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From the Desk of Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky
What an amazing weekend we all experienced this past
Shabbat! We are still flying from the experience of an
exciting and uplifting Shabbaton. The
highlight was unquestionably the presentations of
Judge Dan Butler of Pittsburgh, whose inspiring words
will not be forgotten by all in attendance for a long
time to come. A very special thank you to Rabbi
Emerson for all of his hard work in putting this amazing
weekend together.
I want to thank Mr. Rahr and Mr. Chaim Hollander
for all of their assistance in putting together our new
Parent Teacher Conference computer program.
While it has been very smooth, we do need to add in
some slots, and we will do this early in the week.
Special thanks to former DRS parent Fran Rabinowitz,
who suggested this program for us.
Finally, we are looking forward to greeting everyone at
our annual Parent Son Melave Malka. Sharing
the spirit of our Yeshiva with our Parent body is of
crucial importance to us. Come join in the nachas
of children who have the privilege of learning torah
each day and developing into Bnai Torah.
Wishing you an inspiring Shabbat...
Kol Tuv,
Yisroel Kaminetsky
| Shabbaton a Smashing Success! |
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Well, the Yomim Tovim have passed, it's getting colder,
and that means that the entire DRS family once again
heads up to Swan Lake Resort for our annual
Yeshiva-wide Shabbaton. This exciting weekend is
one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the
calendar, and this year's was the biggest and best
ever. The shabbaton is full of DRS traditions, and this
year was no exception. All the students, along with
their Rebbeim, participated in the always exciting
Shiur Olympics competition, which concluded with
the yeshiva wide "line up" championship. The
students also enjoyed testing their knowledge of DRS
trivia in "DRS Feud," and the grade wide Tishes
were a sight to behold.
As always, there were several surprises at the
Shabbaton. The most significant one was our very
special guest speaker, Judge Danny Butler, from
Pittsburgh, PA. Judge Butler is the father of Mikey
Butler (Alav Hashalom), and on Friday night, he
introduced the theme of the Shabbaton, "Overcoming
Challenges," in an amazing presentation about
Mikey's life and their entire family's challenges. For over
an hour, no one moved, as Judge Butler
exhorted the talmidim to face life's challenges with
sensitivity, paying attention to the lessons that
are taught through them.
On Shabbat day, the Freshmen had the unique
opportunity to study Torah sources on life's challenges,
with their Senior class counterparts, and the 10th
grade had Chaburot with their madrichim. It was
especially exciting this year to have several DRS alumni
join the madrichim staff for the first time.
Motzai Shabbat began with an extremely
competitive "Wolleyball" tournament, as well as all
the other sports available at the spacious facilities.
During the Melava Malka, students and teachers
alike danced to some amazing music for an hour
straight, and then they were treated to a special
"Year in Review" video, expertly produced by
technology intern and Sophomore Jason Hagler, as well
as a hilarious Senior Video presentation. As many
of the talmidim went off to their rooms to sleep,
Rabbi Kaminetsky took out his guitar, and along with
DRS alumnus Yoni Statman, led an inspirational 2 hour
kumsitz.
As the busses rumbled out of the resort parking lot on
Sunday morning, everyone agreed that this
Shabbaton was once again the highlight of the DRS
year.
Click HERE for a photo gallery of pictures from the DRS Shabbaton 2004!
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| Open House 2004 |
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The ninth annual DRS Open House was an
outstanding success, as the school opened its doors to
nearly 120
families of prospective students and parents.
After a brief D'var Torah by Senior David Weiss, Rabbi
Kaminetsky and Mr. Feldman addressed the gathering,
explaining the special qualities of our Yeshiva. Parents
and students then split up for two separate programs .
The students had the
opportunity to participate in the DRS Student
Activities Fair. They sampled the chess,
Karate, College Bowl , Yeshiva Band, and Cooking clubs,
as well as the Sports teams. The
students also had the opportunity to participate in an
interactive multimedia program about all
aspects of the Yeshiva, meeting with some of the
Judaic and Secular Faculty. Special thanks go to Rabbi
Emerson for coordinating the Student Activities Fair,
and to Rabbi Brazil, for coordinating the Student
Presentation.
The parents had a chance to meet the
outstanding DRS faculty, to see the beautiful facilities,
and to hear from Parents and Students about what
makes DRS special. We again want to especially
thank all the parents and students who came down to
help.
Click HERE for a pictures of the exctiting DRS Open House 2004! »
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| Parent Teacher Conferences: New Online Registration |
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DRS has truly entered the 21st century with its new
online Parent - Teacher Conference scheduler.
This year we are having parents schedule their own
Parent - Teacher Conferences from the comfort of their
home (or office) using Virtual Paragon's Conference
Reservation System. Parents quickly create their
own login and user id and have immediate access
to make appointments with their sons' teachers.
They know immediately what their appointment times
are and which teachers are available. They can then
print a complete schedule of their meetings for the
evening.
Click on the link at the end of this article to
access the system and make your reservations.
We asked the parents who made appointments on the
new system what they thought of it. Here are some of
their responses:
"I found the program easy to use though a bit time
consuming getting both the boys schedules together so
that I wouldn't be there all night. I think it was great to
pick your own times. Thank you!"
"I am extremely impressed by the high-tech Parent-
Teacher scheduler made available. It seems like DRS is
a well-oiled machine. In general, coming from schools
where I was usually one of the parents pulling the
administration into the 21st century, it's refreshing to
deal with DRS and all it offers to the students and
parents. I only hope I find time to become more
involved in the school over the next few years. MAZAL
TOV ON A JOB WELL-DONE!! Let's hope the
conferences run as smoothly as the registration
process".
"I LOVED it! Originally, when I received an email about
this new system, I was quite skeptical. But I found the
system easy to use, and, since I logged on early, I had
no problem getting the schedule I wanted. I do
foresee issues with parents who log on closer to
conference time and who cannot get any appointment
with the teachers they would like to meet. Other than
that, thank you for this quick and easy method".
Editor's Note: We will be adding in more
conference time periods for those Teachers who are
completely booked up. Watch your email for details!
If you would like to access the system, click on the link
below, and enter drshalb for the "Master Password,"
and follow the directions to create an account.
Click HERE to make your parent teacher conference reservations online! Enter drshalb for "Master Password," and follow the directions to create your own account!
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| The Wildcats are Back!! |
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The Wildcats are back! The varsity hockey
squad kicked off the 2004-2005 sports season with an
impressive 12-3 victory over previously undefeated
Solomon Schechter. Steven Genachowski opened
the scoring with a goal in his first varsity game. Eitan J
Stern and Mikey Schertz each had two goals to pace
the Wildcats in their opening night victory. The sky is
the limit for this impressive team!
This coming week the other three winter sports teams
make their debuts. The JV Hockey team opens up
in North Shore this Tuesday night, November 9th at
8pm. The Varsity Basketball team travels to
Westchester on Thursday November 11th at 8 PM for a
crucial divisional game. The JV Basketball team
goes to EZRA Monday night at 8PM for their opener.
Both Basketball squads have their home opener
next Motzei Shabbat against local rival HAFTR.
We look forward to seeing everybody there!
This year, for the first time, we are pleased to present
the 2004 DRS Athletics Media Guide, which
has all the information you need to follow your favorite
Varsity and JV teams and players! Download the
media guide at the link below!
Click HERE to download the DRS Athletics 2004 complete Media Guide, with full schedules and rosters of all the Varsity and JV squads!
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| Dr. Friedman Visits Jewish History Classes |
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On Thursday October 28th, Dr Paul Friedman came
to DRS to speak to Rabbi
Friedman's Modern Jewish History class.
Dr.Friedman, father of our talmid Michael
Friedman, is an eminent nephrologist in our area, but
his claim to fame on his
visit was his being the son of Miklos Friedman, A"H
a survivor of the Nazi labor camps in Hungary
during the Second World War and a survivor of the
notorious Mathausssen concentration camp in Austria.
Dr. Friedman spoke about
the experience of growing up as the son of a survivor,
and how it impacted on his
youth and upbringing.
Dr.Friedman also brought along a video of his
father relating his war experiences as part of Steven
Spielberg's Holocaust film
project. The brutality and bestiality that Mr.
Friedman spoke of clearly shook up
the class, and the ability of a survivor of such horrors
to rebuild his life
and found a family also left a powerful impact upon
all of the listeners.
We thank Dr. Friedman for taking time from his busy
schedule to share his
knowledge with us. The students certainly grew from
the experience.
DRS Goes to the Polls!
Students at DRS had the opportunity to cast their
ballot for President, Senator and member of the House
of Representatives this past week after an intensive
study of the issues and current affairs in their social
studies classrooms. More than 200 students cast
their ballots in the office of the principal, Mr. Harvey
Feldman. The mock election was made available
through the Board of Jewish Education in
conjunction with the University of Virginia's Center for
Politics Youth Leadership Initiative and measured the
support for various candidates in Jewish Schools across
the United States.
After tallying the results, it was reported with 100% of
the vote tabulated by independent auditors that
DRS voters supported the re-election of President bush
by 90.65%, Senator Schumer by 74.5% and
Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy by 79.6%. The
balance of the votes were split among the various
remaining candidates. Ralph Nader polled less than 2%
of the total DRS vote. The 11th grade gave the
highest number of their votes to President Bush at
95.59%, followed closely by the 9th grade that cast
94.34% of their votes for President Bush.
The tabulation for all Jewish schools polled in New
York State was 49.78% for John Kerry and 41.76% for
George Bush and for all Jewish schools polled nationally
was 50.9% for the re-election of George Bush and
45.59% for John Kerry. The election held at DRS
was the culmination of a host of activities that
included debates, position papers by students and
an address to the Juniors and Seniors by the chairman
of the Republican Jewish Committee of the Republican
Party.
Upcoming Events
We are looking forward to seeing all talmidim and
parents this motzai shabbat at 8 pm, for the
annual
Parent-Son Melava Malka!
DRS is excited to announce that Rabbi Kaminetsky will
be beginning a
shiur in "Hashkafa and Machshava from the Weekly
Parsha", Friday mornings
in the DRS Bait Medrash, from 7:00am until 7:45am.
The DRS Cooking Club Presents:
Recipe of
the Week!
The Cooking Club, under the direction of Mrs. Sue
Weinberg, is one of the highlights of the DRS activity
week. We are pleased to present to you a "taste" of
what we are working on, with our Recipe of the
Week . Enjoy!
Click Here to download the DRS Cooking Club's Recipe of the Week!!
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