The A ademy NewsT h e M a r s h a S t e r n T a l m u d i c a l A c a d e m y

September 2010 / tiShrei 5771 Volume lXVi, iSSue 1 2540 AmsterdAm Avenue, new York, nY 10033

Y e s h i v a U n i v e r s i t y H i g h S c h o o l f o r B o y s

Stan Weiss for The Academy News

An exclusive guide to MTA’s clubs and organizations.

Special:A Guide to MTA Clubs

See Pages 6-7

FeAture:Elon Gold

Half Jewish, Half Very JewishGraduate of MTA’s Class of ‘88 and nationally ac-claimed comedian Elon Gold discusses Shabbos, show business, and MTA Purim Shpeels.

See Pages 8-9

ContentsOpinion ............ 2-3School Events.......4Israel.....................5Special...............6-7Features............ 8-9Advertisements...10Sports..................11Under the Dome....12

Index

Shlomo Friedman The Academy News

According to the Webster Dictionary, the definition of a freshman is “a first-

year student”, and the definition of an orientation is an “introductory instruction concerning a new situation.” I think my own definition of the first couple of minutes as a freshman here at MTA was a quite a shock!

We have suddenly been transformed from the feared, revered, cool eighth graders to “lowly” freshman, mere fodder for the juniors and seniors. Images of my father’s stories of his days as a senior at YUHSB where freshies were stuffed in lockers and trampled in the hallways between classes were vivid in my mind. Just then I saw a group of seniors approach me. Was he going to take my seat? Sell me Girl Scout cookies? A raffle ticket for a chance to win a free elevator pass? Finally they came and asked “Do you have any questions about MTA?” “Oh my goodness, was this a joke, were they prepping me for an attack?!” I thought. One of the boys then said “Here is my cell phone number, let me know if there is anything I can do for you, you will love it here though the first day may be a bit daunting. But don’t worry, soon enough you’ll get the hang of it!” After that, all of the teachers came in and introduced themselves, and started answering our questions about breakfast (it was bagels and cream cheese with apple juice, for those of you that were wondering). Rabbi Gottlieb then spoke about the incredible things that we would be learning and exploring here at MTA.

I then knew that none of my father’s stories could ever happen at such a special place. All of the teachers and seniors were helping us ease through the HUGE transition from middle school to high school. Whether it was by giving us informative sessions on organization and preparation, or by sharing with us a variety of ways to take advantage of our time at MTA, I knew that I had the tools to make my journey here as successful and self-fulfilling as possible. This was truly a successful 2010/2011 Freshmen Orientation.

Freshman Impression:My First Day at MTA

By Yehoshua Szafranski ‘14Academy News Staff Writer

Return of the Lion: Two students walk into school on the first day of class. David Weiss The Academy News

I n the fall of 2007, the time at which the current senior class entered high school, the world was a considerably different place. Pluto was still a planet,

Meryl Lynch was still around, Tiger Woods was (appeared to be) a role model, and twitter was a verb.

Although we are cognizant of these vis-ible changes, the more subtle changes within ourselves and our world-view remain hidden from our conscious. At first glance, this is a bit upsetting. We cannot recognize the change within ourselves. Yet there is no reason to be disconcerted, for this “change” is not a random mutation, it is an advancement of thought. It is the accumulation and integration of all the various opinions into one synthesized whole.

As a student on his first day of MTA sits down to class, he is aware that something is differ-ent. This ‘something’ is a latent realization, a drive to explore the knowledge of the ages, and a yearning to discover the hidden. He has be-come inspired to learn. This transformation is

an exodus of the person from apathy to inter-est. Suddenly, similar to Danny in the Phantom Tollbooth, the lad discovers that learning is not just interesting or necessary; it is exhilarating and liberating. Learning adds depth, meaning, and profundity to man’s daily life.

MTA is a place where you are ushered into this world of knowledge, taught at the highest of levels, in the clearest language. In MTA you can learn how to calculate the rate of blood-flow in an artery through calculus, and how the finches on the Galapagos Islands prove microevolution through natural selection. You can learn how to analyze the Talmud at the highest level and about what it truly means to be a Jew engaging the modern world. You can learn how to bring Shakespeare alive in plays, and about the futility of the American Dream. You can even learn to calculate the gravita-tional pull of your body on the newspaper you are currently holding through advanced phys-ics.

MTA affords a person the opportunity to ex-pand his academic horizons and interests. This garnered knowledge elevates the student to an intellectually more advanced and nuanced un-

derstanding of the world. At this higher van-tage point, he can look out far over the land of learning and sea of wisdom and perceive the totality of human wisdom, and how much there is still to learn. It is a chance to jailbreak your mind from its prison, to bring down that wall. But how does a person escape?

In the poignant film Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating, an English teacher at an elite board-ing school, energizes his previously listless students to “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” To experience intellectual growth, a person must realize that high school is short and there is no time to waste. Therefore you must seize the day now; do not procrastinate. You must actively culti-vate that seed of curiosity, that spark of inge-nuity. Do not be afraid to try something new. You must think and go outside your comfort zone. Whether it be taking challenging class-es, participating in extracurricular activities, or even just asking a teacher about an interest-ing point in class, seizing these wonderful op-portunities can leave your character changed to a tremendous extent. Seize them while you can, broaden your mind, and achieve greatness.

The Mo dern Exo dus : R ef l ections on MTA

By Shlomo Friedman ‘11Academy News Managing Editor

2 • The Academy News September 2010 / Tishrei 5771

opinion

In a letter sent out to the student body this past summer, the rationale for this regu-lation was discussed at length. Faced with a new generation of computer users who have become ever savvier in their use of the internet for illicit purposes, the school felt it was necessary to deal with this problem by outlawing laptop com-puters completely.

To assuage student fears of being academically crippled in their note taking efforts, Dean of Students Mr. Adam Dobrick explained to The Academy News that the school plans on purchasing special units made by a major computer company, which permit access only to word processing programs, ensuring the units are used solely for aca-demic purposes. These units would be lent to students for the duration of the school day, and then returned to the administration after the student copies all neces-

sary information to his portable memory stick. Additionally, Mr. Do-brick also explained that families would have the option of purchasing these units through the school. Judging by the vast number of students that typically use lap-tops in class, it would seem that the school cer-tainly will need to make a significant financial investment in order to meet the technological demands of the student

body. Additionally, the challenge of having these units ready for the first weeks of class (a promise the school has explained it will meet) for the many academically concerned students taking AP courses will certainly be a demand the school will need to meet. “I’m taking an AP course in history this year, and I will definitely count on having a functioning laptop from day one of the school year in order to succeed” said senior Noah Isaacs.

Mr. Dobrick has explained that there has unfortu-

nately been a delay in the school’s efforts to obtain these aforemen-tioned laptop units, which was why they were not available on the first day of class as promised. Additionally, the school will not be providing these sim-plistic laptops in the beginning of the year. Instead, they will be providing Alpha Smart word proccesing tablets. These tablets feature a relatively small screen coupled with a stand-

ard keyboard, which by no means can live up to the ef-ficiency of a standard laptop. Mr. Dobrick has explained that “the school will make sure that the loss of their per-sonal laptops will not cripple students’ academic efforts”, although by not providing the aforementioned laptops in time and instead providing these Alpha Smart units, the school has proven to do just that.Admittedly, the use of laptops in school for illicit

purposes is certainly something the administration has every right to be concerned about. Maintaining a proper school atmosphere unadulterated by the many unbefitting forms of media that can be easily accessed through the use of technology is key to MTA’s goal of crafting a well rounded, halachikally conscious Jew. Yet has our administration become so distrustful of its stu-dent body that the panacea for this blight had to be such a brutal exercise of executive authority?

In our age of new educational opportunities enriched by the benefit of easily accessible technological advance-ments, we feel that outlawing laptops in the halls of MTA may potentially become a detriment to the stu-dent body’s ability to succeed in the classroom. Despite the additional argument posited by the administration of how laptops may actually be preventing students from being fully engaged in classroom discussions, the fact of the matter still remains: Some students simply are unable to efficiently take notes by hand, and need laptop computers to compensate for this shortcoming. We hope that the school will continue to take measures necessary to maintain a proper milieu within MTA’s halls, but at the same time also take into account the important and diverse educational needs amongst all of its students.

Outlawed: First polo shirts, now laptop com-puters. What’s next?

Technological Retrogradation

Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the

editor. To be considered for publication, all let-

ters must be type-written. The Academy News

reserves the right to edit all letters for the pur-

poses of space and clarity. Submissions should

be e-mailed to theacademynews@gmail.com

Letters To The Editor

Instead of undergoing a technological progression, MTA has perennially

been plagued by chronic symptoms of technological retrogradation. The

new ban on the use of laptops in MTA is the ultimate consummation of

this problem; the most essential and versatile technological tool, one

that has revolutionized the way students function in class, has been outlawed in

the halls of our institution.

The Academy News The Official Student Newspaper of

The Marsha Stern Talmudical AcademyYeshiva University High School for Boys

September 2010 / Tishrei 5771Volume LXVI, Issue 1

Dani Goffstein DaviD Weiss

editors-in-ChieF

ManaGinG eDitors

Michael GuggenheimDoron Levine

Shlomo Friedman

op-eD eDitor

Yehoshua Brick

school events eDitors

Meir HirschElan Stochel

clubs eDitors

nAte piskun

dovid sChwArtz

current events eDitors

Yosef BranderYoni Zolty

sports eDitor

Natan Bienstock

arts eDitor

Jonathan Hans

business ManaGer

Ari Rozenberg

Published by:

The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy

Yeshiva University High School for Boys

2540 Amsterdam Avenue

New York, NY 10033

Telephone: (212) 960-5223

© 2010 The Academy News

Views expressed in unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of The Academy News

edtiroial staff, and not neccesarily those of the student body, faculty, and administra-tion of The Marha Stern Talmudical Acad-

emy. Signed editorials reflect solely the writer’s opinion.

Mrs. harriet levitt

Faculty Adviser

rabbi Mark Gottlieb

Head of School

September 2010 / Tishrei 5771 Editorials The Academy News • 3

The Editors’ DeskA War on

Two FrontsHis CreativeCapacity

From the Editor-in-ChiefDaviD Weiss

From the Editor-in-ChiefDani Goffstein

The nascent threat to Israel’s existence and why our generation remains naive-

ly blind to our homeland’s newfound existential peril.

In the aftermath of the Gaza flotilla raid this past May, the world has seen an unprecedented level of patronage in European countries of Arab states that blatantly promote

genocidal anti-Semitism. These actions, at our peril, have gone mostly unnoticed by the Jewish community. In an era that is of such critical importance for the future of the Jew-ish people’s homeland, it is time for us to take more initiative in inculcating within ourselves a keener regard for Israeli politics and history. The fundamental ideological beliefs of Is-

lam clearly state that its adherents must never accept a non-Muslim state in a land formerly conquered in the name of Allah. The Palestin-ian Authority’s intentions in seeking this ideal could not be any more transparent. Despite its ostensibly more temperate siding with the Fa-tah wing, the fact of the matter remains clear: The Palestinian Authority will never accept Israel’s existence. As if the Fatah wing were not pernicious

enough in its radical leanings, the presence of the Hamas wing in Gaza, whose charter quotes many hadiths in which Allah proclaims that the Islamic people must exterminate eve-ry living Jew in order for the “Day of Judge-ment” to arrive, further exacerbates tensions between Israel and its Muslim neighbors. Ha-mas’s charter even adds that the group “aspires to the realization of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take.”Hamas takes advantage of its totalitarian-

esque authority to methodically instill this aspiration in its citizens. Its media and edu-cational institutions laud the merits of killing Jews, ensuring the systematic brainwashing of its citizens, especially young people and children, in the ways of vicious anti-Semitism. The Palestinian Authority similarly inculcates in its inhabitants a strong, irrational abhor-rence of the Jewish people.

Israel has been plagued by a series of Prime Ministers who have time and again denied the dreary truth of its situation. International pressure has coerced Israel into approaching its Muslim neighbors with compulsory san-guinity, demanding that it engage in a futile effort to reach a peace agreement. While Net-anyahu’s diplomatic intentions are still in the process of playing themselves out, he has al-ready conceded Chevron to the Arabs, one of Israel’s holiest cities.

In spite of both the strikingly malevolent ob-jectives of the Palestinian Authority and the recurring noble attempts by Israeli leaders to reach peace with the country’s neighbors, there is nevertheless ubiquitous international clamour amongst both European nations and many Americans for further Israeli conces-sions to the Palestinian Authority. World leaders remain infuriatingly blind to Islam’s unconditional rejection of a legitimate peace with Israel, and Israel’s leaders perennially en-gage in useless peace talks, refusing to see rad-ical Islam’s intentions for what they really are.

In October, an international flotilla organ-ized by Americans opposed to Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip will be sent with supplies to the area. The flotilla will be com-posed of ships from various European and Middle Eastern countries. The organizers of this flotilla hope to name the American ship

“The Audacity of Hope,” after President Barack Obama’s well-known political memoir. The departure of this ship, with its prominently American designation, will represent a vin-dication to the Arab world that jihad against the Americans has finally succeeded, thereby empowering legions of new jihadists to rise up and stay true to the principals of radical fun-damentalism.

In MTA and perhaps too many other Amer-ican-Jewish communities, there is a pervad-ing attitude that Israel is “safe” and “secure,” and that it will never again face the existen-tial dangers it saw back in 1967. True, Israel has constantly been plagued by the existence of anti-Semitic radicals bent on our absolute destruction. Yet the seemingly “secure” state of Israeli affairs brings many American Jews dangerously close to completely ignoring the dire situation that Israel finds itself in today. We are by no means “safe.” While having

speakers that laud the merits of attending Ye-shiva University or present the occasional in-tellectually stimulating dvar Torah is certainly appropriate for our school, they should not be the exclusive supplements to the traditional shiur program in MTA. While we study Gemara and have guest

speakers giving divrei Torah, the Hamas-run educational system requires its students to master the techniques of using semi-automat-ic firearms and supplements its ‘core curricu-lum’ with jihadist war heroes who speak of the innate depravity of the Jewish people. This past February, Israeli Ambassador Mi-

chael Oren was invited to speak at the Uni-versity of California, Irvine. However, his speech was interrupted by members of the school’s Muslim Students Association, who had the temerity to shout anti-Semitic slurs in a pre-arranged pattern so that his voice would never be heard. At the University of Texas, pro-Palestinian students have constructed an

“apartheid wall” as a symbol of the oppression they assert Israel is exerting on its Palestinian neighbors. This anti-Israel campaign is fur-ther proliferated on college campuses every March, during which an increasing amount of universities host a variety of anti-Israel speak-ers and demonstrations in an event known as

“Israel Apartheid Week.” It is time for MTA to counteract that radical-

ism and the growing tide of public sentiment against Israel, by featuring more guest lectur-ers speaking about Israel than in past years. With more and more of its students going out into the university world, MTA should take advantage of this vital time to take the initia-tive in informing its students of this important topic.

Embracing artistic expression as a means of communicating an intellectual observation.

T elling someone your opinion on a political issue requires mini-mal talent and effort. This is done all the time in MTA. “Obama is a socialist, who hates America”. It’s

that simple. In 1967, while ample amounts of peo-ple protested and spoke unfavorably of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, Martin Scorsese was a student at the Tisch School of the Arts making a short student film. In this beautifully directed five-minute film entitled The Big Shave, a man is depicted shaving his facial hair with a razor. The man cuts the side of his face, but never-theless continues to shave. However, he disregards his bloodied disfigured face and finishes his shave. While I cannot do justice to the beauty and im-agery of this film through my written description, I want to use it as an example of a work of art that spoke to the people during that time. Scorsese’s social criticism/ student film is now considered a classic for its creativity in protesting the Vietnam War. How can that be the case? The film depicts a man shaving and bleeding profusely! What’s so great about that? Well Scorsese used metaphors to convey his message. The man is a metaphor for America. The man’s continual self-mutilation is a metaphor for the fighting done in Vietnam by American soldiers. No matter how much blood was lost or how much pain was endured, the man just ignored it and continued shaving. Sound fa-miliar? No matter how many soldiers were killed, America kept fighting.

Although if this was Scorsese’s opinion on the war, why didn’t he just get in line with a picket sign behind all the other hippies? He chose to express his thought through a film. This is more significant than it might sound initially. Art is significant because it has the potential to express an idea without directly addressing it. We all have opinions about a mosque being built at Ground Zero or BP’s little spill, but our opinions are the same as everyone else’s. To have the ability to convey your message through art is unique. It is called artistic ability and we all have a touch of it (some more than others). I cannot draw to save my life, but I love to write poetry and make films. Our own approach to art is what makes us indi-viduals. You can tell a group of a million people to write a poem about pain and I assure you no two people will have written the same poem. Eve-ryone has a different take on the same issue and it’s interesting to see how others approach a topic artistically.

It is why someone might cry during a movie or a song that you thought was nothing special. Art can strike a chord with people who think or feel a certain way. I saw an aesthetically beautiful paint-ing in the MoMa that intrigued me so much that I stared at it for about fifteen minutes. While other guests walked by after ten seconds of looking, this mysterious portal to a world of darkness mesmer-ized me. The reasons cannot be explained; rather they can only be experienced. After my summer in the Tisch School, all I wish

to do is create that experience for someone else. I wrote a ten-minute film about an IDF soldier, which had a real impact on some people that read

it, including my screenwriting professor. I am not going to explain the story because I believe synopsizing damages the movie-going experience. However, I will say I was able to explore ideas such as the territorial dispute between Israelis and Palestinians, along with a conflict of national ver-sus religious loyalty. To be able to have a finished script that sends your message is an incredible feeling for me. I sat in my room and thought of ideas for hours and then I wrote a script. This was truly a mentally stimulating experience to think of an original story line that would express my message through metaphors. Then once I finished, I rewrote my script and then I rewrote again. The rewriting process is really endless, but it stops once the writer is satisfied with his or her work.

Now you might be thinking, “OK, to be able to send your message through art takes skill, is im-portant and even beautiful. However, what about movies that don’t have a profound message? Is The Expendables really art or is it just good, fun, violent entertainment?” Good question, my intel-lectually curious peer. The answer is “Yes. This is still art, even without an underlying metaphorical message.” The reason I say this type of film is still art is because a person has created this film. He has written a script, developed a story with char-acters we sympathize with who develop through-out a two hour film. If you are entertained, then the creator has done his or her job properly and believe me, it was not easy. What makes human beings Godly is our ability

to create. There are two types of creations in this world: man-made creations and God-made crea-tions. To draw art on a blank piece of paper makes you the creator of the world that is that sheet of paper. Laws do not bind you, as art has no limi-tations. In the second part of Halachik Man, Rav Soleveitchik makes this exact point and stresses the importance of human creativity as being equivalent to doing mitzvot. Friedrich Nietzsche also stressed the significance of the artist as being his own God in the sense of creation. Nietzsche famously declared, “Art is the proper task of life”. As my final year in MTA comes to a close, I want

to leave behind a legacy that will improve the state of our school. I want to leave the future of MTA with more artistic opportunities. Those students that have an interest in the arts should further pursue the artistic medium that they love. As an avid fan of cinema and an aspiring filmmaker, I want to start by reviving the MTA Film Club. This club will give all those that love to watch and ana-lyze films or wish to discuss ideas for their own original film, a chance to do so. I encourage those students that love cinema to join. However, I also hope students will initiate opportunities within MTA for different artistic mediums. School should be more than academic and athletics. Whether you want to convey an emotion or idea through art or you just wish to create something original, you should be able to have a place to do that within your own school. As Albert Einstein famously said, “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

4 • The Academy News School Events September 2010 / Tishrei 5771

State of the School

NewsBriefs

• MTA Announces New Website Design

Over this past summer MTA has been in the process of revamping its current website design. The new website will feature a more cosmopolitan and aesthetically appealing layout. Additionally, the website will feature a more organized layout for extracurricular activities.

• Lions Den Under Renovation

MTA’s Lion’s Den underwent a stunning reno-vation over this past summer, complete with brand new padding featuring the MTA logo, portable border patrols for hockey matches and refinished f looring. The renovation was funded in part by private donors, the univer-sity and the school. The den had long been in need of renovation, with its torn padding, lack of seating, and absence of the school’s name and logo. Director of Admissions Dovie Quint explained that the renovation was primarily focused on enhancing the gym for hockey matches, since MTA’s basketball matches are played in the Max Stern Ath-letic center in Yeshiva University. In order to finally give The Den a much needed seating area for MTA fans, the two team bench areas will be at opposite corners of the gym, with a big area in between for fans to view the game, thereby allowing fans to see the game action like never before. A net will be hung from the ceiling to the top of the border patrol in order to protect fans in the stands.

• MTA Tikvah Scholars attend inaugral retreat

On August 25th MTA sent its new cohort of Tikvah Scholars to the University of Penn-sylvania for the program’s annual inaugral retreat. The group spent five days studying great texts ranging from works by Aristotle to essays by Rabbi Soloveitchik, hearing from university proffessors and other intellectuals from around the country.

• Rabbi Schiller to head shiur place-ment along with Mr. Sklar

Rabbi Mayer Schiller is now in charge of man-aging shiur placement in the school, along with MTA Principal Mr. Ya’acov Sklar.

• Yuhsb video “Aka MTA” wins presitgious PEJE video award

“Aka MTA”, the video shown at last year’s open house, is a finalist in PEJE’s Market-ing People’s Choice Awards. An award will be presented to the school in a special ceremony this October.

Shlomo Friedman The Academy News

In a move that came as a shock to many students, the MTA administration decided to ban laptop computers from the school.

The new ban is the latest in several new rules that have been implemented over the last few years, including a stricter policy on cell phones that was introduced last year, and new restrictions on eating areas that are being phased in this year.

The new policy has certainly caught some students off-guard. Laptops have increas-ingly been viewed by many in the MTA stu-dent body as an integral part of their learn-ing experience. Over the last few years, the popularity of these machines have ex-ploded exponentially, to the point where it was not uncommon to see a class in which half of the kids are taking notes on a laptop instead of the more traditional notebook.

The rise in the popularity of classroom laptop-usage, however, helped accelerate a problem that was, until then, just bubbling under the surface: often, students used these laptops for illegitimate usage, the least of which was playing games during class instead of taking notes.

Of course, there was another vexing facet to this situation: although many pupils might actively use their computers as dis-tractions rather than learning aids, a large coterie of students use their laptops as they are meant to be used, at least under the old MTA policy: to help in the process of taking and disseminating notes and other school work. Indeed, quite a number of MTA students are unable to effectively take notes by hand, and thus have an over-whelming need to do their school work and take notes on a laptop.

In the end, though, the administration decided that the pitfalls of laptop usage in the school outweighed its benefits. In an email that was sent out to all MTA fami-lies, Mr. Adam Dobrick, Dean of Students, described teachers’ frustrations in having to “compete with all of the diversions of modern life,” including instant messag-ing, Facebook, and other distractions that computers – and the internet – provide. He also commented on the imperative of rais-ing proper “digital citizens” – ones who are

able to unplug, sit back, and learn from a teacher without a constant physical barrier, even if it is one that is being used properly.

Still, there are several students who re-quire the use of a technological tool to take notes, either by preference or necessity. Responding to queries on this subject, Mr. Dobrick told The Academy News that the school plans to have specially-manufac-tured laptops that students will be able to borrow from the school day-by-day. These specialized laptops would only have the ability to function as a word-processor. At the end of each day, students would copy all of their files onto a USB flash drive and return the school’s laptop. Mr. Dobrick as-sured The Academy News that these ma-chines will be ready for use by the begin-ning of the school year.

MTA has certainly been no stranger to change these past few years, although many would argue that this new regulation is one of the most drastic yet. Proponents of the policy argue that it is a needed step, and one that was only taken with judicious consideration of the possible effects of the ban. Only time will tell whether students’ will eventually feel the same way as the ad-ministration does on this. As with all dra-matic adjustments, such a resolution is not likely to be something that will come about easily.

By Michael Guggenheim ‘11 Academy News Managing Editor

Poignant Remakrs: Rabbi Gottlieb welcomes back the MTA community on the first day of school. Over the summer, he outlined several new policies that would take effect for the 2010-2011 academic year, including a ban on laptop computers and plans for renovating the MTA lunchroom.

Wide Web of Online Diversions Prompts School to Ban Laptops

Administration hopes to increase student participation in the classroom through removing technological distractions.

By Academy News School Events Staff

Administration refurbishes lunchroom, bans classroom eating

After much deliberation, the MTA adminis-tration has decided to ban eating from class-rooms, and use the basement dining area as the main lunch and breakfast room for the student body.

The school has long struggled with finding a realistic solution to its perennial problem of finding a place for students to eat their meals. Traditionally, students would sit in classrooms and eat their meals on classroom desks. How-ever, due to the abundance of garbage and food

residue that inevitably makes its way to nearly every crevasse of an MTA classroom, it was decid-ed that allowing students to eat in learning areas was no longer appropriate.

To help foster a communal feeling of cama-raderie amongst students during meal times, the school has completely refurbished its base-ment dining area. What was once a rarely used, disorganized space has now become an invit-ing haven of student activity, refurbished with new flooring, chairs and tables, s cho ol

pictures, and perhaps most importantly, three air conditioning units that will keep the room cool and comfortable for its diners.

Hopefully, through this new initiative, the school will be able to provide an inviting and cordial atmosphere in its dining hall, and also keep classrooms garbage free.

Cordial: Members of the class of 2014 enjoy breakfast in the newly refurbished lunchroom.

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On August 28th, Gilad Shalit turned 23. Shalit did not celebrate his birthday with his family and friends. He spent it alone as a captive of Hamas, a status he has held since his abduction four years ago. In Gilad Shalit’s case, however, out of sight definitely does not mean out of mind. This past summer, Noam and Avi-va Shalit, followed by thousands of supporters, began a march to call for the release of their son. The march made stops throughout Israel, where the Shalits and their followers staged rallies and protests in support of Gilad’s return. After 12 days, the march ended in Jerusalem, opposite the home of Israeli Prime Minis-ter Benjamin Netanyahu, where the Shalits pitched a tent. They proclaimed that they will continue to stay and protest from there until their son’s release.

Along the way, the Shalits passed through Beit Meir, a small town a few miles from Jerusalem, where the NCSY Kollel summer program is located. The Kol-lel planned to stand outside and show their support as the Shalits and the other marchers passed by. “We realized that even though this was not a formal stop, it would be an opportunity for our NCSYers that we could not pass up,” Rabbi Benovitz, the director of

NCSY Kollel, commented, “ [even if] just to lend support by showing him [Noam Schalit] we were with him.”

The show of support soon turned Beit Meir into an impromptu stop. When Noam Shalit saw the group of 150 boys standing outside showing support for his son, he decided to stop his car and briefly address the group. He thanked everyone and relayed to the campers the importance of the march and their sup-port. His message was brief, but it was very powerful. While the campers knew of the terrible tragedy that befell his son, this face-to-face meeting with Noam Shalit shed new light on the matter. The tragedy of Gilad Shalit did not seem so distant anymore. The scene of a father fighting for the freedom of his child resonated strongly with many of the campers. “It comes a little closer to home when you see his par-ents,” one NCSY participant remarked.

Throughout Israel, the issue of Gilad Shalit’s release has created much controversy. The crux of the debate centers around the question of whether it is worth exchanging terrorists who have committed terrible atrocities, and most probably will continue to do so if freed, in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier. In addition, others are afraid that if Israel negotiates with terrorists and goes through with any type of

exchange for Shalit, many more soldiers will be kid-napped for a similar ransom. As top Hamas official Khaled Mashaal commented to a Jordanian paper regarding the use of Israeli soldiers as bargaining chips, “The more time passes, we will raise the level of the demands. We aren’t satisfied with Shalit only, and, God willing, the freedom fighters will succeed in kidnapping other soldiers.” Netanyahu has taken these fears into consideration and said in July, after negotiations to free Shalit failed once again, “There will be a deal, but not at any price.” Still, while Netan-yahu refuses to release those he calls “arch murder-ers” such as Abdullah Barghouti, the mastermind of the deadly Sbarro and Moment Cafe bombings, he

says he is willing to release those terrorists consid-ered less dangerous terrorists for Shalit’s return.

While Netanyahu staunchly believes in a deal, though not at any price, many members of the Knes-set do not. The week before the Shalits began their march, three members of the Knesset announced that they themselves would join the march, showing their support for the Shalits and adding pressure to Netanyahu to cut a deal with Hamas. Others criti-cized Netanyahu for negotiating with Hamas. Re-gardless of the controversy, the unity in Israel in sup-port of Gilad Shalit’s release is overwhelming. As one camper said after Noam Shalit addressed the Kollel, “we all want him to get freed somehow.”

September 2010 / Tishrei 5771 Current Events The Academy News • 5

IsraelN e w s • O p i n i o n • A n a l y s i s • V e r b a t i m

The Month in Israel Quotes

“If you just landed from Mars, you might think that Israel is the only country that has killed civilians in war — never Hamas, never Hezbollah, never Turkey, never Iran, never

Syria, never America.”

Thomas L. FriedmanNew York Times Columnist

“Israel and America share the same love of life. Israel and America share the same enemies. Israel’s enemies are our enemies.

Israel’s fight is our fight.”

Pastor John HageeFounder and national chairman

of Christians United for Israel

Hillary R. ClintonUnited States

Secretary of State, at the Israel-Arab

peace talks last week

“We’ve been here before, and we know how difficult

the road ahead will be.”

Reginald Levy, who, as the captain of a hi-jacked Belgian airliner in 1972, calmly with-stood the ordeal and was instrumental in the successful re-taking of the plane, died on Au-gust 1. He was 88.

May 8, 1972 was supposed to be another normal day.

Twenty years after he had retired from the British air force and joined Sabena, a commer-cial airline, Reginald Levy was expecting an-other typical day at work. He set out to pilot a commercial jet from Belgium to Tel Aviv, and perhaps, at the end of the flight, enjoy a quiet end to his birthday with his wife, who was to be on the plane with him. Just an average day.

Fate, however, had something else in store.After a scheduled stop at Vienna, the cock-

pit was rushed by two men and two women armed with pistols who were members of the black September, a terrorist organization that was founded after the Palestinian defeat in the 1970 Jordanian civil war. Calm and collected, Levy put his wry humor to good use. “As you can see,” he dryly noted, “we have friends aboard.”

The hijackers ordered Levy to land at Ben-Gurion Airport, which was then known as Lod Airport. Levy radioed Israel about the hijacking, and by the time they landed, Moshe Dayan, who at the time was Israel’s defense minister, was at the airport, ready to manage the crisis response.

The hijackers’ demands were heavy: the re-lease of 317 Palestinian guerrillas, or else they would blow up the plane. Unbeknownst to the terrorists, the Israeli’s were already ten steps ahead of them.

From the moment the plane landed and came to a halt, Israeli commandos had taken up positions under the tires and deflated them, ensuring that the plane could not leave the vi-cinity. When the terrorists discovered this, they panicked, and might have blown up the plane right then and there if it had not been for Levy’s cool composure and quick thinking. Coaxing them into conversation, Levy kept them occu-pied the whole night and calmed them down, averting tragedy.

Eventually, the terrorists decided to use Levy as a messenger between them and the Israelis. When Levy returned, the terrorists were over-joyed to hear that the Israelis had decided to give into their demands, and were convinced when they saw decoy prisoners from afar and heard the voices of one of the “prisoners” on radio – who was actually a Bedouin Israeli soldier.

The Israelis, of course, had no intention of giving up any prisoners. While Levy was in their custody, he had briefed them on the lay-out of the plane and exactly where the terror-ists were located, in addition to several other important details. As Levy was brought back into the plane, two trucks carrying 18 men in white overalls – the get-up of mechanics – were taxied over to the aircraft, where they rummaged about the bottom of the plane, pretending to fix the fuselage.

In reality, these “mechanics” were members of the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal, led by Major Ehud Barak, who would later be-come Prime Minister, and is currently the De-fense Minister. Among his soldiers was Ben-jamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister.

Without warning, the Israeli commandos entered the plane through the emergency ex-its above the wheels of the plane, and ended

the ordeal in a ten-second firefight that killed the two male terrorists and injured one of the female terrorists. Several passengers were wounded, but none of them were killed.

After the ordeal, which lasted over 21 hours, Levy was invited to a party that was attended by all of the Israeli political brass, and where he was sung “Happy Birthday” by General Moshe Dayan. Levy was honored the next day as a hero by Prime Minister Golda Meir. After the return flight home – which he insisted on piloting – he was honored by the Belgian king, who appointed Levy a Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Couronne, a high honor.

For nine years after that, Levy continued to fly commercial airlines, after which he retired with his wife, Dora, to Dover, England. Dora died in 2005. He is survived by their two sons and two daughters, nine grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Keeping cool: Levy, shown in the moments immidiately after a failed palestinian hijacking.

By Michael GuGGenheiM ‘11Academy News Managing Editor

Reginald Levy, Regarded as a hero, Is Dead at 88

obituArY

Noam Shalit’s March on Jerusalem: A Firsthand Perspective

Passionate: Noam Shalit addresses members of the NCSY Kollel summer program while on a march to Jerusalem this past summer. Doron Levine (‘11) can be seen over Shalit’s right shoulder.

By Yosef branDer ‘12 Academy News Current Events Editor

Courtesy of NCSY Kollel

-The Eds

model CongressCaptainsMichael GuggenheimDavid Weiss

An abbreviated version of Yeshiva Univer-sity’s Model UN, Model Congress is neverthe-less as competitive and intense as its interna-tional counterpart. Students have only a few hours, in contrast to Model UN’s three days, to make their arguments and finesse their op-ponents, which adds a drastic level of difficulty

MTA clubsA Guide to

For the benefit of all incoming freshmen, deluged with what can seem like an endless array of extracurricular

oppurtunities, we present a succint guide to MTA’s clubs and publications. We hope that this special will enable students to quickly find the extracurricular activity that best suits their interests and talents.

debAtePresidentsShua BrickSamuel MirskyMichael Guggenheim

Analytical thinkers who are interested in hon-ing their public speaking and research skills and won’t shy from voicing their opinions should strongly consider getting involved in the Debate Club.The debate season goes on throughout the

year, so getting involved at any time is easy. All members are required to attend weekly meet-ings and frequent tournaments, and should be prepared to regularly stay after school in the weeks before a big match.“Freshmen should get involved as soon as pos-

sible so they can participate immediately. The annual in-house novice debate tournament is scheduled to take place this coming October, and interested students should take advantage of this oppurunity to start a successful career in debate” said senior Michael Guggenheim, one of the club’s presidents. The debate team is headed by Mrs. Harriet

Levitt, chair of the English department and 9th grade dean. Debate information can be found in the weekly newsletter. To join the debate e-mail list and receive the latest updates on tour-nament information and meeting schedules, contact Meir Hirsch at meir960x@gmail.com.Coming off of a hugely successful season, the

debate team looks forward to working with new members from all grades levels.

AristAPresidentsShlomo FriedmanNatan Bienstock

Members of MTA’s honor society partake in a number of community service initiatives, in-cluding book sales, clothing drives and a vari-ety of other chessed projects. In addition to doing services for the greater

national community, Arista also runs a year-long in-school tutoring program. Students of all grade levels can opt to be paired with a senior tutor in any subject, from gemara and tanach to physics and history. Last year, Arista’s tutoring initiative was a huge success, adequately prepar-ing several students for their end of year regent examinations in chemistry and math. “We’re looking to introduce several new char-

ity initiatives as well as a revamped tutoring program, so that we can really make a differ-ence in both MTA and the national community at large” said senior Shlomo Friedman, one of Arista’s presidents. Arista is headed by Mrs. Harriet Levitt. Stu-

dents looking for a tutor in any subject should contact the presidents at MTArista@gmail.com.

In This Special

College bowlCaptainN/A

Students with a wide range of knowledge on a variety of topics should consider joining the college bowl team. Last year, the Varsity Lions unfortunately fell

to SAR at the end of the season, ending their hopes of making it to the playoffs. On the other hand, the Junior Varsity Lions had much more success, winning three of their four matches at the end of the season. They qualified for the playoffs, although never made it to the cham-pionships.The Varsity Lions are looking to go even

further this year with the addition of former Junior Varsity phenoms Yoni Zolty and Doni Schwartz, who were both vital to the JV team’s efforts last year. The Junior Varsity team is now looking for new members to fill their shoes, and will be posting tryout information later this semester. MTA Guidance Counselor Mr. Arthur Toporovsky advises the College Bowl team.

Forceful: Junior Doron Levine makes his argument at last year’s Great Debate. Levine would go on to place third in the tournament, along with teammate Meir Freidenberg (‘12).

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hAtzioniPresidentsTBA

MTA’s latent Zionistic leanings come to life in Hatzioni, the school’s Zionist club. The club partakes in a number of activities that support Israel, including weekly doughnut sales whose profits go to Israel, and other chessed projects, such as the organizing of Mishloach Manot for IDF soldiers. Hatzioni also publishes a maga-zine, with editorials and news briefs about Is-raeli politics and affairs.With the loss of former Hatzioni head Kevin

Ennis, the club is looking for new members who are serious about helping Israel. With Is-rael finding itself under a newfound wave of international censure after simply claiming the right to defend itself, now is a great time to join Hatzioni and make a difference.

moCk triAlCaptainDavid Weiss

One of the most intensive public speaking teams available to the MTA interlocutors, the Mock Trial team spends the entire first semester preparing

for a statewide tournament beginning in Febru-ary. Students who can think quickly on their feet and have had extensive public speaking experience should seriously consider joining the Mock Trial team.The Mock Trial team meets twice a week to or-

ganize and rehearse its arguments in preparation for its matches. “Mock Trial members must make use of a variety of skills when debating in court, including quick thinking, articulate diction and theatrical panache” said senior David Weiss, the team’s captain.Last year the Mock Trial Team made history, in a

season that will go down as the most memorable in MTA to date. The Lions met with other Jewish schools, a rarity in the mock trial league (which includes public schools as well), facing off against SAR and long time Model UN and Congress ri-val Flatbush. Mowing down the competition one school at a time, MTA’s lions of the legal system made it all the way to the “elite eight” schools of the New York City district for the first time since 1995, eventually falling to Hunter College High School.The team is advised by Rabbi Jon Green and

coached by Yeshiva University student Daniel Spector, whose newfound leadership and steadfast dedication last year proved vital to the success of the team. Fliers will be posted concerning tryout information in December.

Special September 2010 / Tishrei 57716 • The Academy News

Need more info on an MTA club?

Just send an e-mail totheacademynews@gmail.com for all

the insider info you’ll need to succeed

Under Oath: Mock Trial witness Shua Brick is cross examined by an SAR lawyer as attorney Meir Snyder sits ready to object. The Lions of the Legal System would go on to defeat SAR and proceed all the way to the quarterfinals in the annual statewide tournament.

model unCaptainsNoah IsaacsDavid Weiss

Undoubtedly one of the most looked-forward to extracurricular events in the yeshiva league, YUNMUN, or the Yeshiva University National Model United Nations gives its participants the opportunity to take on the roles of delegates from foreign countries and work together with high school students across North America to solve global crises. The annual three day conference takes place

in Stamford, and will commence this year on February 6th. The MTA Model UN team spends the latter half of the first semester as well as the beginning of the second semester meticulously preparing its arguments, re-search and speeches for the conference.

the sCopeEditor-in-ChiefMeir Friednenberg

Unabashed, unbiased, unprecedented and unpredictable journalistic mayhem can be found in The Scope Magazine, MTA’s un-censored literary alternative to The Acad-emy News. Writers with a marked interest in a variety of topics, ranging from film and music to exploring the darkest mysteries of MTA should strongly consider writing for the Scope. Last year, the publication had a somewhat

weak turnout, producing a mere one issue. In past years, the publication garnered vast school-wide appraisal for its engaging faculty columns and MTA satires. In a never ending cold war with The Academy News, The Scope has been known to expose the most hilarious aspects of nearly every detail of MTA.Scope is constantly searching for new writ-

ers. Students who consider themselves well versed in a particular topic and won’t shy from expressing their interests should con-tact editor-in-chief Meir Friedenberg at BeScoped@gmail.com. Assistant Principal of Secular Studies Dr. Seth Taylor advises The Scope.

the ACAdemY

news

the polisEditor-in-ChiefMeir Hirsch

MTA’s official political publication, The Po-lis is a forum for student opinion on a wide range of political issues, both national and international. Last year, the magazine was praised for

overhauling its traditional formatting, fea-turing a page wide cover picture on the is-sue’s most politically pertinent issue. Ad-ditionally, article topics were able to garner ubiquitous student and faculty interest, with a wide range of exclusive content including an interview with former New York gover-nor Elliot Spitzer and extensive coverage of Israeli politics.The Polis is looking for new writers who

have a pronounced interest in politics on ei-ther the national or international level, in the hopes of restoring the roar of MTA’s political personality. Interested writers should contact editor-in-chief Meir Hirsch at MTAPolis@gmail.com.

MTA clubsA Guide to

and competitiveness to the conference. At the annual daylong competition in March,

students take on the roles of congressmen in a variety of committees, and must pass a piece of legislation through garnering the approval of his or her fellow congressmen. Eloquent de-bating skills must be dovetailed with a persua-sive personality in order to succeed at Model Congress.MTA’s legislating lions have now had two

consecutive team-wide successes at the confer-ence, most recently with the first place award won by junior Eitan Stern. With the loss of many senior members last year, the Model Congress team is looking for new members who are looking to show off their debating skills and political prowess on the legislative court. The team is advised by Rabbi Jon Green. Tryout information will be posted at the end of the first semester.

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“Model UN is a great way to meet new people and have fun. At the same time, the conference also helps you hone your public speaking and research skills” said senior Noah Isaacs, one of the team’s co-captains. While most of the topics debated are long-

standing social, political and economic prob-lems that have plagued the world for many decades, the conference always requires its students to keep themselves informed of all worldwide happenings. For instance, last year the WHO (World Health Organization) de-bated how the swine flu issue should be ap-proached. As another example, the Mideast Summit committee deals with finding realistic solutions to the never ending problems cur-rently scourging the Middle East.Last year, MTA’s Model UN-ing Lions took

home four second place awards. While cer-tainly an impressive feat, the lions are hungry for more awards this year and are looking for new members who are experienced public speaking veterans and are serious about suc-ceeding at the conference. The team is ad-vised by Mr. Adam Dobrick, MTA’s Dean of Students, who has advised Model UN teams at various schools for over ten years. Tryout information will be posted later this semester.

shemA

koleinu

Those looking to express their literary talents through the medium of limudei kodesh should seriously consider writing for Shema Koleinu, MTA’s weekly Torah newsletter. The publica-tion is distributed weekly to shuls in various Jewish communities in the tri-state area, and

Editor-in-ChiefYoni Zolty

features divrei torah written by students and faculty alike.Sometimes lacking intellectual flair, Shema

Koleinu’s best divrei torah are usually written by the contributing Rabbinical Faculty. The publication was headed by Jacob Braun

last year, and taken over by current junior Yoni Zolty, who now serves as its editor-in-chief. Shema Koleinu is always looking for new tal-

ent. Additionally, the publication is also look-ing to expand its circulation. Students who are either interested in writing or feel that their community should receive Shema Kole-inu should contact Yoni Zolty at zoltyyoni@hotmail.com. 11th grade maggid shiur rebbe Rabbi Mendelson advises the publication.

The Academy News is the official student newspaper of the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy Yeshiva University High School for Boys. The Academy News is student-run, and aims to present important information related to the school community, to serve as a forum for a wide range of student opinion, and to act as a record of important events. The paper’s main audience includes students, faculty, and parents.The paper looks to provide its readers with

a high quality source of news and original thought, and its writers with a rewarding intel-lectual experience.“Ultimately, we hope that students who join

Editors-in-ChiefDani GoffsteinDavid Weiss

our staff with limited knowledge of journalism will leave well versed in nearly all aspects of producing a quality student news publication,” said editor-in-chief David Weiss.Students who have had either limited or ex-

tensive experience in writing are welcome to write for the paper. The editors can be reached at theacademynews@gmail.com. Chair of the English Department and 9th Grade Dean Mrs. Harriet Levitt advises the The Academy News.

Special The Academy News • 7September 2010 / Tishrei 5771

Features September 2010 / Tishrei 57718 • The Academy News

Half Jewish, Half Very Jewish

Elon Gold has revamped the world of Jewish comedy with his distinct brand of Semit-ic humor that scrutinizes and satirizes countless stereotypical Jewish habits. With jokes ranging from how “rising gas prices have even caused re-form Jews to start walking to shul” to a flash-back of how his zayde was “so religious that he had two toilets, one for meat and one for dairy,” Gold’s act makes for a markedly humor-ous genre of Jewish standup that brings nostalgic waves of child-hood flashbacks to his Jewish fans.

“I’m one of the few comedi-ans who has two completely different acts,” explains Gold. He does a regular stand-up act for general audiences that fea-tures a wide range of humor, ranging from political satires to celebrity and foreign accent impressions, and also performs an exclusively Jewish act entitled “Half Jewish, Half Very Jew-ish.”

When asked wheth-er he prefers

perform-ing regular stand-up or Jewish comedy, Gold answered that he prefers the latter. “It’s a lot more enjoyable for me to do my Jewish act because I really feel connected to the audience. I feel like everyone’s on the same page,” he ex-plains. “Comedy is all about making a deep con-nection with your audience, and when I deliver my humorous takes on age-old traditions to a Jewish audience, the jokes really resonate.”

Gold’s comedy is laced with observational hu-mor, which is a style of comedy based on making witty remarks about mundane aspects of daily life. He ex-plains that when doing his regular comedy, he might open with a joke

about how the depressing atmosphere of the subway ride in caused him to think of how the New York City subway system really does a good job of reminding its passengers that “dreams re-

ally don’t come true.”In contradistinction, Gold makes the same types of

wry observations about his Jewish life and its

cultural surroundings, and uses his Jewish

performances as an outlet for voicing those thoughts.

“When I’m on The Tonight Show, I can’t make a joke about the seder plate or my zayde’s level of religiosity,” he ex-plains.

Just how Jewish is Gold’s version of Ju-daism? Gold, who denominates himself as being a Modern Orthodox Jew, ob-

serves Shabbat and keeps kosher. He

explains that “keeping my

h e r i t a g e alive and

preser v-ing Jew-ish tra-ditions is one

o f t h e

most important things in my personal life” and has gone to great lengths to make sure that Shab-bos and show business never conflict. The father of four is always home for Friday night dinners de-spite missing the most popular night of the week for comedy opportunities, and does not work on Shabbat; he is known to have slept in his trailer on a Friday night after guest starring on CBS’s The Mentalist after finishing too late before sundown.

Where did Gold’s career begin? Surprisingly, Gold explained that he initially started doing comedy in the yonder days of his MTA career. Gold attended the Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck, where he explains that he be-gan doing impressions of his teachers for his friends. This penchant for performing was fur-ther developed while he was a freshman at MTA, where his teacher im-personations continued. Even more surprising was his reaction when asked about what he came out of MTA with: “The reason I am a comedian is because of my time in MTA!” he proudly proclaims. The age old tradition of performing an annual Purim shpeel, a relic of the MTA culture, provided Gold with his first outlet for expressing his comedic talents.

“From a young age I had always been interested in doing comedy,” Gold explains. Like the other tv watchers of his era, Gold’s main comic influences came from bits he saw on Saturday Night Live, which exposed him to what would become what is perhaps his greatest talent; doing impressions. Giving us samples of his famed Israeli, British, Jackie Mason, and Jay Leno impressions, Gold ex-plained that impersona-tion comedy was his ini-tial comic interest.

“I started out doing im-pressions of teachers in MTA – that was actually

the first time I’d done impressions,” he elucidates. “I remember think-

ing : ‘Hey, these impressions I do actually make people laugh!’” Gaining notoriety amongst the MTA community as a talented impressionist, Gold was asked

to put together the annual Pu-rim shpeel. His first sketch consisted of a

simple construct of his old math class, with Gold impersonating Mr. Grossman, the class’s teacher. Gold wrote the sketch along with a few

of his friends, and starred as Gross-man scolding his students’ obstreperous conduct in class. His second sketch consisted of a hilari-ous interview with Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen (who used to teach in MTA), with Gold impersonat-ing an Ed Grimley (who was impersonated by Martin Short on SNL) looking to gain accept-ance into MTA.

“This Purim shpeel was done in front of the en-tire school and faculty, which, at the time con-

sisted of over five hundred people” Gold recalls. “Initially, I was nervous since it was my first time performing in front of a large audience.

But when I went out and performed, IT KILLED! Picture this: All five hun-dred members of the MTA community laugh-ing and enjoying com-edy. My comedy,” Gold nostalgically reminisc-es. “I remember think-ing right then and there that this was the greatest thing in the world; writing some-thing, putting effort into it, going out and performing it, and getting these huge

laughs, there’s simply no greater feeling. It was at that moment at the MTA Purim

shpeel that I knew that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”“Performing is my

most addicting hobby. If you’ve ever had a small taste of it, you simply

cannot get enough. It is an insatiable, never-ending quest for laughs.” Gold proudly stated that he was from that point on-ward known as the “funny guy” in MTA. “Everyone knew and talked to me after that – the jocks, the teachers, the rab-bis, the girls – oh wait, there were no girls,” he jokes. “I began think-ing at that point that this was undoubtedly what I would do for a

living,” he expounds. Gold spent his time at MTA working on a myri-

ad of other comedic ventures, including his work on MTA’s “underground” video yearbook. He would film and interview MTA faculty mem-bers under the guise of the humor editor of the actual video yearbook, and use the answers to his guilefully crafted questions in completely out of context segments.

Gold attributes his comedic success to the con-stant encouragement of Mrs. Levitt, who he re-ferred to as his “high school mentor.” While at MTA, Mrs. Levitt took notice of Gold’s unique talents and started a drama program that encour-aged students in the school to write and perform their own plays. “Mrs. Levitt fostered and fur-thered my acting talents. She was one of the in-strumental people that showed me that I really can do this. I can write a play, prepare an act, and perform.” Gold put on numerous performances with fellow student Sammy Herskovitz, who co-founded their own MTA production com-pany entitled “Hersko-Gold Productions.” After performing numerous plays for his grade, Gold and Herskovitz received a “Hersko-Gold Oscar” made by Mrs. Levitt, which they both still keep

on their mantels until this day.

“One of the most im-portant contributions she gave to the school was her emphasis on our growing not only

the reason i became a comedian is because of my time at mta

It may be hard to find a comedian who regularly performs a uniquely Jewish-themed act dovetailed with political and cultural satires. However, it would certainly be quite difficult to find such a comedian whose career began with a breakout performance right here at an MTA Purim Shpeel back in 1987. Yet

in The Academy News’s constant search for artistically inclined alumni, that person-ality was found in Modern Orthodox comedian Elon Gold, a graduate of MTA’s class of 1988.

By DaviD Weiss ‘11 Academy News Editor-in-Chief

Features The Academy News • 9September 2010 / Tishrei 5771

Candid: Gold performs for Haazinu last February, an organization that rasies money for hearing impaired children. Using his talents for the benefit of many Jewish charity organizations, he also hosts the annual Chabbad telethon, which aired earlier this month.

academically, but also in the arts and theater. Our cultural development was of the utmost importance to her,” Gold recalls. “It was nice to have a teacher that opened our minds and gave us the encouragement and opportunity to explore our artistic personalities.”

While he was a senior in MTA, Gold decided it was time to take his act to the profession-al stage. He went to several comic strips in New York City, and did stand-up for the first time. Performing alongside comedians such as Adam Sandler, Gold’s stand-up act turned out to be a huge success, with many of his MTA friends regularly coming to watch his perfor-mances.

After graduating from MTA with what he called a rather “average” GPA, he went on to study at Queens College. While at Queens, Gold decided he wanted to attend a real away-from-home university, and after painstaking preparation achieved a 4.0 GPA and scored several points higher on his SAT. He then matriculated at Boston University, where he graduated cum laude, with honors, with a de-gree in economics. Gold spent his spare time during college doing comedy wherever he could, touring the Boston area as well as sev-eral other colleges.

Gold continued to make strides in his acting and comedy careers, starring in a number of sitcoms, including In-Laws, a show on NBC, which was based on Gold’s real life family ex-periences, as well as guest appearances on Fox’s Bones and CBS’s The Mentalist. He is a regular correspondent with The Tonight Show, where he has appeared as a celebrity guest numerous times. Jay Leno refers to Gold endearingly as “Mr. Purim,” a nickname based on Gold’s sta-tus as an observant Jew and Leno’s somewhat provincial knowledge of Jewish holidays. Gold

has also been hosting the annual Fall Chabad Telethon since 2006.

As for Gold’s parting words to the editors of The Academy News, he recommended that we should “stay in school, and stay in shul.” He con-tinues to learn to this day, a habit he accredits

to influences at MTA. Despite using Rabbi Cohen’s distinct style of speaking as his model for rabbinical parodies, he explained that he had “the utmost of respect for him” and believes he was “a tremendous tzadik .” Gold looks for ward to performing for even

more Jewish audiences in the future. “You know the Jews; they can complain, but they don’t.”

Photographs by Stan Weiss

rista TutoringOverwhelmed by the newfound mountain of school-work that comes with being a high school freshman?

Need some help reviewing last semester’s classwork to get an edge this year?

Just send an e-mail to MTArista@gmail.comto be paired with a student tutor in any subject!

- A n A r i s t a P r o j e c t -

Advertisement September 2010 / Tishrei 577110 • The Academy News

Sports The Academy News • 11September 2010 / Tishrei 5771

T h e S c o r e b o a r dG a m e s • S t a n d i n g s • P h e n o m s • To u r n a m e n t s • T h e D e n • T h e M a x

The Varsity Hockey Lions were a ter-rific team last season. They advanced to the semifinals last year, and looked

poised to make a championship run. However, some key departures have left this year’s team looking a little different than its predecessor. A new coaching staff and departures of key players has left this team unsure of what to expect, but with some new additions and returning seniors, they could reload for another championship run.

This past March the Lions were flying high. They had just compiled an 11-2-1 record and rolled over Magen David, and were looking forward to a chance to bring the championship back to MTA. However, before they could ac-complish that goal, they had to beat DRS. The Lions rolled into the Greenhouse ready for any-thing that DRS could throw at them. The Lions jumped out to an early lead with nine minutes

remaining in the 1st Period on a gorgeous wrap-around goal by (now graduated) Captain Moshe Jaroslawicz that left the DRS goalie dazed and confused. Senior goalie Natan Bienstock was able to hold off the multitude of DRS shots and keep the Lions on top 1-0 heading into the 1st in-termission. But then the Wildcats stormed back. They scored the next three goals and won the game 3-1 and went on to win the championship over MTA’s rival TABC.

After their loss to DRS the Lions had a very emotional post game meeting with head coach Rabbi Eric Goldman. During this meeting, he announced that he would be retiring and would not be coaching the team next season. This left the Lions without a head coach, and with holes on offense and defense left by graduated seniors such as captains Moshe Jaroslawicz and Aaron Geffner and alternate Rani Shulman.

However, during the off-season, one of the Lion’s holes was filled. MTA announced the promotion of JV Head Coach Dovie Quint and Assistant Coach Eytan Mishkoff to those roles on the varsity team. They hope to bring the ex-perience they gained while teaching the JV team to the varsity team and help lead the Lions to a championship.

But the road to the championship will not be easy. The Lions do have four returning seniors:

star forward Noah Isaacs, defenseman Alter Gross, and goalie Natan Bienstock. With junior Caleb Siegel also returning the Lions have a pow-erful nucleus of returning players.

With many holes left to fill on the roster, juniors will be asked to fill the void. At forward look for Eitan Stern and Raffi Wiesen to help fill the void left by the graduation of Jaroslawicz and Shul-man. On defense, the spot vacated by Geffner should be filled adequately by Gabe Rosenfeld.

You can also expect Yoni Jaroslawicz to give Bienstock a run for his money at goalie.

In addition to the holes left by the departed se-niors, another potential stumbling block for the Lions is the other teams in their division. They have to go through the 2nd place team from last year, the TABC Storm, who will still have most of their key players from last year on route to the title. They also must beat the strong teams from SAR and Frisch in order to even have a chance at

attaining the title. Even with all the holes that need filling, the Li-

ons have a chance to go the distance this season. Senior Natan Bienstock remarked: “I think we have a good chance this season. If we get good play from juniors and the stars align, I think we can win the championship.” With high hopes like those, and good play from their returning stars, the Lions have a great chance at bringing the championship back to MTA this season.

Poised to Pounce: The Varsity Hockey Lions pump up for a game against TABC last yearShlomo Friedman The Academy News

Varsity Hockey Lions Ready to Roar

After a dissapointing loss to DRS in last year’s playoffs, hockey team looks to correct its shortcomings.

By natan bienstock ‘11 Academy News Sports Editor

A s September approaches, so does the basket-ball season. For the JV Basketball team things are going to be a little different as their focus is

turned to the 2010-2011 season. The lower classmen team will be losing their forwards who will move on to varsity, but most importantly its 6”5 dominant center, Zev Senter. In ad-dition to losing their big men, they will also be losing head coach Yossi Faber. Former point guard Yosef Weinberger (MTA ’07) will be the new assistant coach. The strongly tal-ented guard team will be lead by former YULA captain Josh Friedman as head coach.This past March, the end of a fantastic run and post-season

push came to an end. The squad finished off with a domi-nant 8-2 record giving them the second seed in their division. MTA received its eight wins by beating SAR and Ramaz once each, and sweeping its series with Heschel and Westchester three a piece.

Unfortunately, the playoffs were not was not as success-ful as the regular season, with MTA losing to the division champs SAR. Before winter vacation, MTA was privileged

to play in the Rubenstein Memorial Tournament for the second year in a row. The first year, MTA lost to DRS in the cham-pionship but this time around MTA came out with intensity from day one. The first game of the tournament took place at Westchester where MTA would play Ramaz. At half time, the game was tied but MTA was not going to let this one get

away. With tenacious de-fense, the team soared to

victory and from then, they were almost unstoppable.On Motztei Shabbos, they took on Northshore at Westches-

ter. Zev Senter guided the team and scored a whopping 36 points to have MTA live another day in this tournament and face Frisch in the championship on the following Sunday.

Coming into the game, you could see the intensity on the faces of the Lions and the Cougars. Frisch had not lost a game all season, including preseason, and MTA was currently in the middle of riding a hot streak. As time was winding down, some clutch foul shooting and another fight of amazing de-fense, MTA was finally able to be crowned victorious. The score of the game was 45-43 and Zev Senter was awarded tournament MVP.

This upcoming season is sure to bring some exciting sur-prises to many people, but with that in mind the team is very talented. The freshman dominated the team last year with guards, but as the loss of key sophomores looks to be a prob-lem, they are all very talented and can each provide some-thing for the team. Big moments should be expected and a championship is definitely in sight.

W ow, what a sea-son the

MTA Junior Varsity hockey team had last year. With the coaching of Dovie Quint and Ei-tan Mishkoff, the Lions soared to the semi finals, eventually losing after a rough third period game-ending goal scored by DRS. MTA was not expected to compete with the mighty DRS Wildcats. However the Lions showed that they were just as good, but ultimately could not come up with the win. Last season can be looked at with some regret, because the

Junior Varsity team could definitely have won it all. There will be some player changes this season including two new coaches. The new head coach will be Judah Rosenboum a former TABC star who has been an assistant coach there for the past several years. He will be assisted by Michael Heller, another former TABC superstar. These two coaches will take their vast hockey knowledge and try to bring it to MTA in order to produce a great season. Along with the coaching changes, there will also be many players leaving, hopefully going to varsity. Even though most of last year’s team will be moving up to Varsity, there is still much hope for this new JV squad. There are still many talented players on this years’ team. Some of these players include the star offenseman Me-nachem Mermelstein, along with Moshe Lifschitz, and many others. There are also some talented freshmen that will hope-fully add to the talent level of next years team. Akiva Gottlieb, who played for Yavneh, Hillel Fuld who was on Noam, and

Jesse Schwalb who played on the ASHAR team are three of those incoming freshman who will hopefully help produce a winning season.

Although the squad has a lot of great players, there are still some doubts about the success of next years’ team. One of these uncertainties is the question of who will play goalie. Last years’ starting goalie Yoni Jaroslawicz, was considered one of the premier goalies in the league, and will be going off to varsity this season. Without the great goalkeeping, it will be hard for this team to keep goals out of the net and win games.

The league this year does not have many good teams. MTA’s biggest challengers will be Frisch and TABC. If the Lions can produce wins against these premier teams, they can definitely be contenders.

If a goalkeeper who will be able to skillfully net mind does not fill the goalie position, it will indeed be very hard for this years’ team to go far into the playoffs due to the lack of de-fense. However, if this teams’ defense can be effective, and if a quality replacement fills the goalie position, then this team can definitely make it to the championships.

Cubs: The JV Hockey Lions will come into this season with a strong bench of hardened sophomore veterans.

Intense: The JV Basketball Lions at their championship match against Frisch at the Rubenstein Tournament last year.

JV Hockey By Eitan Stern ‘12

Academy News Staff WriterJV BasketballBy Akiva Blumenthal ‘12

Academy News Staff Writer

J V L i o n s U p d a t e

File Photo Eli Blumenthal The Academy News

September 2010 / Tishrei 577112 • The Academy News

Here at The Academy News, we’re on the cutting edge of virtually everything. Writing, editing, self-aggrandizement, you name it. It’s with this in mind that we present our “Under the Dome” column, our assembly of potpourri on the more interesting features of MTA happenings. We welcome comments, questions, criti-cisms, witticisms, praises and sacrifices. Just make them out to “cash”.

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Fierce: Varsity Hockey captain Noah Isaacs weathers the downpour of the TABC Storm during last year’s regular season.

Finesse: Varsity Basketball captain Yisrael Feld leads the assault against the Frisch Cougars at last year’s Sarachek Tournament.

David Weiss The Academy News Shimon Fried Yeshiva University

After a second Sarachek upset last year, Feld hopes to dominate the league with zealous captaincy

Playing in the Sarachek Tournament may be a rarity for the average Yeshiva League bas-ketball player. But for MTA Var-sity Basketball captain Yisrael Feld, who has played in two con-

secutive Sarachek Tournaments including one Tier I championship game, it’s just par for the course.

On the court, the basketball captain is able to set up nearly every fastbreak. He calls plays, directs his teammates, and makes up for the team’s mis-takes with his quick thinking and ball handling finesse.

“Feld is a real veteran of the Varsity Basketball league” explains teammate Hudie Baruch, who plays guard for the Lions. “When we’re on the court, we always gain an added feeling of comfort and equanimity knowing that he knows exactly what he’s doing and is watching our every move”.

Feld’s Varsity Basketball career began in 10th grade, when he was asked to forego the Junior Var-sity team for a chance to play for Varsity.

Knowing that he would be starting in nearly every game despite his young age, the phenom jumped at the opportunity and has been playing Varsity ever since.

Yet Feld’s experiences as an MTA lion can be de-scribed as largely unsuccessful and for the most part marked by perennial turbulence.

Coming off of a hugely disappointing conclusion to last year’s regular season, Feld was eager to lead the Lions back to the Sarachek championships, as he had done the year before. However, the Li-ons’ roar was quickly extinguished early on in the tournament with an unexpected loss to the Frisch Cougars. After two years of tumultuous seasons and eventual defeats, Feld is determined to lead the Lions to glory in his final year playing for the team.

“Last year’s Sarachek turnout was a big letdown for the entire team. We’d just come off of a season ending loss to Magen David in the regular league, and were looking to make up for our loss in the tournament” explains Feld. “Despite the loss of our senior lineup from last year, I really think this team can take the tournament all the way” .

Few teams in the Yeshiva League are bolstered by a player such as Feld, who has seen so much carnage on the Sarachek playing field. Most of last year’s teams were lead by all star senior members, whose departure from high school has left the league vulnerable to Feld’s hardened determina-tion and unparalleled skill.

“For now, we need to keep our goals in sight; the lions have a golden opportunity to achieve nation-al yeshiva league fame, and reaching that goal will entail steadfast dedication and the full commit-ment of the entire team” says Feld.

Isaacs looks to reach MYHSHL Championships with the support of incoming Junior hopefuls

To say Varsity Hockey captain Noah Isaacs is ag-gressive on the court would be somewhat of an under-statement.

Now in his fourth year play-ing hockey as an MTA lion, Isaacs has seen his share of both victory and defeat. His agility and stamina earned him a spot on last year’s starting lineup, on a team that looked as if it could live up to the glory of the famed Rabbi Schiller era.

But a season that began with flawless victories and blowout matches unfortunately came to a disappointing conclusion. After going 9-0 in the regular season, the Lions were primed to con-tinue their conquests against the TABC Storm. Despite scoring a goal early on in the game, the Lions would eventually go on to lose 3-1, which ultimately would break their morale for the re-mainder of the season. The Lions defeated the Magen David Warriors in the first round of the playoffs, but were no match for the DRS Wild-cats, who swiftly shattered the Lions’ champion-ship aspirations.

“I think that our loss to TABC was a sign of our weakness in the face of more skilled opponents” explains Isaacs. “We felt as if we were on top of

our game, like we could never possibly face de-feat. That loss proved that our team had flaws and that we were not as good as we’d hoped to be”.

For now, the team is looking to make up for the loss of many key players from last year’s team. Senior Natan Bienstock’s stellar goal-minding will still be at the Lions’ disposal, although cop-ing with the loss of former seniors Moshe Jarasla-wicz and Aaron Geffner will certainly be a chal-lenge the team must meet.

“Hopefully, the impressive new lineup of incom-ing juniors will give us the edge we need to stay on our game” Isaacs explains. Former Junior Var-sity hockey captain Eitan Stern will join the Lions this year. Stern, whose stellar leadership brought the lions to many victories last year, has a similar bone to pick with DRS, after being defeated in the playoffs by the Wildcats just as the Varsity team had been.

When asked about what he thought was most important for the Lions to keep in mind while pre-paring for the coming season, Isaacs explained:“I think that in order for us to be ready for the sea-son, we need to work on building chemistry with the new members of our team. Hopefully, we’ll be able to work with the incoming talent to the best of our ability”.

The Phenoms By acaDeMY neWs sports staff