Community Newsletter of the Maimonides Hebrew Day School of the Capital District 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208 (518) 453-9363/3434 www.maimonidesschool.org produced by Rabbi Mendel & students in the TNT (Torah ‘n Technology) Program

Maimonides is accredited by the NYS Board of Regents & is a beneficiary of UJF-NENY maimonidesschool@gmail.com

BH. 26 Adar II, 5774 / March 28, 2014

TWO SIMCHAS THIS WKND Mazal Tov to the Kochmans on Sholom’s Bar-Mitzvah with an aliyah

on Thursday, the celebration at school on Thursday evening, and a Kiddush this Shabbos at Shomray Torah. Mazal Tov to Andrusiers on Shaina’s Bas-Mitzvah to be celebrated this Sunday. May we continue to happily celebrate Simchas, and enjoy much Nachas! LEHRFIELD BRIT MILAH The Lehrfield Brit-Milah was on Wednesday morning at CBAJ and the baby was named Shaya Zev. Mazal Tov, much Nachas!

U SHOULD KNOW ALBANIAN! Rabbi Mendel was on the checkout line in a local store this week and overheard two teens speaking an unfamiliar foreign language. Curious he asked them what language they were speaking. “Albanian,” they replied. Albanians in Albany! “Is Albanian a Slavic language or maybe like Hungarian?” Rabbi Mendel asked. “It is a language all its own. You should know!” they insisted, “Our country saved all of its Jews during the Holocaust!” Back at school, we looked up this story and found that the Republic of Albania (the only European country at the time with a Muslim majority) and 69 individual Albanians were honored as “Righteous Gentiles” by Yad VaShem, for nearly all of its Jews within its pre-war borders were saved from the Holocaust, in fact, there were more Jews in Albania after the war than before! Albanians who hid Jews or helped them escape attribute this to a strong tradition of hospitality and “Besa” their code of honor with “commitment to the promise”.

KINDERGARTEN HAGGADAH These Kindergarteners are holding up pages of the Haggadot they are making for their Pesach Seders, look closely to see Yachatz, Karpas, & Urchatz. All classes have already begun to learn about Pesach, whether by doing projects in younger grades and via classic texts in older grades in Mishna or Gemorah, Halacha, Yahadut classes, & Chumash, too.. See inside! SYNONYMS & ANTONYMS Mrs. Maher’s 4/5 is learning about words that have similar meanings or opposite meanings. Now at the Seder we drink four cups because of the four similar expressions of redemption vHotzaysee (and I will take you out), v’Hitzalti (and I will save you), v’Go’alti (and will redeem you), v’Lakachti (and I will take you). There are plenty of Pesach antonyms, too: slavery vs. freedom, night vs. day, sadness vs. joy! See the last Bracha of Maggid for a list of antonyms. AMAZON SMILE $5 UNTIL 3/31 Amazon will give $5 to Maimonides, plus a small percentage of the purchase price for any size purchase made on Amazon.com via this link: www.tinyurl.com/SmileMHDS (then log on to Amazon as you usually do) by March 31st. Give it a try, get something you need and help our school this weekend. Thanks!

JUDY IN CANDYLAND When the HS girls visited Judy this week at St. Margaret’s she was moved to a more brightly

colored room and with a roommate named Miriam. The nurses suggested they tell her a story or play a game with

her. So Chana L. made up a story about Candyland, with vivid descriptions of a raging chocolate river and very tall candy-canes, and our girls and the nurses were delighted to see Judy’s (non-verbal) responses, she really lit up at the mention of the chocolate and reached her hand up for the virtual candy-canes. The

girls learned from this about the power of non-verbal communication and body-language, something we may

overlook when we take spoken communication for granted. The room was adorned with some pretty paintings done at the recently relocated Albany Art Room (at 350 New Scotland) that were donated to St. Margarets.

Candle-Lighting: 6:58 Shabbos Ends: 7:59

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

This newsletter is dedicated by

Dr. Eli & Raizel Neiman formerly of Albany, parents &

Nursery teacher at Maimonides,

with continued fond memories of

Maimonides & our community.

PREPARING FOR A SKIT These 2nd graders finished the 2nd chapter of Noach in Chumash class with Morah Devorah Leah and are working on their own skit, with lines DL K. & Rikki V. wrote. Great initiative! CHEWING IT OVER In connection with the laws of Kosher animals chewing their cud in last week’s Shmini Torah

portion, Morah Devorah Leahs’ class got toffees to chew and then discuss how taking the time to “chew things over” can help us

think things through and make better choices before we act impulsively. HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS 7th grade history class is learning about the mid-18th century with the Civil War and Industrial Revolution. Shmuel Dovid brought in a book written by his maternal grandfather Jacob Judd with Joseph Frese titled “An Emerging Independent American Economy 1815-1875” about this same time period. When Dr. Judd was in town he led our students on a guided tour of the Lower East Side immigrant exhibit at Beth Emeth. LETTERS FROM COLONIST KIDS

4/5 grade with Mrs. Maher are learning about Colonial times in America, so she asked each student to write a make-believe letter as if they were children growing up back in those days. Most kids back then didn’t get much schooling, usually not

for more than three years. Some people lived on farms and had to get up early to do all kinds of chores. It was customary for older children in cities to apprentice to a craftsman to learn a trade. It seems that some things were more fun and adventurous back then, but some things were not. One student wrote how much he enjoyed working on the farm, milking cows etc, and another student imagined he was apprenticed to one of the earliest Rabbis in North America. Writing these letters helped put our students in the mindset of kids their age back then.

SODA, CRYING, NIGHT, PIZZA? What do teacher, night, soda, butter, building, crying, baking and pizza have in common? They are all 4-letter Hebrew words ending in “Hey” that Morah Rochel used for Hebrew typing class with the 6th graders. CHELM STORIES IN IVRIT CLASS Also in 6th grade Ivrit class, Morah Rochel told them a few funny Chelm stories, and they had to try to write it in Hebrew. Humor is hard to translate into another language, but being a Chelm story it was fun to work on. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? In connection with reading Elie Wiesel’s

“Night” Mrs. Gray asked her students to think about how they might react to discrimination and hatred in a current context. They

watched a few online episodes of “What Would You Do?” including one about anti-Semitism in a bakery.

THE WEEKLY COMIC BOX Last week we featured a student illustration, this week’s was done by Chaya using an online comic generator. Students are welcome to submit a comic-box (remember, one box not a strip) for an upcoming newsletter.

GEOMETRIC ART 4/5 graders display their art based on geometry. 6th graders made tessellations and reflections based on the geometric artwork of M.C. Escher, a Dutch artist whose artwork reflects geometric mathematical principles.

BIG SUPREME COURT CASES HS girls are learning about landmark Supreme Court cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson in the late 1800’s and then Brown v. Board of

Education in the mid 1900’s, etc… and how the court’s rulings help shape our society. CHUMASH PESACH BOOKENDS Grade 5 is just beginning Parshas Shemos, when the new Pharaoh who “didn’t know” Yosef starts to treat the Jews differently, at the very beginning of the Pesach story, Moshe wasn’t even born yet! Grade 6 is now learning about the Korban Pesach in Parshas Bo, when the Jews are on the threshold of redemption at the climax of the Pesach story. Either way, its very timely and they get a “front-seat” view of the Chumash events as they unfold!

GEOMETRY USES & FUN

It so happens that many grades are learning geometry this week & last: first grade, 4&5, 6th and HS, too!

1 IN ART: Patterned art, especially M.C. Escher’s tessellation style are based on principles of geometry, and need to be precise even in art form. For 3-D art to look right, you need proper measurement of angles and a good sense of proportion.

2 IN THE MISSING PLANE SEARCH: In the global search to find missing flight MH370 experts analyze data including the plane’s last known flight direction, the amount of fuel on board and carefully measure possible trajectories, using points, just as geometry students would.

3 IN ROAD SIGNS: A stop sign is octagon-shaped, yield signs are triangular, exit signs are rectangular, Dead-End and Deer-Crossing signs are diamond-shaped, and all traffic lights are round. There’s a lot of hidden geometry in the road surface itself, including the angle for rain runoff and drainage, and the angles on ramps.

4 IN SIZE OF MITZVOT: How big must a Kiddush cup be? How to transfer the Gemorah’s square shape to the common circle-shaped cup? How much volume of flat Matzah would equal a Kzayit (olive-size) and many other Halachic calculations.

5 MAKING ROOM: How can I make more space in my bedroom? Pesach cleaning is often a time when people change their room configurations. Or what’s the best way to fit more guests around the Seder table, or where to place the tables for maximum space? Lots of geometry!

MATZAH, SELL YOUR CHAMETZ Contact Rabbi Rubin 423-4103 or your Rabbi. NEW APPS PROJECT “CLEAN 14” This time students will have a longer window, as it won’t be due until about 2 weeks after Pesach. It might be a hectic time now at home to work on extra projects, but it’s not too early to brainstorm and think, especially considering the theme: “Clean Fourteen!” ‘14 is the year, 14 is the day of the month that we have to be clean of Chametz, and 14 rhymes with clean! At the APPS brainstorming sessions students came up with some of these ideas: favorite cleaning products or tools, reasons why its important to keep clean, Jewish sources or texts on cleanliness, is there such a thing as too much clean, 14 (or any number) of cleaning tips or steps, something about clean air, or being clean spiritually, how to clean for Pesach or clean classrooms, or bedrooms, it can also mean how to keep ourselves or our clothes clean, how to clean your glasses etc… CLEANING HALACHOS Actually this week 7th graders with Rabbi Abba learned laws of Shabbos that have to do with cleaning, whether it’s a stain on a shirt or crusted caked-on mud on one’s shoes, or a big blot on the carpet or tablecloth. And 8/9 grade Halacha class with Rabbi Shmuly learned about how kitchen equipment must be properly cleaned before it can be Kashered for Pesach or other year-round Kosher use.

FROG’S GARDEN ADVICE Mrs. Carroll’s first grade students read “Frog and Toad Together” about how Toad’s admires Toad’s garden and would like to have one, too. This is about what the students thought Frog’s advice should be to Toad and what it takes to make a garden to grow. NAVI PASTA PARTY

Rabbi Laber’s 6th grade finished 10 chapters of Navi (Prophets) and therefore threw a Pasta Siyum. Everyone brought in ingredients which they cooked up and seasoned

themselves in “Nathan’s Kitchen” and they actually did a very good job!

WHO IS WHO? 7th grade girls made this interactive bulletin board about the four sons, with Velco-backed pieces, so that students can match the picture of the son with the Haggadah’s name for each. THE END OF TUCK 6th grade finished “Tuck Everlasting” a fictional fantasy book by Natalie Babbitt with the message that in real life everything has a beginning and an end (except for G-d). LEARNING TO TELL TIME

Mrs. Hoffman’s Kindergarteners learned about the big and small hands of a clock, how the small hand at 12 is “o’clock” and as that hand travels to other numbers it shows a different

time within that hour. It also shows the value of time, and how seconds make up minutes, minutes make up hours, and hours make up days… and that’s how the years fly by! L’CHATCHILA & B’DIEVED 7th grade wrapped up a piece of Talmud Sukkah 9b this week about a Sukkah under a Tree and a number of specific conditions which may allow the Sukkah to remain Kosher, which ends on the following note: “Without Rava’s statement, we would have thought that this specific scenario is only allowed B’dieved (after the fact, as a last resort) but Rava teaches us this is allowed even L’chatchila (to begin with, even as an ideal scenario).” Rabbi Mendel shared with the boys two nice life lessons (not the simple practical meaning) from this Talmud ending: (a) Torah teaches us that sometimes even if the situation isn’t ideal, not all is lost and it can still be OK. Don’t give up so fast, there’s hope. (b) Some positive people take life situations that others view as a B’dieved, and they turn it into a L’chatchila - their attitude makes it ideal! PHOTO-VIDEO EQUIPMENT As part of the Library-Media grant the school is in the process of ordering photo & video equipment. If you’d like to support this substantial purchase, by helping us meet the matching grant, and invest in upgrading our imaging capabilities, please speak to Rabbi Rubin 423-4103 or call the school office 453-9363 or email: maimonidesschool@gmail.com

GARDENING SUPPLIES NEEDED Spring is around the corner now. Mrs. Carroll plans to be out with her students: weeding and trimming, tilling and planting, beautifying our school and connecting our students with nature and the value of physical work. They can use some more shovels & rakes, gardening gloves, soil & mulch (we used to get a big load from the city, hopefully again), seeds & bulbs. OFF TO SCIENCE CONFERENCE Three of our General Studies teachers (Mrs. Ballard-Hubble, Mrs. Carroll &Mrs. Hoffman) will be attending a National Science Teachers Conference in Boston at the end of next week. We look forward to their new ideas! HAVE A LOT ON YOUR PLATE?

That’s how a Seder plate feels! Students are already making all kinds of hands-on and beautiful Pesach projects for the students to actually use at their Seder table: from Seder plates to placemats, pillow-cases, multi-sensory Haggadot & more! WHAT HAPPENS TO FOOD... … when you eat it? Science Enrichment students learned this week about how we digest food, what happens in our stomachs and what our bodies do with it once it is digested. It also depends on the type of food.

BRINGING W.O.W. BACK WOW is an old Maimonides program, dating back to our Ohav Shalom days, which stands for “Wide Open Windows” in which we invite people from the greater community to come into our classrooms or school assemblies to share a talent, hobby or interest or professional expertise. We have had many guests in the past share their own story including Holocaust experiences, a huge Israeli stamp collection, insights from a newspaper newsroom, cutting-edge science research, restoring architecture and all kinds of other areas of life. And we hope to share tidbits in this newsletter, too!

3/28: JOURNEY THROUGH THE BODY FIELD TRIP Grades 2-5 will be going on a school field trip to Journey through the Body at Colonie Center this Friday afternoon and be back in time for dismissal. 3/29: PARSHAS “HACHODESH” & BLESS NEW MONTH This week we read “HaChodesh” the last of the 4 Special Torah Readings in preparation for the month of Nissan which begins this coming week. It is also customary for many to say (extra or) the complete Tehillim. 3/29: KIDDUSH FOR SHOLOM’S BAR-MITZVAH After the (very delicious!) celebration on the actual date of his Bar-Mitzvah on Thursday, this Shabbos Shalom will read from the Torah and there will be a celebratory Kiddush after Musaf at Shomray Torah. 3/29: WOMENS VICKY’S B-DAY MELAVA MALKA Hosted by Ellen Kaplowitz (459-3984) at her home 44 Oakwood Street, 9pm-10:30pm. Bring a Vicky-memory to share in honor of her special birthday. 3/30: PRICE CHOPPER KOSHER OPEN HOUSE 10am-2pm at the Colonie Kosher Price Chopper showcasing selections of 1,000+ Kosher for Passover products with vendors & samples. 3/30: A PRE-PASSOVER MUSICAL HAGGADAH 7pm at Saratoga Chabad, 130 Circular Street. Join Rabbi Israel Rubin for a discussion of the Seder songs, accompanied by Yehoshua Sussman on violin with a musical medley. Suggested donation $5pp. For more info call 526-0773. 3/30: MORE MAPLE SUGARING IN UPPER HUDSON Travel north to farms up the Hudson for a number of last of the short season Maple Sugaring events. Maple Valley Farms at 84 Harris Road in Corinth NY is having hay-wagon rides, blacksmith and frontier demos, as they boil maple sap into syrup. Other farms in that area have events or demos as well. 3/31: AMAZON SMILE $5 UNTIL 3/31 Amazon will give $5 to Maimonides, plus a small percentage of the purchase price for any purchase made on Amazon.com via this link: www.tinyurl.com/SmileMHDS (then log on to Amazon as you usually do) by March 31st. Give it a try, get something you need and help our school this weekend. Thanks! 3/31: AEPI ROAD TRIP TEFILLIN STOP AT MHDS A Minyan of AEPIers on a Jewish Identity Road trip will stop off to put in Tefillin at school around noontime on Monday. 3/31: DAF HAYOMI TALMUD SUKKAH SIYUM Before Mincha/Maariv at CBAJ, approx 6pm, there will be a Daf Yomi Siyum on tractate Sukkah in memory of Mrs. Esther Finkelstein (founder of Albany NCSY) whom longtime Maimonides faculty remember fondly as a friendly and helpful CBAJ secretary back on Hackett Blvd and Federal Street, and also in memory of Reb Moshe Rubin, near his 18th yartzeit. 4/1: ROSH CHODESH NISSAN, MINYAN AT SCHOOL 8am Shachris meets at Maimonides instead of at Shomray Torah in honor of Rosh Chodesh. Unusual for this month, the Hebrew and secular calendar dates line up: April 1st is also the 1st of Nissan!

4/2: K&3 BUDDIES OFF TO MAPLE TRIP AT 5FIVERS The Kindergarten and 3rd grade Buddies will be going on a Maple-Sugaring trip to Five Rivers this coming Wednesday. 4/3: HARRY ROSENFELD SPEAKS ABOUT HIS BOOK “From Kristallnacht to Watergate - Memoirs of a Newpaperman.” 7:30pm at the Schenectady JCC. No charge. Call 377-8803. 4/3-4: AFLAC INSURANCE/SAFETY-NET REP AT MHDS Rep available Thurs & Friday after 3:30pm dismissal up in Teachers Lounge. 4/5: THE MYSTERY OF THE WOODEN SPOON Rabbi Rubin will speak at Shomray Torah on Shabbos morning about the significance of the customary wooden spoon in the Chametz Search and its traditional particular position during the Chametz burning as well. 4/6: AJCC PILLAR AWARDS EVENT AT BETH EMETH RSVP by March 28th. 9:30am. Honorees include Mark & Jane Levine, Ben & Ruth Mendel, and Mark & Beth Scher, Paul & Elaine Scher & Marty & Barbara Scher. Info? 438-6651 ext 114. 4/9: CHAMETZ PASTA DINNER AT MAIMONIDES Stay tuned for details, tentatively on Wednesday April 9th. 4/8-23: MAIMONIDES PASSOVER SCHEDULE Parents, please note the following dates: 4/8-9: Half-Day Nursery. 4/10-11: No Nursery, Half-Day English only for all grades. 4/14-23: No School (including the day before, the day after, and all intermediate days of Passover). 4/14: NATL GEOGRAPHIC “JERUSALEM” FILM Pre-sale $5 tickets (by April 14) for JFed showing on May 6th at Proctors for Yom Ha’atzmaut, use “Israel66” code at Proctors or via Jewish Federation. 4/14: NEED A PLACE FOR THE SEDER? Many local families love to host guests! Call Rabbi Rubin 423-4103. Communal Seders at CBAJ, Shabbos House, & at a number of area Chabads. 4/14: CHAMETZ BURNING AND FIRSTBORN SIYUM As every year, with Shachris, Siyum and morning-time communal burning at the school. First Seder is that night. Pesach is quickly approaching! 5/10: CBAJ DINNER HONORING KAGAN & POZNERS CBAJ honors life-long Albanian Ethel Kagan and community leaders Louis-Jack & Rona Pozner at a special Mother’s Day dinner at the synagogue. For dinner & journal info, contact CBAJ office at 489-5819 or: www.cbaj.org. 5/28: THE MAIMONIDES TRIBUTE DINNER Wednesday, 6pm at the Maimonides School, with elegant buffet dinner and desserts, honoring: Rabbi Moshe & Karen Mirsky (the Dr. Morton Berger Memorial Award), Mrs. Reeva Nowitz and her late husband Bernie OBM (“Eitz-Chaim” Award), & Dr. Madhavi Sahay (Exemplary Educator Award). Couvert $72pp/$126 couple. For info, journal ads/tributes, contact school office: 453-9363 or email: maimonidesschool@gmail.com. Since the first year in 1989 this is a much anticipated annual communal event and important fundraiser for the Maimonides Scholarship Fund. Invite coming soon!

MAIMONIDES SCHOOL & COMMUNITY (Nursery / Elementary / High School) 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

(518) 453-9363/3434 maimonidesschool@gmail.com

Founded in 1980, Maimonides is chartered by the NYS Board of Regents and is a JF-NENY

Beneficiary “A Beautiful Blend: Torah & Worldly Experience!”

at Maimonides and in the Community