MTA Varsity Hockey in Championship Bid this Sunday

In 1996 the MTA Lions varsity hockey team defeated the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) to win the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Hockey League (MYHSHL) championship. In 2005 the team made it to the finals again only to lose to Frisch. In 2011 the Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy hockey varsity hopes to win it all once again, when they play Davis-Renov-Stahler Yeshiva High School (DRS) in the championship game this Sunday, March 27.

MTA enjoyed a 10-4 season led by Captain Noah Isaacs, a senior from Teaneck, N.J., and co-Captains Eitan Stern and Gabe Rosenfeld, both juniors from Teaneck. The team defeated Frisch 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs, beat HAFTR 1-0 in overtime in the quarterfinals and SAR 5-4 in the semi-finals.

The championship game will be played at Lawrence Middle School (195 Broadway, Lawrence, N.Y. 11559) at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, March 27. Tickets are $7. E-mail Head Coach Dovie Quint at dquint@yuhsb.org for information about purchasing tickets.

Enjoy a brief video previewing the big game here.

National Institutes of Health’s  $3.4 Million Grant to Help Older People Stay Mobile

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $3.4 million grant to Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, to identify cognitive factors that influence mobility in older people—in particular, those that could be modified to help older people remain active.

Roee Holtzer, PhD

“Mobility limitations and disability in aging are major public health concerns,” said Roee Holtzer, Ph.D., principal investigator for the study and associate professor of psychology at Ferkauf and associate professor in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology at Einstein. “We will recruit 450 people age 70 and older for baseline and annual follow-ups over the five-year study period.”

Participants enrolled in the National Institute on Aging grant will undergo clinical, neuropsychological and physical exams as well as state-of-the art cognitive and neuroimaging assessments. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technology, developed by the optical engineering group at Drexel University, will be used to assess changes in brain function during various walking conditions. “Ideally, these assessments will reveal specific cognitive abilities and brain structures and functions that correlate with mobility problems or that predict their occurrence,” said Dr. Holtzer. “Then we want to see whether efforts to modify those factors, which include the ability to concentrate and allocate attention resources to competing task demands, can help in preventing mobility decline and disability in these individuals.”

The project, which began in March, is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology; Einstein’s neurology and epidemiology & population health departments and its Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center; and the optical engineering group at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

“Dr. Holtzer’s most recent research grant has important practical implications for developing a profile for predicting risk factors for serious mobility problems and potential for major physical injury by falling in the elderly,” said Dr. Lawrence Siegel, dean and professor at Ferkauf. “Given the highly competitive environment for federal grant funding, Ferkauf is very proud of Dr. Holtzer and his receipt of this important grant.  As a result of this grant Dr. Holtzer will also be able to fund a number of stipends for Ferkauf graduate students who are working with him on his research.”

Tune into YU’s Weekly Internet Radio Show, Thursdays at 2PM

When your children ask you what you did when there was a call for help, what will you answer?

This week on “Who’s on Furst?” (Thursdays at 2 p.m. EST, on www.nachumsegal.com and www.yu.edu/radio) meet two men with extraordinary stories about how they have answered that call and helped those in need.

Dr. Ruben Cohen was part of the IDF’s mobile hospital unit that went to Haiti to aid in the recovery efforts there after last summer’s devastating earthquake.  He has recently been contacted again by the Israeli Army to meet them in Japan as the Israeli government has, once more, stepped up and sent humanitarian aid to those in need. Dr. Cohen will share some of what he saw in Haiti, what he expects to see in Japan and how this is not what he signed up for when he went to medical school.

Alexander Rapaport was only 25 years old when he and his partner founded Masbia, Brooklyn’s first and only kosher free soup kitchen. Years later, over 250,000 meals have already been served and Masbia runs four soup kitchens throughout New York City and is open five days a week. Listen as he explains how it all came about, the challenges Masbia faced when it opened and the daily struggles it faces today.

You’ll hear about upcoming community events and a roundup of interesting stories from the weekly Jewish newspapers along with a dvar torah from Rabbi Yona Reiss, Max and Marion Grill Dean of YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).

Tune in Thursdays at 2 p.m. EST at www.yu.edu/radio.

April 7 Robbins-Wilf Scholar-in-Residence Program to Feature Foreign Relations Experts on “Toppling Middle East Dictators”

With widespread social and political unrest in the Middle East, Yeshiva University will host a discussion entitled “Toppling Middle East Dictators” featuring Bloomberg View Executive Editor James P. Rubin and New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent David E. Sanger. The lecture will be held on Thursday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Schottenstein Cultural Center, 239 East 34^th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

The program is under the auspices of the Dr. Marcia Robbins-Wilf Scholar-in-Residence program at YU’s Stern College for Women. Dr. Robbins-Wilf, a founding member of the Stern College Board of Directors, established and funds the program, which brings top scholars, authors, artists and opinion makers to Stern College—offering students unique perspectives on the world.

James Rubin is executive editor of The Bloomberg View, president of the Atlantic Partnership U.S. and a commentator and lecturer on U.S. foreign policy and world affairs. He served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs under President Clinton and as chief spokesman for the State Department from 1997 to 2000. In 1998 Mr. Rubin was the recipient of Columbia University’s John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement and in 2000, he received the Distinguished Service Award, the State Department’s highest honor.

David Sanger is the chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times. He is known as one of the nation’s most lucid analysts of foreign policy, national security and the politics of globalization. Sanger twice won the Pulitzer Prize as a member of New York Times reporting teams.  His reporting on Iraq and the North Korea nuclear crisis won the Weintal Prize, one of the highest honors for foreign policy coverage.

Admission is free and open to the public with valid photo ID. To reserve a seat visit www.smarttix.com or call 212-868-4444.

Conversation with President Joel and Rabbi Genack Commemorates the 150th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Inaugural Address

To mark this month’s sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address in 1861, Yeshiva University President Richard M. Joel engaged in a lively conversation at YU’s Rubin Shul with Rabbi Menachem Genack, a noted Lincoln scholar, CEO of the Orthodox Union’s worldwide Kosher Division and a rosh yeshiva [professor of Talmud] at YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). The University’s Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International Affairs sponsored the event.

President Joel, left, and Rabbi Genack discuss Lincoln at the Schneier Center-sponsored event.

Genack has previously written of Lincoln’s special appeal to Jews: the nation’s 16th president enabled rabbis to serve as chaplains in the Union Army during the Civil War and canceled an order by General Ulysses S. Grant that expelled Jewish traders from several states. But in his YU appearance, Genack spoke of the secular dimensions of what he called America’s “greatest president and greatest politician.”

President Joel prompted Genack by asking, “Was Lincoln larger than life, or was he real?”

“The reason people around the world can relate to Lincoln is that he was dedicated to the idea of the dignity of man,” said Genack. “It wasn’t just a theory for him. What drove Lincoln was a moral conviction—his opposition to slavery. He thought that the founding fathers intended to ultimately abolish slavery. He once said, ‘No man is good enough to earn his living from someone else’s labor.’”

But Lincoln the politician, President Joel noted, could be vacillating, manipulative—even devious. Genack did not disagree. He cited Lincoln’s letter of August 22, 1862, to Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, assuring the influential editor of the president’s determination to end the Civil War by any means necessary.

“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it,” Lincoln wrote. “And if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”

But according to Genack, Lincoln had already drafted the Emancipation Proclamation he would deliver exactly one month later.

Genack, spiritual leader of Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Englewood, NJ, went on to compare Lincoln to Judah, successor in the ancient Davidic line of kings over his seemingly stronger and seemingly preferred rival, Joseph.

“What we look for in a leader is not perfection,” Genack said, repeating a benediction he offered for the 2006 inauguration of Jon Corzine as governor of New Jersey, “but flexibility [and] the ability to admit a mistake, as does Judah.”

As for Lincoln’s humor, Genack recounted two episodes:

• During his time as a lawyer and Illinois legislator, Lincoln cautioned a colleague against trusting the nonviolent reputation of a bulldog kept by a Springfield neighbor. “Now, I know that bulldog won’t bite, and you know that bulldog won’t bite,” Lincoln said. “But does the bulldog know he won’t bite?”

• At one point in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, incumbent Illinois State Senator Stephen A. Douglas accused his opponent of being a “two-faced” politician. Lincoln, not famously handsome, retorted, “If I was two-faced, would I be wearing this face?”

Yeshiva University Students Celebrate Purim at Men’s and Women’s Chagigot

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Six Yeshiva University High School for Girls Students Named Finalists in City-Wide Science Competition

Six students at the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (YUHSG) have been named finalists in the New York City Science and Engineering Fair (NYCSEF), the largest high school research competition in the city. Under the guidance of Ruth Fried, chairperson of YUHSG’s science department, the students conducted research projects over the summer and wrote up their findings in original scientific papers; five of the aspiring scientists did their research at the Garcia Institute at Stony Brook University, while one worked in a lab at the Cooper Union.

From left: Sonenberg, Shenas, Bachiry, Abelow, Shapiro, Rose and Fried.

The six finalists—Ayelet Abelow, Zohar Bachiry, Bracha Rose, Sara Shenas, Rachel Shapiro and Helene Sonenberg—comprised the largest contingent from any yeshiva, and their projects were part of the 150 chosen to advance, out of the 550 that were presented. The next round of the competition is scheduled for March 29, at the Museum of Natural History. There, the projects will be whittled down even further, and the top 20 students will go on to represent New York City at the 2011 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May in Los Angeles.

“I was motivated to do this project to gain first-hand insight into what scientific and engineering professions are about,” Shenas said. “I wanted to understand the logistics of engineering such as writing a technical paper, analyzing results using a computer and presenting the research to experts in the field of chemical engineering.”

Shenas’ personal connection to science through Judaism also played a role in her involvement. “I see G-d in science and in all the tiny intricacies in the world [He] has made,” she said. “Everything from the smallest particle to a galaxy in this universe has an imprint of G-d in them, and this is what Torah Umadda teaches.”

As part of YUHSG’s Science Institute, headed by Fried, several of the NYCSEF finalists have been taking advanced science courses since their freshman year, in addition to being placed in summer internships at the YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at Stony Brook.

“The reason we have such a large group of finalists this year is because of the effort and diligence that they put in, and they’ve been working towards this goal for so long,” Fried explained. “They’ve been working since the summer on their research projects and this is already the third competition that some of the girls are entering.”

Three of the NYCSEF finalists—Abelow, Sonenberg and Shapiro—were also named semi-finalists in the Siemens Science and Technology competition this past October.

To learn more about Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls visit www.yuhsg.org.

A Message on Recent World Events from Rabbi Kenneth Brander, David Mitzner Dean of the CJF

All of us, and all the members of our communities, are struggling to deal with and respond to the tragedies that have befallen Israel and the world this past week. I am grateful to Dr. Moshe Sokolow, Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Chair in Jewish Education at Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, who accepted my invitation to compose two short  reflections that I hope you will find helpful this coming Shabbat and beyond. I hope that these words and sentiments will resonate with you and that you will find them to be meaningful.

May we soon merit ultimate consolation and may we soon rejoice togetherכַּיָּמִים, אֲשֶׁר-נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאֹיְבֵיהֶם, וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב.

Download the prayers in memory of the Fogel family and for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

CPA Blogger,  Linda Hsia Elmstrom, on the Earthquake, Tsunami and Communication Breakdown in Japan

Linda Hsia Elmstrom is Web content manager at Yeshiva University and blogger for the Office of Communications and Public Affairs (CPA) Blog. Her graduate degree in speech and interpersonal communications focused, in large part, on the ways that different cultures communicate, which can lead to unintentional culture clash and misunderstanding.

In light of the earthquake, tsunami and now nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan, much has been made about the maddening lack of clear, transparent information that the Japanese government and Tepco are providing. Earlier this week, I watched an international news broadcast where, following a news conference in Japan by Tepco officials, the announcer was obviously frustrated and said that he had no idea what just happened or was even really said.

The communication breakdown is no surprise to those who study intercultural communications and those who grew up in an Asian culture. The “inscrutable Asian” is not just a stereotype; its origins lie in deep-seated cultural and social norms.

Read full article on the CPA Blog…

Students in S. Daniel Abraham Program and Roshei Yeshiva Take Part in Annual Israel Melava Malka

More than 500 post-high school students from some 18 yeshivot, gathered in Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue on Motzei Shabbat, March 12, to take part in the Third Annual S. Daniel Abraham Program Melava Malka. The program featured delicious food, dancing and words of Torah from YU roshei yeshiva, including Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rabbi Mayer Twersky, Rabbi Michael Rosensweig and Rabbi Yona Reiss, The Max and Marion Grill Dean of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).

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“Singing, dancing, food, meeting the roshei yeshiva—what more could you want?” said Dani Weiss, a shana alef student at Yeshivat Torat Shraga and an enrolled honors student at Yeshiva University. “I truly enjoyed the opportunity to establish a kesher [connection] early on with the roshei yeshiva. To be able to interact with them in such a warm atmosphere was extraordinary.”