Brooklyn Jewish Historical Night

Students with Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn borough president

 A group of students and I had the privilege of attending the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Night at borough hall. We heard several interesting speakers such as Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, and Ron Shweiger, the Brooklyn historian. They spoke about how unique the Jewish community in Brooklyn is and that it is the largest Jewish community out if Israel. There were various types of Jews attending, representing the diversity of our community. Everybody there had an interesting story to tell. We interviewed many people telling their stories in video. The program was covered by the news as well. At the end, we met the borough president and other important figures and had a delicious kosher dinner.   ~Isaac Dayan 

I had an absolutely amazing experience at the Jewish heritage event, I heard stories from a ton of older Jews that were born and raised in Brooklyn. They told me how different it was back then and how happy they are to see the population going up, this made me very proud to be a Brooklyn Jew. ­_­­­This event really inspired me to better connect with my Jewish heritage, plus it was amazing meeting Borough president Marty Markowitz. Thank you Mrs. Hanon & Pathfinders for putting together this opportunity for all of us who participated.   ~Tomer Kornfeld

Stop World Hunger Essay Contest

Jack Oved

May 30 was the 24th Annual Awards Ceremony for the Stop World Hunger Essay Contest, held in Farmingdale. We are very proud to announce that juniors Jack Oved took second place and Michelle Wahba tied another student for third place. They beat out 65 other schools and more than 2,600 essays!

Arista & Archon 2012

Our annual Arista and Archon assemblies recognize students for their academic excellence and exemplary school service, respectfully.

Arista
Archon

Challenge Competition

Photo from left to right:

Rachail Kurtz, Coach/Advisor, Soly Idy, Steven Burekhovich- captain, the host - Jared Cotter, Joe Khezrie, Joseph Deutsch, and alternate Mendy Isseroff.

Steven Burekhovich, captain, Joseph Deutsch, Soly Idy, Joe Khezrie and Mendy Isseroff competed on the Cablevision TV academic game show, The Challenge.  A rigorously competetive interschool contest, The Challenge, is a test of the depth and breadth of knowledge, ranging from pop culture to complex mathematical problems, as well as quick buzzer-finger reflexes.  After defeating the best and the brightest of other Brooklyn schools and winning the vaunted Brooklyn Championship, bringing home $2,500 and a trophy, the Flatbush Challenge team made it all the way to the Tri-State regionals. Congratulations to the Challenge team and to Rachail Kurtz, the Challenge coach/advisor.

Cooking For A Cause, Once Again

Last Wednesday we had another great Cooking for a Cause event. Special thanks to Carol Chera and Michelle Levy, mother of Joseph Levy, for helping out.

Cooking for a Cause allows students to learn how to prepare a variety of entrees, dinners, and desserts while participating in a Chesed event. All of the food prepared in these events are sent to needy families who can then enjoy delicious homemade dinners. For more information about this commission, read this previous post: http://www.myflatbushlife.com/2011/10/helping-against-hunger.html 

Pathfinders Update: Genealogy Research

Over the past few months Yeshivah of Flatbush students, Jamie Baum and Jeanette Eliezer, interned with the Sephardic Heritage Project doing genealogy research. This was part of our Pathfinders Program.

Read about their experience in their own words:

Over the past few months, we interned for the Sephardic Heritage Project. Almost every week, we researched the meanings of family surnames derived from the Brit Milah and marriage records, developing a database of information to be used for Sephardic genealogical research. Our sources included some books on the origin and meaning of surnames, as well as online sources. I enjoyed the internship, as I learned a lot about the meanings of certain names in various languages, in addition to learning how to independently conduct research.  ~Jamie and Jeanette

Their intenship supervisor, Sarina Roffe, had these nice words to say:  

Jamie and Jeanette were extremely helpful to the Sephardic Heritage Project in identifying the meanings of last names in our community. This project is devoted to promoting genealogy in our community. They were reliable, responsible and sincerely interested in the project.  ~Sarina Roffé, President Sarina Roffé Group

Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School Pathfinders Program: 
Beginning in 9th grade, the Pathfinders counselors work with each student to discuss their interests and develop their goals. Students are then given a wide range of opportunities of places where they can volunteer, intern and explore their unique academic pursuits and career ideas. Through the Yeshivah of Flatbush Pathfinders Program, we encourage our students to discover and expand their special talents and abilities and explore career options for the future. Whether a student is actively engaged during the school year or in the summer, we are confident that each Yeshivah of Flatbush student will find a path to success.

What Does Yerushalayim Mean To You?

Join us this Sunday and celebrate Yom Yerushalayim 5772!

Students Gain Insights to Sephardic Past at Baruch College

Students with Baruch College dean, Jeffrey Peck

On Tuesday May 15, some of our students attended the Sephardic American Jewry Communities and Contributions panel and exposition, facilitated and presented by the Jewish Studies Center at Baruch College Performing Arts Center.  Our forty attendees enjoyed a panel of impressive speakers, among them Rabbi Marc Angel, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel and author and editor of over 30 books, Dr. Jane Gerber, professor of Jewish History, noted author and director of the Institute for Sephardic Studies at the Graduate Center of CUNY and keynote speaker, Lucette Lagnado, award winning writer and reporter for the Wall Street Journal and author of The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit and The Arrogant Years.  Jeffrey Peck, Dean of Baruch’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences spoke of his commitment to establishing a Sephardic Studies department. The program offered a tremendous insight into the Sephardic past and an opportunity to see our ancestors through a critical lens and an academic view.

eKo Commission: Beach Clean-Up

This past Friday the eKo Commission, visited Plumb Beach with 100 empty garbage bags, and 30 dedicated students determined to clean the ENTIRE beach. They covered over 3 miles and filled over 50 FULL bags of garbage! A special thanks goes out to Rabbi Haber and commissioner Emily Schrem for organizing this trip and for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the year!  ~Victor Dweck, Sophomore

WordMasters May Results

Four teams of students representing Yeshivah of Flatbush recently won highest honors in the year end standing of this year's WordMasters challenge, a national competition for high school students requiring close reading and analysis of many different kinds of prose and poetry. Participating with 548 high school teams from all across the country, the school's ninth graders placed first in the nation, in the cumulative standing and the end of the four meets held this year. At the same time, our tenth graders placed second in the nation, eleventh graders tied for sixth in the nation, and the twelfth graders placed first in the nation. The teams were supervised by Mrs. Shifra Hanon.

In addition, we are proud to congratulate our students who have won highest honors for year long individual achievement. Freshmen Sarah Levy and Rebecca Zami, Sophomores Bob Husni and Andrew Hersh all placed among the 22 highest-ranked students at their respective grade levels. Andrew Hersh was one of the two highest rated tenth graders rated nationwide.

Several students earned outstanding results in the year's final meet, held in April: Freshmen Abie Tawil and Victor Zeitoune and Seniors Raquel Lifschutz and Rachel Weintraub all earned perfect scores in this meet, while in the entire country only seven ninth graders and only 19 twelfth graders did so.

Others who excelled in this meet include  the following:

Freshmen:
Eddie Farhi
Sarah Levy
Joey Cohen
Rosie Doveck
Raquel Shalam
Jacob Silvera

Sophomores:
Michele Schewe
Joey Betesh
Joy Feinberg
Ralph Guindi
Bob Husni

Seniors:
Daniel Cizma
Jennifer Lipschitz

A special congratulations to all of our honored students!