Sunday, May 5
Freshmen Rafting Trip Forms Due
JV Softball Lions vs. Hillel Heat, 2pm
Varsity Softball Lions vs. Hillel Heat, 2pm
KS"A Halacha Shiur - free donuts; 9:10am in room 203
MTA Spirit Store Sale during Lunch in the lobby
AP Psychology, PM
Tennis Lions vs. North Shore Academy Stars; 7:30pm at the National Tennis Center

Tuesday, May 7
Chabura w/ Rav Twersky will meet after davening
Chaburas w/ Rav Willig and Rav Kahn will meet during lunch
MTA Chorus practice during lunch in room 404
Public Speaking Final, Room 404
MTA Band practice during fifth period in the band room
Hatzioni trip to the viewing of the premiere showing of The Pioneers, a movie adaptation of "The Prime Ministers" by Yehuda Avner

Chaburas w/ Rav Twersky and Rav Schachter after davening
AP Calculus AB, AM
AP Calculus BC, PM
Names, Not Numbers Dinner, 6pm in Weissberg Commons

Thursday, May 9
KS"A Halacha Shiur - free donuts; 9:10am in room 203
AP English Literature, AM
Names, Not Numbers Final Reflections during lunch, room TBA
 Hatzioni presents Yishai Fleisher - host of the only English language radio talk show in Israel - during lunch in the Library; the topic will be "The Aliyah Revolution is Gaining Momentum: After 18,000 Olim in 2012, What Is Ahead." The question of "What is Zionism Today?" will be addressed. There will be a chance to win 2 free tickets to Israel.
MTA Chorus practice during lunch in room 404
Public Speaking Final, Room 404
MTA Band practice during fifth period in the band room
Mishmar, dismissal @ 7pm
Friday, May 10
AP Physics Trip to the George Washington Bridge
Varsity Softball Lions Doubleheader vs. TABC Storm, time TBA
JV Softball Lions vs. TABC Storm, 2pm

by Akiva Schiff ('13)

by Eli Berger ('13)

This past Wednesday, a few shiurim had the zechus to join Yeshiva University in welcoming and learning from Rav Shlomo Amar, the Rishon LeTzion and Sepharadi Chief Rabbi of Israel. When Rav Amar was escorted into the Glueck Beis Medrash, a reverent silence fell upon all in attendance. YU's Sepharadi Choir, led by Rabbi Moshe Tessone, sang a pizmon composed in honor of Rav Amar, and RIETS Dean Rabbi Yona Reiss introduced the Rishon LeTzion. Rav Amar, in the regal attire designed for his position, then delivered a shiur about the definition of chupah (marriage), ending with a bracha for the final Kabbalas HaTorah and the destruction of evil. The event was meaningful in many ways, especially to the Sepharadi talmidim of MTA. It was a wonderful unification of Ashkenazim and Sepharadim, of Eretz Yisrael and the Diaspora.

MTA Spirit Week kicked off on Sunday with an all-school davening in Lamport Auditorium, followed by inspiring words from Student Council President Eli Weinstein ('13), who highlighted how fortunate we are to be part of the MTA legacy, and how proud we are to be Lions. As the theme of the week was "MARVELous MTA," each grade was assigned a Marvel character and a Jewish trait that the grade superhero represents. The freshmen were Spiderman (Hasagah - Achievement), the sophomores were Thor (Ruchniyaos - Spirituality), the juniors were Cyclops (Hanhagah - Leadership), and the seniors were Captain America (Simcha - Morale). Each grade was tasked with designing a banner that would represent their character and the traits, as well as their love for MTA; the banners were due on Thursday.

Monday
by Avi Weschler ('14)

On Monday, the festivities began with the distribution of "Spirit Week" t-shirts; each grade was presented with t-shirts featuring the color scheme of their Marvel superhero to be distributed to every student.  Additionally, a spirited game of Jeopardy took place in the Library during lunch, coordinated by Ms. Lewis. The students competed in the trivia game show, showing off their knowledge of random facts.

Tuesday

by Joey Goffstein ('14) 

 

Tuesday marked the third day of the inaugural Spirit Week. The first event that took place was the kick off of a canned food drive; all collected cans will be donated to a local Jewish food pantry in Washington Heights. Then, at 11:30, there was a spectacular Yachad Carnival, organized by Joey Goffstein and Dani Davis with help from the entire 11th grade (and a special thanks to Rabbi Soniker's shiur for their help). The Yachad members had a blast, playing all the different carnival games, run by the various MTA student volunteers.

Following the carnival, there was a hysterical and enjoyable eating contest, with five categories: ICEE drinking, whistling after eating Saltines, Hot Peppers, finding and chewing a piece of gum at the bottom of a whip cream pie and who could fit the most marshmallows in one's mouth while saying "chubby bunny." The winners each received a nice hat that related to the contest and the winners included representatives from all class levels, from freshmen to seniors. All in all, Tuesday was a amazing day.

 

Wednesday
by Ori Putterman ('14)

On Wednesday, MTA students were allowed to come into school wearing their favorite MTA apparel. Students came in wearing everything from hockey jerseys to softball sweatpants. In the afternoon, the students from all grades headed to the Max Stern Athletic Center where they enjoyed some great games of grade vs. grade dodegball. In the semifinals, the Seniors defeated the Juniors, and the Freshmen defeated the Sophomores. In the finals, the Seniors defeated the Freshmen. Wednesday marked another incredible day of Spirit Week.

Thursday
by Shimmy Mandelbaum ('16)

Camp Monroe in Monroe NY was filled with joy and achdus on Thursday when students and faculty traveled to the camp for the annual Lag Ba'Omer trip. For the first part of the day the boys, rebbeim and teachers had the option of playing soccer, football, hockey, basketball, softball, tennis, ping- pong, mini golf or learning in shiur and for two hours not a single one of these activities was abandoned.

 

At approximately 12:30, all students and faculty joined together for a massive barbeque with hot dogs, burgers (and veggie burgers for those who preferred), watermelon, chips, soda and water. After the incredibly delicious lunch, and epic Rebbeim vs. Talmidim softball game was held, which the Talmidim took  14-4, despite the great pitching by Rabbi Rafi Pearl and power hitting by Rabbi Elon Soniker.

 

After lunch and a short amount of play time, the boys and faculty gathered by one of the basketball courts for a viewing of the grade banners. The judges concluded that the Seniors depiction of the MTA lion and Captain America shield won! All four banners will be hung up on the walls of our building. After the banner presentations, mincha was davenened, following which everyone returned to the myriad of activities going on. The day ended with the entire student and faculty body helping clean up the camp and the teachers, students and rebbeim saying farewell and wishing each other a good Shabbos.

Thanks

Special thanks to Yonah Stromer ('13) for coming up with the idea of Spirit Week months ago, and working tirelessly over the past month, and especially this past week, to ensure its success. Also thanks to Joey Goffstein and other grade representatives for all their help in the coordination. Thanks to Rabbi Kessel for all his help in coordinating the Camp Monroe event. And, of course, thanks to Rabbi Green, our devoted Director of Student Activities, for his leadership and coordination.

Spirit Week will extend somewhat into next week with the launch of the MTA Spirit-Wear store next week Monday during lunch; yarmulkes, hoodies, flannel pajama pants, drawstring bags, scarves. and magnets are expected to be available.

Many more pictures of both Spirit Week activities, and more specifically Camp Monroe, available on our Flickr.

 

On Wednesday night, MTA hosted the annual "College Night" for junior class students and parents. The program featured speeches from college students at both YU and NYU who spoke about their experience. Mr. Gononsky and Rabbi Brownstein addressed the crowd, providing a strategy for how to approach the College Fair. Student and parents then had the opportunity to meet with representatives from several colleges and programs including CUNY, Maryland, Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Rutgers, Macaulay, and YU, amongst others. Afterwards, Mr. Sragow, our Director of College Guidance, spoke about how to approach the college application process.. Thank you to Mr. Sragow, Mr. Gononsky, and Rabbi Brownstein for setting up the program and to the representatives for taking the time out to make it to this program.

After graduating MTA in 2010, Alex Goldberg spent the following year studying at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh and Aharon Watson went on to study at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh. Driven by the lessons they learned as high school students, they took upon themselves to coordinate an incredible 5k race - known as the "Race to Save Lives" - at Gan Sacher in Jerusalem, in which they raised over $250,000 for the United Hatzalah of Israel. Last year, they again hosted the race at Gan Sacher and incredibly raised over $300,000.

 

This year, Alex and Aharon, assisted by other MTA alums and other students from the tri-state area, are moving the 5k to Roosevelt Island on June 9th with the goal of raising over $1,000,000! They expect over 2,000 participants.

 

As a school, we hope to help support both our fellow Lions and United Hatzalah. Seniors, faculty, families, and alumni are encouraged to run the 5k. Seniors interested in participating should please see Shuey or Eli Weinstein ('13). 

Download this week's edition of

 Shema Koleinu

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Yoni Kornblau ('15), Asher Finkelstein ('15), and Max Landsberg ('16)