CYHSB Weekly 12/22/23



Volume 18, Issue 9

December 22, 2023

CYHSB WEEKLY Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys Volume 18, Issue 9 Bringing Heaven to Earth: A Short Story Page 3 A Look into Mock Trial Page 5 Opinion: Midterms Need to go for Good Page 6 Cooper Clicks Page 7 Notes from the Editors Page 8 Have a Good Shabbos!

CYHSB Weekly

NBA In-Season Tournament: Fabulous Flop or Stunning Success Benny Freiden (26’) Jack Kampf (26') In its new publicity stunt, the NBA introduced its all-new NBA in-season tournament. The league announced that this tournament was going to take place in the middle of the regular season; it was just like the playoffs, but occurred earlier. Adding much interest to its mid-season schedule.

All 30 teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference, based on win-loss records from the previous 2022-23 regular season for the tournament.

Each team played four designated group games – one game against each opponent in their group, with

two games at home and two away games.

The first group from the Western Conference was West Group A, which consisted of the Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, L.A Lakers, Utah Jazz, and Portland Trail Blazers.

In our opinion, this was one of the better groups in the tournament as they had a lot of talented teams with high-caliber players.

The next Western conference group was West Group B which consisted of the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, and Houston Rockets. This group is also very good as they had the defending Champions; the Denver Nuggets.

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Cont. from last page Other superstar talent could be found in the Clippers and the Pelicans, Mavericks, and Houston Rockets.

The last Western Group was Western Group C which consisted of the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the San Antonio Spurs. This group is a fascinating batch with young cores in Sacramento, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and San Antonio. Of course, this group also had the Superstar Talent in Golden State.

Overall, all these Western groups are very talented with superstarcaliber players.

In the East, the first group is Eastern Group A. This group consists of the Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, and Detroit Pistons. They have star players like Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young, Tyrese Haliburton, Cade Cunningham, and many more.

The next East group is East Group B. This group comprises the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, and Washington Wizards.

This group is also intimidating with Damian Lillard and Giannis in Milwaukee; Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle in New York; Jimmy Butler, Tyler Hero, and Bam Adebayo in Miami; Lamelo Ball and Miles Bridges in Charlotte. The Washington Wizards also added a lot of stars in the offseason like Jordan Poole and Tyus Jones.

The last Eastern Conference group is East Group C. This group consists of the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and Orlando Magic.

This group is interesting as it has the highest-ranked team in the NBA — the Boston Celtics.

The in-season tournament games were divided throughout the past few months and most made for an exciting match. After each team played 4 games, the winners from CYHSB Weekly

December 22, 2023

Source: NBA.com each group made the knockout round (plus one wild card team).

From the west, the Lakers (4-0) took the 1st seed in the knockout round. The Kings (4-0) got the 2nd seed and won group C. The 3rd seed went to the Pelicans (3-1) and the wild card team from the west was the Suns (3-1).

The East 1st seed was the Bucks (4-0) who won group B. The 2 seed was the Pacers (4-0) who took group A. The 3rd seed was the Celtics (3-1) who took group C. This was the only group that ended up with the top 2 teams tying. The tiebreaker rules come down to point differential throughout all the games. This was particularly interesting as we saw the Celtics blow out the Bulls in the last game to make their point differential + 27, just passing the Magic who went 3-1 with a + 22 point differential.

The wild card team from the East was the 3-1 Knicks.

The 1st seed played the 4th seed, and the 2nd seed played the 3rd seed on each side of the bracket. The #1 Lakers and #4 Suns went back and forth in what was a great first game.

Lebron James however, held off the Suns and dropped 31 in a 106-103 nail-biter. Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 35 points in a blowout win over the #4 Knicks, 146-122.

The #3 Pelicans beat the #2 Kings led by Brandon Ingram's 30 points to set them up for a chance in the championship. The #2 Pacers took down the #3 Celtics, 122-112 as Tyrese Halliburton erupted with 26

points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists, recording his first triple-double. The young Pacers team has the lowest payroll in the NBA and is led by star guard, Tyrese Haliburton. And yet, have found themselves at one of the top teams in the league.

The Lakers sounded the Pelicans in the semifinals in which The Lakers led 133-89 with lead player Lebron James’s 30 points.

The Pacers surprised the NBA again as they sneaked past the Bucks, 128-119 led by Tyrese Haliburton who scored 27 points.

The championship game was set.

One of the youngest teams in the league and star guard Tyrese Halliburton was taking on one of the older teams in the league led by superstar Lebron James. We knew we were in for a good one. The game was going back and forth but eventually, the Lakers took hold. led

by Anthony Davis as he scored 41 points, leading his team to victory, 123-109.

Looking back, some people liked the tournament while others were skeptical about it. People asked what’s the point of a tournament during the season? Some liked the idea due to bringing the fun to basketball. The championship game had a total of 4.58 million viewers which is the most since 2018 in a regular season game. We think that this tournament is a solid idea although there are things to work on. Overall, the tournament was a success and was an exciting addition to the regular NBA season.

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Volume 18, Issue 9

December 22, 2023

Bringing Heaven to Earth: A Short Story Avi Becker (24’) "That’s not my business," said the Whoever has heard the Rebbe of I read a wonderful story this past Litvak, shrugging. Yet all the while Nemirov groan knows how much Shabbat, and it would be a disservice what a Litvak can do! - he is sorrow for all Israel, how much if I did not share it and elaborate on scheming to find out. suffering, lies in each groan. A man’s the message.

That same night, right after the heart might break, hearing it. But a Early every Friday morning, at the evening prayers, the Litvak steals into Litvak is made of iron; he listens and time of the Selichot Prayers, in the the Rebbe’s room, slides under the remains where he is. The Rebbe days before Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe’s bed, and waits. He’ll watch long life to him! - lies on the bed, and Rebbe of Nemirov would vanish. He all night and discover where the the Litvak under the bed. was nowhere to be seen - neither in Rebbe vanishes and what he does Then the Litvak hears the beds in the synagogue nor in the two the house begin to creak; he study houses nor at a minyan. hears people jumping out of And he was certainly not at their beds; mumbling a few home. His door stood open: Jewish words, pouring water on whoever wished could go in their fingernails, banging doors. and out; no one would steal Everyone has left. It is again from the Rebbe. But not a quiet and dark; a bit of light living creature was within. from the moon shines through Where could the Rebbe be? the shutters.

Where should he be? In heaven, Finally the Rebbe - long life no doubt. A Rebbe has plenty of to him! - arises. First, he does business to take care of just what befits a Jew. Then he goes before the Days of Awe. Jews, to the clothes closet and takes G-d bless them, need out a bundle of peasant clothes: livelihood, peace, health, and linen trousers, high boots, a good matches. They want to be coat, a big felt hat, and a long, pious and good, but our sins are wide leather belt studded with so great, and Satan of the brass nails. The Rebbe gets thousand eyes watches the dressed. From his coat pocket whole earth from one end to the dangles the end of a heavy other. What he sees, he reports; peasant rope. he denounces, informs. Who The Rebbe goes out, and the can help us if not the Rebbe?

Litvak follows him.

Last Week’s That’s what theSolution people On the way, the Rebbe stops thought. in the kitchen, bends down, But once a Litvak (a Jew from takes an ax from the bed, puts it Lithuania who opposed the into his belt, and leaves the sentimental emotions and house. The Litvak trembles but spiritual feelings of Chassidim continues to follow.

A stairway ascending to Heaven. Source: Creative and their Rebbes) came, and he The hushed dread of the Days Fabrica laughed. You know the Litvaks. of Awe hangs over the dark They think little of the holy streets. Every once in a while a mystical books but stuff themselves during the Selichot Prayers. cry rises from some minyan reciting with Talmud and law. So this Litvak Someone else might have gotten the Selichot Prayers, or from a points to a passage in the Talmud - it drowsy and fallen asleep, but a Litvak sickbed. The Rebbe hugs the sides of sticks in your eyes - where it is is never at a loss; he recites a whole the streets, keeping to the shade of the written that even Moses our Teacher tractate of the Talmud by heart. houses. He glides from house to did not ascend to heaven during his At dawn he hears the call to prayers. house, and the Litvak after him. The lifetime but remained suspended two The Rebbe has already been awake Litvak hears the sound of his and a half feet below. Go argue with a for a long time. The Litvak heard him heartbeats mingling with the sound of Litvak! groaning for a whole hour. the Rebbe’s heavy steps. But he keeps So where can the Rebbe be?

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December 22, 2023

on going and follows the Rebbe to sees a poor room with broken, the outskirts of town. miserable furnishings. A sick A small wood stands just outside the town.

The Rabbe - long life to him! - enters the wood. He takes thirty or forty steps and stops by a small tree.

The Litvak, overcome with amazement, watches the Rebbe take the ax out of his belt and strike the tree. He hears the tree creak and fall. The Rebbe chops the tree into logs and the logs into sticks. Then he makes a bundle of the wood and ties it with the rope in his pocket. He puts the bundle of wood on his back, shoves the ax back into his belt, and returns to the Source https://www.publishersweekly.com/ town.

He stops at a back street woman, wrapped in rags, lies on beside a small, broken-down shack the bed. She complains bitterly, and knocks at the window.

"Buy? How can I buy it? Where "Who is there?" asks a will a poor widow get money?" frightened voice. The Litvaks "I’ll lend it to you," answers the recognize it as the voice of a sick supposed Vassil. "It’s only six Jewish woman. cents."

"I" answers the Rebbe in the "And how will I ever pay you accent of a peasant. back?" asks the poor woman, "Who is I?" groaning.

Again the Rebbe answers in "Foolish one," says the Rebbe Russian. "Vassil." reproachfully. "See, you are a poor, "Who is Vassil, and what do sick Jew, and I am ready to trust you want?" you with a little wood. I am sure "I have wood to sell, very you’ll pay. While you, you have cheap." And not waiting for the such a great and mighty God and woman’s reply, he goes into the you don’t trust him for six cents." house.

"And who will kindle the fire?"

The Litvak steals in after him. In asks the widow. "Have I the the gray light of early morning, he

strength to get up? My son is at work."

"I’ll kindle the fire," answers the Rebbe.

As the Rebbe puts the wood into the oven he recited, in a groan, the first portion of the Selichot Prayers.

As he kindled the fire and the wood burned brightly, he recited, a bit more joyously, the second portion of the Selichot Prayers. When the fire was set, he recited the third portion and then shut the stove.

The Litvak who saw all this became a disciple of the Rebbe.

And ever after, when another disciple tells how the Rebbe of Nemirov ascends to heaven at the time of the Selichot Prayers, the Litvak does not laugh.

He only adds quietly: "If not higher…"

If the story does not speak enough for itself, I’d like to offer some elaboration. People often view heaven as some place beyond earth, where the good get to go, while the bad go “down below.”

The most important message one can take during their life is that a true Tzaddik is not brought to heaven, but rather brings heaven onto earth, for all to enjoy. A Rasha, on the other hand, does not merely go to Gehenna, but conceals G-d’s light in this world, creating a Gehenna on earth.

Radical Riddles What is seen in the middle of March and April that can't be seen at the beginning or end of either month?

Whoever sends the rst correct answer wi receive a special reward!

Send your answer to amit.zalman@mhafyos.org! Last issue’s winner:

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Volume 18, Issue 9



Volume 18, Issue 9

December 22, 2023

A Deeper Look into Mock Trial Ilan Lowell ('25) It was a dark and stormy night. A man comes home from a long day of work, tired, only wanting to rest at home. He tries to unlock his door, but it swings open unexpectedly. He thinks “must've left it unlocked.” He opens the door to a wrecked house, items strewn across the floor, things smashed to pieces, glass from a window on the floor, curtains and curtain rods pulled down. He hears a noise from the other room. The man grabs his gun from a draw and racks it, loading a bullet into the chamber. Two men, Jay and Joules come into the room and see the man, Ronnie. Jay had a gun, and he pointed it at Ronnie, yelling at him to drop his gun.

Ronnie shot him, and he collapsed, dead. Jules ran out the backdoor, but was soon caught thanks to a handwritten letter analysis and a purchased clown mask. Jules is now on trial for vandalism (over $1k), aggravated burglary, and firstdegree murder (felony murder).

This is the case that was presented to me and the rest of the people on the Mock Trial Team. Of course, there are many more details to this case, including evidence, witness statements, and a lot of elements of the actual case that I left out, like what happened the night before. The Mock Trial team will use this additional evidence to prove (or disprove), whether or not Jules is guilty of the charges being pressed against him.

There are three main elements of this case. First, the Felony Murder charge. Felony Murder is, by definition, “A death caused caused during the preparation or attempt or commision of a felony.” The penalty for a felony murder is either life in prison, or CYHSB Weekly

the death penalty. You may be asking why Joules is being charged for murder when he didn't kill anyone. Essentially, he is being charged because he caused Jay's death. In order to prove this Felony Murder Charge, we have to prove that he either attempted to, or did, a felony.

The second charge on Joules is Aggravated Burglary.

Aggravated Burglary is when you enter a habitation without permission, and commit or attempt to commit a felony, theft, or assault.

The third charge is vandalism, which is a felony when the damage is over $1000. Of course, vandalism is when you cause damage to someone else's property without consent.

Essentially, in order to prove the first two charges of Felony Murder and Aggravated Burglary we either have to prove that Jay and Joules vandalized over $1000, or committed some other felony like destruction of evidence.

In the last meeting we had, the Mock Trial team went over an example case, in which a guy was burned by an explosion from

Source: Buchanan High School a device, and he’s suing a company. We went over a witness statement from this case and paired up to point out the possible things that we could use to prove the charges in that case.

In our next meeting, we'll go over the Mock Trial case and figure out what we could use to prove whether the charges against Jules are true or false.

Soon, we’ll pair up and go line by line over the various witness statements in the case, highlighting what we think we can use to prove (or disprove) Jules' charges. In one of the next few meetings, we will assign roles to the members of Mock Trial, deciding who is gonna take the part of each witness andthere accompanying lawyer.

“From introducing the freshman to case theory, to preparing the next generation of leaders, mock trial is off to an exciting start” says Team CoCaptain Nadav Lowell. All in all, I think the members of the mock Trial team are looking forward to learning more about Mock Trial this year, and hope to have a good run at the tournament this season.

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December 22, 2023

Opinion: Midterms Need to go for Good Avigdor Zweihorn (27’) The students of the CYHSB have had very mixed reactions to the cancellation of midterms. Some students were happy to have one less thing to worry about, while others felt that midterms were very important for our education and were unhappy with the decision.

While the administration had many other reasons to cancel midterms this year, some people are wondering if the midterms were ever necessary.

One side would say “Midterms are important because they show where a student needs to improve.”

This is a very good point, but teachers can see how the students are doing anytime in the year. If the point of midterms is to display the student's progress, what is the point of all the other tests? Since they're being given tests throughout the semester, by the time the midterms come teachers are already seeing different ways their students can improve.

Midterms can also help students learn how to study larger amounts of information, a helpful skill for college. Getting rid of midterms does not necessarily mean getting rid of finals, which is good because studying for finals is more important than studying for midterms as they cover more material than midterms do.

Unfortunately, one or two tests a year don't make much of a difference in your studying habits.

The best way to learn to work harder and learn more material in less time is through AP classes.

Studying for a midterm is a good time for students to review all the things they have learned so far.

Sometimes someone learns something at the beginning of the year and it doesn't become important again until the end of the year by which time they already would have forgotten it. There is a CYHSB Weekly

Midterms causes a lot of stress to students. Source: Clipart Library concept called the curve of forgetting. This concept was developed by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a psychologist who lived in the late 19th century. According to the concept, if you were to learn something in a couple of hours and study it ten minutes every day for thirty days until a test, to relearn that concept afterward it would only take a two to four-minute study session. But if you don't study it again until a month before midterms it could take up to forty to sixty minutes to relearn it. If we didn't have midterms, it would take even longer to relearn the material before the final.

While these are good reasons to prove that getting rid of midterms might not hurt the student's education, there still is one question: why not? What is wrong with midterms, or is there anything beneficial to ending them? “Not having midterms allows classes to cover more material, because we don't have to spend a week studying

for midterms.” says Ethan Vanderwalde (‘25). This is part of the reason midterms were canceled this year, the classes fell behind and we won't be able to cover all the material. But even in a year where all the classes are perfectly on schedule, finishing the lessons 1 week earlier means an extra week to study for finals in class. For many students the thought of an impending midterm does not come without a toll, midterm time can be very stressful. “Without midterms, I will spend more quality time with my family and spend more time outdoors playing sports”, says Akiva Levine (‘26). Cutting down this stress and giving students more free time will be greatly beneficial to their mental health. Getting rid of midterms can therefore be beneficial, and think about it; why should we have midterms in the first place?

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Volume 18, Issue 9

December 22, 2023

Cooper Clicks Pictures By Rhanyei Henry and Raanan Vanderwalde

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December 22, 2023

Good Shabbos Memphis, I know as the associate editor you don't hear from me much but I hope you'll take the time to read this short message. The weekly is a school program made for all students. It's an opportunity for growth and development and we enjoy our work providing the community with a quality newspaper. However, our process is not free and we need funds to keep the newspaper program alive. If you can help us out by sponsoring an issue, or making a small donation we would greatly appreciate it. Please reach out at nadav.lowell@mhafyos.org for more information.

Thank you and have a restful and shabbos, -Nadav Lowell Associate Editor-in-Chief CYHSB Weekly Staff Editor-in-Chief Ezra Davidovics | ezra.davidovics@mhafyos.org Associate Editor-in-Chief Nadav Lowell | nadav.lowell@mhafyos.org Managing Editor Raanan Vanderwalde | raanan.vanderwalde@mhafyos.org Head of Torah Affairs Avi Becker | avi.becker@mhafyos.org Layout Editors Ra Davidovics | rafael.davidovics@mhafyos.org Amit Zalman | amit.zalman@mhafyos.org News Editors Akiva Levine | akiva.levine@mhafyos.org Yitzy Ryp | yitzy.ryp@mhafyos.org Ilan Lowell | ilan.lowell@mhafyos.org Photographers and Complaint Managers J.J. Stein | jacob.stein@mhafyos.org Jack Kampf | jack.kampf@mhafyos.org CYHSB Weekly Staff Jojo Ardestani | jonathan.ardestani@mhafyos.org Ra Goldkin | rafael.goldkin@mhafyos.org Benny Freiden | benjamin.freiden@mhafyos.org Ilan Lennon | ilan.lennon@mhafyos.org Jonah Siegel | jonah.siegel@mhafyos.org Omer Zalman | omer.zalman@mhafyos.org Davi Baum | david.baum@mhafyos.org Administrative Advisors Mrs. Ashley Brown Rabbi Dov Rossman

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Volume 18, Issue 9

From the Editor: With the removal of this year's midterms we have had a lot more time to relax. This has given time to think, have friendly arguments, do extracurriculars and watch basketball. May we all use this time wisely and hopefully make ourselves a Heaven on Earth

- Ezra Davidovics

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