Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, Rosh Mesivta of Rambam Mesivta Maimonides High School in Lawrence, proudly announced that senior Jeremy Shapiro has been named a Commended Student in the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise.  They placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2012 competition by taking the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

Rabbi Friedman noted:  “We are proud that Jeremy has demonstrated outstanding performance in this highly competitive program.  Representing our Class of 2012 as a National Merit Commended Student, Jeremy is among the most academically talented students in the nation and our school.”

Jeremy is the captain of the school’s Robotics team, a member of the Math team, and a prolific scorer on the College Bowl circuit.   

Last week at Rambam we had the annual open house. It was a huge success! We were visited by many more 8th graders than we were expecting. In the beginning of the day volunteers worked on getting everything set up. At 2:00PM everyone “manned their stations” as the eighth graders showed up. After all of them got registered a huge assembly was made in the shul, where almost everyone spoke about what a beautiful school Rambam is which is all true. Kids from YKLI, HAFTR, Darchei Torah, HALB, YCQ, and many more schools showed up. Afterwards many fun activities awaited the middle school kids including sports, brain teasers and learning. Afterwards, the day was concluded with a big schmooze session in the atrium. All in all, it was a huge success. Thank you to all the volunteers, and good luck to all the 8th graders!

Shai Yastrab (10th Grade)

Members of the Rambam Culture Club had the opportunity to attend a political forum featuring Democrat Adam Moser and Republican Howard Kopel. The “Meet the Candidates Night” was hosted by President of the Lawrence Association, Ronald Goldman, at the Lawrence Country Club.

Howard Kopel is the incumbent in the November 8th election for county Legislator. The two candidates debated about major problems in the community, such as the tap water safety issue, the budget issue, the sewage dump problem and more.

We learned a lot about how things are run in our district government, and how the voting process works. We really felt like we became involved with local politics.

Ben Silverstein (9th Grade)

The freshman, sophomores, and juniors were all in school after taking the PSAT’s and PPSAT’s, but the seniors were nowhere to be found in the building. While everyone else was sweating the test, the seniors were sweating in North Woodmere Park and the Annual Senior Getaway Day for a day of bonding and friendship.

After an extended lunch we all piled into the school vans with our sports equipment and we were on our way. Many of us played football while others played basketball, tennis, and baseball. The games were all very competitive and fun. After four hours of sports, we got back into back into the vans and headed to Haagen Daz to bond over ice-cream. After the delicious ice-cream, we headed back to school and were dismissed with the knowledge that the SATs were forever behind us.

Shlomo Ross (12th Grade)

Rambam's Robotics team got off to a great start. Under the new direction of Coach Flam, the team drew their ideal robots and learned the difference between many types of motors, wires and microprocessors. The team hopes to take back the title of RoboCup Junior champions this year, and looks poised to do so.

Jonathan Beer (12th Grade)

Following Rambam’s iconic “Town Hall-Style Elections,” the Student Government wasted no time making their mark. Under the leadership of President Dov Herzberg, Vice-President Chanani Levy, Treasurer Dovid Sokolov, and Secretary Jacob Friedman, the newly elected civil-servants set into motion plans that would forever change the history of Rambam.

Discount days immediately started appearing at the Senior Council food stand, with delicious eggs and pancakes filling bellies and warning hearts. They have started selling special GO Cards which offer students discounts at local restaurants including Crawfords, Traditions, Seasons, CravingsZ and many more! With this new SGO crew we are anticipating a great school year!

Mendy Duftler (10th Grade)

The Rambam Culture Club was proud to sponsor a visit from Andrew Moses Friedman, a Harvard University Ph.D student currently studying Music Theory, to the school. Through a series of film clips, including scenes from Star Wars, Toy Story, and Minority Report, Andrew showed how music can lead the audience to feel an emotion even if it is misplaced.  When he showed Darth Vader’s iconic entrance, but switched his theme music with The Simpsons theme song, Darth Vader no longer seemed as menacing and the point was made.

Following the assembly, Andrew met with the Rambam Band and Harmonidies to give them some tips.    

Mendy Duftler (10th Grade)

The Rambam Turkeys faced off in a heated bowling match against North Shore. With the scores going back and forth, the Turkeys prevailed and won 14-12. A special shout-out to Nathaniel Selevan, Jeremy Shapiro and Sam Grill who won both of their games. We hope that this win will lead the Turkeys on a great season.

Zach Stern (12th Grade)

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Republican advisor Dan Senor criticized the Obama administration for its Israel policy and concluded that the President was therefore losing the Jewish vote.  Needless to say, this would represent a radical transformation of traditional Jewish voting patterns where Jews (but not Orthodox Jews) typically cast 75% or more of their votes for the Democratic candidate.  As if to drive home this point, on the eve of the recent UN General Assembly meeting in New York, a group of Orthodox rabbis and lay leaders stood behind Republican candidate Rick Perry as he delivered a speech sharply criticizing Obama’s Israeli position.  Senor accused the President of making an anti-Israel comment at a meeting with Jewish leaders at which he purportedly told the group that Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection."  Senor also pointed to Obama’s 2009 UN speech in which he commented that “America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."  Finally, Senor criticizes Obama’s “Arab Spring” speech, which focused on a demand that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders. This, Senor concluded, is “the most consistently one-sided diplomatic record against Israel of any American president in generations.”

White House Deputy Assistant Antony J. Blinker responded in a follow-up article entitled “The Obama Administration Is a Good Friend to Israel,” in which he defended Obama’s track record on Israel, calling him a true friend of the Jewish state.  He noted that, this year alone, the US had provided $3 billion to Israel by way of military assistance, the most ever.  He noted that America had given Israel an additional $205 million in funding for the famed Iron Dome, as well as helping develop ballistic missile defense systems and early warning systems.  As for the Obama administration’s comments, he explained that “even the closest of allies disagree,” but that “none of our predecessors has done more for Israel’s security.”

However compelling this debate may be, in my view, it is secondary to what, for us as a community, should be a more fundamental concern: do we really want Israel to become a “wedge” issue in the upcoming presidential elections?  The American public’s allegiance to Israel has historically transcended party lines; do we really want to threaten that by making Israel a “Democratic” or a “Republican” issue?  Will Israel be best served by that political dynamic? 

And how should we define who is or isn’t a “friend” of Israel?  Synthesizing the views of Senor and Blinker, Obama is someone who acts like a friend where it counts (with money, military aid, a promised veto of Palestinian UN membership, etc.), but sometimes sounds less like a friend in his speeches (although I haven’t heard any complaints about this year’s UN speech).  So is he or isn’t he a friend?  The positions he articulates in his speeches regarding the settlements are not that much different from those of his predecessors – and, in fact, are not that much different from the views of the Israeli public where, according to polls, more than 70% are in favor of abandoning settlements as part of a genuine peace agreement.  So are his comments truly “unfriendly”?  And don’t we want America to be able to mediate effectively between Israel, the Palestinians and the neighboring Arab states?  Is it realistic for America to play this role if in his speeches, not just in his deeds, the President is also expected to wave Israel’s flag?  And doesn’t Obama deserve hakarat haTov from us, as a community, for being a friend, even if perhaps not always sounding like a friend? 

Politics is not a “binary” arena where one is either a friend or a foe.  There are numerous shades of gray in between, and it requires thoughtfulness and political maturity to appreciate them.  Our Jewish leaders should think long and hard about this before tossing Israel’s future into the midst of America’s upcoming political maelstrom.

Avi Gross (12th Grade)