Be Quiet So The Fire Won't Hear Us

Many high school students feel invincible. I guess that’s why some of our students take our monthly fire drill nonchalantly. They don’t realize the importance of these drills. Some students even consider them free time. My first year as the director of the Religious School at Chizuk Amuno Congregation, I took on the job of explaining to the entire school the rules and procedures of the fire drill. I took this job seriously. I had, after all, fire on my side, and life and death. The elementary school kids were gathered in the hallway, sitting on the floor as I spoke to them. When there is a fire drill, exit your classrooms in a single file, without talking, and you will go out of the building through that door down the hall to the left. A boy raised his hand, “But Rabbi, what if there is a fire at that door?” "Good question,” I said, “if there is a fire at that door everyone will walk slowly through the door at the other end of the hall.” “But Rabbi, what if there is a fire at that end too?” That would be highly unlikely, but if there is a fire at both doors, everyone will probably be asked to go out a window. “Cool!” shouted several of the boys. “I hope that happens!” Every year without fail, the same exact thing happened. Me, the rabbi, with fire and life and death on my side, could not compete with the fun of climbing out a window.
When I begin to take myself too seriously, I can always count on a kid to bring me back to earth. And having taught kids for so long, I can even do it myself.

As I walked to the parking lot during today’s fire drill, I saw the Early Childhood kids covering their ears. I overheard one child say to his friend, “Be quiet so the fire won’t hear us,” and I started to laugh.

~Rabbi Stuart Seltzer
Dean of Judaic Studies

Kudos to Our Town Cast and Crew

Well it’s back to school after a refreshing break for Pesach (and a busy one for me personally – I got married!), but I am still on a high from what was accomplished the week before Passover – the performances of OUR TOWN. The kids were great – both cast and crew! It’s truly amazing to me how a small school can come together and put on a full-scale production of one of the great plays of the American theatre. More than 65% of our student body was involved in some way – and the rest enjoyed it during at least one performance – some came for two or three! The message is so vital – to live life to the fullest and appreciate it as much as possible (in the words of the character Emily: “do any human beings realize life while they live it – every, every day?”). This is a philosophy that is timeless and timely. And we had such fun doing it, and were so proud of the results of our hard work! Congratulations to everyone involved in OUR TOWN, and thanks to the staff and parents for being so supportive of this major enterprise.

~Leslie Smith Rosen
Dean of General Studies

College Fairs

As I stood on the perimeter of the 25th Annual AIMS College Fair, I enjoyed watching the students, parents, and college representatives interact. Hundreds of 11th graders filled the lobby and conference rooms of the Crown Plaza Hotel on April 12th hoping to meet representative from over 300 institutions. College fairs are typically juniors’ first foray into the college admissions process. Fairs are a chance for students (and parents) to gather a lot of information in a short period of time. While potentially intimidating, college fairs can be a wonderful way for students to begin narrowing down their college lists and create a plan for their applications.

As I watched students gleefully schlep bags filled with college brochures, I also saw the looks of anxiety on the parents’ faces. Many parents stood with me on the perimeter as their children braved the crowds to ask questions ranging from dining hall options and study abroad. At some level, the college fair made this process real for many parents. My advice to parents – enjoy this time with your children. Stand on the proverbial perimeter to a certain degree. Let you children take the lead in the college application process, but be their scaffolding to support them and help them synthesize the vast amount of information they will receive in a short period of time.

~Hallie M. Schein
Director of College Counseling

The Jewish History of Spain

Recently we reviewed a brief history of Jews in Spain. Today, Christianity is the main religion associated with Spanish-speaking countries. This perception is due to the fact that typically the study of Spanish history begins in 1492. In examining the history before that time period, we learned that Spain was part of a Caliphate for hundreds of years and had large Muslim and Jewish populations. During those years, this diverse, multi-ethnic country produced a rich culture. Contributions in science, math, philosophy, architecture, etc. were incorporated from each of the ethnic groups within the society as a whole.

Unfortunately this relatively balanced state of affairs changed with the arrival of militant Christianity. These issues are explored in the DVD by Humanities and Sciences, entitled Acts of Faith, Jewish Civilization in Spain recently purchased by our school.

~Senora Rosemarie Steinberg
Spanish Instructor

The play's the thing (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2)

The week before the Cardin school’s production becomes a time in which everyone is focused on the upcoming show. How can it be otherwise when more than 65% of the students are involved? Tonight’s opening performance of Our Town, the first of three performances, is the culmination of weeks of preparation under the talented leadership of Leslie Smith Rosen.

Thornton Wilder’s classic play, Our Town, is one of the most produced and best loved plays of the 20th century. Wilder’s portrayal of everyday life at the turn of the 20th century allows the audience to see the ordinary while pushing it to look for the extraordinary. How many of us can’t relate to a hurried breakfast as we move on to the next task in our day? How often do you take the time to have a meaningful conversation with those in your community? Do you even know your neighbors? Audiences often watch Our Town with a nostalgic longing for a simpler life – before the internet, texting and social media – when neighbors were friends and people carried on conversations face to face.

Cardin is similar to Grover’s Corners in that we know each other and are a genuine community. We are very privileged to be involved in a school in which students and faculty are a community, and where we have meaningful dialogues in and out of the classroom.

Please join us as we perform Our Town, April 11th and 12th, at 7:30 pm in the Louis and Henrietta Blaustein Auditorium at Temple Oheb Shalom.

~Barbie Prince
Head of School

The Eruv and Sale of Chametz- What do they have in common?

Recently, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show ran a story about the “eruv controversy” currently brewing in the tony village of West Hampton, Long Island. You can watch the video clip here: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-march-23-2011/the-thin-jew-line. As many might know, the eruv makes it easier for traditional Jews to keep Shabbat. Shabbat laws prohibit certain activities, like carrying keys or tallitot, or pushing baby strollers, in public areas, unless there is an eruv. While the details of eruv are fairly complex, the principle behind it is straightforward. The eruv is a specially constructed boundary that transforms a public thoroughfare into a private one. It is largely invisible and often utilizes existing telephone poles and lines as well as overhead power lines to complete its enclosure. While one cannot do those above activities along with many others in a public area, one may do them in a private area. The laws of eruv can be found in the Talmud in a tractate named, appropriately, Eruvin (the plural of eruv). If you live in Baltimore you probably know that it has an eruv, as do many other cities in which traditional Jews live.

I know what you’re thinking – it’s just another loophole to help traditionally observant Jews “get around” old fashioned and outmoded restrictions. In the video, the reporter deadpans that eruv comes
“from the Hebrew word meaning loophole”. Lots of people missed it, but the reporter was joking! The fact is, eruv here means boundary and it is not a loophole.

Another tradition erroneously seen as a loophole is the pre Passover “sale of chametz”. The Torah explicitly forbids Jews from eating, owning and deriving benefit from all chametz (leavened) products on Passover. It enjoins us to “remove all chametz from our homes” for the entire holiday. The rabbis, however, recognized that it would be difficult and even wasteful to dispose of all of the chametz products in our possession prior to the festival. This was especially so for those who made their living through the liquor business, for example. With typical rabbinic ingenuity, they arrived at the solution of allowing us to sell the chametz to a gentile for the duration of the holiday.This sale of chametz is a fully legal and actual sale and has become a time-honored tradition. Individual Jews and many food and beverage companies owned by Jews sell their chametz. It is not a loophole. Like eruv, it is a complex procedure with straightforward results, not the least of which is making it easier to observe Jewish law authentically and fully.

Because it is a complicated procedure, it has been customary to allow an experienced rabbi handle the sale itself. Perhaps your synagogue’s rabbi provides this service. But if not, and as a service to the members and friends of the Cardin School family, I am happy to act as your agent for the sale this year. If you would like to have me do this on your behalf, please use the handy form below.

Best wishes for a wonderfully joyous and kosher Pesach!

~Rabbi Yaakov Chaitovsky
Judaics Instructor
________________________________________________________

I _____________________________________ fully empower and permit Rabbi Yaakov Chaitovsky to sell all chametz and chametz products possessed by me, knowingly or unknowingly, as defined by Torah and Rabbinic law, and to lease all places wherein chametz owned may be found. This transaction will be in effect from Monday, April 18, 2011 at 10:00 am and will continue until 9 pm*** on Tuesday, April 26, 2011.

Name:_______________________________________________
Address of all places where your chametz is located: ___________________________________________________________

Interdisciplinary Teaching

As an English teacher, I am always exploring avenues to teach poetry and literature in other disciplines. Well, the senior elective, preparing them for their upcoming Israel trip has given me this opportunity. Last week we had the opportunity to study one of Israel’s most famous poets, Yehuda Amicai. Amicai, considered by many to be Israel’s greatest poet, revels in the land and scenery in his poetry: often, his poems juxtapose the land of Israel with the individual’s struggle. Because of this, many Israeli schoolchildren still read and study his works.

Below I am going to post a few of my favorite Amicai poems. Look for the strong images brought out by his colloquial language. This, I believe, is what makes Amicai a master poet: his blending of images and language to create a masterful portrait of modern Israel.

A Man In His Life
A man doesn't have time in his life
to have time for everything.
He doesn't have seasons enough to have
a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
Was wrong about that.

A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
to make love in war and war in love.
And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest
what history
takes years and years to do.

A man doesn't have time.
When he loses he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
he begins to forget.

And his soul is seasoned, his soul
is very professional.
Only his body remains forever
an amateur. It tries and it misses,
gets muddled, doesn't learn a thing,
drunk and blind in its pleasures
and its pains.

He will die as figs die in autumn,
Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
the leaves growing dry on the ground,
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there's time for everything.

An Arab Shepherd Is Searching For His Goat On Mount Zion
An Arab shepherd is searching for his goat on Mount Zion
And on the opposite hill I am searching for my little boy.
An Arab shepherd and a Jewish father
Both in their temporary failure.
Our two voices met above
The Sultan's Pool in the valley between us.
Neither of us wants the boy or the goat
To get caught in the wheels
Of the "Had Gadya" machine.

Afterward we found them among the bushes,
And our voices came back inside us
Laughing and crying.

Searching for a goat or for a child has always been
The beginning of a new religion in these mountains.

Tourists
Visits of condolence is all we get from them.
They squat at the Holocaust Memorial,
They put on grave faces at the Wailing Wall
And they laugh behind heavy curtains
In their hotels.
They have their pictures taken
Together with our famous dead
At Rachel's Tomb and Herzl's Tomb
And on Ammunition Hill.
They weep over our sweet boys
And lust after our tough girls
And hang up their underwear
To dry quickly
In cool, blue bathrooms.

~Joel Neft
English Instructor

Meeting Yosef Begun

This morning we had the honor and privilege of hearing from Yosef Begun. Yosef Begun is well known to anyone who was involved in the Soviet Jewry movement as one of the "fathers" of the Refusenik Movement. In 1971 his request for an emigration visa to Israel was denied and he lost his job. Mr. Begun taught Hebrew and produced and distributed anti-government literature, bringing him under government scrutiny. He was arrested and charged with "social parasitism" because his profession was not recognized by the government. After nearly two years in Siberia, he illegally returned to Moscow, was caught and sent back for a second time. After his release in 1980, he began publishing articles in the Western press about the ordeal and plight of Soviet Jewry. He was arrested for treason in 1982 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 1987, a massive public outcry, including an appeal from President Ronald Reagan led to his release. Today, Mr. Begun lives in Jerusalem.

Mr. Begun started his presentation with a special thank you to Shoshana Cardin for her role in inspiring and working with the American Jewish community to fight Soviet oppression and to rescue Soviet Jews. He presented Mrs. Cardin with a drawing from Natan Sharansky's (another Russian Refusenik) book. The drawing was a replica of one that Natan Sharansky found on the wall of his cell during a year in which he was interrogated by the KGB. The drawing was a star of David surrounded by the Hebrew words, "Hazak, hazak v'ematz, Yosef Begun." The words translated mean "strength, strength, and be brave, Yosef Begun." These words were written by Yosef Begun on the cell wall and inspired Mr. Sharansky to stay strong during his year of interrogation and subsequent years of isolation in Soviet prisons.

In addition to telling stories about his time as a Russian Refusenik, Mr. Begun also related several stories about his release, and his life after he was able to leave Russia. One time he traveled to Washington, DC and met with then-President Ronald Reagan. President Reagan handed him a metal bracelet inscribed with the name of a Russian Refusenik on it. These bracelets were worn by many active in the Soviet Jewry movement in the 1970's and 1980's, to help us remember that there were Jews living in Russia that were imprisoned because of their beliefs. President Reagan noted to Mr. Begun that he was thrilled that he no longer had to keep the bracelet since the doors to Soviet Jews were no longer closed. He gave his bracelet to Mr. Begun. Today, Mr. Begun also presented a replica of the bracelet to Mrs. Cardin.

There were other interesting, inspiring, and heart-breaking stories that Mr. Begun shared with us today. It was truely an honor and privilege to meet him!!

We are grateful to Mr. Howard Rosenbloom and Mrs. Shoshana S. Cardin for making Mr. Begun's visit possible.

~Anne Tanhoff Greenspoon
Director of Admissions

Genetics

Cardin’s biology classes are learning about genetics and tracing genetic disorders through pedigrees (like family trees designed to show how a disorder is passed down through generations)

We studied the pedigree of Queen Victoria to study how Hemophilia, a disorder that stops blood clotting after an injury, was passed throughout the royal families of Europe. Hemophilia is a sex linked disorder which is carried on the X chromosome. Because females are XX and males are XY, males are more likely to have the disorder. Females can be carriers although they are phenotypically normal. Carriers can pass on the recessive disorder to their children. Queen Victoria was a carrier of hemophilia. She passed this to her daughters Alice and Beatrice (also carriers) as well as her son Leopold who died from the disorder. Many of her nine children went on to become Kings and Queens of other European countries. By studying this pedigree we can learn how this genetic disorder is part of the royal tradition.

~Alexandra Sloane
Science Instructor