THE RAMBAM RECORD
The eNewsletter of Rambam Mesivta High School
March 04, 2005 / 23 Adar

Twelfth Annual Scholarship Dinner Slated for April 3rd

Please make your reservations early for Rambam Mesivta's Twelfth Annual Scholarship Dinner to be held on April 3, 2005 at The Sands in Atlantic Beach.

The honorees of this year's dinner are:

Marvin and Rifky Wertentheil, the recipients of the Kesser Shem Tov Award; Elliot and Shandy Horowitz, Parents of the Year; and Rabbi Sol Appleman, Man of the Year.

This is a vitally important fundraising event for the Mesivta. Admission to the Mesivta is based upon outstanding midot, motivation to learn and a desire to achieve excellence, regardless of financial background. As such, substantial scholarship dollars have to be made available. Participation in making the Scholarship Dinner a great success enables the Mesivta to continue to accept only the finest talmidim without regard to financial considerations.

The monies raised contributes directly to the expansion of programs that have helped Rambam to earn a reputation as one of the premier boys' yeshiva high schools in the United States.

At yeshivot throughout Eretz Yisroel, Rambam graduates are recognized for their high level of learning. Students have consistently excelled on all standardized testing - Regents, AP's, SAT's and Achievement exams (SAT II). Rambam students have also excelled in prestigious sicence competitions including the Intel, Siemens-Westinghouse and Davidson Fellows awards. The school's academic and athletic teams display the exemplary midot that typifies Rambam students, both on and off the field of competition.

For more information call Renee at (516) 371-5824, ext. 102.

Writing 101 at Rambam

By now most everyone knows that a 1600 on the SAT test isn't going to cut it anymore. (The highest score on the new SAT is 2400.) It's also a well-publicized fact that the new SAT features an additional section on Writing. Fortunately, for the students at Rambam, the curriculum has already been modified to prepare them for these changes.

“We have totally revised the approach to how we teach English to freshmen at Rambam,” said Mr. John Stevens, Rambam's 9th Grade English teacher. “It’s not an English class, per se, it’s more like a writing class. Everything we do in that first year is narrowly focused on improving a student’s ability to write.”

This includes a heavy emphasis on grammar, the rules that govern the proper use of the language. (Read More...)

Ravens Varsity B-Ball Wins Big Playoff Game

The Rambam Ravens Varsity Basketball team won a dramatic playoff game over The Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) 52-51 on Wednesday, March 02.

The Ravens had been ahead by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter but HAFTR battled back bravely on their home court. With just 20 seconds left in the game, Rambam found itself down by one point and looking for an answer.

"This was definitively the most intense basketball game I ever played in my life," said senior Elan Kattan.

"Alumni were there, teachers, rebbeim," said teacher Scott Firester. "The atmosphere was electric."

The Ravens inbounded the ball to junior Elisha Herman who brought it up court and passed it to senior Doniel Weinstein. Weinstein, arguably Rambam's best shooter, returned the pass to Herman streaking across the endline. With time in the game running down, Herman lofted a running layup over the defenders' outstretched arms.

Swish! Nothing but net! Rambam took back the lead.

After Rambam stopped HAFTR's last second attempt to win the game, joy erupted from the Rambam players on the court and their supporters in the stands. The players joyfully embraced one another and broke out in spontaneous dancing and singing of mishenichnas adar marbin b'simcha in the middle of the court.

"What a game," said Rambam supporter Dov Halbertal. "It was like a Michael Jordan game-winner."

"It was one of the greatest games I've ever seen played," said senior Simcha Gross, "by both sides."

Now the Rambam Varsity team moves on in the playoffs to face Ramaz, the number one seed in the tournament, on their court in Manhattan next week.

Rambam Women's League is proud to announce its new Machzik Torah Program. All learning in the Mesivta on any given date can honor the memory of a loved one or celebrate a simcha. A beautiful plaque, with spaces for names and dates, will be hung right inside the front door of the school.

Dates are available for $180 each, with checks made payable to the Rambam Mesivta Women's League. All funds will be used to support extra-curricular activities and special programs at the school. If you have any questions, contact Mona Goldman at monagoldman@att.net.

On Tuesday, March 1, dozens of Rambam students attended the Siyum Hashas celebration in Madison Square Garden. Siyum Hashas is a celebration of the completion of the dof yomi cycle and occurs only once every seven years.

After Rambam talmidim went to dof yomi, you might say dof yomi has now come to the Rambam talmidim. Junior Jonathan Ziring has organized a group of students who will be studying dof yomi each day during their commute to and from school.

To these boys, getting stuck in traffic could be viewed as a good thing because it will give them more time to learn!

The Rambam Mock Trial team made it a perfect 3-0 this year by advancing to the round of 16 with a win over North Shore Hebrew Academy in a very close contest on Wednesday, March 02.

"It was a heated and intense trial," said Yaakov Miller, one of the lead lawyers on the team, "Objections were coming fast and furious and the credibility of the witnesses was really put to the test."

"The closing argument by Jonathan Ziring really made the difference," said Miller about his teammate. "It was one of the strongest closing arguments in Rambam Mock Trial history."

The hypothetical case being tried involved a 15-year-old youth who wins an International American Idol type contest and signs a recording contract. The youth produces a CD of his music, the sales of which generate a significant profit. The parents of the youth invest these earnings in equities but the stock market quickly plunges and most of the value of the youth’s earnings is lost. The minor then sues his parents for negligence.

"We plan to keep working hard," said Miller, "because we hope to go all the way."

Rambam is one of five yeshivas who are represented in the best 16 schools in Nassau County in this competition. The other four yeshivas are Hebrew Academy of Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR), Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC), South Shore, and Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls (SKA).

"This is a tribute to the quality of the thinking skills taught at these yeshivas," said Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, Rosh HaMesivta at Rambam.

Rambam is proud to announce that its freshman class for next year, the Class of 2009, is now fully registered and ready to go.

Forty-eight students from 13 elementary schools will be joining the Mesivta - Yeshiva Ohr Hachaim, Yeshiva Ketana, Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) , Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC), South Shore, Toras Chaim, Yeshiva Central Queens (YCQ), Har Torah, Rabbi Jacob Joseph (RJJ), Jewish Foundaiton School (JFS), Flatbush Yeshiva, Darchei Torah, and North Shore Hebrew Academy.