Kol Bogrei Rambam Is the Alumni Council’S Monthly E-Newsletter for and About Maimonides School Graduates

Kol Bogrei January 2011 ~ Tevet–Shvat 5771 Rambam Page  of 4 Connecting Maimonides Alumni Worldwide

Kol Bogrei Rambam is the Alumni Council’s monthly e-newsletter for and about Maimonides School graduates. Each month we share infor- mation on individual graduates’ ventures and accomplishments, as well as general news notes, all reflecting the school’s mission of preparing educated, observant Jews to be contributing members of society. Your ideas and accomplishments will help sustain and strengthen this key communications tool; please forward to [email protected]. Also, check out the “Alumni” video playlist on Maimonides School’s YouTube channel, MaimoTube!

Maimonides Graduate Installed as President of the Orthodox Union

Dr. Steven (Simcha) Katz, a 1961 campuses... We have Maimonides School graduate, has placed 15 couples on been installed as the 13th president of 15 college campuses the Orthodox Union. to reach out to these day school graduates, Dr. Katz joined the class in junior to keep these students high school, initially traveling from engaged in traditional Winthrop, served as president of the Jewish life.” senior class, as well as Student Council president in the 11th grade. Now a A graduate of Yeshiva resident of Teaneck, NJ, he has served University, Dr. Katz the OU for 25 years, most recently as received semicha chair of the Kashrut Commission. from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological In a recent online interview with Seminary at YU. He Matzav.com, Dr. Katz raised an issue earned a master’s that said “the most painful situation degree in engineering facing our families, affecting their as well as an MBA quality of life, is yeshiva tuition... from New York Univer- We have a broken and unsustain- sity and a Ph.D. from able system. This challenge must be Dr. Steven (Simcha) Katz ’61 NYU’s Stern School of addressed.” Business. He also said the OU “recognize(s) After founding a technology company school of the City University of New the extraordinary challenges to our and serving as its senior executive, Dr. York. He and his wife Pesh have four yeshiva day school graduates in main- Katz retired from business. He is now children and 16 grandchildren. taining traditional values on college a professor of finance in the business

Noah Cheses ’03 and daughter Adina pose with Rabbi Michael ‘97 and Rachael (Gelfman) Schultz ’97 and son Yotam during a recent visit in Israel, where Noah, a YU semicha student and Wexner Graduate Fellow, is learning this year. The Schultzes reside in Karmiel. Mike is a hospital chaplain and Rachael is a teacher. “Maimonides came up numerous times and so my wife took a picture of the three alumni with our babies,” Noah explained. Kol Bogrei January 2011 ~ Tevet–Shvat 5771 Rambam Page  of 4 Connecting Maimonides Alumni Worldwide Graduate Aims to Conduct Opera and Its “Audio-Visual Appeal”

Are young people interested in opera? where he sang in the state-sponsored tant conductor positions at several Isaac Selya ’03 thinks it should be a choir of the Great Synagogue in Jeru- opera houses. He is also consid- proverbial no-brainer. “It’s really the salem. Then at Yale University, he ering doctoral studies in orchestra only high-culture art form that can majored in music, played cello in the Yale conducting. compete with the audio-visual appeal Symphony and served as music director Isaac points out that the technology of pop-culture music videos and the of the Jonathan Edwards College Philhar- is in place to deliver unprecedented like,” says Isaac, English valedictorian monic. According to Isaac’s website, he access to—and appreciation of—clas- of the Maimonides Class of 2003. developed the group “from a fledgling sical music. Connect with “YouTube,” string ensemble into a full orchestra.” That opinion is significant, because he suggests. Then, “If you are Isaac’s career goal is to conduct His self-described passion, however, is feeling… opera. He recently earned his master’s for opera, and Isaac performed with the • angry, type in Verdi Requiem Dies degree in orchestral conducting at Opera Theatre of Yale College as both a Irae Giulini; Mannes College the New School for lyric baritone and a conductor. “There Music in Manhattan. On Wednesday, are experiences you can have in • amorous, type in Bellini Vaga Luna March 30, Isaac is scheduled to opera that you cannot have in any Bartoli; conduct highlights from Verdi’s La other domain,” he explained. “Take • flirtatious, type in Mozart Papageno Traviata at the Mannes Concert Hall, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for instance. Duet Roth; 150 W. 85th St. It’s about a US Navy officer who seduces • sad, type in Mahler 3 Langsam a 15-year-old Japanese geisha, gets her Isaac has performed as a conductor, Ruhevoll Bernstein; pregnant, and then abandons her. She cellist, singer and pianist in the U.S., • triumphal, type in Mahler 2 kills herself in response… And that is on Europe, the Middle East and South Bernstein ending.” the tame side of opera plots. But when America. “I started music when I was you listen to Butterfly, the five, and I spent hours practicing,” music connects you he recounted. “It is a very difficult to the most intimate path, especially for children. You are details of the characters’ constantly facing criticism from your emotions. And it’s done teachers, your peers, and yourself. with sets and costumes Luckily, I loved the music, and I had that are fabulous and inspiring teachers who made me want over-the-top.” to improve myself.” After graduating with His instrument was the cello, which honors from Yale, Isaac often accompanied him through spent a year singing with the Maimonides hallways, as he the Vocal Arts Ensemble played with the Greater Boston Youth of Cincinnati. His recent Symphony Orchestra after school. activities include guest Isaac, who resided in Cincinnati conducting the Chelsea before enrolling as a freshman, said Symphony and the Cuen- excellence in instrumental music is K ensemble of Ecuador, “like speaking a language. If you start and assistant conducting young and practice it every day, you the Mannes Opera’s eventually become proficient.” production of Mozart’s After graduation, Isaac spent a year Così Fan Tutte. Isaac studying cello and voice at the Rubin recently received invita- Academy of Music in Jerusalem, tions to audition for assis-

Isaac Selya ’03 Kol Bogrei January 2011 ~ Tevet–Shvat 5771 Rambam Page  of 4 Connecting Maimonides Alumni Worldwide Alumnus Finds Fulfillment in Practicing, Teaching Emergency Response

Shael Sokolowski ’01 says he “wasn’t Hatzolah, and that led to his current me that you can combine Torah propelled toward a formal career in venture, called Manhattan CXR. Shael, observance—as I have the privi- medicine.” Still, he always was fasci- with a small group of fellow EMTs and lege of doing through the pursuit nated by the way the human body medical professionals, has launched a of good works as an EMT—and a works, and how he could channel that service that teaches cardiopulmonary professional career.” He recently curiosity toward helping other people. resuscitation to laypeople. completed an MBA and works as a senior account executive for a Shael said last year he digital advertising agency. learned of an incident in which bystanders did “There are two particular instances not assist a heart attack I can recall after which I remember victim on a city street. saying to myself that becoming an “I was surprised to learn EMT had been the right choice,” that few of them had Shael recounted. “First, in January the skills required to 2009, a plane crash-landed on the perform CPR,” he said. Hudson River. West Side Hatzolah “This sparked a desire was among the first on scene, and to teach CPR to anyone treated and transported more I could find—one New patients than any other agency. Yorker at a time, as my Given the nature of the event, associates and I often Hatzolah’s management of the quip. That’s why we scene was an incredible Kiddush launched Manhattan Hashem and I was proud of our CPR. We provide access timely response and treatment. to health care profes- “Second, a number of months ago, sionals, physicians, EMTs, I took an oncology patient who and paramedics, and was experiencing severe difficulty Shael Sokolowski ’01 offer classes, at home or breathing to a local emergency in the workplace.” room. I treated the patient the “The answer came to me when I was “As Jews, we are imbued with the obli- way I do all of my patients, in an an undergraduate at Yeshiva Univer- gation to look out for each other’s well- emotionally supportive way, and sity,” he related. “Several of my friends being at almost any cost—kol Yisrael with the clinical skills I’ve devel- were involved in Hatzolah—the New areivim ze la’zeh,” Shael pointed out. oped over the years. Several weeks York-based volunteer ambulance “We’ve been fortunate to have made later, I received a letter thanking corps—and I realized that pre-hospital great progress, educating hundreds of me for my help and noting several emergency medicine would be the healthcare professionals and laypeople seemingly ‘little things’ that for the perfect way for me to synthesize my alike in the past year alone.” patient ‘made all of the difference’.” scientific inclinations and my desire to serve the Jewish community.” Shael noted that his seventh and eighth He added, “Much of what we do grade science teacher, Barbara Fierer, isn’t pretty, and a great deal of it is After graduation, he enrolled in a “really encouraged my scientific pursuits, emotionally draining, but moments course to become an emergency both in and out of the classroom. Beyond like the ones above provide a sense medical technician (EMT). He joined that, my Maimonides experience taught of renewal.” the Upper West Side division of

Visit Maimonides on Facebook Follow our Twitter feed, KolRambam Subscribe to our YouTube channel, MaimoTube Kol Bogrei January 2011 ~ Tevet–Shvat 5771 Rambam Page  of 4 Connecting Maimonides Alumni Worldwide Alumni Transition at Sports Camp Three ’72 Grads Plan

Rubin Yarmush ’00 will succeed degree in psychology at the Univer- Israel Reunion Rachel Epstein ’07 as director of the sity of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. M-Cat Sports Camp at Maimonides He and his wife Shayna (Schafer) ’00 Efforts are underway to stage a 40-

School, scheduled for June 27-July 15 have three children and live in Sharon. yearreunion in Israel for the Class for children entering Grades 1-8.. of 1972 in about 16 months. Rachel, a senior at the University Ruby has spent 25 of his 28 summers of Maryland, organized the M-Cat In an email to classmates last in camp, including serving on the Sports Camp during her senior year week, Shayna (Leeder) Heller of staff at Camp Morasha in the Poconos of high school. Counselors are current Silver Spring, MD and Israel resi- and unit head of Kehilla for JCC Camp and former student-athletes at dents Marilyn (Zicher) Kramer Grossman. At Maimonides, Ruby Maimonides. In a letter announcing and Yitzhak Sokoloff proposed played varsity basketball, baseball and the transition to current campers, she a weekend in June 2012 and soccer, and is the assistant coach of wrote, “Being with you has been a requested input on location: the boys’ basketball team. truly incredible experience.” She says Yerushalayim, Galil or Negev. “We’d she will be working in the family busi- love to combine some Torah, A researcher at the Shriners Burns ness this summer. touring and social get-together,” Hospital, Ruby is pursuing a master’s they wrote. This would include a Shabbat guest speaker, “lunch and learn,” a melave malka with enter- Sarah Lazaros ’08 (right) and tainment, a day of touring Sunday Rachel Shorr ’08, juniors at Stern and a goodbye dinner. College for Women, pose with former teacher Tomer Ben Shoham “We’ll put a keepsake together, so during a recent week-long college trip to Israel “to explore the chal- send us a paragraph about what lenges the country faces.” The you’ve been up to the last 40 40 students heard from former years. Include your name as you residents of Gush Katif, visited a planned community of religious were known in 1972 and as you and secular Israelis, and spent a day are known now,” they requested. exploring the struggle of foreign “We can set up a video feed or workers and refugees in Israel “The trip successfully presented us blog and post photos if you can’t with one all-encompassing picture join us in person.” They also of the multifaceted reality of enclosed a composite picture of Israel, as well as the challenges of aliyah,” the girls wrote in an article class members from the senior submitted to the Jewish Advocate. yearbook. Earlier, Shayna noted that she is Maimonides Alumni Here and There… still missing email addresses for several classmates that “got away,” Margaret Zwiebach ’08 is one including former U.S. Secretary of including Johnny Bell, Miriam of 40 Wellesley College students to State Albright, the institute’s distin- Botwinick, Ruthie Neumann and be named a fellow of the Madeleine guished visiting professor. This Scott Shabell. Any information Korbel Albright Institute for Global summer, the women will participate in would be greatly appreciated and Affairs. The program is designed to a Wellesley-funded internship. can be shared with Shayna at educate women to fill leadership Ze’ev Gebler ’08, treasurer, and [email protected]. positions, to strengthen the role of Sara Miriam Liben ’09, social and women in international relations cultural coordinator, are serving on and to inform policy discussions and the 10-member Student Executive academic thought in global affairs. Board of Columbia/Barnard Hillel. Sara During an intensive course in January, Miriam’s brother Jonah ’06 recently the fellows studies with international completed a term on the Board. relations and public policy experts,