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PARNES HASHAVUA
Next week's learning is lzecher nishmas:
Mrs. Shayna Spector Schachter
(Shayna Rivka Chaya bas Aryeh Leib),
grandmother of Ariel Schachter ('04)
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Sunday, April 21
Soccer Lions vs. SAR Sting; 1pm in The Lions' Den
Monday, April 22
KS"A Halacha Shiur - free donuts; 9:10am in room 203 12th grade program with Dr. Michael Berenbaum - former Research Deputy Director of the President's Commission on the Holocaust, Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Director of the USHMM's Holocaust Research Institute; 11:20am in the Library 9th and 11th grade Honors College trip to the Museum of Math; bus leaves @ 12:15pm Debate meeting and tryouts for SAR and Ramaz debates; 6-8pm Tennis Lions vs. Flatbush Falcons; 7:30pm at the National Tennis Center
Tuesday, April 23Chabura with Rav Twersky will meet after davening Cemetery cleanup trip for shiurim of Rabbis Axelrod, Soniker and Ciment Sophomore college guidance program during lunch in the Library MTA Chorus practice during lunch in room 404 MTA Band practice during fifth period in the band room Varsity Softball vs. Frisch Cougars, 5:15pm JV Softball @ Ramaz Rams, 7:15pm Soccer Lions vs. Ramaz Rams; 6:45pm in The Lions' Den Wednesday, April 24 Chaburas w/ Rav Twersky and Rav Schachter after davening
Hatzioni Donut Sale
Parent Mrs. Heidi Fuchs, Operations Manager, YU Undergraduate Admissions, joins Juniors for lunch discussing how to promote yourself in a tough job market
Thursday, April 25KS"A Halacha Shiur - free donuts; 9:10am in room 203 10th grade Honors College trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art; bus leaves @ 9:20am Bnai Aliyah siyum at Estihana; bus departs @ 11:25am 12th grade Honors College trip to the NY Historical Society; bus leaves @ 11:45am MTA Chorus practice during lunch in room 404 MTA Lead Student Business Idea Presentations, 6-8pm MTA Band practice during fifth period in the band room Dismissal @ 5:15pm Parent program with Dr. Michael Whitley; rsvp onlineTennis Lions vs. DRS Wildcats; 7:30pm at the National Tennis Center Friday, April 26JV Softball vs. Frisch Cougars |
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YISHAI EISENBERG ('13) WINS INTERNATIONAL CHIDON HATANCH!
First Non-Israeli Champion in 20 years
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Winners Yishai Eisenberg ('16) and Elior Babian pose with Minister of Education Rabbi Shai Peron and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
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On April 16, Yishai Eisenberg ('16)of Passiac, NJ, became the first non-Israeli in 20 years to win the Chidon HaTanakh, Israel's annual International Bible Competition for high school students. Interestingly, the last American Winner, RIETS Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Jeremy Wieder ('88) was an MTA student as well. Yishai, who dominated the competition from the outset, also became the first champion in its 50-year run to share the winner's circle when he finished the final round in an unprecedented tie with Elior Babian of Beit Shemesh.
An illustration of the country's desire to connect Jewish independence to Jewish values, the annual contest took place on Yom Ha'atzmaut at The Jerusalem Theater, under the auspices of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron.
"We are all very proud of Yishai's amazing accomplishment," said Rabbi Taubes. "We know how much time and effort he put into preparing for this and were all rooting for him. It's unbelievable just to qualify for the competition, but to actually win is incredible."
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Chidon Hatanach Champion Yishai Eisenberg (left) with Minister of Education Rabbi Shai Peron and Israeli Champion Elior Babian
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When the international competition began, 58 contestants from over 26 countries took the stage, including representatives from Australia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Holland, Hungary, Uruguay, Italy, England, Estonia, Argentina, Panama, the United States, Mexico, and even Turkey. They were joined by Israel's top five contestants.
Four of the five Israelis - Elior Babian from Beit Shemesh, Liora Braverman from Petah Tikva, Koren Kazus from Rehovot, and Eliran Elisha from Jerusalem - reached the final jubilee quiz. They were joined in the final rounds by 12 Diaspora competitors, including four contestants from Canada, three from the US, three from Mexico, one from Panama and one from South Africa.
Braverman and Babian both secured the maximum 60 points up for grabs during the quiz's early stages and were unexpectedly matched by Yishai. Just prior to the Prime Minister's question in the deciding round of the competition, Braverman was disqualified, leaving Babian and Yishai to battle it out for the top prize.
In what was intended to be the tiebreaking round, host Avshalom Kor presented the contestants with a series of difficult questions, allowing them only five seconds to answer and no opportunities to correct themselves. Both Yishia and Babian received perfect scores through 12 rounds of head-to-head competition. Before Kor could begin the next round, the judges unanimously declared a tie.
Yishai secured a spot in this year's competition by achieving the only perfect score at the US National Bible Contest, which took place at YU on May 6, 2012.
A video of the competition is available on YouTube. An aggregation of all of the news coverage is available on the US Chidon HaTanach website.
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MTA LEAD Students Present to Executive Council
 On Thursday evening, students who had submitted business ideas to the business pitch aspect of MTA LEAD, had the opportunity to present their plans to the Executive Council. After submitting their business ideas in late December, the students were paired up with a Council member to help advise them as they thought through the idea and worked on the pitch.
 On Thursday, students presented their ideas in the hopes of being assigned an official project mentor, a leader in the business world that has the skill sets that can help grow the idea and develop the student's business acumen. Additionally, at the end of the evening, the Council selected the "Best Presenter." The council judged this award based on the presentation itself and the feasibility of the idea. Congratulations to Tsahi Halyo ('16) who won the inaugural award and will be receiving an Amazon giftcard! Tsahi pitched the concepts of a USB band that can also serve as a watch, and have interchangeable faces and parts.
 Other ideas proposed including a teen art and literature online magazine, special male and female clothing to allow for the easy carrying of newborn infants, couponing for gas stations, a new aggregation and tagging web service, a website to help launch new products, an app to help control all electronic appliances within the home, and more. The committee was extremely impressed with each idea and it was very apparent how much thought and work went into every presentation.
 Special thanks to our Executive Council members who were able to attend, including David Blumenthal, parent, alumnus, and CEO of Forward Looking Management, R. Moshe Kinderlehrer, alumnus and YUHS Director of Institutional Advancement, Avi Muchnick, alumnus and CEO of Aviary, Inc., David Schwartz, alumnus, board member, and Senior Director at Pepsi Co., and Michael Strauss, Associate Dean and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at YU's Sy Syms School of Business. Thanks also to council members who were unable to attend, but who have been continuously helpful through the year: Binyamin Kaminetzky, parent, alumnus and Partner at Davis, Polk & Wardwell, and Harris Goodman, Chief Development Officer at Late Night Labs.
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Yeshiva University, and MTA, Commemorate The Rav's 20th Yahrtzeit
by Dovid Schwartz ('13)
 This past Sunday, Yeshiva University held a Yom Iyun in commemoration of The Rav (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik)'s 20th yahrtzeit. Select MTA shiurim had to opportunity to participate in the event. First, the students heard shiurim from RIETS Roshei Yeshiva Rabbi Mordechai Willig and Rabbi Dovid Miller on the Rav's understanding of Sefiras HaOmer and on his famous drasha "Kol Dodi Dofek." After that, Rabbi Taubes - who also spoke on a later in the day at the broader program "Prayer: Privilege and Practice" - joined with Rabbi Adler of TABC and Rabbi Wienerkur of HAFTR to share their personal experiences with The Rav. They commented on his unparalleled teaching ability, his dramatic rhetoric, and his personality as a whole. The many students who attended the event gained appreciation for one of the greatest Jewish figures in the 20th century, who played a large role -- arguably the biggest role -- in shaping today's Modern Orthodoxy.  Rabbi Taubes, who was a student of The Rav, was featured in The Jewish Standard coverage of the event.
To read more about the YU Yom Iyun, visit YU News.
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Uriel Liewerant Remembered on Yom HaZikaron
by Avi Weschler ('14)
This past Monday, the entire student body gathered in the Beis Medrash to commemorate Yom HaZikaron. The program began with a short introduction by Hatzioni faculty advisor Rabbi Eli Cohn, and was followed by a short video about an Israeli soldier named Uriel Liewerant; the rebbeim had discussed Uriel briefly earlier in the day in their individual shiurim. Uriel was tragically killed when his tank flipped over during a tank maneuver exercise.
Following the video, Lavi Bigman, a close friend of Uriel, got up to commemorate Uriel by giving us a glimpse of who Uriel was. He began by describing how his own family made Aliyah many years ago in an attempt to make their own kibbutz. However after realizing that the kibbutz life wasn't for them, Lavi's parents moved to a more urban part of Israel, Haifa. Never truly fitting in at school, Lavi finally found comfort at a high school in Efrat. This is where he met Uriel. Immediately, a friendship was formed when Uriel welcomed him with open arms and his brilliant smile.
Lavi related several stories which depicted Uriel's exceptional character, be it how quick he was to make friends or how he lived as a Torah Jew. For example, every day Uriel would learn Daf Yomi before his training exercises, and give sweets to all his tan-mates. This exceptional young man was taken from this world when his tank fell off a special bridge designed to help tanks across deep ditches. It had been early in the morning and still dark outside when Uriel realized something was amiss. As he felt the tank tipping he called out his final words, "roll over drill," alerting his fellow soldiers in the tank, thus allowing them to brace themselves for the impact. In his final act he was able to save every one of his charges in the tank. Perhaps the most striking part of Uriel's story was how selfless he was; he took the position of tank commander even though he really wanted to return home and continue learning because he felt that if the State of Israel would benefit from his leadership, he could not turn down the opportunity. He was a true Israeli hero who put his fellow man before himself with love and companionship. May we all learn from Uriel and remember the many others who lost their lives in our service so that we can lead such blessed lives.
The program concluded with a moving slideshow featuring the traditional rendition of Kel Molei Rachamim and remarks from Rabbi Taubes.
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Students and Faculty Celebrate Israel's Independence
by David Aaronson ('14)
 This past Tuesday, MTA celebrated Yom HaAtzma'ut, the 65th anniversary of the Jewish State of Israel. The day began with Shacharis and Hallel, after which a auditorium-wide dance broke out, as well as a speech by student council President Eli Weinstein ('13).
 The breakfast after davening was extraordinary. Natanel Niazoff brought in blue bagels with white cream cheese in honor of the chag; special thanks to Sammy's Bagels of Teaneck, NJ. There was also a very successful donut sale, in which HaTzioni raised more money than ever before.
 At 11:20, the annual Chagigah in the Lions' Den began, which featured lots of dancing singing and ruach. The room was filled with Israeli flags, and beautiful decorations. A Dvar Torah was then given by Rav Dovid Miller, one of the YU Rosh Yeshiva, who now lives in Israel. HaTzioni President Shlomo Anapolle remarked that this Chagigah was our "last dance of the year."
Many talmidim remained in the gym long after the Chagigah was scheduled to end; the celebrations thus went on past 1PM. Some shiurim then had the privilege to hear a special shiur from YU Rosh Yeshiva Rav Hershel Schachter, which can be heard on YUTorah.org.
 Perhaps the biggest honor we had on this special day, was that our very own Yishai Eisenberg ('16) won the International Chidon HaTanach. Prime Minister Netanyahu awarded Yishai with the prize for First Place in this contest. During lunch, students had the opportunity to watch a tape-delayed stream of the event.
 Students were later able to stroll over to to Tenzer Gardens and the grassy area in front of the Max Stern Athletic Center, where a YU barbeque and carnival was taking place.
The day ended with the distribution of the Yom HaAtzma'ut edition of the HaTzioni magazines. Thank you to all who helped make this Yom HaAtzma'ut so incredible.
More pictures to arrive on Flickr next week.
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Arista Students Honored at Annual Dinner
 This past Wednesday, the annual Arista Dinner took place in Weissberg Commons. Students, parents and faculty gathered together to celebrate the formal induction of this year's seniors into the Arista National Honor Society, and to welcome in the juniors to their roles for the coming year. The event began with a welcome by Mrs. Levitt, and an introduction by Rabbi Taubes, followed by a State of The Chapter address by the two outgoing presidents, Dani Kurtz and Akiva Schiff.
 Dinner was served, and all the attendees had the privilege of to hear a keynote address from Prof. Smadar Rosensweig, a parent of three MTA alumni and professor of Bible and Judaic Studies at YU's Stern College for Women. She spoke about the remarkable experiences of her famous mother, Yaffa Eliach, during the Holocaust and about her incredible efforts to ensure that it will never be forgotten.
 Special awards for services to the school were presented to Dani Kurtz and Shlomo Anapolle for their outstanding leadership demonstrated this year in coordinating various programs for our school. The evening closed with the official induction of the seniors into Arista, the presentation of certificates to these seniors for their work, and the announcement of the Arista members and officers for next year. Congratulations to our incoming Presidents Phil Meyer, Ephraim Tepler, and Avi Weschler, and Vice-Presidents Daniel Jaroslawicz and Moshe Rosenzweig. We wish them and the rest of Arista the best of luck for another productive year.Many more pictures of the event available on our Flickr.
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Danny Newman, Deputy General Counsel of Israel's Ministry of Defense, Addresses Students
by Dovid Ort ('14)
 After two days of excellent programing from Hatzioni, the club continued to provide inspirational programming on Wednesday. During lunch, we had the opportunity to hear from Mr. Danny Newman, Deputy General Counsel of Israel's Ministry of Defense. A resident of Teaneck, NJ, working as an Assistant District Attorney and in private practice, but he wasn't satisfied; he therefore switched to doing the Israeli government's foreign military shopping. Every year, Israel must spend approximately 75% of the foreign military aid that it receives from America within the United States. Mr. Newman is involved in the negotiations and drafts the contracts for the defense articles and services that are procured in the US. The shopping list includes boots for soldiers, F-16 and F-15 fighter jets, software for military equipment, border collies - dogs which up until recently were used to keeps birds away from airbases so they don't get caught in airplane engines - and C-130 airplanes - the planes used to extract hostages and soldiers from Entebbe in 1976. It was a fascinating speech that taught us where many of Israel's military equipment comes from and who deals with buying them.
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Shlomo Anapolle ('13) Discusses US Humanitarian Aid to the Palestinian People to Prepare Debate Team
by Asher Finkelstein ('15)
Last week, the debate team was preparing for a tournament at Kushner, in which the topic was whether the US should increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. To help us prepare, Shlomo Anapolle ('13), president of MTA's Hatzioni club, was invited to speak with us about this contentious and complex topic.
Shlomo began his presentation with a number of questions which set off spirited debate among the debaters. Among the issues discussed were whether US aid to the Palestinians is good for Israel, how the money is actually used, and whether the Palestinians should be punished for their recent UN statehood bid outside of the context of negotiations with Israel. After that, he presented some interesting information and different angles from which to approach the issue.
Two nights later, we went to the tournament and succeeded, winning a number of awards, a testament to the quality and usefulness of Shlomo's presentation. We would like to thank him for taking the time to come present to us after school and share his insight on the topic of the debate.
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MTA Students Join YUPAC Mission to Washington: Part II of II
by Shlomo Anapolle ('13)
 Last Thursday, the day that we would participate on the YUPAC Mission to Washington finally arrived. For those of us on the YU campus, the morning began bright and early with 5:20am shacharis in the Rubin Beis Medrash. After davening, we went to gather all the necessary food and items for the trip. Finally, after loading everything, the trip began.
As we left at 6:15 in the morning, most people fell asleep as soon as we began traveling. They continued to do so until we reached a rest stop where everyone woke up in order for us to daven mussaf, as it was Rosh Chodesh, and then to subsequently eat lunch. After packing up the lunches we boarded the buses again for our next stop, AIPAC headquarters.
We arrived at 10:30 and heard from Jonathan Kessler, AIPAC's Leadership Development Director, who proceeded to tell us the story of how in 1943, 400 rabbis marched to the capital with over 1 million signatures and proof of what was happening in Europe at the time. Over 2 million Jews had already been murdered; they were trying to submit the proof to Congress. However, no congressmen were willing to meet with them. Finally, one Jewish congressman agreed to meet with them, but as he saw the evidence he said, "Why are you presenting this burden to me? They already don't like the Jews; why are you creating another reason for them to hate us?" He therefore refused to present it to Congress and turned the rabbis away. They then proceeded to the White House, but were also turned away as the president said he was too busy for them. His secretary agreed to receive the petition, but would not meet with them. They ended up staying in the capital until sunset but then left, feeling ashamed for not being heard.
Mr. Kessler then explained to us that in today's day and age, we have the unique opportunity to be heard. As lobbyists, we are able to go and voice our opinions. This is a unique opportunity, so we shouldn't take it for granted.To read the rest of the article, please click here. |
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Robotics Tournament 2013
As mentioned a few weeks ago, the MTA Robotics team had an impressive performance at the First Tech Challenge, placing within the top ten. Shimmy Socol ('13) produced a video to showcase the team's performance available on our YouTube Channel. |
- On Thursday,the Varsity College Bowl team went undefeated, bringing their overall record to 8-2.
- On Monday, the Honors College Juniors enjoyed a special event, in honor of Yom HaZikaron. Mr. Pershan opened the program, and we discussed the ideas of nationalism versus morality, using the Irish revolution as an example. Then, following a short break for pizza, Rabbi Brownstein spoke to us about religious Zionism as seen from The Rav's and Rav Kook's perspectives.
- This past Wednesday, MTA hosted, and won, a chess tournament against TABC and JEC in our in the lunchroom. The biggest win was by Larry Likhtenstein ('15) who was able to beat the TABC captain.
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LIONS UPDATE
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Varsity Softball Starts Season with a Win
Earlier today, the Varsity Softball Lions, who enter the season with high hopes, took a narrow 6-5 victory from the JEC Lightning. The winning RBI came from catcher Aryeh Norman, who came up big in the top of the 6th. Benzion Feld earned the W with a stellar starting performance.
Tennis Lions Earn Another Sweepby Ezra Teichman ('14)
This past Monday night, the Lions faced the HANC Hurricanes at the National Tennis Center in Flushing. After winning all 5 matches in the previous game, the Lions were confident and ready to go. Yet again the Lions won all five matches, including a dominant 10-1 victory by Zach Sterman ('13). Ives Herman ('13) and Captain Avi Rabinovitch ('13) also won their matches with ease.
Soccer Lions Victorious Over Rams
by Noam Zolty ('14)
On Tuesday night, the MTA Lions hoped to continue their momentum in a big game against the Ramaz Rams. The game started off close with the Lions taking the early 1-0 lead on a beautiful goal by junior sensation David Bramson. The Rams fought back, but with David scoring a hat-trick by halftime, the Lions took a 5 goal lead going into the break. In the second half the Lions came out surging and took a commanding lead, led by Seniors Shai Kaminetzky and Zak Lenik. The Rams attempted to make a comeback at the end, but the Lions held on with a 10-7 victory. The Lions were led by Bramson (3 Goals), Kaminetzky (2 Goals), and Lenik (2 Goals).
JV Softball Falls Short on Opening Day
by Jeremy Borgen ('15)
This past Sunday, the JV Softball Lions started their season against JEC Lightning. The game got off to a rough start, as the Lions allowed five runs in the 1st inning. The 2nd inning wasn't much better, and MTA found themselves down 9-2. But MTA pitcher Zev Markowitz ('15) rose to the occasion, allowing only 2 runs for the remainder of the game. Led by sophomore Menachem Gans' big day at the plate, the Lions were able to put a few more runs on the board. However, the comeback fell short and the Lions lost by a final score of 11-7.
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Download this week's edition of
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Sruli Baum ('13) will be biking 175 miles to help support Chai Lifeline.
To support his ride, please visit his donation page.
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Dovie Neuberger
4/21
Menachem Horwitz
4/24
Moshe Horwitz
4/24
Shaanan Miller
4/25
Yaakov Richland
4/25
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Upcoming Events
4/28-5/2
School Spirit Week
5/2
Camp Monroe Trip
5/8
Names Not Numbers Dinner
5/22
YUHS Dinner
6/3
Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) to speak
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JPOST CONFERENCE
on April 28th
Student Discount Registration Fee: $99
Please contact
('13) for more details
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CONGRATS TO THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS WHO HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM:
Shai Cohen
Elliot Fuchs
Asher Guigui
Daniel Jaroslawicz
Aryeh Klein
Yitzi Lindenbaum
Ori Putterman
Aaron Schwartz-Messing
Binyomin Shtaynberger
Ezra Teichman
Efraim Tepler
Noam Zolty
Each of these students is amongst the 50,000 highest-scoring participants of some 1.5 million program entrants!
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