Happy Birthday!
Last week's birthdays: Akiva Grimaldi (11/21), Nathan Levy (11/22), Moshe Walters (11/22), Yeruchum Dear (11/22), Hillel Krief (11/23), Gavriel Goldstein (11/24), Benjy Lamm (11/25), Yisrael Katz (11/26)
This week's birthdays: Ari Kimmelfeld (11/27), Avi Kariyev (11/28), Aryeh Margolin (11/29), Adam Harar (12/1), Benny Mermel (12/1), David Pando (12/2), Yisroel Chaim Sabel (12/3), CJ Glicksman (12/4)
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MTA Students Awarded at Medical Conference
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Pictured: Gavi Goldstein ('17) Meechael Hizami ('16), Mr. Sragow, and Ariel Manakhimov ('17)
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MTA students Gavi Goldstein ('17), Meechael Hizami ('16), and Ariel Manakhimov ('17) attended the Congress of Future Medical Leaders recently. The Congress is a prestigious academic conference sponsored by the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists. As it is designed to bring together the best young minds who are interested in the field of medicine and expose them to the most recent advances in the field, students may attend only if they have earned a 3.5 GPA or better in high school and have been nominated by their faculty.
After the conference, Goldstein, Hizami, and Manakhimov were each awarded for excellence in their participation.
Among the highlights of the conference were watching surgery performed live and attending lectures by some of the greatest living minds in medicine. But all agreed that the best part was simply getting to meet amazing people in the field and hearing their stories.
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Chief Rabbi of Poland Shares Words of Encouragement
This past Monday, the Senior Class had the opportunity to hear Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, speak about his experience as the rabbinic leader of a country and the Jewish community's significance, both historically and contemporarily. A musmach of RIETS here at YU, Rabbi Schudrich described his experience in helping Jews of Poland, who for many years had to hide their Jewishness out of fear, return to their roots, relating some individual cases that have stood out in his mind throughout his tenure. He then spoke about his ongoing effort to memorialize mass graves in Poland, as well as his new project aimed at getting medical and other living supplies delivered to needy Jewish families and to many "righteous gentiles" of Poland who risked their own lives and the lives of their families in order to save Jews during the Holocaust. He also offered MTA's "Names, Not Numbers" class various tips on interviewing survivors, explaining the process of not only getting a list of facts, but also creating a story that has a relatable emotional aspect. At the end, he opened the floor to questions, and students inquired about a diverse range of topics, covering everything from interview techniques to Rabbi Schudrich's attainment of his current position. We are extremely grateful that Rabbi Schudrich made it a priority to address the MTA students and hope to hear from him again soon.
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President Joel Hosts the Senior Class
by Shimmy Mandelbaum ('16)
On Tuesday, November 24th, 2015, the MTA senior class had the privilege of meeting with Yeshiva University President Richard Joel ('68) to discuss the next four years of their lives. During the meeting, held in his office, President Joel discussed at great length his personal experience as a college student at a secular university and the challenges he faced while trying to retain his Jewish identity throughout. This journey expanded beyond President Joel's college years, and into his time as President and International Director of Hillel, an organization which supports Jewish life for students in secular colleges and universities throughout the world. After drawing comparisons between Hillel and Yeshiva University, President Joel concluded that no college, even one with the largest Jewish body and most active Hillel group, can compete with Yeshiva University in terms of enabling a student to develop and maintain his Jewish identity while growing both in Torah and other studies. He stressed the idea that YU's infrastructure and yearly schedule is catered to the needs of the observant Orthodox Jew. In addition to pointing out the religious benefit of attending Yeshiva University, President Joel also made sure to incorporate an outline of all of YU's many amenities, including academic and extra-curricular opportunities, to complement the previously mentioned points. The MTA senior class is grateful for the opportunity to meet with President Joel and many are certainly considering attending Yeshiva University for college (if they haven't already decided to do so).
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by David Schmidt ('16)
 On Tuesday, November 24th, the 12th grade Honors College, in conjunction with the MTA Comic Book Club, went on a partial day trip to The New York Historical Society to see the exhibit "Superheroes in Gotham."
 This exhibit focused on "New York born" superheroes and their effect on popular culture and politics. From Superman comics in the late 30's to Iron Man comics in the late 60's, the exhibit and accompanying tour provided an inside study in the effects comic books have on culture and ideals. With an allotted time to properly analyze the exhibit and dabble in comic drawing ourselves, this exhibit was highly informative and extremely interactive, playing to all interests.
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Professor Kelly Addresses the Honors College Last Week
by Jason Blatt ('16)
 Last Wednesday, the Honors College had the pleasure of hearing a presentation from Professor Van Kelly, a computer science professor at Yeshiva College, about his knowledge in the area of technology. Professor Kelly began his lecture discussing his past passions and vocations, ranging from his adolescent love for trains, music, and ancient documents to his study of Artificial Intelligence, and then sharing how he discovered his love for technology. After his work with A.I. and his study of Implicit Knowledge (how to "get a job done that 'almost works'"), he realized that he was truly mesmerized by the vast capabilities of computers, but puzzled by the fact that computers seemed to become more lost in completing a task than a human. This piqued his interest and once he realized that the popularity of A.I. was too unstable, he decided he wanted to work on a more common application of technology: cell phones.
Interestingly, though physically it is inconceivable, the innards, impact, data storage and software capability of a cell phone are massive when compared to that of a spaceship. Professor Kelly discussed a way to manage a cell phone where so much software is needed to fit in such small space, namely, a tool called Lines of Code, and explained how, as opposed to common misconception, it doesn't measure value, but rather measures effort (a measurement that determines what we call "schedule"). Essentially, Lines of Code measures how "big" software is. Professor Kelly then discussed cell networks and how it could take many people and a plentitude of years to do such a small job (the company A.U.T.O.P.A.C.E. focusses on this).
It was a very educational and interesting lecture and the whole Honors College would like to thank Professor Kelly for coming by and sharing his life's work with us.
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Students Travel to Massachusetts to be Menachem Avel the Family of Ezra Schwartz Z"L
by Hillel Krief ('16)
Ezra Schwartz Z"L, a 2015 graduate of Maimonides High School in Boston who was studying in Israel for the year, was tragically murdered in a terrorist attack last Thursday, along with four others. To extend their condolences and to show their support to his grieving family, members of the Yeshiva University community (which consisted of students from YC, Stern, Central, and MTA, which sent Jason Blatt, Hillel Krief, Shimmy Mandelbaum, Reuven Penn, and Avraham Tsikhanovski, along with Student Activities Director Mr. Elie Hirt) traveled to the Schwartz home in Sharon, Massachusetts to pay one of the most tragic and harrowing shiva visits of their lives, joining literally hundreds of others from around the country.
After a five hour bus ride, the students waited outside the house, along with approximately a hundred others, to spend five precious minutes with the family of Ezra Z''L. Ezra was killed while performing the chesed of distributing snacks to the brave IDF soldiers. Upon walking in to the Schwartz home, the visitors saw that there were at least 25 teens in the basement, 50 people in the main room, and 20 people around the rest of the house attempting to bring some comfort the Schwartz family. Dr. Schwartz, Ezra's father, greeted all visitors with a warm smile and while everyone came to offer him comfort, he made the effort to comfort everyone else as he thanked them over and over for making the trek out there. On the way back to New York, Rabbi Benjamin Yudin, a YU faculty members and a leading rabbi of the Fair Lawn, NJ community - and father of Rabbi Nisanel "Gotch" Yudin, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ashreinu where Ezra was studying, told the students on the bus that Dr. Schwartz had advised him that they (and all of Am Yisrael) need to see the good in this tragedy and realize that this event brought Am Yisrael together. We hope everyone can take a fraction of the inspiration and chizuk that the students got from this trip on Tuesday. We pray that the Schwartz family - and all of Klal Yisrael - be spared any further sorrow.
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College Guidance Visits the Freshmen
by Rafi Feig ('19)
On Tuesday, the fortunate freshmen class got an early start on the college application process when they met with Director of College Guidance Mr. Sragow and College Guidance Advisor Rabbi Brownstein. Mr. Sragow and Rabbi Brownstein discussed the importance of maintaining a high GPA and partaking in various extra-curricular activities (such as writing for A Lion's Life!) as early as freshmen year due to the growing competition for selective college and honors programs spots. For a small group, the counselors recommended taking the SAT subject test in Biology as a means of adding to one's resume. All in all, the meeting proved to be both informative and helpful and the freshmen class would like to thank Mr. Sragow and Rabbi Brownstein for their help in the college guidance process.
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Jewish History Guest Speaker Series: Part 3
 The 12th Grade History classes had quite a treat this past Wednesday, hosting Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Weinberg of Yeshiva University for a class on Chassidic Thought. Mr. Dobrick's 12th Grade History Class joined Mr. Bernstein's 12th Grade Jewish History Classes for this special presentation. Rabbi Weinberg currently teaches in YU's Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash Program (SBMP), where he also he serves as Mashgiach Ruchani. He has served as a guest speaker and scholar in residence in Jewish communities and college campuses across the country.
Since our Jewish History classes are learning about the Chassidic Movement, it was only appropriate to explore the Chassic thought behind that movement. Rabbi Weinberg chose to expose the students to a sampling of Chassidic ideas from this week's parsha, Parshas Vayishlach, and connected these ideas with the story of Chanukah. The goal was to understand that according to Chassidus, there are deeper layers available in the Torah beyond the simple storyline that we all are familiar with. A recording of Wednesday's class can be found on the MTA channel on YUTorah.org.
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Students Review Gemara of Last Year's Siyum
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Izzy Klavan ('18) making a Siyum on his chazarah of Masseches Megillah
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Towards the end of Shacharis on Wednesday, Rabbi Taubes proudly called up a number of students who had reviewed the entire Masseches Megillah, which they had originally learned for last year's yeshiva-wide siyum in June. Some of the boys even reviewed it twice!
Before Rabbi Taubes delivered the cash prizes to all those who had achieved this impressive accomplishment, Izzy Klavan ('18) said the "Hadran" on behalf of the entire group of students. Rabbi Taubes then encouraged more students to undertake this project in the future and thanked Rabbis Danto and Pearl for their work in initiating it.
Mazel Tov to Aryeh Berman ('18), Jonathan Felman ('18) and Izzy Klavan ('18) who completed the chazarah twice, and to Jack Alkhabaz ('17), Yehuda Colton ('17), Eli Fink ('17), Aharon Tager ('17), Dov Tuchman ('18), Aviel Zaghi ('17), and Ben Zion Zuckier ('17) who each completed the chazarah once.
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MTA JV Hockey Lions Report
by Ephraim Landa ('19)
After starting off 0-2 with losses to North Shore and SAR, the Lions got prepared to play 4 games in 8 days. They played Frisch, YDE, Ramaz and TABC. After losing to Frisch, the Lions traveled to Brooklyn to play the YDE Thunder. The Lions scored early and never stopped. Defenseman Daniel Landa had a hat trick and Captain Gabe Isaacs netted 2 goals. Yaakov Bienstock and Yaron Kahan each chipped in with a goal, and the final score was 7-0.
On Saturday night, November 21st, the Lions played in The Den against Ramaz. They fought hard, but lost 4-1, with Daniel Landa scorin the lone goal. On Tuesday night, November 24th, the TABC Storm traveled to The Den to face the Lions. The oldest rivalry in JV hockey didn't disappoint. It was a hard fought aggressive game, but unfortunately the Lions did not come out on top. The Lions look forward to their next game on Thursday when they take on the SAR Sting.
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Varsity Hockey Loses Close Battle
by Rami Nordlicht ('16)
This past Saturday night, the MTA Varsity Hockey Lions squared off against the Ramaz Rams in the Lion's Den. The game did not start off very well for the Lions, as Ramaz was able to capitalize on a few questionable penalty calls to take an early lead. The Lions fought back valiantly, however, and were able to put much pressure on the Ramaz goaltender, albeit without managing to score despite a plethora of scoring chances. The Lions certainly did make the game more interesting when Jeremy Borgen scored midway through the third period to draw the Lions within two, but the Lions could not manage to score for the remainder of the game and lost by a score of 4-1. The Lions will look to return to their winning ways when they take on the HANC Hurricanes on December 9.
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Please share with us your significant family milestones so we may appropriately acknowledge events and losses and properly communicate information.
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A Lion's Life Executive Staff
Faculty Advisor: Elie Hirt
Publishing & Design: Devir Kahan ('13)
Editor in Chief: Shimmy Mandelbaum ('16) and CJ Glicksman ('16)
Executive Editor: Rami Nordlicht ('16)
Sports Editor: Daniel Mirsky ('16) and Yosef Schatz ('16)
Associate Editor: Raziel Siegman ('17)
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