Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School • 11710 Hunters Lane • Rockville, Maryland • 20852

lVolume 27• Issue 1

September 1, 2009 • 12 Elul 5769

the

ion’stale

Newssee page 2

New teachersswiNe flu preveNtioN

Indepthsee page 4-5

Vietnam War book teaches about more than war

When I first started reading The Things They Carried, I was tempted to think of it as a war book. That would have been a mistake, for Tim O’Brien’s cohesive collection of short stories about a platoon of American soldiers during the Vietnam War is only somewhat about war. The rest is about the art of writing and the nature of truth.

Don’t get me wrong—The Things They Carried was just as engaging as any war novel I’ve ever read, though not always for the usual reasons. O’Brien’s uncomplicated and compelling writing does not have a lot of what you might think of as typical war action—that is, fighting. Instead, he conveys the multifaceted monotony of the Vietnam War for your average draftee.

“The war was nakedly and aggressively boring,” he writes. “But it was boring with a twist.”

In general, O’Brien spends more time on brooding than on battle, focuses more on feelings than firefights, but never

for an instant does the reader loose the weight of war that hangs around all his stories, and the terrifying excitement that comes with it.

That’s the war part. The truth part can be a little more irritating. Just when we get swept up in the authenticity that O’Brien seems to bring to Vietnam, he reminds us that The Things They Carried is “a work of fiction,” shattering the nearly flawless suspension of disbelief that his stories weave.

by Kyle Hardgrave

For the rest of this review and reviews of other sum-

mer reading books, see SUMMER READING

page 7

Class of 2010 tours White House

The upcoming 2009-2010 school year will see one of the largest decreases in enrollment at JDS since the opening of the Upper School Campus.

Head of School Jonathan Cannon said, “We an-ticipate that the enrollment number will be around 1300 students, as compared to 1400 last year.”

This reflects an enrollment drop of approximately 7.1 percent.

“The driving causes for [the drop in enrollment] are as follows: The graduating senior class of 122 is the largest that we have ever had, and together with an incoming kindergarten of approximately 80 stu-dents, this accounts for large part of the drop. Ad-ditionally, the economy is impacting our enrollment and there are fewer applications, particularly lateral entry applications, than would typically be the case. Also, there is slightly higher than normal attrition that is related to the economic climate,” Cannon said.

Many students left JDS because they could not handle the strain of paying for college and private school during a recession.

Enrollment drop is largest in our history

by Adam Weinberger

see ENROLLMENT page 2

Barack oBama time Just outside of the East Wing of the White House, 22 seniors along with chaperones Victoria Ball, Michael Kay, Roslyn Landy, Robin Shapiro and David Solomon gather for a group picture. Unfortunately, the seniors did not get to see President Barack Obama because he was on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

On Aug. 27, 22 seniors got to experience American his-tory firsthand by touring the East Wing of the White House.

After walking through the visitor entrance building, the seniors stopped in the White House Library, which contains hundreds of important books by American authors. The next stop was inside the Vermeil Room, which still serves as a la-dies sitting room and is home to a large collection of gilded silver.

While touring the White House, many seniors noticed that the East Wing seemed to be more of a museum than part of America’s central command center.

Senior Sydney Liss said, “The White House just seemed more like a museum and so [it] wasn’t as meaningful as I thought.”

“It was cool to be in the white house but at the same time there wasn’t much to see and it was just a place for enter-taining,” senior Ezra Rudman said.

The next stop was the China Room which displays the White House’s vast collection of fine china plates. Directly next to the China Room, the seniors stopped in the East Room which hosts many social events and is the largest

room in the entire White House. “It is used for receptions, ceremonies, press conferences, and other events. It has been the scene of several weddings, including those of Nel-lie Grant, Alice Roosevelt and Lynda Bird Johnson,” The White House National Park Service guide stated.

In every room, the seniors encountered Secret Service guards who answered questions and provided historical in-formation.

“The security guards were very interesting and funny. They told stories about meeting celebrities who visit the White House, going on campaign trips around the country with all the presidential candidates, and overall were very knowledgeable,” senior Daniel Himmelfarb said.

Next to the East Room, the seniors saw the Green Room which has been used as a sitting room, a lodging room and as a card room. Keeping up with the color themed rooms, the seniors next saw the Blue Room which is used by the president to receive guests.

Similar to the Blue Room, the Red Room is “used for small receptions, [and] has long been a favorite of the first ladies. John Adams used [it] as a breakfast room,” accord-ing to the White House National Park Service guide.

The final stop on the tour was the State Dinning Room, which hosts formal dinners and has a quote from John Ad-

ams carved into the mantel that reads, “I pray heaven to be-stow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”

All in all, most seniors enjoyed the visit even though the tour was short and was self-guided. “The White House Trip was a great opportunity and I was really glad [that] I went. I liked seeing inside The White House and sharing that mo-ment with people in my grade made it even more of a spe-cial moment,” senior Lauren Garfinkle said.

“I loved having the opportunity to go on the tour with the students and to spend some time with the seniors. It was also wonderful to see our alumni [Josh Lipsky and Julie Sie-gel] there who helped give the tour,” Academic Dean David Solomon said.

by David Goldstein

hittiNg the Books Freshman Ethan Walfish peruses The Book Thief, which was the required book for the fresh-man class to read over the summer. Besides The Book Thief, the freshman class, along with the rest of the school, had to read a book from the list of book club books, chosen by teachers of various departments and seniors. Students will meet in book clubs during the year.

photo by Valerie Cohen

photo courtesy of Robin Shapiro

thelion’stale

September 1, 2009News2

Although many students fail to realize it, they are not the only ones who like to spend summers far away from school. This sum-mer JDS teachers spent their summers in many different and adventrous locations.

Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teach-er Paul Blank spent six weeks in Israel over the summer during which he hiked 400 kilo-meters from Kibbutz Dan to Tel Aviv.

“I had tons of wonderful experiences, great and sometimes difficult hiking,” Blank

said. Blank’s experiences and difficulties hik-

ing included having to deal with a forest fire and a murder scene.

“I was a witness in a murder investiga-tion when I hiked in an area where a mur-dered body was found,” Blank said.

Math teacher Victoria Ball also went hik-ing.

“I camped in the Shenandoahs, which was blissful—aside from the minor heart at-tack upon finding a black bear on the trail I was hiking. Being eaten by a bear is pretty much my number one greatest fear, but the whole to-do ended up being tremendously anticlimactic. The bear noticed I was en-croaching upon its territory, and instead of mauling me, it just ran away,” she said.

Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teach-er Mathew Lipman and his family traveled to England and Israel. In Israel he attended a two week seminar for Judaic studies teach-ers in which he got a new perspective on teaching through various workshops.

“I took a yoga class for the first time in a session called Torah yoga which was very interesting to see how the study of two very different disciplines can interact to enhance each other,” Lipman said, “It was also a chance to see family and friends that I hadn’t seen for a long time and to eat at some very good kosher restaurants!”

Hiking and the promised landby Nathan Forman

Swine flu preparation

BlaNk By the sea Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teacher Paul Blank’s trip took an unexpected turn when he needed to testify in a murder investigation.

photo courtesy of Paul Blank

According to the Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention (CDC), the swine flu (H1N1) virus has already caused a total of 522 American fatalities in its 32-week activity. However, a re-port by the President’s Council of Advi-sors on Science and Technology warned that the flu could spread and cause up to 90,000 additional deaths. According to school Nurse Rhona Longman, JDS is taking precautions in order to minimize the spread of the virus.

“We are going to have Purel hand sanitizer in every classroom and we are going to clean the keyboards, tele-phones, and doorknobs with alcohol,” Longman said. “The nurses are teaming up with the technology department to clean all the computers and keyboards more than once a day. The school jani-tors also clean the school every night,” Longman said.

The school’s nurses also stress the importance of following good sanitary rules to avoid getting sick.

“We will encourage students to wash their hands, avoid sharing food, and to sneeze in their elbow or a tissue. One way we hope to prevent the spread of

swine flu is to require students who feel ill to go to the health room. If they have a fever, they will be sent home immedi-ately,” Longman said.

The school also plans to follow the CDC’s suggestion that sick students should not return to school unless they have been fever free for 24 hours with-out the aid of medicine.

As for possible school closings, Longman said that JDS will not neces-sarily follow Montgomery County.

“If the flu gets bad, our school will make its own decision about whether to close. We will not necessarily follow Montgomery County. Mr. Cannon will oversee the school’s swine flu policies and will make his decision,” Longman said.

Overall, Longman believes that the school is prepared for the possible out-break.

“We are as prepared as we can be without knowing exactly what will hap-pen. We know what to look for, and any child who is feeling ill should stay home and any ill child at school should go to the health room,” she said.

According to the CDC, people infect-ed with the swine flu will likely show symptoms of a fever, cough, sore throat, a runny nose and body aches.

by David Goldstein

“We really wanted to stay but recognize that financial demands on the school have increased. We had one student leaving [to college] and we really wanted to keep the remaining student at JDS, but the school couldn’t provide enough aid to keep two children,” Nisha Shrier, mother of junior Gideon, said. Shrier now attends a public high school.

“Well originally I was going to leave in ninth grade, but it just did not work out be-cause my mother still wanted me in a Jewish community where everyone was ‘friends’ and it was loving. So I stayed an extra year.

It pretty much came down to this year just having my brother and sister in college, when I was at JDS it was pretty much pay-ing for three kids in college, it was tough. I also left to play more sports,” sophomore Clint Lesser said. “The economy had a huge effect. I first said before ninth grade to my parents, ‘I will go to public school to save our family some money,’ but my parents did not care....now we have a $23-25,000 lift off us from now on,” he said.

Only time will tell what the future holds for the fates of enrollment and tutiton.

One thing that is for certain, though, is that this school year will have fewer stu-dents than any time since 1999.

ENROLLMENT, from page 1 Enrollment 1999-2009

1100

1150

1200

1250

1300

1350

1400

1450

1500

1550

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009Year

Enro

llmen

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less kids, more moNey? Tutition has increased steadily since 2000 but enrollment has varied greatly. After peaking in 2004 at 1515 students, JDS had seen a steady decrease of about 25 students per year until this year’s estimated loss of 100 students. The causes of this sudden decrease are the economic recession and the graduation of a large class. The estimated 1300 students to attend JDS this year would be the smallest group since the 1267 students in 1999 when the the Upper School campus first opened.

College guidance’s fresh face

Susan Rexford has been named the first director of college guidance in the newly re-organized College Counseling Department.

As she is a new face in a new position it may take a while for her role to be defined.

“Since I’m the first the person to have this job, I’m not one hundred percent sure how it’s going to evolve yet but one of the things that I’m hoping to do is to make this process and this program as accessible and as stress free and as friendly to students as I possibly can,” Rexford said.

According to Dean of Students Roslyn Landy, the director of college guidance is like a department chair. She will have her own college case load, organize college rep-resentatives’ visists and help out with the whole college process.

Rexford went to Winthrop University for undergraduate school and the University of Hawaii for graduate school. She has a degree in political science and international stud-ies.

She joined JDS after spend-ing 23 years as a college coun-selor and history teacher at West Springfield High School in Fairfax County, Virginia.

“I was in a large public high school. It’s different, but teenagers are the same everywhere, you have same interests, the same likes, the same dislikes... I think the thing that I’ve noticed maybe

the most, is how genuinely kind and caring everyone has been here, and the students are polite and respectful, but at the same time they’re still teenagers. And faculty and the staff have been so warm and welcoming that I feel like I’ve been here for a long time al-ready,” Rexford said.

In terms of how she will affect the college counseling department as a whole, Rexford said, “I’m not sure there will be huge chang-es, but like I said, one of the biggest goals is to make sure this is a personal process. I want the students to get to know me, I want them to know all the colleges counselors in the office. And I’m hoping that I’ll bring a little bit of a different perspective maybe be-cause I’ve been in the business a long time, I’ve made friends all the over country and I’m hoping I can bring that interest and ex-citement to JDS.”

by Adam Weinberger

photo by Josh RaananBright New face New Director of College guidance Su-san Rexford hopes to bring her vast experience to JDS.

Tuition 1999-2009

Enrollment 1999-2009

Year

Year

Tuiti

onEn

rollm

ent

1999 2000 20022001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

11001150

12001250

1300

13501400

1450

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thelion’staleSeptember 1, 2009 Editorial 3

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lion’stale

Editors-in-ChiefValerie Cohen

David Goldstein

Managing EditorBenjamin Block

News EditorAdam Weinberger

ass’t: Joshua Boxerman

Feature EditorDanny Schwaber

David Weinberg

Israel EditorDaniel Liss

ass’t: Eitan Sayag

In-Depth EditorKyle Hardgrave

Sports EditorsJeremy Lynn

Joshua Walfish

Imaging EditorsJoshua Raanan

Web EditorDaniel Liss

ReportersRanana Dine, Nathan Forman, Joshua Handelman, Scott Goldstein, Michael

Greenberg, Eitan Schaperow, Ethan Walfish

PhotographersJoshua Raanan

Advertising ManagerJoshua Tessler

ass’t: Nathan Forman

Business Task Force ManagersBenjamin Block

Thomas GuttermanEzra Rudman

Business Task ForceAri Blask, Gabrielle Charnoff,

Max Cutler, Jeremy Halpern, Daniel Himmelfarb, Kyle Hardgrave,

Daniel Kolender, Joshua Walfish

Faculty AdviserSamantha Gendler

Adviser EmeritaSusan Zuckerman

Member: Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Maryland Scholastic Press Association, National Scholastic Press

Association, Quill and Scroll

Recipient: CSPA Silver Crown, Gold Medalist Award; MSPA Marylander Award; Quill and Scroll George H. Gallup Award

The Lion’s Tale is a forum for student expression. Its purpose is to inform the CES/JDS community and to express the views of

its staff and readers. The staff has made every effort to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of its news. Editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the LT board. The Lion’s Tale encour ages its readers to write letters to the editor and reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. All

letters must be typed and signed. Letters may be e-mailed to lionstale@cesjds.org.

Published by the students of the Upper SchoolCharles E. Smith Jewish Day School

Annette M. & Theodore N. Lerner Family Upper School Campus

11710 Hunters Lane Rockville, MD 20852phone: 301.881.1404 fax: 301.230.1986

www.lionstale.org

New teacher hirings in the face of layoffs The Lion’s Tale staff does not believe

that the administration should have hired seven new teachers considering the fact that over the summer about two times that amount were let go.

It is quite hypocritical for the adminis-tration to proclaim to have such great def-icits that the school is unable to function with its staff size, and then to come back the following year only to extend job of-fers to new faces.

From a business point of view, it is understood that typically the more years that one works, the higher their salary is expected to be.

According to that mantra, the best strategy for a failing company is to get rid of its experienced and deserving veterans

and bring in brand new teachers. As this strategy may work on Wall

Street, it is just not applicable in an insti-tutional setting. In a school, the students are the benefactors of a prospering school.

The difference between JDS and Wall Street is that the clientele, or students, base their opinion of the institution’s suc-cess on the school’s ability to retain ex-cellent faculty rather than posting a profit.

From the kindergarten to the senior class, students at JDS are taught to treat their friends and colleagues like family of their own.

The school has proven how frail this relationship truly is, and how easily it feels that it can be forged.

It is difficult to think of JDS as being

a business, when its true objective should always be to do what’s best for the learn-ing minds that enter its doors every day of the school year.

Discarding veteran teachers who clear-ly know what they are doing and who have proven themselves capable over the years will never be a profitable plan.

Hiring new individuals, no matter how impressive their resumes read, will always lack the invaluable experience of having lived in the JDS community.

Had the administration kept what’s best for the students in mind, it would not have traded some of the rarest teachers in the world, the ones who share a strong mutual bond and love of learning with its indebted student body, for any reason.

As someone who always does the sum-mer reading, I know that there is something to be gained from the summer reading books I have been assigned over the years. I think, however, that there are many other books out there from which students can learn. That is why I think serious consideration needs to be made into revising our school’s summer reading program, so students opinions are brought into consideration.

I know that for students and teachers the summer ends too quickly. So for schoolwork to become a part of summer, it has to really be worthwhile. A department should only assign summer reading if the conclusion has been made that this book would compliment what we are learning in school or would tru-ly expand on students’ knowledge base in a way they could not get otherwise.

I think though that even more things need to be considered. While I am sure depart-

ments discuss whether or not students will appreciate the books, I do not think student happiness is always valued high enough. Certainly our considerations are heard and changes have been made. For example the English department did cut back the junior class’s summer reading assignment to only part 1 of its book, Everything Bad Is Good for You after students complained that the book was repetitive.

However, more consideration for stu-dents’ wants would increase student read-ership. That is not to say that deep books cannot be picked, but departments must books that have topics that would appeal for students. For example, The Kite Runner was overwhelmingly popular with my grade when we read it before sophomore year. Book club is a great way to help find books that appeal to students’ interest, but more has to be done to truly capture students’ in-

terest in learning.I would be lying if I claimed that I had not

considered on multiple occasions not finish-ing my summer reading. There are without doubt bolder students than me who do not do their summer reading. Perhaps eliminat-ing superfluous summer reading would help with this goal. I had four summer reading books this year and truthfully I have been sorely tempted to not finish reading them.

At the very least I think a better system needs to be in place for reviewing summer reading books and the books we read in general. Perhaps a separate survey from our teacher/course evaluations or a discussion with a teacher that does not teach us would help the school departments. Although un-doubtedly there will always be students who do not do their summer reading, this check and balance could help improve the effec-tiveness of the summer reading program.

When a college essay prompt asks you to describe yourself in 400 words or less, what do you write? Not surprisingly, Adam Sandler was unable to answer the very ques-tion that my fellow seniors and I may have to address on our college applications.

The conversation that Sandler had with Jack Nicholson in the movie Anger Manage-ment perfectly illustrates how difficult col-lege essay writing can sometimes be:

Nicholson: Who are you?Sandler: Well, I am an executive assis-

tant at a major pet products company.Nicholson: I don’t want you to tell us

what you do. I want you to tell us who you are.

Sandler: All right. I’m a pretty good guy. I like playing tennis on occasion....

Nicholson: Also, not your hobbies, Just simple: Tell us who you are.

Sandler: I just.... Maybe you could

give me an example of what a good answer would be.

What did you say?Nicholson: You want Lou to tell you who

you are?Sandler: I’m a nice, easygoing man. I

might be a little bit indecisive at times.Nicholson: You’re describing your per-

sonality. I want to know who you are.

Hoping to do a better job than Adam Sandler, I attempted to answer the very same question. Here’s what I got after 10 minutes of intense thought: “I am a fun, confident person who enjoys meeting new people and trying new experiences.” Now, does every-body know who I am?

Ultimately, the question “who are you” may be difficult to answer because human beings project different images of them-selves in different social situations. As the famous psychologist William James ob-

served, “We may practically say that he has as many different social selves as there are distinct groups of persons about whose opin-ion he cares.” Simply put, a person will try to appear “tough” in front of his “gangster” type friends and then may quote Shake-speare so that he can fit in with his more in-tellectual friends. How then can we write an essay describing who we are if we are con-stantly changing the way we act to get what we want in social interactions?

Perhaps, the answer is to write about something that fundamentally makes up who you are as a person. Is there a set of values that defines you? What is something that you will never change about yourself no matter who you are with?

I mean c’mon, who are you?

By the way, this essay is exactly 400 words.

David Goldstein

The SchmoozeCOLLEGE ESSAY: Who are you? (Essay should not exceed 400 words)

Valerie Cohen

The VALid VoiceSummer reading revisement is necessary

thelion’stale

September 1, 2009 In-Depth4

EITAN GUTIN is the new director of programs and Jewish life. He received his B.A. in political science from Rutgers University. His teaching experience comes in the form of four years at a Solomon Schechter High School in Teaneck, N.J., and an extensive history in Jewish programming. Gutin ran his own sound

company and hopes to bring more multimedia to the JDS student experience including . . . wait for it . . . the school’s own YouTube channel.

The last book that Gutin read was American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, and his favorite summer movie was Up, though he did not yet see Inglourious Basterds. He has been a Tarantino fan since Pulp Fiction came out when he was in high school.

Gutin is neutral toward the next season of House, rating his excitment level on a scale of one to excited as “five.”

Gutin

Nick Rich is one of two new science teachers. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Towson University, and a master’s in chemistry from Florida State, where he worked as a teaching assistant for two years.

Rich enjoys skiing, white-water rafting and watching football—he’s a Ravens fan. The last book he read was The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor who gave a famous lecture on achieving one’s dreams.

Although Rich has never seen the show, he rated himself “excited” on a scale from one to excited for the new season of House.

The Critics Are Raving

ABOUT OUR NEW STAFFXRabbi Stephanie Gros (pronounced grow) is the new teacher in the Jewish Text, Thought and Practice Department.

Born in Paris, she grew up in Riverdale, N.Y., attending Jewish day schools. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with dual

degrees in marketing and Chinese studies and she earned her rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she also graduated from the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education. She has an array of teaching experience, including work at Camp Ramah and Jewish day schools, as well as adult education.

The last book that Rabbi Gros read (and reread and reread) was Baby 411, since she has a 12-week-old baby daughter she has been taking care of over the summer, an experience that she looks forward to sharing with her students.

Her hobbies include skiing and reading, especially about anything to do with China or Asia, and collecting perfume bottles.

Pete Vanderburgh is the new help desk technician. Though he has been in information technology since the late 90s, his degree is in theater from Susquehanna University. Before becoming involved in IT, Vanderburgh had a professional stage acting career for nearly a

decade in New Jersey and New York. Originally from Maryland, Vanderburgh

now keeps himself busy with pottery and home improvement. The last book he read was Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, and his favorite recent movie was Startrack.

Vanderburgh was the only new staff member who watches House on a regular basis and rated himself “eight” on a scale from one to excited for the new season.

help desk technicians

thelion’stale

September 1, 2009 In-Depth 5

Susan Rexford, the new director of college guidance, graduated from Winthrop University with a bachelor’s in history and then received her master’s degree in political science and international studies from University of Hawaii. She has worked in college counseling for 23 years at a West Springfield High School in Fairfax County, Va.

In perfect college counselor fashion, she is currently reading Harvard Schmarvard by Jay Mathews, a Harvard alumnus, about the importance of finding a good college fit.

Aside from reading, Rexford is an active antique collector, and loves to go shopping for antique plates and furniture, among other things. Rexford has lived in a number of different places, including Japan, South Korea and Honolulu, and she rated herself as “one” on a scale of one to excited for the new season of House.

The Critics Are Raving

ABOUT OUR NEW STAFFX

Aron Jacob is the new study hall teacher. He holds a degree in Talmudic law from the Yeshiva Greater Washington (YGW) and a master’s in education from the George Washington University. His experience is in teaching English to struggling students.

Jacob enjoys learning Torah, and he is currently working on earning his rabbinic ordination from YGW. His hobbies also include hiking, cooking, theater and reading, and he is currently in the middle of Stephen King’s Different Seasons.

Jacob once drove around the country, starting in his hometown of Houston and

only sleeping in a tent in national parks. Jacob has an 11-month-old son and described rated himself a “one” on a scale of one to excited for House.

Pete Vanderburgh is the new help desk technician. Though he has been in information technology since the late 90s, his degree is in theater from Susquehanna University. Before becoming involved in IT, Vanderburgh had a professional stage acting career for nearly a

decade in New Jersey and New York. Originally from Maryland, Vanderburgh

now keeps himself busy with pottery and home improvement. The last book he read was Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, and his favorite recent movie was Startrack.

Vanderburgh was the only new staff member who watches House on a regular basis and rated himself “eight” on a scale from one to excited for the new season.

GARY SKOWRONSKI is also a new science teacher. He went to Michigan State University for his bachelor’s in chemistry and chemical physics and then to the University of Central Michigan for his master’s in chemistry. A Michigan native, Skowronski came to Maryland to work on

his Ph.D. but decided to put it off, instead getting a jumpstart on his teaching career.

Skowronski loves hockey and is working on making himself a Caps fan. The last book he read was Uncle John’s Gigantic Bathroom Reader, a collection of articles and miscellanea for ideal on-the-john perusing. He enjoys playing Scrabble and video games, particularly Final Fantasy and Mario, and he rated himself 4½ excited for the new season of House.

Interestingly, Skowronski has had two other last names before this one.

Steve Manley, the newest member to the staff, is the history teacher. He graduated from Mount St. Mary’s with a bachelor’s in secondary social studies education and he is currently pursuing master work in education administration at the George Washington University. Originally born in Wilmington, Del., he has been living in the District for the past seven years and worked for a year as a D.C. tour guide.

The last book that Manley read was Watchmen, which he reread after seeing the movie. He enjoys

all types of biking and traveling—he has been to France, Thailand, Ireland and Costa Rica. On a scale of one to excited, Manley rated himself “six” for the next season of House.

thelion’stale

September 1, 2009Israel6

On July 6, JDS employed a new director of programs and Jewish life, Eitan Gutin. Gutin previously spent four years as Jewish life coordinator at the Solomon Schechter High School in Teaneck, New Jersey.

One of Gutin’s goals is to encourage more student input in planning Jewish life programming.

“One large area [of improvement] is in the area of the stu-dent involvement in crafting the Jewish life in the school,” Gutin said. “My goal is to slowly have more of the choices determining Jewish life be student made. What I hope to bring to the school is a real sense of positive passion for Jewish involvement.”

Another area Gutin has plans to focus on is minyan. “We’re going to see some changes in the Upper School minyan program in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. Connected to that is going to be better training. [I want] the seventh and eighth grade students [to lead] minyanim,” Gu-tin said.

As the director of Jewish life, Gutin has his own opinions about the state of Israel.

“We should always be comfortable having a debate with each other about the state and it’s governments, but we should be careful about how we speak about Israel to the world,” Gutin said.

In addition to serving his post as director of Jewish life, Gutin will be teaching for the Jewish Text, Thought and Practices department and will be producing the middle school and high school theatrical shows.

Gutin believes that the Jewish life programming at JDS is already strong. He hopes to improve and strengthen it in the future.

Gutin hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the school, without fundamentally changing Judaic programs.

“One obligation within Jewish life is to keep doing what is going well. [JDS does not have] a program that needs any major surgery. We need to build on successes here. Things like the way the school celebrates Purim. It isn’t really nec-essary to reinvent the wheel or any other clichés like that.”

New director for Israel programming

Partnership with Israeli high school, teachers meetThrough a new initiative, JDS will be partnering with

the Israeli Har-Tuv Regional High School. At a summit in Israel from June 28 to July 7, teachers Aileen Goldstein, Janet Ozur Bass and Kelly Enochson learned how to cre-ate and maintain an effective school partnership that breeds understanding between schools.

The initiative, which will bring together JDS and Har-Tuv, aims to build a sense of connection and community between students from both regions. The initiative was or-ganized through Partnership 2000, a program cosponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

“The idea behind Partnership 2000 is to pair Diaspora Jewish communities with communities in Israel. To give Israel a personal face...and to give Diaspora communities a central [feeling of connection] with Israel,” said Ina Ler-man, director of the Israel and overseas department for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. “[JDS] is specifi-cally participating in the Gesher Hai [subprogram] of Part-nership 2000, which partners schools.”

by Daniel Liss

by Jacob Schaperow

July 13 – Maccabiah Olympics holds opening cer-emony at Ramat Gan National Stadium.

July 23 – New Jersey corruption investigation ends with arrest of 44, including five Rabbis.

August 1 – Gunman kills two and injures 15 at club for gay teenagers in a homophobic attack in Tel Aviv.

August 4 – Fatah holds first conference in 20 years. Media describes it as “stormy.”

August 6 – Human Rights Watch says Hamas rocket attacks violated international law.

August 9 – Fatah backs plan for two-state solu-tion, deepening its rift with Hamas. Ehud Barak says the new platform is “not very promising.”

August 10 – In response to mortar firings, Israel bombs smuggling tunnel connecting Gaza to Egypt.

August 12 – Hamas official says Israel should give in to an agreement to release the captured soldier Gi-lad Shalit in return for 450 prisoners. Israel does not ultimately agree.

August 12 – Mermaid is spotted at beach in Krivat Yam. The town council offers $1,000,000 reward to anyone with proof it exists.

August 14 – UN Human Rights chief says Israel violated international law and basic human rights; in the December-January campaign into Gaza and in the blockade surrounding the military operation.

Har-Tuv is one of three secular re-gional schools on the Judean plain. It is located on kibbutz Tzora.

“Most students [at Har-Tuv] come from secular backgrounds,” Goldstein said. “The school has a very solid, good reputation.”

Although Har-Tuv is similar to JDS in many ways, its classes are about twice as large as those at JDS, on aver-age. This creates a different classroom dynamic.

“[At Har-Tuv] teachers and students have a much more informal relation-ship. Teachers are called by their first names. There are many more students in each classroom. Everything is more casual and less strict in terms of behav-ior,” Enochson said.

The summit, where representatives of Partnership 2000 schools met, con-sisted of seminars and curriculum plan-ning sessions.

“The seminars we went to [at the summit]...focused a lot on the difference between what it means to be Jewish in the Diaspora countries, specifically in the United States, versus what it means to be Jewish living in Israel,” said Enochson. “There is a difference in how people identify themselves in those two areas, and [we learned] different ways we could use this in the classroom.”

The teachers also extensively discussed the concept of “Jewish peoplehood,” or what it is that connects the Jewish people of different regions.

“Jewish peoplehood is the sense that, across borders, continents and cultures, there are shared elements of what it means to be Jewish that unite and bond [Jews] together as one people,” Goldstein said. “It is the concept that be-ing part of a Jewish community is being part of something ... global in nature that is made up of Jews of all different colors, backgrounds, countries, and socioeconomic level.”

The initiative will be featured primarily in Ozur Bass and Enochson’s eighth grade classes this year.

“In one activity, the students at JDS will be responsible

for teaching the students at Har-Tuv [various lessons] and vice versa,” Lerman said. “The idea for this [activity] will be to look at Jewish people hood as a gift...what does such a gift look like and how do you give it to other people.”

In the fall, the administration plans to assess the pro-gram’s success and decide whether to expand it.

“If the pilot proves successful, our [long term] goal is to expand the opportunities of partnership to as many places as possible,” Goldstein said. “I would like to grow this pro-gram up [into higher grades] and down [into lower grades].”

The teachers involved in the pilot have expressed high hopes for the partnership.

“A lot of schools have exchange students programs and pen pal programs,” Enochson said. “But I like this partner-ship in particular because it focuses on what it is that gives our students a natural connection to the students in Israel, rather than what makes them different.”

“JDS has a great team of teachers working on [the ini-tiative] and we at the federation are excited to see how the program unfolds,” Lerman said.

In the news

This July, Operation Understanding DC (OUDC) select-ed 15 African American and 15 Jewish students from the Greater Washington area to tour the Southern United States while promoting dialogue and friendship between the two communities.

Seniors Samantha Bressman, Ari Melinger-Cohen, Jer-emy Halpern, and Daniel Kolender were among the students selected for the trip.

“I think one of the main issues like racial tension and class tension that we still have in the country and in the world is because we don’t understand the differences be-tween each culture and we don’t really understand each other,” Kolender said.

Before embarking on the trip, the OUDC students met

biweekly to discuss intercultural relations and interact.After arriving in New York City, the group flew to North

Carolina to continue their trip.“I really liked Harlem in New York mainly because of

how different it was from how I thought it was going to be,” Kolender says, “When I went there, I felt this immediately, like a great sense of community.”

Once in the South, they toured through Georgia, Ala-bama, Mississippi and Tennessee, much like the Freedom Riders.

“I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I kind of live in a more sheltered community…with a Jewish school, Jewish camps, a nice neighborhood in a nice area,” Kolender said. “OUDC has allowed me to see what’s there and the prob-lems that still exist.”

Even though the trip has ended, the students are still giv-ing speeches about their experiences.

Operation Understanding D.C. takes students down southby Eitan Sayag

Compiled by Ranana Dine with help from ABC News, Haaretz, New York Times, and BBC News.

discussing curriculums Teachers Aileen Goldstein, Janet Ozur Bass and Kelly Enochson plan joint projects with Har-Tuv teachers for their eighth grade classes.

photo courtesy of Janet Ozur Bass

oudc is a commuNity The members of OUDC gather for a group picture during their two week tour of the South.

photo courtesy of Sammy Bressman

thelion’stale

September 1, 2009 Feature 7

Everything Bad Is Good for You by Steven Johnson examines how popular media and culture is, contrary to popu-lar belief, actually making us smarter. Johnson proves his thesis by explaining that popular media is becoming more complex and challenging the populace more than ever. The author draws ex-amples from a wide range of topics. He uses these examples to show how the

media of 20 years ago was much simpler than the media of today. My favorite example was the comparison of the cop dramas of the ’80s and the cop dramas of today. The author showed that the populace today could handle more complex plot lines and multiple characters stories.

While I agree with Johnson’s hypothesis, the book was a hard read. The author started off very compellingly but his argument never progressed past the original theory. He flat-lined and the remainder of the book just reproved the original argument over and over again. The book read as a giant never-ending rant for popular media. The author would have been more served to delve deeper into his ideas then repeating them.

7:45 a.m.: I’m forced out of bed even though it feels like it is February not July. It’s time for another fun-filled day at Capital Camps!

8-8:30 a.m.: Byachad, also known as dancing, national anthems, sports report and some type of song to stall be-cause breakfast isn’t ready.

8:30 a.m.: Breakfast, most likely eggs. Yum. 9:30 a.m.: While most of camp is returning to their cab-

ins to clean, the CITs are heading to arts and crafts to make piñatas. Why are we doing this? you may ask. Because we have just gotten back from a week-long trip to Argentina and piñatas are also Latin.

11:30 a.m.: The Viking game (a game in which everyone must fall asleep and dream about Vikings, the first one to wake up loses).

12:15 p.m.: I am now regretting putting on a sweatshirt this morning because it now seems to be 1,000 degrees and I am sweating profusely and now I have to be energetic be-cause we are going to eat lunch with our assigned cabins.

12:30 p.m.: Lunch, most likely pasta, and there is most likely not enough to feed all 14 campers, plus four counsel-ors, plus me. I don’t have time to eat because the girls inhale food at a rate that should be studied by scientists and I am asked to go and fill the containers so they can have more. Their stomachs are bottomless pits.

1:30 p.m.: Rest hour. Return for another out-of-control round of the Viking game.

2:30 p.m.: I get up from my nap and meet the girls at their “art” activity for the day, shira. This is where we meet with my favorite person at camp, the song leader Shimon. One of my counselors has her day off so I am alone with

the kids and they keep telling me that their favorite song is “Boom Boom Pow” and how come Shimon can’t play that?

3:30 p.m.: First trip to the mirpa’ah (infirmary) because some girls “don’t feel good,” that is, they don’t want to play basketball, the next activity for the day.

3:45 p.m.: We meet the rest of the cabin at basketball because the nurse told all four girls with me that they aren’t sick and they have to participate in the activity.

4:30 p.m.: Second trip to the mirpa’ah because another girl has “twisted her ankle.” After my camper is told that her ankle is fine she skips off to shower hour.

5:00 p.m. Shower hour! My roommates and I vent about the crazy girls in our cabins and figure out our outfits to match the theme dinner.

6:15 p.m.: We head to dinner because the before-dinner dance party is the best one of the day! We find our cabins and show them our out of sight dance moves before heading into dinner.

6:45 p.m.: Dinner, this is meat. Yum. 7:45 p.m.: After dinner it is time to have evening pro-

gram. The counselors are tired so I take over and get them involved with the activity.

9:00 p.m.: Cabin time: I walk all the way up the Reich hill and sit there with them doing their nails for 20 minutes, then it is bed time.

10:00 p.m.: It appears that everyone has left and I am forced with the inner battle of either facing my fears by walking down the hill alone or finding someone to walk with me. I walk alone.

10:20 p.m.: I get back to the leadership center and every-one is already there getting ready for our evening program,

I have to rush to get ready.10:30 p.m.: Jell-O wrestling! I say that I want to do it so

I jump in against someone who’s a lot stronger than me. The battle does not last long.

11:15 p.m.: After wrestling and cleaning ourselves off we do our usual, end our day with a raucous game of Apples to Apples.

12:00 a.m. I know I will have to do this all over again the next day so I give in my cards and go to bed so I can be rested for tomorrow.

Nervous Conditions, by Ts-itsi Dangarembga, is narrated by an impoverished African teenage girl named Tambudzai (Tambu). Throughout Nervous Conditions, Tambu switches between the adult Tambu, and the child Tambu.

The novel describes Tam-bu’s journey toward the educa-tion she so desperately wants. However, Tambu’s family can only afford to send their son,

Nhamo, to school. When she first enters school, Tambu swears to herself

that she will work hard, earn money, and lift her family out of poverty.

Tambu begins to question her earlier plan in life. I enjoyed that the book did not belittle the struggles of women in Africa.

The book described many of their obstacles very well, including the struggle between becoming educated

in Western ways while still retaining one’s African cul-ture.

Tambu’s mother was critical of her receiving a West-ern education because each time Nhamo returned from school, he became more and more lazy, refusing to his chores.

I thought Dangarembga described all the hardships very well.

Yet, I did not like the fact that, about half-way through the book, the plot grew confusing and took too long to develop. Yet, for a first novel, Nervous Conditions is a great beginning. One of the things that makes the novel so successful was that Dangarembga drew from her own experience, growing up in Zimbabwe as a child, and at-tending the missionary school there.

From the ages two to six, her family moved to Eng-land, and she experienced a completely different culture in which women are treated very differently.

This confusion, and pull of dual cultures makes Nya-sha’s struggle read particularly authentic. I also like how Dangarembga often uses Zimbabwean words without giving definitions, it makes the narration feel more real.

The complex characters and multilayered plot of Ner-vous Conditions makes it a good read that brings to light the hardships faced by women in Africa.

a in the of...Michelle Koblenz trucks through a day as a CIT in Capital Camps

by Scott Goldstein

rockiN the coyote Michelle stops for a second during lunch in the dining hall at camp to make a face during one of the CITs’ competitions. Two CITs would make a face at one another and the first to laugh lost.

photo courtesy of Michelle Koblenz

For some, O’Brien’s distinction be-tween “story-truth” and “happening-truth” will be a cop-out, a way to justify writing while avoiding dealing with the moral ambiguity that comes from telling a story that looks and feels true but is not. For others, though, O’Brien’s sto-ries will reveal the essence of what it

means to be a good writer, conveying the truest and deep-est sense of an experience in a way that the straight facts of the experience might not have been able to.

Ultimatley, The Things They Carried is worth that persistent itch of doubt that comes with reading it, and I would recommend it not only as a compelling read but as an illuminating look into writing and war.

SUMMER READING BOOK REVIEWS, from page 1

by David Weinberg

Everything Bad Is Good for You is repetitious

Nervous Conditions comes across authentic

The Book Thief is about a girl named Liesel living in Germany in the 1940s. She came to Germany with her mom and brother; her mom lacked the finances to support them so she placed them up for adoption. On the train ride over Liesel’s

brother got sick and died. By his graveside she discovers the book The Grave Digger’s Handbook, her first stolen book. Liesel moves in with her adopted family.

They were a poor family that had just enough money to live. One day a stranger comes up to the family’s door and asked if it was 33 Himmel Street. The father said it was and let the stranger in because he had no where else to go. He was Jewish and at this time if the Nazis found a Jew in your house you were dead. He lived in the basement.

I liked the plot of the book. It was a great story but it was written poorly. Parts had no connection to the story and I feel like it was pointless and sometimes boring. I recom-mend this book to people because it was an interesting story and there are surprises in the book. Overall it was a good book because the story was very intriguing and it made me want to keep reading the book.

The Book Thief, a great story written poorly

by Ethan Walfish

thelion’stale

8

Sp o r t SSeptember 1, 2009

When junior Max Kershner woke up on Aug. 3 he was not in his suburban Maryland home, but rather was in his host family’s house in San Francisco. Kershner was one of three JDS students who competed for the JCC of Greater Washington in the 2009 JCC Maccabi Games in San Fran-cisco during the week of Aug. 2.

Kershner, along with freshman Ethan Walfish, went on to win the gold medal with the boys U-16 soccer team. The team gave up one goal over the course of their seven games.

“It was a very great experience because I got to compete on behalf of the Greater Washington team and represent my hometown in a very friendly environment,” Kershner said.

Junior Michael Weinberg was one of the three JDS ath-lete who made the trip to San Francisco. He came home with seven track and field medals including a gold medal in the coed 4x100 relay. Weinberg also took home two silver medals and four bronze medals.

“The experience was really great. I was able to meet a lot of kids that I will keep in touch with and the competition at the games was incredible,” Weinberg said.

During the week of Aug. 16, 14 JDS students traveled

to Mid-Westchester, N.Y. to compete for Great-er Washington. The most successful athletes were the six girls who won medals in dance. Juniors Laura Citren, Adina Heckelman, Dani-elle Novick and Olivia Tomares teamed up with sophomores Stephanie Aseraph and Rebecca Fradkin to take home a combined 25 medals, including 16 gold medals, during the games.

Sophomore Joshua Singer competed with the boys U-16 baseball team and came home with a bronze medal from the consolation bracket.

In tennis, freshman twins Hannah and Shira Becker went to the New York games. However, Shira broke her leg before the trip and could not compete. Hannah won a gold medal.

Also making the trip to New York were junior Elan Loya (basketball), sophomore Alex Halpern (basketball), eighth-grader Jared Lichtman (soc-cer) and seventh-grader Joel Halpern (soccer). None of these athletes came home with medals.

Next year the games will be held in Omaha, Neb., Denver, Richmond, Va. and Baltimore.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday ThursdayAugust 31 1

BVS vs. St. Andrews - 4:30GVS @ St. Andrews - 4:00

2GVS vs. St. Johns - 4:30BJVS @ Washington Int’l - 5:00

3GVV vs. Grace Bretheren - 4:30

7 8GVV vs. Stoneridge - 4:15BVS @ Sandy Spring - 4:30

9 XC @ Sandy Spring - 4:00GVS vs. Sandy Spring - 4:30

10GMS vs. Edmund Burke - 4:15GVV @ Covenant Life - 4:30BJVS vs. Hebrew Academy - 5:30BMS vs. Edmund Burke - 5:30

14BJVS vs. Waldorf - 4:30BMS vs. Waldorf - 4:15GMS vs. Waldorf - 5:15

15BVS @ Montrose - 4:30GMV vs. Kendall - 4:15GVV @ Washington Int’l - 4:30GVS vs. Montrose - 4:30

16GMS @ Washington Int’l- 4:00BJVS vs. Edmund Burke - 4:30BMS @ Washington Int’l - 4:15

17GVV @ McLean - 4:30BMS vs. Field - 5:30GMS vs. Field - 4:15GVS vs. Queen Anne - 4:30XC @ Covenant Life - 4:00

21 22BVS @ Grace Brethren - 4:30GVS @ Grace Brethren - 4:30GVV vs. Montrose - 4:30BJVS vs. Hebrew Academy - 5:00

23XC @ Sandy Spring - 4:00BMS vs. St. Anselems - 4:15BJVS vs. Sandy Spring - 4:30

24GMS @ McLean - 4:15GVS @ Field - 4:30BVS vs. Field - 4:30GMV @ Sandy Spring - 4:30BMS @ McLean - 5:30

28 29XC @ Covenant Life - 4:00BVS @ St. Anselems - 4:30

30GMV vs. Covenant Life - 4:15GMS vs. Brookwood - 4:15BJVS vs. Washington Int’l - 4:30GVV vs. Covenant Life - 5:15BMS vs. Avalon - 5:30

thelion’stale

8

Sp o r t SSeptember 1, 2009

Medals galore for Greater Washington athletesby Jeremy Lynn and Joshua Walfish

photo courtesy of Hannah Becker

teNNis aNyoNe? Freshman Hannah Becker takes a quick break in between matches at the JCC Macca-bi Games in Mid-Westches-ter, N.Y. Becker took home a gold medal at the games in tennis. JDS sent three athletes to San Francisco and took home a total of nine medals for the Greater Washington delegation.

Sept

. Spo

rts

Sche

dule

At the beginning of practice, sixth-sea-son Track Coach Jason Belinkie pulls up in his gray coupe, wearing New Balance shoes and running clothes. As he walks to the blacktop where the team meets, he greets some of the runners as he passes by. After the standard two lap warm-up, he takes at-tendance from his blue clipboard, a well decorated accessory presented to him by last year’s graduates.

Belinkie is one of five staff members with Athletes for Hope, an organization that works with professional athletes on a daily basis by matching them with charities of in-terst to them.

The organization was founded in 2006 by tennis players Andre Agassi and Andrea Jaeger, boxer Muhammad Ali, cyclist Lance Armstrong, running back Warrick Dunn, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, soccer player Mia Hamm, extreme athlete Tony Hawk, track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee, hockey

player Mario Lemieux, basketball player Alonzo Mourning and baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr.

The organization became public in 2007 and as of now, has worked with more than 600 professional athletes and more than 800 charities. The mission of the program is to inform, support and aid athletes in their efforts to contribute to their community through charitable causes, to increase awareness of those efforts, and to motivate others to do the same.

At Athletes for Hope, Belinkie spe-cializes in fostering the relationship be-tween athletes and charities.

Belinkie and his staff spend many hours each week identifying charitable opportunities to which athletes can do-nate their time and name.

“I don’t think that it’s a realistic view that all athletes have a lot of money. It’s simply not true,” Belinkie said. “A pro athlete’s time can be just as valuable as his or her money, and Athletes for Hope

helps to ensure that all athletes, no matter how much money they have, can make an impact in their communities.”

Because of Athletes for Hope, athletes working with the organization are able to make a big impact on their communities. For example, the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team will film a public service an-nouncement for a charity called ThanksU-SA, which gives educational scholarships to children of military parents. Because this PSA will be distributed through many me-dia outlets between now and the 2010 World Cup, Belinkie believes that many more chil-dren will be able to find out about the pro-gram.

Other typical activities that the athletes participate in include: leading hospital vis-its, teaching soccer clinics and participating in domestic abuse prevention.

Belinkie, who has been with the organi-zation since its founding said that, “it’s been a very exciting and rewarding experience so far.”

Athletes For Hope changes perception of pro athletesby Michael Greenberg

by Joshua Ranaan

helpiNg others Coach Jason Belinkie is one of five staff members at Athletes For Hope.