TABC has once again emerged as the champions of the Lander College for Men Model Beis Din  competition for a fourth consecutive year. TABC's well-prepared students, led by coach Rabbi Jachter and captains Shlomo Korsinsky '17 and Joseph Solomon '17, blew away the competition with their mastery of the relevant sources to help them respond to the issues with which they were challenged. Most impressively, in addition to Joseph and Shlomo, Ephraim Helfgot '20, Ned Krasnopolsky '19, Eitan Leff '18, Yonasan (Jonathan) Rutta '20 each mastered the material and vigorously participated in the discussions and debates.  Lander College rebbeim and other competitors commented on the extraordinarily high quality of the TABC students' presentations and deportment during the long day of repeated head to head competition and grueling questioning from Lander College rebbeim including its famed Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yonasan Sacks. The high quality of TABC Torah learning was abundantly clear as TABC defeated the other competing teams which included Rambam and DRS. Dr. Moshe Sokol, Lander College Dean and Professor, commented, "The TABC team, winners for the fourth straight year, demonstrated real mastery of the complex source material, and presented with poise and sophistication. Their mentor, Rabbi Jachter, a noted dayan, author, educator and talmid chacham, prepared them well, and while the competition was intense, the TABC team rose to the occasion."

Earlier this year, Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Schnall's AP Psychology class studied the  differences between sensation and perception. The students were amazed by the famous Ponzo Illusion (pictured), which demonstrates that even identically sized objects appear to us as different sizes, based on their surroundings. Last week, in preparing for Pesach, t he class discussed a related example where "top-down" perceptual processing was central to the Torah's account of a most miraculous experience:  Moshe's perception of the burning bush in Shemot Chapter 3.

There were a lot of questions about the TABC varsity soccer team at the beginning of the season.  The majority of the team are juniors, and a few returning seniors had limited playing experience.  While there is still a lot of room for improvement, so far the team looked good, opening the season with four consecutive victories.

The first game was at Hillel.  TABC dominated the game, but inability to finish the play on the offensive zone and several mental lapses on defense kept the game close, with TABC never leading by more than one goal.   TABC finally extended the lead to 6:4, but Hillel went on all-out attack, and with just 14 seconds to go in the game closed the gap to 6:5.   TABC, however, was able to control the ball the rest of the match, and the first victory was in the book.

The second game, also on the road, was against a much-improved JEC team, which gave TABC a hard time the last time the two teams met.  This time around, however, the Storm totally dominated the game.  With all players contributing, TABC easily pulled away for 10:3 victory.

The home opener was against a newcomer, Ma'or.   With very little experience and a short roster, Ma'or could not really compete with the more experienced and deep Storm team.  Despite Ma'or's valiant effort, and TABC using substitutes for most of the match, the game quickly turned into a rout.

The next game was against TABC's main rival over the past few years, the Kushner Cobras.  The teams split the two regular season games last year, and then Kushner came back from two goals down to beat TABC in the playoffs by one goal.  With their team full of returning seniors and superb goaltending, the Cobras looked like the best team in the division.  The game lived up to the expectations.  TABC had several good opportunities early in the match, but could not capitalize.  On at least three occasions the Cobras were saved by the post or crossbar.  On the other end of the floor, Kushner calmly converted the few opportunities that they had.  Twice Kushner took a one goal leads, and both times TABC tied the game.  With just 39 seconds left in the first half Kushner scored again, and the teams went to locker rooms with Cobras leading 3:2.

After the break TABC re-doubled their effort, beating their opponents to every loose ball, and gradually increasing the pressure.  Midway through the 3rd quarter TABC finally tied the score.  The game continued with TABC attacking and Kushner playing solid defense, slowing the game down, and mounting occasional counter attacks.  With less than three minutes remaining in the game, TABC captain Refi Minsky spun away from the Kushner defenders and blasted a hard shot in the top right corner of the net, giving TABC its first lead of the game!  The tired Kushner team tried to go on the attack, but was not able to generate any serious threat the rest of the game, and Storm had its 4th victory of the season.

Not a bad start for a bunch of juniors!