Kol Bogrei rambam - Maimonides School

June 2011 ~ Iyar–Sivan 5771Page of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideKol Bogrei Rambam is the Alumni Council’s monthly e-newsletter for and about Maimonides School graduates. Each month we share informationon individual graduates’ ventures and accomplishments, as well as general news notes, all reflecting the school’s mission of preparingeducated, observant Jews to be contributing members of society. Your ideas and accomplishments will help sustain and strengthen this keycommunications tool; please forward to alumni@maimonides.org. Also, check out the “Alumni” video playlist on Maimonides School’s YouTubechannel, MaimoTube!Israel Inspires Graduate to Build Day School Curriculum on Arts IntegrationJudy (Herschfus) Spitzberg ’73recalls that, as a Maimonides juniorand senior, she studied piano atthe New England Conservatory ofMusic once a week, thanks to specialarrangements by her principal, RabbiM.J. Cohn. That was an early chapterin a lifelong passion for the arts thathas manifested itself most recentlywith a new curriculum on arts integrationfor Jewish day schools—thanksto a close connection to the culturalscene in Israel.Judy has published several creativearts curricula for the Massachusettspublic schools and for the BostonSymphony’s Department of Education.This year she developed anIsrael-themed guidebook for teachersand parents of elementary schoolchildren called “Lyrical Art,” based onher research and teaching, in collaborationwith an Israeli journalist andseveral composers. The curriculum,which includes classical art andcomposed and original music withHebrew poetry and songs, is availablethrough the Israel Book Shop.“The goal is to promote the integrationof Hebrew, Judaica, music, artand dance in day schools and theschools in Israel,” she said, adding,“Any subject is more interestingfostering creative thinking whentaught through the arts… It was oneof those life experiences that thisexperience offered, versus when I wasbusy working full time.”For the past three years Judy,mother of Danny ’02 and Elan’06 Spitzberg, has been in Israelteaching an integration of art,music and dance in elementaryschools, as well as to teachersat several universities and theIsrael Philharmonic’s Departmentof Education, on a diplomaticarrangement with the U.S.Embassy. The opportunity arosewhen Judy’s husband, Dr. RichardSpitzberg, a scientist with MITLincoln Laboratory, received adiplomatic appointment to workwith the Israeli Defense Department.“In Israel it’s easy to connect,” shereflected. At the Israel Philharmonic,she presented preconcert programsto audiences of 400 children in the“mafteach” series, and instructedtheir teachers on “how to make theirlessons more interactive by includingrelated arts.” She taught workshopsat Bar Ilan and Tel Aviv Universities,and English through music and artto English speakers at a Ramat Ganelementary school.Judy also collaborated with theworld renowed Israeli composer TzviAvni. “We became good friends, andthrough him I met many famousartists, musicians and conductors(including Zubin Mehta). He told mehis inspiration for music comes fromart.” She and her husband hosteda series of benefit concerts in theirHertzeliah home. “There are noComposer Tzvi Avni and Judy Spitzberg ’73 collaborate ata workshop for the philharmonic teachersborders” in the Israel arts community,she noted. “Everyone is very inviting.”After graduating from Maimonides,Judy earned a bachelor’s degree inmusic education from Boston Universityand a master’s in creative arts andeducation from Lesley College. Her30-plus years of experience in publicand private institutions include astint at Maimonides in the mid-1980s,teaching Elementary School music.Judy is back in Sharon this summer;in June she taught her curriculumto teachers including sessions atMetroWest Jewish Day School inFramingham. Judy was the creativearts director at the school when shereceived a Massachusetts CulturalCouncil artist-in-residence grantsupporting her efforts in Israel. Sheis looking forward to returning toIsrael for another year of learning andteaching.Visit Maimonides on Facebook Follow our Twitter feed, KolRambamSubscribe to our YouTube channel, MaimoTube

June 2011 ~ Iyar–Sivan 5771Page of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideRosen Warms Up for Ugandan Health Clinic with Three Months in UkraineRaphy Rosen ’06 warmed up for anupcoming trip to Uganda with a recentthree-month shift as a counselor inthe English language camp in Dnepropetrovsk,Ukraine, sponsored by theJewish Community Relations Councilof Greater Boston.Raphy, a Columbia University alumnus,was among seven recent college graduatesand current undergrads whoplanned and ran the camp for childrenin Grades 1-4 in the Or Avner Jewishpublic school. The Americans providedsupport for English teachers duringthe first half of the school day, thenran activities so campers could enjoyapplying the English they learned. “Wehad field trips to the zoo to practiceanimal names, to a botanical gardento work on our nature vocabulary andto a bowling alley, just for fun. We heldcarnivals, birthday parties, KabbalatShabbat, color war, tie dyeing, singingcompetitions, river boat tours andother events that made the campunforgettable for the campers.”“After the camp ended, we touredthe different Jewish sites in Dnepropetrovsk,such as the new MenorahJewish Center (the largest Jewishcenter in the world), the synagogueand kosher restaurants,” Raphyreported. “We stayed with familiesfrom the community, which gaveus a chance to get an inside look atthe vibrant Jewish life in Dnep. Thecommunity was extremely graciousand we did not lack for meal invitationsfor Shabbat or even during the week.”Raphy noted that communitymembers mentioned the Chavayaexchange program involving Bostonand Haifa high school studentsspending time in Dnepropetrovsk.Seven Maimonides sophomores andjuniors took part last February. Anyoneinterested in participating in thecollegiate program may contact NogaNevel at nnevel@jcrcboston.org.This summer Raphy plans to work withthe Abayudaya, the Uganda Jewishcommunity, in the village of Nabugoye.“I will be working in their new healthclinic as well as doing informal educationin the community,” he said. Theclinic is run by an organization calledBechol Lashon.Raphy Rosen ‘06 in the classroom at the Englishlanguage camp in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.“Next year, I will be a YU JewishEducator Fellow teaching biology,math and Chumash in Fuchs MizrachiSchool in Cleveland,” Raphy said. “Iwould describe the program as asort of Teach for Jewish America, inthat many of the Fellows will not endup as lifetime teachers, but they feelthe responsibility to give back to theJewish educational system from whichthey gained so much as students.”This program is run through the AzrieliGraduate School at Yeshiva University.1975 Grad Returnsto CameraAmy (Golub) Haberland ’75 hasrestarted her photography business(www.amyhaberlandphotography.com, 781-777-2303).“I’m specializing in weddings, butI do all sorts of portraiture andevents,” said Amy, who earned adegree in professional photographyand has more than 20 yearsof experience. She is offeringreduced rates for Maimonidesfamilies.Members and spouses of the Class of 1996 pose outside the school with various Cohen, Garlandand Mandel children: from left, Rachel and Dr. Ernest Mandel, Dr. Andrew Geller, SarahBatyah(Kempner) Cohen, Eli Geller and Leah (Lamport) Garland. The 15-year reunion June 26 alsofeatured a Skype conversation with Dfir Weinberg in Efrat.

June 2011 ~ Iyar–Sivan 5771Page of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideMaimonides Experience Started Alumna on Track to an Unusual ProfessionAyelette Robinson ’91 says she has“found a career that weaves togethermy education, my skills, and my interests.And it all started at Maimonides.”Ayelette is Director of KnowledgeTechnology at Littler MendelsonP.C., a San Francisco-based law firmwith more than 800 attorneys and 50offices across the U.S.“While my title may sound unusual,my role actually grew quite organicallyout of my high school, college,and graduate school experiences,” sheexplained. “Leveraging each aspect ofmy past, I lead the technology-basedknowledge management efforts atmy law firm.”“Throughout my Maimonides career(14 years, counting pre-kindergartenand kindergarten), my favorite courseswere math, science, and Talmud,” shesaid. “I preferred the straightforward,logical analysis skills necessary forthese over what seemed to me to beamorphous thought processes leveragedfor the humanities. So whenI was applying to college, medicalschool—a strong career path forsomeone who enjoyed science—seemed like a good direction.”Ayelette was accepted into BrownUniversity’s Program in LiberalMedical Education (PLME), throughwhich undergraduates are allowed tocontinue directly into Brown’s medicalschool following graduation, withouthaving to go through the painfulmedical school application process.“This is truly an amazing programfor someone wishing to becomea doctor, but in the middle of myundergraduate years, I realized thatwhile the sciences still intrigued me,I did not have enough passion formedicine to sustain me through themany long years, and nights, requiredfor a full medical education,” Ayelettereflected.So after graduating from college,she spent the next few years “tryingto figure out what I wanted to do. Iheld a few different positions in a fewdifferent industries. Perhaps the mostrandom, but also randomly useful,was my work at a Japanese bookstorewhich at the time had a streetpresence in Cambridge, but whichalso had (and still has) has an onlinepresence.”Among her responsibilities wasmaintaining and expanding thestore’s website. “I had no websitedevelopment experience at all, butthe previous administrator was kindenough to show me the ropes, teachme basic HTML and Java and directme to some helpful books, and thestore owner was kind enough tolet me experiment with the site as Ilearned,” she said.Ultimately, Ayelette decided on lawschool, and worked as a paralegal fora year while applying. After graduatingfrom University of MichiganLaw School, she chose to become acorporate associate and moved toSan Francisco, practicing there andin Silicon Valley. “I had occasion tooverlap with technology and scienceduring my practice, and, reminiscingmy roots, found those interactionsfun and interesting,” she recounted.“But even as I began to explore careeralternatives to law firm partner, I neveractively pursued a return to thoseroots. Instead I investigated careerpaths that would continue to leveragemy law school and law practiceexperience.”“I eventually found a great match, aprofessional development opportunityat another law firm that was partof a large group of prior practicingattorneys, making the camaraderieand skill set of this group unsurpassed.The firm also happened tohave a knowledge managementinitiative well under way at the time,and the leader of that initiative (anIsraeli lawyer) worked closely with theprofessional development group.”“So, while I had never heard of ‘knowledgemanagement’ before, I had animmediate, though completely coincidental,chance to participate in thoseprojects. And it was love at first sight.”Knowledgemanagement,Ayeletteexplained, is “theeffort to bridgethe gap betweenpeople and theinformation theyneed. Think ofyour life with andwithout Google:while GoogleAyelette Robinson ‘91does not own ormanage any ofthe information you find by using it,you are able to access that informationmuch more easily with Googlethan without it.”“For me,” she continued, “a career inlegal knowledge management wastruly the perfect match: my experienceas a lawyer is indispensable forunderstanding the kinds of informationattorneys need in order to practicebetter, and my interest and skillset in technology allow me to communicateequally well with the lawyersand with the technologists involvedin each initiative, and to translatesuccessfully between the twogroups—those who need the system,and those who are building it. “

June 2011 ~ Iyar–Sivan 5771Page of 4Kol BogreiRambamConnecting Maimonides Alumni WorldwideTen Maimonides School alumni pose with their Class of 2011 children just prior to Commencement on June 19: from left: Akiva Katz and Naty Katz’73, David Schwartz and Rebecca (Kolodny) Schwartz ’82, Robin (Aronson) Katzman ’79 and her father Jacob Aronson with Seth Katzman, Sharon(Epstein) Lerner ’81 and Dalya, Herb Weinberg ’80 and Rachel, Jeff Kosowsky ’81 and Tamar (both valedictorians), Ruth (Abromson) Poritz ’77and Daniel, Zev Blechner ’76 and Noach, Riselle (Glass) Hirsh ’74 and Brittani, and Abby (Jacobs) Wyschogrod ’75 and Ezra. (Jacob Aronson was aMaimonides student in the 1940s, before the high school was established.)Carolyn (Labins) Goodman ’57 sent thesephotos of her Maimonides class ring, whichshe said members of her class designed. Doesanyone know how many classes after ’57purchased rings senior year?Members of the Class of 1971 pose outside Ginger Grill in Riverdale, NY, during their 40-yearreunion June 26: from left, Barbara (Lipis) Morris, Nathan Hamaoui, Eve (Bulman) Jacobs,Rabbi Dr. Edward Goldstein, Jackie (Holcer) Fessel, Minna (Brazil) Ringelheim, Rebecca(Weisenberg) Rosenbaum, Micah Bloomfield, Sherman Gold and Abe Katz. The event wasa resounding success, according to participants. “It was as though 40 years had never passed,”Barbara declared. “it was great...had a wonderful time and a warm and fuzzy feeling seeingeveryone,” Minna said. “Maybe we should do this on an annual basis,” Ed suggested.