April 5, 2019                                29 Adar II 5779

For the third year running TABC's team finished first among 13 schools at the annual Science Olympiad at Lander College. After arriving, the TABC team heard a pep talk from co-captain Avraham Kahan '19 and then proceeded to their various events, such as tower-building, circuit lab, or anatomy. Throughout the day the mood was tense but hopeful, as TABC's extensive preparation was tested by an especially difficult competition. After a speech by one of Lander's distinguished professors on the scientific revolution in the context of artificial placentas, the awards were announced, eliciting much joy and singing from the TABC team. Although everyone on the team did exceptionally well (everyone earned at least one medal), some highlights were Netanel "absolute legend" Vinar '19 taking home his Lander career record 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th medals, Eitan Nissel '22 earning gold in his event as a freshman, and Ned "Hi Ned" Krasnopolsky '19 and Alex Ostrin '19 pulling out a second place finish in Write it, Do it, despite exceptionally poor luck, with the structure falling apart at the last moment under questionable circumstances. A special thanks to Mr. Dietz and Mr. Tiefenbrunn, new TABC faculty additions who guided the team to victory.

Three weeks ago, 10 TABC students participated in the Jewish High School Math league and this week the results were in. The students took a 45 minute, 15 question test on computers. The scores reflected the number of answers the student answered correctly and the amount of time they took to complete the competition. Out of 19 schools, TABC came in second. Congratulations to seniors Yehoshua Kanarek, Eli Rifkind and Sammy Greenberg, junior Mikey Schwartz, sophomore Levi Langer and freshman Yakov Halstuch whose scores made up our team score. In addition, congratulations to junior Mikey Schwartz who received the third place prize of all of the students who participated.

Stay tuned! New Jersey math league results will be in soon and our math team will go to Yale University on April 14th.

The results are in and now students and parents have to decide on a college by May 1. TABC is proud to announce results of both early decision acceptance and regular decision acceptances. Over the two periods, TABC students were accepted to five of the six Ivy League schools to which they applied. Students this year were accepted to Princeton, Yale, Penn, Columbia, and Cornell, as well as Cooper Union and other prestigious colleges.  Twenty-five students were accepted into the Yeshiva University Honors program, with the vast majority earning honors scholarships of $20,000+. Other seniors have been accepted to University of Maryland Honors program, and one of the Rutgers University Honors programs. Additionally, other students have been accepted to Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Binghamton University, Drexel University, University of Maryland, University of Massachusetts, Muhlenberg College, Rutgers University, Northeastern University, Johnson and Wales University, SUNY Binghamton, Queens College, Baruch College and Yeshiva University. We are also very pleased to announce that our students have been offered over three million dollars in academic scholarships over the next four years. Our college guidance department, and its personalized approach to the college search and admissions process, has helped students find the college that is right for them religiously, academically and socially.

Over the past three and a half months after davening a group of freshman students remained in the Beit Knesset to learn 1-4 mishnayot of Pirkei Avot each day. The chaburah was recorded daily and was sent to a group chat with over 25 participating student. Everyone learned many life lessons just by learning a few minutes after davening. The chaburah was a huge success!

Purim celebrates the renewed acceptance of the Torah, kiymu vekiblu. The Maharal explains that when someone asks for more of an item you know he likes the item. When the Jewish nation added the mitzvot of mikra Megillah, mishloach manot, and matanot la'evyonim they were accepting more Divine commands than the amount Hashem had originally given them, these additions confirmed our original acceptance of Torah. In honor of Purim Y17A sought to add learning beyond what is mandated. We divided up Messechet Megillah. Each student studied several dapim. Last Wednesday we celebrated a gala siyum with food from Rebbetzin Reichman, divrei Torah from students, and music from Yonatan Katz '19 and Aharon Tuchman '19.

On Thursday morning Rabbi Jachter brought a special guest to his Mishna shiurim. Mr. Stephen Nunez, for whom Rabbi Jachter is serving as his sponsoring rabbi for conversion, is scheduled to complete his conversion very soon and shared his journey with the Y6, Y7 and Y9 shiurim.  The students and Steve "very much hit off it off" and they posed very fascinating and thought provoking questions to Steve.  All felt that in addition to being a "great guy" (in the students' words) they also saw Steve as an inspiring figure as someone who has fully embraced the Jewish people and Torah Judaism. Rabbi Jachter remarked how wonderful it is to see how our talmidim learn about the process of giyur from a first-hand source and meaningfully show their appreciation of Steve and his magnificent journey.

Please join us Tuesday night, April 9th at 7:00 P.M. for a guidance program which will include presentations from Rabbi Steven Finkelstein (Director of Guidance), Rabbi Ezra Wiener (Judaic Studies Principal and Director of Israel Guidance), Dr. Michael Atlas (Director of Student Support Services) and Dr. Garry R. Katz (Director of College Guidance). This is an important program for sophomore parents to attend and will include a review of standardized tests like the ACT and SAT.  

On Wednesday, along with about a two dozen other high school counselors from Jewish high schools, Dr. Garry Katz and Elliot Pager visited Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. A small liberal arts college of about 3,000 students, it offers a wide range of programs. They are well known for their small friendly campus in which each student gets attention. While there, the counselors attended an information session, met with admissions, toured the campus, had lunch, and met with the Hillel rabbi. The school has one of the best kosher food options available at colleges. They have two kosher stations at every meal, one for meat and one for dairy. The food they served us was great. The school has Jewish students but very few Orthodox students and therefore does not, at this time, have an Orthodox minyan on campus. Some of the Orthodox students go on Shabbos and even during the week to the Orthodox synagogue a little over a half a mile away. The College Guidance Department is always visiting and speaking to the colleges to which our students apply and is always looking for additional colleges that might meet our students' interests and needs.

Our pride in alumni serving in the IDF continues. Congratulations to Dovid Fertig '17 on his recent enlistment.

Storm Smash Lions in Baseball Season Opener

Storm Soccer Silences JEC Thunder in Weather Bowl

TABC Track Team is Off to the Races

JV Softball Beats MTA