

9:00pm
t is currently 9:00pm and the entire school is eerily silent. You see, I came back to school about an hour ago to get my Chumash notes that I left in my locker. It was supposed to be a two minute trip, but as soon as I retrieved my notes, the power went out! Without power, the fobs don’t work so I’m pretty much stuck here for the night.To make matters worse I left my phone in the car so I couldn’t even contact anyone to come and help. So currently I am stuck in the GMSG by myself at night with nothing but $4.75 and a LOT of time to study for Chumash. Why do these things always seem to happen to me?
I’m hungry so I’ll go see if I can find any food. Let me think, what are my options? I can try to get something out of the vending machine, live off of the chocolate in Mrs. Plotitsa’s office, or steal the ramen noodle soups from the Beit Midrasha classroom’s closet. I think the vending machines are my best bet, the only problem is that I don’t have so much money on me. Hey, I know! I can go check the shelves of supplies in Mrs Plotitsa’s office and maybe I will come across the vending
machine key. I can always pay her back tomorrow if I find it.
I walked down the hall and arrived at Mrs. Plotitsa’s office and opened the supply cabinet. Inside were some notebooks, pencils, some chocolate wrappers, and long skirts. I opened one of the notebooks, and you wouldn’t believe it, inside it was all of the codes to the doors of the MHA campus. Wait a second, this is dated 2007. Hold on there’s another page dated 2008, wait there are updated codes on every page! No wonder we never know the codes to anything! Anyway, I finally found the key to the vending machine. Then I realized one small detail I overlooked. Our school has two buildings, the vending machine is in the second, so after all that searching I can’t even get to the food! Chocolate jar it is I guess.
10:15pm
An hour and four Milky Ways, two Twix bars, one Almond joy, and a pack of M&M’s later I found myself extremely thirsty. Since, as previously stated, the vending machines aren’t an option, and the water fountain light was red, my only choice was to open the lounge fridge and see if I could find anything to eat. You would not
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believe what I found! There is an entire tub of salsa in there, a huge jar of grenadine, and some coffee syrup in there along with some butter. Basically, I found nothing to drink. Whatever, I guess I’ll survive. Ugh I’m still hungry. Oh wait! I’m in the GMSG!
Duh! I’ll just eat the endless supply of not stale bagels!
Of course I think of that now, AFTER I already ate a ton of chocolate. Whatever, I guess it’s dinner time.
11:00pm
After I raided the bagel supply, I decided I wanted some cereal, but of course we don’t get new milk until the morning. So scratch that idea I guess. I’m getting pretty tired and it’s already pretty late, I think I’ll try to fall asleep on the couch in the lounge. I lay down and just as my eyes began to close, I felt something fuzzy. In my sleepy state of mind I figured it was a teddy bear or something and hugged it tight, then it began to squeal. I shrieked and jumped up!
Ewww, it was a unicorn dressed in a rat costume. It must have gotten the purim memo!
Ugh I’m so tired. That nap was not refreshing. I decided that a walk around the school might tire me out some more and help bring me to sleep. I walked out of the lounge and there it was. Staring at me. Taunting me. Even more terrifying than the cold dead eyes of the unicorn in the rat costume, Dr. Kennon/Mr. McCann/Sarah Kahane’s smiley face ball. Its yellow face bore into my soul. I turned to run, but had nowhere to go in the tiny building many call school. I ran into the lounge again, I wasn’t blocked by any door since the school had it surgically removed last year. Then I remembered something, I was running from a ball. It can’t hurt me. I breathed a sigh of relief and walked back out into the hallway. The ball was still there, but apparently I was wrong. A giant history textbook knocked into the ball sending it flying! That’s all I remember. 7:45am
I woke up as student’s began showing up to school. That ball had knocked me out for the night. Students gathered outside but couldn’t get in due to the lack of working fobs. One of the students banged on the door, hoping someone would open it. Instinctively and half asleep, I walked over and pushed it open. Students began to shuffle in. Are you kidding? I could have gotten out the whole time? I better get an A on this Chumash test.
his week’s Parsha, Vayikra, opens up the third book of the Torah. With the opening of Sefer Vayikra, we enter a world of mitzvos that seem far removed from our lives today.
Avodas Ha’Mishkan (the service of the Kohanim in the Mishkan), Tumah and Ta’harah (ritual, spiritual impurity and purity), Avodas Yom ha’Kippurim (the work for Yom Kippur), laws of the Metzorah (one being diseased), Zav and Zavah (ritual impurities), and even Tumas Ha’yoledes (ritual impurity of a woman after childbirth) are all mitzvos and aspects of Jewish law that seem very foreign to us, as a result of almost 2,000 years of exile. With the Beis Hamikdash destroyed and Har Habayis desolate, it may seem difficult for us to relate to this third book of Torah, also known as Toras Kohanim (a Book of Instruction to the Priests).
In the words of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z’l, “Vayikra, the third book of Torah, is markedly different from the others. It contains no journey. It is set entirely at Sinai. It occupies only a brief section of time: a single month. There is almost no narrative. Yet, set at the center of the books, it is the key to understanding Israel’s calling as ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This parsha, with which the book opens, details the various kinds of sacrifices Bnei Yisrael brought to the Mishkan. There were five: the burnt offering (olah), the grain offering (mincha), the peace offering (shelamim), the sin offering (chatas), and the guilt offering (asham)”. These Korbanos were the most integral part of the Avodas Kohanim in the Mishkan, and through this daily service, the nation had a means to come close to Hashem.
Rabbi Lord J. Sacks z’l offers a meaningful and relevant answer. From the moment of conception, the mother is giving to her unborn baby. Blood, nutrients, air, sustenance, life, and love are transferred from the mother to the growing embryo, fetus, baby. And from the moment of birth, the parents instinctively take upon themselves, with unwavering commitment to provide, care for, raise, and give to their child. The giving is never-ending, allencompassing, and often, to some degree or another, continues as long as parent and child both live. What, truly, can the child give back to the parent? A picture scribbled in nursery school. A smile, laugh, hug, and kiss. An occasional card of appreciation and a note of thanks. Can the child ever repay – or even come close – to giving back to the parent what the parent has bestowed upon his child? It is in this vein that R’ Sacks explains one approach to understanding Korbanos; our offerings to the AllEncompassing G-d.
What our father is giving us is the opportunity to give back to him. This is very rare. Children know how dependent they are on their parents. They know that when they give their parents a present, it is usually only a token gesture. The answer to our question seems obvious once we appreciate the central image of Hashem as our Father and us, Bnei Yisrael, as His children. The greatest gift a parent can give a child is the dignity of being able to give. It is not that the parent lacks anything or that the child has genuinely given something he owns. Its significance is that it is a gesture of love – of acknowledgement and thanksgiving and reciprocity.
While there are many ways to understand the Avodah of Korbanos, what lessons and meaning can we derive from them for our day and age? Does Hashem ‘need’ our offerings? How can we offer Hashem what is His in the first place?
In life, it is important to remember that sometimes, the ultimate act of giving is taking. Hashem, Who is the Provider and Sustainer of all life forms, allows us to be givers, and He to be the taker. And in His taking from His children, He is truly giving us the greatest gift there is. The dignity and elevation that comes from giving back to our Father, our King.
he Mitzvah of tzitzis is a very special and important Mitzvah for boys, to remind them of Hashem and His Mitzvos. Tzitzis is tied strings of eight tassels and five knots on each of the four corners of the garment. Every man must wear tzitzis daily to fulfill this obligation. Additionally, the Mitzvah of tzitzis, is that any four-cornered garment (such as a woven poncho that has four distinct corners) a boy or man wears during the day must have tzitzis on it. The gematria of tzitzis, plus the eight tassels and five knots, equals 613, the number of Mitzvot in the Torah, displaying how central in the Torah this Mitzvah is. Since tzitzis is a positive time-bound Mitzvah, women are not obligated in it and don’t do it. But for men, it governs all of their clothing options. As we approach Purim, people are devising various ideas for costumes. Men have to be careful about tzitzis when deciding on their costume. If a man chooses to wear a costume that has four corners, such as ponchos or safety vests, they would supposedly need to add tzistzis to this garment. . But no one has ever seen a firefighter with tassels hanging off of their vest. So what are men supposed to do about adding tzitzis to their costumes?
brings his proof by saying that the same argument could be made for a tallis, which is worn for Kavod, honor, not as an article of clothing, yet is still obligated in tzitzis. He holds that as long as all four corners are in front, there is no obligation to put tzitzis on it. So if your coat has two corners on the bottom and two on top, all in the front, according to the Rema, you have no issue with tzitzis.
According to Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch in his Teshuvot V’Hanagot on Purim, as long as whatever part of your costume is supplementary and not instead of a different article of clothing, such as a shirt, then you don’t even need to put tzitzis on it! These types of clothing don’t fulfill the purpose of clothing, which is clear from how they’re worn, and so, according to some opinions, they are exempt from the Mitzvah of tzitzis. For example, say someone is dressing up as a construction worker and placing the four-cornered vest on top of his shirt, then it’s clear that the vest is only for appearance and not a true article of clothing and he doesn’t need to put tzitzis on his costume.
The Rema takes this idea a step further. He holds that an article of clothing, such as a coat with four corners, which is technically a usual piece of clothing but is simply worn for Purim and not as a coat, wouldn’t be exempt from tzitzis. He
The Beit Yosef accepts this, but offers another idea in case this doesn’t apply to your costume. He holds like the Rema, in that a costume that is supplementary still is obligated in tzitzis. However, he says, if you are truly using this costume for another purpose other than the function of clothing, then leniency. For example, some scarves, so thick that they’d be wearing them would wipe their hands on them as though they were napkins, something you don’t do on clothes. The Beit Yosef holds that most Purim costumes are like these scarves. As long as they are not simply your clothes for Purim, they can fall under this category of being used in a way other than as clothes and would be exempt That’s great but sometimes it doesn't apply. So what else can we do to ensure our Purim costumes are simple, accurate, and in line with Halacha? The Shulchan Aruch gives us a simple solution that lies in the material of your costume. He says that you are only obligated (אתיארודמ) to put tzitzis on four-cornered garments that are made out of sheep wool or linen. Therefore, if you get a costume that’s not made out of one of these materials, you don’t need to put tzitzis on it, regardless of whether or not it’s a true article of clothing. And chances are, your safety vest or other costume isn’t made out of wool or linen. However, the Rema disagrees with this so Ashkenazis are stuck with finding a different solution. The Mitzvah of tzitzis is one that is central in Jewish boys’ lives. Come Purim, however, the Halachos may get complicated in regards to this Mitzvah. If your costume really doesn’t work with strings attached to its corners, don’t worry, you can still have a nice Purim, no strings attached.
’m sure you already know who I am, but I, Margalit Goldkin, am the first GMSG Lady Mac to ever be drafted to the NBA. I have played for the Grizzlies ever since my Sophomore year in high school when they discovered that I would be the perfect player for their team. Yes, that’s right, I am playing side by side with Ja Morant. I got drafted because I'm 6'5" and can dunk over any player.
Let’s rewind a little bit to the beginning of my career. It all started freshman year of high school. Coach Nokes led the team to start the year. We were super strong and fast because he loved to do conditioning, only conditioning. So our skills were not too strong at this point, just in time for Coach Josh Sanderson to swoop in and institute skills on our team. Then, Coach Josh Kahane came in and took over our team for the Miami Tournament. He somehow withstood the great coach epidemic, and led us into my Sophomore year as our coach as well. Since then my skills have improved more and this year has been an even greater season for me.
One game came along and I had a feeling it was going to be my game. I even prepared with my lucky socks to get some minutes in the game. In reality, I was our team's number one bench warmer, and I was lucky to get put in for even the last 30 seconds. Feeling upset about the way the game played out, I went to the only place I knew could cheer me up: Mrs Plotitsa’s Chocolate Jar. Because it was after school hours, I knew it was prime time to get some chocolate. One piece turned into two and then three, and all of a sudden, I finished the whole jar! I never fully understood why Mrs. Plotitsa only ever let us eat one, but after eating the whole jar everyone soon understood.
life! Overnight I went from a 5'2" freshman to a 6'5" basketball legend!
I went to school that day and everyone was very shocked to say the least. People kept asking what happened and I truly didn't know how to respond. We got to basketball practice later that night and Coach was very surprised but excited at the same time to have someone so tall! We started warming up, but I was super fast and no one was able to keep up. We started to do layups and I was dunking the ball! We had a game the next day and the whole team was ready to dominate.
After our game that next day, we were having our team meeting when Coach’s phone started to ring. It was the people in charge of the RASG Tournament from Miami calling. The Miami Tournament was in less than a week and we were so excited but we were not expecting this call. Coach was soon yelling into the phone saying that we wanted to come and they should expect us there! He hung up the phone and told us they were trying to convince us not to come because news had spread about me and they didn't think in these circumstances it was fair for our team to bring me. Coach excitedly said we would win the whole thing because we had me, what a crazy turn of events! Shortly after the call from Miami, their wishes came true. The Grizzlies recruiter called asking to recruit me to their team. I accepted without thinking twice.
As I walked home my stomach hurt a little but I ignored it and kept walking. I felt like I had an extra bounce in the way I walked, but assumed it was just the sugar high. I was getting ready for bed later that night and realized how sore my legs were even though I didn't work out. As I went to sleep that night, I pulled my covers and fell right to sleep. I woke up the next morning and the covers were too short to go over my whole body. I assumed my blanket shrunk in the wash and started to get up and ready for school. Then, as I looked in the mirror and saw myself, not only did I have a huge pimple on my cheek but I had to bend all the way down to see my face. I've never seen someone so tall in my
When I joined the Grizzlies they were all shocked that someone as good as me would play with them. I play for fun with Ja when he isn't injured or suspended. Being on the Grizzlies is pretty hype. We get to travel every now and then but we are mostly home in Memphis, and I get to meet millions of fans after the games. Me, the mascot, and all the Grizz Girls are of course tight.
I am warming up now for our game tonig- BANG I felt my body shake as the vehicle hit the ground. I slowly opened my eyes confused as to where I was and why I was so sweaty. Then, I looked out the window and remembered that I had just landed back home in Memphis after a long flight from Miami. Then it all started to come back to me. I am the same old 5'2" Lady Macs bench warmer and I was so sweaty because I have a fever of 102 and got sent home from this year’s Miami Tournament. Home sweet home I guess.
he GMSG Lady Macs tested positive during the week of the Miami Beach Tournament for fouls, five second violations, and the all of these obstacles, they played four hard fought games, won each one, and ultimately brought home the championship trophy! Their trip surpassed all expectations.
Upon arrival in Miami Beach, assistant coach Eric Schubert shared an important piece of wisdom. “Due to the lack of kosher restaurants here, let's go to a Walmart to buy cans of tuna fish to eat for the duration of the trip.”
As if our day had not been hectic enough, we then had a basketball game to play. We played in the same arena as the Miami Heat, the Kaseya Center, to accommodate the roaring crowd of 18,000 people cheering us on. This was a shock to the team because we are accustomed to only 7 fans half asleep on the bleachers. For the first time this year, we played against Ramaz. We played a great game led by Junior Talya Mendelson with 23 points and Freshman Rachel Sanderson’s 12 assists. As the final buzzer sounded, we had won 69-42. We headed back to our luxurious hotel and enjoyed our cans of tuna.
The Lady Macs spent the following day on the beach. While sipping our virgin pina coladas, a humpback whale washed up on shore. While the girls’ ran to get a closer look, the lifeguards shoved us out of their way, performed CPR, and miraculously it started breathing again. We continued our day on the beach as if nothing had happened.
The final moment of the tournament arrived. All of our hard work and determination was preparing for this moment. The bleachers began to fill up and the sounds of the arena were beginning to increase in volume. Our Coach, Josh Kahane calmed our nerves five minutes before tipoff by singing to a Justin Bieber song. Yonina looked presentable, Becky globbed on her super glue, and Sara Karfunkel put on her eyelashes. We were ready to beat Shalhevet and bring home the championship trophy.
Our second basketball game was against Columbus Torah Academy. It was a typical game for us. Senior Becky Schubert caught the ball every time it was passed to her, thanks to the super glue that her father applied to them prior to the game. Junior Brooke Sanderson gracefully sprinted down the court like a beautiful gazelle. Dahlia Siegel made every layup and Sarah Kahane didn’t throw the ball out of bounds once! Senior Emma Wruble showed off her flawless skills of dribbling the basketball without traveling one time the whole game! Lastly, Sara Karfunkel played the entire game, with 9 steals, 7 assists, and dunked over the Columbus center. It was a momentous game and we won by 60 points!
The game began. After Sara Karfunkel got the tip off, Debi Cohen made a behind the back pass to Becky who then easily sinked in a 3-pointer. The next 10 consecutive plays, Junior Dahlia Siegel made back to back layups, not missing a single one. During halftime, thanks to Yocheved Naftel’s basketball connections, we met the Miami Heat stars in their locker room and got their autographs. After their encouragement to prevail, we went back on the court and continued to dominate Shalhevet. We won in a landslide! The girls got the gatorade bucket and dumped it on our coaches! We were so happy that all of our hard work using the shooting machine paid off. The championship trophy was finally coming home.
V'nahafoch Hu! Happy Purim! Although this is not how the Miami tournament went, we still had an amazing time full of basketball and bonding. As it was the Seniors’ last time playing high school basketball, they left everything they had on the court and represented the GMSG well. It was a great ending to the basketball season and we will cherish the memories we made this season.
n my freshman year, I walked into school without a clue of how to dress. I looked small, scared, and my hair definitely wasn't brushed. But as the seniors walked in, they were perfect. It was as if they had wind blowing through their hair, perfectly setting it back. I don't even know where the wind came from, because we were in the Beit Midrasha with the windows bolted shut! They had such nice clothes, and we all bowed at their feet. In my sophomore year, I learned how to dress a little better, felt a bit more confident, but still not as cool as the seniors. They just had this walk. It was like this confident walk telling me how much better they were than me. And I knew in two more years, that would be me, making all the underclassmen scared and run away when I walked into a room. Finally, my junior year came along, and I was ready to be a senior. My confidence was up, and I was ready to be the star everyone turned to, but not yet. I had one more year. One more year of not being good enough to get the respect the seniors have. Finally, my senior year came along. On the first day of school, I was ready. I wore my best clothes, my hair was slick and in place, and I had the walk down. I was ready. But nothing could prepare me for what I saw when I walked in on the first day— the worst fear I could ever imagine.
I walked into the BMA, and I was in utter shock. The new freshmen weren't what I was expecting. They were sitting on the desks, laughing in a circle, and didn't even look my way. And there they were shining—teeth sparkling, and their clothes were way better than mine. I kid you not, that same wind was blowing through their hair. Where did this wind even come from?! We were in the BMA, and even though they fixed the windows, the AC was locked in a box
we couldn't get into. I really had to figure out how they did that. My self-esteem went down at that very moment. And the day didn't get better from there. On my first day of school, I felt like a freshman all over again. In the coming weeks, I was kicked out of the lounge because the freshie gang took over. Yes, the freshie gang is what they call themselves. That was supposed to be me with the cringy friend group name. How could I have possibly found myself in this situation? I prepared for years. Every Saturday night, I see on all their Snapchat stories that they are having a party at one of their houses. I had to beg a member of the freshie gang to let me be on their story in the first place. I wasn't supposed to be the beggar; they were. Something is not right. And even though I knew something wasn't right, I had to suck it up and finish the school year with my head held high. So yeah, my head wasn't up for very long considering, when I saw the freshie gang approach, I bolted to the nearest closet and waited for them to leave. But I realized that it's not just me who is intimidated; the whole 10th, 11th, and 12th grades are all on edge. The school has become a prison; we all hide from the freshie gang, making sure we look our best each day to impress them. Sometimes I even see some of the other girls copy the freshmen; like on Monday, I saw a freshman walk in with a sweatshirt with a ripped collar; the next day, the whole school wore a sweatshirt with a ripped collar. This is getting out of hand; things need to change. Watch out, freshie gang, the seniors are not going down without a fight.
Try to find all the differences, we bet you won't! If you think you've found them all, send them in to sarah.kahane@mhafyos.org
Dear GenZJew,
When I was young, I worked as a maid in King Achashverosh’s palace. I was there through it all. Through the party, coronation of the new queen, decree to kill Jews, and the Jewish people’s miraculous survival. I must say the party wasn’t all too exciting, and if I wanted to see a bunch of drunk men I would just go back to my third husband! Nowadays, I walk around the streets on Purim and chuckle at the adorable ladybugs and Fred Flintstone costumes, yet I can’t help but cringe at all the Haman, Vashti, Achashverosh, Esther, and Mordechai costumes. They are so inaccurate! Do you really think that Haman’s hat was THAT pointy? I could prick my finger on those corners! And that sorry excuse for Vashti's tail? It belongs on a giraffe! These inaccurate costumes are a disgrace to real historical events, so tell me, what should I do about this?
Sincerely,
GoldieDear Goldie,
So like, I fully am not understanding what the issue is. Like ya I get it, Purim story costumes are like super overrated but you are low key overreacting. Though I must say, Haman’s hat was pretty pointy like that's why hamantaschen are so pointy, right? Legit though, Vashti’s tail does look like a giraffe's tail! Lol that is a good call! Anyway, “historical disgrace?” Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic? Like whatever the little kids are wearing is #adorable, who cares if it’s a little inaccurate? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for facts and stuff, no cap. I just believe in juvenile freedom. I get that you're super old or whatever but don’t hate on the cuties, it’s just a costume. TBH though, I like the Flintstone costumes better because Purim story costumes are so basic. Original and DIY costumes are so much less cringe, you know? Basically what I’m trying to say is don’t hate on my besties who decide to wear Purim story costumes, but I agree that original costumes are like super cute and wayyy better! But you do you right?
As the premiere expert on the GMSG I felt I was qualified to come here today and write this letter. To write a letter from the editor is so much more than an opportunity, it's also a honor, privilege, and duty. That is why you can not ever, ever waste words when you are writing one. It is important to write all of the words that you can think of to adequately convey your message to the readers without wasting a single word. Also, side point, how is that signature real. Are you sure you didn't use a font. Any signature on the Weekly looks like scribbles, I don't really get it. Uh-oh looks like I ran out of space. Guess its time to run before the Popo get here - Yosef "GMSG" VanderWalde
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