Kol Bogrei November 2010 ~ Cheshvan–Kislev 5771 Rambam Page  of 4 Connecting Alumni Worldwide

Kol Bogrei Rambam is the Alumni Council’s monthly e-newsletter for and about Maimonides School graduates. Each month we share informa- tion on individual graduates’ initiatives 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. We invite your information, ideas and feedback—educational, professional or personal achievements, new business ventures, interesting or unusual experiences, insights on Jewish living and learning, or just greetings. Please contact us at [email protected]. Special Issue: Multi-Generational Maimonides Families There are currently 37 alumni who second-generation graduates are The school eagerly anticipates its next are also Maimonides School parents, Gershon Weinberg, son of Rabbi three-generation alumni family. The chil- comprising 34 households and a total of Yehuda Weinberg ’63, who graduated dren and grandchildren of Joshua ‘89 62 students in kindergarten through 12th in 1985, followed by Dr. Leah Leeder and Robert Wolff ’59 had that distinc- grade. ‘86, daughter of Dr. Asher Leeder ’69; tion until Josh and his family made aliyah Elka Tovah Menkes (now Davidoff) ‘88, in 2008. However, a number of other chil- Maimonides School alumni have been daughter of Judith (Weiner) Menkes dren have Maimonides connections that enrolling their children in the school ’63; and Gershon’s brother Eliyahu, also reach back several decades, as evidenced since the 1970s. Among the earliest in 1988. in the following profiles.

Sherri (Rabinovitz) Cohen ’87, Gabriella, Jonathon and Jordan

Sherri (Rabinowitz) Cohen ’87 feels more than a sense of déjà vu when she visits Maimonides School class- rooms. “I love going to parent-teacher conferences and seeing the teachers that I had,” she said. “It’s nice having that generational connection with my kids.” Sherri and her husband Judah are the parents of Gabriella in Grade 10 and twins Jordan and Jonathon in seventh grade. Three of Sherri’s sisters were Maimonides students. Her parents, Stanley and Marlene Rabinovitz, are long-time friends and benefactors. Sherri ’87 and Judah Cohen, Jordan (left), Gabriella and Jonathon “I feel there always have been high academic standards,” she said. “My Schockett, “the kids are developing Her children, Sherri said, are conscious daughter has Mr. (Robert) Cohen math skills through non-routine prob- of this legacy with parent, aunts and for chemistry – who I had -- and he lems that really helps develop their uncles, especially when there are still has the same high standards.” thinking. They remind me of when I common teachers. “I think they’re Similarly, with math teacher Michael had Mr. Schockett.” amazed,” she said.

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Leah (Lamport) Garland ’96 and Annabelle Amy (Kahn) Goldman ’90

The family connection of Leah “There were opportunities for both and Ariel (Lamport) Garland ’96 with academic and personal growth,” Maimonides School spans the last Leah continued, noting that as a Amy (Kahn) Goldman ’90 knew 40 years. Her uncle Eric Zitaner was high school student she helped out that her son Ariel would not be in the class of 1971, her sisters Beth in Elementary School classrooms, going to “some anonymous place” Krauss and Sarah graduated in including her sisters’. “My experi- when he completed Grade 6 at 2000 and 2003, respectively, and her ences at Maimonides helped me to Striar Hebrew Academy of Sharon brother Adam is a member of the become the person who I am today; in 2009. She and her husband Class of 2007. I went on to attend Barnard and then Adam chose the at BU to become an educator, and am Maimonides, hoping to replicate “And now my oldest daughter Anna- an active member of the Malden “the warmth that I experienced” as belle has just joined the class of 2022,” Orthodox community.” Leah teaches a student. she said. mathematics at New England Hebrew Ariel is part of a rich family history “I started my educational journey at Academy. Her husband Matthew is at Maimonides. His mother and her Maimonides in 1982, back when it still executive director of Congregation siblings Rabbi Scott Kahn’88, Lisa had the pre-kindergarten program,” Beth in Malden. (Kahn) Kriegel ’93 and Gabe Kahn Leah related. “Over the next 14 years, “My hope and expectation for my ’96 are all graduates. His great- Maimonides became like a second children, beginning with Annabelle, is grandparents, Ruth and Meyer home to me, and I often spent more of that they will find the same challenges Solomont, were long-time benefac- my waking hours there than at home. to grow, learn, and become account- tors and volunteer leaders. “I think Rather than becoming burned out able to their communities both he takes pride in that,” Amy said of from the long hours that were spent academically and as strong Orthodox the family legacy. “I think he feels there, my desire for learning—both Jews.” very well-connected.” Judaic and secular—was stimulated.” The school, Amy observed, “has definitely grown and seems much more professional” in the two decades since her gradua- tion. But there are several impor- tant common denominators: “a strong community, family feel, a comfortable place, great friends, and teachers who care... I’m so impressed how every teacher in the Middle School seems to know Ariel.” A few of those teachers, as well as others on Saval Campus, remember Ariel’s mom as a student. “I had very good experiences at Maimonides, she said, “and he’s falling into that history as well.”

Leah ’96 and Matthew Garland, Annabelle, Sophia and Moshe Kol Bogrei November 2010 ~ Cheshvan–Kislev 5771 Rambam Page  of 4 Connecting Maimonides Alumni Worldwide

Elissa (Levine) Green ’86, Ari, Yael and Rachel

Elissa (Levine) Green ’86 is part of a four-generation connection to Maimonides School, from her grand- parents, Dorothy and Louis Gamm, volunteers in the school’s earliest days, to her children Ari ’12, Yael ’14 and Rachel ’16. Elissa’s mother, Cheryl (Gamm) Heitin, was a Maimonides kindergartener in Mrs. Berta Wohlgemuth’s class. “My dad worked very hard for Maimonides and really believed in day schools,” Cheryl said. She attended elemen- tary grades in the building on Elm Hill Avenue and junior high school on Otisfield Street in Roxbury. “My grandson Ari said, ‘Reuven Cohn remembers you’,” she recounted. (Rabbi Cohn, a 1965 graduate, is now a Elissa ’86 and Eliot Green, Ari, Yael and Rachel. member of the Upper School faculty.) “I really loved going to day school quiet way, with some of the early sium opened just a few months after and felt it was day and night from fundraising,” she said. “For my family, her departure. Some classrooms she afternoon Hebrew school,” Cheryl this obviously has been important.” added, still feel as they did in the “old continued. “That’s where I wanted my Her children have been enrolled since days.” She has participated in parent children to go.” kindergarten. conferences with some of her former Elissa attended Maimonides Twenty-four years after graduation, teachers. “The kids love the school,” throughout her high school years. it’s “definitely bigger,” she laughed, Elissa testified. “It feels like home for “My grandfather was involved, in a noting that the library and gymna- us.”

Robin (Aronson) Katzman ‘79, Seth and Adam

Jacob Aronson attended Maimonides Katzman ’79, who enrolled in first better,” Robin said. “New construc- School before high school grades grade. “Maimonides still has the family tion makes the school much were established. These days he is atmosphere that we had when I was a nicer.” There’s much that remains often at Saval Campus to pick up student there. Small classes and small familiar, she said, “especially the his grandsons, Seth ’11 and Adam grades create that family-like atmo- auditorium.” Katzman ’14. sphere, where everyone is concerned “I have very fond memories of with you. I think that’s important.” “I think they’ve both been very happy Maimonides,” Robin said, adding, at Maimonides, and they’re receiving There are tangible improvements “I don’t think I would have sent the a wonderful education,” said the that are hard for a 1970s graduate to kids there if I didn’t.” boys’ mother, Robin (Aronson) miss. “Certainly technology is much Kol Bogrei November 2010 ~ Cheshvan–Kislev 5771 Rambam Page  of 4 Connecting Maimonides Alumni Worldwide

Janet (Sadoff) Ronner ’72, Evette and Ari In Other News…

Janet (Sadoff) Ronner is like a They worked as bus drivers or bakers; Dr. Ira Winer ’94 has matched bridge between eras—not only at some were Holocaust survivors. But for a gynecologic oncology Maimonides School but also in the they were committed to their chil- fellowship at Wayne State Univer- Boston Jewish community. dren’s education. Now it’s not unusual sity/Henry Ford Health System for parents to hold Ph.Ds. Now that in Detroit. Ira, a chief resident Janet is a member of the class of 1972, she is a Maimonides parent, Janet at the University of Michigan, is along with her twin sister, Beverly said, “this seems to be even more true. completing his four-year resi- Holmes. Her children, Evette, in grade People are so invested in the educa- dency in that specialty. “Gyne- 9, and Ari, seventh grade, are typical tion of our children, and parents are cologic oncology is a combined 21st century Maimonides students. so incredibly involved. The average surgical and medical oncology Her aunt, Ella (Ruben) Berkovits, was parent at Maimonides really values field,” he explained. “We serve a member of the first graduating class education tremendously. It was true as both the surgical and medical in 1953. She made aliyah in 1963 and then and it is true now.” oncologist for cancers of the female resides in Haifa. patient—uterine, ovarian and “I remember waking up the day after Janet’s mother and Ella, together with cervical cancers, among others. It is we graduated and just being amazed their family, were religious Jews who highly competitive for this fellow- that life continued,” she reflected. emigrated from Northern Ireland. “My ship training with 40 spots in the The academic day may be long and grandmother was in HaPoel HaMizrahi country per year.” all-encompassing, but it is defined by and she heard about Maimonides “that feeling of community, the dedi- Ephraim Kahn, 12, son of Aliza from one of her friends,” Janet cation of the teachers, and the friend- and Rabbi Scott Kahn ’88, was a recounted. “We lived near Franklin ships that are formed.” starting pitcher and outfielder on Park; I remember sitting with (Prin- the Israel National Team, cipal Emeritus) Rabbi Cohn juvenile division, which won an on Shabbos afternoon. He international tournament in Siena, had this amazing way with Italy. children.’’ Now she shares with her children stories Fiona Guedalia ’08 helped of her own teachers— organize a successful effort in New Maimonides legends like York to break the Guinness record Rabbi Isaiah Wohlgemuth for simultaneous dreidel spinning. and Rabbi Isaac Simon. Fiona, co-chair of Students Helping Students at , As a student, Janet recalls, was involved with Dreidelpalooza, many parents were first- featuring 618 participants at YU’s generation Americans. Max Stern Athletic Center on Nov. 30 (the previous record was 541). Janet (Sadoff) Ronner ’72, Evetteand Ari Contributions benefited the SHS scholarship fund. “I got involved with Students And furthermore… Helping Students because I want to ensure that others have the “I think I truly began appreciating Maimonides School only after I great opportunity that I have—a graduated. My teachers did a excellent job preparing me for the academic dual curriculum rich in secular, and rigors of college and providing a solid foundation for addressing life’s Jewish education,” Fiona explained. challenges. My oldest daughter is now in second grade, which is when I “I learned to appreciate that oppor- entered Maimonides. In her go-around, I hope that she takes full advantage tunity in my studies in Maimonides. of a Maimonides education, learns the things that I didn’t learn, nurtures her I feel great raising money for YU innate curiosity, and deepens her love of .” undergraduate scholarships. Also —Alex Klibaner ’91, father of Ellie Klibaner-Schiff the event was a lot of fun.”