Dear Parents,
What an amazing week it has been at MDYHS! It is a privilege for me to share a glimpse of it with you.
On Monday, in anticipation of Election Day, our students held a “Great Debate” between the candidates for president before an audience of the entire 9th and 10th grades. Representing Team Obama were Renee Cohen, Albert Hamowy, Nissim Hazkour, Teddy Khafif, and Raquel Salem, while Irving Betesh, Aaron Harari, Chaim Salameh, Orly Yazdi, and Amy Yedid represented Team Romney. The debate was organized by Social Studies Department Chairperson Ms. Shara Netkin, and was moderated by our own Mr. Joe Naftaly, who posed questions to our young politicians on the subjects of the economy, foreign policy, education, health care and America’s future. The exchanges were passionate – and at the same time dignified – a model for the adult candidates to emulate. (Please see the attached photo from the Great Debate). Following the debate, on Tuesday, our students voted in iPad polling stations in the Atrium during their lunch periods. With a voter turnout of two-thirds of the entire student body, MDYHS elected Mitt Romney over Barack Obama as president by a vote of 90% to 10%. Perhaps our students know something that the general American electorate doesn’t….?
This past Wednesday saw the launch of this year’s MDYHS Sephardic Heritage Expo program, designed and led by the talented Ms. Audrey Nasar, Chairperson of the Jewish History department. Students in the 10th grade will be working in cooperative groups, doing research on various aspects of our wonderful community – such as The Aleppo Codex, Immigration in the Early 1900s, Food, The Kitab, Life in Syria during the 20th Century, Pizmonim & Hazzanut, Sephardic Bikur Holim, and Syrian Jews Outside of Brooklyn – with faculty and prominent community members to help in the research. Students will then craft museum quality exhibits on their topics, and will present the Expo to the entire school and to parents, b’ezrat HaShem, in March 2013. What a great way to take pride in the greatness of the community and to take the values of the past and – based upon them – chart a wonderful future!
Earlier in the week Ms. Nasar, who also coordinates our Israel Activism programs, heard from AIPAC – for the second year in a row MDYHS has been invited to send a delegate – all expenses paid – to the Saban Leadership Seminar in Washington DC in January. This prestigious seminar draws college and graduate students from all across the country to be trained in political techniques, Israel advocacy, and strategic leadership. MDYHS is one of only a handful of high schools across the entire country that were invited to send a delegate to this important seminar.
As our students progress in their Torah studies by acquiring the skills sets that are fundamental to education at MDYHS, a number of our boys have taken upon themselves the added, admirable goal of finishing the entire masekhta (tractate) that they are learning in Talmud. Fifty students, under the direction of Rabbi Joey Haber and Rabbi Michael Bitton are spending time during lunch and on Thursday evenings to complete the entire gemara (either Makkot or Megillah) by the end of the year. The students’ love of Torah study and values is a joy to behold!
Finally, in the area of sports, I am pleased to extend warm congratulations to our Varsity Boys Basketball team under the talented direction of coach Ikey Dweck, for their victory in the season opener over the team of Yeshivat Simhat Hayim by a score of 80-44. Morris Dweck and Jeffrey Pardo were the high scorers with 16 and 14 points respectively. And Kudos to our Junior Varsity Boys Basketball team, under the superb leadership of coach Aaron Shasha, for their exciting win over the team of YDE by a score of 54-40. The high scorers were Joe Grazi and Leo Esses with 13 and 12 points respectively. Go Warriors!
As always, please accept my warmest wishes for a Shabbat Shalom and for a great week ahead!
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Saul Zucker
