by Dovid Baum (’13)
Tuesday was no ordinary day for Morah Haibiʼs 12th grade Hebrew Ulpan elective. In class, the students were learning how to converse at a supermarket; to assist with the learning process, the boys visited the popular “Just Kosher” supermarket, located across the street from MTA. “The goal of the trip was to see what shopping is like in an Israeli supermarket with Israeli brands,” informed Morah Haibi.
Each student in the class was asked to fill out a list under the heading of either an Israeli brand such as Elite or a category of the supermarket such as מאפה, The Bakery. There were many more activities as well, such as filling out a map of the store. Mrs. Rosenberg and Rabbi Taubes, who have spent time in real Israeli supermarkets, were on the scene to enlighten any student who needed help. Rabbi Taubes stated that this trip is important because “next year, when most of our graduates go to a Yeshiva in Israel, they will be able to buy food at a local supermarket in case they want to supplement their yeshiva menu. They can apply what they learned today to their experience next year in Israel.”
The trip was capped off with a background description by Rabbi Taubes on the origins of Wissotzky Tea. The company was founded in 1849 by Kalonimus Wolf, a student in the Volozhiner yeshiva who quickly became the king of tea in Russia. He donated billions of dollars (in today’s money) to Jewish causes and his descendents eventually moved the company to Israel.
When all was said and done, the trip was a huge success. Besides enjoying themselves and learning some applicable Hebrew, the students had an opportunity to bond with faculty outside of school in a more relaxed environment such as “Just Kosher.”
