Mazel Tov to chair of the YUHS Board of Trustees, Mrs. Miriam Goldberg, and husband and member of the Board, Mr. Alan Goldberg ('72), upon the marriage of their son Alex ('10) to Deena Weiss!
Mazel Tov to our esteemed Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Michael Taubes, and his wife Bassie, upon the birth of a granddaughter!
Mazel Tov to Eli Muschel ('10) on his engagement to Shalva Ginsparg from Hollywood, Florida.
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David Bouskila (3/12), Mayer Fink (3/13), David Jehudaiov (3/14),
Shalom Stieglitz (3/15), Yair Caplan (3/15), Jacob Wiener (3/15),
Jonathan Rosenholtz (3/17)
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Interested in Ordering Shemurah Matzah?
Incoming MTA Parent Mr. Yitzie Pariser has offered to provide the MTA Community with fresh Shemurah Matzos from Israel. Not only are the matzos fresh (baked within the past few weeks) and under the Hashgachah of Badatz Shearis Yisroel, but MTA will receive 10% of the profits!
Orders must be placed by Purim, Thursday, March 24th. The orders will be delivered to MTA for you to pick up. For any communities that order enough matzah, a community drop-off will be arranged.
To order, click here and complete the order form; please be sure to indicate on the form that it's an MTA order. Please then submit the form to Mr. Pariser at mbpariser@gmail.com.
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Rabbi Joshua Kahn Named New Head of School
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Rabbi Kahn, along with his wife Tamar, and children Avigayil, Liana, Zvi, Yosef, Miki, and Temi - already showing their Lions pride!
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Rabbi Josh Kahn has been named the new head of school at MTA, beginning July 1st. The appointment is the culmination of an extensive international search that involved parents, faculty, alumni, board members, and YU administrators.
Rabbi Kahn is a graduate of YU's Yeshiva College, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, where he is presently pursuing a doctorate in education. Most recently, he has served as the Associate Principal of Judaic Studies and Dean of Student Life at Torah Academy of Bergen County, where he pioneered initiatives like the Senior Mentoring and Beit Midrash Programs and organized chessed and disaster relief missions in addition to teaching Tanach and Jewish law courses. He is known for building strong relationships with students and parents and was successful in streamlining many administrative processes to make them more intuitive, transparent, and effective.
"Rabbi Kahn brings a well articulated vision for academic and cultural excellence to MSTA, the only yeshiva high school on the campus of an established university," said Miriam Goldberg, chair of Yeshiva University High Schools. "He has a deep caring for the complete well-being and happiness of his students. He is driven towards excellence and has the unique ability to inspire all those around him to that same standard."
Current Head of School Rabbi Michael Taubes will continue to enrich MTA in the role of Rosh Yeshiva.
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MTA Dominating Bronka Weintraub Bekius Program
Once again, MTA is showing its Gemara prowess in the Bronka Weintraub Bekius Program. The YU sponsored program, which is run by yeshiva high schools across the continent, involves a competition among hundreds of students in fast-paced study aimed at mastering significant amounts of Gemara.
As per YUNews, "Students take five exams a year, for which they are given cash prizes, based on their performance. A grand prize of $5,000 is awarded to the student from each division with the highest scores."
After the second round of exams, MTA is performing incredibly. In the "Amud" competion, Yehuda Snow ('19) is currently in first place with a score of 97.5 (second place is at 92.5) and MTA owns 7 of the top 10 spots, occupied by students Shlomo Fink ('19), David Tanner ('18), Ephraim Meiri ('18), Noam Mayerfeld ('19), Ephraim Crytal ('19), and Mordechai Flemenbaum ('19).
In the "Daf" competition, there are currently four perfect scores and, amazingly, three of them are from MTA students! Yair Caplan ('17), Yehuda Goldberg ('17), and Yitzy Weiss ('17) all have scores of 100! Shalom Stieglitz ('16) and Max Landsberg ('16) are close behind, rounding out MTA's ownership of 5 of the top 10 spots.
What an remarkable achievement - Yasher Koach to all involved!
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Shai Gross Shares His Personal Account of Operation Thunderbolt
On Wednesday, the entire MTA student body was privileged to sit in on a special presentation from SHALVA about Operation Thunderbolt: The Raid on Entebbe. The dramatic Israeli rescue operation, which will be commemorating its 40th anniversary this coming summer, was made relevant to us all when Mr. Shai Gross, who advocates for SHALVA, an Israeli nonprofit organization which aids disabled children, spoke about his own experiences as a member of the group of hijack victims that was liberated by Israeli soldiers on July 4, 1976. Shai was only six years old when the plane was hijacked early that summer - the youngest of all the passengers. After two brief introductory videos and some personal reflections on the operation from Rabbi Taubes, Shai spoke about the miraculous events that started off as a vacation-turned-nightmare but ended as an incredible showing of the willpower of the Israeli people and the military in a daring rescue of all 102 hostages held in Entebbe, Uganda. Inspired by the willingness of the soldiers to partcipate, Shai later decide to volunteer himself - at SHALVA, in an effort to mirror what those Israeli soldiers had once done for him and give back to the people of Israel. The MTA students left the program with a much greater sense of how good deeds and worldly affairs can be interrelated and will be sure to carry the inspiration that they gained from the presentation into the joyous month of Adar Sheni.
We would also like to extend sincere wishes of "good luck" to the MTA students who will be running next Friday in the Jerusalem Marathon to raise money for SHALVA and look forward to more opportunities for both chessed and inspiration in the future.
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Students Have a Blast at the Pre-Purim Chagigah
In honor of Rosh Chodesh Adar Sheni, the entire MTA community gathered in the Lion's Den for the school's annual Purim Chagigah - in this case, a Pre-Purim Chagigah. The day began with the gym being filled with Ruach and Simcha as teachers and students alike joined together for uplifting and crazy dancing in honor of this month of "Marbim B'Simcha." We subsequently heard divrei Torah from HaRav Dovid Miller, the Rosh Yeshiva of YU's Gruss Center in Yerushalayim, and a short whiler later, we were all treated to the award winning MTA Chorus and Band with special guest star President Richard Joel, who vcmae by unexpectedly and joined them in the middle. The dancing continued for another hour or so before the annual costume contest was held. Capably judged by Mrs. Levitt and Morah Haibi, the contest was full of thoughtful and unique costumes and provided a great ending to an uplifting Chagigah. Congratulations to Yedidya Schechter ('19), who dressed up as Frankenstein, on winning the contest and continuing the Schechter family legacy in that manner. A shoutout as well to runner ups Eli Kahn ('16), Shimmy Mandelbaum ('16), Aron Fried ('16), David Kaikov ('16), Naftali Pudell ('17), and Daniel Arshadnia ('19).
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Mock Trail Continues To Win!
The Mock Trial team played its third match of the season this past Wednesday night. Lawyers Avraham Tsikhanovksi ('16), CJ Glicksman ('16), and Yair Gross ('16) argued against Officer Flanagan. They faced the prosecution of the Bronx School of Law and Public Service who were prosecuting the alleged drug dealer, Kelly Roberts. The witnesses, Kelly Roberts, Parker Pederson, and Sam Doolittle, a daycare center owner who lives next door to Kelly, were played by Shimmy Mandelbaum ('16), Yehuda Goldberg ('16), and David Tanner ('18), respectively. After three heated hours of opening statements, direct examinations, cross examinations, objections, and closing statements, MTA emerged victorious. They gained sixty-two out of sixty-five possible points (falling only two points short of their counterparts, the defense, which played and won last week). Afterwards, the Mock Trial team left the Manhattan Court House with their heads held high once again. They hope to continue their success in their next match this coming Wednesday aginst Stuyvesant when they will be playing the prosecution.
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MTA Hosts Another Record Setting Blood Drive
This past Monday, the Arista Honor Society ran its 10th annual Blood Drive. This year, the drive was held in the MTA lunchroom rather than its usual location, the Morg basement, because that basement has been renovated and is now a beautiful new Beis Medrash. The Blood Drive started at 10:00 am and continued until 5:00 pm, during which over 60 pints of blood were donated - a record high for the MTA blood drive!!! The New York Blood Center sent the following email to MTA: "A total of 64 successful blood donations were made. This is your highest total collected since the Blood Drives started in 2012. To know that your blood program is growing upward is a great thing! If each donation is separated into 3 components, 192 patient lives are affected. Thank you on behalf of these patients."
The Arista committee members are proud of their accomplishments and would like to thank Aryeh Ness ('16) and Shuey Boniuk ('16) for running the drive The school looks forward to more blood drives and other Arista events in the months to come.
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Correction: We inadvertently let off CJ Glicksman '16 as one of the members of MTA's award winning band.
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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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Support YUHSB at these stores!
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A Lion's Life Executive Staff
Faculty Advisor: Elie Hirt
Publishing & Design: Devir Kahan ('13)
Editors in Chief: Shimmy Mandelbaum ('16) and CJ Glicksman ('16)
Executive Editor: Rami Nordlicht ('16)
Associate Editor: Raziel Siegman ('17)
Sports Editor: Yosef Schatz ('16)
Director of Digital Content: Shimmy Socol ('16)
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