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Next Week
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Mon., Dec. 4
Yeshiva visit: Migdal HaTorah, 1st period, all senior boys attend
College rep visit: Univ. of Delaware, 3rd period
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ues., Dec. 5
Special schedule
Wed., Dec. 6
Yeshiva visit: Eretz Hatzvi, 1st period, all senior boys attend
College Admissions Testing Roadmap for parents of 10th and 11th graders, 7:30 pm
Thu., Dec. 7
Maimonides Invitational Basketball Tournament
Fri., Dec. 8
Maimonides Invitational
Basketball Tournament
Sat., Dec. 9
Maimonides Invitational
Basketball Tournament
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In Two Weeks
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Yeshiva Visit: 1st period, Gesher, (all senior boys attend)
Rav Seminar, 4th period (all seniors attend)
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ues., Dec. 12
2nd
Chanukah candle
Yeshiva Visit: 1st period, Eretz HaTzvi, (all senior boys attend)
Thu., Dec. 14
3rd
Chanukah candle
Wrestling @ Cohasset (4:00 p.m.)
Fri., Dec. 15
4th Chanukah candle
Sat., Dec. 16
5th Chanukah candle
Chanukah Banquet,
8:15 p.m.
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Having a
MAIMO MOMENT?
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Please click here
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Quick Links
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www.maimonides.org
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| D'var Torah |
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This Shabbat is the 8th grade Shabbaton, with the theme of Leadership. The students do all the cooking, lead davening, give divrei Torah, and lead activities and zmirot. We had the privilege this morning of hearing words of Torah from two of our 8th graders, Michal Berlove and Abby Scharf. Please see below for their d'var Torah.
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This week's parsha is Parshat VaYishlach, and it teaches us some valuable lessons about leadership, the theme of this weekend's eighth grade Shabbaton. In order to be a strong leader, a person needs time to prepare and organize their ideas and goals.
A leader needs to be thoughtful about the decisions they make because those decisions affect the entire community. A thoughtful leader should consider the needs of others before their own needs. To do that a person has to realize that he or she is not just representing him or herself, but also many others.
As Yaakov's family meets Esav, Yaakov's wives approach Esav, followed by their children. However, when it is Rachel's turn to meet Esav, Yosef acts as leader and steps in front of Rachel in order to protect her. Yosef is endangering his safety in order to protect his mother. This act of protection shows what it takes to be a good leader. He isn't just thinking about himself, but also about his family. He is being proactive by taking action. He didn't wait to see if Rachel will ask him to go in front of her, he just does it automatically.
However, you have to be careful with what actions you take. Later on in the parsha, we see Shimon and Levi going to Shechem to rescue their sister, Deena. Their intentions were good, but the result backfired. Instead of just rescuing Deena, Shimon and Levi also killed almost half the population of Shechem. This act of cruelty was unnecessary. The only people whose killing could be justified were the captors of Deena.
When the text talks about Shimon and Levi while they're trying to save Deena, it refers to them as "
אחי דינה
". However, in pasuk gimmel the text refers to them as b'nai Yaakov. This highlights the difference between their behaviour in the two different places. When they are called b'nai Yaakov, their actions are reflecting their father. However, when they are called
אחי דינה
their actions are not reflecting their father's actions, because they are parting from Yaakov's reputation.
When you have power, you should take action, but you shouldn't take advantage of your power and do the wrong thing.
Shabbat shalom!
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Thoughts of the Rav
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by Rabbi David Saltzman
The Rav addresses the question of someone who goes to learn and then asks themselves, "How much do I remember a year later? Usually not much. If so, why should I go to the
shiur in the first place?"
The Rav answers that even if someone does not remember the shiur, something remains in their head and they are a different person afterwards. The fact that we are learning, sitting in a shiur, hearing a d'var Torah, this in itself uplifts a person and they become a different Jew. In the heart, this experience remains.
Regarding the education of children, the Rav asserts that we must have patience. He compares learning to planting seeds, which for six months looks like a waste of money and time. With patience, though, the seeds sprout and grow. The same is true of education. Each moment of learning affects the heart and soul of a child. We need to continue our mission of providing our children with an excellent Jewish education, and be patient as we wait for the ultimate results.
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Basketball Tournament Next Weekend
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Maimonides School will be the center of the Jewish basketball universe next weekend, as the school's boys' and girls' teams will host student-athletes from Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York at the annual Maimonides School Invitational Basketball Tournament in Memory of Leland Gelman.
Maimonides teams will compete in Fox Gymnasium
Thursday afternoon and evening,
Friday morning,
Motza'ei Shabbat, and
Sunday. The teams will be hosted on Shabbat by the Maimonides Kehillah; Rabbi Steven Weil, senior managing director of the Orthodox Union, will speak here
on Friday night. The complete schedule of games and other details can be found at
www.maimohoops.org.
Another tournament feature will be a silent auction, raising money to offset weekend expenses. Highlights include a pair of New England Patriots opening-game playoff tickets and a baseball signed by both Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. Bidding will begin during the
Saturday night game and conclude early
Sunday afternoon at the boys' championship game.
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Members of the Maimo spirit club make posters for the M-Cats and visiting teams to prepare for the tournament.
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The Jewish Connection to Spanish:
Ladino Comes to Maimonides
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Ask American Jews what are the shared historic languages of the Jewish people, and they will immediately say Hebrew, and then perhaps mention Yiddish. Few will mention a Spanish-based language that bound together tens of thousands of Jews for centuries, and is still spoken by nearly 200,000 Jews in Israel, Turkey, and other countries.
This week, students in eighth- and ninth-grade Spanish classes stepped directly into the world of Ladino, learning about the roots of the language in medieval Spain, and then learning and singing two songs in Ladino that are popular today in the growing revival and re-appreciation of Ladino culture in the United States.
The song
Ocho Kandelikas (Eight Candles)
(click here for video)
recalls the traditional Chanukkah celebrations in Sarajevo, Bosnia, during which parents engaged in matchmaking while their sons and daughters sang and danced.
Kuando el Rey Nimrod (When King Nimrod), one of the most well-known songs surviving from medieval Jewish Spain, tells in a Ladino sprinkled with Hebrew how
Avraham Avinu rivaled the biblical King Nimrod, based on ancient Hebrew sources.
"Learning any language, Spanish included, is a gateway to other cultures. It just seemed appropriate - I'd even say necessary - for Maimo students to make this special connection between Spanish and this less familiar, but important, part of Jewish history and culture," said Gary Abramson, who recalled for the students his own experience meeting with Ladino-speaking leaders of the Jewish community in Istanbul, Turkey. "Along with discovering Latino culture in North and South America, they can now appreciate one more dimension of Spanish-influenced culture, and hopefully engage with it from now on," continued Abramson, who substituted for World Languages chairperson Estefania Torres during her maternity leave this fall.
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Superbowl at School!
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Students and faculty were pumped up for this week's
superbowl... intramural superbowl, that is. Flag football teams
led by Captains Josh Weiss and Shlomo Warren faced off for the final game of the season, with Team Warren taking home the trophy. Said player Rabbi Dov Huff, "While there have been many superbowls over the years, this one was unequivocally
the sweetest."
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Israel Map Updated
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The large map of Israel in Saval Auditorium has been updated to include the 13 seminaries and yeshivot where members of the Class of 2017 are learning this year. The map also indicates the places where more than 300 Maimonides School graduates live with colored pins, including more than 100 alumni in Yerushalayim and other concentrations in Beit Shemesh, Efrat, Modi'in and Ra'anana. The display was dedicated in 2011 to mark the retirement of Rabbi Jon Bloomberg, Upper School
limudei kodesh teacher, and Rabbi David Shapiro, principal from 1978 to 1999.
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| Spirit Sale to Benefit Class of 2018 |
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The Class of 2018 is sponsoring a Spirit Sale next Tuesday, December 5 from 12:00 - 2:30 p.m. ... just in time for the Maimonides Invitational Basketball Tournament! All parents are welcome to come and purchase items for themselves or their students.
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Town Hall Meetings
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The Maimonides School Board of Directors
invites parents to a
Town Hall Meeting
Steven Schwartz, Board Chair, and Naty Katz, Head of School, look forward to meeting with you, listening to your suggestions and concerns, and benefiting from this opportunity for open dialogue.
These meetings are intended to focus on the non-academic issues within the purview of the Board such as day school affordability, financial matters, and other topics of interest to the community.
Town Hall Meetings will take place:
- Monday, December 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Sharon - click here to respond
- Wednesday, January 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Brookline - click here to respond
Please check your e-mail for full details of the meeting locations, or write to [email protected] for more information.
There will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion during the meetings. To help us prepare, we encourage you to submit questions in advance to
[email protected]
We look forward to
an evening of engaging conversation with you.
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Alumni Newsletter Online
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The monthly alumni newsletter for November is now online, and can be found here. This issue's articles include:
- Cousins' Chesed Mission to Tiny Island Nation Gratifying and Humbling
- Alumna Spearheads Exposition Showcasing Brookline Volunteer Opportunities
- Recent Graduates Take Model UN Experience to the Next Level in Israel
- Graduate Discovers and Shares Diversity in a Cup of Coffee
If you would like to receive the alumni newsletter each month, contact Mike Rosenberg at (617) 232-4452 x 405 or [email protected].
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Special Movie Screening
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There will be a special screening of the movie
My Hero Brother on Sunday, December 10 at 6:00 p.m. at West Newton Cinema, co-sponsored by Maimonides School, Young Israel of Sharon, New England Yachad, and Striar Hebrew Academy.
My Hero Brother
tells the remarkable story of a group of young people with Down syndrome who embark on a demanding trek through the Indian Himalayas with their siblings. As they deal with physical and emotional challenges, unresolved conflicts come to the surface and heartwarming friendships develop.
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ROFEH Toy Drive
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Please bring a new, unwrapped toy for our ROFEH Toy Drive! Boxes will be placed in front of the Elementary, Middle, and Upper School offices.
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Mazel Tov!
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Send us your simchas!
Please share your simcha 
announcements with us by sending details
to
[email protected].
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Boy Scout Trip to Israel
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Maimonides Boy Scout Troop 54 is organizing a unique trip to Israel in February 2018. This will be a 12-day program during President's week, February 13-25.
The group will explore all over Israel with experts from botany, zoology, ornithology, ecology, and archaeology.
500 million birds begin migrating through Israel! The students
will relate this information to the Tanach and Talmud.
Students do not need to be scouts, but they will need to register with the Boy Scouts of America before the trip. Participants may be families, children 12 years and up accompanied by an adult, teens aged 14 and up, and retirees.
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| See What's Happening in other Divisions |
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Lots of wonderful things are happening at Maimonides School!
If you'd like to take a peek at what's happening in the other divisions, click to visit the Early Childhood Center, Elementary School, or Middle School newsletter pages.
If you would like to contact a specific school office, please use these emails:
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| Let's Get Social! |
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There's so much going on here at Maimo! Be sure to check out our social media to get the inside scoop (with lots of great photos) on happenings at school.
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