grade Navi class is learning now about Yael and Sisra… in the times of Devorah the Judge and Prophetess.

1/25: FRIDAY OFF, NO SCHOOL

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!”