Thank you to all who attended our first CAPTS meeting on Sunday, September 13th. We had a great meeting and learned a lot from our speakers, Arlene Bearman, Margi Hoffman & Anne Greenspoon.
Don’t forget to put October 31st at 8:30pm on your calendar. That is the date for our 2nd annual wine tasting. Last year, a fun social night was experienced by all in attendance. We are looking forward to another great night!
We wish you g’mar hatimah tovah.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Text Talk on Parshat Ha'Azinu
with Hadassah Emuna, ‘11

Hadassah Emuna, ’11, is new to Cardin this year and was quite upset that the parshiyot available to learn for the eNewsletter were all chosen by her schoolmates.  Therefore, we were both pleasantly surprised when Parshat Ha’azinu became available for her to learn with me this week. Reading Parshat Ha’azinu during the reflective 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, is quite a proposal as Hadassah  and I discovered when we sat down to learn the parsha together.  Moshe, in poetic form, tells the Israelites of their past, present and future relationship with God.  Together we looked at the poem and Hadassah was inspired by the following verses – perek 32 pasuk 11, where God is compared to an “eagle arousing its nest, hovering over its young, spreading its wings…” (Artscroll translation), thereby showing God’s protection of the Israelites through his opening  of his arms to encompass and guide his children (us); pasuk 13, where it alludes to the Israelites having “the good stuff,”  and being spoiled by God; and pasuk 15, in which the nation Israel is described with the title, Jeshurun (just and upright), and even though the people were just, they still “grew fat and kicked,” (Artscroll translation) rebelling against God’s commandments and the Torah.  In the last section of the poem, Moshe comforts the Israelites by telling them that no matter how bleak things seem, there is always an opportunity for teshuvah and they can never sever the bond between them and God.  Eventually, Moshe tells the people, they will have a renewed closeness with God. 

I read that the Talmud derives from perek 32, pasuk 3, “When I call out the Name of Hashem, ascribe greatness to our God,” (Artscroll translation) that a blessing is to be recited before Torah study, so I mentioned this to Hadassah to see what she thought.  We briefly looked at Masechet Berachot 21a to see how this was interpreted and Hadassah pointed out that clearly we must credit God before performing any mitzvot, but especially before studying Torah. 

Have an easy fast and a wonderful Sukkot!

Shabbat Shalom,
Barbie Prince

WHAT’S DEVELOPING AT CARDIN
Vision in Action Celebration
The Development and Marketing office is very busy preparing for the Vision in Action Celebration honoring Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum for their generosity and commitment to our school. Invitations have been sent to more than 500 guests and it is our hope that many of our families will join us as we pay tribute to this very generous couple. More details can be found on our website. Please contact Margi Hoffman, mhoffman@shoshanascardin.org, if you did not receive your invitation, or with any questions. This is a first for the Cardin community and we look forward to a festive evening and a big crowd!

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
Please join The Shoshana S. Cardin team at the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to be held on Sunday, October 18. Go to www.komenmd.org and look for us under teams. So far we have only 7 members participating. This is NOT ENOUGH!!! Consider the importance of this cause and go to your computer now. Questions? Call Margi Hoffman at extension 220.

School Video
We are thrilled to announce that through the generosity of Howard Rothouse (father of Dennis, class of 2011) we will be filming a promotional video to be used for recruitment and other special events. The videographers will be on campus on Friday, September 25 and Wednesday, September 30.

We are proud of our Cardin students and faculty and look forward to highlighting them in our video. We do not yet know which clips will be used in the final video, but are hopeful that all of our students and faculty will be well represented in this endeavor.

Giant’s A+ BONUSBUCKS program
From October 9, 2009 through March 25, 2010, 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 and the money will be put to our School’s educational needs.

We need your support. Please be sure to designate The Shoshana S. Cardin School using ID #04543. Also, please don’t forget to encourage your friends and relatives to do the same.

JUDAICS.COMMUNICATIONS
Birth, Death, Rebirth and an Outpouring of New Life
Just last Friday, we all gathered together to celebrate the New Year – Rosh HaShanah – the birthday of the world or of human kind. What energy!  What joy!  What life!

This coming Sunday, the entire community will gather again to observe Yom Kippur – Judaism’s imaginative annual encounter with death.

On Yom Kippur, the Torah instructs us to afflict our souls. The shock of death reminds us that life is short; too short to waste. The very awareness of death suddenly puts life into bold relief. We reenact death for a day by denying the normal human pleasures of life such as eating, drinking, washing, and sexuality. We face our failings before God in the hope that our lives will be renewed. Rabbi Irving Greenberg teaches us, “that on Yom Kippur the individual asserts control over the body and voluntarily undergoes death in order to be reborn into life.”

The order of these days seems a bit strange and counter-intuitive.

• Why should we celebrate the New Year, and then remember the sins of the old one?
• Why with the memory of honey on our lips should we then face the end of it all?
• Why does feasting lead to fasting, celebration toward self-confrontation, instead of the other way around.
• Why go from the high point to the very depths?

One answer is that the Jewish calendar is telling us that we live most fully when we recognize the truth of the finite duration of life.

The holidays are ordered this way….
Because as Yom Kippur draws to a close, we embrace life with enthusiasm and vigor.
Because as the shofar sounds its final blast until next year, it will not be a wakeup call to the past, or to repent, but a wakeup call to live and to appreciate life, a sound that in the tradition is to be replaced immediately by the hammer building the sukkah.
Because many of us will sprint home so that we can welcome our guests for breakfast.
Because as we eat, drink, and rejoice, just as the Midrash instructs us to “go and eat your bread joyfully, drink your wine in good spirit, for the Lord has accepted your efforts,”
we will feel a renewed sense of joy and good living!

May this Yom Kippur bring us the appreciation of each new day of life!
Rabbi Stuart Seltzer
Dean of Judaic Studies

CLASSES IN ACTION
Honors Geometry
The Honors Geometry class completed Chapter 1 this week. Basic definitions and postulates were developed in order to lay the groundwork for deductive reasoning and proof discussions that follow in Chapter 2. Students used a compass and straightedge to construct a segment bisector and an angle bisector. The Distance Formula and the Midpoint Formula were used to solve problems involving points in the coordinate plane. The chapter concluded with applications of area and perimeter formulas.
Ms. Michelle Greenbaum

Physics
Students have begun their study of Newtonian Mechanics. This lab is an attempt to capture the real time motion of a motorized car in a straight line. Students plotted each moment in time, in one second intervals, matching the position to time. They will then determine the displacement in each interval and calculate the average velocity of the car. This data will be plotted to determine if the cars motion is truly ‘constant.’  Throughout the year students will continue to participate in weekly labs that will challenge their critical thinking skills and ask them to produce reasoned and data supported conclusions.
Mr. Dean Whitfield

Classic Literature and Composition
Ninth grade students began the study of The Epic of Gilgamesh through the study of Ancient Mesopotamian civilization and myths. Understanding the nature of myth, the role myths play in cultures, and the universality of myth, students have a framework to examine Gilgamesh. While reading The Epic of Gilgamesh students will evaluate its relationship to the book of Ecclesiastes, particularly the connections between Gilgamesh and Kohelet. Further discussions will involve comparing and contrasting the flood myths, Enkidu’s stages of development, and Gilgamesh’s journey for eternal life.
Mr. Joel Neft

Mikra 11 Prophets
What is it like to be called to prophesy God’s word? How would you react if God told you to do it? Why did God choose Jeremiah or Moses to be prophets? Why would God need prophets in the first place? These and many more questions were part of the discussions the students of 11th Mikra classes tried to contemplate and answer while studying Biblical descriptions of prophets’ call to the unique mission.
Ms. Rochel Czopnik

Mikra 10 Shemot
After discussing the stages of slavery imposed by pharaoh on Jews in Egypt, 10th grade Mikra students are preparing to study the first classical commentary by Ramban (Rav Moshe ben Nachman, known also as Nachmanides). To understand better not only the particular commentary but also his impact and importance for Jewish culture, the students have been learning about the history of Jews in Spain in the Middle Ages. To review their knowledge and teach others, they worked on creating a “Commentator ID,” a kind of a unique, Jewish style “baseball card” for rabbis.
Ms. Rochel Czopnik

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Drawing from the Text with Artist-in-Residence David Wander
There are many ways to respond to a Jewish text: argument and debate, literary analysis and form criticism, or even the creation of a poem or song. All of these responses involve words. But what if the goal is to imaginatively respond to a text with visual images? 

On Tuesday, September 22, renowned New York illustrator and artist, David Wander, spent the entire day at Cardin as an artist-in-residence to help our students in our Judaic studies seminar study, interpret and “shape” a Jewish text.  David has been exhibiting his paintings and pastels for well over 20 years, producing intense color-filled landscapes and Judaica. In addition, he is a master printmaker and book artist. His works are found in many museums including Yad Vashem, the Israel Museum, and the Jewish Museum in New York City. David received his B.F.A. from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and has studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY, and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. 

During the first part of the day, we studied a beautiful and paradoxical aggadah found in the Talmud.  Moses goes to heaven and asks God why he is adorning the letters of the Torah with small crowns. God then sends Moses on a magical, challenging quest through which the evolving nature of Torah is revealed. David encouraged us to read this Talmudic text with a pencil - drawing and discussing our own visual impressions as we read the story line by line. Many Cardin faculty and guests were invited to join our students in their exploration:  Rabbi Joel Zaiman, Rabbi Stuart Seltzer, Mrs. Elaine Brandes, Dr. Norman Prentiss, Mr. Dean Whitfield, Ms. Rochel Czopnik, Ms. Leslie Smith Rosen, Mr. Bob Cantor, Mrs. Ilene Vogelstein, Mrs. Ann Zaiman, Ms. Lee Hendler, Mrs. Jan Schein, Mr. Arnon Shorr, Ms. Leora Pushett and Ms. Dafna Tasch.

The second part of the day was devoted to sketching full page drawings. Several times during the workshop, David complimented our students.  “It is a pleasure working with you. You are articulate, interested, and able to work with difficult artistic concepts. You easily understood the concept of visual midrash and you quickly created you own original works of art.” In the next few weeks, under the guidance of art teacher, Mrs. Brandes, the students will turn their sketches into original paintings which will then be exhibited in a show. During his next visit in October, David will give the students feedback on their creative responses, and they will learn how to talk about and appreciate their work. All of the participants agree that David opened and expanded our understanding of this story in a new way. We are already looking forward to his second and third visits to Cardin.
Rabbi Stuart Seltzer

AP Scholar Awards for 2009 (as identified by the College Board) in recognition of exceptional achievement in AP exams. The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program (AP) provides motivated and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school, and to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the AP Exams. About 18 percent of the nearly 1.7 million students worldwide who took AP Exams performed at a sufficiently high level to also earn an AP Scholar Award.   

AP Scholar – Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams:
Adin Reisner ‘10
Zachary Wildhorn ‘09

AP Scholar with Honor – granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams:
Jeremy Hiken ‘09

AP Scholar with Distinction – grated to students who receive an average score of at least 3/5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams:
Nathan Krasnopoler ‘09
Matthew Marcus ‘09
Mark Rogers ‘09
Sophie Solomon ‘09

COUNSELING CORNER
Minds Interrupted: Stories of Lives Affected by Mental Illness
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Compassionate Touch Networks are presenting “MINDS INTERRUPTED: Stories of Lives Affected by Mental Illness”. The program includes dynamic monologues written and presented by seven Baltimore residents. Through heartfelt personal stories, family members and individuals diagnosed with chronic mental illness share the pain, anger, confusion, humor, and resilience of living with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety disorders.

SHACHAR'S SHTICK
Happy Rosh HaShana to the Cardin Community! The Student Government’s first Challah delivery was a great success. We hope you enjoyed the Challot and that they added to your Rosh HaShana and Shabbat. Well, the High Holy Days are upon us and it’s time for us to perform our annual personal reflection. I believe that some of us find this activity to be in vain; some find that reflection makes no difference. As Rabbi Zaiman would say, “A difference that makes no difference is no difference.” Wise words Rabbi, but what can we do to make that difference a true difference? The Student Government hopes to make that difference in this New Year ladies and gentleman. We have recycling, air fresheners, hot water dispensers, snack machine, dances and more to deliver. Our video game/movie night is coming up soon to a school near you and we want your ideas and feedback. Please, contact your senators and elected officials, tells them what and how you want them to vote and watch as the Cardin democracy is put to work. Members of the executive branch of the SGA will be attending the Shabbaton with the freshman and sophomore classes. We hope to make your weekend one of the best as you will be celebrating Shabbat with the experts. Get ready for a great experience because a stay at the Pearlstone never disappoints. As a last message, I hope everyone is reflecting on the actions they have taken over the past year and perfecting themselves to make this world a more perfect one. Shabbat Shalom, Chag Sameach, and I hope all of you can attain the highest level of Neshama this Yom Kippur.
Shachar Binyamin, ‘10

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
BURGER KING® Scholars Program
Applicant must be a high school senior who:

• Maintains a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 or higher
• Works part-time for a minimum of 10 hours per week or 40 weeks per year
• Be actively involved in community service activities
• Demonstrates financial need (1040 form required)
• Plans to enroll in an accredited two/or four-year college, university, or vocational/technical school by fall of the application year.

COMMUNITY EVENTS
The Puppetmaster of Lodz, October 9 - 25
Performance Workshop Theatre (45 W. Preston Street) reprises its acclaimed production of Gilles Segal’s drama about survival and love’s endurance. It’s 1950 in Berlin where Puppetmaster Samuel Finkelbaum, who escaped five years ago from a concentration camp, hides in a tiny attic apartment, refusing to believe the war has ended.  With poignancy and humor, he recreates with his puppets the people and events of his lost world, rehearsing for the epic performance he’ll give when the war is over. Starring Marc Horwitz and featuring Katherine Lyons, Mark Steckbeck and Michael Donlon, performances are Thursday-Saturday at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm. Adults $20, Seniors $15, Students $10. Tickets 410-752-8558. www.theatreproject.org. 

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