Koleinu

SAR Students Meet With Dr. Harold Varmus, President Of Memorial Sloan- Kettering, Nobel Laureate And Science Advisor To President Obama
During Chol Hamoed Pesach, four SAR students were most privileged to attend a small dinner at the 92nd Street Y, where they and 16 students from other select NYC high schools met and spoke with Dr. Harold Varmus, President of Memorial Sloan- Kettering, Nobel Laureate and science advisor to President Obama.

As they ate kosher l'pesach food, (catered by Supersol) Dr. Varmus spoke to the students about how he first became interested in medicine as a college English major, and how he later began his research into oncogenes that eventually led to the Nobel prize. He spoke about the difficulty scientists have experienced in obtaining funding for their research, and described his new role as science advisor to President Obama.

Special thanks to Leore Lavin for reporting back to us about this very special On the Brink event, and kudos to the four students who spent some of their vacation time to attend this program: Emma Goldblum, Leore Lavin, Amalya Levy, and Tamar Rothstein.

Tobie Brandriss and Robert Goodman
SAR Science

Second Annual Yom Iyun in Memory of
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt"l
On Thursday morning April 2nd, SAR held a yom iyun to mark the 16th yahrzeit of Rabbi Soloveitchik, zt"l, which occurs over Pesach. The Rav, as he is lovingly called, was the Rosh HaYeshiva at Yeshiva University for over 40 years and was the leading thinker of Modern Orthodox Judaism.

The students and faculty were privileged to hear from Rabbi JJ Schacter. Rabbi Schacter is a senior scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University and former head of The Soloveitchik Institue in Boston. Rabbi Schacter spoke on the topic: "Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik Confronts the World Around Him." He began by speaking about the early upbrining of the Rav. He told a fascinating story about how the Rav, even as a young child, would listen to his father, Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, zt"l, teach his students Torah. The Rav felt, at the age of six, that his only friend was the Rambam. He would listen to his father defend the Rambam to his students. Once, the Rav's mother, Rebbetzin Pesha Soloveichik zt"l, found him very upset. "Father could not defend the Rambam today." "Don't worry" his mother told him, "Father will defend the Rambam, and if he does not, when you grow up, you will."

Rabbi Schacter continued to teach about Rabbi Soloveitchik's unique upbringing, including his decision to pursue a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Berlin. Rabbi Schacter then spoke about the Rav's vision of Modern Orthodoxy, which he described as "Torah and ________. " Whatever it was that was combined with Torah, Torah was always the foundation of the Rav's living and thinking. Rabbi Schacter's lecture was extremely interesting and educational, as we learned about the Rav, zt"l, and ourselves.

The Shabbat before the yom iyun was the school Shabbaton which focused on the theme of Modern Orthodoxy. Students spent time discussing with their teachers and peers what it means to be a Modern Orthodox Jew. It was very informative to hear from Rabbi Schachter and to hear Rabbi Soloveitchik's vision, after thinking about these issues ourselves.

Students also spent time in their Judaic Studies classes learning 'Torat HaRav' on Pesach. We analyzed the Rav's insights on the the "Avadim Hayinu" section. The Rav analyzes halachically the mentality of a slave and what we do at the seder to show that we are no longer in this state. The Rav suggests that Hashem redeemed us from Egypt in order to voluntarily surrender our freedom to Hashem. What it truly means to be free and what it means to be a servant of G-d are ideas which students and faculty discussed to prepare for Pesach.

Both students and faculty learned a great deal from the yom iyun and we hope to continue learning from our great leader's life and teachings for many years to come.

SAR Choir Sings at City Hall for Yom Hashoah
On Thursday April 23rd, the SAR Choir was invited by Councilman G. Oliver Koppell to sing at New York City Hall's annual Yom Hashoah commemoration. The choir performed "Rachem" and "Last Night" for the gathering, which included members of the city council, survivors of the Shoah, and the general public. Soloists Rebecca Abrams, Sammy Ballan, Jackie Cohen, and Galit Gopin were highly praised for their moving performances, which moved many to tears.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Composer, Steve Reich,
Visits SAR High School
On Tuesday March 31st, SAR was privileged to welcome world-renowned composer Steve Reich who addressed a group of music students. After listening to his groundbreaking composition, Tehillim, Mr. Reich took questions from the students on a wide range of topics from the composition process to artistic inspiration, and the life of a Jewish American composer. After the Q&A we listened to another one of Mr. Reich's compositions, Different Trains, which documents his cross-country journey to visit his parents during World War II and his realization that had he been a European Jew he would have had a very different train journey. Mr. Reich is internationally recognized as the pioneer of minimalism in music and is considered one of the great composers of the 20th century. His musical innovations include the use of tape loops to create phasing patterns and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts. Last week, Mr. Reich was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in composition for his work, Double Sextet, for flute, piano, violin, cello, vibraphone, and clarinet.

SAR Students Win the
Abe Oster Holocaust Remembrance Award
Congratulations to Jonah Eidman, Byron Weiss and their band, the Barnstormers, for winning first place in the Abe Oster Holocaust Remembrance Award for their composition "Broken Promises." The award, given for an original musical composition, was presented on Yom Hashoah at the JCC on the Palisades' annual Yom Hashoah commemoration. The band was awarded a $1000 college scholarship and personal guided tour of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. The song can be heard by clicking here.

Yom Hashoah Marked by
Commemorating and Honoring Survivors

Yom Hashoah was commemorated in a powerful and dignified way last Tuesday. Under the leadership of senior Joey Katz, all of the students participated in an intellectually and emotionally educational programthat took place throughout the entiremorning. The morning's program began with a focus on the events of the shoah. With students reading first hand accounts of survivors, along with the choir's extraordinarily moving performance and the graphic images of the shoah a sombertone was set for the day. Six members of the SAR community, including, students and staff, each spoke and lit a candle in memory of family members who were killed in the shoah. After Rabbi Harcsztark recited the special Kel Maleh in memory of the victims of the shaoh, we were privileged to hear from Mr. Roman Kent. Mr. Kent is a survivor of Auschwitz who in addition to being an author is very active in the Claims Conference. Mr. Kent spoke with the students about this experience in the shoah. The students were impressed by his harrowing stories and inspired by the work he has been doing in support of survivors of the shoah. Following Mr. Kent's presentation we continued to focus on survivors of the shoah as we showed the critically acclaimed film, Hiding and Seeking. Hiding and Seeking is a documentarywhich follows the filmmaker and his two sons as they return to Poland to search for the Poles who helped hide and save their family during the shoah. The poignant film raised many important issues including the difficulties faced by younger generations in terms of relating to and dealing with the shoah and how we relate to gentiles. After the film, students met with their advisories to process the events of the morning. As is the school's custom, we recited over the school's loudspeaker every hour, the names of students' family members who were killed in the shoah. Overall, the day provided a thoughtful balance of commemorating and honoring the lives of those who were killed along with an emphasis on the present and how we relate to our past and our future.

SAR Students Meet With Chayalim on Yom Hazikaron
This week in Israel Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for the fallen soldiers, was commemorated. In various Hebrew classes discussions took place regarding the appropriate way to commemorate and memorialize the lives of the fallen soldiers.

On Tuesday, April 28, 2009, we were honored to have with us an IDF Musical Ensemble. In general, the purpose of an IDF Musical Ensemble is to travel to different army bases to perform for the soldiers there and brighten their spirits. Most recently the musical ensemble traveled to Sderot, Ashkelon, and Kibbutzim to play music and perform for the children of those cities.

The musical ensemble met with eleventh grade students and shared their experiences of being in the army and particularly their thoughts surrounding Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut. The students were intrigued by their stories and asked questions related to their performances including: What is the most popular music enjoyed by soldiers? What was the most moving experience for them? How do they deal with the transition from Yom Hazikaron to Yom Ha'atzmaut?
We ended the meeting as one would do if he/she were in Israel by sitting in a circle and singing songs together. We ended with the song, "Lu Yehi" by Naomi Shemer sung in the traditional Israeli tune as well as the "Let it Be" version which symbolized the hope for a better future. Ariel Rosenberg, an 11th grader, concluded the meeting by thanking the soldiers for giving him the opportunity to commemorate Yom Hazikaron in a way he never did before.