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 Iyar 23, 5773 / April 3, 2013

MAIMONIDES 404 Partridge Street Albany NY 12208

GETTING A LEG UP Our students spied this unusual vehicle parked across the Capitol on a trip downtown this week. It’s L.L.Bean’s “Bootmobile” truck celebrating the company’s 100 years since its founding in 2012. The boot equates to a size “747” – perfect for a 143-foot-tall man! What’s the Jewish connection? Shavuos (getting closer every day!) is one of the “Shalosh Regalim” (3 legs) when Jews were “Oleh Regel” (Hebrew for pilgrimage, or literally, “a leg up!”) to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple for the major holidays… Calev also connected the big boot to a story he heard this week from Morah Devorah Leah how Mr. Leibel Zisman hid his Tefillin in his boots during the Holocaust.

VIDEO ON SURVIVING D-DAY 7/8 watched a HistoryFeed video about WWII vets describing how they survived D-Day. They liked Hal Baumgarten’s story because it seems that keeping Kosher (only a chocolate bar, and no breakfast sausage) helped him survive! He later became a physician in Jacksonville FL. EARTH DAY IN THE TALMUD At lunchtime on Earth-Day last week, Rabbi Rubin shared a Talmud story (Bava Kama 50b)about “throwing stones from a field that isn’t yours, to a road that is!” in connection with the kids cleaning up the school grounds, caring for property that isn’t theirs, yet it is! Our students remember an old edition of “Mendy and the Golem” comic-strip on this Talmud story and if they find that issue we can put a selection in an upcoming “MC” newsletter.

KNEZNEK MISHNA STUDY Rabbi Rubin studied with a few classes the same 3 Mishna texts (from Challah & Peah) that were shared at the Maimonides Dinner (and printed in this year’s Journal on page 12) that speak of giving and the Mishna initials spell Eve’s Hebrew name Chava. Rabbi Rubin added an educational twist to each Mishna: “Combining Resources,” “Educational Diversity,” & “Down-To-Earth Accessibility.” A CENTURY OF DIFFERENCE 6th graders made a t-chart comparing and contrasting children’s recreation & relaxation methods and activities in the early 1900’s and now, one century later. Some fun, games, toys & activities remain the same, but many things have changed. It’s interesting to think about. WHY IGNORANT DANCE ON S.T. “Why should ignorant Jews dance on Simchas Torah, if they haven’t studied it?” This question appears in Artscroll’s Hakafot book. High School learned 2 interesting Hashkafa perspectives in answering this question or turning the question on its head, and the pros/cons and beyond Simchat-Torah ramifications of each perspective.

MAZAL TOV TO THE SCHORRS Mazal Tov to R’ Yaakov and Naami Schorr on the birth of a newborn baby girl. CONGRATS MRS. D. BALLARD! The Albany City Council PTA honored Mrs. Deloria Ballard-Hubbell at the “Founders Day 2013” event as part of a group recognized for being outstanding volunteers and advocates for children. Mrs. Ballard has been a teacher at Maimonides in the past, and now serves as our science/math/writing-workshop enrichment teacher for primary and middle school grades.

PLAYING “O’ DEER” OUTSIDE Mrs. Ballard’s students took turns playing this game, trying to draw “the deer” (fellow students) to their side with incentives like food, shelter & water, using hand-signals.

Candle-Lighting:

7:39 Shabbos Ends:

8:45

This newsletter is sponsored

in honor of

Rabbi Moshe Chanowitz’s

60th Birthday

The Chanowitz’s lived in Albany in the

1980’s (taught at MHDS and ran

Shabbos House among other activities).

Mazal Tov on this Milestone!

EMPTY 2-LITER BOTTLES? Send them into Nursery for a project! NURSERY COLLECTS HAY They were farmers for a day! They left hay in the corner for the poor, and also didn’t go back to pick up stray hay that was left behind.

NURSERY’S DOUBLE-CROWNS Nursery is excited to learn about Shavuos, and the double-crowns of Na’aseh v’Nishma (we will do and we will listen) that the Jews each got at the Giving of the Torah. HOOKED ON HOOK-RUGS Mrs. Raizel Rubin (Saratoga) is coming in to the HS once a week to teach them the art (and patience) of hook-rug art. Each piece of yarn is stitched in on it’s own, but has to fit in snugly with the rest of the pattern. This week was her birthday, so the girls surprised her with cupcakes and a mini-party! GARAGE SALE ITEMS NEEDED

General Studies are preparing for their annual Garage-Sale to benefit the year-end trip, to be held in Delmar area on the 1st June

weekend. Please bring in any useful, decent condition stuff that they can sell. No major appliances or old TV’s and computer screens. Some limited pickups are available, call the office 453-9363 ext 1 for details and with any questions. They can use extra hangers, too!! SO FEW DAYS LEFT TO SCHOOL Boys davening class learned about 2 very different types of attitudes to this same fact, that there’s now less than one month left.

JACOB’S BLESSINGS - VISUALS 5th grade finished all of Chumash Breishis with Morah Devorah Leah, with special emphasis on Jacob’s Blessings at the very end. They learned the meaning and historical references, several students memorized the words by heart, and they made this bulletin board of key phrases illustrated by photos of themselves doing things or at places reflecting the verse. Now on to Sefer Shmos! SECOND GRADE SIYUM Morah Rochel took her 2nd grade Chumash class on a Pizza-Party Siyum with a trip down to the NYS Museum. “JUDY CLOCKS” WITH GEARS Mrs. Carroll’s 1st graders are learning to tell time and this week used Judy Clocks to move the minute-hand which pushes the hour-hand forward or backward accordingly. They get to use these while filling out their worksheets. HERE TO THERE... & THEN? 3rd graders with Mrs. Carroll are learning about explorers like Columbus and deLeon, from where country did they come, what places did they find, and what changed in the world because of their journeys. DAVID AND GOLIATH 6th graders are beginning this famous story in Navi class with Morah Clara, hearing arrogant Goliath’s boastful taunts & dares to the Jewish people. Could this be another connection to the giant boot at the NYS Capitol this week? RABBI MOSHE FEINSTEIN Rabbi Rubin’s Jewish history class learned from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s (1895-1986, world-renown and widely respected Halachic authority) “Igros Moshe” on contemporary Halachic questions. They read his responsa on the use of recreational drugs, on interfaith dialogue, and perhaps one of his most famous: on allowing “Chalav Stam” (USDA supervised milk) when “Chalav Yisrael” isn’t readily available, and the parameters of this leniency.

Rabbi Moshe Mirsky

(MHDS parent & Board

member, Rabbi at Beth

Israel) recites “Kayl Moleh Rachamim” in memory of

Eve Kneznek in the closing

moments of her Yartzeit.

THE KNEZNEK HAGGADAH Rabbi Rubin’s remarks about remembering Eve Kneznek on her Yartzeit:

In a Passover Spirit, let’s open with Hagaddah style questions: Why is tonight’s Dinner Different, from all other Dinner nights?

The first question is: All the years we dined on full course meals. Tonight’s food is great, but why only Buffet? All past Dinners were sit-down affairs. So Why tonight are we standing more than reclining? Our other Dinners were held in bigger dining venues: CBAJ, JCC, Beth Emeth, Marriot and Shabbos House, so why tonight are we eating dessert in a school lunchroom? Other Nights we Awarded Honorees that we could see & hear… tonight, we recall a person who is with us in spirit!

To answer these 4 questions, we go back to history: For very many years, Maimonides had no place of its own, for a quarter century we were nomads wandering to & fro, renting rooms on Hackett, on Whitehall, and on Academy, on Krumkill and on Watervliet, then back again to Whitehall.

Not that we were oppressed, G-d forbid! The various Synagogues were kind hosts! We didn’t suffer ten plagues, but we were restricted in places we didn’t own. While teaching dozens of Fours Sons & daughters, trying to address each child’s individual needs. Living from one rent to the next, with meager funds, we despaired, that our children and children’s children, would never be able to grow in a place of their own.

Then we received Eve Kneznek’s bequest. We weren’t Eve’s only beneficiary, but her bequest was EXACTLY the amount needed to buy this very building 8 years ago. Eve personally observed the students & studies she would later fund, in Beth Emeth’s Library, where our HS girls studied.

We thus offer thanks and appreciation, we could sing a whole Dayenu! observing Eve’s yartziet this day, within the very walls she had enabled.

NIZKOR means “We Remember!”

Tribute Journal Yearbook

72 pages including some of

Eve’s writings, reflections

by past honorees, ads and greetings, and many pages

of wonderful photos of our

children & school…

Hon. Ronald Goldman

emcees the evening with

humor, wit & insight,

reflecting on 25 Years of the Berger Award.

PHOTOS BY Michoel Caras of “Carasmartic Design”)

Maxine Morgenbesser (proud mother of

Maimonides alumni and president of the

school’s board expresses her family’s

gratitude for communal prayers and support during her late husband Lenny’s

illness, and announces the Legacy

Heritage Fund matching grant to upgrade,

digitize and modernize the school library.

TRIBUTE JOURNAL & YEARBOOK We are preparing an abridged digital version of the yearbook, soon to be available via email. If you wish to have a full-edition, hard-copy of the Yearbook/Journal, a limited number are still available, please contact the school office (518) 453-9363/3434 ext 1 or email: maimonidesschool@gmail.com

Federation Appreciation for facilitating the Kneznek

bequest presented by Carl Bloomberg to Federation Dir. for

Planned Giving & Endowments Deborah Goldstein, and a

Farewell to Fed Exec Director Rodney Margolis on his retirement with a photo of his placing the Mezuzah on

Maimonides’ building when it first opened in 2005.

25 Years of Berger Awards - a deluxe photo-album of

dinners past (especially since 2004 & digital photos) was

presented to Hope Berger-Nathan and Hon. Ronald

Goldman. It is said: A picture is 1,000 words, but to Hope and Ronnie, each person, each picture, each memory, is an

entire story, and therefore speaks a whole library!

The Salad Bar

Candle-lit

Dessert Buffet

5/4: DOUBLE-PARSHA & CHAZAK! Double-portion Behar-Bechukotai, concludes Sefer Vayikra. We also bless the new upcoming month of Sivan, & many increase (or say whole) Tehillim. 5/4: WOMENS SHABBOS SHIUR Stay tuned for Shul announcements on the location of this week’s Shabbos Shiur, 4:45pm. 5/4: BRENNER TO SPEAK AT CBAJ At this month’s Shabbos Lunch & Learn at CBAJ. 5/4: RABBIS REISMAN & FRAND Rabbi Reisman’s Navi class Sat Nights at 10:15pm; Rabbi Frand’s class 9pm Thurs, both at CBAJ. 5/5: WALK 4 FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE This year’s “Walk 4 Friendship” (with both a Family Walk & 5K Run) will be in Guilderland’s Tawasentha Park on Rt 146. Come explore a great town park (hilly, wooded, scenic) while supporting a good cause and enjoying a communal outing! iPad raffle, BBQ and entertainment! Find out more at &support a person/team: www.capitalfriends.org 5/5: BETH ISRAEL DINNER Beth Israel’s dinner honors Debbie Gatoff, past president & current VP of the congregation & Rabbi Rami Strosberg, HACD head of school, soon headed to Westchester. They’re also honoring past sisterhood presidents. Call 377-3700 for info.

5/5-19: I.L.F. BABY ANIMAL DAYS Indian Ladder Farms (on Route 156) hosts Baby Animal Days ($5 per kid, adults free w/child) 9am-5pm. Might be an idea to do before or after the Friendship Circle walk, once on that side of town. 5/6: WOMENS B.M. ON ERUV (I) Womens Beit Medrash 8pm at Maimonides, this month discussing the Mitzvah/laws of Eruv. 5/8: APPS TRIP SCHEDULED Middle schoolers stay tuned! Slips on Monday… 5/10: ROSH CHODESH SIVAN 8am Friday morning Minyan at Maimonides. 5/11: END OF “POT OF GOLD” Be sure to redeem your “Pot of Gold” percentage savings at the Colonie Price Chopper by May 11th. 5/14: TWITTER: #TORAH @JTAnews asks all to tweet #Torah 4 Erev Shavuos! 5/14-17: MHDS SHAVUOT NOTES Please note the following MHDS calendar info: Tuesday, 5/14, Erev Shavuot: Half-Day AM

General Studies only. Davening 8am, dismissal at 11:30am, send snack but no lunch.

Wednesday 5/15 & Thursday 5/16: Shavuot

Holiday, no school. Be sure to hear the 10 Commandments read at Shul, enjoy the dairy!

Friday 5/17: Day after Shavuot, NO SCHOOL. School resumes: Monday 5/19 at 8am. 5/14: LATE NIGHT TORAH STUDY CBAJ has all-night Torah study with visiting YU

and NCSY advisors, plus midnight Chinese an early morning Minyan for the all-nighters.

In addition to traditional “Tikkun” at Shomray Torah, Rabbi Rubin & Yosef Costa will teach a 1am “Veterinary Halacha” and it’s implications for the Kosher milk industry, and an in-depth related discussion found in letters between Rogatchover Gaon & Lubavitcher Rebbe.

5/19: BAT-MITZVAH CLUB MEETS at Kochman’s, for girls in grades 5-7. Email Nechama at JGUalbany@gmail.com 5/22: JERNY’S “UCJ” UNITY CELEBRATION OF JERUSALEM 5-10pm at Proctor’s in Schenectady. Visit: TheIsraelCenter.org. Look for info on this year’s Israeli food court, vendors & local organization booths & activities. The Shlomo Katz concert (of Jerusalem, performed all over the world) tickets are $30, call 346-6204, will be from 8-9:30pm. 6/2: FASHION SHOW & CONCERT For women & girls, hosted by Jewish Girls Unite, 1:30pm at Maimonides. Guest singer Dasi Sessel! Buffet, art exhibit and raffle. $18pp, or sponsor. Call Nechama 727-9581. 6/2: CBAJ DINNER/INSTALLATION This dinner will be the formal installation of Rabbi Binyamin Lehrfield, and also honor the long-time dedication and leadership of Mrs. Bev Shor for the Beth Abraham-Jacob synagogue. 6/3: WOMENS B.M. ON ERUV (II) Womens Beit Medrash 8pm at Maimonides, this month, part 2 of the Mitzvah/laws of Eruv. 6/6: J.F.S. ANNUAL CELEBRATION Jewish Family Services annual celebration, this year at Shabbos House, honoring Jerry and Ilene Sykes. For more info visit: www.jfsneny.org. 6/9: J.W.C. GALA LUNCHEON Year-end for Clifton Park Jewish Womens Circle.

6/11: GEORGETTE’S WEDDING Georgette/Yocheved Esther Merceron sent her wedding (to Ezra Chaim) invitation (Mazal Tov!) to the school along with a handwritten letter, asking for Albany friends to join in her Simcha! Call the school office for more info. We wish her and her Chassan much happiness together! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

www.tinyurl.com/LchaimUnite2013 A $5 or $10 vote supports Shabbos House/Lchaim

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