Yeshiva High Schools Face Off at Sarachek Basketball Tournament
Yeshiva University’s 23rd Annual Red Sarachek Invitational Basketball Tournament tips off Thursday, March 27 at 10 a.m. at the Max Stern Athletic Center on YU’s Wilf Campus. The tournament, named after legendary former Maccabees coach Bernard “Red” Sarachek, features 20 Jewish high school basketball teams from across North America in a dramatic five-day tournament before live crowds and broadcast audiences in the thousands.
“We see value in bringing together all these incredible high school athletes from across the country to join in a healthy and energetic competition, while seeing all that Yeshiva University has to offer them in their future,” said David Miller, chief operations officer of undergraduate admissions at YU.
This year’s field is seeded as follows:
YULA High School for Boys (Los Angeles, CA)
North Shore Hebrew Academy (Great Neck, NY)
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns (Cedarhurst, NY)
Yavneh Academy (Dallas, TX)
Torah Academy of Bergen County (Teaneck, NJ)
New Community Jewish High School (West Hills, CA)
Ida Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago, IL)
The Frisch School (Paramus, NJ)
Maimonides School (Brookline, MA)
Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (New York, NY)
Fuchs Mizrachi School (Beachwood, OH)
Samuel Scheck Hillel Day School (North Miami Beach, FL)
Kohelet Yeshiva High School (Beachwood, OH)
Weinbaum Yeshiva High School (Boca Raton, FL)
Cooper Yeshiva (Memphis, TN)
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (Overland Park, KS)
Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy (Rockville, MD)
Yeshiva Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
Block Yeshiva High School (St. Louis, MO)
SCY High (Pittsburgh, PA)
Complete coverage of the tournament, including live play-by-play broadcasts, as well as updated scores, statistics, game summaries and pictures will be provided by MacsLive. All of the coverage of the Sarachek Tournament will be broadcast live in high-definition video to fans around the world. This broadcast is made possible with the support of Yeshiva University’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the Center for the Jewish Future.
YU High School Students Document Holocaust Survivors’ Testimonies Through Oral History Project
YU High School for Girls students documented the testimony of Holocaust survivor Joe Rosenfeld (seated with his wife).
For many seniors at Yeshiva University High Schools (YUHS), one of the most memorable parts of their educational experience takes place outside the classroom—not with their teachers or classmates, but behind a video camera, recording the first-person narrative of Holocaust survivors.
As participants in “Names, Not Numbers,” students have the unique opportunity to delve into the history of the Holocaust, hone their interviewing skills and filming techniques and have a one-on-one encounter with a Holocaust survivor—taping and editing his or her testimony into a short clip which later becomes part of a longer film that includes the firsthand accounts of other survivors.
Now in its 10th year, “Names, Not Numbers” is an oral history documentary project founded in 2003 by Tova Rosenberg, director of Hebrew language studies and Israel Exchange Programs at YUHS, who has organized and overseen the project since its inception. To date, she has helped more than 450 Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans share their stories.
“It’s an experiential, collaborative project that allows for each student’s creativity to shine,” said Rosenberg. “Nobody really understands what the number six million means, but everyone can understand what one story means. It makes the Holocaust relevant to the students and I have seen over and over how the project really touches their souls.”
~ ~ ~
On a snowy day in February, four students convened in a makeshift studio at the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy / Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA), lights and cameras at the ready, to interview Shirley Berger Gottesman. During an emotional hour-long session, they touched upon her childhood in pre-war Czechoslovakia; time in the Munkacs ghetto; working in Kanada II, a sub-camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau where she received a tattooed number on her arm and sorted the possessions of fellow Jews from the cattle cars; evacuation to Leipzig to work in a motorcycle factory and later to Theresienstadt; and eventual rescue by the Russians and emigration by boat to America.
Shirley Berger Gottesman
“I’m glad to speak whenever I am asked,” said Gottesman. “Even if it doesn’t come out sounding professional, I don’t mind because it’s what really happened—it’s not a story. I want to continue speaking anytime, anyplace, until I get too old.”
What was perhaps most unique about Gottesman’s experience with “Names, Not Numbers” was that her great great nephew, Avi Weschler, was one of the MTA students who interviewed her.
“For me, it really struck close to home,” said Weschler. “I felt like I was talking to an ancestor, someone who brought me to where I am today. When you hear a survivor’s story, you feel more connected, and it’s different than just reading a book or seeing a movie about it, because you have the personal, humanitarian component.”
~ ~ ~
There are an estimated 33,000 Holocaust survivors living in New York today but until recently, many were not willing or able to share their experiences. “Names, Not Numbers” provides them with the opportunity to do so.
“For close to 25 percent of the survivors, this is the first time they are telling over their story,” said Rosenberg. “For those who may not have wanted to tell their stories before, they realize 40 years later the urgency in sharing their stories today.”
It’s also an incredible opportunity for the students.
Tova Rosenberg, right, prepares YUHS students to interview the survivors
“The project is life-changing for them,” said Rosenberg. “They tell me that the survivor they interviewed is their role model and every word said is embedded into their minds. They understand that this is for posterity and they will have responsibility of telling these stories in the future. They really rise to the occasion and are proud of what they do.”
“The message that I took away from this experience is that that we have to keep teaching and it’s important to have programs like this to keep on listening to the stories,” said MTA senior Alex Kupchik. “It’s important to hear firsthand what survivors went through and to see how courageous and heroic these people are.”
Past YUHS participants have been inspired to major in Holocaust studies in college, become journalists, pursue film careers and produce award-winning documentaries on the subject.
“I’ve had students come back after the program and say that of their four years at MTA, this was the most wonderful and meaningful thing they did,” said Dr. Geoffrey Cahn, retired chair of MTA’s history department, who’s been coordinating the project for the last six years. “As a teacher, that is the most gratifying thing to hear. And as a historian, this is as close to history as you can actually get so it’s a great experience.”
Incredible stories have been shared over the years: from one woman who was on Schindler’s list to another who was reunited decades later with the righteous gentile who saved her family, and from two survivors who met at a “Names, Not Numbers” screening and realized they were on the same rescue boat to a man who took part in the liberation of Buchenwald. Among past interviewees at the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central) is renowned Holocaust survivor and historian Yaffa Eliach and her daughter, Smadar Rosensweig, professor of Bible at Stern College for Women, who lent a second-generation perspective to the project.
In a recent development showcasing the scope of the project, copies of the documentaries are now available for viewing in the National Library of Israel and Yad Vashem, ensuring the continuity of the survivors’ stories.
~ ~ ~
As part of the “Names, Not Numbers” curriculum, YUHS students visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and also get hands-on training in the YU media lab, learning Final Cut Pro and other editing programs and skills from Mauricio Arenas, a professional videographer who is on hand at every stage of the project to film the students and guide them through the technical aspects of producing the documentary.
“The project helps students really get the message,” said Arenas. “They research the stories and during the process they might not get it, but the video editing forces them to repeat the story in their heads and once they watch the final product, they realize: this is my past, and they internalize it.”
Dr. Michael Berenbaum
Students are also privileged to hear from guest speakers who are experts in various fields: journalists, historians, rabbis, psychologists and filmmakers.
Dr. Michael Berenbaum, co-producer of the Academy and Emmy-award winning documentary “One Survivor Remembers: The Gerda Weissmann Klein Story,” and Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, addressed the senior class at MTA in February, as he’s been doing for the last five years.
“’Names, Not Numbers’ is a unique, imaginative and creative project,” said Berenbaum. “The best learning is active learning and it’s a fabulous educational opportunity for students to have this intergenerational dialogue with survivors. It’s truly a mitzvat aseh she’hazman grama [time-bound positive commandment] since they won’t have this opportunity again, even 10 years from now. The project really works and what they produce is terrific.”
“You are a transitional generation,” Berenbaum told the students. “You are witnesses to the witnesses—the last people to live in the presence of survivors. You’re giving them a story—a narrative that reverses the process of dehumanization which they experienced during the war.”
The MTA students also heard from Paul Rusesabagina, the real life hero of the film, “Hotel Rwanda.” He described his experiences during the ethnic cleansing in Rwanda in 1994, and the terror and helplessness of the people he sheltered. The students shared with him the lessons they learned from their interviews and compared his heroism to that of Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. Rusesabagina also emphasized the importance of not being a bystander and the obligation to fight for human rights to prevent future genocides.
MTA Rosh Yeshiva and Head of School Rabbi Michael Taubes also speaks annually, discussing topics of Jewish faith in relation to the Holocaust. Dr. David Pelcovitz, Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Psychology and Jewish Education at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, spoke to students at Central this year, lending a psychological perspective to the conversation.
In May, the documentaries are screened at the YU High Schools as part of a culminating event held for students, survivors and their families. Screenings this year will be held at Central on May 1 and at MTA on May 8. Watch additional “Names, Not Numbers” clips from previous years here.
Yeshiva University High School for Boys’ Ori Putterman Wins 2014 National Merit Scholarship
Ori Putterman
Ori Putterman, a senior at Yeshiva University’s High School for Boys/ Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (YUHSB), has been named a winner of the 2014 National Merit Scholarship Program. He is one of just 2,500 designees nationwide chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding finalists who were judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
“Ori is a brilliant student who has made incredible contributions to YU High School for Boys, both academically and in terms of extracurricular activities,” said Dr. Seth Taylor, principal of general studies at YUHSB. “I am so glad that he chose to come here, where he could take advantage of our advanced program and classes at YU that allowed him to reach his full potential.”
Scholars are awarded $2,500 to be used at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university. They were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools: academic records, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by each finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.
This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began in October 2012, when approximately 1.5 million juniors in some 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named semifinalists on a state representational basis.
“Winning the National Merit Scholarship is a validation of all the hard work that I have invested into my high school career,” said Putterman, a native of Bergenfield, New Jersey, who hopes to major in either economics or computer science as part of the prestigious Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program at Yeshiva College. “From allowing me to take AP calculus in freshman year to enabling me to take all my secular classes in YU as a senior, YUHSB has definitely promoted my intellectual development. I would like to thank [Executive Director of Science Management / Clinical Professor of Physics] Dr. Edward Berliner and [Adjunct Instructor in Political Science] Dr. Maria Zaitseva of Yeshiva College for pushing me to my limits—I learned a lot about myself and the world from them.”
Sheon Karol is a YUHS board member, and a graduate of Yeshiva College, Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh and Yale Law School. He previously practiced law and is now a restructuring advisor and director at Deloitte. Sheon is the former vice president of Religious Zionists of America – Mizrachi in the United States. Rena, an alumna of Yale University, works in early childhood education. The Karols are active members of the Riverdale Jewish Center, where Sheon served as an officer and is a longtime gabbai, and Rena is co-head of the Chevra Kadisha and treasurer of the local mikvah. Their oldest daughter is a Central graduate, their son is a junior at MTA and their younger daughter will attend Central in the fall.
Rabbi Allen and Alisa Schwartz
Rabbi Allen and Alisa Schwartz and their children are all proud alumni of various YU institutions, with their youngest graduating from Central this year. For the past 26 years, the Schwartzes have served as Rabbi and Rebbetzin of Congregation Ohab Zedek on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
A graduate of MTA, Yeshiva College, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) and Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Rabbi Schwartz has been teaching at YU since 1983, where he holds the Raymond J. Greenwald Chair of Jewish Studies. He has written curricula for Jewish schools and led workshops on teaching. Alisa, an alumna of Central, gives kallah classes and mentors young new rebbetzins. She also volunteers for Emunah of America, Bikur Cholim of the West Side and the Sisterhood of Ohab Zedek.
Rabbi Gary Beitler
Rabbi Gary Beitler has taught at MTA for the past 10 years and currently serves as a 10th grade maggid shiur, director of the Madrich Program and as athletic director. A graduate of Yeshiva College and RIETS, he also mentors RIETS students interested in pursuing a career in education, helping them sharpen their teaching skills.
Miriam Borenstein
Miriam Borenstein is the religious programming coordinator at Central and a member of the Judaic Studies Department, as well as assistant coach of the softball team. She is a graduate of Central and Stern College for Women, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree at YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration. Borenstein initiated the Alumna/Senior Chabura Learning Program at Central in 2008 and also serves as the school’s NCSY JUMP coordinator, enabling her students to conduct outreach programs around the country.
For dinner reservations, to place an ad in the journal or for more information, please contact Beth Gorin, director of institutional advancement for YU High Sschools at 212-960-5489 or beth.gorin@yu.edu, or visit www.yu.edu/hsdinner.
Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg ’74YUHS, ’77YC,’81R Helps Kids Kick Fear Out of Cancer
Yeshiva University alumnus Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg has recently been named a 2014 Top 10 CNN Hero for his work advocating the use of martial arts as therapy for children struggling with cancer and other childhood illnesses. His non-profit, Kids Kicking Cancer, uses the mind-body techniques of martial arts instruction, breath work and meditation to empower children beyond their pain. Fondly known as “Rabbi G” by the thousands of children his organization has helped over the years, Rabbi Goldberg, of Detroit, Michigan, also serves as clinical assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Voting for CNN Hero of the Year continues through Sunday, November 16, and all of this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes will be honored during “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” on Sunday, December 7 (8:00 p.m. ET) on the global CNN networks.
YUNews spoke to Rabbi Goldberg ’74YUHS, ’77YC,’81R about his time at Yeshiva and his work helping children battle the fear and pain of cancer.
Q. Tell us about your experience as a student at Yeshiva University.
I went to Yeshiva University High School for Boys directly from public school in September, 1970, and then did early admissions to attend Yeshiva College, where I graduated from summa cum laude with a degree in political science. Following that, I obtained semicha [ordination] from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1980. From there, I went on to teach Talmud and bible studies at YULA High School and then to lead the Young Israel of Southfield, located in a suburb of Detroit.
YU gave me a unique life view with powerful tools to live with a sense of spiritual purpose effectively. The four years I spent learning with the Rav (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik) totally shaped my being, and the other extraordinary roshei yeshiva, especially Rav Herschel Shachter, provided mentorships and role models that continue to inspire me so many years later. At the same time the tools of articulating our message to a world were provided by a secular education that has proven itself in so many of my life’s opportunities and challenges.
Q. What is your background in martial arts?
I first became interested in martial arts because I grew up in the Bronx and I wasn’t that tall! But kidding aside, when I became the rabbi in Southfield, Michigan, I needed an outlet, and I’m not a runner or interested in racquetball. While at YU, I had already dabbled in martial arts with Professor Chaim (Harvey) Sober, a teacher of Hebrew language and tenth degree black belt. He is a great friend and mentor. I’ve since earned, over a period of 14 years, a first degree black belt in Choi Kwang-Do.
Q. What inspired you to start Kids Kicking Cancer?
When I was teaching for YULA in Los Angeles, our first child, Sarah Basya a”h, was diagnosed with leukemia. She was an amazing little girl. She used to tell the doctors at UCLA, “No medication today, please.” She would comfort the kids in the clinic, telling them not to cry, and she would comfort me and my wife, too, telling us not to be afraid, and she loved us. She died at the age of two in 1981.
Seven years later, I was rabbi in Southfield and a gentleman who helped found Camp Simcha came to my house and asked me to direct the camp. I did that for 12 years; it’s an extraordinary place, and also where I came across medical reality that I lecture about. I met a five-year old from Texas having his port access for chemo, and he was screaming in pain. Nothing distracted him from it, and two nurses had to hold him down while another attempted to inject him with the medication. I told everyone to stop, and asked for five minutes with the child. They obliged, and when I was alone with him, I asked him if he wanted to learn some karate. Pain is a message, you see, and you can learn how to exhale that pain, and block it out, and inhale an amazing chi using techniques of martial arts.
This boy was so entranced by what I was teaching him that, 20 minutes later, he asked the nurse if she has taken out his needle yet. She had, minutes before he asked. I realized I had something there. In 1999, we started Kids Kicking Cancer with 10 children and now serve 2,500 kids a year in four different countries including the U.S., Israel, Italy and Canada. In 2002, I became the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Southfield to devote more time and energy to Kids Kicking Cancer and, since then, the program has also expanded to include children facing pain from any other illness or chronic condition.
Q. How does Kids Kicking Cancer work?
We offer one-on-one training and group classes in martial arts for both pediatric inpatients and outpatients in over 30 hospitals and institutions around the globe. In areas where we do not yet have programs, video conferencing lessons are available. It also offers transportation to and from classes, as well as counseling and individual support during hospitalizations and medical procedures. Before terminally-ill children pass away, they receive black belts embroidered with the children’s’ names and the words “Master Teacher” during ceremonies with their family and friends present. The ceremonies are sometimes held in big auditoriums filled with hundreds of people, or they may take place in small ICU rooms with immediate family crowded together.
The program also offers resources and services like special family events and outings, sibling support programs and group and individual parent counseling. All services provided by Kids Kicking Cancer are free of charge to the children and their families.
Q. What are some of the challenges and rewards involved in this kind of work?
I’ll start with the rewards: Much more than we give the kids, they give us. They’re like little lights that imbue within us a tremendous sense of spirit of love and life. To be able to teach them to take control of their illness and blow out the darkness and bring in the light is so beautiful. Through the program, the children also take what they’ve learned and empower themselves by teaching other youths and adults experiencing sickness, pain or stress. Our catchphrase is Power, Peace, Purpose. Through martial arts, the kids find their inner power, the focused breathing techniques bring them peace, and through teaching others, they find great purpose.
The greatest challenge, though, is that what we do is so simple, but the thousands of kids we reach is still a drop in the bucket relative to the so many more other children in pain. It’s frustrating to know that there are children out there suffering and not to have more of the necessary platform to be able to reach them. We have over 4,000 “likes” on our Facebook page, but we want a million. We post pictures of the kids learning martial arts and at their ceremonies, and it’s so powerful for them to know they have people watching them and supporting them from all over the world.
Q. What can people do to help?
You can visit our website, www.kidskickingcancer.org, and make donations there. You can also watch the CNN televised tribute on December 7, and you can help spread the word by voting for me at Voting for CNN Hero of the Year and by liking the Kids Kicking Cancer Facebook page.
Yeshiva High School Wrestlers From Across the Country to Take Part in Annual Competition
Yeshiva University will host the 20th annual Henry Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament from February 13 – 16, at the Max Stern Athletic Center on YU’s Wilf Campus. Sponsored entirely by Yeshiva University, the program will bring together 250 wrestlers from 15 yeshiva high schools across the country.
The Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament runs February 13-16
In addition to the exciting competition, the long weekend will also include a Shabbaton complete with communal meals, spirited games, a tribute to YU Wrestling Coach Neil Ellman and tournament coordinator Brian Ostrow, and an inspirational lecture by two-time Paralympic Games gold medalist Marlon Shirley, the “World’s Fastest Amputee.”
“This weekend is the highlight of the yeshiva high school wrestling calendar,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, YU vice president of university and community life. “It is an opportunity for young Jewish athletes to bond with each other in a Torah environment, to be inspired, to elevate their wrestling performances, and to begin thinking about their ability to compete in a Shomer Shabbat collegiate environment that allows them to grow as Jews and citizens of society.”
Participating schools include Atlanta Jewish Academy (Atlanta, GA), Davis Renov Stahler (Long Island, NY), Derech HaTorah (Brooklyn, NY), Fuchs Mizrachi (Beachwood, OH), Ida Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago, IL), Kushner Academy (Livingston, NJ), Maimonides (Brookline, MA), Marsha Stern Talmudic Academy / Yeshiva University High School for Boys (New York, NY), New Community Jewish High School (Los Angeles, CA), North Shore Hebrew Academy (Great Neck, NY), Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy (Elizabeth, NJ), SAR Academy High School (Riverdale, NY), The Frisch School (Paramus, NJ), Torah Academy of Bergen County (Teaneck, NJ), and Westchester Hebrew High School (Westchester, NY).
The annual event preserves the memory of Henry Wittenberg, a former Yeshiva University wrestling coach and legendary Olympic medalist who founded the University’s wrestling program in 1955. Wittenberg passed away in 2010 at the age of 91.
Marking it milestone 20th year, the tournament will culminate on Monday, February 16 with words of encouragement from Ellman and Ostrow, the Championship Finals round, and an awards ceremony. The highlight of the ceremony will be the unveiling of the Jack Merkin Most Outstanding Wrestler Award, which commemorates YU alumnus Jack Merkin, a talented student athlete who benefited greatly from the mentorship of Coach Wittenberg.
For results and complete coverage of Monday’s matches tune in to www.macslive.com.
YU Basketball Tournament Culminates in Thrilling Triple Overtime Championship Game
Five days of exciting competition at Yeshiva University’s 24th Annual Red Sarachek Basketball Tournament culminated with a dramatic 75-73 triple overtime victory by the Frisch Cougars (Paramus, New Jersey) over the HAFTR Hawks (Lawrence, New York) in the Tier-1 Championship game. Before a crowd of more than 1,200 fans, Frisch center Benni Tuchman sealed the win for the Cougars after hitting a game-winning layup with just under three seconds left to play.
More than 20 yeshiva high school teams from across North America took part in the annual tournament—named for the legendary Bernard “Red” Sarachek, YU’s former longtime men’s basketball coach—from March 19-23.
In addition to the spirited gameplay, the long weekend included several off-court events and activities, including a lively Shabbaton, tours of the University, and a special Sunday Kollel and Midreshet Yom Rishon, featuring Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought; Senator Joseph Lieberman, chair in public policy and public service; and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought.
“Yeshiva University is honored to host the Red Saracheck Tournament every year,” said YU President Richard M. Joel. “We view this as an opportunity to bring the best and the brightest to experience the greatness that is YU. And though the students compete on the court, the relationships that are formed off the court between players of different schools and backgrounds are equally important.”
In addition to Frisch and HAFTR, participating schools included: Akiva Hebrew Day School (Detroit, Michigan); Atlanta Jewish Academy (Atlanta, Georgia); Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School (Pikesville, Maryland); David Posnack Jewish Day School (Davie, Florida); Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School (Woodmere, New York); Fuchs Mizrachi School (Cleveland, Ohio); Hebrew Academy of Montreal (Montreal, Canada); Hillel Yeshiva School (Ocean Township, New Jersey); Ida Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago, Illinois); Maimonides School (Brookline, Mass.); Rabbi Alexander Gross Hebrew Academy (Miami, Florida); Robert M. Beren Academy (Houston, Texas); Shalhevet High School (Los Angeles, California); Valley Torah High School (Valley Village, California); Weinbaum Yeshiva High School (Boca Raton, Florida); Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California); Yeshivat Or Chaim (Toronto, Canada); and Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (New York, New York).
For complete tournament coverage, including scores, statistics, game summaries and awards, visit www.macslive.com/sarachek.
Local High School Students Face Off at Annual Yeshiva University Debate Tournament
Wandering the corridors of Furst Hall at the Yeshiva University Wilf Campus on Sunday, December 18, would have revealed an unusual sight. Nearly every classroom on the second and third floors contained six individuals in business dress—some with rolled-up sleeves, others swiftly taking notes—all methodically but passionately arguing over the intricate nuances of the ethics of scientific research.
Yoni Zolty and Elan Stochel represent YUHSB at The Great Debate.
Taking part in the 23rd annual Great Debate, these aspiring orators belonged to 11 Jewish high schools in the greater New York metropolitan area. Started by Harriet Levitt, English teacher at Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB)—The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, in 1988, the Great Debate offers Jewish high school students an opportunity to participate in a large formal deliberation among their peers from other schools, a relatively difficult task as most debate meets occur on Saturdays.
This year’s participating schools included the Ezra Academy, Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC), Maayonot, Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, Ramaz High School, Rambam, SAR High School, SKA High School, Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC), YUHSB and Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls, with the Jewish Educational Center and DRS High School observing.
YUHSG's Shani Pollack and Mindy Schwarts debate Eli Shulman and Meir Freidenberg of YUHSB.
The Great Debate joins the ranks of the Red Sarachek Basketball Tournament, the Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament and the Yeshiva University National Model United Nations as one of the many annual events that exposes Jewish high schools to the Yeshiva University community.
Teams either had to argue for or against the resolve that stated, “The scientific community should make use of results obtained from unethically performed research.” The results? TABC took first place and YUHSB placed second.
“Debate has the power to change students from self-absorbed individuals into deep-thinking intellectuals,” said Levitt. “Once they get into debate, they turn into different creatures. They realize that there are two points of view on everything. I notice that students on the debate team in my classes are much more likely to speak up with confidence.”
YUHSB's Freidenberg and Shulman
The student participants expressed a variety of reasons for attending. Ari Himber, a senior at HANC, aspires to attend law school in the future and wanted to hone his skills. Zachary Fineberg, a senior at TABC, had a different reason. “I guess I am just a polemical guy,” he said. “I love debating people.” Others simply enjoyed the intellectual exercise, like SAR senior Aviva Leshaw, who said, “I feel alive when I am debating and picking apart an argument.”
Many enjoyed the social aspects of meeting new people within the greater community and studying new topics. “This is a great opportunity to meet new people and learn more about different controversies in our world,” said Shifra Arnheim, a Maayonot senior.
Many of these students had participated in other YU-sponsored events in the past: from previous great debates to attending the Yeshiva University Dramatics Society Production of 1776 or the annual Seforim Sale.
Taking advantage of its physical and institutional proximity to the University, YUHSB offers students a unique opportunity to gain exposure to world-class professors and advanced ideas through its Senior Fellowship program.
“We wanted to make it a win-win for both the high school and YU,” said Dr. Ed Berliner, executive director of science management and clinical professor of physics at YU and director of the YUHSB Honors College. “For YU, it is an opportunity to expose our most impressive students to the high-caliber YU education, and in terms of the students, it is a truly unique opportunity to be paired with the best and brightest professors in their fields.”
Berliner noted that many of the graduates of the program continue their studies at Yeshiva College.
Studying topics as diverse as global economics, literary theory, U.S. relations with China, literary modernism, peptide bonds and early biblical interpretation, students have been paired with YU faculty including Dr. James Kahn, Dr. Evan Resnick, Dr. Elizabeth Stewart, Dr. Raji Viswanathan and Rabbi Dr. Jeremy Wieder, among others.
“I have been very impressed with the sophistication and drive for intellectual advancement of the students I have mentored,” said Wieder, the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Professor of Talmud at YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Wieder is currently working with his students on producing prototypes of commentaries on the Hebrew Bible—work that requires his students study in depth the intricacies of biblical Hebrew and literary Aramaic.
Yosef Kornbluth worked with Wieder in 2008 and 2009 on biblical targumim (Aramaic translations of the Bible) and is currently a sophomore in Yeshiva College. Kornbluth especially appreciated how, by the end of his year, he began noticing “the fine nuances in translation and their impact on the meaning of the text.”
Doni Schwartz, a current senior fellow, has thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of his fellowship year spent researching aspects of the Eherenfest Urn Model with Dr. Fredy Zypman, professor of physics at Yeshiva College. “Since my introduction to physics last year I have been enamored with the subject,” said Schwartz. “I am hoping to pursue this field well into my college years. This was a rare opportunity for a high school student and I am honored to have been chosen for it.”
Rabbi Michael Taubes Named Head of School at Yeshiva University High School for Boys
Rabbi Michael Taubes, an educator with more than three decades of experience in Jewish education and administration, has been named rosh yeshiva / head of school at Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB) / Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy. The appointment is the culmination of an extensive international search that involved parents, faculty, board members and YU administrators.
Rabbi Michael Taubes will serve as head of school and rosh yeshiva at YU High School for Boys
“Our students and faculty are fortunate to be led by Rabbi Taubes who can bring them to levels of greatness in Torah studies, general studies and ethical and moral behavior,” said Miriam Goldberg, chair of Yeshiva University High Schools Board of Trustees.
Taubes, who has served as interim head of school since September, will continue to work closely with Dr. Seth Taylor, principal for general studies, to ensure that YUHSB is constantly growing to its next horizon and maximizing its relationship with its parent institution, Yeshiva University. With the vibrant beit midrash of a premier Torah institution, the state-of-the-art facilities of a national research university, and world-class roshei yeshiva and professors just steps away, YUHSB’s students and faculty will continue to benefit from their connection to YU.
“Rabbi Taubes brings to our school years of experience as an educator and a role model,” said YU Vice President and Chief of Staff Rabbi Josh Joseph, who directly oversees the high school. “Through his interim leadership role, we’ve noticed a shift in the school’s mood and atmosphere, one that is all for the better and we expect that he will continue to work with our first-class faculty and dedicated parent body to ensure that our students turn into mentschlich bnei torah and future scholars that can only be trained at a place like MTA.”
An alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel, Taubes attended Yeshiva College, where he was honored upon graduation in 1980 with an award for excellence in Talmud. He earned his semicha from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, where he studied in the shiur of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt’l, and holds a master’s degree in Jewish Education from YU’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Taubes, his wife, Bassie and their children, reside in Teaneck, NJ, where he serves as the spiritual leader of Congregation Zichron Mordechai.
To learn more about Yeshiva University High School for Boys visit www.yuhsb.org.
YU High School for Boys Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Great Debate Tournament
When Harriet Levitt began teaching English at Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB) / The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy in 1982, she saw a tremendous opportunity to enrich her students’ education through a competitive sport that had long been her passion: debate. “The degree of intellectuality that exists at the high school was amazing to me,” she said. “Our students argue gemara back and forth every morning. I realized the activity of debate would push that even further.”
Harriet Levitt, along with her husband, Dan, formed the Yeshiva Debate League in 1988.
Having loved her own experience as a high school and college debater, Levitt wanted YUHSB students to be able to participate in the National Forensic League. But there was a problem—the League’s debates all took place on Saturdays.
Undeterred, Levitt began recruiting thoughtful judges and organizing debates between YUHSB and its sister school, the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central). Levitt and her husband, Dan, also a college debater, began inviting other schools in the tri-state area, and before long local high schools and yeshivas were calling them, asking to get involved. In 1988, Levitt and her husband drafted a policy statement and formalized the first Yeshiva Debate League.
Now made up of close to 20 local yeshivas and high schools and celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Annual Cross-Examination Debate Tournament, or “Great Debate,” the League has made an impact on hundreds of students and alumni—particularly at YUHSB, where participation on the debate team is, for many, a highlight of their high school careers.
“I remember being pretty nervous at the beginning of my first debate, then a couple minutes in feeling thrilled and energized,” said Moshe Spinowitz ’97YUHS, who joined the team as a freshman and found himself hooked right away. He enjoyed debate so much that it played a role in his eventual decision to pursue Harvard Law School and a legal career; Spinowitz went on to clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia before becoming an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
“I loved learning how to focus on the key issues that are likely to persuade your audience, whether that’s a judge presiding over a debate, a judge presiding over a court, or even the opposition, all while developing rational arguments and presenting them effectively,” Spinowitz said, noting that all of those skills prove critical to him on a daily basis in law. “Mrs. Levitt also really helped build a strong atmosphere of camaraderie among the debaters that made it not just a great educational experience, but a great social experience as well. I stayed in touch with her over the years and she’s been a key mentor.”
For Yehoshua Levine ’99YUHS, that atmosphere of camaraderie helped him feel connected not only to other debaters on his team, but to members of different classes and even different schools in the League. “Debate helped us cross class and school lines,” he said, recalling Levitt’s policy of having senior debaters coach freshmen. After graduating from Harvard Medical School, Levine now finds that he draws on the communication tools he honed in the League regularly as a practicing cardiologist. “Medicine calls for a lot of quick decision-making, critical thinking and multidisciplinary communication and interactions as you navigate the health care system, and those are all things I learned in debate,” he said.
That Levine and Spinowitz are still using their debate skills in two very different but similarly high-powered careers more than 15 years later is no accident—Levitt has always coached her students with an eye toward the future. Her debaters must wear a jacket and tie to every meet, no exceptions. “You are what you wear,” she said. “It puts you in a different mindset than if you’re simply wearing school clothes.” They also must know arguments for both sides of every issue they debate, no matter how strongly they agree or disagree with one in particular.
YUHSB students argue their case at the Great Debate in 2010.
“I tell them it will help them to know the opposition’s arguments and better equip them to respond,” Levitt said. “When I give students a topic they learn every possible fact about it, becoming mini-experts who are able to speak fluently, write about, and rely on their knowledge of the subject. They come out of the experience asking good questions based on the facts and with really considered, in-depth conclusions.”
Shani Pollak joined the debate team at Central as a freshman because she saw it as a great way to enhance her public speaking skills. “I have been on the team for all four years of high school and was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the captains,” she said. “I know I’ll walk away from debate with the ability to communicate effectively, research rigorously and think critically.”
Levitt agreed. “All of this is training for the mind that can’t happen in any other way than debate,” she said.
This year’s Great Debate was held on Sunday, December 22, at Furst Hall on the Wilf Campus.
Yeshiva High Schools Face Off at Sarachek Basketball Tournament
Yeshiva University’s 23rd Annual Red Sarachek Invitational Basketball Tournament tips off Thursday, March 27 at 10 a.m. at the Max Stern Athletic Center on YU’s Wilf Campus. The tournament, named after legendary former Maccabees coach Bernard “Red” Sarachek, features 20 Jewish high school basketball teams from across North America in a dramatic five-day tournament before live crowds and broadcast audiences in the thousands.
“We see value in bringing together all these incredible high school athletes from across the country to join in a healthy and energetic competition, while seeing all that Yeshiva University has to offer them in their future,” said David Miller, chief operations officer of undergraduate admissions at YU.
This year’s field is seeded as follows:
YULA High School for Boys (Los Angeles, CA)
North Shore Hebrew Academy (Great Neck, NY)
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns (Cedarhurst, NY)
Yavneh Academy (Dallas, TX)
Torah Academy of Bergen County (Teaneck, NJ)
New Community Jewish High School (West Hills, CA)
Ida Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago, IL)
The Frisch School (Paramus, NJ)
Maimonides School (Brookline, MA)
Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (New York, NY)
Fuchs Mizrachi School (Beachwood, OH)
Samuel Scheck Hillel Day School (North Miami Beach, FL)
Kohelet Yeshiva High School (Beachwood, OH)
Weinbaum Yeshiva High School (Boca Raton, FL)
Cooper Yeshiva (Memphis, TN)
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (Overland Park, KS)
Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy (Rockville, MD)
Yeshiva Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
Block Yeshiva High School (St. Louis, MO)
SCY High (Pittsburgh, PA)
Complete coverage of the tournament, including live play-by-play broadcasts, as well as updated scores, statistics, game summaries and pictures will be provided by MacsLive. All of the coverage of the Sarachek Tournament will be broadcast live in high-definition video to fans around the world. This broadcast is made possible with the support of Yeshiva University’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the Center for the Jewish Future.
Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg ’74YUHS, ’77YC,’81R Helps Kids Kick Fear Out of Cancer
Yeshiva University alumnus Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg has recently been named a 2014 Top 10 CNN Hero for his work advocating the use of martial arts as therapy for children struggling with cancer and other childhood illnesses. His non-profit, Kids Kicking Cancer, uses the mind-body techniques of martial arts instruction, breath work and meditation to empower children beyond their pain. Fondly known as “Rabbi G” by the thousands of children his organization has helped over the years, Rabbi Goldberg, of Detroit, Michigan, also serves as clinical assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Voting for CNN Hero of the Year continues through Sunday, November 16, and all of this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes will be honored during “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” on Sunday, December 7 (8:00 p.m. ET) on the global CNN networks.
YUNews spoke to Rabbi Goldberg ’74YUHS, ’77YC,’81R about his time at Yeshiva and his work helping children battle the fear and pain of cancer.
Q. Tell us about your experience as a student at Yeshiva University.
I went to Yeshiva University High School for Boys directly from public school in September, 1970, and then did early admissions to attend Yeshiva College, where I graduated from summa cum laude with a degree in political science. Following that, I obtained semicha [ordination] from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1980. From there, I went on to teach Talmud and bible studies at YULA High School and then to lead the Young Israel of Southfield, located in a suburb of Detroit.
YU gave me a unique life view with powerful tools to live with a sense of spiritual purpose effectively. The four years I spent learning with the Rav (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik) totally shaped my being, and the other extraordinary roshei yeshiva, especially Rav Herschel Shachter, provided mentorships and role models that continue to inspire me so many years later. At the same time the tools of articulating our message to a world were provided by a secular education that has proven itself in so many of my life’s opportunities and challenges.
Q. What is your background in martial arts?
I first became interested in martial arts because I grew up in the Bronx and I wasn’t that tall! But kidding aside, when I became the rabbi in Southfield, Michigan, I needed an outlet, and I’m not a runner or interested in racquetball. While at YU, I had already dabbled in martial arts with Professor Chaim (Harvey) Sober, a teacher of Hebrew language and tenth degree black belt. He is a great friend and mentor. I’ve since earned, over a period of 14 years, a first degree black belt in Choi Kwang-Do.
Q. What inspired you to start Kids Kicking Cancer?
When I was teaching for YULA in Los Angeles, our first child, Sarah Basya a”h, was diagnosed with leukemia. She was an amazing little girl. She used to tell the doctors at UCLA, “No medication today, please.” She would comfort the kids in the clinic, telling them not to cry, and she would comfort me and my wife, too, telling us not to be afraid, and she loved us. She died at the age of two in 1981.
Seven years later, I was rabbi in Southfield and a gentleman who helped found Camp Simcha came to my house and asked me to direct the camp. I did that for 12 years; it’s an extraordinary place, and also where I came across medical reality that I lecture about. I met a five-year old from Texas having his port access for chemo, and he was screaming in pain. Nothing distracted him from it, and two nurses had to hold him down while another attempted to inject him with the medication. I told everyone to stop, and asked for five minutes with the child. They obliged, and when I was alone with him, I asked him if he wanted to learn some karate. Pain is a message, you see, and you can learn how to exhale that pain, and block it out, and inhale an amazing chi using techniques of martial arts.
This boy was so entranced by what I was teaching him that, 20 minutes later, he asked the nurse if she has taken out his needle yet. She had, minutes before he asked. I realized I had something there. In 1999, we started Kids Kicking Cancer with 10 children and now serve 2,500 kids a year in four different countries including the U.S., Israel, Italy and Canada. In 2002, I became the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Southfield to devote more time and energy to Kids Kicking Cancer and, since then, the program has also expanded to include children facing pain from any other illness or chronic condition.
Q. How does Kids Kicking Cancer work?
We offer one-on-one training and group classes in martial arts for both pediatric inpatients and outpatients in over 30 hospitals and institutions around the globe. In areas where we do not yet have programs, video conferencing lessons are available. It also offers transportation to and from classes, as well as counseling and individual support during hospitalizations and medical procedures. Before terminally-ill children pass away, they receive black belts embroidered with the children’s’ names and the words “Master Teacher” during ceremonies with their family and friends present. The ceremonies are sometimes held in big auditoriums filled with hundreds of people, or they may take place in small ICU rooms with immediate family crowded together.
The program also offers resources and services like special family events and outings, sibling support programs and group and individual parent counseling. All services provided by Kids Kicking Cancer are free of charge to the children and their families.
Q. What are some of the challenges and rewards involved in this kind of work?
I’ll start with the rewards: Much more than we give the kids, they give us. They’re like little lights that imbue within us a tremendous sense of spirit of love and life. To be able to teach them to take control of their illness and blow out the darkness and bring in the light is so beautiful. Through the program, the children also take what they’ve learned and empower themselves by teaching other youths and adults experiencing sickness, pain or stress. Our catchphrase is Power, Peace, Purpose. Through martial arts, the kids find their inner power, the focused breathing techniques bring them peace, and through teaching others, they find great purpose.
The greatest challenge, though, is that what we do is so simple, but the thousands of kids we reach is still a drop in the bucket relative to the so many more other children in pain. It’s frustrating to know that there are children out there suffering and not to have more of the necessary platform to be able to reach them. We have over 4,000 “likes” on our Facebook page, but we want a million. We post pictures of the kids learning martial arts and at their ceremonies, and it’s so powerful for them to know they have people watching them and supporting them from all over the world.
Q. What can people do to help?
You can visit our website, www.kidskickingcancer.org, and make donations there. You can also watch the CNN televised tribute on December 7, and you can help spread the word by voting for me at Voting for CNN Hero of the Year and by liking the Kids Kicking Cancer Facebook page.
May 12 Gala will Honor Community Leaders and Dedicated Faculty
Yeshiva University High Schools (YUHS) will host their Annual Dinner on Tuesday, May 12, at the Marina Del Rey in the Bronx, New York. Faculty honorees include Ruth Fried, chairperson of the science department and director of the Science Institute at the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central), and Rabbi Alfred Cohen, longtime maggid shiur at the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA), who will be retiring at the end of this year. Rabbi Steven ’89YUHS and Rachel Burg are MTA’s guests of honor, and Avi ’85YUHS and Aleeza Lauer are Central’s.
The dinner will also honor the 25th anniversary of the graduating class of 1990 at both MTA and Central.
Russi Fried
“The ability to nurture the love of science in Jewish young women over the past 25 years has been a privilege,” said Fried, who is celebrating her 25th year at Central, where she teaches regents biology and advanced placement biology. “As we study science together my students have opened their eyes to the mastery of God’s world and to the realization that the study of science is an integral part of the study of Torah. This honor presents me with the opportunity to say thank you to the parents who have entrusted their daughters’ science education to me, to the faculty who have been my colleagues, mentors and friends, and who have educated my own three daughters and to the administration who has always supported all of our science programming.”
Fried also serves as the liaison to the Yeshiva University High Schools/Albert Einstein College of Medicine Joint Summer Research Program and is a member of the Educational Steering Committee for the March of Dimes Nelson Rosenthal Convocation. In the summer of 2008, Fried was selected to attend the third Sheila Schwartz Family International Leading Science Teacher Seminar at the Davidson Institute of Science Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. She received certification to implement both the Davidson Institute and the British Neufield Foundation Science Literacy Program (LSS – Learning Skills for Science). Fried was a recipient of the $10,000 Toyota Tapestry Grant from the National Science Teachers Association. She lives in Woodmere with her husband, Sholom, and their children, and they are members of Congregation Aish Kodesh. Their three daughters are all proud to be Central graduates (the youngest in 2015).
Rabbi Alfred Cohen
Rabbi Alfred Cohen, maggid shiur at MTA, received semicha from Rabbi Yisrael Gustman and from Rabbi Hutner of Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin and served for many years as the mora d’asra [leader of the congregation] of the Young Israel of Canarsie. For the past 21 years, he has been the Rabbi of Congregation Ohaiv Yisroel of Blueberry Hill in Monsey, New York. He is the founder and was the first editor of the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society and has published numerous articles in the journal, as well as in Tradition and Jewish Life. Rabbi Cohen has received many citations and awards for excellence in teaching, including the Rabbi and Mrs. Joseph Baumol Award for Excellence in Jewish Education at Yeshiva University and the Avi Chai Foundation Award for Outstanding Jewish Education.
Rabbi Steven and Rachel Burg
Rabbi Steven and Rachel Burg, of Bergenfield, New Jersey, are the proud parents of two current students in MTA: Aryeh, a senior, and Elie, a freshman. Their children represent the third generation of the Burg family to attend MTA. Rachel is a general studies teacher at Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey and is involved in many Bergen County communal activities. Rabbi Burg is the Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance and serves on many nonprofit boards, including the United Federation of Teachers.
Aleeza and Avi Lauer
Aleeza and Avi Lauer have been active lay leaders in their hometown of Woodmere, New York for many years, including leadership roles at the Young Israel of Woodmere and the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR). Avi currently serves as the vice president for legal affairs, secretary and general counsel of Yeshiva University and Aleeza is an educator at HAFTR. Both Aleeza and Avi are graduates of Yeshiva University schools and they are the proud parents of Jennifer and Josh Geffner ’07MTA, David (a sophomore at the Sy Syms School of Business), Ashley (a senior at Central) and Eli.
For dinner reservations, to place an ad in the journal or for more information, please contact Beth R. Gorin, director of institutional advancement for YU High Schools at 212-960-5489 or beth.gorin@yu.edu, or visit www.yu.edu/hsdinner
YU High School Bekiut Program Enhances Textual Skills of Students Across the Country
This year, close to 300 students in 30 high schools across North America mastered significant portions of the Talmud—and competed for top awards—through Yeshiva University’s Bronka Weintraub High School Bekiut Program.
Now in its ninth year, the program seeks to better ground students in gemara by enhancing their textual skills. YU provides participating students with wordlists that help them tackle each chapter they learn and tests them throughout the year to assess their comprehension and comfort with the material. High scores are rewarded with money than can be used to build the students’ Judaica libraries, while the top three performers in each of the program’s four tracks receive cash prizes of up to $3,000.
This year, the Bekiut Program distributed more than $10,000 worth of Jewish books and $19,000 in cash prizes to high-achieving students. The program is named after Bronka Weintraub z”l, a founder and benefactor of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a generous donor to YU.
“As the Jewish proverb states, the goal of this program is very simply Torah l’shma [Torah learning for its own sake],” said Rabbi Ezra Schwartz, Rosh Yeshiva and assistant director of the semicha [rabbinic ordination] program at YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaach Elchanan Theological Seminary, who founded the program. “However, there is a secondary goal—to improve the learning skills of high school students. I administered bechinas [entrance exams] to incoming students in YU’s Mazer Yeshiva Program for nearly 10 years, and those students who studied a greater quantity of material consistently performed better on their bechina and were more likely to succeed in Yeshiva. This program was developed to provide motivation for students while still in high school to improve their gemara skills by mastering large segments of Talmud.”
Sara Teitelman was a winner in the Girls’ Amud Category.
He added, “As I watch more and more participants in the Bekiut Program succeed at YU, I am convinced that we have built something of lasting importance.”
In the Boys’ Daf category, this year’s winners were Aaron Brooks of the Denver Academy of Torah, Yishai Eisenberg of the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/Yeshiva High School for Boys, and Yehuda Inslicht of DRS Yeshiva High School for Boys. In the Boys’ Amud category, Ryan Ripsman of Tanenbaum CHAT, Yaakob Bendayan of Yeshivat Or Chaim, and Yair Sternman of DRS scored the top three marks.
In the Girls’ Daf category, the winners were Shoshana Schreier of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls, Tzipporah Machlah Klapper, a home-schooled student from the Boston area, and Batsheva Leah Weinstein of Ma’ayanot. In the Girls’ Amud category, Sara Teitelman of Yeshiva University’s Samuel H. Wang High School for Girls and Devory Lebowitz and Ayliana Teitelbaum, both of SKA, were winners.
“I think the program is amazing,” said Rabbi Netanel Javasky, a teacher at Tanenbaum CHAT in Toronto, Ontario. “It gives our most motivated students an opportunity and framework to learn Torah outside of their regular classes. As a result of the program, they get to interact with a great group of other students across all grade levels and act as great role models of Torah lishma in the school.”
Yehuda Inslicht was a winner in this year’s Boys’ Daf Category.
“You see students who went from picking up an Artscroll and reading the English to learning the gemara without any translation,” said Rabbi Aaron Fleksher, a rebbe at DRS. “This program helped one of our students, Yehuda Inslicht, complete an incredible four mesechtas [volumes] this year—two through our curriculum, one through the YU Bekiut Program and another through a shiur [lecture] that Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz gives on YUTorah.org, which he encouraged other students to join with him.”
“I was interested in the program because I felt it gave me the opportunity to do some extra learning on the side,” said Inslicht. “The tests make the learning very structured which is an important way in which the program helped me grow and it was nice to learn the same mesechta on the same schedule as so many other high school students.”
For more information, please contact Rabbi Reuven Berman, the program’s coordinator, at highschoolbekiut@gmail.com.
Alumnus Profile: Dr. Jonathan Wiesen ’99YUHSB, ’05YC, ’09E
One might say Yeshiva University runs in Dr. Jonathan Wiesen’s veins. Not only did he come up through the ranks, so to speak, from the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/Yeshiva University High School for Boys to Albert Einstein College for Medicine, but he is also one of several family members connected to YU, including his wife, father, two brothers, two sisters and his brother-in-law, Rabbi Yair Hindin, who currently serves as the rabbi of the Albert Einstein Synagogue at Einstein.
Dr. Jonathan Wiesen
As an undergraduate at Yeshiva College, Wiesen studied both English literature and biology. “I have always liked both the sciences and literature,” he said. “I thought I might become a teacher; I even took a year off after graduation to teach—but that experience showed me that I should become a doctor.”
It was also at Yeshiva College that Wiesen became interested in medical ethics, studying the area with Rabbi Moshe Tendler, Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Professor of Jewish Medical Ethics and Professor of Biology, an interest he continued to pursue later as a student at Einstein: “As an Orthodox Jew, I am always trying to figure out what the religion demands of us in ethical situations,” said Wiesen. To that end, he worked with Rabbi Dr. Alex Mondrow and Rabbi Dr. Howard Apfel to collect, edit, and publish a compendium of articles on Judeo-Christian medical ethics, titled And You Shall Surely Heal, released in 2009.
After graduating medical school the same year, he worked at the Cleveland Clinic until 2015, completing a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care. During that time, he served on the Clinic’s Medical Ethics Committee and completed the Clinic’s graduate teaching degree, “Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn.”
But something stirred Wiesen to move beyond his considerable success, and late last year he did something he had always wanted to do: he and his family moved to the city of Efrat in Israel, a combination of what he humorously calls “idealism and insanity.” But the idealism won out over the insanity, and he is glad that he made the transition.
These days, as he works as an academic pulmonologist at Ben Gurion University, where he sees patients in the hospital and teaches medical students and residents. Wiesen is also involved in something completely different from his training: OurCrowd, a unique venture capital crowdfunding platform for investors from around the world to invest in hand-picked Israeli startups. One day a week, he uses his health industry contacts both in Israel and the United States to connect interested parties to health systems and physician networks.
Wiesen and his family
Though admittedly a physician rather than a financial analyst by trade, he does this work because of his great love for his newly adopted country and his desire to accelerate Israel’s financial success.
“Diplomacy can only go so far,” said Wiesen. “If we can get individuals and companies to invest in Israel and see the value of our ‘Start Up Nation,’ we can use those relationships and connections as a basis for building the country’s international standing.”
As a physician, Wiesen also tries to get his fellow medical professional involved in telemedicine, using phone and video-conferencing tools to provide medical service from a distance. He does this to improve Israeli doctors’ incomes by helping them provide national and international assistance at rates higher than what they are paid in the country.
Wiesen points out that YU gave him the opportunity to drive himself “beyond God’s gifts” because he could always find mentors and leaders who were doing the same in their own disciplines, pushing the boundaries of knowledge and wisdom. “I was always looking for whoever or whatever would make me take the next step,” he said, even when it was in a field of study unrelated to his main pursuits. Learning new methods, new insights, and new points of view at YU fed Wiesen’s “drive to excel,” a drive that has helped him build a rich and meaningful life and career.
Rabbi Joshua Kahn, new head of school at Yeshiva University High School for Boys
“Rabbi Kahn brings a well articulated vision for academic and cultural excellence to MSTA, the only yeshiva high school on the campus of an established university,” said Miriam Goldberg, chair of Yeshiva University High Schools. “He has a deep caring for the complete wellbeing and happiness of our students. He is driven towards excellence and has the unique ability to inspire all those around him to that same standard.”
Rabbi Kahn is a graduate of YU’s Yeshiva College, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, where he is pursuing a doctorate in education. Most recently, he has served as the associate principal of Judaic studies and dean of student life of Torah Academy of Bergen County, where he pioneered initiatives like the Senior Mentoring and Beit Midrash Programs and organized chesed and disaster relief missions in addition to teaching Bible and Jewish law courses. He is known for building strong relationships with students and parents and was successful in streamlining many administrative processes to make them more intuitive, transparent and effective.
Current Head of School Rabbi Michael Taubes will continue to enrich Judaic studies at MSTA in the role of Rosh Yeshiva.
“From the very first meeting, he impressed the search committee with his thoughtfulness and vision, and the committee and Board are excited at the prospect of his leadership as we enter the next chapter of this school’s storied history, building upon the accomplishments of Rabbi Taubes,” said Joshua Jacoby, executive director of YU High Schools. “We’re excited to have Rabbi Kahn at the helm just as the school enters its second century.”
“Yeshiva University and the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy are very excited to welcome Rabbi Josh Kahn as the new head of school at our High School for Boys,” said Rabbi Joshua Joseph, senior vice president at YU. “Rabbi Kahn brings experience and expertise as well as humility and strength to a team of leaders that includes our talented rabbeim and stellar faculty.”
April 6 Dinner to Honor Mrs. Abby Lerner, Rabbi Mark and Jill Wildes, Rafael and Shifra Yehoshua, and Megan HLZacks
Yeshiva University High Schools will present their Annual Dinner of Tribute on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at Marina del Rey in the Bronx, NY.
This year’s guests of honor are Mrs. Abby Lerner and Rabbi Mark and Jill Wildes. Rafael and Shifra Yehoshua will be honored as Parents of the Year and Megan HLZacks will receive the Faculty Recognition Award. In addition, thanks to a generous gift, the Yeshiva University High Schools Board of Trustees has announced a $1 Million Challenge: Every donation toward this year’s dinner will be matched dollar for dollar with the goal of raising $1 million to help strengthen the future of YU High Schools.
Mrs. Abby Lerner
Lerner, of Great Neck, NY, serves as director of admissions at Yeshiva University’s Samuel H. Wang High School for Girls (Central) and has taught at the high school for 28 years.
“After 28 years at Central, standing in front of my classroom is still the brightest part of my day,” said Lerner, a 1970 Central alumna. “I still wake up excited to teach because when we teach, we are the link between our mesorah [tradition] and the future—and what an amazing future my students represent. Each day they stand up to the challenges of the world and I get to be a part of that with them.” Lerner is the mother of four Central graduates: Shayna YUHSG ’97, Yehudit YUHSG ’99, Zahava YUHSG ’01 and Yosefa YUHSG ’04.
Jill and Rabbi Mark Wildes
The Wildes, of New York City, are founders of the Manhattan Jewish Experience and work together to connect unaffiliated Jews in their 20s and 30s with Judaism and the Jewish community. They both have strong connections to YU. Rabbi Wildes graduated from the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/ Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA) and went on to earn a BA in psychology from Yeshiva College, a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and rabbinic ordination at YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Jill earned her master’s degree in social work at YU’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work. The Wildes are the proud parents of Yosef YUHSB ’15, Ezra YUHSB ’17, Yehuda and Avigayil.
Shifra and Rafael Yehoshua
The Yehoshuas, of Great Neck, New York, have shown outstanding dedication to Central and their local community. They are deeply committed to Torah values and Jewish lifer and are the proud parents of Ben, Yitzchak, Keren YUHSG ’14, Yael YUHSG ’16, Doron-Yosef, Shira and Yasmin-Tikka.
Megan HLZacks
Megan HLZacks, of New York City, chairs the Science Department at MTA, where she has helped implement the Scientific Engineering and Biomedical Engineering programs. She teaches engineering, computer programming and biology, oversees the science laboratory program, and leads the New Teacher Induction Mentoring Program.
Shimmy Socol, Yeshiva University High School for Boys
Students of all ages and backgrounds come to Yeshiva University to pursue a range of professional and personal dreams, from scientific research and medicine to law, Jewish education and the creative arts. Our students seek to harness their unique talents and YU education to make a lasting impact on the world around them. This spring, when they graduate from YU, these new alumni will hit the ground running.
This Commencement season, YU Newswill feature one remarkable graduate from each school, reflecting on their time here, their passions and their dreams for the future.
Since becoming fascinated with the medium while editing his own bar mitzvah video, Socol has run his own film and photography production company, working together with his siblings to capture visually stunning images for weddings, promotional films and personal projects alike. He’s been commissioned by organizations that range from Yachad to the Harlem Globetrotters, who he recently shot at Madison Square Garden, and the band Zusha, for whom he is the photographer.
As a sophomore, Socol and fellow student Yisroel Loewy ’15YUHS were presented with an award and commendation from CSPAN for their entry—one of more than 2,500—to its StudentCam documentary competition. Their film, “Made in the USA,” was a passionate argument for the repatriation of American manufacturing across the food, apparel and technology sectors, taking to the New York City streets to illustrate how outsourcing jobs has affected the local middle class. But for Socol, the documentary is just one of many projects that he’s invested his heart and soul in throughout his high school years.
“I try to be passionate about everything I do and get involved in crazy amounts of things,” said Socol. His time at MTA is a testament to that philosophy: whether he’s working on an issue of The Academy News as editor-in-chief, competing with the school’s debate team, or covering a basketball game as a member of LionsLive, a broadcast team dedicated to MTA’s sports teams. “As my rebbe says, ‘If you want something done, give it to a busy person—what’s one more thing?’ ” said Socol.
As a third generation Yeshiva University graduate—following his grandparents Sheldon ’54YUHS, ’58YC and Ginger Socol ’59S, and his parents Jeffrey ’80YUHS, ’85YC, and Robyn Socol ’87YUHS—Shimmy has taken advantage of every opportunity to refine his craft in and out of the classroom. As one of seven seniors enrolled in Covering a Century at MTA: 100 Years of Memories, Socol is documenting the high school’s centennial through a unique course that combines sessions on American and New York Jewish history with others that focus on documentary filmmaking skills and oral history interview techniques. He also recently returned from Poland, where he and fellow classmates explored the country’s Jewish history and Jewish life as part of the high school’s Names, Not Numbers program.
Socol also makes time for other hobbies, including playing the guitar, and recently won Battle of The Bands as part of the MTA band. “Winning Battle of The Bands this year was amazing,” he said. “It was really special because that night, I wasn’t just the ‘camera guy’.”
What Socol is most proud of, however, was his spiritual growth at MTA.
“Shiur was always my favorite part of the day. Each rebbe I had was so different and it felt like a journey as I progressed through each year—from Rabbi Rafi Pearl who taught us to learn seriously to Rabbi Mayer Schiller, who helped us lead intellectual discussions, to Rabbi Netanel Danto, where we learned how to work b’chavrusa (in partners), and finally Rabbi Avraham Shulman’s class, where we took everything we learnt over the past four years and applied it to what one has to do to live a Torah-centric life and prepare for learning in Israel next year.”
After he graduates, Socol will already have accomplished more than most college freshmen. But that’s just the beginning. He already has a pretty good idea of what he wants his future to look like: “I want to study in Israel, get semicha [rabbinic ordination] at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, win an Oscar, and make aliyah—in that order.”
Yeshiva University High School for Boys Receives $191,000 STEM Grant from Caroline and Joseph Gruss
The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB) has received a $191,000 grant from a fund set up by Caroline and Joseph Gruss to upgrade and extend its STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum. “Given the importance of STEM disciplines to career success in the 21st century, we are thrilled to get this vote of confidence in our efforts to bring the benefits of STEM education to all of our students,” said Rabbi Joshua Kahn, head of school at YUSHB.
(l-r): YUHSB’s Hanan Berger, Benny Jacob and GJ Neiman with the robotic arm they built together.
Over the last five years, YUHSB has introduced STEM-related courses and activities into its curriculum, such as a two-year Scientific Engineering Program, AP Computer Science, Robotics and classes in coding. In 2014, the robotics team, despite the fact that it had only been in existence for two years, took fifth place out of 30 teams in the FIRST Tech Challenge regional competition, and did equally well in 2015, placing in the top ten of 35 teams.
The grant will allow YUHSB to pursue a two-step STEM building program. Step one will be to strengthen its current curriculum through more courses and more opportunities for students to interact with STEM experts, design innovative projects, and enroll in more competitions and events to showcase their inventions. Step two will involve an infrastructure build-out of a Makerspace and computer labs, which will provide the facilities for students to create and refine projects.
Kahn is especially enthusiastic about diffusing STEM skills throughout the student body. “STEM work focuses on problem-solving, critical thinking, and hands-on and collaborative learning in the service of innovation and creativity. These skills are important to every area of study, STEM and non-STEM alike, and we will be equipping our graduates with portable and shareable abilities they can apply to anything they do in their careers.”
Megan HLZacks, science department chair at YUHSB, is excited by the possibilities the grant opens up for more inventiveness and ingenuity among the students. “Through this kind of inquiry- and project-based learning,” she said, “students push themselves to innovate and create solutions to everyday problems, impressing themselves in the process by what they are able to accomplish through previously untapped talents.”
This grant follows a similar grant for $191,000 given to The Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls from the Gruss Foundation to put in place an innovative STEM program.
