Volume 8 Issue 1, October 2009 - The Heschel School
Volume 8 Issue 1, October 2009 - The Heschel School
Volume 8 Issue 1, October 2009 - The Heschel School
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
ׁחשוןָ ה’תש”ע<br />
<strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> Page 11<br />
<strong>The</strong> Official Student Newspaper<br />
of the<br />
Abraham Joshua <strong>Heschel</strong><br />
High <strong>School</strong><br />
“We stand for what we utter…”<br />
- Rabbi <strong>Heschel</strong><br />
Orthodox Minyan Faces Mid-Life Crisis<br />
By Emma Goldberg<br />
<strong>The</strong> bell rings, it’s 8:00 a.m., backpacks are<br />
slung off backs onto linoleum hallway floors, masses<br />
of students flock towards their minyanim with shouts<br />
of, “What time does tefillah start?” While <strong>Heschel</strong><br />
has experimented with many different types<br />
of minyanim, two are permanent staples:<br />
the Orthodox and Egalitarian minyanim, the<br />
only two minyanim committed to reciting the<br />
entire shacharit service each morning.<br />
Wandering into either the Beit Midrash<br />
or room 322, the locations of the Orthodox<br />
and Egalitarian minyanim respectively,<br />
one is exposed to a living example of<br />
<strong>Heschel</strong>’s pluralistic approach to Judaism. In<br />
the Egalitarian service female students often<br />
lead the prayer service, read Torah, or even<br />
wrap themselves in tefillin. By contrast, in<br />
the orthodox minyan male students lead the<br />
service, receive aliyot, and occupy the leadership<br />
role. Recently, though the Orthodox<br />
minyan has been expanding, some students<br />
are questioning the religious values of this<br />
minyan and of the school at large, questioning<br />
how <strong>Heschel</strong> High <strong>School</strong> reconciles its<br />
core values of pluralism and gender equity<br />
with offering a minyan that bars female students<br />
from leading tefillah.<br />
<strong>Heschel</strong> has always been a school devoted<br />
to gender equity, led by a female high school principal,<br />
Ahuva Halberstam, and a female head of school,<br />
Roanna Shorofsky. However, <strong>Heschel</strong> has remained<br />
devoted to cultivating a pluralistic atmosphere in the<br />
Illustration by Abigail Lipnick<br />
High <strong>School</strong> as well, accepting of students from all<br />
denominations of Judaism. <strong>The</strong> mission statement of<br />
the <strong>Heschel</strong> <strong>School</strong> explicitly states that, “<strong>The</strong> <strong>Heschel</strong><br />
<strong>School</strong> is dedicated to building bridges between<br />
different sectors of the Jewish community.” In a<br />
school dedicated to bridging the gap between branches<br />
of Judaism, it seems fitting that a minyan reflecting<br />
the values of Orthodox Jewish students should be offered.<br />
In fact, the Orthodox minyan claims in its mission<br />
statement that it can, “create substantive opportunities<br />
for personal involvement from both genders<br />
while remaining within the confines of tradition.”<br />
Despite this claim, some students feel that<br />
the school should not offer a minyan that violates the<br />
right of female students to act as leaders of minyanim.<br />
“I know that the Orthodox minyan’s services<br />
are incredibly uplifting, but I would never be able<br />
to pray in a minyan where my presence is not even<br />
counted, I’m considered illegitimate. I<br />
would never be able to put forward full<br />
kavod and kavanah if I knew that the minyan’s<br />
values conflicted with my own, and<br />
I was not even considered part of the minyan,”<br />
said sophomore Sasha Gayle Schneider.<br />
Some students have also speculated<br />
over how the Orthodox minyan drew<br />
seventy-eight students, many of whom<br />
are not observant, this year. Rabbi Natan<br />
Kapustin, the facilitator of the Orthodox<br />
minyan, expressed his view that the Orthodox<br />
minyan attracts many students<br />
who, “do not want to pray, but want to<br />
be near serious prayer. A decent number<br />
of people come because it’s the easiest<br />
minyan if you don’t want to lead, discuss,<br />
or even pray. <strong>The</strong> Egalitarian minyan has<br />
done more in terms of challenging people<br />
to lead, while I’m more lax in my approach<br />
and no one’s walking around to<br />
check that people are davening. I think in the Orthodox<br />
minyan, people can get away with not participating,<br />
which is a problem I’m trying to solve.” Rabbi<br />
Natan’s view of the Orthodox minyan as the “easiest<br />
minyan” highlights a conflict in the divide between<br />
the Egalitarian and Orthodox minyanim. While the<br />
(continued on page 2)<br />
Administration Debates<br />
Hair-Dying <strong>Issue</strong> in <strong>School</strong><br />
In This <strong>Issue</strong><br />
By Aliza Rosenfeld<br />
A new school year brings new chances to reexamine<br />
school policy, and the administration took advantage of<br />
that opportunity. In September, High <strong>School</strong> Head Ahuva<br />
Halberstam considered banning students from dying their<br />
hair in colors that do not occur naturally in hair. However,<br />
after further consideration and meeting with the administration<br />
of all three divisions of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Heschel</strong> <strong>School</strong>, she<br />
unquestionably decided against it.<br />
Among Ahuva’s concerns was balancing student<br />
self-expression with the school’s wholesome image. When<br />
prospective parents and students took tours over the years<br />
and saw some students with “fun” hair colors, as Ahuva<br />
phrases it, they might have questioned the wholesomeness<br />
of the <strong>Heschel</strong> school environment.<br />
Ahuva drew on personal experience from a previous<br />
school while speaking about the issue. She saw<br />
black nail polish on a student, a color classically viewed<br />
as “goth” with negative connotations, for the first time at<br />
a high school she ran on the West Coast. However, her<br />
students explained that “black is just a color.” She drew a<br />
parallel that different hair colors are also just colors.<br />
Ahuva understands the need for student self-expression<br />
and that hair-dying may be a means for that. This image<br />
can actually give the school a certain sense of “aliveness.”<br />
Initially, Ahuva asked junior Shevi Epstein to let<br />
her dyed hair grow out. Shevi agreed to obey the rules, but<br />
not until they were written in the Student Handbook. Shevi<br />
clearly voiced her opinion, explained her perspective on<br />
the situation, and why she enjoys dying her hair. She said<br />
it is “not a statement, let alone a rebellious one. It’s just for<br />
the fun of it.”<br />
This gave Ahuva further insight into the issue. She<br />
realized that in a pluralistic school, often there are values<br />
in tension. It was important for her to exchange perspectives<br />
with students. After a meeting and deliberation, the<br />
administration came to a unanimous decision to allow any<br />
hair color. “<strong>The</strong> administration was largely on our side,”<br />
said Sarah Epstein.<br />
<strong>The</strong> three students in question, juniors Shevi Epstein,<br />
Sarah Epstein, and Esther Lenchner, seemed to agree<br />
that this was not a “power struggle, but rather a political issue,”<br />
as Shevi explained. However, they did state that they<br />
would have preferred for the administration to discuss the<br />
issue before Ahuva brought it to their attention and asked<br />
them to stop.<br />
Esther was slightly offended, “because I think dying<br />
one’s hair is just another form of self-expression, and<br />
I don’t think that the school should get to decide what I<br />
do with my hair.” Sarah “wasn’t offended exactly, but I<br />
was upset because I thought it was an infringement on our<br />
rights and freedom of expression.”<br />
While senior Rachel Fell is “not sure I would have<br />
the courage to color my hair crazy colors or that I like how<br />
it looks all the time,” she does not think the administration<br />
should be able to control students’ hair color choice. To<br />
her, it is self-expression, “just like the clothing we wear.”<br />
And even if bright hair colors may be a bit distracting, she<br />
“wouldn’t be able to wear half [her] wardrobe if something<br />
couldn’t be distracting!”<br />
Bruce Springsteen<br />
Concert Review<br />
<strong>The</strong> New<br />
Environmental<br />
Column!<br />
(Page 3)
Page 2 Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 <strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
Orthodox Minyan Faces<br />
(continued from page 1)<br />
Mid-Life Crisis<br />
Helios Staff<br />
<strong>2009</strong>-2010<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
Aliza Rosenfeld<br />
Jessica Appelbaum<br />
Sports Editor<br />
Brandon Bell<br />
By Zoe Goldberg<br />
Orthodox minyan has attracted many<br />
new members, many of these students<br />
are not interested in participating. By<br />
contrast, the Egalitarian minyan has<br />
shrunk because of its dedication to<br />
challenging members to actively participate<br />
in the tefillah service through<br />
prayer and minyan leadership.<br />
Despite its lax approach to<br />
prayer, many students join the Orthodox<br />
minyan because they feel that it has<br />
created a serious prayer atmosphere.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Orthodox minyan, as described by<br />
Rabbi Natan, is “an environment of serious<br />
prayer. Everyone who comes in<br />
knows we take prayer seriously and we<br />
take saying the words seriously, even<br />
to the extent of saying the full service.”<br />
According to students, the Orthodox<br />
minyan has drawn so many students despite<br />
its controversial values, because it<br />
has succeeded in creating an environment<br />
of meaningful prayer, gathering<br />
a group of students committed to praying<br />
with kavanah, reciting each word<br />
of the shacharit service. “<strong>The</strong> thing is<br />
that, yes, the idea of an Orthodox minyan<br />
goes against <strong>Heschel</strong>’s values of<br />
gender equity, but the fact is that the<br />
Orthodox minyan has become a place<br />
of more serious prayer. Students feel<br />
that they can compromise their beliefs<br />
about gender equality, because they<br />
think that having a rich and spiritual<br />
tefillah experience is more important,”<br />
explained a student who has rejoined<br />
the Orthodox minyan for his second<br />
year at <strong>Heschel</strong> High.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Orthodox minyan has<br />
emerged as a minyan whose robust<br />
and spirited tefillah service attracts<br />
many students regardless of personal<br />
beliefs or Jewish practice. By contrast,<br />
the Egalitarian minyan’s primary attraction<br />
is its value of gender equity;<br />
some students complain that it lacks<br />
the deep spirituality of the Orthodox<br />
minyan. As sophomore Rachel Ernst<br />
says, “Members of the Egalitarian<br />
minyan are sometimes not respectful<br />
to the tefillah environment.” Many students<br />
have come to refer to the Egalitarian<br />
minyan as a “default” minyan.<br />
“Unlike the other minyanim, students<br />
do not seek out the Egalitarian minyan,<br />
but often simply go there because they<br />
aren’t drawn to any other minyan,”<br />
said a former student member of the<br />
Egalitarian minyan.<br />
This raises the question of why the<br />
Egalitarian minyan cannot create an<br />
equally robust tefillah environment,<br />
differing from the Orthodox minyan<br />
only in values of gender equity and not<br />
in spiritual intensity.<br />
As the Orthodox minyan expands<br />
and evolves, struggling to maintain<br />
its deeply spiritual shacharit service,<br />
the Egalitarian minyan faces its own<br />
struggles to reinvent itself as a minyan<br />
known for having a robust tefillah<br />
service. As a new school year begins<br />
and each minyan undergoes the Rosh<br />
Hashanah process of renewal, minyan<br />
facilitators struggle to lead minyanim<br />
that challenge students to follow their<br />
personal beliefs, while also finding a<br />
tefillah experience that will be spiritually<br />
meaningful for each individual.<br />
No Smoking… Are You Joking?!<br />
People sitting in Central Park<br />
smoking cigarettes has been a familiar<br />
sight for years, but now that era is<br />
coming to an end. On September 14th,<br />
Dr. Thomas A. Farley, New York City’s<br />
health commissioner, revealed a plan<br />
that will ban smoking in city parks and<br />
beaches. After some negative public reactions,<br />
Mayor Bloomberg did not deny<br />
the plan but he did amend it, saying that<br />
while “it may not be logistically possible<br />
to enforce a ban across thousands<br />
of acres… there may be areas within<br />
parks where restricting smoking can<br />
Illustration by Andrew Udell<br />
protect health.”<br />
This ban is intended as an important<br />
step in decreasing the number<br />
of smokers in New York City. Other<br />
steps have included raising taxes on<br />
cigarettes, banning indoor smoking,<br />
giving away free nicotine patches to<br />
help quit smoking in the annual Nicotine<br />
Patch and Gum Program, and some<br />
delis and stores posting signs against<br />
smoking on their storefronts in recent<br />
years.<br />
While many smokers are infuriated<br />
by this new plan, it is reminiscent of<br />
the ban that Bloomberg issued in 2002<br />
against smoking in indoor areas. This<br />
plan was so effective that the smoking<br />
rate in New York City decreased by<br />
6%. However, even some of the smokers<br />
who supported the ban in indoor<br />
areas do not support this ban.<br />
Jebediah Reed of online journal,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Infrastructurist, a smoker,<br />
claims that secondhand smoke is only<br />
harmful in enclosed spaces, not outdoors.<br />
However, a 2007 Stanford University<br />
study proved that if a person is<br />
in close proximity to a smoker outdoors<br />
for two hours, the secondhand smoke<br />
is just as harmful as if they were sitting<br />
next to each other inside a bar for one<br />
hour. Although this means the smoke<br />
is half as effective, secondhand smoke,<br />
even in small doses, can severely damage<br />
the respiratory systems and heart.<br />
Yet Reed, a smoker himself, believes<br />
that smoking should be prohibited in<br />
playgrounds or maybe even limited to<br />
some select areas in parks, but should<br />
not be altogether banned all over parks<br />
and beaches.<br />
One <strong>Heschel</strong> student said<br />
that smoking should not be altogether<br />
banned from parks because “parks are<br />
public places where people go to do<br />
what they want to do. It makes sense<br />
for there to be some places where people<br />
can’t smoke, but it’s not right for it<br />
to be banned everywhere.”<br />
Another <strong>Heschel</strong> student had<br />
a different perspective than the former,<br />
“I 100% agree with this ban. People<br />
get that secondhand smoke kills<br />
people and smoking is a gross habit.<br />
We should do whatever we can to get<br />
people to quit, even if it makes some<br />
people mad.”<br />
Art & Layout Editor<br />
Hannah Weintraub<br />
Contributing Artists<br />
Gabrielle Belok<br />
Abigail Lipnick<br />
Julie Maschler<br />
Talia Niederman<br />
Adiel Schmidt<br />
Andrew Udell<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Jessica Appelbaum<br />
Brandon Bell<br />
Samantha Brandspiegel<br />
Rachel Fell<br />
Lauren Finzi<br />
Gabriel Fisher<br />
Emma Goldberg<br />
Zoe Goldberg<br />
Benjamin Heller<br />
Nicole Hirschenboim<br />
Michele Kaplan<br />
Gabriel Klausner<br />
Ari Kramer<br />
Jesse Kramer<br />
Hannah Kober<br />
Esther Lenchner<br />
Abigail Lipnick<br />
Charlotte Marx-Arpadi<br />
Kate Prince<br />
Elizabeth Rauner<br />
Aliza Rosenfeld<br />
Anna Rothstein<br />
Becca Schwarz<br />
Andrew Udell<br />
Victor Weberman<br />
Rachel Weisberg<br />
Rachel Zeuner<br />
Faculty Advisors<br />
Lisa Cohen<br />
Gabriel Godin<br />
Audrey Sieger<br />
We would like to formally<br />
thank Samuel Freedman for<br />
his expertise and inspiration.<br />
His dedication has helped us<br />
bring Helios to the next level.<br />
Printing courtesy of<br />
Tri-Star Offset<br />
& Barry Goodman<br />
If you would like to<br />
respond to any of<br />
the articles featured<br />
in this issue, please<br />
send your<br />
comments<br />
to<br />
HS Newspaper on<br />
First Class.<br />
Thanks,<br />
Editors <strong>2009</strong>-2010
<strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong> Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 Page 3<br />
Op Ed: In China, <strong>The</strong>y Love Pork But Hate Swine<br />
By Jessica Appelbaum<br />
<strong>Heschel</strong> students have complained<br />
that the Jewish high holidays<br />
took place on weekends this<br />
year, so they barely got any time<br />
off from school. If they were Chinese<br />
students, however, the case<br />
would be quite the opposite.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Chinese education system<br />
is infamous worldwide for being<br />
particularly onerous. Chinese<br />
students must go to school Monday<br />
through Saturday, from 7 a.m.<br />
to 8 p.m., and are expected to take<br />
additional night classes. At most<br />
schools, summer break is only six<br />
weeks long, and toward the end<br />
of those six weeks, students must<br />
come to school for night classes<br />
in order to make sure they have<br />
not forgotten information over the<br />
summer. Promising students from<br />
small villages live with relatives<br />
in major cities, where schooling is<br />
relentless. This intense system of<br />
schooling has led to an increasingly<br />
high rate of suicide among Chinese<br />
teenagers.<br />
If there is one issue the Chinese<br />
are as strict about as education,<br />
it is swine flu protection.<br />
When planes enter China<br />
from another country, each plane<br />
undergoes a swine flu check; this<br />
check entails Chinese TSA officials<br />
using a temperature-scanning gun<br />
on incoming visitors. If a passenger’s<br />
temperature is above normal,<br />
s/he is sent to quarantine for a week<br />
before being allowed to enter China.<br />
Towards the beginning of the<br />
epidemic, it was not unheard of for<br />
entire planeloads of passengers to<br />
be quarantined. <strong>The</strong> Chinese government<br />
has stopped these mass<br />
quarantines, however, due to the<br />
expense of housing so many visitors<br />
in hotels. Once in the country,<br />
people wear swine flu masks on the<br />
street. If a person so much as coughs<br />
in public, a bubble of vacancy forms<br />
around him.<br />
How do H1N1 and Chinese<br />
education intersect? It’s a question<br />
of what happens when swine flu<br />
starts spreading in Chinese schools.<br />
Most schools do not deal with it by<br />
closing down, but rather ban those<br />
who are infected from coming to<br />
school, until they are better. But, in<br />
an educational system so intense,<br />
how are students to recover from a<br />
week’s absence from classes? Even<br />
in America, missing one day of<br />
school can put a student behind. In<br />
China, it’s tantamount to a failing<br />
grade.<br />
I spent six weeks in China<br />
this past summer, and received a very<br />
upsetting email from my home-stay<br />
sister in Kunming in late September.<br />
She said, “I got ill again. I’m lucky,<br />
it is just a normal cold this time, I<br />
have recovered from H1N1. Many<br />
students in Kunming are sick and<br />
cannot go to school. It’s very scary,<br />
they cannot go to class. We are<br />
lucky – because of them, they have<br />
canceled classes on Saturdays.”<br />
This system seems to be<br />
self-destructive. <strong>The</strong> Chinese government<br />
places strong emphasis on<br />
education, yet it is willing to set students<br />
up to fail because of efforts to<br />
prevent the spread of swine flu. It<br />
should be possible to find a happy<br />
balance between maintaining a rigorous<br />
education and protecting public<br />
health. Perhaps, students with<br />
swine flu could wear protective<br />
masks to school. Or, schools could<br />
make the curriculum less rigorous<br />
until the flu passes.<br />
It’s ironic, isn’t it? In America,<br />
students would do anything for<br />
a sick day. In China, a sick day is a<br />
student’s worst nightmare.<br />
OP-ED Illustrations<br />
Illustration by Gabrielle Belok<br />
Illustration by Adiel Schmidt and Julie Maschler<br />
Environmental Column: With High Expectations World Leaders to Meet<br />
about Environment<br />
By Andrew Udell<br />
This coming December, world<br />
leaders will gather in Copenhagen for the<br />
United Nations Climate Change Conference.<br />
Although this conference is still<br />
relatively unknown, it is similar to the famous<br />
Kyoto Climate Conference of 1997.<br />
<strong>The</strong> goal of that conference was to come<br />
up with a resolution for the nations of the<br />
world to reduce their ever-increasing carbon<br />
emission levels. <strong>The</strong> Kyoto Protocols<br />
are a climate change treaty that was signed<br />
as a result of that conference. More than a<br />
decade later, the time has come to reevaluate<br />
the goals of the Kyoto Protocols and to<br />
examine the progress, or lack thereof, that<br />
the nations that signed the Protocols have<br />
made.<br />
One of the glaring problems with<br />
the Kyoto Protocols is that China and the<br />
United States – who produce over 40% of<br />
the world’s carbon emissions – have failed<br />
to cooperate. <strong>The</strong> United States did not<br />
even ratify the Kyoto Protocols, making its<br />
signature a mere nominal symbol. Ratification<br />
implies that the U.S. would have had<br />
to carry out legal obligations. Although<br />
China did sign and ratify the Protocols,<br />
they have not made any progress towards<br />
lowering their emissions. In fact, since the<br />
year 2000 alone, China has increased its<br />
carbon emissions by 120%. This alarming<br />
change can be explained, in part, by<br />
China’s increasing development over the<br />
last decade. According to Alexis Madrigal<br />
of Wired Magazine, every week China<br />
builds two coal plants, which is one of the<br />
worst carbon polluting energy sources in<br />
the world. Nevertheless, China must fight<br />
to reduce its emissions or risk being, along<br />
with the U.S.A., the largest contributor to<br />
irreversible damage to our planet.<br />
This may sound like a disaster,<br />
and, indeed, it could be if we do not act<br />
now. As Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of<br />
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate<br />
Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize<br />
in 2007, said: “If there’s no action before<br />
2012, that’s too late. What we do in the<br />
next two to three years will determine our<br />
future. This is the defining moment.”<br />
We are a part of this defining moment,<br />
whether our environmental situation becomes<br />
better or worse. So what does this<br />
mean for you?<br />
This means that now, more than<br />
ever, is the time to get involved in fighting<br />
climate change. This is not some abstract<br />
problem that requires theoretical or academic<br />
solutions – it is something that will<br />
affect all of our lives if we do not make<br />
changes now. <strong>The</strong> changes can be as small<br />
as turning off the lights when you leave<br />
For more Information check<br />
these out:<br />
http://www.pewclimate.org/<br />
docUploads/Waxman-Mar-<br />
key-short-summary-revised-<br />
June26.pdf<br />
http://www.1sky.org/<br />
your room or using a recyclable bag, or<br />
as large as volunteering for organizations<br />
like Oxfam America, 350, Greenpeace, or<br />
TckTckTck, even lobbying your state Representatives<br />
or Senators. <strong>The</strong>se actions can<br />
help the battle against climate change.<br />
Join the fight now because it will soon be<br />
too late. Already, many think that the conference<br />
in Copenhagen is the world’s last<br />
chance.<br />
For a list of volunteer opportunities,<br />
please email me at andrewud@heschel.<br />
org<br />
http://www.hazon.org/<br />
http://www.350.org/<br />
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/<br />
http://www.oxfamactioncorpsnyc.<br />
org/
Page 4 Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 <strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
No Boys Allowed in<br />
<strong>Heschel</strong>’s New<br />
Women-Only T’fillah<br />
Book Review: <strong>The</strong> Lost<br />
Symbol by Dan Brown<br />
By Rachel Zeuner<br />
Fans of Dan Brown’s <strong>The</strong><br />
Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons<br />
will rejoice as they embark on<br />
a new adventure with the much loved<br />
symbologist, Robert Langdon. This<br />
time, follow the famed Harvard professor<br />
on a journey through the tunnels<br />
of Washington, D.C. as he tries<br />
to protect the life of his mentor and<br />
friend, Peter Solomon. On his adventure,<br />
he allies with Solomon’s sister,<br />
religious leaders, and high ranking<br />
officials of the CIA, who help him<br />
uncover ancient secrets and symbols<br />
of the Free Masons, one of America’s<br />
most notorious secret societies.<br />
Members of this society included the<br />
likes of George Washington and Benjamin<br />
Franklin, who buried Masonic secrets<br />
in the cornerstones of America’s<br />
monuments. Langdon uncovers a hidden<br />
world of clandestine passages, Masonic<br />
history and secrets that have been<br />
guarded for centuries, while fighting<br />
off Brown’s most malevolent villain.<br />
Brown brings the thrill of his previous<br />
novels to our nation’s capitol, allowing<br />
the reader to connect with familiar<br />
locations and follow Langdon on his<br />
quest. This engaging story, filled with<br />
mystery and excitement, will keep you<br />
turning the pages well into the night,<br />
wanting to uncover the secrets of <strong>The</strong><br />
Lost Symbol.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ater Review: Aftermath<br />
By Becca Schwarz<br />
A new minyan option for<br />
eleventh and twelfth grade girls is<br />
causing quite a stir. Ilana Gleichbloom’s<br />
“Variety of Women’s Experiences”<br />
minyan, developed to<br />
create a safe space for girls to share<br />
opinions and experiences, has a<br />
strong appeal for its girl-only congregation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first issue the group<br />
addressed was sexual exploitation,<br />
ranging from inappropriate<br />
comments directed to women on<br />
the street to prostitution. Minyan<br />
members were encouraged to share<br />
experiences they encountered of<br />
being subjected to inappropriate<br />
comments. Following the discussion,<br />
they watched a documentary<br />
called Very Young Girls, about underage<br />
prostitution in New York<br />
City. <strong>The</strong> minyan is currently in<br />
the process of collecting tzedakah<br />
to donate to GEMS, a mentoring<br />
facility featured in the documentary.<br />
GEMS’ mission, published<br />
on their website www.gems-girls.<br />
org, is “to empower young women,<br />
from ages 12 to 21, who experience<br />
commercial sexual exploitation<br />
and domestic trafficking,” and help<br />
them to escape from the horrors of<br />
the industry.<br />
Continuing the theme of<br />
empowerment, the girls watched<br />
the short film, “Sari Stories” from<br />
Al Jazeera English’s daily documentary<br />
series, Witness. <strong>The</strong> documentary,<br />
made from a series of<br />
video diaries, chronicled the lives<br />
of a group of young women from<br />
rural southern India. <strong>The</strong> girls,<br />
who were given video cameras and<br />
educated on the filming and editing<br />
process, eventually made a film<br />
Photo by Michele Kaplan<br />
about the issue of child marriage in India.<br />
<strong>The</strong> task not only gave the women<br />
a purpose, but nurtured a sense of<br />
self-confidence and power, providing<br />
the ability to earn better wages as educated<br />
videographers.<br />
In general, members of the<br />
minyan are attracted by the opportunity<br />
to speak their minds about these<br />
types of issues in a comfortable and<br />
unbiased environment. <strong>The</strong> minyan<br />
creates a space for them to talk about<br />
topics that aren’t often discussed elsewhere.<br />
Many male upperclassmen,<br />
however, are not enthusiastic about the<br />
girls-only minyan. In one junior boy’s<br />
opinion, the minyan is unnecessary in<br />
a school where women and men are<br />
treated equally. Matan Skolnik, a junior,<br />
feels that excluding boys from a<br />
minyan eliminates the “sense of unity”<br />
that comes with davening as a community.<br />
He also believes that though<br />
there are issues that boys cannot relate<br />
to, perhaps “Those are not the issues<br />
that should be discussed during the allotted<br />
time for morning minyan.”<br />
Even some of the female juniors<br />
and seniors don’t grasp the allure<br />
of the minyan, preferring to participate<br />
in choices that vary from meditation to<br />
mechitzah (in the Orthodox Minyan).<br />
When asked why she doesn’t want to<br />
join the minyan, one eleventh grade<br />
girl replied that she thinks, “Feminism<br />
isn’t really what we need to work on;<br />
it’s not so much the girls that need to<br />
be educated on the issues. What about<br />
other people?”<br />
But, for the thirty or so girls<br />
that attend the minyan every morning,<br />
it is a unique way to start their days<br />
with topics that often go undiscussed.<br />
By Abigail Lipnick<br />
Recently Audrey’s twelfth<br />
grade English class, a course focused<br />
on the literary voices of the<br />
Middle East, journeyed to the New<br />
York <strong>The</strong>ater Workshop to see the<br />
documentary drama, “Aftermath.”<br />
This unique play told the stories of<br />
actual Iraqi refugees living in Jordan<br />
through a series of reenacted interviews.<br />
<strong>The</strong> eight Iraqis interviewed<br />
included an imam (clergyman), a<br />
dermatologist, a single mother, a<br />
married couple involved in the arts,<br />
and a married couple who owned<br />
a restaurant. This diverse group of<br />
characters helped emphasize the fact<br />
that the war has not only involved<br />
the government, but has affected legions<br />
of innocent and ordinary Iraqi<br />
citizens as well.<br />
Shahid, an interviewer,<br />
prompted the characters to tell their<br />
stories, allowing the audience to get<br />
a glimpse into the horrors inflicted on<br />
Iraqi civilians by American soldiers.<br />
In addition, the audience was made<br />
On a cool <strong>October</strong> night, a<br />
crowd of over 60,000 fans sawBruce<br />
Springsteen and the E Street Band give<br />
one of their best performancesever. He<br />
kicked off the concert by saying what<br />
was on everybody’s mind, “Thankthe<br />
lord for this beautiful night tonight.”<br />
It was the fourth of five final<br />
shows at Giants Stadium, andthe excitement<br />
was brewing before the show.<br />
A few factors guaranteed a greatshow.<br />
Bruce himself is from New Jersey<br />
and he has performed at Giants Stadiummore<br />
than at any other venue in<br />
the world. Additionally, on this night<br />
Bruceperformed his hit album Born to<br />
Runin its entirety - a dream come true<br />
for any diehard fan. Referring to the<br />
album,Springsteen said, “this is the<br />
one that really kind of brought us here<br />
tonight.”<br />
Things got rolling early on<br />
when Bruce went crowd surfing inthe<br />
aware of the extremely precarious living<br />
situations of Iraqis in exile. One<br />
of the most horrific stories of the play<br />
belonged to Abdul-Aliyy, the imam,<br />
who was imprisoned in the dismal Abu<br />
Ghraib prison because the guards of<br />
his mosque possessed legally obtained<br />
guns.<br />
<strong>The</strong> play was uncomfortable to<br />
watch, not only because it was about<br />
the harrowing experiences of Iraqi<br />
refugees living in Jordan, but also because<br />
it confirmed that westerners all<br />
too often stereotype most Iraqis as terrorists.<br />
<strong>The</strong> play had a strong emotional impact<br />
on Audrey’s class. Seeing this play led<br />
to the question of how the students,<br />
whose level of awareness had been<br />
raised, should use their new knowledge<br />
in a constructive way. Should they try<br />
to educate others about the abuse and<br />
death inflicted by Americans soldiers<br />
on Iraqi civilians and, if so, how?<br />
It might take some time to<br />
come up with answers.<br />
In the meantime, “Aftermath” is well<br />
worth seeing.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Boss Rocks Giants Stadium<br />
By Gabriel Klausner<br />
pit during a fantastic rendition of “Hungry<br />
Heart,” a very Boss-likemaneuver.<br />
Despite being 60 years young, the Boss<br />
performed with his usualspirited and<br />
youthful vigor. Not only was Bruce in<br />
top form, but the rest ofthe band sounded<br />
sensational. Clarence “<strong>The</strong> Big Man”<br />
Clemons, a fan favorite,received thunderous<br />
applause and cheers every time<br />
he played the saxophone oreven moved<br />
a muscle.<br />
<strong>The</strong> band finished up with an<br />
outstanding performance of“Twist and<br />
Shout”, made famous by the Isley Brothers<br />
and later <strong>The</strong> Beatles.After a threehour<br />
show, Bruce and the band bowed<br />
and exited the stage, thecrowd remaining<br />
on their feet applauding the greatest performer<br />
alive.<br />
Bruce Springsteen and the E<br />
Street Band return to thetri-state area<br />
in November when they will play two<br />
shows at Madison Square Garden.
<strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong> Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 Page 5<br />
By Anna Rothstein<br />
Several years ago, my father and hisfriend<br />
applied to be on <strong>The</strong> Amazing Race.Out<br />
of over 20,000 pairs of contestants, they were<br />
selected along with 200other semi-finalists.<br />
Twenty-five would be sent to California and<br />
interviewedto be a part of the show. <strong>The</strong>y were<br />
videotaped for a screen test in Manhattanand<br />
sworn to secrecy, but ultimately they were not<br />
chosen to participate.<br />
In 2001, CBS began to air this<br />
realitygame show. Each team has two<br />
members who have had some personal<br />
connection withone another; these pairs<br />
race around the globe against other pairs.<br />
In eachepisode, the host, Phil Keoghan, assigns<br />
them a different adventure. In thepremier<br />
episode of the newest, 15th season,<br />
one challenge was tosearch through a wall<br />
of thousands of driver licenses to find a Tokyo<br />
license.Once a team found this license,<br />
they had to race to Tokyo; the team without<br />
alicense was eliminated from the show.<br />
<strong>The</strong> winning teams were given a newchallenge<br />
once they arrived in Tokyo.<br />
At the end of each episode, the<br />
teamsmust arrive at a “pit-stop,” where<br />
they break from the game and are evaluatedby<br />
Phil Keoghan, who tells them what<br />
their place is in the race. <strong>The</strong> first teamto<br />
arrive at the pit stop receives a prize. <strong>The</strong><br />
last team is either eliminatedor given a<br />
huge disadvantage in the next leg of the<br />
race.<br />
<strong>The</strong> teams travel to various countriesusing<br />
all modes of transportation imaginable:<br />
planes, boats, cars, bicycles,and more.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y must go through several “leg points”<br />
which provide them withhints as to where they<br />
should go or what task they should complete,<br />
either as ateam, or as individuals. <strong>The</strong>se adventures,<br />
or challenges, depend on the countrythey<br />
TV Review: Does <strong>The</strong> Amazing<br />
Race Deserve Its Emmys?<br />
are in and the culture of that country.<br />
Teams are eliminated week-byweek,leaving<br />
the ecstatic winning team at the<br />
end of the 12-week period with $1million.<br />
<strong>The</strong> fact that the winning team gets such an<br />
enormous prize contributesto people’s interest<br />
in the show. So does the variety of the<br />
couples chosen toparticipate. <strong>The</strong> teams consist<br />
of individuals of all different ages, races,<br />
andsexual orientations. Viewers are also intrigued<br />
by the different challenges theteams<br />
face, the clues they are given, and the places<br />
that they must go to. Manyviewers have a<br />
favorite team who they hope will be victorious.<br />
Teacher Profiles<br />
<strong>The</strong> show has won primetime Emmy<br />
Awardsfor the past eight years. Seven of those<br />
awards were for “OutstandingReality-Competition<br />
Program.” <strong>The</strong> public was disappointed,<br />
for many did noteven know what the show was.<br />
Highly popular reality shows, such as American<br />
Idol, <strong>The</strong> Apprentice, ProjectRunway, Survivor,<br />
and Dancing withthe Stars, were in the running,<br />
and many viewers would have preferred to<br />
see one of those win.<br />
Alec Rudin, a <strong>Heschel</strong> junior says,<br />
“American Idol is one of the most<br />
viewedtelevision programs of all time,<br />
shouldn’t they win for once? <strong>The</strong> Amazing<br />
Race is in no way amazing.<strong>The</strong> show<br />
has even been moved to different nights<br />
because of its lack ofviewers. I saw [the<br />
show] once and I didn’t even like it!”<br />
However, there aremany others who root<br />
for <strong>The</strong> Amazing Raceand believe that<br />
it truly is an “amazing” show. Sophie<br />
Greenspan, anotherjunior, believes <strong>The</strong><br />
Amazing Racedeserves to keep winning<br />
Emmys because the show is so intriguing.<br />
She says, “Itshows all these different cultures<br />
in exciting ways. <strong>The</strong> contestants are<br />
allvery different from each other, which<br />
makes it interesting to watch. I get tosee<br />
the inner workings of all these places I’ve<br />
never seen before.” Sophiefeels no other<br />
show deserves to win this Emmy because<br />
“most other reality showsout there are<br />
garbage.” She believes that there is no culture<br />
in a reality showsuch as Dancing With<br />
<strong>The</strong> Stars andthat it is possible to learn about<br />
different locations around the world from <strong>The</strong><br />
Amazing Race. It “shows culture inexciting and<br />
adventurous ways.”<br />
So tune in to CBS on Sundays at 8:30<br />
p.m. and watch <strong>The</strong> Amazing Race!<br />
Double Lives<br />
Deana Cheysvin<br />
Photos by Zachary Stecker<br />
By Kate Prince<br />
Deana Cheysvin, a new ninth<br />
grade student at Heshel, is noticeably<br />
funny and caring. However, it is not<br />
widely known that Deana used to professionally<br />
snowboard. She started when she<br />
was ten, and has been snowboarding ever<br />
since. She snowboarded through falls and<br />
bruises, but did not give up. Eventually,<br />
she and her friends joined a professional<br />
alpine snowboarding course. Some of her<br />
friends chose freestyle, while she chose<br />
the free riding path. “I love the feel of<br />
going fast down double black diamond<br />
terrain. Carving into the snow, it fit me,”<br />
Deana said when asked to describe the<br />
experience. She and her friends got involved<br />
in competitions and eventually<br />
got noticed by the public. She won prizes<br />
such as backpacks and hoodies. However,<br />
one day after getting home after a competition,<br />
she realized that snowboarding did<br />
not bring the same thrill as it did before.<br />
But who knows, one day she might return<br />
to the snowboarding world, and we might<br />
have a celebrity in our halls.<br />
By Benjamin Heller<br />
Sherman Taishoff is a new addition<br />
to <strong>Heschel</strong>’s mathematics department. Born<br />
in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, Sherman<br />
is a true New Yorker; he even graduated<br />
from the City College of New York. Sherman<br />
fell in love with mathematics in the 4th<br />
grade when he discovered that he was able<br />
to help his older brother complete 9th grade<br />
algebra homework. Although the thrill was<br />
fleeting, Sherman’s love of math was certainly<br />
not; he has been teaching mathematics<br />
for 42 years. “It has been at times a bumpy<br />
relationship,” Sherman said, “but I’m glad it<br />
exists.”<br />
In addition to teaching, Sherman<br />
enjoys manipulating photographs of family<br />
and travel on his computer. He also builds<br />
model wooden ships, specifically those from<br />
the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Among<br />
his favorite models are a 2-gun patrol boat<br />
from 1805 and a 32-inch WASA from 1628.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> construction takes years to complete<br />
and involves research into history and the<br />
ship itself,” Sherman said. “I’ve always enjoyed<br />
learning about<br />
different time periods.”<br />
A serious jogger<br />
as well, Sherman<br />
has run seven marathons<br />
and many other<br />
shorter-distance races,<br />
including many 30K’s<br />
and half-marathons.<br />
Prior to working<br />
at <strong>Heschel</strong>, Sherman<br />
taught at Harrison<br />
High <strong>School</strong> in Harrison,<br />
New York, and<br />
<strong>The</strong> Chapin <strong>School</strong>, an<br />
all-girls school located<br />
on the Upper East<br />
Sherman Taishoff and Moshe Goodman<br />
Side. He decided to come to <strong>Heschel</strong> not<br />
only to teach mathematics in a new setting,<br />
but also to learn more about his own<br />
Jewish heritage. He is currently teaching<br />
9th and 10th grade geometry, as well as<br />
By Hannah Kober<br />
Moshe Goodman is a new member<br />
of the <strong>Heschel</strong> faculty andmore specifically<br />
the LQ department. He teaches<br />
Tanakh and Talmud, as well asan ethics<br />
course for the seniors. <strong>The</strong> minyan that<br />
he facilitates, originallycalled “Making a<br />
Meaning of Minyan”, is ever changing its<br />
title and focus.<br />
Moshe was born in Brooklyn,<br />
where he lived until sixth gradeand attended<br />
Yeshivat Ateret Yisrael and Yeshivat<br />
Mizrachi L’Banim. Followingthose<br />
years, he and his family moved to Staten<br />
Island. Moshe completed middleschool at<br />
the Jewish Foundation <strong>School</strong> in Staten Island<br />
and commuted to Yeshivaof Flatbush<br />
in Brooklyn for high school. Immediately<br />
after high school, Moshespent a gap year<br />
in Israel at Yeshivat Or Hadarom, in Rechovot.<br />
He attendedcollege at both the College<br />
of Staten Island (a branch of CUNY) and<br />
YeshivaUniversity. He graduated Yeshiva<br />
University with a degree in philosophy. Aftercollege,<br />
he returned to his middle school<br />
and taught there for four years. <strong>The</strong> classeshe<br />
taught included Mishnah, Humash,<br />
Navi, informal Tfillah classes, and Jewishethics.<br />
During the past two years he studied<br />
to receive smicha (Rabbinic ordination) at<br />
Yeshiva University. He is stillpursuing that;<br />
however, he is currently on a leave of absence<br />
while he isworking here at <strong>Heschel</strong>.<br />
In addition to his interest in reading,<br />
writing, andphilosophy, Moshe has<br />
a deep passion for acting. He takes acting<br />
classes andhas most recently performed<br />
scenes from the plays “Angels in America”,<br />
“It’s Calledthe Sugar Plum”, and “<strong>The</strong><br />
Mercy Seat”. He also had main roles in high<br />
schoolproductions, such as the part of Otto<br />
Frank in “Anne Frank”. He explains thatactors<br />
do not mimic the emotions of the characters<br />
they are playing, rather,once they “get<br />
into character”, the actor<br />
feels the emotion of the<br />
characternaturally. According<br />
to Moshe, “acting<br />
is not the same thing<br />
as pretending.It’s about<br />
embodying the character<br />
and being the real person”.<br />
Moshe enjoyswriting<br />
plays in addition to<br />
acting.<br />
Moshe is enjoying<br />
his experience at <strong>Heschel</strong><br />
because he lovesto<br />
learn Torah with his students<br />
and learn from their<br />
insights and questions.<br />
By Jesse Kramer<br />
Asher Elbaz<br />
Asher Elbaz, a ninth grader at <strong>Heschel</strong><br />
High <strong>School</strong>, may seem like a typical student,<br />
but in reality he is an outstanding classical guitar<br />
player who spends a lot of time at the Juilliard<br />
Academy. Asher started playing guitar when he<br />
was three years old and had his first official lesson<br />
when he was six years old. Asher has been playing<br />
at Juilliard since he was in seventh grade. He has<br />
enjoyed all his time there, although he has to spend<br />
two hours practicing every night. He has work and<br />
practice for all of his classes, which include music<br />
theory and private lessons.<br />
Asher had to work hard just to get into<br />
Juilliard. He said, “Auditioning was one of the<br />
scariest things, seeing so many talented people and<br />
knowing that only a few of them would be able to<br />
walk back into the building again.”<br />
Asher has already had many achievements<br />
and he has played in many recitals, making<br />
his debut performance when he was thirteen at an<br />
arts festival at Rivva Gallery on 20th Street. His<br />
biggest performance was at a dinner dance for his<br />
previous school, Park East, in front of 630 people<br />
at <strong>The</strong> Pierre Hotel in Manhattan.<br />
Asher enjoys playing classical music,<br />
but, in addition, he has an interest in playing and<br />
listening to rock and blues. Some of his favorite<br />
artists include Eric Clapton, <strong>The</strong> Rolling Stones,<br />
Aerosmith, and <strong>The</strong> Red Hot Chili Peppers. Judging<br />
from Asher, there appears to be a new musical<br />
talent this year at <strong>Heschel</strong> High <strong>School</strong>.
Page 6 Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 <strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
New <strong>Heschel</strong> Dance<br />
Staff<br />
By Gabe Fisher<br />
Student Senate<br />
Student Senate started working<br />
early this year; it held a few<br />
meetings the week before school<br />
started in order to prepare for the<br />
beginning of the school year, specifically<br />
freshman orientation. Besides<br />
spending the first week helping the<br />
9th graders learn their way around<br />
the school, they, along with Vaadat<br />
Chesed, helped run the freshman<br />
overnight, sleeping in school with<br />
the 9th graders.<br />
Senate also led a Town<br />
Meeting that was unlike any town<br />
meeting ever before. <strong>The</strong> goal of the<br />
Update<br />
town meeting was to integrate a fun<br />
activity into the school’s schedule,<br />
where students were able to interact<br />
with people they do not usually<br />
speak to. Sophomore Tsvi Tannin<br />
thought that inter-grade freeze<br />
dance was “slightly corky, but it<br />
also displayed the inclusive nature<br />
of <strong>Heschel</strong>.”<br />
Now Senate is shifting its<br />
focus to the full school shabbaton,<br />
planning everything from the logistics<br />
to this year’s theme, and trying<br />
to make this year’s shabbaton more<br />
memorable than ever.<br />
Music Review: Kid Cudi<br />
Launches New Album<br />
Photo by Michele Kaplan<br />
Elizabeth Rauner<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Heschel</strong> dance staff has<br />
two new additions this year. Joining<br />
the well-loved Wayne are Wendy<br />
and Kevin. <strong>The</strong>se Alvin Ailey<br />
students generally hang out on the<br />
6th floor outside the library and are<br />
always willing to talk (unless they<br />
have their headphones on). <strong>The</strong><br />
three teachers spoke with Helios<br />
about their past experiences in the<br />
dance business, what they’re doing<br />
now, and how they got to be such<br />
wonderful teachers.<br />
Wendy did not start dancing<br />
until she was in eighth grade. At a<br />
young age she was determined to<br />
be a singer; then she would “Ham it<br />
up by incorporating dance moves.”<br />
She was rejected from LaGuardia<br />
the first time she auditioned, but she<br />
was accepted the next year. <strong>The</strong>n<br />
Wendy worked on productions including<br />
West Side Story and Ballet<br />
Hispanico. Wendy now loves dancing<br />
and feels that her career is not<br />
just work.<br />
Wendy loves teaching Jazz<br />
because it’s an infusion of many<br />
styles of dance that can be expressed<br />
in many ways. She greatly<br />
appreciates when her students put<br />
effort into their work to make more<br />
breakthroughs in their abilities. After<br />
teaching for many years, her favorite<br />
words remain “I’ll try.”<br />
Wayne Williams’ did not<br />
originally have a passion for dance<br />
itself, but Wayne wanted to learn<br />
how to dance for the school prom<br />
at the all boys’ school he attended<br />
in the UK. Wayne explained that<br />
he and his classmates had “very<br />
little social skills when it came to<br />
females.” He decided at age 15 to<br />
take classes at a small ballroom studio<br />
with people in their sixties. Encouraged<br />
by his “funky” 65-yearold<br />
dance partner, Wayne was a<br />
“dancing fool” by the time his prom<br />
rolled around. Unaware of his own<br />
talent, Wayne was pushed to keep<br />
dancing by his dance partner. After<br />
seeing the original movie, Fame,<br />
Wayne was inspired to pursue dancing<br />
and eventually ended up in New<br />
York. Wayne owes his motivation<br />
to Peter and Sue Brooks, “the coolest<br />
old couple ever.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> other new addition to<br />
the dance staff, Kevin, also did not<br />
have dreams of dancing. Growing<br />
up in Texas, he danced at a very<br />
young age, but dreamed of becoming<br />
a marine biologist so he could<br />
study sharks. At 18, Kevin started<br />
getting professional dance training<br />
and did his first show with Fame’s<br />
choreographer, Debbie Allen. Although<br />
Kevin is <strong>Heschel</strong>’s hip-hop<br />
teacher, his favorite genre remains<br />
ballet. Kevin has danced in many<br />
professional productions including<br />
Alloy Dance <strong>The</strong>atre, Across the<br />
Universe (yes, the movie) and <strong>The</strong><br />
Nutcracker.<br />
By Rachie Weisberg and Lauren<br />
Finzi<br />
We all have heard Kid Cudi’s<br />
hit song Day ‘N’ Nite. Most people<br />
considered the song to be catchy<br />
and upbeat, but definitely limited<br />
to a one hit wonder. However, Kid<br />
Cudi has set out to disprove this assumption<br />
with a feature on Kanye<br />
West’s album 808s and Heartbreak.<br />
He also helped write songs for two<br />
of Kanye’s hits, Heartless and Paranoid,<br />
and with his new hit album,<br />
Man on the Moon, Cudi is showing<br />
the music world just how talented<br />
he is. When he debuted this album<br />
on September 15, <strong>2009</strong>, it immediately<br />
gained popularity. Cudi<br />
joined MGMT and Ratatat for his<br />
song Pursuit of Happiness to take<br />
his simplistic rap style to a whole<br />
new level. <strong>The</strong> album has an intriguing<br />
integration of techno, giving<br />
the music an electro-rock genre<br />
feel, evolving average commercial<br />
rap, hip-hop, and indie rock further,<br />
and giving Cudi a new image in the<br />
world of music.<br />
November and<br />
December Concerts<br />
- Tue 11/10 at 7:00 PM<br />
Peter Bjorn and John @ Terminal 5, All<br />
Ages $27.50<br />
- Sat 11/14 at 7:00 PM AND Sun 11/15<br />
at 7:00 PM<br />
Metallica @ Madison Square Garden<br />
- Thurs 11/19 doors open at 7:00, show<br />
at 7:45 PM<br />
Slightly Stoopid @ Terminal 5, All Ages<br />
$29.50<br />
- Mon 11/23 at 8:00 PM AND Tue 11/24<br />
at 8:00 PM AND Wed 11/25 at 8:00 PM<br />
Pixies @ Hammerstein Ballroom<br />
- Sat 11/28, doors open at 7:00 PM and<br />
concert at 8:00 PM<br />
Guster @ Beacon <strong>The</strong>atre, All Ages<br />
$39.50<br />
- Tue 11/03 AND Tue 11/10 AND Tue<br />
11/17 at 11:00 PM<br />
<strong>The</strong> Roots @ Highline Ballroom, All<br />
Ages $10<br />
- Sun 11/08 at 7:00 PM<br />
Wolfmother @ Terminal 5, All Ages<br />
$27.50
<strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong> Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 Page 7<br />
Museum Exhibit Review:<br />
Todd Schorr’s Dreamland<br />
By Esther Lechner<br />
<strong>The</strong> Todd Schorr exhibit was recently<br />
showcased in the San Jose Museum<br />
of Art in California under the title Todd<br />
Schorr: American Surreal. Schorr likes to<br />
call his style of painting ‘Pop Surrealism’.<br />
Schorr grew up in the post World War II<br />
era, a time of Mickey Mouse, Popeye, pin<br />
up models, horror movies and gruesome<br />
creatures, and 50’s and 60’s style comic art.<br />
All these elements are infused in Schorr’s<br />
paintings, which are merged with Salvador<br />
Dali-esque surrealism.<br />
Some of the recurring images in<br />
Schorr’s paintings are pumpkins, devils,<br />
and humpty-dumpties. Other elements that<br />
seem to be Schorr’s favorites are grotesque<br />
creatures, the wrinkled and the twisted, the<br />
green and the gross.<br />
Schorr admitted to having a kind<br />
of fascination with carney freak shows,<br />
and he owns a large figure from the horror<br />
movie Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957).<br />
This object was displayed in the San Jose<br />
Museum of Art next to others that Schorr<br />
owned– a few comic books, a large figure<br />
of a smiling boy, a few smaller action figures,<br />
a Mickey Mouse game, a Famous<br />
Monsters of Filmland magazine and other<br />
pop culture objects typical of the time period.<br />
Another influence on Schorr was<br />
the movie King Kong. He saw the original<br />
1933 movie as a child on television. <strong>The</strong><br />
movie – about an ape that was king and<br />
was then brought to a different world only<br />
to become a menace – left its impact on the<br />
young Todd.<br />
Schorr has a series of gorillathemed<br />
paintings, like ‘An Ape Allegory,’<br />
which depicts a large ape dressed in an<br />
Easter bunny costume giving a frightened<br />
looking blond girl an Easter egg containing<br />
what looks like a big spider creeping out<br />
of the shell. Another painting in the same<br />
series shows a gorilla fighting a dinosaur,<br />
while a skeleton painting the scene on his<br />
canvas. Among the many details of that<br />
painting is a little boy who could be Schorr<br />
himself watching the same scene on his<br />
black and white television.<br />
This museum’s exhibit showed some of the<br />
original study drawings next to their paintings,<br />
and one can see that (not surprisingly)<br />
his drawings are just as detailed as his<br />
paintings.<br />
A video played in the exhibit,<br />
showing a fast-motion movie of Schorr’s<br />
painting process. In his studio, paintings<br />
are done layer by layer. He starts off in<br />
black and white, then he adds color from<br />
the top of the painting down. Sometimes<br />
he plays around with different colors before<br />
deciding which to use.<br />
Over the years Schorr has developed<br />
a great reputation as an artist. He has<br />
had many gallery and museum exhibitions,<br />
and many celebrities including Leonardo<br />
Dicaprio and Courtney Cox have bought<br />
his art.<br />
Schorr is unique in his own way,<br />
combining pop culture with surrealism and<br />
great talent with a hyperactive imagination.<br />
His paintings are an imagery overload<br />
to the eye. It is impossible to grasp the<br />
contents of a painting in one glance. <strong>The</strong><br />
viewer cannot help but be amazed by the<br />
incredible and intricate detail that fills every<br />
corner of his paintings.<br />
Heliostyle: High<br />
By Rachel Fell<br />
Waisted Jeans<br />
Welcome Back, Fashionistas!<br />
Rachel Fell is here for her very last year<br />
on Helio, continuing to tell you about<br />
all of the latest trends. Only, this year,<br />
I’m going to be answering all of YOUR<br />
fashion questions! In each issue of Helios<br />
I will be answering one question<br />
with a detailed answer.<br />
Enjoy and keep sending me questions!<br />
Q: How does one wear high-waisted<br />
jeans?<br />
A: I have to admit I have been caught<br />
sporting “mom jeans,”(really highwaisted<br />
jeans that go past your belly<br />
button) to school, but these feel like<br />
normal jeans to me. Having something<br />
tight past your belly button takes a little<br />
bit of getting used to but these trousers<br />
instantly add jazz to any drab jeans outfit.<br />
When you are buying high-waisted<br />
jeans, make sure they have a lot of<br />
stretch in them before choosing a cut.<br />
You don’t want to risk not breathing,<br />
even for fashion.<br />
Now for the cut: <strong>The</strong>re are two different<br />
major types of high-waisted jeans:<br />
wide-leg and skinny. Wide legs tend to<br />
be fancier than the skinny but it all depends<br />
on how they are styled. <strong>The</strong> reason<br />
high-waisted jeans are preferred is<br />
that they either show off your shape or<br />
create a shape because they are accentuate<br />
your smallest body part. Because<br />
you are trying to show off your shape,<br />
creating an outfit with high-waisted<br />
jeans is all about balance. If you<br />
choose wide leg high-waisted jeans, go<br />
for a more fitted top because there is so<br />
much volume on the bottom. Choosing<br />
a pointed toe shoe will make your legs<br />
look miles long, especially with the<br />
extra inches above your waist. When<br />
wearing skinny high-waisted jeans, opt<br />
for a flowy top or t-shirt and some flat<br />
boots and you will be going for a flower<br />
child vibe. If you wear skinny highwaisted<br />
jeans and a tight tank, you risk<br />
looking like you are wearing a catsuit!<br />
Don’t worry about the specifics of the<br />
shirt, just watch out for shape!<br />
So hike up your trousers to hype up<br />
your outfit!<br />
Keep the questions coming!<br />
Rachel<br />
By Michele Kaplan<br />
Aries:<br />
You will lose something you really<br />
love this week. Stay organized and<br />
try to take care<br />
of your possessions.<br />
Otherwise<br />
you will get<br />
stressed out and<br />
overwhelmed.<br />
So, do yourself<br />
a favor and prevent<br />
unnecessary<br />
anxiety. If<br />
you do, you will have a great week!<br />
Taurus<br />
You will fall<br />
in love this week.<br />
Take things slow<br />
and don’t rush into<br />
anything. However,<br />
keep your mind<br />
open and don’t get distracted from school.<br />
This could be one of your most important<br />
academic months.<br />
Gemini<br />
Creativity<br />
is flowing<br />
through<br />
your veins this<br />
week. Take<br />
advantage of<br />
it and do some<br />
arts and crafts<br />
projects, or just doodle when you have<br />
time. You will be amazed by your talents<br />
and may even pick it up as a new hobby!<br />
Cancer<br />
D o<br />
something after<br />
school, whether<br />
it is taking an<br />
exercise class,<br />
going shopping,<br />
or learning how<br />
to play an instrument.<br />
Everyone needs a break between<br />
school and doing homework. Go out and<br />
have fun! You deserve it!<br />
Leo<br />
Start changing your style! Wear<br />
funky shoes, cool pants, or bright shirts.<br />
As it is getting colder, you can get inspired<br />
by layering different clothes and wearing<br />
scarves and hats. Have fun with it. You<br />
will see, people<br />
will pay attention<br />
to you and compliment<br />
you on your<br />
new wardrobe.<br />
Virgo<br />
You will be pressured by your<br />
friends and your surroundings this week;<br />
however, stay true to who you are. If people<br />
don’t appreciate that, then they are not<br />
your true friends. It may be tough to realize<br />
that at first,<br />
but you will be<br />
so much happier<br />
doing what you<br />
love than following<br />
others.<br />
Horoscopes<br />
Libra<br />
You may get in trouble in school<br />
for cheating, so be on your best behavior!<br />
You don’t want<br />
to risk your academic<br />
record or<br />
the respect of<br />
your teachers.<br />
Be smart and<br />
study! It will<br />
pay off in the long run.<br />
Scorpio<br />
This week you<br />
will be getting<br />
a little bored.<br />
Don’t just slack<br />
off and waste<br />
your time. Try<br />
to do things<br />
in advance. Start studying for a test next<br />
week, clean out your closet, or start a research<br />
project coming up. When the due<br />
dates become closer and closer and your<br />
schedule becomes more hectic, you will be<br />
happy you got it done.<br />
Sagittarius<br />
You may feel like you are working<br />
very hard for nothing, but be aware that<br />
others are recognizing your efforts. Don’t<br />
give up. Soon people will come up to you<br />
for advice and they will turn to you for support.<br />
You are<br />
going to have a<br />
great month, be<br />
surrounded by<br />
great people,<br />
and everything<br />
is going to pay<br />
off.<br />
Capricorn<br />
Don’t get<br />
down if you want<br />
to apply to a college,<br />
a job, or an<br />
activity that is out<br />
of your league. It<br />
may take a couple<br />
of days to organize<br />
yourself, but<br />
don’t get discouraged. Anything is possible<br />
if you really want it and work hard!<br />
Aquarius<br />
You will be seeing a lot of movies<br />
and plays this month with your family<br />
and friends. Enjoy the shows, movies, and<br />
times you have<br />
with the people<br />
around you. <strong>The</strong><br />
time will fly so<br />
quickly, so you<br />
should cherish every<br />
moment.<br />
Pisces<br />
You will have<br />
to tell someone<br />
how you really<br />
feel about a situation.<br />
Don’t feel<br />
hesitant. Everyone<br />
will be happy you<br />
told the truth and it<br />
will make your life a lot more relaxed. It<br />
may be difficult, but keeping it in will only<br />
cause more damage.<br />
Illustrations by Talia Niederman
Page 8 Helios <strong>Volume</strong> 8 <strong>Issue</strong> 1 <strong>October</strong> <strong>2009</strong><br />
<strong>2009</strong> Israel Maccabiah Games<br />
Feature the United States Men’s<br />
Basketball Team<br />
By Brandon Bell<br />
Every four years, the world comes together<br />
to participate in the Olympic Games. And<br />
every four years, Israel has a similar event called<br />
the Maccabiah Games. This summer almost seven<br />
thousand Jewish athletes from over fifty countries<br />
participated in this “Jewish Olympics”. It was the<br />
18th Maccabiah Games, and perhaps the best attended.<br />
<strong>The</strong> mission of the Games is to draw Jewish<br />
athletes from all over the world together and<br />
create bonds between them through friendly competition.<br />
One of the more popular sports during<br />
the games was men’s basketball. <strong>The</strong> United<br />
States team consisted of nine players, six of whom<br />
currently play on college basketball teams. A week<br />
before the team left for Israel, they gathered in<br />
Philadelphia for a one week training camp. <strong>The</strong><br />
goal of the week was to acquaint the players with<br />
one another and develop a “team first” mentality.<br />
As none of these players had played together before,<br />
the task at hand was very difficult. Luckily,<br />
they had the best in the business to guide them<br />
towards the coveted gold medal: Bruce Pearl, the<br />
current head coach at the University of Tennessee,<br />
served as their head coach. Pearl’s accolades<br />
and awards speak for themselves. In 2008, he was<br />
awarded the National Coach of the Year honor, the<br />
highest coaching award in College Basketball. He<br />
reached 300 victories more quickly than any other<br />
coach. A Helios reporter had the opportunity to attend<br />
one of the practices in the week leading up to<br />
the team’s arrival and to present Mr. Pearl with a<br />
few questions regarding the Maccabiah Games.<br />
Helios: Have you ever been to Israel<br />
before, and what will it mean to you to actually be<br />
there?<br />
Mr. Pearl: Sadly, I’ve never been there before but<br />
I am extremely excited to finally go in a few days.<br />
Right after graduating college, I wanted to live<br />
there for a year, but I<br />
never had the right<br />
opportunity to do so.<br />
It is the number one<br />
event on my “bucket<br />
list”. Words can not<br />
describe how excited<br />
I am. As a Jew I feel<br />
obligated to at one<br />
point in my life visit<br />
Israel, the land of my<br />
people.<br />
Helios: What will the<br />
competition be like during the games, and who is<br />
the “team to beat?<br />
Mr. Pearl: One thing is for sure: this is not going to<br />
be some easy competition. Each country comprises<br />
a special set of skills and basketball one has to prepare<br />
for. Some of these teams have been playing<br />
together for weeks, while we haven’t played with<br />
each other at all! As for a team, I have to say the<br />
host country, Israel. <strong>The</strong>y have been playing together<br />
for the longest in a Pro-League and embody<br />
toughness and heart. <strong>The</strong> quality of basketball will<br />
be terrific.<br />
Helios: What else will the team be doing<br />
besides playing basketball?<br />
Mr. Pearl: Well, the USA Maccabiah delegation has<br />
planned a week of learning and touring Israel before<br />
the Opening Ceremonies. This will provide the<br />
players with a unique experience because many of<br />
them have never been to Israel. <strong>The</strong> purpose of this<br />
trip is not only to win a gold medal and compete<br />
with the best, but for our team to see and experience<br />
their homeland.<br />
<strong>The</strong> United States team captured the<br />
gold medal, winning 95-86 in an overtime thriller<br />
against Israel. Considering the team only had one<br />
week of preparation, this victory was remarkable.<br />
<strong>The</strong> game was a back and forth affair with each<br />
team playing their toughest, trying to capture that<br />
elusive gold medal.<br />
<strong>The</strong> U.S.A. players were thrilled to be<br />
part of an amazing team that fulfilled their dreams<br />
of winning a gold medal. Dan Grunfeld, the tournament’s<br />
Most Valuable Player, said, “Being in Israel<br />
has been very special for me. As a Jewish American<br />
I had never been here before and it's really meant a<br />
lot. And winning the gold medal, that's been really<br />
special as well. All in all, it was a great trip.”<br />
All of the USA players had a great experience<br />
playing in the Maccabiah Games. University<br />
of Pennsylvania sophomore guard Zack Rosen<br />
loved Israel so much<br />
he may consider<br />
playing in Israel<br />
one day. “I love this<br />
country, and I spent<br />
a lot of time with<br />
the guys who have<br />
played here and they<br />
love it. I'm Jewish,<br />
so I have pride in<br />
that and I have pride<br />
that I'm a Jewish<br />
player, and where<br />
else to play but in<br />
the homeland?”<br />
Varsity Basketball Preview<br />
By Victor Weberman<br />
Sports<br />
<strong>Heschel</strong> missed a three at the buzzer,<br />
as they fell to Flatbush by two points in the<br />
quarter-finals of the Yeshiva League Playoffs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> crying could be heard outside the locker<br />
room, as the Heat players and coaches mourned<br />
the end to a heart-breaking season. For the seniors,<br />
their time was done; for the juniors, the<br />
beginning to their final season had just begun.<br />
Now these 11th graders are 12th graders,<br />
and are hungrier than ever for a championship.<br />
<strong>Heschel</strong> has switched from the New Jersey<br />
division to the Manhattan/Brooklyn division.<br />
<strong>Heschel</strong>’s schedule is very tough as they will<br />
be playing archrival Flatbush three times. Flatbush<br />
has ended the Heat’s season in the playoffs<br />
for the past three seasons, but <strong>Heschel</strong> looks to<br />
break that pattern.<br />
Head coach Kevin Flynn is a determined<br />
leader, and he now has a team that is<br />
taller, stronger, faster, and deeper, to compete in<br />
a very challenging division. <strong>The</strong> addition of last<br />
year’s junior varsity championship squadron<br />
only strengthens the chemistry. Last year’s JV<br />
coach, Mark Wiseman, has been added to the<br />
coaching staff along with newly added assistant<br />
Abraham Keita. Keita has been involved in basketball<br />
since his early years of high school, and<br />
carried on this career throughout college at St.<br />
John’s and on the professional level in Europe.<br />
Being an inch away from the semifinals<br />
only reminds the teams in the Yeshiva<br />
League of how close <strong>Heschel</strong> is to clinching a<br />
final four berth this season. <strong>The</strong> popular league<br />
website, JVelite.com, predicts <strong>Heschel</strong> will be<br />
one of the elite teams at the end of the regular<br />
season heading into the post-season.<br />
While the Heat lost half their team<br />
from the previous season, they still have two<br />
excellent returning starters in Daniel Kasman<br />
and Ezra Ellenbeg, and last year’s back up point<br />
guard Jack Liechtung. Liechtung looks to command<br />
the offense in the backcourt with Emanuel<br />
“Mani” Schlisser, the MVP of last year’s JV<br />
championship game, and both expect to run the<br />
floor with the lightning speed of Kasman. Joining<br />
Ellenberg in the front court is Ben Fenster, a<br />
junior who has shown exceptional ability in the<br />
past two seasons. Even with all this potential<br />
in the starting lineup, one of many underlying<br />
questions is: “can Schlisser and Fenster continue<br />
to be successful at the varsity level?”<br />
<strong>The</strong> rest of the team consists of players<br />
from previous years, which greatly contributes<br />
to the experience factor. One crazed <strong>Heschel</strong><br />
fan, senior Brandon Bell, commented on<br />
this area of the team, saying “senior leadership<br />
on any team is vital. <strong>The</strong> 12th graders are the<br />
ones who act as role models. <strong>The</strong> experience<br />
factor will contribute greatly to the performance<br />
and success of this year’s squadron.”<br />
Omri Casspi Acts as a Role Model for<br />
Jews<br />
By Ari Kramer<br />
If you happen to watch a Sacramento<br />
Kings basketball game this season, don’t<br />
be stunned when you hear the commentator<br />
announce, “Omri Casspi hits the shot!” You<br />
might think it’s just a coincidence that this<br />
Omri fellow has an Israeli name and wears<br />
number eighteen, that there’s no way an Israeli<br />
could make it to the National Basketball<br />
Association (NBA). However, when you<br />
hear his heavy Israeli accent during a postgame<br />
interview and read about his love for<br />
hummus, you’ll realize that he is as Israeli as<br />
can be.<br />
B o r n<br />
outside of Ashdod<br />
and formerly a<br />
member of Israel’s<br />
world famous<br />
Maccabi Tel-<br />
Aviv basketball<br />
program, Casspi<br />
became the first<br />
Israeli selected<br />
in the first round<br />
of an NBA Draft<br />
when the Kings<br />
drafted him twenty-third<br />
overall<br />
in <strong>2009</strong>. All first<br />
round draft picks<br />
are guaranteed<br />
contracts; Casspi’s<br />
bestows him with $3.5 million over three<br />
years.<br />
Other Israelis have unsuccessfully<br />
attempted the transition from the Euroleague<br />
(Europe’s professional basketball league) to<br />
the NBA. Maccabi Tel-Aviv’s Lior Eliyahu,<br />
taken by the Orlando Magic in the second<br />
round of the 2006 draft, was the first Israeli<br />
drafted. A few picks later, the Seattle Supersonics<br />
selected Eliyahu’s teammate, Yotam<br />
Halperin. NBA executives viewed Eliyahu<br />
and Halperin as unworthy of NBA contracts,<br />
so the two Israelis returned to the Euroleague.<br />
Other than the country he calls<br />
home and the team he used to play for, Casspi<br />
has one major trait in common with Eliyahu<br />
and Halperin: he has not played a game in the<br />
NBA. However, unlike the two unsuccessful<br />
Israelis, Casspi has affected Israelis and<br />
Eric Lecain: Not Just A Volleyball<br />
Coach<br />
By Charlotte Marx-Arpadi<br />
Eric Lecain, the multitalented coach<br />
of the <strong>Heschel</strong> varsityvolleyball team, grew up<br />
in the mountains near Asheville, N.C., where he<br />
beganstudying music at the age of five. He went<br />
to the North Carolina <strong>School</strong> of theArts for high<br />
school, where he continued to pursue his passion<br />
for music, andthen continued his studies at<br />
the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. He was apianist,<br />
composer, and conductor for many years.<br />
He still plays from time totime in small, local<br />
venues, but now concentrates on writing music.<br />
Eric played volleyball throughout<br />
high school and college,although his piano<br />
teacher was not thrilled. He not only played,<br />
but alsobecame a real student of the game. His<br />
friends considered him obsessed becausehe<br />
would carry a playbook, always writing ideas<br />
and notes about the game. Inhis late twenties he<br />
started playing two-man beach volleyball, and<br />
played invarious tournaments in the U.S., as<br />
well as internationally.<br />
Eric balances his time not only between<br />
music andvolleyball, but also his passion<br />
for photography. Over the past couple ofyears,<br />
he had the opportunity to film documentary projects<br />
in Asia, and hecomposed his own music for<br />
the film. He is currently working on a film about<br />
aU.S. medical mission in a northern province of<br />
the Philippines. This work hasintegrated many<br />
of his talents into one project. Even today, every<br />
American-Jews because he provides them<br />
with hope—they, too, can defy odds and<br />
reach the NBA.<br />
Less than two months after Casspi<br />
was drafted, two Israelis chose to enroll in<br />
American colleges so they could play basketball<br />
under the American spotlight with hopes<br />
of garnering the attention and interest of NBA<br />
scouts. Also a member of Maccabi Tel-Aviv,<br />
Nimrod Tishman, announced his commitment<br />
to the University of Florida in the beginning<br />
of August. A few weeks later, Carmel Bouchman<br />
informed Temple University coach Fran<br />
Dunphy that he would accept his scholarship<br />
offer. Tishman and<br />
Bouchman were not<br />
allowed to comment<br />
due to NCAA regulations,<br />
so there is no<br />
firm proof that Casspi<br />
influenced their decisions.<br />
However,<br />
Casspi said in a video<br />
interview on nba.com<br />
that he expects to<br />
serve as a role-model<br />
to Israelis and Jews<br />
now that he is in the<br />
NBA.<br />
Even Jews who<br />
don’t aspire to play in<br />
the NBA feel a connection<br />
to Casspi simply<br />
because he is Jewish.<br />
“I used to be much more heavily invested<br />
in the NBA than I currently am, but it’s likely<br />
that Casspi, being Jewish like me, will revive<br />
my interest,” commented a <strong>Heschel</strong> student<br />
who requested anonymity. Many Jews share<br />
this sentiment and will check the Kings’ box<br />
scores every day to see how Casspi performed<br />
the night before.<br />
In the early 1990’s, when the University<br />
of Connecticut signed four Israelis<br />
within a five year span, it appeared that Israeli<br />
basketball was making its way to America.<br />
However, none of the “Israeli Huskies” developed<br />
enough at UConn to advance to the<br />
next level in America, leaving Casspi without<br />
an Israeli role model in the NBA. Now, he<br />
will provide Israeli youth with something he<br />
was not fortunate enough to have—a player<br />
they can identify with in more ways than basketball.<br />
free momenthe has, he heads to a jungle or off<br />
scuba diving to take photos and nurture hispassion<br />
for the arts.<br />
Eric eventually moved to New York<br />
and owned an IT(Information Technology)<br />
consulting company. He is now semi-retired,<br />
althoughhe still does occasional projects. He is<br />
the current lead volleyball instructorat Chelsea<br />
Piers, where he teaches classes and trains teams<br />
to play intournaments. He has worked with several<br />
AVP (Association of VolleyballProfessionals)<br />
teams, as well as a Polish national team, to<br />
prepare for theOlympic qualifier tour. He has<br />
coached in the Philippines, Malaysia, andThailand.<br />
Most recently, two of his teams qualified<br />
for the U.S. Open of BeachVolleyball in California.<br />
When the chance came up to coach<br />
a high school girls’varsity team, Eric thought<br />
it would be a new challenge. He began during<br />
themiddle of last year’s season for a team<br />
full of strong personalities, whichposed some<br />
problems. Eric was faced with dissension that<br />
he dubbed “the perfectchallenge.” He, with the<br />
help of his regular assistant, Ola Wolak, aprofessional<br />
volleyball player from Poland, helped<br />
transform a team of six starterswith some substitutes<br />
into a unified team of ten players. “I<br />
couldn’t be moreproud of this team”.