Check back next week for a full recap.

On Thursday evening, June 4th, nearly 180 MTA students assembled in Yeshiva University's Furst Hall to celebrate the school's sixth annual yeshiva-wide Siyum, marking a year of great accomplishment and growth in Talmud Torah and the completion by each student of an entire Massechta in Shas.  At the end of the school day, the boys quietly made their way into the elegantly adorned room, accompanied by their parents and guests from all over the metropolitan area, MTA Rebbeim and faculty members, and YU Roshei Yeshiva HaRav Hershel Schachter, HaRav Mordechai Willig, and HaRav Yaakov Neuburger, shlita. This was, as in previous years, a tremendously important event for the boys, and many upperclassmen were thrilled to celebrate their third and fourth Siyum at MTA. Mrs. Miriam Goldberg, chair of the YUHS Board of Trustees, was also in attendance, as were a number of Rebbeim from local yeshiva elementary schools, who were invited by their students, currently in MTA, to share in this joyous occasion.

Rabbi Michael Taubes, MTA's Rosh Yeshiva, began the event with a few brief remarks about the incredible achievement of so many students from across all academic levels making a Siyum, which should be a source of great pride for everyone present, and he lauded both the talmidim and Rebbeim for their efforts. Citing an interpretation on the weekly Parsha (Beha'alosecha) by HaRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt'l, Rabbi Taubes pointed out that a Rebbe must be someone who not only teaches and imparts information, but also connects to students on a personal level, shaping their very character and dealing with all of their needs; he added that an accomplishment like a Siyum and a celebration like this one help foster that important relationship. He also gave well-deserved credit to Rabbi Netanel Danto, Maggid Shiur and Grade Mashgiach in the 11th grade, and Rabbi Rafi Pearl, Maggid Shiur in the 9th and 10th grade, for their extraordinary work in coordinating the truly momentous evening. Special thanks were likewise extended to the many individuals who generously served as sponsors of the event.  

Rabbi Taubes then introduced HaRav Hershel Schachter, who spoke about the importance of this occasion as a milestone in life, of the value of having so many talmidim of different ages learning together, and of the idea that through Torah learning, one can get a glimpse of what HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself is all about, and thereby come to develop a personal connection with Him. Following his remarks, Rav Schachter was presented with a small piece of art work as a token of MTA's appreciation for his having taught regular chaburos to numerous groups of MTA students throughout the year; the same presentation was made to Rav Willig and Rav Neuburger, and, in absentia, to HaRav Aharon Kahn, HaRav Mayer Twersky, and HaRav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, who similarly learned with our students on a regular basis during the school year.     

Yisrael Friedenberg ('15) subsequently began the Siyum itself, having completed Masseches Kesubos, and he also introduced the most recent issue of Pirchei Yitzchak, MTA's annual student and faculty Torah publication, which came "hot off the presses" in time for the Siyum. Josh Matatov ('15), Michael Kolber ('16), and Josh Appel ('17) then completed the formal Siyum on behalf of their almost 180 classmates who had studied Massechtos Megillah, Tamid, and others.

After the Kaddish which ended the Siyum itself, the boys, their parents, and their Rebbeim took the floor for a half-hour of joyous and highly spirited dancing. The energy in the room was palpable, and, in the words of one faculty member, "events like this are truly unique -- it's just an incredible opportunity." Yehoshua Szafranski, an MTA alumnus from 2014, having just returned from his studies in Eretz Yisrael, joined his younger brother Eli, a sophomore, in celebration of his completion of Masseches Megillah. "I just couldn't miss the annual Siyum" offered the older Szafranski, "it's events like this that truly make MTA special." In a similar vein, Mrs. Deborah Rosensweig, mother of current student Elisha ('16) and graduates Chayim ('12) and Moshe ('14), remarked how this was an accomplishment and an event that can happen "Nowhere but here."

The evening concluded with a delicious Carlos and Gabby's catered meal, a guest Dvar Torah from Rabbi Mark Wildes, Director of the Manhattan Jewish Experience and father of Yosef ('15) and Ezra ('17), on the great importance of the effort and toil that go into Torah study, and the distribution of special Seforim by all the Rebbeim to their respective talmidim. Everybody left the event uplifted and inspired by the display of pride in a significant Torah accomplishment and of genuine Kevod HaTorah. 

After months of preparation, the finalists of the MTA LEAD program presented their projects to the program's Executive Council - which consists of senior faculty and administrators of the Sy Syms School of Business (SSSB) and other business leaders - this past Monday Night. Over the course of the year, students who joined the program had the opportunity to attend various business workshops delivered by SSSB professors and other interesting entrepreneurs. In addition, students were able to participate in the Kukin Lecture Series at the business school and students with ideas were paired up with undergraduate business students who helped mentor them on their project.

All of this culminated with the "Shark Tank" style presentations that took place on Monday evening. Each group had 15 total minutes to showcase their business, with ten minutes to present and five minutes for questions. Yair Caplan ('17) first pitched his pillow alarm clock and even presented a prototype of the product that he had built in MTA's Scientific Engineering program. After this, Simcha Hoffman ('16) presented his idea for software that will make it much simpler to print with a three-dimensional printer. Finally, Yaakov Kurlantzick (who developed his business plan with Shaanan Miller) presented their astonishing business that would license unique technology for self-cleaning cars.

The panel was extremely impressed with all of the presentations and it was very apparent that all of the students had put in an incredible amount of work in developing not just the product, but the business plan around it - analyzing the market and understanding the need. Ultimately, Yair Caplan won "Best Presentation" and will be awarded an Amazon giftcard. The MTA LEAD program, now it its third year, continues to provide incredible, real-life business experience to MTA's aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders.

On Wednesday, Zack Rosen, 2012 Ivy League Player of the Year and current star of the Maccabi Ashdod Basketball Club, visited MTA. After spending some time in various shiurim, Zack held an open clinic for students in the Max Stern Athletic Center, astonishing everyone with his incredible talent. Special thanks to Rabbi Beitler for arranging the event; we all hope to see more of Zack while he is in the United States. For students interested in basketball training, Zack will be running a special one-week basketball program this summer, along with MTA's own rebbeim Rabbi Beitler and Rabbi Kessel, as well as MTA coaches Shlomo Weissberg and Yisrael Feld ('11). For more information, click here.

The MTA Lions finished off another fine season by taking third, in a tie with Flatbush, in the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School chess league. Senior and Captain Larry Likhtenstein (Board 1) and Freshman Akiva Poppers (board 3) were the two winners for MTA in the championship round. With two key seniors, Larry Likhtenstein and Gedalia Zemel, graduating, MTA hopes to back the team up with new freshmen and sophomores. We wish them the best of luck next year and in the years to come.

This past Tuesday, Mr. Goldberg's Chemistry classes celebrated "Mole Day," in honor of that date being 6-02 (June 2nd). 1 Mole of something is defined as 6.02 x 10^23 of it. This number is named "Avogadro's Constant" in honor of Italian scientist Amadeo Avogadro, and is the number of protons and neutrons that together add up to 1 gram of mass. In honor of Mole Day, students were encouraged to dress up with "mole" themed costumes and to provide Mole Day decorations for the classroom and hallways. 

Festivities started at lunch with six select students receiving copies of The Disappearing Spoon, a book about the elements. This was awarded in recognition of their strong interest and excitement in Chemistry as demonstrated by their questions in class and their out-of-class experiments and projects in Chemistry. 

Chemistry class included contests to remember Avogadro's full name in under a minute ("Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro, conte di Quaregna e Cerreto") and snacks such as guacaMole and doughnut moles (each with about 1 centimole of sugar). Review fun continued the next day with "Periodic Table Jeopardy" and "Brian Juice Review." 

Special thanks to Ms. Lewis for arranging for the copies of The Disappearing Spoon and for bringing in the guacaMole and chips.

The final three games of the MTA tennis season would all come in one jam-packed weekend. Going into the home stretch, the team was at .500 with a respectable 2-2 record. However, with several tough matches ahead, it would be a difficult challenge for MTA to keep it up. 

The first match of the weekend was against Flatbush, considered the best team in the league. Going in, we knew it would be a hard, if not impossible contest to win but that we would fight, and fight we did! Unfortunately it was to no avail as the Flatbush team was just too good, prevailing despite some very hard fought matches MTA. 

Next up was HAFTR, another very formidable team; once again,  we knew we were in for a battle. With key wins from our number two singles star Gabriel Bonduryansky ('15) and our number two doubles team, we moved ahead 2-0. In what seemed like just an instant, Haftr tied things up at 2-2, with the match now riding on an up and coming MTA sophomore, Ezra Wildes. Unfortunately, Ezra came up just short, losing in a vicious battle that appeared to go on forever. 

With a season record of 2-4, MTA now hoped to compensate for those two tough losses with a win against YDE. And we did just that. Our hard-fighting MTA squad won all but one game in the entire match, rounding out the season with a thorough 5-0 win. 

We wish a warm Mazal Tov to Coach Eli Gewirtz on his recent marriage and extend our sincerest thanks for such a great season!