February 17, 2017
21 Sh'vat 5777

Parshat Beshalach

Candle Lighting at 5:57 PM

Ascending the Ramp

At the end of this week's parsha, Hashem instructs us that when building the altar in the mishkan, we should not build a staircase to ascend toward its top but a ramp. Why a ramp as opposed to stairs? Perhaps the Torah is teaching us that the road towards spirituality and service of God is more like a ramp than a set of stairs. Climbing stairs allows a person to pause and take a break. In fact, someone climbing a set of stairs could potentially remain stuck on one stair for a long time. A ramp, on the other hand, has no room for breaks or pauses. One needs to constantly be moving forward or he is likely to slide backward.

May we all strive to continuously achieve growth and to never be complacent with the status quo. May we all experience life as a ramp and may we have the energy to always move forward up that ramp.

Shabbat Shalom.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Jonathan Kroll

Head of School

Upcoming Events

Mon. 20

Presidents Day No Classes

Fri. 24

Last day of second trimester

Good and Welfare

Marriages

Gil Goldstein ('12) to Yardena Samson

Josh Goldberg ('06) to Shaina Weinstein

Condolences

KYHS Director of College Guidance, Mrs. Marcy Roberts on the loss of her father, Jerry Seligman, of blessed memory.

The funeral will take place this Sunday, February 19 at 2:00pm at Levitt-Weinstein funeral home 3201 North 72nd Avenue in Hollywood.

Elliot Allswang on the loss of his mother, Marilyn Allswang Eisenberg, of blessed memory

Model UN

Sixteen Students Head to Connecticut to Participate in Yeshiva University's 27th Annual Model United Nations

Graphic by Sydney Freedman ('20) and Emily Dennis ('20)
Article by Matthew A. Samilow

This week sixteen KYHS students took the annual journey north to participate in Yeshiva University's National Model United Nations (YUNMUN). This year, KYHS delegates had the honor of representing the great superpower Russia and the smaller, but no less noble, Chile. After arriving and eating dinner, we fanned out to our various committee assignments to begin over 24 hours of grueling debate and politicking.

For fourteen out of our sixteen delegates this was their first time at YUNMUN. They took in the spectacle for first time, appreciative of the moment, but also mindful that this was just the beginning for them. For your faithful author, the feeling was slightly different as this was his final time attending YUNMUN. I must say that while the moment was bittersweet and filled with wistfulness and nostalgia, I am deeply thankful for the three years I got to attend and for the memories and friends I made.

I would also like to thank Mr. David Ohring for helping us prepare for the conference and who deserves the bulk of the credit for the honorable mention award I am humbled to have won. Kudos as well to Mrs. Shira Englander for making sure all of the logistics of attending ran smoothly. They are great advisors and chaperones and the team is truly appreciative of the hard work they put in.

Model UN, while certainly contrived, has helped me develop better public speaking and negotiating skills, and for that I am grateful. It is my sincere hope that our new delegates take as much from this experience as I have.

Holocaust Expert Visits

Dr. Michael Berenbaum Spends the Day with Juniors, Seniors and Faculty

Graphic by Alec Gelman ('17)
Article by Lana Rosenthal ('17)

This article will be featured in a future edition of the Florida Jewish Home

On Monday, February 13, 2017, students at the Katz Yeshiva High School of South Florida had the privilege of hearing from Dr. Michael Berenbaum, a foremost expert on the Holocaust. Dr. Berenbaum, currently a professor at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles and the director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, was instrumental in the establishment of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, has written tirelessly on the Holocaust, and has influenced many Holocaust films, as well. He came to south Florida as part of the newly created Suzanne R. and Dr. Lawrence M. Fishman Scholar-in-Residence program at Florida International University, which this year partnered with KYHS in an effort to enhance Holocaust education in Jewish high schools.

His visit was especially timely and meaningful for KYHS seniors, who recently completed a trimester-long Holocaust class, during which they studied the period from 1933 to 1945 and explored anti-Semitism, resistance, and both Jewish and non-Jewish Holocaust victims with their teacher Mrs. Sharona Kay. Senior Jonah Rose remarked, "Hearing from Dr. Berenbaum was extra special having heard from him almost immediately after finishing our Holocaust studies course. Since my classmates and I were already well-informed about the Holocaust, Dr. Berenbaum was able to present us with high-level ideas about religious practice during the Holocaust and real ethical dilemmas faced by the victims. This was a privilege and a rare opportunity to hear about aspects of the Holocaust rarely discussed in mainstream education."

Dr. Berenbaum spoke about observance of Jewish law during the Holocaust, and how the atrocity changed ritual and daily practices. His talk integrated the subjects of Jewish history and Jewish law, providing students with a new perspective on these subjects. When the Nazis rose to power, Jews added lines into their prayers as a means of communicating without Nazi understanding, and also used these words as a form of internal protest against the Third Reich. Even in concentration camps, victims would ask their rabbis questions about how to perform what had formerly been simple commandments. One such question was whether to put a mezuzah, an encased piece of parchment inscribed with the prayer "shema yisrael," in the doorway of the barrack. A mezuzah is hung only in a permanent home, in which a person expects to live at least thirty days. Rabbis, in turn, struggled to answer. To say yes would imply that the Jews would be living in the camps permanently, lowering morale and diminishing hope. But to say no might be untruthful.

Students were moved by the level of faith Dr. Berenbaum described in Holocaust victims. Senior Rebeca Salpeter related that it was "interesting to hear about the halachic questions that people had during the Holocaust. It amazed me that despite what these people were going through, they maintained a belief in God and a strong desire to follow halacha and preserve their Jewish identities."

When asked how he had chosen to become an expert in Holocaust studies, Dr. Berenbaum told students that he had wanted to answer the question of how, unlike other major civilizations in history who disappeared, the Jewish people has survived, even after continuous persecution. He had begun to study ancient history in hopes of finding an answer, but eventually turned to the Holocaust to analyze the survival of the Jewish people. Senior Lana Rosenthal noted, "Holocaust victims were persecuted simply for being Jews, and many chose to remain practicing Jews, observing the details of Jewish law despite horrible conditions and atrocities. There's a triumphant irony in that, and I think it's the ultimate answer to Dr. Berenbaum's original question on Jewish survival. The Jewish people have survived because throughout history, even in terrible times, we have held tight to our practices and beliefs."

Dr. Berenbaum called on the students to derive inspiration from the Holocaust victims. As the next generation of Jewish leaders, they must ensure the continuity and legacy of the Jewish people.

Junior Chesed Day

Senior Active Volunteering Experience is Back for the Class of 2017

Graphic by Yosef Linzer ('18)
Article by Max Wiederhorn ('18)

The KYHS Junior class participated in a meaningful and fun chesed trip on Thursday morning. The Class of 2018, joined CROS Ministries to glean produce from a field in Del Ray Beach for several food banks throughout South Florida. Juniors described the experience as fulfilling and were elated that their efforts will allow hundreds of people in need, put food on their tables. In total KYHS picked over 5,000 lbs. Of peppers! Yosef Linzer ('18) declared "Picking peppers made me feel like a part of something bigger; everyday should be a chesed day!"

Teacher Profile

Get To Know More Rabbi Ben Sugerman, Beloved Rebbe and Psychology Teacher

Graphic by Daniel Gross ('19)
Interview by Matthew A. Samilow ('17)

Matthew A. Samilow: Where are you from?

Rabbi Ben Sugerman: I was born in Newark, NJ and grew up in Livingston, NJ.

MAS: What are your main hobbies?

RBS: From the age of 5 through 40, I was all about baseball and softball. After the age of 40, tennis has been my game of choice.

MAS: What/who is your source of inspiration to teach?

RBS: Being a link in the chain of the mesorah.

MAS: What do you like most about your field of expertise?

RBS: Even though I have been learning Gemara for years, I still find that there is always a point of discovery within the text.

MAS: Tell us something that nobody knows about you.

RBS: When I used to play baseball and softball, I would always wear number 9 on my jersey to honor my favorite player growing up, New York Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles.

KYHS Apparel is Back

Click on the Graphic Below to Browse and Purchase Newly Designed School Apparel

Graphic by Ariel Schneider ('17)

It's Never Too Late

Unique Experience Deeply Impacts a Teacher and His Students

Graphic by Akiva Stadlan ('19)
Article by Rabbi Danny Kroll

Three weeks ago an unfamiliar number showed up on my cell phone's caller ID and when I saw the area code was from my hometown of Chicago I decided to answer; at the time I was unaware just how much the subsequent conversation would impact me and a group of my students. On the phone was a friend, a shul rabbi from Chicago who told me he had a strange story to tell me and an unusual request. The rabbi told me that on Rosh Hashana he had given a shiur on the importance of asking for mechila, forgiveness, from those we have wronged. During the course of the shiur he mentioned a ruling of the Rambam (Hilchot Teshuva 2:11) that if a person did not, for whatever reason, seek forgiveness before the aggrieved party dies, they may ask for mechila by publicly confessing in the presence of a minyan at the grave of the deceased.

Not long after the rabbi delivered the shiur he received a phone call from the distraught father of one of his congregants who had been visiting his children and grandchildren for the holidays. The man told the rabbi that he had fought with his mother and had stopped speaking to her years before she passed away and ever since hearing the shiur he had been unable to sleep; he was consumed by guilt. The man told the rabbi that he wanted his help in arranging for him to ask his deceased mother for forgiveness; the only problem was that the man lived in New York and his mother was buried in West Palm Beach. That's where we came in.

After arranging the logistics with the rabbi from Chicago, I drove six students from my senior boys Tanach classes to Star of David cemetery in West Palm Beach, where we met the man and two of his friends to make the minyan. The man told us the heart-rending story of his falling out with his mother. The students were taken aback by the fact that the man did not find out the news of his own mother's death until he was called by the cemetery to sign papers pertaining to her burial. He had not sat shiva for her nor had he recited kaddish. Now, four years after her death, he stood at her grave for the very first time.

It only took two minutes, but to us it seemed like an eternity. The confession of a son, expressing regret for not being a better son to his mother despite the pain she had caused him. Following the confession, in accordance with the formula codified by the Mishna Berura, the minyan present responded in one voice, "Machul lach, machul lach, machul lach," - "You are forgiven, you are forgiven you are forgiven." He then recited three chapters of Tehillim and for the very first time recited kaddish. While he thanked our students repeatedly and embraced me as an expression of gratitude, all who were present could feel the burden lifted off this man's shoulders as a result of this cathartic experience.

The opportunity to perform such a unique type of chesed will forever stay with me and the students who helped perform this mitzvah. The lesson learned, of how important it is for parents and children to maintain strong relationships, no matter how difficult the circumstances is a message that I have since shared with all of my students. How fitting it was to be able to perform this mitzvah in the week in which we read of the giving of the ten commandments and the mitzvah which sits at the center of those commandments, kibbud av v'em. This experience will forever serve as a cautionary tale to not be shortsighted and neglectful when it comes to our relationship with our parents who partnered with God to give us life.

This Week In Pictures

Graphic by Maurice Bensmihen ('17)

The Yeshiva Highlites Staff