REFLECTIONS FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Text Talk - Bereishit
The chaggim provide a wealth of text to study and time in which to study them. This week, I had the pleasure to study with Gabe Baraban '11. I asked Gabe to choose a text from Rosh Hashanah through this week's parsha for us to learn.  Gabe chose Bereishit.  As we sat down with our chumashim, I mentioned to Gabe that there is a lot of material covered in this parsha. When Gabe responded dismissively that a good part of the parsha is genealogy, I knew we had our subject!

We began our examination with perek 5, which Gabe read in Hebrew so beautifully. When he finished the perek, I asked Gabe to go back to the pasukim about Chanon (or Enoch (21-24)). Why, I wondered, did all of the other people described in Bereishit live over seven hundred years and Enoch lived for "only" three hundred and sixty-two years? Gabe noticed that the words used to describe Enoch's life were different as well. The other men lived vayichee) for their seven hundred plus years while Enoch walked (vayeet'halech) with G-d for three hundred years. So, what could be the explanation for this discrepancy? Rashi wrote that, although Enoch was a righteous man, he had the potential to go astray, and so was taken sooner than the rest of the men described in Bereishit. Gabe took it a step further. He postulated that G-d didn't want Enoch to be like the people of the flood generation, so G-d "walked" with Enoch when Enoch was alive. G-d saw that walking with Enoch was not enough to erase his potential for going astray, so G-d decided to "walk" with Enoch permanently.

Another unique wording to the section about Enoch is that his leaving the earth is described as, “walking with G-d.” Gabe noticed an additional interesting point about the Hebrew. The term, vayeet'halech is reflective, so if translated exactly, this phrase would mean that Enoch caused himself to walk with G-d. Luckily for us, as we tried to figure out this unusual use of the reflective tense, Rabbi Chaitovsky passed by and told us that he had heard this term translated into "G-d caused him (Enoch) to walk with him." Finally, Gabe suggested the idea of Moshiach Hadoor - that in each generation there is a person with the potential of becoming moshiach. Maybe Enoch was Noach Hadoor, almost capable of being Noah, but when G-d saw that Enoch wasn't righteous enough, G-d shortened Enoch's life.

Shabbat Shalom,
Barbie Prince

GOOD & WELFARE
Thank You  
We wish to thank Lois Elkin for her many years as a committed member of The Shoshana S. Cardin School Board of Trustees.  Lois, who has served on the board since 2005, recently resigned due to her many commitments.  We will miss Lois’ leadership and guidance as a board member.  However, her many ties to the Cardin School – as grandmother to Cardin alumni Mark Mazer ‘08, and her partnership through her business, Advanced Business Systems – ensures that Lois will continue to be a cherished member of the Cardin School community. We wish Lois and her husband, Alan, much success and happiness in their future endeavors.

IN THE NEWS
Giant’s A+ BONUSBUCKS program  
From October 3, 2008 through April 2, 2009, The Shoshana S. Cardin School has the opportunity to earn money through Giant’s A+ BONUSBUCKS program.

In order to participate in this program, please log on to www.giantfood.com/aplus to designate online. You can also call 1-877-366-2668 to designate over the phone. If you have previously designated Cardin, you must do so again in order to ensure that points are properly credited to us.

After you designate our school, each shopping trip to Giant using your BonusCard earns money for our school. Each month, the amount of cash awarded will be updated on the Giant website. Cardin will receive a check at the end of the program.

JUDAICS.COMMUNICATIONS
Season of Change  
The sounding of the shofar presents one of the great joys and challenges of the High Holy Days.  Its meaning and effect on us is often complex. To help us prepare for the daily shofar blasts during the month of Elul, Rabbi Ronald J. Shulman, the Senior Rabbi of Chizuk Amuno, shared shofarot made from different types of animal horns.  He discussed their different sounds, shapes and inherent symbolisms. Ben Jacobson, ‘09 was the first of our students to lead us in our daily shofar blasts.  His energetic, powerful blasts were greeted by a rousing response from our community.

On the Friday before Rosh HaShanah, Hazzan Emanuel C. Perlman from Chizuk Amuno introduced us to the history of the “Une Taneh Tokef Prayer” and sang its traditional melody. The audience sat spellbound and was clearly moved by the Hazzan’s voice and emotion.

During the Ten Days of Repentance, Katherine Lyons dramatized the famous Peretz story, “If Not Higher,” in which a doubting man becomes a believer after discovering that an eminent rabbi, rather than visit heaven, spends his time performing secret acts of charity on earth. After the performance, Rabbi Chaitovsky led us in a discussion about the story. 

On Tuesday, our students and faculty walked to the stream at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation to perform the ritual of Tashlich by tossing our sins in the form of bread crumbs into the water.

The Cardin community didn’t have to wait until Yom Kippur afternoon to make the Torah reading of that day, the story of Jonah, come alive. Starting in September, on Wednesday mornings, guests from far and near have provided commentary from a variety of disciplines to underscore the significance of this enigmatic biblical story.  We have met with a therapist (Rabbi Gus Buchdahl), a Biblical scholar (Dr. Barry Gittlen), an art historian (Dr. Susan Vick), a philosopher (Dr. Martin Shuster), a playwright (Mr. Steven Schutzman), an actor (Mr. Alex Borinsky), and Rabbis Joel H. Zaiman, and Moshe Hauer.  During the month of November, we look forward to a visit from musician Tom Meltzer and educator Nancy Hutchkiss from the Baltimore Aquarium.

The holiday of Sukkot was filled with lively Hallel services, Lulav and etrog processions, special treats in the Temple Oheb Shalom sukkah, and beating of the willows.

This year, Cardin’s Simchat Beit HaShoevah (Water Celebration) took place on the first day of Chol Hamoed. The Talmud says, “Whoever has not seen the rejoicing of the festival of water, has never seen happiness.”  It is written that the rabbis themselves performed incredible juggling feats and even did push ups on one thumb. In keeping with this tradition, the Myachi Masters from New York City made a special guest appearance at Cardin’s annual Beit HaShoevah ceremony. Myachi, an exciting sport inspired by martial arts techniques, involves keeping a simple flat beanbag in the air using any part of the body other than the palm of the hand. Myachi “moves and grooves,” teach people to juggle and to take their hand-eye coordination to the heavens, “if not higher.”

The Shoshana S. Cardin School Receives Its Own Torah
Another milestone in the growth and progress of our community will take place on Thursday, October 30 at 9am, in the Louis and Henrietta Blaustein Auditorium at Temple Oheb Shalom. After many years of borrowing a Torah from the Reisner/Cardin family, The Shoshana S. Cardin School will receive and dedicate a Torah of its very own. The Torah is a gift from former Baltimore residents and Jewish community leaders Bernard and Irene Siegel, given in memory of their beloved parents Joseph and Dora Siegel and Etta and David Fishman. Rabbi Menachem Youlis will be joined by members of our community to complete the writing of the Torah, and to honor Mr. and Mrs. Siegel for their generous gift. Afterwards, our students will lead the Shacharit service for Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan. Following services the Torah will be escorted to its new home in the ark in the Oheb Shalom chapel.  The event will conclude with a dessert reception.

It is a great honor to participate in the writing and dedication of a Sefer Torah and we hope that our entire community will come to celebrate this landmark in the history of our school. 

Rabbi Stuart Seltzer
Dean of Judaic Studies

CLASSES IN ACTION
Trigonometry
Math can be puzzling! Students were given a 16-piece puzzle and had to form a 4x4 square.  Each piece was a 1x1 square with different trigonometric identities on each side. The problem - each side’s identity had to be equivalent to the adjacent side on the other squares.
Amy Kemery

Ninth Grade Netivim
The students are studying the Babylonian Exile through poetry of the time (Psalm 137 and fragments from Lamentations), artistic interpretations of these texts and musical chanting of Eicha (Lamentations) in order to understand the emotions and feelings that the Jews could have experienced. As a class, we are examining the significance and impact of such a huge tragedy on Jewish people’s beliefs, decisions and influences on Jewish society, and politics of the Second Temple period.
Rochel Czopnik

Tenth Grade Mikra
The students are studying the Book of Exodus (Shemot).  So far, the class has examined pharaoh’s plan to enslave the Jewish people and what were, according to Ramban (Nachmanides), pharaoh’s secret and mischievous strategy behind the actions in the first chapter of Exodus. The students researched current slavery practices, including child labor, human trafficking, and bound workers, in order to teach other Cardin students about these continuing practices. Students also examined the examples of Hebrew midwives, Moses’ mother and pharaoh’s daughter, in the context of civil disobedience and were able to utilize information learned during last year’s interim week. Students compared civil disobedience in Exodus with the civil rights movement, especially with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.
Rochel Czopnik

Tenth Grade English Honors
The students of Mr. Neft’s tenth grade English honors class recently finished the play “A Doll’s House.” Upon completion, the class held formal debates about controversial ideas in the play. The debates took place on September 26 and 27, and were judged by fellow classmates and a wide range of faculty members. At the end of the debates, students and faculty voted to decide the winner.

Each of the four teams in the two debates got to choose a statement they wanted to argue. The debates consisted of two opposing statements- one affirmative and one negative. In the first debate, the affirmative position argued, “Nora was correct in abandoning her husband and children” and the negative, “Nora was wrong in abandoning her husband and children.” The second debate focused on the demise of Nora and Torvald’s marriage. The affirmative position argued that “Nora is responsible for her marriage” and the negative, “Not only is Nora not responsible for the demise of the marriage, Torvald/society are responsible.”

The debate was an “out of the box” idea that encouraged students to think about arguments, counter-arguments, cross-examination, and reasons to support their views. This activity helped to teach debate skills, and also gave students an opportunity to express their opinions in a fun, different way.  
Jeremiah Feldstein, ‘11

Ninth Grade Early Western Civilizations
Students are preparing to debate the merits of life in Sparta and Athens.  The goals of the debate are for students to research a position, develop ideas to support that position, and deliver these ideas to persuade an audience. Sparta or Athens?  Let the debate begin!
Bob Cantor

Tenth Grade Modern Western Civilizations
Students recently explored the themes of revolution through music.  Students researched their music library to choose the song that they feel best exemplifies revolution. They then wrote an essay to define the term “revolution” and explain how their chosen song represents this theme. Students brought their song and lyrics to the class to be shared, analyzed, and connected to the concept of revolution.
Bob Cantor

AP Psychology
Welcome to the Brain Lab!  Students created Play-Doh ® models of the human brain in order to identify functions of various areas of the brain and determine outcomes relating to behavior.  Students enjoyed the Brain Lab and were even allowed to bring their brains to the subsequent test - a bad but effective joke!
Bob Cantor

Psychology
Students completed a consciousness journal.  Prompts were offered to elicit feedback about thoughts relating to their daily lives.  A 15-entry journal was compiled, and students were given the opportunity to examine the themes relating to their streams of consciousness. 
Bob Cantor

Forensics
Our inaugural year of forensics finds students solving a “who done it” utilizing hair mountings and latex casts on slides to compare hair samples from our teachers. 
Amy Kemery & Dean Whitfield

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Solidarity Rally in New York City
On September 22, Shachar Binyamin ‘10, Adin Reisner ’10 and Sam Auerbach ’09, accompanied by Morah Zohara Chaban, traveled to New York City for the day where they joined over 3.000 people from the USA and Canada to protest against the president of Iran being allowed to speak at the United Nations. It was heartening to see large groups of students and educators holding signs, wearing the Israeli flag as a talit, singing Israeli songs, dancing, shouting “Am Israel Chai...,” and cheering for the speakers.  Morah Chaban asked the students to explain why it was important for them to attend the rally…

Shachar: “Going to the rally for me was my way of telling the Iranian regime that no more can be tolerated by a country bent on the destruction of the State of Israel. As an Iranian Jew I am proud that the Jewish Community and the Americans as a whole understand the threat posed by Iran and are now promoting regime change in Iran. The rally is a sign that we do not accept the legitimacy of a president from an oppressive Islamic republic stepping foot on U.S. soil to speak to the international community. May the number one sponsor of terrorism be defeated and may our next president have the moral clarity needed to defeat Iran.”

Adin: “I went to the rally because I feel that Iran needs to be checked and not let run free like history has shown that Ahmadinejad can. Israel is also too important for me to risk losing if I can do something about it, even as little as showing my support for peace.”

Sam: “Seeing and experiencing this rally gave me insight to Zionism and sense of Jewish protection that exists in this world. Even when an enemy of the Jews is present on our soil, the fact that the communities disregard diplomacy and protest, the principle is amazing.”
Zohara Chaban

Gilad Shalit
On October 6, a rally was held in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv to show continued support for Gilad Shalit who is still being held captive by the Hamas terrorist organization.  Students in Morah Chaban’s Hebrew classes wrote emails to the Shalit family to let them know that American Jews are also praying for Gilad’s safe return.  Pictured are a copy of our students’ emails and Mr. Shalit receiving them.  Please keep Gilad Shalit and his family in your thoughts and prayers. 
Zohara Chaban

COLLEGE SCENE
College Board
We are pleased to announce that the following students and alumni were recognized by the College Board through the 2008 AP Awards:

AP Scholars – Granted to students who receive grades of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams:

• Nathan Krasnopoler ‘09
• Matthew Marcus ‘09
• Rebecca Weinstein ‘08

AP Scholar with Honor – Granted to students who receive an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.

• Nadav Klein ‘08
• Katie Mikhalnyuk ‘08

National Merit® Scholarship Program
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)–a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year–and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements. About 2/3 of the high scorers are named Commended Students on the basis of a nationally applied qualifying score that is usually at the 96th percentile. Congratulations to:

• Nathan Krasnopoler ‘09
• Matt Marcus ’09
• Mark Rogers ‘09

Israel Gap Year Fair
The Cardin School was selected to host one of MASA’s Gap Year in Israel Fairs.  Representatives from several Israel travel and educational programs will be here to discuss and promote their programs.  This event will also feature a talk about the benefits of a gap year between high school and college.  This event is open to all grades and will also be open to the public.  The fair will be on Wednesday, November 12 from 7-9pm in Cardin West. More information will follow.

JCC College Fair
The annual JCC College Fair is on Sunday, November 9 from 11am-3pm at the Owings Mills JCC.  There will be free workshops from 11am-1pm and college representatives will be available to speak with students throughout the event.  All high school students and parents are invited.

JEREMY’S JOURNAL
The Student Government Association (SGA) has been hard at work planning activities and fundraisers over the past month.  On Friday, October 3, the SGA held its first fundraiser of the year for Lee Denim Day, in order to raise money for breast cancer research.  The event was immensely popular among students and teachers alike, as we raised $320 for breast cancer awareness and research.  Keep up the good work!

We are also happy to report that the Challah Sale has been a major success so far, raising over $250.  Thank you for your support! Keep an eye out for the next Challah order form next week!  The Challah Sale goes a long way in giving SGA the financial support necessary to plan great events throughout the year!

On Saturday, October 4, the SGA held its first major event of the year - Video Game Night.  The event was extremely popular and everybody seemed to have a great time.  Students played games like Madden NFL 2009, Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, as well as Mario Kart and Brawl on the Wii.  Thank you to all who brought in their game consoles for helping make Video Game Night a fun time!
Jeremy Hiken
President, SGA

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation will be awarding $3 million in college scholarships this year. There will be fifty $20,000 scholarships and two-hundred $10,000 scholarships awarded to high school seniors based on academic achievement, leadership, and community service. To apply, go to:  http://www.cocacolascholars.org and click on Coca-Cola Four Year Award for Seniors. The deadline to apply is October 31, 2008.

Council for America’s First Freedom Essay Contest
The Council for America’s First Freedom will be sponsoring a national essay contest for 9-12 grade students as they examine the First Amendment and the history and relevance of religious freedom in America and the world today. This year’s topic introduces students to George Washington’s famous statement about “mere” toleration in his 1790 letter to the Jewish congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. Students will be competing for a $3,000, $1,500, and $750 award. Online registration by participating students is required by November 24, 2008 while the postmark entry deadline is November 29, 2008. For more information, go to http://www.firstfreedom.org.

COMMUNITY UPDATE
Young Judaea’s Alternative Winter Break
Young Judaea has teamed up with Jewish Funds for Justice to offer the second annual Alternative Winter Break (AWB) for up to seventy five Jewish high school students from across the United States from Tuesday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 30, 2008. AWB will take participants out of their normal everyday surroundings and immerse them in an entirely different environment to engage in intensive community service and experiential learning that will be both enriching and transformative.  Students will participate in hands-on service projects in the local community that will give them opportunities to learn about problems faced by members of communities with whom they may have little or no direct contact. By integrating the service learning piece into the program, AWB participants will build community, explore their Jewish identity, and leave with a deeper commitment to service that will springboard into lifelong active citizenship where the tenets of community and tikun olam (repairing the world) will become a part of their every day life. This program is open to any Jewish 9-12 grader across the United States. Young Judaea is a religiously pluralistic organization, so you are guaranteed to meet Jewish teens of every background and have opportunities for new spiritual and cultural experiences. Cost: $450 per participant plus travel to/from New Orleans, LA

The Friends of the Reserves Present Saving Lives Under Fire
Dr. Eran Tel-Or, Director of the Trauma Unit at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, will speak about his experiences as a trauma physician during the Second Lebanon War.  See attached flyer for details.

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