מילת השבוע                                                                 Word of the week

 אֲגַם 

אגם -  lake - מקווה מים גדול, טבעי או מלאכותי

(יָשֵׂם מִדְבָּר, לַאֲגַם-מַיִם; וְאֶרֶץ צִיָּה, לְמֹצָאֵי מָיִם. (תהלים קז לה

מילות השבועות הקודמים: שְׁבִיל טִיּוּל תַּרְמִיל תֵּל אֲגַם 

Debating Ethics - Session #4 - Shabbat in Outer Space.

Together with J Line, Hillel Academy is proud to offer the fourth class in the series: Shabbat in Outer Space. Astronaut Ilan Ramon's question: "When Should I Observe Shabbat on the Columbia?" (Shabbat 69b).

 

The Space Coast, Florida rabbi posed the question to some leading halachic authorities, including Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Halperin, the director of Jerusalem's Institute for Science and Halacha. This thinking Gemara shiur is based on Rabbi Halperin's presentation. He claims that we can learn about this issue from the halachic literature about keeping Shabbat in areas near the Arctic Circle, where the sun does not set for months. That discussion, in turn, draws from a passage in the Talmud about a desert wanderer who forgets which day Shabbat is.
 

Here are some of the key questions this shiur will deal with:

Share a favorite memory or two with our readers? There was a piano in the lunch room that kids would play at seemingly random intervals. Library class with Ms. Morris was a highlight of the week-- she read us stories and guided us toward books we'd like. Everyone sang loudly on the bus during long class trips. We were given a lot of freedom to be creative when we put on plays. Participating in the Purim costume contests were fun. One year a classmate and I went as bottles of ketchup and mustard, which definitely reflected my very deep love for ketchup and mustard.

What organizations are you currently involved in? I'm a member of the Animation Guild and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

How do you earn a living? I work as a writer and story consultant, mostly for television, mostly cartoons. My main job is as a staff writer on a show called Harvey Beaks on Nickelodeon. I've also worked for Disney and Cartoon Network.

How did Hillel Academy prepare you for the future? Ms. Ozoroski was brilliant, fun, and challenged us in wonderful ways. She really encouraged my interest in writing, and was the first teacher I remember who clearly cared about making a difference in her students' lives. Rabbi Brodie was wise, funny, and generous, and told beautiful stories and Divrei Torah that helped form our characters for the better-- there was one about using a leaf to cross a river that I still think about often. I'm so grateful that he was there. Rabbi Adler was also always there for

us, and taught me how to be more courageous, focused, and curious.

Tell us about your family. I could talk about my family all day, we're fun. My parents are hilarious, amazing, compassionate people who raised three very different (but, I like to think, equally cool) kids, b"h. My big brother is a family doctor with five kind , vibrant children who I'm fairly certain will take over the world, if they want to. (He's going to make fun of me for using the word "vibrant" but phhhbbbbtttttt). My little brother is a social psychologist and a really thoughtful, good person. He's also a comedic genius, so I hope that someday he'll write books that merge those things-- society, niceness, humor. My parents have a dog named Zelda who's like a huge furry baby. She doesn't seem to know that she's a dog. She's the best dog ever. 

What do you do in your free time? Los Angeles is really bright and hot, so I like to travel to places that aren't those things. I go to Portland and Seattle a lot, in part because they remind me of Pittsburgh, but they're a lot closer. I spend a lot of time with friends and a lot of time alone, and I enjoy both.

Who was your first Hillel teacher? Mrs. Briskin

What was your favorite class? English

Did you have a favorite teacher? Who was it and why? Ms. Ozoroski was so supportive and just a really great example of how to be a person.

Share something with our students you wish someone had told you when you were in school? I think I was probably told everything I needed to hear, but I was a really sensitive, melodramatic little kid, so I didn't tend to internalize advice. When I recently saw Pixar's "Inside Out", I wished that I'd had that movie around when I was young. That message, "it's important to feel a wide range of things really deeply, it's totally normal to feel sad," would have been good to hear, because when you're small, you're bombarded with the opposite message-- mostly from commercials and a lot of well-meaning grown-ups. I also wish I'd learned early on that talent is really common-- everyone's got it in some form-- but hard work is rare, and pretty much any skill that requires "talent" can be learned if you put enough time and effort into it. And lastly, something along the lines of "don't jump into swimming pools backwards."

What's it like working in Hollywood, CA? I think it's probably not that different from working in Pittsburgh, except there's a lot more traffic, it hardly ever rains, and if you like screenwriting, you'll be around a lot more people who like doing the same thing. People say a lot about the glamour of Hollywood, or the superficial nature of L.A., but those impressions are mostly manufactured, or at least easy to avoid on a day-to-day basis. It's an enormous city with every kind of neighborhood, and every kind of community, and nearly every kind of person-so living here means editing your experience to include the things you most prefer. The only common element I've noticed among people here is that so many of them have an amazing work ethic, and dreams that they're pursuing in pragmatic, achievable ways.

Who are the top 3 most famous people you have met? Fame is weird! I like this question but I'm not completely sure how to answer it. I was most excited to meet Jules Feiffer, Meg LeFauve, Matt Groening, and Reggie Watts. I still want to meet Lynda Barry someday. The most famey-famous person I've met was Robert Downey, Jr. All of them were very kind and friendly and generous with their time. 

What are your career goals? I just want to keep writing stuff and working with people I like. I'm not sure what form that will take going forward, but I'm excited for that potential future. The people who inspire me most tend to channel their creative energy (eye-roll, I know, I'm sorry) into a lot of different mediums and projects. I've started writing for comic books, and taking a novel-writing class with my friend, and teaching screenwriting workshops, and jumping in to writing projects when friends want to collaborate. So I guess my main goal is "Do more, be better."

What are some fun facts about your job? There's been construction going on next door to Nickelodeon for the past couple of months, and the sound it makes sounds exactly like the Hypno Toad from Futurama.

The wonderful story editor on our show, Dani Michaeli, also has family in Israel and is very familiar with Israeli culture, and he understands all Yiddish insults, so that's made it especially fun to work here.

What was it like to win the Emmy? It was great because I got to see everyone who worked on Over the Garden Wall get recognized for their hard work and rare imaginations, and I felt very proud and lucky to have been a part of that. In the moment, it's not that different than winning a science fair trophy, except the statue is heavier and the next day you get a lot of nice emails from old friends.

Quick Pick:  

Dogs or Cats? I have two cats, Dr. Morris Fishbein and Posey. They're 5 years old, smushy and nice and good and very lumpy.

Pen or pencils? I order the purple micro Pilot pens from Amazon in bulk.
Rodeo Drive or Lamard Street? Google is telling me that Lamard Street is in Illinois. I've never been there! I haven't gotten a close look at Rodeo Drive. There's something really funny about pronouncing a cowboy word in a fancy way. I'm going to try it with other cowboy words, like "tumbleweed" and "horse".

Dress or skirt? I honestly don't have a preference as long as I've remembered to rip out the scratchy tags sewn

in to the back.

Instagram or Twitter? Instagram is like tweeting with pictures, and Twitter is like

instagramming with words. They're both great and terrible!

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful shabbos!

Mazel tov to Dori and David Oshlag on their engagement of their son, Nathan to Alicia Walls of Seattle, WA!