SHALHEVET HIGH SCHOOL • Los Angeles, CA May 2018 • Iyar 5778 • Vol. 18, Issue 5 shalhevetboilingpoint.com
MONUMENT: SAS Civil War students survey the battlefield from the General John Reynolds monument on McPherson Ridge in Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Students called parts of the trip emotional and ‘life-changing.’ History teacher Dr. Keith Harris, pointing, explained the scene.
BP Photo by Rabbi David Block
Gettysburg, 2018
BP Photo by Kate Orlanski
Student historians travel across the country, visiting battlefields and tourist shops to find the difference between what happened then and how it’s presented now.
By Kate Orlanski, Staff Writer A group of young historians made Shalhevet history last month when Dr. Harris’s SAS Civil War and Reconstruction class headed for Gettysburg, Penn., for Shalhevet’s first-ever out-ofstate academic trip. Over five days from April 21-26, these pioneers meditated in 19th-century war zones, walked in the footsteps of soldiers, took “ghost
tours” and even taught a Gettysburg Jewish stranger about Haman, all while seeing their textbooks come alive. Junior Hannah Friedman said one of her favorite parts was marching a mile-and-a-half across the Gettysburg battlefield, following the path where soldiers had walked during the battle. “It was just crazy, because you’re looking around and you’re realizing that this is exactly
‘Help, I’m scared’: Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting tell their stories By CLara Sandler. Community Editor The rain had stopped in LA, but it was still cold and the ground was damp when juniors Mia Freeman and Hayley Licata of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School told their story to Shalhevet students in the gym Mar. 23. Mia and Hayley described what they experienced the day of the shooting and since, and how their day-to-day lives have changed since the shooting Feb. 14.
They said the day started off as any other normal day; they had plans after school, they celebrated Valentine’s Day. Mia was in a hallway at school and was told to run out of the building; she ran to Starbucks and learned there of the horror that had happened. Hayley was in class and evacuated to a path between a lake and a fence. Her phone was blowing up with text messages. A friend hiding in a closet wrote, “Help I’m scared.”
Soon 17 people — 14 students and three teachers — were dead. The pair came to Shalhevet after officials Stephen S. Wise Temple in Bel Air connected with the Reform synagogue in Parkland, Fla., Congregation Kol Tikvah, according to Rabbi Schwarzberg, who thanked Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback, senior rabbi at Stephen S. Wise, for offering to send them to Shalhevet as well as Milken Continued on page 7
Lights out, desks up and if possible, lock the door By Tyler Ekaireb, Outside News Editor With responses that ranged from barricading doors with furniture to continuing class as though nothing was happening, Shalhevet experienced its first-ever lockdown drill on Tuesday, March 20, five weeks after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., made students feel more vulnerable around the country. Some classes turned off their lights, while others were unable to lock their doors. Some rooms have walls that are made entirely of glass, and students did their best to find cover. Classrooms on the third floor with double glass doors
or glass walls felt particularly unsafe. “It was kind of scary cause there was nothing to block you from bullets, and one of the blinds didn’t close so you could literalBP Photo by Molly Litvak ly just see in,” said BARRIER: During first-ever lockdown drill March 20, stujunior Dylan Corn, dents piled chairs against the glass doors in room 309. who was in room 303 at the time. all had lockdown drills in the past. At “They could definitea security assembly right after the Parkly shoot us really easily.” The drill was a first for Shalhevet, land tragedy, officials called the campus though eight other schools contacted among the safest and best protected by the Boiling Point in February had
Continued on page 4
One-acts
‘10 PLAGUES’
Orthodox schools across the country try ways to teach learning for its own sake, but most students still think grades are necessary by LUCY FRIED, TORAH EDITOR Enter a Shalhevet Judaic studies class at any given moment and you may hear the term “learning lishma” or “learning for the sake of learning,” being used. Learning for the sake of learning is a cherished value in Jewish education at Shalhevet and beyond, and an expectation of student and adult life in the Jewish world. In an informal Boiling Point survey, teachers and students around the country agreed on its importance. But every school contacted currently grades its Judaic Studies classes -- meaning that the learning is at least partly for the grade that will follow. East Coast schools Ramaz, SAR, and Frisch and Chicago’s Ida Crown Jewish Academy all grade their Judaic classes, as do West Coast schools Milken, De Toledo, and YULA girls’ and boys’ campuses. Several -- including Shalhevet -- also offer extra opportunities for learning that are not graded, some incentivized and some not. And opinions vary on how a non-graded system would affect learning. The Frisch School in New Jersey has an ungraded but incentivized after-school learning program, somewhat of a hybrid between grading and not grading, which can exempt students from taking their Gemara class final. Not only is the after-school class ungraded, but Frisch junior Elana Abramovitz said that this takes some focus off of grades from their regular Gemara classes. “If you go to 80 percent of the after-school learning programs, you can get out of taking a final,” Elana said. “Each teacher gives a certain topic for the whole year, so you sign up for the whole year, and it’s a 45-minute extra class without grades or tests.” YULA Boys High School has various opportunities for ungraded learning, including chaburas, or learning groups, that take place after morning davening. YULA Girls’ highest level Judaic Studies track, called Beit Midrash, is graded but does not have any graded tests or quizzes. Classes include
Outside News, Page 10
Arts, Page 16 Student-written plays range from thrillers to fantasy, each inspired by something that was visited on Pharoah.
Can it be for God when it’s for a grade?
Continued on page 16
WHAT’S INSIDE...
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what they saw when they were here,” Hannah said. On Monday, the group visited Devil’s Den, a rocky hill on the battlefield where they could see cannons, monuments and a view of Little Round Top, an important spot on the battlefield where 7,900 soldiers hs faced off on July 2, 1863. Eight hundred Union and 1,800 Confederate soldiers lost their lives that day. The students were asked Continued on page 6
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FUTURE OF THE FLU
Flu shots to improve Future vaccines will likely be more effective than this year’s was. Here’s why.
Community, Page 5
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PROM + SOIREE
Prom + Soiree Soiree used to be in lieu of prom and after prom. This year, it’s in addition to, but a little less extravagant.