SHALHEVET HIGH SCHOOL • Los Angeles, CA shalhevetboilingpoint.com June 2019 • Sivan 5779 Vol. 19, Issue 4
BP Photo by Ashley Botnick
LOSS SHARED
CLOSE: At the funeral of Lori Gilbert Kaye, victim of the Chabad shooting in northern San Diego County, mourners heard words of inspiration and pain.
Bohemian is Back! By Molly Litvak, Outside News Editor Did Freddie Mercury know that his music would not only still be popular but be the focus of a world-renowned movie in 2018? Did trendy people in the late ‘80s and ‘90s think mom jeans would be fashionable 30 years later? More and more music and fashion throwbacks have been highlighted in pop culture in the last year, and the trend is growing. Many people who have grown up in the 2000s have become fans of artists and songs from the 20th century. Senior Lily Drazin’s favorites include Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles, Queen, Simon and Garfunkel, and Joy Division. “I enjoy experiencing music from a generation I didn’t get to live through,” said Lily, who said she started listening to old music partly through her mom. “The old music I’m typically drawn to is super simple, and usually only includes guitar and maybe one other instrument,” she said, “and I find it more enjoyable than more modern music that has way too many things going on.” Parental influence is common, especially in music, as is pop culture -- for example, hits like Bohemian Rhapsody, which won four Oscars and Best Drama in the Golden Globes. Trends come and go more often in fashion, but even there, specific throwback styles are circulating now from the ‘50s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Sophomore Michael Dahan listens to both older and newer music, but particlarly
BP Photo by Neima Fax
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Fairness Committee overturns election By Jacob Joseph Lefkowitz Brooks, Community Editor and Molly Litvak, Outside news editor Shalhevet’s Fairness Committee will have three co-chairs next year, after a Fairness deliberation changed the result of a Just Community election May 10 for the first time in school history. The decision will take effect next year and apply only to next year, and the Fairness Committee also said the voting process should be improved. Eight current Fairness members participated in the unanimous decision, which was made after a 30-minute hearing attended by a standing-room-only crowd of around 54 students in Room 308 during breakfast. Several students had to sit on the floor of the
room, also known as the Music Room, which is among the largest classrooms at Shalhevet. It was held a day after leaders of the Agenda Committee asked Fairness to decide what to do, after they decided that the school’s computerized “instant runoff” voting system, being used for the third year, had not accurately tallied the votes. The reason was that the race was for two equal co-chairs, but votes for the two slots were counted as first- and second-place votes for the same office. This had the effect of not counting some voters’ votes for first place and other voters’ votes for second place. That, everyone agreed, yielded a result that did not reflect the community’s views as to who the Fairness co-chairs should actually be. Alumnus Sam Hirschhorn ‘17 — the computer program’s Continued on page 5
SKIRTED: Why girls can’t wear pants at school By Nicholas Fields, Torah Editor, and Clara Sandler, Co-Editor-in-Chief
they may reveal less of a girl’s figure than some skirts do. But modesty, it turns out, is not all that’s involved. Shalhevet’s dress code, described very simply in the Student Handbook, has a number of factors behind it, including some that might even seem like they are in contradiction with one another. The first is Jewish law -- halacha. Devarim 22:5 states that a woman should not wear the clothing of a man. In 2019, which gender wears what is not as simple as it might have been in the past, but this factor is still a consideration. The second is minhag, or custom. Most Shalhevet faculty cite this as the strongest reason for Shalhevet’s rules -- the idea of a “normative culture” of Modern Orthodoxy today, along with a sense of formality to show respect at school. And finally, there is modesty. As shown by riding-up pencil skirts, culture and hala-
Shalhevet has never had an official uniform, but girls at Shalhevet have a sort of pseudo-uniform, one made up of a pencil skirt and a sweatshirt. It complies with the school dress code and is an easy outfit to put together. But just because it complies with the dress code does not mean that it is always modest, or tsanua. Some girls believe that because the skirts are short and can ride up, pants would make it easier to be modest. “I think pants are less revealing than skirts,” said junior Maia Lefferman. “I think that we should be able to wear what we want to wear, and the school should not be able to tell us what we can and can’t wear.” So why aren’t pants allowed at Shalhevet? It would seem that if loose, like sweatpants,
cha do not automatically promote what is most modest. Freshman Rayna Kent believes that wearing pants is more tsanua because it covers more. “If the whole thing about tzniut is that you don’t want to be too revealing,” she said, “you’re revealing more of your body and leg with a pencil skirt than you are with sweatpants. Sweatpants aren’t made for you to look good in, they’re just meant to be comfortable.” But she still thinks sweatpants are more modest than a pencil skirt. “We’re a Modern Orthodox school and I don’t think it’s part of the vision of a Modern Orthodox school,” said Rayna. On page nine under Dress Code, Shalhevet’s Student Handbook says this: “All skirts must reach the knee when standing and must fall vertically over the knee when seated. Skirts should be closed all the way and fit properly (and please, do Continued on page 16
WHAT’S INSIDE...
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GRACEFUL UNDER PRESSURE: NEW DANCE CLUB MAKES A VIDEO
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ONE MORE TIME: Israel WILL GO back to the polls after BIBI CAN’T FORM COALITION
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ADVANTAGE SHALHEVET: IT doesn’t take six-figure bribes TO HAVE AN edge in college ADMISSION