Friday, December 9, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
L'Shana Tovah Tikatevu v'Tekhatemu!
Dear Parents, Teachers and Staff!
Shana Tova ! !שנה טובה
May this year be filled with happiness, robust health, intellectual and spiritual attainments coupled with success in all your endeavors, and peace in your homes and hearts!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Spanish Language Saga is over...alas.
We regret that all our efforts, talks, e-mails, personal exchanges, blog posts, etc. have fallen on deaf ears. Trying to convince intelligent educators and principals of our school of the value of teaching the foreign language to high school students was an unprecedented endeavor. Never before was our school so resistant to enhancing the curriculum as in the last three years. We hoped that with a change of the guards the situation would change. We were mistaken.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
For Many Orthodox Teens, ‘Half Shabbos’ Is A Way Of Life
The practice has become so widespread – some say half of Modern Orthodox teens text on Shabbat – that it has developed its own nomenclature – keeping “half Shabbos,” for those who observe all the Shabbat regulations except for texting; “gd Shbs,” is the shorthand text greeting that means good Shabbos. full article
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Spanish Language Saga continues...alas.
Letter to the new principal:
Dear Rabbi Sinoff,
On Friday, the parents of high school students were given a list of offered courses for the 2011-2012 school year to help our children to choose the classes and sign the list.
With astonishment and disbelief we have found that much discussed Spanish Language course is offered online. After numerous discussions with the board and on the Beren Academy parents blog
our request of having a real teacher was again disregarded. Students need another foreign language as an elective which was discussed in depth with parents and teachers during the previous year. 4 of our 6 children had successfully taken the Spanish course in high school at Beren.
Knowledge of foreign languages increases thе chance of getting into good universities exponentially. For example, it did help our 3 older children to receive a scholarship at Brandeis University and they were always grateful for the fact that they knew Hebrew, Spanish and Russian.
We hope that you, being a graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in classical Greek, have an appreciation and knowledge of languages and will hire a native speaking Spanish teacher for our high school students.
All public and private schools in US offer foreign language as an elective to its high school students. Our students deserve no less.
Sincerely yours, the Concerned Parents.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Rabbis Sound an Alarm Over Eating Disorders.
In the large and growing Orthodox Jewish communities around New York and elsewhere, rabbinic leaders are sounding an alarm about an unexpected problem: a wave of anorexia and other eating disorders among teenage girls.
While no one knows whether such disorders are more prevalent among Orthodox Jews than in society at large, they may be more baffling to outsiders. Orthodox women are famously expected to dress modestly, yet matchmakers feel no qualms in asking about a prospective bride’s dress size — and her mother’s — and the preferred answer is 0 to 4, extra small. continue
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
7-year-old struggles to balance sports and faith
When 7-year-old Amalya Knapp took the beam at the New Jersey state gymnastics finals last month, her excellent performance symbolized a far more complicated balancing act. Although she would have ranked fifth in her age group, eligible for a medal, her individual scores were discounted. She was unable to compete on a Saturday because of her Orthodox Jewish family's observance of the Sabbath. I was upset," Amalya said, "but my mother told me there are decisions you have to make." USA Gymnastics made an effort to accommodate her and let her compete the next day, Sunday, Feb. 13, and permitted her scores to factor into her team's overall rankings. But the national governing body held that because she had not competed at the same time as girls of her skill level and age group, her scores: 9.7 on vault, 9.575 floor, 9.5 beam and 8.75 bars - would not count toward individual medals or rankings. continue
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Teenagers, Friends and Bad Decisions.
Why do otherwise good kids seem to make bad decisions when they are with their friends? New research on risk taking and the teenage brain offers some answers.
In studies at Temple University, psychologists used functional magnetic resonance imaging scans on 40 teenagers and adults to determine if there are differences in brain activity when adolescents are alone versus with their friends. The findings suggest that teenage peer pressure has a distinct effect on brain signals involving risk and reward, helping to explain why young people are more likely to misbehave and take risks when their friends are watching. Continue reading...
In studies at Temple University, psychologists used functional magnetic resonance imaging scans on 40 teenagers and adults to determine if there are differences in brain activity when adolescents are alone versus with their friends. The findings suggest that teenage peer pressure has a distinct effect on brain signals involving risk and reward, helping to explain why young people are more likely to misbehave and take risks when their friends are watching. Continue reading...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Winning a basketball game is a Kiddush Hashem?
From the school's principal letter:
"Click here to read an article in the Houston Chronicle about our Boys Basketball team. Aside from being pumped that our team was strong enough to be featured in the Chronicle sports section, and excited about the prospect of competing for a state championship, I am beyond proud of the Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying of God's name - a term often used to indicate when outwardly Jewish people or organizations get positive PR) that our players are making by being an outwardly Jewish team that is competing at the highest level in high school sports in a league of same-sized schools."
My comment:
Since when has positive PR for "outwardly" Jewish people and organizations merited the Kiddush Hashem status? Do we assume that negative PR is a Hillul Hashem? How is it even possible to link a mere win in the basketball tournament to a sanctified idea of Kiddush Hashem? To attempt to do it is to belittle and undermine the serious efforts by Jews in history to sanctify the name of Hashem - in learning, observance, improvement of character traits, endless hardships and persecutions.
Rambam's Point of View:
Kiddush Hashem is when a Jew does the right act, regardless of how much negative publicity this generates. Joseph, who did the right thing by not succumbing to Potiphar's wife, created the greatest possible Kiddush Hashem, according to the Rambam (as explained by Rabbi Chaim Dov Altusky of Torah Ore), even though he was besmirched in the mass media of the time and went to prison for that.
Gilgulei Neshamot gloss:
Yosef was in the end married to Zuleika (Potiphar's wife) when he was reincarnated as Yehoshua and she as Rahav. In Rumi's "Women of Memphis" this happens during Yusuf's lifetime - poetic freedom.
"Click here to read an article in the Houston Chronicle about our Boys Basketball team. Aside from being pumped that our team was strong enough to be featured in the Chronicle sports section, and excited about the prospect of competing for a state championship, I am beyond proud of the Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying of God's name - a term often used to indicate when outwardly Jewish people or organizations get positive PR) that our players are making by being an outwardly Jewish team that is competing at the highest level in high school sports in a league of same-sized schools."
My comment:
Since when has positive PR for "outwardly" Jewish people and organizations merited the Kiddush Hashem status? Do we assume that negative PR is a Hillul Hashem? How is it even possible to link a mere win in the basketball tournament to a sanctified idea of Kiddush Hashem? To attempt to do it is to belittle and undermine the serious efforts by Jews in history to sanctify the name of Hashem - in learning, observance, improvement of character traits, endless hardships and persecutions.
Rambam's Point of View:
Kiddush Hashem is when a Jew does the right act, regardless of how much negative publicity this generates. Joseph, who did the right thing by not succumbing to Potiphar's wife, created the greatest possible Kiddush Hashem, according to the Rambam (as explained by Rabbi Chaim Dov Altusky of Torah Ore), even though he was besmirched in the mass media of the time and went to prison for that.
Gilgulei Neshamot gloss:
Yosef was in the end married to Zuleika (Potiphar's wife) when he was reincarnated as Yehoshua and she as Rahav. In Rumi's "Women of Memphis" this happens during Yusuf's lifetime - poetic freedom.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the iPad
....“There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train and retain teachers. “IPads are marvelous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off and you get into hard-core issues of teaching and learning.” But school leaders say the iPad is not just a cool new toy but rather a powerful and versatile tool with a multitude of applications, including thousands with educational uses. “If there isn’t an app that does something I need, there will be sooner or later,” said Mr. Reiff, who said he now used an application that includes all of Shakespeare’s plays. Educators also laud the iPad’s physical attributes, including its large touch screen (about 9.7 inches) and flat design, which allows students to maintain eye contact with their teachers. And students like its light weight, which offers a relief from the heavy books that weigh down their backpacks...
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