"Use Your Head!!"

Mishmar, 7:00pm Dismissal
College Fair for Juniors/Seniors & Parents, 7pm   

This past Sunday, September 9th, MTA held the first parent-child learning of the year. After davening shacharis in Lamport Auditorium, parents and sons enjoyed a breakfast of baked goods and drinks in the main lobby. Following this, YU Rosh Yeshiva Rav Aharon Kahn spoke about the history of MTA, the unique opportunity of attending the school, and analyzed the passages of the Rambam's Hilchos Teshuva. Rav Kahn proudly explained, "The integration of the Yeshiva opportunities that you have to be next to talmidei chachamim of the highest rank who are able to inspire you and able to teach you and able to give you pashut pshat.. It's unbelievable! Where do you have an opportunity like that? Which high school in the country gives you an opportunity like that?" He drew a metaphor to Harvard, explaining to the students that "it's like... if Harvard had a junior school next to it and everybody had the opportunity to go to the greatest professors and speak to them." "You have that chance," he declared.  To hear the entire shiur, click here. 

He went on to discuss the essence of teshuva, which is that a person should strive to be on a level where he always has Hashem in mind. No matter what we do, we should have in mind that Hashem is always in our midst watching us. When Rav Kahn's lecture ended, the students directed their parents toward their Gemara classrooms, where the parents had the opportunity to meet their son's rebbi. Parents and children paired up to learn b'chavrusa, before hearing a wonderful shiur from the rebbe; it was truly a very special morning for us all.

Click here to see more pictures from the day.  

On Wednesday and Thursday, the senior shiurim had the privilege of meeting with President Richard M. Joel, the illustrious leader of our institution, Yeshiva University. The talmidim soared to the lofty 12th floor of Belfer Hall, where double doors opened into a spacious office area, boardroom, and a large glass bowl of Jelly Bellies. The President welcomed the talmidim into his office and shared some personal history with them. His opening words were "Hello, my name is Richard Joel, and I work for you." With this, he emphasized his commitment to the high school and college, and how he truly believes that the MTA student body is the essence of the entire university. President Joel is an alumnus of MTA himself, and some of the improvements he has made to the high school stem from his experience as a student.

As President, Mr. Joel has made numerous improvements, including faculty, departmental growth, and the building of the new magnificent Glueck Beis Midrash. After his message to the talmidim, whom he described as budding leaders and as privileged components of Yeshiva University, the President opened the meeting for questions. Questions were asked about the mysterious dorm switch, the curriculum at YU, the oddly large number of Roshei Yeshiva, and a plethora of other topics.   

Admirably, President Joel answered the questions with unassuming humility, integrity, and transparency. And then, with a genuine smile and a "ksiva v'chasima tovah", he went back to his work as we went back to our shiurim. Fortunate are we to have such a leader. The meeting was informative, refreshing, and enjoyable. Thank you to the rebbeim for organizing the trip, and certainly to President Joel, for his warmth, care, and hospitality. 

On Monday night, the Debate Team had their first meeting of the school year. It kicked off with President Dovid Schwartz and Vice President of Research Yitzi Lindenbaum briefly summarizing what debate is all about. After that, five experienced debaters introduced four interesting books. Eliezer Morell portrayed Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, a book about how rich and famous people achieved success. Asher Finkelstein then spoke about the book What Money Can't Buy, by Michael Sandel. The book describes how crazy our economy is today. After that, Yitzi Lindenbaum discussed Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, a book about our two systems of thought.

Finally, Avi Weschler and Dovid Schwartz brilliantly explained Michael Sandel's Justice,giving three cases where you must make deadly split-second decisions. For example, in one case, students were asked to consider if they were the driver of a trolley car and all of a sudden the brakes went out. The car is heading straight for five workers on the track. However, there is a turnoff in the track, with just one worker working on it. Students were asked to consider if they would take the action to turn the car, killing the one worker, or just taking no action and staying straight on the track, killing the five and sparing the one.

• The Makor Chaim program kicked off this week both in the  USA and in Israel. On Tuesday morning, MTA sophomores heard more about the program and on Tuesday night, parents had the opportunity to hear more. In Israel this week, the boys that will be heading to MTA participated in their first orientation.

• The Names Not Numbers project began on Thursday with a presentation from program director Mrs. Tova Fish-Rosenberg. Rabbi Taubes and former history instructor Dr. Geoff Cahn, who is still devoting time to the project, also spoke to the participating students. The students were then shown the Academy Award winning documentary One Survivor Remembers.

• On Tuesday evening, parents came to school for "Back-to-School Night." They had the opportunity  to visit each of their son's classes, and hear their son's teachers discuss the exciting syllabi and learning opportunities planned for this year.

• "Freshmen Lunches" kicked off this week, as the first three of many groups of about eight freshmen met for a pizza lunch to get to know the members of our guidance department.  

• During breakfast on Wednesday, chaburas with YU Roshei Yeshiva Rav Schachter and Rav Twersky began. Interested students will have the opportunity to learn with them every week.  

• Rabbi Mendelson's shiur took time to seek out YU Rosh Yeshiva Rav Herschel Schachter on Tuesday wish him a ksvia v'chasima tova, and to receive the wishes as well.