THE RAMBAM RECORD
The eNewsletter of Rambam Mesivta High School
December 22, 2004

Chanukah 2004

The Chanukah festivities continued at Rambam this past week.

A group of seniors joined the Rambam Band to entertain at the Hebrew Living Center in Far Rockaway. The boys sang and danced, sharing some of the good feeling of Chanukah with the residents.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, December 14-15, students participated in the annual event of latkes at the home of Rosh HaMesivta Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman. As they do every year, the boys enjoyed latkes, ice cream, dreidel-spinning, learning and sufganiyot.

Some of the rebbeim even took their shiurim bowling! Good times ruled the day as the boys had hours of fun and pizza.

Chanukah was a smash at Rambam in 2004 - the ruach was great and the spirit was high. We can't wait until next year!

Rambam Debate Team Scores Another Victory

Story written by freshman Yehuda Holzer

The Rambam Debate Team has followed up its victory from last month with a triumph in one of the biggest debates of the year - the Annual MTA (The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy) Debate held on December 19th. The Rambam Debate team took home four trophies: two were awarded to team captain Aryeh Bernstein and two were awarded to the other captain Raffi Holzer.

The topic of the debate was whether or not felons should be allowed to retain the right to vote in U.S. elections.

The first round started off well with many strong arguments being presented by each of the Rambam teams. With a growing sense of confidence garnered by a strong showing in the first round, each team presented arguments once again, making the case for both the Negative and Affirmative sides of the issue.

The debaters then davened mincha and argued the third and final round of the debate.

All teams then headed into Belfer Hall to learn their scores. Rambam had clearly emerged as the overall winner but the competition was not over yet. Amidst a high level of excitement, the announcement was made of the two teams who were to compete in the Championship match in front of the assembly crowd of all 84 debaters. Rambam was selected as the final Negative team to face the final Affirmative team, a well-prepared group from the Yavneh School in Texas.

The championship debate began with convincing speeches from the Affirmative side but Rambam pulled through with a clever and concise cross-examination. This followed later by a powerful rebuttal, proved to be decisive in Rambam's victory in this final match. Rambam was declared the champion.

After the match, Rambam captain Bernstein said: "I believe that the spirited give-and-take style of learning at Rambam really helps us to be better debaters."

Rabbi Lichtenstein Addresses Shiurim

HaRav Ahron Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Har Etzion, gave a special shiur to Rambam talmidim on December 20th.

Rav Lichtenstein discussed the conceptual parts of Nolad, Muktzah and Davar Shehyesh lo Matirin and its practical Halachic applications.

The boys were amazed by Rav Lichtenstein's tremendous gadlus and breadth of Torah knowledge. The reaction was best summed up by 'Wow!'

Currently, the Mesivta has three graduates learning at Rav Lichtenstein's yeshiva - Ari Schwab, Noam Horowitz and Jeremy Litton.

Stock Market Club

The Rambam Stock Market Club received some valuable insight about the workings of the United States stock market from Dr. Charles Snow, the Dean of the Sy Syms School of Business on Monday, when he visited the school on December 20th.

Rambam is currently fielding five teams in the $100,000 Stock Market Challenge sponsored by the Sy Syms School of Business and offered through Yeshiva University.

Rambam works closely with Yeshiva University through its college-level course for seniors called the Principles of Accounting. The course, which is being taught by Professor Shelby Goldgrab, earns students six college credits at Yeshiva University.

This year Rambam has instituted a new football club as part of its regular Wednesday afternoon club activities. The club, lead by Student Activities Director Scott Firester, has been a big hit with the students.

"We have a great time just throwing it around in the fresh air," said Mr. Firester."The kids came up with this idea for the club and we ran with it."

The Rambam Ravens JV and Varsity basketball teams are hanging tough so far this season.

The JV team is 2-4, after a big win against North Shore on Thursday, December 16.

"The team has improved each game," said co-captain David Zafarani, "And we still have a long way to go."

The next game for the Ravens JV basketball team is at Ezra Academy on Thursday, December 23rd at 8:00 pm.

The Varsity team is 3-6 so far this year with their next game at home against the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR), on Thursday, December 23rd at 8:00 pm.

"The team started out strong," said Captain Doniel Weinstein, "But we hit a bump in the road with tough losses against HILLEL and Davis Renov Stahler (DRS). I expect that we'll regroup on Thursday against HAFTR."

The Rambam Hockey team got back to its winning ways with a big 9-1 home win over Westchester on Tuesday night, December 21st. The Ravens record is now 2-6.

"Tonight's game says a lot for the players on this team," said coach Scott Firester, "They're still playing hard."

The Ravens next game is on Tuesday, December 28th at Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School (MAYHS) at 8:30 pm.

C'mon out and root on the Ravens!

Rambam senior Steven Rosen has just received notice that he has been accepted to the prestigious School of Engineering at Cooper Union. This is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Steven who will begin his studies at Cooper Union after studying for a year in Israel following graduation.

"Taking AP Calculus with Professor Peter Sinclair at Rambam was one of the inspirations that has helped me to achieve this goal, "said Steven. "He is one of the greatest teachers I have ever had."