THE RAMBAM RECORD
The eNewsletter of Rambam Mesivta High School
June 06, 2005 / 28 Iyar

Rambam Helps Clean Up Jewish Cemetery

The Rambam talmidim took advantage of a wonderful chesed opportunity on Wednesday, May 25th by helping to maintain the Hebrew Free Burial Cemetery in Silver Lake, New York. The Hebrew Free Burial Association is dedicated to assuring that every Jew, regardless of financial means or religious affiliation, receives a dignified, traditional Jewish funeral and burial.

The students performed basic maintenance of the cemetery by raking leaves and cleaning the grave sites, giving the task the respect merited as the final resting place of a halachic Jew.

"This is a wonderful and powerful experience that will stay with these students for the rest of their life," said Rabbi Ezra Berenholz, of the Hebrew Free Burial Association which helped to organize the chesed trip in cooperation with the Rambam Chesed Director, Professor Lisa Korman. "May you continue developing a sensitivity to chesed values in your students."

On the trip to the cemetery, the Rambam talmidim served as "big brothers" for Professor Korman's kulanu students which made for an enriching experience for both groups of students.

Photo by junior Zoli Honig

Rambam Visits Historic Synagogue

Last week, a group of Rambam seniors visited several historic Jewish sites on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to gain some insight into this neighborhood that represents the roots of the Jewish community in the New York metropolitan area.

The students visited several historic Jewish synagogues and the Mesivta Tifereth Yerushalayim (MTJ) where the boys davened mincha with Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, shlita, and heard Divrei Torah.

Rambam senior Steven Rosen said of the visit: “It was like a trip back in time allowing us to see first-hand how many of our ancestors built the foundation for what we have today.”

Photo by senior Yaniv Moradi

Grant Park Field Day

The skies were blue and the faces were sunny on Tuesday, May 31st, when all grades from Rambam went to Grant Park to celebrate Lag BaOmer. Here the students played basketball, baseball, roller hockey, tennis, football, soccer, handball and ultimate frisbee. The rebbeim and teachers from the school joined in on the action as well giving everyone a chance to have some fun together before finals begin.

After everyone returned to school, they feasted on hero sandwiches and then packed out again onto the busses to go to Shea Stadium to see the New York Mets play the Arizona Diamondbacks. (See article below...)

Rambam Vists Shea Stadium

After playing ball all day at Grant Park on Tuesday, May 31st, (see above) the Rambam talmidim headed to Shea Stadium to watch some pro ballplayers at the New York Mets vs. Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game.

Though the Mets lost 7-0, it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the boys for the game. They cheered and laughed and did "the wave" together, even as the Mets' fortunes plummeted on the scoreboard.

Tired but happy, on the way home the boys peppered their chaperones with a thousand variations of the same question: "Are we having a late start for school tomorrow?"

Not surprisingly, the boys arrived on time for minyan the following morning...

Rav Kook and Rav Greenberg Visit Rambam to Celebrate Yom Yerushalyim

Rambam Mesivta was honored to host two outstanding Torah leaders from Eretz Yisroel and gain their perspectives on Yom Yerushalyim. Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman introduced Rav Kook, the chief Rabbi of Rechovot, as an individual who is known for building bridges between to Torah community and the unaffiliated in Israel.

Speaking of the many difficulties we face in Eretz Yisroel today, Rabbi Friedman said, "The divide between the charedim and chilonim is of great concern to all and is pulling the country in different directions; whereas, the only viable approach with our real enemies is to build a wall because dialogue is virtually impossible. The approach Rav Kook has taken, and successfully so, is to be mekaraiv, in an active sense, those not committed to Torah observance. He has done this in Rechovot, the bastion of scientific research in Eretz Yisroel."

Rav Kook spoke about the uniqueness of Yerushalyim Ir Hakodesh and the special role it plays in our lives. He referred to the tefilos and brachos we say daily that highlight the central motif of Yom Yerushalyim. (Read more...)

A hearty mazel tov to the Rambam Valedictorian for 2004-05, Yisrael Herzberg, and our Salutatorian, Elliot Wiesenfeld -- a well-earned honor for both of these fine young men.

June 2nd represented the last day of regular classes for the mesivta. Now, it's onto finals. Click here to access the June test calendar which is posted on the School Wizard.

The Rambam Bombers softball team ended their 2005 season with a 6-4 win against the Hebrew Academy of Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR). This gave the team a lift at the end of a 2-4 season and gives them reason to hope for better next year.

"This team has a strong foundation," said freshman team member Gabriel Weinberg. "So I like our chances for next year."

The College Guidance Department will be expanded next year and headed up by Professor Lisa Korman. Professor Korman is currently the AP Psychology Professor at Rambam and is loved by all of her students. In her expanded role, she will replace Mrs. Debbie Solomon who, after six years of outstanding service, will not be returning to Rambam in the fall.

"During her tenure at Rambam, Mrs. Solomon consistently demonstrated a high-level of professionalism, caring and sensitivity on behalf of all of our students," said Rambam Rosh HaMesivta Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman. "We will miss her and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors. We're fortunate that Lisa has those same fine qualities."

Next year begins a trend at Rambam in which the size of the graduating classes will increase significantly. (This year 37 students will be graduated from Rambam; next year 48 students will graduate.) Because of these increases, the role of the Director of Student Guidance will be expanded to meet these needs.

In addition to fulfilling these duties, Mrs. Korman's connection to Kulanu will continue to provide the mesivta with a number of unique joint programs for the benefit of the talmidim and the students at Kulanu. (See the article above on the cemetery clean-up.)