That championship season - Maimonides School

Focus onNewtonSee Pages 12-15FoodAll fired up forthe FourthSee Page 16TheaterCourtside withRed AuerbachSee Page 17Building bridgesat BabsonThe Wellesley college bringstogether Palestinians and Israelisand challenges them tocreate businesses backhome.See Page 3Soundingthe alarmIn Wellesley, Colette Avital, aformer Knesset member, saysPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahumust take the initiativeon peace talks or riskisolating Israel further.See Page 5Boom inrebuildingTwo Newton synagogues,Shaarei Tefillah and Beth El-Atereth Israel, tout majormakeovers.See Pages 12-13X-Men and ShoahAn Auschwitz survivor turnedsuperhero? The Movie Mavenreflects on the propriety ofusing the Holocaust as thebackground for a comic bookcharacter.See Page 17Don’t be astrangerSingles columnist TamarCaspi bemoans the way thenewly smitten suddenly seemto forget their old friends.See Page 18SHABBAT CANDLELIGHTING TIMESParshat KorachBOSTON8:07 PMMANCHESTER, N.H. 8:11 PMFALL RIVER8:05 PMPORTLAND, MAINE 8:09 PMPROVIDENCE, R.I. 8:07 PMSPRINGFIELD8:12 PMWORCESTER8:10 PMERUV STATUS:BOSTON 781-446-9797MALDEN 781-322-5686SHARON 781-695-0505By Elise KignerAdvocate StaffWhen Maimonides School layleaders asked Rabbi David Shapiroto become the school’s religiousleader, he accepted the job, butonly grudgingly took on the honorific“rosh yeshiva.” And, he said,he did not want business cardswith that title.But by any measure, Shapiro,who is stepping down after 41years as a teacher, administratorand, most recently, rosh yeshiva,was a towering figure at the ModernOrthodox K-12 school.He has seen immature middleschool students grow into studentbody leaders; and officiated atweddings of former students andEstablished 1902Vol. 202 No. 25 ■ 22 Sivan 5771 — JUNE 24, 2011 ■ www.TheJewishAdvocate.com ■ $1.50Swinging scholarsOren Bazer and Maya Leschinsky dance their way out at the recessional for eighth grade graduationat JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School. Students were encouraged to make acreative good-bye gesture. The Watertown school has another reason to celebrate: It has raised$2 million, to be matched by $1 million from George Krupp. More day school photos, Page 23.That championship seasonShomer Shabbos boyswin Brookline World SeriesBy Leah BurrowsAdvocate StaffAt first glance, the group of boys who rushed themound after winning their baseball championship,jumping up and down, hugging and dousing theircoach in water, may have seemed like atypical group of pre-teens.Look closer.Those aren’t sideburns, they are theearly wisps of payot. Under several ofthose Mets caps sit yarmulkes.And when coach Jonathan Cohengathered the team together for a postgamepep-talk, the first thing he did wasthank Hashem.This is a team of observant Jewishboys, and they are the World Serieschamps of their age group in the Brook-Two shy of a minyan, Needhamtennis team takes state titleBy Lawrence BergmanSpecial to the AdvocateIf it could pull in two more Jews, the boys tennisteam at Needham High could form a minyan. But theteam’s prayers have been answered anyway. It wentundefeated this year, and last week wonits first MIAA Division I State Championshiptrophy.Of the seven starting varsity players,six are Jewish. On the entire Rocketsteam, Jews account for eight of thedozen members.The team’s top two singles players,juniors Aaron Revzin and Aaron Segel,both Jewish, have been best friendssince pre-school.Why so many Jews? Bruce Revzin,Aaron’s father, offered several possiblethen taught their children. As anadministrator, he ensured thatschool policy on everything fromcurriculum to student clubs remainedtrue to the intentions ofMaimonides’ founder Rabbi JosephSoloveitchik.“I see my job as an educator, asa religious gadfly,” said Shapiro,Continued on Page 4Russian Jewsin Bostonlose a heroand a friendBonner’s deatha personal lossBy David H. GoldbergSpecial to the AdvocateWhen Yelena Bonner movedto Boston two decades ago, ithelped that her next door neighborwas a woman she had beenfriends with since the ’70s inMoscow.“She was like a sister to me,”Ella Gorlova said Monday fromher Brookline home. “I can tellyou the date and time that wemet. It was Feb. 13, 1974. Thatwas the daySolzhenitsynwas arrestedand sent to jailand eventuallyput on a planeand sent outof the SovietUnion. …“This day,almost everyfriend and good acquaintancecame to visit them,” Gorlova continued.“We were very goodfriends of the Solzhenitsyn family.… We entered the small kitchenand several minutes later, MissBonner with her husband, AndreiSakharov, arrived.”Bonner, a giant of the humanrights movement and widow ofthe Nobel Peace Prize winner,died Saturday in Boston. She was88.Gloucester resident Yuri Tuvinbecame friends with Bonner andSakharov in Moscow in the ’60s.“What can I say about YelenaBonner?” Tuvin said. “She wasone of the very rare people whowas always, maybe 100 percentright in any situation in politicsThe Mets celebrate byContinued on Page 6 Continued on Page 7drenching coach Cohen.Continued on Page 2Stepping down as the conscience of MaimoAfter 41 years, Rabbi David Shapiro retires from the Brookline schoolBonner

Continued from Page 166. “Not as issuing rulings fromon high.”Shapiro and his wife, Miriam,are moving from Brighton toJerusalem next month to spendmore time with their childrenand grandchildren. Shapiro alsoplans to prepare for publicationhis notes on the lectures of TalnerRabbi Yitzhak Twersky, the manwho first drew him to Boston.After graduating from YeshivaUniversity in New York, where hetook classes with RabbiSoloveitchik, Shapiro and his wifemoved to Boston so he couldstudy Jewish history at Harvardwith Rabbi Twersky, who waswell-known both as the Hasidicleader of the Talner shul inBrighton and as a scholar. RabbiTwersky’s wife, Dr. Atarah Twersky,is a daughter of RabbiSoloveitchik.To earn money, Shapiro taughtJudaic studies part-time at Maimonides.Soon, he said, “I fell inlove with what I was doing here.”He abandoned his doctoralstudies – though he stayed closewith Rabbi Twersky as a congregantat the Talner shul – and becameassociate principal at Maimonidesin 1974. Four yearslater, he was promoted to principal,a job he held until 1999. Hethen returned to teaching Jewishhistory, Jewish thought, Talmudand Bible classes. He also focusedon his writing, publishing in 2004the book “Rabbi Joseph B.Soloveitchik on Pesach, Sefiratha-Omer and Shavu’ot.”Shapiro became Maimonides’first rosh yeshiva in 2006. He saidlay leaders created the positionout of concern that there was avacuum in religious leadership atthe 74-year-old school.In the past, he said, RabbiSoloveitchik and then RabbiTwersky had always provided thereligious guidance for the school.Rabbi Soloveitchik’s wife, Dr.Tonya Soloveitchik, first headedthe School Committee. In 1967,she was succeeded by her daughterDr. Twersky, who resigned in2004.“[Lay leaders] said to me,‘Somebody has to now take responsibilityfor the nerve centerof the school, for the religious decisionsthat have to be made,’”Shapiro recalled.But he was hesitant about takingthe job. He knew he wouldtake a lot of heat for his decisions,and he was a little uncomfortablewith the title, which thelay leaders insisted would commandrespect. In the end, hetold them: “I will take the responsibility,but understand thatI am not an oracle.”Shapiro said he frequentlyconsulted with day school leadersat other Modern Orthodoxschools and other rabbis, particularlythose at the four synagoguesthat serve nearly 90 percent ofMaimonides students: Young Israelof Brookline; Young Israel ofSharon; and Beth El-Atereth Israeland Shaarei Tefillah, whichare both in Newton.Shortly after his appointment,Shapiro learned that, for severalyears, a political student club hadattended a convention for the JuniorStatesmen of America anddebated political issues duringShabbat. After consulting withrabbis and other day school leaders,he called off the annual trip.While the students observed halachaby not using microphonesor taking notes, Shapiro toldthem that the convention was notin the spirit of Shabbat.Even as rosh yeshiva, Shapirodidn’t always get the final word inreligious and moral matters. Heremembered once having a discussionwith his juniors abouttheir use of a word that he andhis generation considered vulgarbecause it originated as a sexualterm. The students counteredthat it no longer had that connotation,and that language evolvesthrough usage. “I lost that debate,”Shapiro admitted.He recalled another juniorwho came to him upset over asexually explicit scene in RalphEllison’s “Invisible Man,” whichwas assigned reading. “Why arewe reading this?” the studentasked. “Why should we be subjectedto these images of nakedwomen being thrown around bymen?”Shapiro told the student hewould discuss the matter withthe English faculty to see if theycould find a different book thatcould express the same messagein a more appropriate way.“Rabbi Shapiro’s collaborativenature, and his tirelessness inbuilding consensus, even inthose areas where he could havethe undisputed last word, makeshis leadership that much morepowerful,” said Nathan Katz, theschool’s executive director.Hearing students talk abouttheir lapses in halachic observancefrustrated Shapiro, but hesaid he knew many became moreobservant after high schoolthrough a Hillel rabbi on campus,or through a seminary orJUNE 24, 2011 THE JEWISH ADVOCATERabbi Shapiro moving to IsraelRabbi David Shapiro congratulates new Maimonides graduates,from left, Aaron Zwiebach, Noah Swartz and Seth Katzman.‘I see my job as aneducator, as areligious gadfly, notas issuing rulingsfrom on high.’Rabbi David Shapiroyeshiva teacher in Israel. His roleat Maimonides included helpingstudents find yeshiva and seminaryprograms in Israel.Dr. Kalman Stein, whoworked with Shapiro from 1978to 1997, first as an associate principal,and then as a co-principal,said Shapiro’s most importantcontribution to the school washelping it maintain the ideologyof its founder. Stein said Shapirowas able to influence teachersand students in the school becausethey felt comfortable talkingwith him. “He is someonewho is a real people person,”said Stein, now principal at theFrisch School in New Jersey. “Hebecame very much involved withthe lives of the kids and the families.”Mike Rosenberg, Maimonidesdirector of alumni and communityrelations, said Shapiro wasable to connect with students inconversations about prayer andother religious matters.“He is able to convey, at a kid’slevel, that they are part of achain, that they are part of a traditionthat goes back thousandsof years,” he said. “He tries toreach them at the level of justmaking an effort. Don’t get frustrated,don’t give up, you won’tget an answer, you won’t have anepiphany, but think of it as an opportunity.”In Israel, Shapiro will beworking on a book based onRabbi Twersky’s lectures at theTalner shul, Congregation BethDavid. For 20 years Shapiro attendedthese lectures and tooknotes. When the lectures wereon Shabbos, he held the rabbi’swords in his head, and wrotethem down after Havdalah. AfterRabbi Twersky died in 1997,Shapiro began giving his owntalks at the shul based on the laterabbi’s lectures. He also helpedto lead Beth David, which relocatedto New York this spring.Shapiro said he is confidentthe teachers and administratorshe hired over they years will continueto make decisions in linewith the teachings of RabbisTwersky and Soloveitchik. Middleand Upper School principalRabbi Yaakov Jaffe, for example,is a student of a student of RabbiAharon Lichtenstein, RabbiSoloveitchik’s son-in-law.“I am comfortable that I amleaving the school in very capablehands,” Shapiro said.