By Jeremy Watman, 11th Grade

School has only been in session for a week, but already things are in full swing! The Freshmen are still talking about their special orientation program, which included official greetings from our administrators, a delicious dinner and a trip to Five Towns Batting and Mini Golf, where they got their first taste of DRS competition. Netanel Abtan said, "It was fun because I met new people, the kids I'll be spending the next four years with." When asked what message he received from the enjoyable afternoon, Michael Attias answered, "It's all about the Achdut."

The DRS G.O., under the new leadership of President Aryeh Schlusselberg, has been busy as well. On the first day of school, they welcomed all the students by sponsoring a special scrambled eggs breakfast that was enjoyed by all. In the hallways and classrooms, the excitement was tangible. Friends greeted each other to compare summer stories, and enthusiastic students and teachers welcomed each other.

Many other events are starting up over the next several weeks, including the annual wiffleball tournament, which got underway on Wednesday. The freshmen are all talking about the class presidential elections, which are scheduled for next week. Freshmen Yaakov Hubert, Amichai Portnoy, and Mark Weingarten have already begun campaigning. Stay tuned to the DRS Address for election results!

What a great privilege it was to send off our graduated Seniors to Eretz Yisrael these past few weeks. A record 58 out of 59 graduates are spending the year learning torah in Eretz Yisroel, and DRS Rebbes made a number of trips to the airport to give last goodbyes and words of chizuk to the talmidim and parents as the boys headed off to learn. A special Yasher Kochacha goes to Rabbi Elly Storch, Director of Israel Guidance, on helping each boy get placed in an appropriate Yeshiva. We look forward to greeting our boys in Israel at our annual Sukkot Simchat Bait Hashoeva in Yerushalayim.

As the new school year commences, and one asks students about their summer experiences, one generally does not get responses that include the words “building homes.” But two DRS students closed out their summer doing just that and more. DRS Seniors Shai Peyser and Daniel Hefter spent two weeks on Shvuayim, a program that allows Jewish high school students to make a real difference in the lives of underprivileged people in the Mid Atlantic region of the country. Shai, Daniel, and the other participants from various Tri-State area Yeshivot were based in Baltimore, Maryland. Each day, they would embark on trips to help those in need.

Shai described the group’s trip to a Habitat for Humanity site in West Virginia, where he and his fellow participants built homes for poverty-stricken people: “It was an amazing feeling to actually be a part of such a big project. To be able to take part in building a house, and then meeting and celebrating with the grateful recipients of the home, it’s indescribable.” Even though the inhabitants were not Jewish, they had him recite the Birchat Habayit prayer in Hebrew. Shai, who had spent most of his summer as a waiter at Camp Lavi, spoke about his motivations for attending Shvuayim: “I wanted to make a difference with my actions. We spend a lot of time during the school year learning Torah and participating in various acts of chessed, and this seemed like a natural extension of applying what I have learned. It also offered me an opportunity to have fun, while helping others.”

Daniel Hefter was looking for a fun end-of-summer activity, and he ended up changing his life: “In Washington, we walked up to homeless people and really spoke to them, made them feel significant. You would never think you could do that, to interact with them and really brighten their day. But now I can go and do that, say hi to people, ask them where they are from. Even if I’m not going to give them any money, I smile and give a minute of my time and say hello, and give them some companionship.” Shai concurred, stating that he now has “a new found respect for the poor and homeless. They aren’t all bums or drug addicts, like people assume they are. Many of them were just in the wrong place in the wrong time, and it was an honor to help them move forward.”

In addition to home building, the Shvuayim participants worked in a soup kitchen, heard former homeless people in Washington speak about their struggle out of poverty, and met with members of Senator Hillary Clinton’s staff to discuss ways to combat homelessness.

When asked about the most important element of their summer experience, both Shai and Daniel agreed that helping others really made them appreciate the importance of Chessed, and they were particularly grateful for the opportunity to create a Kiddush Hashem in their interactions with the largely non- Jewish people they helped. Shai was particularly excited to apply the skills he had learned on Shvuayim to various DRS school programs, starting with the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts that he is spearheading this week. Daniel is looking forward to getting involved in more chessed projects: “I really appreciate the power that each of us has, to change people’s lives for the better.”

By Aryeh Sklar, 10th Grade

For the past two years, Director of Student Programs Rabbi Dov Emerson has been producing the DRS Address email newsletter. Through that time, the publication has undergone a variety of improvements, and it is now sent out to close to 2000 students, alumni, parents, and other individuals connected to the HALB family. As the features in the email continued to expand, Rabbi Emerson began planning a strategic shift in the organizational structure of the newsletter. On the first day of school, he actively solicited student volunteers to apply to join the DRS Address editorial staff. "I want the DRS Address to eventually become entirely student-run," said Rabbi Emerson, “and this is the first step towards achieving that goal.”

Although many people signed up to volunteer, Rabbi Emerson could only select a handful of students, many of them having previously contributed to the DRS Address. Rabbi Emerson will continue to serve as Editor-in-Chief of the newsletter, and Junior Zeke Miller will report to him as part of his duties as Student Editor-In-Chief. Juniors Jason Hagler and Baruch Schein will head up the technology department, working to expand the drsaddress.com web site and the new DRSaudio service, which digitally broadcasts special guest speakers and presentations online. The outstanding staff is rounded out by Senior Yona Saperstein, Juniors Josh Zucker, Jason Strauss, and Jeremy Watman, and Sophomores Yonatan Sklar, Jordan Kantor, Yitzi Diskind, Yoni Weg, Eli Wein, and Aryeh Sklar.

Rabbi Emerson is very excited about these new developments: “I’m thrilled at the caliber of student that we have on staff here. They are all very excited to be involved in the production of the email. I am particularly looking forward to implementing new ideas and suggestions that are developed by our staff. I welcome our readers to the next generation of the DRS Address.”

By Yonatan Sklar, 10th Grade

For the second consecutive year, the DRS gym was put to good use in the “off-season,” as Coach Floyd Bank’s basketball clinic once again whipped players into shape in the last week of August. The campers, ranging in age from 6th grade to 12th, honed their skills from 10 to 4 each day, working on fundamentals and scrimmaging under the watchful eye of Coach Bank. Assisting Coach Bank were John Carageorgis, who played college basketball at Tufts University and played professional basketball in Greece, Bill Savarese a coach at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, and former New York City high school coach Craig Mandelbaum.

Coach Bank was very impressed with the progress of his campers, and he looks forward to running the clinic again next summer. Applications for next summer’s session are available in the DRS office.

Under the coordination of Director of Student Activities Rabbi Eli Brazil and Seniors Shai Peyser and Jonathan Mael, the DRS Hurricane Relief Effort began as soon as the school year commenced. So far, students have been collected new clothing, sheets, and school supplies to be delivered to hurricane victims in the Gulf area.

If you would like to donate items, please bring them to the DRS lobby, or call Rabbi Brazil at extension 111. Plans are also underway for a fund raiser to send badly needed monetary resources to affected areas of the country, especially Southern communities that have graciously taken in Jews from New Orleans.

By Josh Zucker, 11th Grade

Over the summer, did you feel deprived because you didn’t know how your teams were doing? Not the Yankees or the Mets, we’re talking about the Wildcats. Now that we’re back in school and hockey season and basketball season are right around the corner the coaches were busy holding tryouts and selecting their teams. Last year the JV hockey team beat the SAR Sting to win the title and now it’s their chance to defend that title. Twenty two boys tried out for the open spots from last year and thirty two including last years freshman made first cut. The tryouts lasted for two hours and the boys played in two on two’s, three on three’s, and did shooting drills. When asked, Coach Larry Gross said that we can expect great things from both the Varsity and JV teams this season.

The Varsity basketball team is looking to build on the success of last season where they missed the playoffs by one game. They held their tryouts this past week and an exciting team has been selected. The boys had five hours over two days to demonstrate skills in all areas and they were evaluated based on team needs and focus. Head Coach Floyd Bank said “as a coach I am particularly pleased by the boys’ efforts at the tryout and their willingness to play.” The coach also said that “there is going to be a good blend of returning varsity players and the new Juniors.” New to the team this year is Assistant Coach John Carageorgis, who will also be coaching the HALB Lions sixth and seventh grade basketball teams. Coach Carageorgis has a long relationship with Coach Bank and even played for Coach Bank in high school and then went on to play college ball and professional basketball in Greece. The JV basketball team has also had their tryouts this week, and we look forward to reporting on exciting developments from them in upcoming issues.

Weightless
By Chaim Chovev, 12th Grade

We often wonder about the reward we get for doing Mitzvot. Sometimes the Torah will spell out what exactly the reward is while other times the Torah is not as specific. In this week’s Parsha, the Torah tells us that the reward for doing the Mitzvah of Shiluach Hakan is long life. In addition to that, the Torah says that a person who honors his or her parents is also rewarded with long life. Many of the commentators ask a fairly obvious question: why do we get the same reward for a seemingly easy Mitzvah as we do for a difficult Mitzvah?

Rashi in our parsha comments that the reason that the Torah is going out of its way to tell us the reward of long life by Shiluach Hakan is to teach us that if for an easy Mitzvah we get such a reward, through a Kal V’Chomer we can infer that how much more so is the reward for a difficult Mitzvah! Using this explanation of Rashi we can offer an answer to our question. Perhaps the reason we get the same reward for a seemingly easy Mitzvah as we do for a difficult one is because the Torah wanted to teach us the importance of every single commandment, be it easy or hard.

The Vilna Gaon offers another answer. He says that we cannot make a distinction between an “easy Mitvah” and a “difficult Mitzvah.” What may seem as an easy Mitzvah for some can be hard for others, and vise versa. As an example, the Gaon uses the Mitzvot of Shiluach Hakan and honoring one’s parents. A person who has an insensitive personality will have no problem fulfilling the Mitzvah of Shiluach Hakan. At the same time, that person will find it extremely difficult to do the Mitzvah of honoring one’s parents. However, a person who has a very caring and gentle personality will have the opposite experience. Therefore, says the Vilna Gaon, we get the same reward for a seemingly easy Mitzvah as we do for a difficult one because the degree of difficulty a Mitvah possesses depends on the type of person you are.

The situation both in Israel and America is very serious and our Teffilot and Mitzvot are greatly needed. Additionally, we are in the middle of Chodesh Elul with Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur fast approaching. We cannot, especially during this critical time period, spend time calculating which Mitzvah is worth the most and which one is better to do. We need to realize that all the Mitzvot are important and we need to do all that we can possibly do. Hopefully, all of our actions will merit peace, comfort, and, most importantly, redemption.