MTA's Shakespeare competition kicked off this past Monday. The judges included Mrs. Levitt, Mr. Kulnis, Mrs. Siegfried and an expert in Shakespearean literature... MTAs own Ms. Lewis. After many invigorating and heartfelt speeches from some of William Shakespeare's well renowned plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet and more. the competition was narrowed down to Benjy Lamn ('16), CJ Glicksman ('16), Meir Barg ('16), Zack Kauffman ('13), Shai Cohen ('14) and Daniel Saxon ('13). The Finals of the competition took place on Thursday with yet another judge, Rabbi Brownstein. This time, the air was tense as the stakes were high. Poetry and speeches from some of Shakespeare's most illustrious plays were filling the room with a sense of joy and sorrow, comedy and soberness. Eventually, after all the emotional speeches, the judges declared Shai Cohen the winner and Zack Kauffman the alternate. As the winner, Shai will now memorize a sonnet to present at the English Speaking Union competition held at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street. For the past few years, MTA was the only yeshiva to participate in this competition.  Two years ago, MTA took first place in the New York State contest. The national winner receives $10,000 and a course at the Globe Theater in London.