The students, dressed in hats and ties made in class, greeted their moms who arrived in full tea time dress complete with hats…and even some gloves! The special day was a culmination of several weeks of classroom preparation. The students made a variety of crafts and gifts for their mothers, including cards, “I Love You” pins, beaded key chains, bookmarks with poems, and necklaces. Refreshments were also prepared to make the celebration sweeter: heart-shaped cookies, chocolate-dipped strawberries, lemonade and, of course, tea.

But the true labors of love were the activities prepared to tell their mothers how much they are loved and appreciated. The Kindergarteners mailed personalized invitations, and wrote and illustrated books describing their mothers—what they’re like, what they enjoy, what makes them happy and sad.

Of course every good host prepares entertainment to ensure their guests enjoy the party. Activities included a guessing game where students described mothers in the class; a puppet play adaptation of P.D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother?; a song in both English and Hebrew, poem recitations; dancing with the moms; and a special Shabbat Circle session with students wishing their mothers a Shabbat Shalom.

From the smiles on their faces and the tears in their eyes, it seems our Kindergarteners’ moms thoroughly enjoyed their special tea time.

The expanded presence includes an online photo gallery on the school’s website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube channel and a blog. Content is posted to these sites every day, sometimes more than once a day, and includes programs which take place inside and outside of the classroom and during and after school hours. Some of the more recent programs to be featured include:

The first grade students made their very own quilts in the style of author Eric Carle on Tuesday, March 20 as part of their author and books studies and in honor of Very Hungry Caterpillar Day. The pictures that were posted on Facebook and Twitter were re-posted and re-tweeted by the official pages of the author and his publishing company.

The fourth grade students participated in a model Passover seder on April 3 at the Myerberg Senior Center with the residents.

On April 17, the seventh graders enjoyed a day of discovery at The Gettysburg National Military Park. Students were led through the re-enactment of “Pickett’s Charge” in conjunction with the Gettysburg Park Ranger program. During the program, students received soldier identities, marched a mile across an open field, examined primary source documents, got to see what a musket ball looked like, and experienced the beautiful and haunting Cyclorama.

The entire school commemorated Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) on April 25 with a very moving ceremony. Students from both the lower school and middle school, as well as faculty, parents and grandparents, gathered in the sanctuary to commemorate the lives of Israel’s fallen. The ceremony included songs from the school choirs, a candle lighting ceremony and presentations by the parents and grandparents of KSDS students who have served in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

On April 23, the faculty and staff of Krieger Schechter led the eighth grade students on a tour of “HeLa Baltimore,” which included a tour of Johns Hopkins Hospital, where much of the story of Henrietta Lacks takes place, as well as a lecture by author Rebecca Skloot at the Essex Campus of the Community College of Baltimore County.

Third grade students had two great programs in one week – a performance in the style of Judy Chicago and her famous Dinner Party art installation project on April 30 and a trip to Oregon Ridge Nature Center & Park on May 7 as part of their studies on the Oregon Trail.

On May 1, Krieger Schechter Day School middle school students gathered at the school to showcase all of the projects they had worked on this past school year. As parents and grandparents walked from table to table, students were able to show off work they had done in social studies, language arts, math, science, art, Hebrew and Judaic studies. In addition, the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade ensemble bands performed for everyone in attendance.

Please follow Krieger Schechter online on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and on our blog.

By: Miles Greenspoon ‘13

Moot Beit Din (mock Jewish court) is a competition in which twenty-one schools affiliated with RAVSAK (the Jewish Community Day School Network) debate their point of view on a specific case of Jewish law that was given to us at the beginning of the year. This year, the case was on “Teacher Strikes.” After months of painstaking research and deliberation with my classmates, we finally came to a very well-reasoned conclusion. We prepared for our presentation, and finally headed off to Florida on a Thursday for the competition at the end of March.

As soon as I arrived, I kept on running into friends of mine from USY and the AIPAC Policy Conference I attended this year.  After meeting their friends and getting involved in conversations, I knew this weekend was going to be amazing.

On Friday afternoon, we all went on a boat ride. I quickly became known as, “Miles, the kid who knows all of teenage American Jewry.” On the boat itself, I decided that it was time to let myself truly shine: some friends and I went to the top deck, watched the marvelous houses that were sitting on the water, as well as the boats that passed by, and yelled out, “support Jewish education.”  We all contributed to the fun, hilarious atmosphere that encircled the afternoon.

It’s impossible for me to put in words just how spectacular Shabbat was. It was pluralism at its finest, with everyone sharing customs, traditions, and songs. I consider it to be one of the top Shabbatot I have ever had, and I still smile when I think about it.

But, the fun and games needed to stop at some point. On Sunday, we all bussed over to the host school for the competition. All the teams demonstrated their knowledge of the provided source material and the other sources we researched on our own.

Our group concluded that according to Jewish law, “striking” should be the last resort only after all efforts of negotiation have failed.  Although the Cardin group did not take first prize, I learned a valuable lesson: you don’t have to have a tangible trophy to know you won. I won that weekend by making incredible friends, by having a fantastic, truly pluralistic experience, and by knowing that we exceeded our own expectations.

Watch the RAVSAK Moot Beit Din video

In addition to highlighting the issue of cyberbullying, the club, under the guidance of video teacher Bea Bufrahi, who also teaches at the Baltimore School for the Arts, learned about all aspects of making a video, from brainstorming to storyboarding to acting and editing. Says 6th grader Matt Ellin: “We had to film the same five-second scence about twenty times, but it worked!  We learned so much about what it takes to produce a film.”

Students also participate in the school’s Human Development Program, in which they learn about and discussed issues of relevance to pre-adolescents, from relationships to substance abuse.  Anti-bullying has been a big emphasis this year, as students considered how acceptance of low-key insensitivity can lead to greater acceptability of inappropriate and hurtful words. Combined with in-depth study of Jewish values regarding behavior and Lashon Horah, a multi-faceted approach helps students reinforce with one another respect, caring and kind speech.  Just another added value of a Day School education!

Yasher Koach to the club and their sponsor.

The KSMS Class of 2012 proudly presented Peter Pan, entirely in Hebrew, for three performances on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, March 26^th, 27^th, and 28^th, at 7:00 PM, in The Park School’s Meyerhoff Theater (mainstage).  The Krieger Schechter eighth graders performed to “sold out” crowds each night!  Mazel tov!

Dispatches from Interim Week 5772

Day 1: March 5, 2012

After minyan this morning, students and faculty were treated to a very informative overview of the beginnings of Islam by Imam Earl El-Amin.  Imam El-Amin also shared his personal story – he converted to Islam many years ago, in part because he learned that his African ancestors were probably Muslims. He is very active in interfaith activities, grew up with many Jewish friends, and knows many local rabbis quite well; he also has met with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict.  He  took several questions from the audience.  After a brief break, we reconvened to hear Imam El-Amin talk informally with Rabbi Chaitovsky about various key questions of theological aspects of the two faith traditions of Judaism and Islam.  The Imam also asked questions of the students so that he had a better understanding of our school.  Students also had another opportunity to talk with him on topics ranging from what challenges both Jews and Muslims face today,  and how he interprets writings that seem antiquated, controversial, or hurtful to some groups (including Jews).

In the afternoon, students broke up into their schpiel troupes and wrote their Purim skits for Friday’s performance.  Each group has a particular part of the Megillah, a genre they are using for performance, student directors, and several items that must be included: certain props and certain clichés.  Following this, we enjoyed an academic introduction to Islam as well as traditional Arab story-telling with Dr. Hezi Brosh and Jennifer Rudnik (a local professional story-teller).  Dr. Brosh has his Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University, and is an Associate Professor at the United States Naval Academy.  He is the first scholar to explore the influence of cognitive and affective variables on the learning of Arabic as a foreign language by Hebrew speakers (who knew that someone could specialize in that!).

All in all, a successful first day!

Day 2: March 6, 2012

Dr. Heather Miller Rubens

Today was busy!  During minyan, Rabbi Chaitovsky gave us some more insights about Megillat Esther.  This was followed by an intellectually stimulating lecture about “The Golden Age of Spain” given by Dr. Heather Miller Rubens of the Institute for Christian-Jewish Studies.  She discussed (and shared many primary texts) the fact that the historical record of the Jewish experience under Muslim rule in medieval Spain is very mixed: during some generations, it was one of co-existence and tolerance, and in other generations, one finds conflict and maltreatment.  This segment of the program was important because it illustrated how nuanced and various the relationship between Jews and Muslims has been for the past 14 centuries.

After the lecture, our very own resident artist Morah Brandes introduced us to some of the principles of Islamic art, especially the prohibition against representational art in most circumstances (because of their understanding of the Ten Commandments).  Then the students were dispatched to work hands-on on creating their own art in this tradition.
As the morning ended, we formed a production-line, making lunches for a homeless shelter, and mishloach manot baskets for children and parents who are victims of domestic abuse and are being sheltered by CHANA – the Jewish response to this problem.  In doing this we were embodying the value of tzedakah (zakat in Arabic), which both faith traditions share.
The afternoon was spent working on our Purim schpiels.

Day 3, March 7, 2012

Dr. Ari Roth

Day 3 was perhaps our most exciting yet.  We began with a lecture by Dr. Ari Roth, a favorite speaker of the Cardin School, and a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.  He spoke about the historical relationship between Jews and Muslims (prior to Zionism – the more recent history to be covered on Friday).  Following this, we loaded into buses and went down to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, where we saw a special screening of “Journey to Mecca” – which featured actual footage of the 2007 hajj – an amazing sight (and one which we as non-Muslims would never be able to see in person).  Then it was on to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, which is not only a mosque, but a Muslim community center, day school, and afternoon/Sunday school.  From 30 families twenty years ago, it has grown to over 10,000 members.  The K-12 day school is growing so quickly that the high school can only serve one gender (and they chose girls!).  We got a tour of both the school and the prayer area (all our female students and faculty bedecked in scarves) from the president of the congregation, and got a chance to ask him many questions.

School dismissed early for Ta’anit Esther.

Day 4: March 8, 2012

School started later than usual so that we could all sleep in a bit after Megillah readings at various synagogues Wednesday night.  Almost everyone came in costume, and we enjoyed performing the mitzvah of hearing the Megillah read by numerous individuals, including our very own Jordana Lachow, Miles Greenspoon,  Jessica Miller, Abram Foster, and Nadav Korman.  The readings were interspersed with “magic shows” by the great Alain Nu, whose specialty is “mentalism” – he can definitely read your mind!  Following this, we walked to the Royal Restaurant (gorgeous weather for a half-a-mile walk, in full costume) where we had a sumptuous feast in the style of the Golden Age of Spain.  Early dismissal rounded out the celebration.

Day 5: March 9, 2012
We started the day being treated to another discussion with Dr. Ari Roth, this time about the relationship between Jews and Muslims since the beginning of Zionism.  Afterward, we gathered in the Moadon to discuss and clarify issues and questions that had come up during the week that may not have been fully answered at the time.  Then, for the rest of the morning, the students were off to rehearse for the climax of Purim Pandemonium – the schpiel contest.  The schpiels were great!!!!  It was difficult for the judges (Rabbi Gila Ruskin, Ms. Alissa Parker, and Ms. Becca Weinstein ’08), to choose among them.  Best show was won by Act 1 and the overall winner was Act 2.

Yet in addition to all of these incredible activities, AIPAC also provided a forum for personal growth. Julian S. ‘13 exclaimed after the conference that, “though listening to President Obama in person changed [his] worldview and perception of America’s relationship with Israel, hearing Netanyahu inspired [his] unconditional future support of Israel.” AIPAC veteran and co-chair of Beth Tfiloh’s Committee for Israel Action Mark S. ’12 further commented that “AIPAC provides a great opportunity to students because it combines opportunities for learning with hands-on experience. AIPAC teaches us how we can affect American foreign policy by forming relationships with our elected officials.” Finally, Louis B. ’13 remarked that “AIPAC was an enjoyable and enriching learning experience, that served as an outlet for [him] to lobby and voice [his] opinion on the U.S.-Israel relationship.” Beth Tfiloh students embraced the amazing opportunities afforded to them at AIPAC and will remember for life as instructive, fun, and broadening.

Furthermore, the outstanding leadership of Rabbi Oratz in this endeavor received national commendation. As the Area Director of AIPAC attests, “Rabbi Oratz was the national recipient of AIPAC’s ‘Ally of the Year’ … this year”, a tremendous honor that Rabbi Oratz unquestionably deserved. Thanks to Rabbi Oratz’s tireless devotion and leadership, AIPAC has become a passion of Beth Tfiloh students. Rabbi Oratz has elevated AIPAC from a banal, run-of-the-mill conference to a transformative, “very valuable experience,” in the words of Raanan G. ’13, which simultaneously provided enjoyment and instruction.

View the photo album

The Day School at Baltimore Hebrew: Bullfrogs Girls Basketball

Like our mascot, the Bullfrogs—the athletic teams at The Day School at Baltimore Hebrew—are small but strong. Bullfrogs are known to be able to eat creatures that are rather large—birds and snakes for instance. Likewise, our Bullfrogs are able to beat teams of schools with many, many more players to choose from, even for their B team or second string. Our soccer and basketball teams have scored victories over many larger schools’ teams.

This winter, our boys’ team’s record is 9-0 and our girls’ is 5-2 so far. The teams are made up of students from ages 10 to 14, with the greatest number of players being in the sixth grade. Boys’ coach Eric Garfield gave this wrap-up:

“To this point in the season, the boys’ team has faced adversity several times and handled it well. The team’s record is still unblemished and the entire school family has provided tons of support. Led by a handful of future stars, the Bullfrogs have brought their game to a high level and learned plenty about the value of contributing to a team.

As a coach, I’m very proud of what the team has accomplished. Win or lose, the season has been a success due to the players’ effort and their families being ready to give, drive, arrange or contribute.”

The Day School at Baltimore Hebrew: Bullfrogs Boys Basketball

Parent Natalie Ozga, a team mom and organizer of spirit activities, has this to say: “When people think of a school for their athletic child, they do not often consider a small school. However, here my son was able to play middle school sports as a fourth grader. It made him a stronger player in his rec sports and travel teams. On the other hand, being a value-based school we do not cut anyone and everyone has a chance to play and improve. Therefore, we have a spot for everyone in our athletic program.”

What is most inspiring about the Bullfrogs is not just their winning seasons, but their attitudes. The derech eretz (exemplary behavior) and sportsmanship of the children is astounding. When a player from another team seems hurt, our players are the first to check up on them. Our boys’ team cheers on our girls’ team and vice versa, but always applauds for the good plays of the other teams as well. When a younger or less-seasoned player is in the game, all of their teammates give encouragement and praise. Most important of all, they put their hearts and souls into playing.

The answer is quite simple. I wanted to reconnect with my Jewish identity in a way that respected my personal approach to Judaism.

I was also attracted to the challenging curriculum. The curriculum is adjusted yearly to fit the academic needs of the incoming class, and students have some flexibility in choosing their classes. For example, I take three foreign languages, and I can say with relative certainty that if I went to another school, I would not have the chance to do so. A variety of honors classes are available, and we currently offer AP Psychology, AP Calculus, and AP History.

One of the ways Cardin excels is teaching us to think critically and defend our position on a variety of topics. Memorization has its place, but being able to think for yourself after really looking at all sides of an issue is an invaluable skill, regardless of the field you choose to pursue.

The last thing that attracted me to Cardin was the people I met when I shadowed. The students here are incredible, and there are a variety of vibrant personalities with a wide range of religious beliefs, opinions, backgrounds, and interests. There’s just something about this school that makes people come out of their shells. You are free to be who you really are, and this really makes teens, even the shy ones, blossom.

To me, Cardin means a variety of things. It means being with people who genuinely care about me and about one another. It means going to a school that has teachers who love what they do and will do whatever is necessary to help their students master the material. They are passionate about their subjects, and that gets the students involved and excited about learning. Plus, the classes are small enough that teachers and students really get a chance to know one another. Needless to say, sleeping in class is not an option.

Cardin has a warm environment that is unheard of in a bigger school. Here, every single person counts, no one is left behind, and if you want to do something extracurricular, you can certainly make it happen. Want to start a club? Just ask. Never played soccer in your life? Welcome to the team, we’ll teach you. Want to try your hand at acting? Sign up for the play.

We may be small, but we make up for it in enthusiasm, a sense of community, and most importantly, friendship.

Coming to a Jewish Day School was one of the best decisions I have ever made.