Volume 19, Issue 7
Crossword By: Raanan
VanderWalde
Page 3
Trivia Corner
Page 3
PhotoJournalism: LA Trip
Page 4
The Parshah of “Vayimaen”
Page 6
Calvin and Hobbes
Page 7
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Raanan VanderWalde ('25)
Last Thursday our school hosted flag football tryouts, putting together our AJA Spring Classic Invitational team that will be sent to Atlanta in late March.
Approximately 15 students tried out, but only between 10-12 of them will be making the team according to Coach Pinto. The official football coach of the team remains
undecided, with Coach Pinto expressing that “he has many candidates” for the job. Coach Pinto’s plan was to fill in for now and host the tryouts himself.
The AJA Spring Classic Invitational is scheduled for the weekend of March 28-31. Six teams will participate in the tournament, the CYHSB being one of them. The Cont’d on next page.
Cont’d fom previous page. tournament organizers stated that “The weekend event brings together boys from Jewish High Schools for a flag football tournament and Shabbaton to teach about sportsmanship, competition, community, and respect.”
The tournament will be governed under the rules of the 7 on 7 SCREEN based on the NIRSA Flag Football handbook, which is available to purchase online. These rules differ in many ways from the ones us CYHSB -ers are accustomed to playing under in the Cooper Yeshiva Football League, our intramural league, including different rules about contact, first downs, and blocking/rushing.
The tournament will include seeding games and bracket games until the winners reach a National Championship. Each team will get the opportunity to play at least three games over the weekend. Our athletes will be generously hosted by Atlanta families and be offered copious amounts of programming over Shabbos
Before tryouts began, Coach Pinto shared with me his plans, saying “Tryouts are going to be about flag football skills: speed, defense, offense, throwing, catching, blocking.” He expounded upon that, saying “I want to test anything expected in football.” He also said that tryouts will be “hard”, meaning that if you want to make the team you’ll have to be tough.
When asked how he will be deciding the team Coach Pinto said “Aside from showing qualified football characteristics, the players going on the Shabbaton also need to show a high academic level.” Coach Pinto explained that he will decide the team based on his impressions of the players, while he will also verify every team member with Rabbi Rossman to make sure they are academically capable of going
vacant, saying that the new coach will have to be “flexible” with the team that he receives.
Many students heavily anticipated these tryouts, practicing their skills for weeks before December 19. Sophomore Ilan Lennon said they “to prepare for tryouts I have been working diligently through regimented drills and practices as well as ensuring that I am staying well nourished for optimal performance.”
Source: atljewishacademy.org
on this trip.
Contrary to popular assumption, Coach Pinto explained that students will not come into tryouts applying for a certain position on the team (such as quarterback, receiver, or blocker). Instead, he will choose the players from a more general tryout, who will then be assigned positions by the team’s official coach. Coach Pinto expressed his understanding of potential problems with this approach, being that this approach might cause certain positions on the team to remain
The Macs have been to the AJA Spring Classic Invitational in the past, our last attendance being in March of 2022. Senior Rafi Goldkin reflected on the experience saying that “As a freshman playing for the football team, obviously I didn’t get much playing time, but going on AJA was still an enjoyable experience to be with the older guys and stick together as a team.”
In 2022, despite our best efforts, we lost all five games we played. We did, however, win the Torah Bowl, a Torah knowledge trivia game, which Rafi called his “favorite part of the tournament.”
Although tryout results have not yet been released, many students are excited for the possibility of going to Atlanta in the spring. Junior Jack Kampf said he is excited to “play great football.”
Ilan Lennon confidently said, “When I make the team, I am excited to meet and compete with opponents from around the country.”
By: Raanan VanderWalde
This past week, five of The Weekly staff (Nadav Lowell, Raanan Vanderwalde, Akiva Levine, JJ Stein and Rafi Davidovics) attended the Jewish Scholastic Press Association’s Journalism Conference for high-school students in Los Angeles, California. The conference delved into ethical dilemmas in journalism and provided strategies for improving article writing, newspaper design, and photography. The students learned a lot and connected with students nationally. The students additionally enjoyed quality time in Los Angeles, participating in fun activities and bonding opportunities.
All photos are credited to JJ Stein.
The night session took place in a Beverly Hils house which had many cool things, fom paintings to skeletons of a 3000-year-old Siberian polar bear and peacock and another session talking to Photographer Jackson Krule, who explained some of the work he had done in places like Keryas Joel, the Satmar
exploring the city and visiting famous monuments like the Gri
Raanan, along with the Editors in Chief fom the AJA Palete and the Shalhevet Boiling Point.
We then quickly drove to LA Burger Bar for a fast dinner before heading to the airport for our midnight flight.
Rafi Goldkin ('25)
“And he refused” (Bereishis 39:8 A moment of holiness, a big nisayon, and an example for Jews forever. In Parsha Vayeishev, we witness one of the biggest “Guarding Kedusha” moments. Yosef Hatzadik, refusing to be seduced by the wife of Potiphar, was a moment of pure Vayimaen, of pure refusal to give in to the yetzer hara (evil inclination). Oftentimes, when reading through this part of the Torah, we become a little bit guilty of all the times we have failed and not lived up to the expectation of Yosef Hatzadik However, this Shabbos let the story of Eshes Potiphar give us a much needed chizzuk. Rabbi Nachum Binder tells over from chazal that Kriyah Meorrer Es Hazman, that when a Parsha is read in the Torah, it causes a “waking up” up in the world from that Parsha. But where are we supposed to draw this strength from, what is going to reinforce our resolution to uphold our holiness and guard ourselves against the yetzer hara? The Gemara tells us that when Yosef was about to be seduced by the wife of Potiphar, Yaakov, his father, appeared to him in the window, giving him chizzuk, encouraging him not to sin. His father stood by his side through the test, until Yosef was able to scream out and run away. Rav Moshe Weinberger told a story of Rav Shimele from Czernowitz. Once, a father and
mother came crying to Rav Shimele that their daughter had a secret relationship with a non-Jewish boy and ran off with him. They discovered that she had joined a convent and was preparing to be baptized very soon. The parents were in total despair, and had no clue what to do. Rav Shimele took his gabbai to the convent and set up camp right outside the front door on a bench, waiting for somebody to come out. When a man, a worker, finally walked out the front door, Rav Shimele bribed the man to bring a note to the girl inside the convent. It wrote, “I, Rav Shimele of Czernowit, the son of Rav Mendel of Vurka, am waiting for you.” Then, the Rebbe and his gabbai went and sat on the bench for three days and three nights, they refused to leave. One night, very late, they heard the front gate to the convent
creaking open, and saw the Jewish girl standing there. The Rebbe, the gabbai, and the Jewish girl began to run, and kept on running as far away from the convent until they came to a small opening in the woods. Rav Shimele turned to the girl, and asked her, “what gave you the strength to break free? You loved that man so much, how did you escape?”
“Rebbe, it was very difficult, but I saw your image, and knew you were waiting for me. Even now, three days later, I knew you were still waiting.” The strength of Yosef comes from an image of seeing those who love you and believe in you. That is the image in the window for each of us. To know that Hashem is waiting for each of us, believing in us and loving us. With that image, we will all be able to refuse the yetzer hara like Yosef Hatzadik was able to.
Co-Editors in Chief
Nadav Lowell ('25) | Nadav.Lowell@mhafyos.org
Raanan VanderWalde ('25) | Raanan.VanderWalde@mhafyos.org
Head of Torah Affairs
Rafi Goldkin ('25) | Rafael.Goldkin@mhafyos.org
Associate Editor-in-Chief
Rafi Davidovics ('26) | Rafael.Davidovics@mhafyos.org
Managing Editor
Akiva Levine ('26) | Akiva.Levine@mhafyos.org
Chief Layout and Production Editors
Yitzy Ryp ('25) | Yitzy.Ryp@mhafyos.org
Amit Zalman ('26) | Amit.Zalman@mhafyos.org
Photography and Social Media
J.J. Stein ('25) | Jacob.Stein@mhafyos.org
Layout and Special Features
Jojo Ardestani ('25) | Jonathan.Ardestani@mhafyos.org
Avigdor Zweihorn ('27) | Avigdor.Zweihorn@mhafyos.org
Senior News Editor
Ilan Lowell ('25) | Ilan.Lowell@mhafyos.org
News Editors
Davi Baum ('27) | David.Baum@mhafyos.org
Ilan Lennon ('27) | Ilan.Lennon@mhafyos.org
CYHSB Weekly Staff Writers
Jack Ardestani ('27) | Jack.Ardestani@mhafyos.org
Gordon Chaifetz (’27) | Gordon.Chaifetz@mhafyos.org
Benny Freiden ('26) | Benjamin.Freiden@mhafyos.org
Jack Kampf ('26) | Jack.Kampf@mhafyos.org
Gavi Lichter (’27) | Gavriel.Lichter@mhafyos.org
Yakir Rovner (’28) | Yakir.Rovner@mhafyos.org
Tzvi Steiner ('26) | Tzvi.Steiner@mhafyos.org
Omer Zalman ('27) | Omer.Zalman@mhafyos.org
Administrative Advisor
Mrs. Ashley Brown
The Weekly has recently been shifting to adjust our focus. We wish to keep in mind our unique status as a student newspaper, sharing student perspectives and experiences through The Weekly. Instead of highlighting just international or political news, we will redouble focus on showcasing the student perspective, whether it be an important school policy or a new opportunity for investigative journalism in our community. With our new skills from JSPA Newspaper Conference (see the photojournalism piece!), we hope to improve our paper with every new issue.
-Co-Editors in Chief