Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Executive Director
With balmy spring‐like weather Lastly, as a school community, our 2010‐2011: Issue 25
here for our enjoyment and with Purim right hearts and prayers go out to the surviving March 18, 2011
around the corner, we are entering the home members of the Fogel family of Itamar, 12 Adar II, 5771
stretch of the school year. Israel. Their parents and siblings were
Candle Lighting: 6:58 PM
Parshat Tzav
murdered al kidush Hashem, for no reason
Our annual event has been Parshat Zachor
other than that they were Jews who had the
scheduled for the eve of Yom Yerushalayim,
Tuesday evening, May 31st, and will be held
conviction and courage to help settle the Dates & Times:
land. In this time of Divine deliverance, we
here at Rambam. A letter from Mervyn
pray that the Fogel family is comforted
Myers, Director of Development, and an ad
along with the other morners of Tzion March
blank have been included with this
ve’Yerushalim.
packet. Please be sure to read Mervyn’s 21 10:00 AM Opening
letter and learn how you can get involved in Shabbat shalom,
22 ECC/ES Parent-Teacher
this important and exciting evening. Conferences at 7:00 PM
In other development news, I am 27 Hot Lunch Ordering Deadline
Rabbi Hershel Lutch
pleased to report that Rambam will be
Executive Director
sending out a community mailing to all April
Orthodox Baltimore households. Arriving
11-13 CTBS Testing; AP Practice Tests
sometime before next Shabbat, the mailing
will be a formal solicitation, asking the 14-27 No School — Pesach Break
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday Packet is the weekly newsletter of Yeshivat Rambam. Comments, questions, and subscriptions should be directed to:
6300 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215 • 410‐358‐6091 • www.yrambam.org • info@yrambam.org
Message from Rachel Rotenberg, Good and
Director of Early Childhood Center Welfare:
Our very creative ECC morot have once Try to encourage your child to rest before Mazal Tov to:
again successfully integrated all subject matter into megillah reading (or better yet, find a reading
the topic of Purim. In particular, in the area of
Moshe and Miri
geared toward families with young children).
Raphaely on the
Math, the teachers found a variety of activities to
We look forward to sharing Shushan Purim engagement of their
teach math concepts though the holiday of Purim.
with the children on Monday. Reminder that we daughter, Leeat, to
Our Pre‐Nursery class counted the four
Paul Shulman
have a 10 AM opening that day. Please have your
mitzvot of Purim, as well as counting the corners of child wear his/her costume to school on Monday Elliot and Rena
Haman’s hat. They also measured and counted as and bring a change of clothing in the event that Einbinder,Tziporah and
they mixed their hamantashen dough which they they want or need to change. We look forward to Meira, on the birth of a
made to add to the mishloach manot they are the ECC Purim parade in the building. baby girl
making.
Shabbat shalom and Purim sameach, The second grade
Our Nursery classes practiced the math boys and their families
Rachel Rotenberg
skill of matching (one to one correspondence) on receiving their
through making and then playing a Purim match‐it Chumashim this week
game. They also studied geometry through
Refuah Sheleimah
building a castle in the block area using a variety of
to:
shaped blocks. They baked round sugar cookies
and made cylindrical shaped rashanim out of empty Mrs. Dorie Horwitz
juice cans, filling the cans with round lentils.
Tzeitchem L’Shalom
Our Pre‐Gan classes participated in a to:
statistical study by polling each other to find out
what type of hamantashen they liked best. They then Noam Brandriss and
graphed it on a chart and discovered the least his parents Abi and
favorite and most favorite flavors. The winner (by Yosef Brandriss (and
little sister Ora) on
more than 50%) was chocolate! Then they read their
their move to Germany
numbers on a recipe chart and measured out the
ingredients to make (what else but) chocolate
hamantashen.
We wish all of our families a chag Purim
Sameach and would like to share some tried and
true strategies that make Purim more joyful and
relaxing with young children.
Keep it simple. Keep the focus on quality time
with your children.
Eat healthfully before delivering and receiving
mishloach manot.
Message from Rabbi Shmuel Feld,
ES Principal Second Grade Boys Perform in their Chumash Play
In order for a student to be successful in school, the
student must utilize English in an adaptive way. That
adaptability stems from knowing the mechanics of the
language. Limited language causes mistakes in both
understanding and expressing one’s self as well as making a
wrong first impression. We look towards a phonics approach
to teach English.
Shabbat shalom and Purim sameach,
Shmuel Feld
Message from Rabbi Yakov Majeski, In the halacha classes, the students have been
MSHS Boys Principal focusing on the holiday of Purim. The 6 and 7 grades have
covered hilchot Purim based on the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and
This week the MSHS is all buzzing about Purim. are in the middle of learning Megillat Esther with many
Here are some of the highlights. Rabbi Hexter mefarshim and midrashim. Aside from the halachot and
brought Mishaloach Manot over to the nursing home with the minhagim that are related to Purim, the 8 grade girls recently
Yakov Majeski shalom.
Shira Tuchman
Message from Shira Tuchman,
MSHS Girls Principal
Winners for each day will be chosen and announced next
week. We are very much looking forward to the Purim
Chagiga on Motzei Shabbat, organized by the senior class, and
the MSHS Purim carnival on Monday, Shushan Purim, to
benefit the elementary school.
ES Happenings silently along with the recording. After the students have
listened to the recording multiple times, they are now ready
to do their “Hot read” (hot since they have warmed up by
Kriyah Fluency Program
listening to the recordings).
This year, Rambam has embarked on a new
The students record the scores of both their Cold and
initiative. All elementary school students have been dedicated
Hot reads on a chart. Each week the scores noticeably rise
to improving their kriyah (Hebrew reading). Kriyah is directly
from Cold to Hot. Their fluency and accuracy are improving
related to all Judaic studies, since the more accurate and
and the students are proud of their accomplishments.
fluent a student can read, the better the chances of their
comprehension of the text will be. Every teacher has The Learning Center assesses grades 2‐5 in kriyah before each
determined their approach to implementing kriyah report card. Across the grades, the students’ scores have
instruction. Some teachers have assigned nightly reading. noticeably increased due to the tremendous effort and
Others are dedicating time exclusively for Hebrew reading emphasis put on kriyah by their dedicated teachers.
during class and simultaneously teaching the specific rules of The Learning Center would like to recommend a
kriyah. In the second grade boys and the third grade girls simple activity that can be done at home to promote Hebrew
classes, the Learning Center has begun a Kriyah Fluency fluency. Even as few as 3‐5 minutes of reading per night can
Program which involves the students doing repeated greatly improve the rate and accuracy with which a student
readings and listening to a teacher model the reading. These reads. Reading can be done from a Siddur, Tehillim, or any
strategies are proving extremely successful in improving other Hebrew text. As an extra motivation to improve words
kriyah. read per minute, use a timer to count how many words your
The Kriyah Fluency Program works in the following child can read in a minute. You can then have a “beat your
way: Each student has a turn to read an unfamiliar text for time” contest where the student tries to read more words,
one timed minute. The students time each other and with less mistakes per minute each time he reads. Many of the
students will be familiar with fluency practice in various
forms, as the teachers are already doing kriyah practice, but
the extra few minutes of fluency practice at home has proven
to boost their kriyah skills.
Please contact me with any questions at gertelt@yrambam.org
Tova Gertel, On‐Site Special Educator
MSHS Happenings
Steppinʹ Out....In Social Studies
fourth period. The pace is brisk in both venues, as there is only Ad Journal Guideline are also attached as a flyer to this
one semester to cover the curriculum normally done in a year. Friday Packet.
Economics and Labor: Current news coverage of the We remain fully committed to helping our parents
goings on in Wisconsin and Ohio concerning public employees sell as many ads as possible to meet their obligation of $1,500
and unions could not have been more timely. The economic so if you have any questions or need assistance don’t hesitate
classes on both campuses are studying labor and its place in to contact Mervyn Myers, Director of Development, at 410‐
the economy. Part of the curriculum addresses organized 358‐6091 ext 208 or email myersm@yrambam.org.
labor. Unions and their activities had a controversial history in
the U.S. long before the current troubles. Strikes were once the
commonly used and sometimes feared tool of labor. A portion PaTA Points
of the classes studies will include each studentʹs preparation of
an information poster on a strike in the U.S. during the 20th The last order deadline for Hot Lunch for this school
century. The work will be done in a couple weeks. Come and year is March 27th. You may order hot lunch for the months of
view results on both campuses. April and May. Thanks so much to all of our hot lunch volun‐
teers who have made this program possible all year for our
Jay Allen, MSHS History Teacher
children and staff! The hot lunch ordering website is available
at pata.yrambam.org/hotlunch.
Rambam Raves The bright‐colored Mishloach Manot bags that you
received are not just pretty, they are also useful. Fold up the
Itʹs a pleasure to see Rambam students as active bag into the fruit corner and pull the strings on the side. You
members of the larger Jewish community. This past Monday, will now have a convenient convertible bag to take with you to
Rambam students helped to run Shomrei Emunahʹs annual the store ‐ or anywhere you need a tote! Happy Purim!
Purim Carnival. The event was a great success in large part to
their involvement. Thanks to the following volunteers who helped with
our Purim programming and fundraisers, the Purim Costume
Sale and Family Fun Day and Mishloach Manot Program. With
A Message from Mervyn Myers, your help, we raised over $11,000 for Yeshivat Rambam
children look forward to running out the door after havdalah
for Family Learning. They canʹt wait for the clocks to change
again so we can begin the program next year. I love how the
program has instilled in them the value of spending an hour
each week learning Torah as a family, and the excitement that
should come along with Torah study,ʺ said Program Chair,
Shayna Levine‐Hefetz. Rabbi Nevo Zuckerman, third and
fifth grade rebbe, came each week and coordinated the divrei
Torah and the weekly raffle sponsored by Cocoaccinoʹs Cafe
of Pikesville.
The highlight of the last session was the frequent
learner prizes that were distributed to 30 students who
displayed exemplary commitment to the program as shown
in their attendance. Each student was called up to receive a
hardcover Artscroll Youth Megillat Esther and walked away
excitedly to show it to their parents and grandparents. The
youngest frequent learner, 3 year old Rafi Davidovics,
For your convenience,
online hot lunch ordering is here!
pata.yrambam.org/hotlunch
APRIL/MAY ORDER
DEADLINE:
March 27th
YESHIVAT RAMBAM
SPONSOR LEVEL:
Diamond Builder Gold Benefactor Half Page
EVENT JOURNAL Gold Builder Scholarship Circle Quarter Page
Chai Builder Chai Benefactor Eighth Page
DIAMOND BUILDER $25,000 Silver Builder Silver Benefactor Greeting
GOLD BUILDER $20,000 Builder Sponsor
CHAI BUILDER $18,000 Diamond Benefactor Full Page
SILVER BUILDER $10,000
The above includes ten event TICKETS WILL NOT BE USED TICKETS WILL BE USED BY:
tickets and a full page ad
Name _____________________________________________________________
BUILDER $7,500 Address ___________________________________________________________
DIAMOND BENEFACTOR $5,000
GOLD BENEFACTOR $3,600 City ________________________________ State _________ Zip _____________
SCHOLARSHIP CIRCLE $2,500
Phone ______________________________ E-mail ________________________
CHAI BENEFACTOR $1,800
SILVER BENEFACTOR $1,000
SPONSOR $750 PAYMENT OPTIONS:
FULL PAGE $500
The above includes two event Check (made out to Yeshivat Rambam) is enclosed for $ __________________
tickets and a full page ad
Charge my credit card $ __________________
HALF PAGE $250 Check one: Visa Mastercard American Express Discover
QUARTER PAGE $125 Credit card number _____________________________ Exp. date ____ /____
EIGHTH PAGE $50
GREETING (Name only) $25 Payment made online at www.yrambam.org $__________________
If you have any questions , please contact Mervyn Myers at 410-358-6091 ext. 208.
FULL PAGE 6” x 7”
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY DATE ______________ AMT _______________ CHK _______________
AD GUIDELINES
Family obligation
th
Each Yeshivat Rambam family is obligated to give and/or raise contributions for the 20 Anniversary Tribute Event
Journal totaling $1,500. Any ad solicited by a Yeshivat Rambam family, whether from a business or a private
person, will be credited toward this obligation. Ads that are solicited may not be credited to fulfill another family's
obligation. A family who pays their total obligation of $1,500 themselves will be entitled to a Chai Benefactor page in
Ad Sales
Families who sold ads to businesses last year will receive priority for renewals for the 2010-11 journal for those
businesses. Businesses that did not advertise in the 2009-10 journal may only be approached for advertising once a
family has signed up with the development office to contact that business. This procedure helps families, as they will
not be competing with each other for the same advertisements, and ensures that businesses will not be approached
Tickets
For the $1,500 family obligation a family will receive two Event tickets. However if a family solicits two Sponsor ads
($750 each) toward this obligation, only two pairs of Event tickets will be issued. We suggest that the solicitor
discuss in advance whether the person(s) placing the Sponsor ad will want the two Event tickets that their Sponsor
ad entitles them to receive. The family can earn two additional Event tickets by raising an additional $500 worth of
ads over and above the $1,500 obligation. After that, a further pair of Event tickets can be earned with an additional
$750 worth of ads. For example: $1,500 earns two Event tickets, $2,000 earns four Event tickets, $2,750 earns six
Payment
Parent solicitors remain responsible for collection of their ads, which comprise their obligatory $1,500. Ads will only
Parents are reminded that the ad deadline means the absolute last day to submit ads. Please remember that
volunteers compile the Ad Journal, so ads turned in early greatly relieve the burden placed on the Journal Chair at