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Maimonides School
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Maimonides School (Hebrew: ????? ???"?) is a coeducational, Modern Orthodox, Jewish day school located in Brookline, Massachusetts.
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Encyclopedia
style="font-size: large;" | Maimonides School
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| | Established | 1937 |
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| School type | Private |
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| Staff | |
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| Head of School | Currently vacant |
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| MS/US Principal | Rabbi Yair Altshuler |
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| MS/US Secular Studies Principal | Ken Weinstein |
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| ES principals | Rabbi David Saltzman, Dr. John Billings |
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| Rosh Yeshiva | Rabbi David Shapiro |
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| Total Faculty | 119 |
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| Students | 605 |
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| Religious affiliation | Modern Orthodox Judaism |
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| Grades | K-12 |
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| Location | 34 Philbrick Road
or 2 Clark Road
Brookline, MA 02445 |
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| Information | 617-232-4452
[mailto:info@maimonides.org info@maimonides.org] |
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| Website | |
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Maimonides School (Hebrew: ????? ???"?) is a coeducational, Modern Orthodox, Jewish day school located in Brookline, Massachusetts. The school was founded in 1937 by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik and is named after Rabbi Moses Maimonides.
Today, Maimonides is a world-renowned Torah institution with over 600 students from kindergarten through grade twelve and over 1,450 alumni, including multiple Rhodes Scholars, prominent professors and scientists, and members of Cabinet. 150 of them are living in Israel. Maimonides may be the only school in the world to produce multiple Rhodes Scholars in a single graduating class.
Student body
The vast majority of Maimonides students come from one of three communities: Brookline, Newton and Sharon. Other communities, such as Providence, Marblehead, Lowell, Malden, Lexington, New Bedford, and Natick are also represented in the student body. Also, several exchange students from various cities in Italy, such as Rome and Milan, have joined the school in recent years.
Campus
Maimonides School currently is situated on a campus in central Brookline, and is housed in two buildings.
Saval building
The Saval campus, named after Maurice Saval, a longtime school Chairman and benefactor, is the larger and the older of the two buildings. The Saval building houses middle school (grades six though eight), and upper school (grades nine through twelve), the business office, and other administrative offices. Other features of the Saval building are a full gymnasium, indoor basketball court, Synagogue, a 17,000 volume library and Bet Midrash (house of religious Judaic study), two laboratories, and additional office and study space on the recently completed third level. The inner courtyard now includes a student lounge area and a SprinTurf playing surface for touch football and soccer, while a new upper school student lounge was recently completed. The Esther Edelman Learning Center has also undergone a cosmetic upgrade with new furniture, computers, air-conditioning and thermal pane windows.
Brener building
The elementary school is housed in the Brener building, which is across the street from the Saval building. The building is newer, although it is mostly classrooms. However, it does have a small gym, music room, art room, admissions office, and a library.
Fiscal situation
In late 2005, the school faced a significant budget deficit. To help alleviate the deficit, the School Board decided on cost-cutting, layoffs of about 9% of the faculty, and an extraordinary fund-raising effort. The school has successfully balanced its budget for 06-07 and seems to have achieved what most Jewish Day Schools continually struggle with - correcting its financial course without severely damaging enrollment or the high quality of its education.
As a result of the layoffs, the school was sued by some of the laid off teachers. In an October 2007 article, the Brookline Tab reported that the Mass Commission Against Discrimination found probable cause for age and gender discrimination against laid off teachers Evelyn Berman and Phyllis Schwartz. The cases were settled out of court. Berman alleged Elementary School principal Jack Billings did not give her an equal opportunity when she interviewed to be rehired and she accused Billings of falsifying his resume, an allegation later proved to be false.
The 2006 Annual Gala (an event similar to the school's annual dinner) raised six hundred thousand dollars for scholarships for the school, which have increased, even given the current budget crisis. Approximately 60% of all Maimonides students receive some form of tuition assistance.
In January 2007, the cost of tuition and fees for a year at Maimonides' Upper School quietly exceeded $15,000 for the first time.
According to news reports, the private Maurice Saval trust whose sole beneficiary is the school, has lost some 3 million dollars. This loss has come about due to the Bernard Madoff scam.
Student activities
Current clubs and activities
The following is an incomplete list of different middle and upper school student-run clubs and organizations, and other extracurricular activities (listed alphabetically):
- Chessed Committee
- David Project Club
- Drama Club (produces annual high school drama production - http://www.freewebs.com/maimonidesdramaclub)
- Lately, the Drama Club has been producing a second production in addition to the main production. The so-called "Second Production of the Year," or SPOTY, is usually a short, one act play performed at the End of Year Bash.
- Girls Choir (Kol Isha)
- Girls Drama Club
- This club was last active in 2006, but its leaders hope to revitalize the program this coming year (2008-9).
- Israel Action Committee
- Jazz Band
- Junior Achievement: Titan
- The 2006 Co-state-champion Titan team placed fourth in the northeast, and thirteenth nationally.
- Literary Magazine (The Current)
- School Newspaper (Spectrum)
- This club now includes the publication of the "Spectrum Weekly" a weekly page listing dismissal schedule changes and period cancellations, a list of student birthdays, and articles about various news stories pertaining to the last week's worth of current events.
- The 2006 team won second place in their division in the New England region.
- The 2006 and 2009 teams were the most successful Maimonides mock trial teams of all time, both reaching the "Massachusetts Sweet Sixteen" in the MassBar Mock Trial Tournament. 2006 was also the first time the mock trial team defeated their arch-rival Brookline High School.
Inactive clubs and activities
The following is a partial list of clubs and activities that have existed in the past but are currently inactive.
Athletics
Maimonides is a member of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. The school's teams are named the M-Cats.
Boys teams
Girls teams
Students versus faculty
Faculty Basketball Game
This game is a longstanding tradition that matches the male members of the senior class against the male faculty in a game of basketball, proceeds from which are donated to charity.
Major school events
Annual Gala
The Maimonides School Annual Gala is a formal event for benefactors of the school's endowment to gather under the school's auspices, proceeds from which are apportioned for academic scholarships to the school. The gala also serves as an opportunity for the school to recognize the contemporary year's graduating class through a ceremony of which each member of the class is introduced to the guests.
In the early days of the event (then called the Annual Dinner), Maurice Saval, one of the major benefactors of the school (for whom the Saval Campus is named) invited each member of the senior class as his personal guest. Since then, the tradition has been upheld.
The gala is typically held at a hotel or other formal venue, such as the John F. Kennedy Library.
Chanukah Banquet
Every Chanukah, the middle and upper schools enjoys a uniquely themed banquet, such as monopoly or a casino, accompanied by according decor. The upper school jazz band performs before and during the meal and there is generally some other form of live entertainment afterwards. Many students choose to invite friends from other schools to the banquet, transforming the banquet into an annual gathering of the local high school Jewish community.
Upper School plays
The drama production is performed once a year by the Maimonides Drama Club, generally in mid-March, in the Fox gymnasium. It is directed and acted by students exclusively.
Past plays:
In 2006, the school featured a short play directed by an underclassman, in addition to the annual play. The one-acts, which are considerably shorter and of lower budget than the main production, bring drama to students who cannot commit to the full length play.
Past short plays:
Each year the Shpiel is performed by the Senior Class as a series of comedy sketches with the intent of making fun of faculty members. Shpiels have traditionally featured only stage performances, but with the availability of new multimedia, recent spiels include multimedia comedy. The Purim Shpiel is an annual source of tension between administration, who review drafts to censor defamatory and unsavvory material, and the students, who routinely sneak in skits. The only known instance of a Purim Shpiel ever being shut down mid-performance by the faculty was in 2006.
Chagigat HaSiddur
Chagigat HaSiddur is the annual event, commonly known as the "Siddur Play", where the 1st graders receive their first siddur (prayerbook). Before the Chagigah they pray from either abbreviated siddurim or siddurim owned by the school. Afterwards they pray each day from their very own complete siddur. At the Chagigah, each 1st grade class performs a musical skit that addresses some aspect of prayer. The ceremony concludes with the teachers and principals calling up each student individually to receive his or her inscribed and specially bound siddur. The event usually ends with food.
Chagigat HaChumash
The Chagigat HaChumash is the annual event where the second grade students receive their first chumash (Bible). At the Chagigah, each 2nd grade class performs a musical skit that addresses some aspect of Torah learning. The ceremony concludes with the teachers and principals calling up each student individually to receive his or her inscribed and specially bound Chumash. After the Students receive their Chumashim, everyone generally enjoys light refreshments.
Chesed Day
For the past few years, the Upper School Chesed Committee, with assistance from the Upper School Activities Coordinator, has organized a day when the entire middle and upper school student body leave school for a day and volunteer at different area community service destinations such as the Blue Hills, Pine Street Inn, the Esplanade Association, the Coolidge House, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Greater Boston Food Bank, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Rosie's Place, Cradles to Crayons, The Franklin Park Zoo and the New England Veterans Shelter. Currently, in order to make planning of Chesed Day easier, each grade has had its own Chesed Day.
Battle of the Bands
Every holiday of Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles), the school holds a Battle of the Bands. Bands typically form for the sole purpose of competing in Battle of the Bands. The competition is generally made up of rock, jazz, and blues bands, though there has been music of other genres. The judicial method of choosing a winner varies year to year from student voting to faculty judges. Past winners include two time winner Brown Iris and One Fish, Jew Fish. For the first time in Maimonides history, in the 2008 battle of the bands, a 7th grade band ("Etai and the Others") won, beating four other bands including Brown Iris.
Color War and Maccabia
Color War
This takes place annually in the Elementary School. Teams are led by 6th graders captains, who compose songs and cheers, make a poster, write a D'var Torah, perform skit and motivate their team to win.
Maccabia
The Maccabia is a series of sporting events that takes place every few years in grades seven through twelve. Generally organized by the Student Council, it is led by two captains from each class. Upper school Maccabia took place in 2002, and again in 2006.
Retreat
Notable Alumni
- Binyamin Appelbaum '96, journalist at the Boston Globe
- Steven Bayme '67, essayist and author
- Arthur Berger '62, external relations director for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
- Etan Cohen '92, Hollywood screenwriter
- Eliot Cohen '73, influential neo-conservative and professor of foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University
- Noah Feldman '88, Rhodes Scholar, Harvard law professor and critic of Modern Orthodox Judaism.
- Eli Kazhdan '86, CEO of [CityBook Services], one of Israel's largest outsourcing companies, specializing in real estate services.
- Faye Isserow Landes '77, Wall Street analyst
- Sarah Levine '88, former clerk to Justice David Souter
- Matthew Levitt '88, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, specializing in terrorism and US policy
- Asher Lopatin '90, Rhodes Scholar and congregational rabbi in Chicago
- Barry Lowenkron '69, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
- Joel Mael '75, vice-chairman of the Florida Marlins
- E.B. Solomont '97, journalist for Forward and The New York Sun
- Rabbi Michael Strassfeld '67, co-author of The Jewish Catalog
- Rabbi Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, noted historian and the only son of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Notable faculty
School song
The Maimonides School Song is currently not in use. When sung, it was sung to "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It was written by Ralph Tucker, an English teacher in the early years of the school. The following text is taken from the 1965 yearbook.
Praise to thee our alma mater;
Hail to thee Maimonides;
Homage at this time we pay thee
Whom we laud for all of these:
For the wisdom of the Torah,
For our training secular,
For the light of learning shining
Bright before us like a star.
Guide us in our way of living;
Teach us as the torch we seize
Values true and everlasting,
Hail to thee, Maimonides.
In addition, there is a Hebrew version of the song, but only very few Alumni know the words.
Further reading
External links
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