On Tuesday, November 19th, the Debate Team, led by Mrs Levitt, organized an interactive discussion on the topic of medical ethics. Euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, has been a major point of controversy in the field of medical ethics for many years now. The upcoming novice debate that is hosted by the Heschel School, will examine that topic. It was of great help for the novice and even experienced debaters to hear a very interesting discussion on the Jewish view of euthanasia.

The evening began with a speaker from Yeshiva University’s Medical Ethics Society (MES), Kalman Laufer. An MTA graduate in 2010, he is now he president of the MES. He started by saying that nowhere in the Torah is there an opinion that euthanasia is allowed, but added that there is a halachic distinction between passive euthanasia or active euthanasia. The rest of the presentation was about why that distinction is correct. As mentioned, the discussion was interactive, and Tsahi Halyo (’16) and Meir Barg (’16) contributed to it greatly in the form of a small debate with the speaker. At the end of the presentation, there was a surprised reaction from the audience when they heard that in some cases, the doctor can withhold the medicine, but he still has to give the basic necessities like food and water.

The last part of the meeting was devoted to two upcoming debate events. As mentioned earlier, MTA will be having a novice debate in the Heschel School. The second event is the highly anticipated Great Debate. The Great Debate is a gathering of many debate teams at MTA, and is considered to be the Super Bowl of debating. The resolution is going to be whether or not the US Government should stop collecting the digital records of its citizens without warrants. Tryouts were held, many good arguments were brought up, and the cross-examinations were as intense as ever. The evening ended with everyone having a clearer understanding of the Jewish view on euthanasia in particular, and the value of life in general.

On Monday, Associate Dean and Entrepreneur-in-Residence of the Sy Syms School of Business Michael Strauss, kicked off the MTA LEAD program. As part of his role with the business school, Dean Strauss is able to assist students who have a business proposal or idea, and he gives them the opportunity to work one-on-one with a successful entrepreneur to help refine their career aspirations, to develop or to launch successful entrepreneurial businesses, and to provide immediate access to practical, real world experience and perspectives.

MTA LEAD is a program designed to provide YUHSB students with lasting business and communal leadership skills through high school and university leadership training. Participants will be mentored by industry leaders, like Michael Strauss, and will be able to participate in the Doris and Dr. Ira Kukin Entrepreneurial and Executive Lecture Series of the Sy Syms School of Business. The program will accomplish its objective, in part, by empowering YUHSB students with the ability to build on their entrepreneurial ideas to create meaningful and sustainable business projects. Students will learn to work as a team and will gain invaluable lifelong skills.

Over the course of the program, students with business ideas will work to develop a presentation, while receiving mentoring from a Syms student and advice from a business leader. Syms professors will also lead some workshops on business communications and marketing. Ultimately, students will present to an Executive Council; the winning presentation receives an Amazon gift card and present at the college business plan competition. Additionally, the Executive Council will work to try to find a business leader who can serve as a long-term mentor. Last year’s winner, Tsahi Halyo (’16), created a proposal for a USB watch.

Dean Strauss ended his presentation by giving the audience his contact information, so that if they have ideas or proposals, they could and should contact him.

More information about the program, as well as the programbrochure, can be found at yuhsb.org/mta-lead.

Speed. Reflexes. Hand-eye coordination. Sweat. Tears. Intelligence. Can you guess which sport I am thinking about when referring to these things?

That’s right: college bowl. Three times a year, we, the MTA college bowl team venture out of our own fortress, aka the MTA building, and into the academic battlefield known as Yeshiva League College Bowl. Thursday, November 7 marked the first of our intellectual gladiator bouts this season.

In college bowl, four players on from each team are each given a buzzer. An intellectual question is read by a highly trained professional teacher. The object is to buzz in as quickly as possible to give the answer. Buzz in too early and get the question wrong, your team loses a point. Buzz in too late and the other team might just beat you too it.

The long day began at 9:50 am as we took the subway to Heschel. There, the varsity team played three schools. First came our mortal enemies, Ramaz. Although the contest was hard fought and close the whole way through, we came up just shy of a victory. The next match pitted us against the mighty Westchester team. Buzzer after bloodcurdling buzzer could be heard throughout the match as the battle raged on. Westchester came within a point with less than a minute left, but in the end could not defeat the Lions. With our newly found confidence, we easily defeated the Flatbush team by doubling their score. In the end, we came out 2-1, a respectable and competitive record, worthy of both the praise and glory of a well-earned Starbucks visit after the horrors of the combat had ceased.