Fall 2008 - Maimonides School

More documents

Recommendations

Info

RABBI JAFFE FINDS HIS IDEAL COMBINATION AT MAIMONIDES Rabbi Yaakov Jaffe recalls that on his first day as a rabbinical student he was told that “you have to make a choice: whether you will be a rabbi or a teacher, and give your energies to just one. But from the beginning I wanted to be both.” At Maimonides he is having and eating his proverbial cake, as Rabbi Jaffe is teaching Talmud, Navi and halachah yomit to juniors and seniors, while serving as the rabbi of the kehillah that has been an adjunct of the school for almost its entire history. Rabbi Jaffe, 27, grew up in Monsey, NY, and graduated from Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (Yeshiva University’s High School for Boys), riding a school bus two hours a day round trip. After learning for a year-and-a-half at Yeshivat Har Etzion, he studied English literature and psychology at Columbia, earning a bachelor’s degree in three years. Still in school, Rabbi Jaffe is pursuing a Ph.D. in education through monthly teleconferencing sessions, with students who include Maimonides grandparent Harry Bloom and former teacher Melissa Perl. As an undergraduate Rabbi Jaffe attended shiurim at Yeshiva University, and subsequently he matriculated at YU’s Rabbi Chesed Continued from p. 2 l’Chaverim. Now that Grade 6 has been moved into the enhanced Maimonides Middle School configuration, Grade 5 is the top rung in the Brener Building. So the groups of Chesed l’Chaverim are headed by fifth graders, “taking on roles as leaders,” Mrs. Parker said. Their first enterprise was crafting Rosh Hashanah cards for members of the Israel Defense Force. The project was preceded by a “Get-to-Know-You” session for each group. “The fifth graders were phenomenal—they really stepped up,” Mrs. Parker reported. “They responded beautifully. We were very impressed with their maturity and interaction,” Rabbi Saltzman agreed. “There will be periodic get-togethers Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Over the next six years he not only earned semicha but also master’s degrees in Bible and secondary education from YU’s graduate programs. He also learned for three year’s in YU’s Bella and Harry Wexler Kollel Elyon. His experience with young people began several years ago as a dormitory counselor at NCSY Summer Kollel. Later he taught at MTA for two years on the staff of Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, head of school and former Maimonides principal. He also worked as coordinator for the national Chidon Hatanach, popular for years at Maimonides. And it was “a surreal experience when I looked at the class roster and realized I knew half of the kids already from the Bible Contest. I was able to feel like part of the family even before starting.” Parallel to his classroom activities, he worked as a rabbinic intern at Lincoln Square Synagogue, and filled in at the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn after Rabbi Dani Goldstein (son-in-law of Rabbi for the K–5 groups,” Mrs. Parker said, perhaps as soon as November, when the chesed calendar calls for packages and cards to be sent to U.S. forces serving in Iraq. Other highlights on the 2008-2009 schedule include: • Activities specific to grades or combinations of grades. For example, Mrs. Parker said, kindergarteners will do some baking, then students in Grade 1 will deliver the results to elderly residents in the area. • Support for the Beit Elazraki orphanage in Netanya. “We will be collecting items, and some kids may even develop pen pals there,” Mrs. Parker said. • Services inside the school. Before Pesach, for instance, older students may be assigned to help clean the Levy Library on Saval Campus. • David Shapiro) made aliyah with his family. “I always harbored the hope that I could continue doing both things,” he explained. “I didn’t want to lose touch with our youth, but I also didn’t want to lose the bigger picture of the larger issues that face our community.” Rabbi Jaffe’s wife Yael is also a member of the Upper School limudei kodesh faculty. She is also a Columbia graduate, earned two master’s degrees as well, and taught at SAR high school and Yeshiva of Flatbush. The Jaffes’ son Robbie is two. Rabbi Yaakov Jaffe One of the advantages of teaching at Maimonides is the students’ broad exposure in both the Judaic and general studies programs, Rabbi Jaffe suggests. “Torah u’Madda means that you hear echoes from one class to another as you move forward,” he observed. “It’s good to teach at a school in which we are confident that our students will hear the echoes. And part of my job is to make sure that the echoes are there for them to hear.” • Dr. Charles Jacobs, founder of the David Project, talks about Israel advocacy during a senior class get-together hosted by the Grade 12 deans to open the school year.
STUDENTS EMBRACE BEUREI HATEFILlA Upper School students are responding with concentration, reflection and enthusiasm after the first few sessions of Maimonides School’s reinstituted Beurei HaTefilla class. Rabbi Reuven Cohn ’65 is teaching most of the sections in Grades 9-12. After a few classes he asked for feedback, via electronic mail, as part of a homework assignment. The responses affirmed the administration’s decision to reinstate the course that Rabbi Isaiah Wohlgemuth, z”l, taught to three generations of Maimonides students. “In all honesty, prayer is an aspect of my life that I truly struggle with,” acknowledged Alicia Hanau, a junior. “Sometimes, I prefer to daven in English with my own words and thoughts. I am really excited to look into the meanings of prayers and be able to recognize the purpose of each bracha.” “I really enjoyed our conversation about the ata kadosh bracha, why it is so short, and what it means,” wrote senior Leah Sarna. “Honestly, I really used to gloss over it in Shemoneh Esreh because it wasn’t something I could visualize or relate to in any way. The class helped a lot, and I’ve started really thinking about the bracha when I say it.” Dahlia Gruen, also a senior, commented, “I had also never thought of brachot having a set structure. Rather, I thought of the entire tefilla as having a start, middle and end. I am interested to delve farther into the different structures of brachot.” Maimonides has launched a fundraising campaign in memory of Rabbi Wohlgemuth to endow the Beurei HaTefilla course. The initial phase of the campaign was targeted at alumni who graduated between 1953 and 1997, and well over 100 contributions have been received, ranging from $18 to $10,000. The campaign is now set to expand, to include parents of alumni, friends of the school, recent graduates and other former students. Revenue generated by the endowment principal will support restoration of Rabbi Wohlgemuth’s renowned course, the Upper School Beurei HaTefilla curriculum. Although the campaign is only a few months old, classes in interpretation of prayer have begun, thanks to seed money from Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and its Peerless Excellence program. Leora Sanieoff, a junior, wrote Rabbi Cohn that she explained to her mother the configuration of the Musaf Amidah on Rosh Hashanah. “My mother told me that never in the 30 or so years that she has been reading the Rosh Hashanah Amidah did she ever notice this distinctive setup,” she reported. “I just want you to know that I’m really happy you’re teaching us about the Amidah, because I really hope that by learning about the Amidah, I will be able to daven with the proper kavanah this year.” Senior Marissa Schwartz’s mother, Dr. Rebecca Kolodny Schwartz ’82, was a student of Rabbi Wohlgemuth’s. Marissa wrote to Rabbi Cohn that “I recall my mother’s telling me stories about his great kindness, and the lessons he taught her about tefilla.” She pointed out that “tefilla is really an essential part of what connects us to and helps us identify as a part of Modern Orthodoxy… while many students (and friends) view limudei kodesh classes as ‘learning for the test,’ many of us see tefilla as for a greater ‘test’.” Therefore, the class is important because “it’s what truly distinguishes us as Maimonides grads and as Orthodox Jews.” Sophomore Tamar Kosowsky appreciated Rabbi Cohn’s anecdotes about Rabbi Wohlgemuth’s life. She said she was particularly touched by learning of Rabbi Wohlgemuth’s promise to always be kind to students, motivated by the horrors suffered by Jewish children during the Shoah. Junior Donald Adler noted that “in class today, I saw people very engaged in the conversation, and adding to it. It was good to see people really get to show their knowledge of prayer, and learn more. I also really liked how you started the class with explaining how it’s been gone for so long, and how alumni always remember it, and how we’re now continuing it. We’re now part of a legacy!” • Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, lŠvf Founder Rabbi M.J. Cohn, lŠf Principal Emeritus Rabbi David Shapiro Rosh Yeshiva Jeffrey B. Swartz Chair, Board of Directors Abraham Levovitz, lŠf President Emeritus Nathan Katz ’73 Executive Director Mike Rosenberg Editor Erica Schultz Designer Tamara Kesselman Director of Admissions Middle & Upper School Rabbi Yair Altshuler Principal Ken Weinstein Principal, General Studies Elementary School Rabbi David Saltzman Principal Dr. Jack Billings Principal, General Studies Kol Rambam is published by the Office of Alumni and Community Relations at Maimonides School. Comments, questions, and suggestions should be addressed to: Maimonides School 34 Philbrick Road Brookline, MA 02445 (617) 232-4452 x105 info@maimonides.org
Page 1 and 2: KOL RAMBAM Oct. 2008 • hŠqyz ixy
Page 3 and 4: GRADUATE GROWING IN ROMANIA Seven y
Page 5: Retreat HELPS SENIORS SOLIDIFY CLAS

Fall 2008 - Maimonides School

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?