TOWER
VOLUME 80, NEWS
NOV. 13, 2023
TOWER
The Masters School
49 Clinton Avenue Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 10522
Community unites in grief at candelight vigil Alexa Murphy & Lucas Seguinot
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ne month after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Jewish Culture Club collaborated with the Center for Inclusive Excellence to host a candlelight vigil at the Estherwood Labyrinth. The vigil opened a dialogue for grieving community members, wherein multiple students, teachers, and parents, stepped forward to share their experience in the turmoil following the recent eruption of war in Gaza. “The turnout was great. I expected maybe 20, 30 people [to attend]—we got over 50 that came here, which just really showed the support that the school is offering us,” Jesse Gelman ‘25, co-chair of Jewish Culture Club, said. “I know that people were struggling to respond at the beginning, but a couple of people chimed in, especially Aron Tucker, and then the responses kept coming, and it was just amazing to see that.” As one of the first speakers, Gelman opened with a poem from the famed Jewish writer and poet, Yehuda Amichai. “The poem is about the story of a man who collected pieces of gravestones of all the Jewish people in Israel who have died and who are struggling to be remembered,” he said.
Gelman had been a reader of Amichai and was reminded of his poetry in preparation for the vigil. “ I just remember that it was a really beautiful poem. So I went back and read it and honestly in this new context because I had read it years ago, in the context of this war, it hit me almost differently.” Gelman reflected on why he felt it would be powerful to share this poem at the vigil. “And I was just thinking about how well I know this trying time a lot of us feel as though we’re almost powerless and it’s almost giving us a power—we have the power to remember.” Many speakers at the vigil discussed their experience as Jewish community members in the days and weeks following the initial attack. While some discussed feelings of alienation from the larger Masters community as they came to terms with the horrors ensuing in the Middle East, others expressed a sense of solidarity within the Jewish community, and an ability to find solace in religion during times of intense conflict. “You know, I was thinking about what to say all day, and I wasn’t really quite sure because I was trying to appeal to the adults, the teachers and the students. And then when I heard Jesse start speaking, and he was talking about a personal experience, I started
reflecting on my own experiences,” Taylor Marlowe ‘25, another co-chair of Jewish Culture Club, said. She recounted the story she told at the vigil: “When we visited the Western wall, our tour guide took us to the back, and he was telling us this story about this man who came to Israel after the First Temple was destroyed, and he started crying looking at the ruins of the Temple. And the person he was with asked, ‘why are you crying?’ And it was because of the fact that this was such a holy place, and this meant so much to my ancestors. It was this story about how everyone’s connected, and about the community aspect of Judaism.” In the vigil’s final moments, community members united in prayer to recite the “Mourner’s Kaddish.” The prayer was led by English teacher, Masters parent, and Jewish Culture Club advisor, Miriam Emery. At the vigil, Emery explained that this is a prayer that anyone, Jewish or non-Jewish can read. Furthermore, the prayer is meant to be spoken in a pair or in a group—as it was read at the vigil—as Emery described that mourning should never be experienced in solitude. She emphasized that the version (many versions exist) of the Kaddish distributed and read on Tuesday night closes with the idea that peace should be universal.
Middle Eastern conflict complicates political discourse Alexa Murphy & Lucas Seguinot
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n October 31, Head of
School Laura Danforth sent an email to the Upper School addressing a rise in uncivil discourse within the Masters communi-
INSIDE the ISSUE @masterstower
ty, and the world writ large, after the outbreak of war in Gaza. “I want to make it absolutely clear that we do not tolerate anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, discriminatory harassment, hate speech or violence of any form in our community,” she wrote. “We each must
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choose to be the change we wish to see in the world.” This message was the final note in a series of four emails responding to the effect of the Israel-Palestine conflict on the Masters community; the first of which were sent on October 9, 11, and 12.
Justine Pascutti goes through new changes for the 2023-24 FAFSA form.
In UNICEF’s guide, called “How to talk to our children about conflict and war,” the United Nations Children’s Fund wrote, “When conflict or war makes the headlines, it can cause feelings such as fear, sadness, anger and anxiety wherever you live. Children always
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look to their parents for a sense of safety and security — even more so in times of crisis.” From top-levels of government to college campuses to high school administrations, the politics of conflict are complex. They are made more complex by nature of
Staff writers highlight both of Masters MainStage’s fall plays, “Good Kids” and “Trap.”
the ways governments, colleges, and high schools interact with one another to complicate circles of discourse, sending ripple effects from Washington to Northwestern in Illinois to the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry.
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Lily Zuckerman profiles Rica Jusu-Davies, a Brock employee who greets every student with a smile at the Davis Cafe.