volume 17 issue 3 (january 2015)

7/26/2019 Volume 17 Issue 3 (January 2015)

1/5


2/5

NewsThe Voice Staff

Jonathan Pedoeem, Editor-in-Chief

Eytan Shamsian, Editor-in-Chief

Dalya Dickstein, Editor-in-Chief

Jacob Stein, Media Editor

Joey Kirsch, Page Editor

Editors

Efe Auman, News Editor

Eitan Scher, Opinion & Reviews Editor

Joe Berger, Sports Editor

Josh Degen, Sports Editor

Ben Wagner, Science Editor

Lindsey Blenden, Photography Editor

General Staff

Aaron Dickstein

Alyssa Schnipper

Anna Kaplan

Ariella Shua

Avery Bell

Avi Bendory

Becky Weisberg

Daniel Moradi

David Needle

Doni Schanzer

Estee Wagner

Gabriel Zuckerman

Gideon Rubin

Greg Artman

Jacob Nelson

Jonah Bash

Jordan Shanskalil

Koby Stadtmauer

Nina Kahn

Sam Raab

Sam Shersher

Shep Gerszberg

Yoni Kaynan

Yonatan Raskin

Mrs. Bohs, Advisor

2 January 2015Volume 17, Issue 3

Humans of Kushner: Rabbi Pearlberg

By Jonathan Pedoeem

Tell me about your life before youcame to Kushner.I grew up in Michigan, and went tocollege in New York. I have a Mas-ters of ne arts in creative writing,and I got Smichaat Yeshivat Cho-vevei Torah. I grew up Modern Or-thodox. I went to a school similarto Kushner, a little bit smaller; my

graduating class was fourteen kids.

What attracted you to creativewriting?I like stories; I have always likedto read. I like creating; when I rststarted in college I probably alsoliked the accolades that came with

being a writer.

What inuenced you to become a

teacher?I taught creative writing and then hadsome opportunities to teach Jewishtopics after school to ten year olds,which I really liked. After teachingcreative writing for a while, I foundthat I enjoyed the after school teach-ing better. I also nd that from acreative writing perspective, I spenta lot of time thinking about storiesand how peoples personal storiesget interwoven into ctional stories.Working on my own writing I be -came more and more interested inweaving in the Jewish story into mystories. In fact, that exploration kepton going the more I continued tolearn any aspect of t he Jewish story.

What are some of the works youhave put out?I havent written so much. I have

been spending a lot of time writ inga novel that hopefully I will nishand publish at some point. I pub-lished really only one or two shortstories before then in various liter-ary magazines.

What is your novel about?

My novel is about several gen -erations of a Jewish family whosegrandfather escaped Europe andthinks that one of his descendentswill be Mashiach.

What was the inspiration for yourdifferent teaching methods?Coming from a small school I hada particular rabbi as my teacherfor many years, starting from sixthgrade through twelfth grade, so hetaught me a lot of subjects. One ofthe things that he put enormous em-

phasis on was our developing think-ing skills by having us gure thingsout on our own. This helped us de-velop the skills to learn, but alsocreated a rich learning experiencesince we were responsible fo r mak-ing sense of what we were lear ning.Having learned from him it seemedthe normal way to learn, but I do ap-

preciate how that is not the way ev-eryone teaches or everyone learns.This approach emphasizes that

This Month In History:

AbrahamLincoln issuedtheEmancipationProcla-mationin1863,markingtheendofslavery

The ballwas droppedforthefirsttimemark-ing the New YearinTimesSquarein1908

TheLeagueofNations,thepredecessorto theUnitedNations,wases-tablishedin1920

The revolutionary waveknown as the ArabSpringmovementbeganinTunisiain2011

News 3January 2015Volume 17, Issue 3

An Abundance of Detentions

By Nina Kahn

As the time of college decisionsrolls around, many students, even under-classmen, nd themselves overly stressedwhen it comes to this sore subject.

When asked if they were worriedabout college, a variety of answers werecollected from students. Rachel Mendelson17 shared that she is trying not to stress somuch about college now, and to just workon getting good grades and participating inextracurricular activities that are of inter-est to her. In fact, this is exactly what Mrs.Levine, college counselor, suggests thatstudents do, especially freshmen and sopho-mores. In addition, she stresses that stayinginformed is one of the best ways to combatanxiety. By attending any college relatedsessions that [RKYHS] offer[s] through-

out the year and taking the process step bystep, students are almost guaranteed to beat least a little more at ease during their ju-nior and senior years. Mrs. Graham statedthat a good way to be more aware of the col-lege process is to start looking into schoolsthat may match students interests, so thatwhen they need to apply, they are not com-pletely overwhelm ed by what is requi red ofthem. On this note, another sophomoreanonymously shares that although he is notyet worried about college, and the schooldoes a ne job educating students about it,more can denitely be done. W hen a num-ber of f reshmen were asked abou t how theythink college guidance assists students, theyresponded that college guidance doesnteven apply to them. Also, freshmen andsophomores generally nd their collegenight to be boring and not very helpful.

A valuable asset of RKYHS isthat the faculty has the ability to get toknow and understand each student on anindividual level. The college guidance de-partment takes pride in t he abil ity to haveseveral meetings with each student startingjunior year. Many underclassme n, i nclud-ing Ilana Hafner 17, shared that they wishvery strongly that they could take advantageof this opportunity earlier for reasons such

as giving them a better idea of what to ex-pect and receiving tips on how to pr epare for

later steps in the college process. Regarding college guidance, Mrs.Levine explained that our guidance de -partment focuses heavily on the best tfor each student. She warns against stu-dents feeling pressured by society to getinto what are deemed to be good schools.Mrs. Levine recognizes that college is con-stantly discussed in the media as well as insocial gatherings. However, it is importan tfor every student to aim to be accepted intowhat is a good school for him or herself, andnot necessarily for anyone else. Mr s. Gra-ham concurred that in regards to college,the word good is very subjective. Maya Benzaken 16 shared that sheis somewhat nervous about college, but moreso about SATs/ACTs. She believes that theschool should be more supportive and try torelieve stress about these standardized testsbecause with the r ight a mount of st udyingand assistance, anyone can do well. Th isway, she points out, Kushner can have evenbetter college a cceptance rates. On a different note, students suchas Jacob Mendelson 15, who has recentlybeen accepted to his rst choice school,wish that they had worried less about col-lege. Jacob agreed that he stressed [him-self] out too much without thinking that nomatter where [he] gets in, it will be good.

However, he acknowledges the fact that ifhe had cared less about his grades he may

not have gotten into Penn, so he is thankfulfor the effort he put in, no matter how hardschool was at certain times. A prevalent issue with the promi-nence of college in the lives of high schoolstudents is that sometimes, students willjoin clubs , etc. purely to have it writ ten ontheir college applications. An anonymousstudent nds this frustrating, becausesometimes those who have little interest insomething will take the spot of someonewho really wants and deserves it. Sopho-more Zoe Eisenberg shares that she wantsto enjoy high school, rather than it becom-ing just a path to get into the best college.Many students admitted that although theywish it werent true, they take advantage ofprogram s the school h as to offer to bols tertheir resumes. All in all, students are extremelyaware that their performance today andthroughout high school can and will changetheir lives, and because of this, many ndthemselves to be worried and scared aboutcollege-related activities, decisions, andeven discussions. As Mrs. Levine says, [Itis understandable that] students worry aboutcollege. It is a very big and exciting eventin their lives and the idea of college can bemysterious.

College ConcernsIs Stress ing Real ly Worth It?

Kushners veteran Judaics teacher promotes academic rigor in classroom

By Yoni Kaynan

Everyone takes that walk ofshame towards Rabbi Hirscheys of-ce at some point or another duringtheir RKYHS experience, but are

students walking the plank too often?Once you are in the Rabbis ofceyou begin to question yourself andthe situation, wondering, do I be-long here? What did I do to deservethis? Is my teacher just a detention

junkie? The s tudents want a nswersto these questions, but feel unable toreceive fair feedback from facultymembers. There seems to be a lackof a dened line as to what makesan action warrant detention, which isnoticeable by the students reactionsto their detention punishments. Julia Morealle 18 has hadfour detentions so far and nds thereasons overbearing. I have got-ten detentions mostly because I wasskirted. In one instance, she de-scribed, I was sitting in class whenI realized I needed to go to the bath-room. I raised my hand and asked togo. Without hesitation my teacher

said detention and moved on. Thisis an example of a situation in whichthe student is left frustrated and con-fused as to why their action should

bear the punishment of a detention,which causes tension between stu-dents and faculty. Max Kops 18 explained thathe has received eight detentions be -

cause of things that he does not deemto deserve detention. Once, he re-counted, my friend asked me for a

pencil. I th rew him a p encil, whichI admit was a little foolish, but notdetention-worthy. He argued, myfriends in other schools such have todo things much worse than we do toget detained. Corey Kops 15 recalls

having a staggering 12 detentions,seemingly for similar reasons.

A key component of deten-tion is the intended goal of reform-ing a students behavior. As David

Needle 18 pointed out, if a stude nt

does not understand why he is in de-tention, the detention is completelyworthless, invaluable, and a wasteof everybodys time. One facultymember agreed that the question isnot about how many are given out,

but whether or not the number that isgiven out is effective in the purposeof reducing incidents. He maintainsthat a student can receive one or onethousand detentions, but the deten-tion must have a good effect on thestudent for the detainment to be atrue success.

As many students do not un-derstand why they are receiving de -tention and therefore harbor negativefeelings toward the seemingly unrea-sonable teachers judgment, perhapsit is time to examine the specicrules of detention and how detentionis being wielded by different facultymembers.

Yeshiva Students In Love

By Carlie Rat zker

Are couples frowned upon inRae Kushner Yeshiva High School?Most would think they are, but thereare many reasons that they would beencouraged. Problems that may arisefrom high school students datingeach other include public displays ofaffection, distraction from studies,and simply being too young and im-mature for dating. On the other hand,a benet would be that the couplesmay end up getting married. Statis-tics show that 25% of people marrytheir high school sweethearts; thiscan be a good thing in a world oframpant intermarriage. We posed this issue to our

principal, Rabbi Rubin. When as kedif he thinks that high school studentsshould date, he replied, There is agreat value when boys and girls meeteach other during their high schoolyears and share experiences thatcan ultimately shape important fu-ture relationships. When we probeda little deeper and asked if the rateof intermarriage is a reason to per-haps encourage the students to dateone another, he replied, Lookingat intermarriage seriously, there is agreat benet for Yeshiva high school

students to create a strong sense ofcommunity so that they have a senseof belonging when they ultimatelygraduate Yeshiva high school. How-ever, Rabbi Rubin did not blatantly

promote datin g in the school.We also asked Mrs. Bohs,

English Chair at RKYHS, her opin-ion on this topic. She replied, It isnone of my business if high schoolstudents date one another, becausethat is the parents jurisdiction. Idated my husband as a junior in highschool and the rest is history. As faras public affection is concerned, thecorridors of a Yeshiva are not the

proper place for sig ns of public af-

fection.Another concern raised was wheth-er one specic grade is tooyoung to have dating couples. Whenasked this question, Rabbi Rubin re-

plied, That is a conversation thatis more appropriate for parents andtheir children than it is for educators.Parental guidance is critical whenchildren are looking to create mean -ingful relationships. There should

be clarity and principle discussion sbetween students and parents aboutsocial engagements.

Lastly, the issue of physicalcontact between couples is a matter of

concern to the educators in the build-

ing. Rabbi Rubin was asked whether

he would ever speak to a couple if hethought their actions were inappro-priate. I would absolutely talk to acouple if I thought the behavior wascontrary to Halakhic norms and thecommunity standards of our school.Ben Wagner 15 and Alex Silver 15have been dating for two years. Benstated that he feels completely ne

being with his girlfriend in public,and not judged at all. Alex, on theother hand, had a different opinion.She claims that the faculty, at times,make comments to the two of themonly because theyre dating, whileother people are violating other rulesand are not reprimanded. For exam-

ple, Alex sa id, Weve been aske d toput more space between us in thehallways. When asked if their rela-tionship distracts them from schoolwork, they both agreed that their dat -ing does not interfere with their stud-ies. Pursuing an outside perspec-tive, Rachel Mendelson commentedthat she feels that;It is importantfor students to have close connec-tions and dating is a part of that. If itdoesnt distract them or cause misbe-havior, I dont see an issue.

Does Student Relationships Have a Place in a Mordern Orthodox Yeshiva?

see RABBI PEARLBERG page 4


3/5

News4 January 2015Volume 17, Issue 3

Security Scandal

Favoritism in the ClassroomBy Avi Ben dory

What? Is that a joke? Thats not

fair! If it were someone else, this would

have been full credit! This is literally so

unfair! Why me? What did I do wrong?

Everyone has had this moment.

You get a test back and are shocked by

some of the incredibly unfair point deduc-

tions. If the test had belonged to some-

one better liked by the teacher, the grade

would have obviously been much higher.

The student is completely right, and what

the teacher is doing is absolutely unjust.

Obviously.

Of course, its entirely possible

that the teacher was more fair than you

think. After all, given that youre the one

receiving the grade, your perspective may

be just a little bit skewed.

But doesnt the exaggeration haveto start somewhere? Sure, the favoritism

may not be as bad as some students think,

but there must be some tr uth to the mat-

ter. While students can certainly make up

a lot of things, like rules about getting free

periods if the teacher comes late, maybe

there is some truth behind it all.

Many students feel very strongly

about favoritism in the classroom. Zach

Kaplan 18 (not 15) feels that a students

rst impression creates a theme for his

or her relationship with a teacher. When

asked if he feels there is a signicant de -

gree of favoritism in a classroom setting,

he remarked Absolutely. Once you get a

reputation, immediately you are labeled.

An anonymous sophomore girl agreed,

saying Some teachers judge you based

on your rst week in that class, and then

decide if they like you or not. One sopho-

more boy felt so strongly about the issue

that he saw t to respond with language

that cannot be printed here.

While some students may feel

that treatment is not equal, others think

such treatment is justied. For instance,

Anonymous 17 said Favoritism is a

tricky issue, sometimes it appears that a

teacher is playing favorites, however look-

ing into it more deeply its possible that

the student has earned that treatment by

his behavior. While some students may

feel that favoritism is completely unjusti-

ed, some students may predispose them-

selves to so-called bad treatment with

bad behavior. Students must also consider

the fact that each of them requires a dif-

ferent approach to learning. It is the teach-

ers task to treat each student in a manner

that will help them achieve their goals

most efciently and effectively.

Ultimately, favoritism will al-

ways be an issue in the classroom because

of human psychology. Every teacher will

naturally like some students more than

others, and will want to give them bet -

ter treatment. An excellent solution to the

problem is to display animosity towards all

students as one teacher stated I dont like

any of my students. science chair RabbiYaakov Mintz addressed the issue as be -

ing more complex. Teachers are human

beings, so there is a n atural instinct to-

wards being more comfortable with some

students than others. It is the teachers re-

sponsibility not to let their own personal

opinions affect their integrity.

By Gabe Zuck erman

Most students in RKYHS

rarely notice the security cameras

scattered throughout the hallways.

However, security cameras play

a large role in the school. Among

serving many other purposes, hav-

ing security cameras enables school

faculty and security guards to locate

students. Post 9/11, security cameras

in general are extremely important in

making sure students and faculty are

safe in the building.

Teachers use security cam-

eras for a number of reasons. An

anonymous teacher admitted that he

sometimes uses the security cameras

for humor. This teacher watches the

security camera to see which stu-

dents are talking to one another in

the hallways.

An anonymous student re-

sponded that if teachers want to

watch us on the cameras, we should

go to their houses and see how they

like being watched. Another stu -

dent exclaimed that he thinks teach-

ers watching students on the security

cameras is very creepy.

Mr. Brochstein brings an-

other example of what students feel

is inappropriate use of security cam-

eras. After telling the class that he

caught someone who was ditching

by looking at the security cameras,

there was an uproar among the stu-

dents. Mr. Brochstein contends that

security cameras are helpful in ques -

tionable situations where students

are out of class and for security pur-

poses. However, many students feel

that even though security cameras

are not always used to catch students

ditching, it is an invasion of their pri-

vacy when cameras are used in such

a way.

Students also worry that the

video feeds might be misinterpreted

by faculty. One scenario this year

epitomizes this problem. Two stu-

dents, Marc Yarkony and Sam Ber-

nstein, were horsing around in the

hallway. When a teacher was drawn

to the scene, they attempted to ex-

plain that they we re play ghting and

joking around, but the teacher did

not believe them. They were sent to

Mr. Plotskers ofce, where they re-

viewed the security footage. Upon

reviewing the footage it seemed that

they were actually ghting, and they

were suspended for one period. While

it is questionable whether they were

guilty or not, both Sam and Mark be -

lieve they were misjudged because

of the security cameras. Sam com-

mented that he does not think that it

was fair that the teachers judged the

situation by what appeared to have

happened on the security cameras.

On the other hand, security

cameras are often benecial to stu -

dents. Security cameras have come

in handy in situations where students

lost valuables or believed they had

been stolen. In one cas e, the sec urity

guards were able to locate an object

that a student had lost in the gym.

Additionally, according to security

guard Mario, the cameras are use-

ful when younger students run away

in school or get lost, as they allow

staff to locate them and make sure

they are all right.

Homeland Security granted

our school, among many others, free

cameras in a program for increased

school safety that was created after

9/11. All in all, the security camer-

as are used in a variety of ways in

our school, ranging from careful to

creepy.

Rabbi Pearlberg (cont.)through my experience of tryingto understand what the Gemarais saying I will learn a lot bet-ter, I will engage more, than ifsomeone tells me what the Ge-mara is saying. The act of learn-ing is how we best learn, not theact of listening alone, althoughthat is part of it. I think trying tounderstand something is how welearn to understand, more thanhaving someone just talk at me.I certainly try to use that ideain a lot of ways, though I dontalways. My experience and myyears of teaching have taught methat nothing works for everyone,

but I have heard, especially as

students move on, that for manywho disliked learning like thisat rst, with time, they ended uphaving positive experiences.

How did you end up at Kush-ner?I actually interviewed with Rab-

bi Rubin the week he announcedhe was leaving his previous posi-tion at Ramaz. Subsequently heoffered me a job to work here. Iliked the similarities that Kush-ner had with my background.I thought that it would help meunderstand where students comefrom.

What are some of your hobbiesoutside of school?I dont have time for a lot of hob-

bies right now, but I like t o dobig puzzles; my fam ily just gotme a large lego set of the Lon-don Tower bridge, that was fun.I have young kids, so when mykids started bringing in arts andcrafts projects that was also ap-

pealing. I like to color and draw.I am not good at it but I like to

do it.

You seem to be very organized.Any advice for a student?Find a system that works for you.I try to be organized because Iam by nature very disorganized,especially this year when I have108 students. So if I am not orga-nized there is no way I would beable to know what each studentneeds. I think sometimes if youare disorganized it can really bea roadblock for doing what youare capable of. I experiment witha lot of things. You will see medoing a lot of different things be-cause if it is not working I willtry something else.

Why the library?My classes were too large forthe room that I was in to do any-thing other than lecture, which issomething, as I said, Im reluc-tant to do. Some of the times wewent to the Beit Midrash whichworked well for chavruta learn-ing, but sometimes there wereso many other classes in the BeitMidrash I was not able to con-duct class because no one couldhear each other. I needed a spacethat would be stable, so classeswould know where to go and notfeel like were moving around allthe time. So far having class inthe library has been decent.

Any fashion advice?If you are looking to me for fash-ion advice, you need help.

They say that memory is thesecond thing to go as you getolder. So whats the frst?I dont remember.

Entertainment 5January 2015Volume 17, Issue 3The Interview

By Joey Kirsch

The Interview:

the movie that had North

Korea up in arms, was reportedly the

cause of Sony getting hacked multiple

times, and was pulled from theaters for

fear of a 9/11 caliber attack by North

Korea. After all that hype, why does the

movie, now that it has nally been re-

leased, feel so...underwhelming?

Anyone who has been following

the news knows the plot of this movie.

Its about a TV show host (James Franco)

and his producer (Seth Rogen) who score

the biggest interview of the 21st century,

with the dictator of North Korea, Kim

Jong Un (Randall Park). After announc -

ing this on national television, they are

then honey-potted (seduced into doing

what the person wants) into agreeing to

take out Un by a CIA agent (Lizzy Ca-

plan). The majority of the movie focuses

on the hijinks that occur between the

time they are recruited by the CIA and

the point where they attempt to k ill Un.

Everyone knew this moviewould be funny. How could it not be,

it is a Seth Rogen movie? Of course, as

many other Seth Rogen movies are like,

it would be about two guys who smoke

a lot of weed and party hard, and then

some other small plot details would be

thrown in to make it a two hour lm.

While there were some really

funny lines or sequences thrown in here

and there, and I did enjoy the movie

overall, it was really just plain stupid.

Funny, but stupid. However, for much of

The Interviews viewing audience, there

were more reasons to have rented or pur-

chased the movie than simply to watch

two guys stumble and laugh their way

into killing an evil dictator.

The rst reason was that in

many peoples eyes, by cancelling the

release of the lm, Sony and by extent

America were letting themselves be bul-

lied by North Korea. They felt that North

Korea was taking away our constitution-

al right of freedom of speech and they

wouldnt stand for it. Jonathan Pedoeem

15 (disclaimer, Jonathan is on The Voice

staff) said it best when he commented

although it was not a fantastic lm, I

think it is every Americans patriotic re-

sponsibility to watch this lm to express

their freedom of speech.

Which is a sentiment

shared with much of our

nation.

The second reason that this

movie was bought/rented more than it

probably should have been is probably

because of how easy it was to get it. A

popular sentiment among internet-goers

today is that they want to get rid of cable/

movie theaters and just have everything

available to buy or rent online. Recently,

online platforms have been doing just

that by creating popular shows only

available online, be it Netix (think

Orange is the New Black and House

of Cards), Hulu (The Awesomes and

Moone Boy), Amazon (Transparent and

Alpha House), and others, with many

more websites stepping up to the plate

with upcoming shows (Yahoo picking

up Community!). After this insurgence

of online shows, people gure why not

movies, too? Why shouldnt they be

able to skip the long lines, expensive

prices, and potential distu rbances of a

movie theater and just watch the moviein the comfort of their own home?

Even those who hated this movie

can not help but admit that it could turn

out to be revolutionary if it sells well. It

could open up a whole new market, a

whole new option, for movie companies.

It could potentially be the start of releas-

ing movies straight to the internet in-

stead of releasing them in theaters rst.

Whether or not you agree with that, well

thats your opinion, but no one can ar-

gue that this movie could possibly be the

start of a new era in the lm industry.

The Good:

Decently funny movie. I cant help but

love Seth Rogen.

The Bad:

Much of the hype was just that - hype.

The movie did not live up to expecta-

tions, thereby making it, as I already

said, underwhelming.The Bottom Line:

Pretty good movie, if you dont want to

watch it for the plot watch it for the state-

ment it makes.

BZRK ApocalypseMichael Grants captivating amd suspenseful trilogy

By Gabe Zuc kerman

Death or madness. Theseare the two ways to leave the se -cret group called BZRK. BZRKis a secret organization whose

purpose is to combat p eople whouse nanotechnology for evil pur-

poses such as dest roying the worldas we know it. BZRK uses biots,an extension of oneself that is 100times smaller than a grain of sand.

The Armstrong Corporation, theopposition of BZRK, is planningto use nanotechnology to makeevery single person into a docileand compliant servant. The Arm-strong Corporation seems like theobvious bad guys in this scenar-io but over the course of BZRKApocalypse, the third and nalinstallment in the BZRK Trilogytrust throughout BZRK is tainted,and there seems to be no clear ene-my in the struggle for control overnanotechnology and the world.The BZRK Trilogy as a whole wasvery good. For starters, the prem-ise behind the plot of the serieswas original and well planned out.The rst two books were excel-lent and very realistic which madethem all the more intriguing. Thistrilogy is different from Grantsother work, the Gone series. TheGone Series was more of a dysto-

pia tha n th is se ries and plot wisethey cant be compared. However,Grants unique writing style andoriginal characters are clearlyseen in both series.I really love the characters inBZRK, mainly because bad things

can happen to them. The worst

apocalypse and dystopian bookshave all the main characters re -main unscathed throughout thestory. Grant does a nice job ofmaking unexpected deaths, whichI love because it adds a level of ex-citement. Although one may feel a

bit of remorse or a nnoyance thata character was just killed in the

big picture, it makes the stor ylinemuch more realistic.Yet, I really feel that this last book

was a bit rushed. Grant had a greattwo books to build on, and then he

just ende d it. Too muc h happene din too little time in BZRK Apoca -lypse. I think Grant felt that therewas not enough action in the rsttwo books and stuffed a ton ofunnecessary action into the third

book. The fact that Lear was Lys-tra Reid, which the reader ndsout towards the beginning of the

book, makes no sense. Lystra wascrazy and that just does not t inwith the character of Lear. Over-all, denitely read the series, andthe Gone series was also amazing.

The Good:

Great characters and a very origi-nal plot.

The Bad:

Some of the major revelations inthe book seemed rushed.

The Bottom Line:

Read the series, greatauthor,character, and plot.


4/5

Entertainment6 January 2015Volume 17, Issue 3Homeland Season Finale

By Aver y Bell

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS

The episode starts off withCarrie, the main character of the hitshow Homeland, sitting on her deadfathers bed and sorting through hisleft over belongings. Carrie finallyhas to begin to say goodbye to herfather and now she is left to face allof her parental problems on her own.Her father was a leading figure in herlife that taught her how to deal withmany issues and a person to whomshe could always turn. After findingout Carries father passes, Carriesmom, played by Victoria Clark, de-cides to come back after disappear-ing 15 years ago. At first Carrie goes

ballistic a nd it seems li ke shes readyto kill mother. After kicking herout of the house, Carrie realizes sheactually wants to speak to her andfind out the real reason why she left.Carrie finds her again and f inds outthat her mother has another family,which sends Carrie into rage again.When she finally cools down hermom tells her she left because shekept on cheating on her husband andended up getting pregnant with an-other man. It seems to satisfy Carrieand thats the last we see of mommaMatheson. Throughout the whole sea-son we see drama building up be-tween Quinn and Carrie. Finallyit all comes out when Carrie walks

Quinn to his car andthey start kissing. Isthis possibly the startto something new?Well it doesnt seemlikely, because right after that wholefiasco Quinn jumps on a jet with hisCIA buddys and flies off to go killterrorists in war torn Syria. Finally we get to see whatDar Adal was up to. Saul meets upwith Dar Adal and Dar tells Saul allthe devious and mischievous activi-ties hes been up to. Dar tells Saulthat the whole meeting with Haqa -

nni in Islamabadwas all in order tosecure the video ofSaul and Haqnni.Dar then tosses Saul

the memory card with video and tellsSaul that he can now come back tothe CIA as director. Saul jumps onthe opportunity almost immediately.Shortly after, Carries finds out aboutSaul taking the opportunity and isleft speechless. The whole entire episode wasvery slow. It was a huge change ofpace th at I d ont think most vie wers

were ready for. The whole MommaMatheson issue came out of nowhereand did not achieve much of any -thing. It seems that the writers were

just t rying to ta ke up some a irtime.There wasnt much closure since thisepisode left all of the viewers witha quenching thirst that can only bequelled by season five. Thankfullythe show will be back next year sono need to fear.The Good:We found out what Dar Adal wasup to finally. Saul possibly becom-ing the next CIA director was one ofthe best events to happen all season.Carrie and Quinn finally showingtheir emotions for each other was soheart warming.

The Bad:The plot line regarding Carries mom was extremely weak and basicallyun-needed. The episode was veryslow which lead the season to not goout with a bang.

The Bottom Line:The writers didnt really pull throughwith this season finale because theyflipped the core of the show on uslast second. Were all used to beingon the edge of our seats and such butthey made the last episode extremelyslow which is ok but it caught theviewers by surprise. The seasons fi-nale should always in my opinion, goout with a bang

No Safety In NumbersDystopian Novel by Dayna Lorentz: A Good Read

By Yonatan Raskin

It was just a short trip to themall; it shouldnt have been too dan-gerous, right? Wrong. The day hadstarted out like any other in a suburbanmall, with normal people going abouttheir normal everyday activities. Allof that changed when a strange devicewas discovered next to a main air ventin the maintenance hall of the mall.Suddenly, the entire mall was blockedoff and nobody was allowed in or out.At rst, it seemed to be a fun adven -ture for all those affected inside. Freefood and the ability to roam around amall? Not too shabby. But as people

began to get sick and die and s uppliesstart to become scarce, t he residents ofthe mall began to become suspicious ofwhat was really going on. Read fromthe perspectives of four very differ-ent teens in No Safety in Numbers byDayna Lorentz

Some might think that the clas-

sic people stuck in an enclosed spacewith a deadly disease is overused anda little too clich. Admittedly, this is avery common denominator in modernday dystopian novels. However, I think

No Safety in Numbers is unique in itsability to become a reality. In othernovels such as this one, the populace

becomes infected via government ex-

periments gone wrong which es capefrom their facilities causing diseaseto take form. While these could theo -retically happen, in this particulardystopia there was a probable terroristattack which is way more likely thanthe aforementioned. This has denitelycaused me to shop a little faster everytime I go to the mall. Another greataspect is the fact that the charactersdont suddenly step up on the second

page and come together to sort every -thing out. Instead, it takes time for allof them to even connect which createsgreat suspense, and makes the booka lot more interesting to read as youwonder how theyll all eventually meeteach other.

The Good:

The way the story is told from dif-ferent perspectives helps prevent thereader getting too bored with one sto-ryline, and the way the author makesthe characters in the novel is realistic.

The Bad:Main plot includes slightly overusedtype of dystopia

The Bottom Line:A good read, with interesting charac-ters and plot development.

By Jordan Shanskhalil

FIFA has had a record over thepast few years of releasing very similargames with not much change, aside fromroster updates. Last year, my review ofFIFA was extremely positive and I sawno faults in the game. After playing FIFA15 for about a month, I realized howmuch the game has been improved sincelast year, and how FIFA 14 was not asgood as I thought. FIFA 15 is a game

that anyone can play and enjoy (yes, evenif you are that kid who claims that thisis America and we dont play soccerhere). First, lets discuss the technicalimprovements. Graphics are denitelybetter and the m enus outside of the pitchare quick and more uid. Switchingmenus doesnt have as much buffering asbefore, which gives comfort to the impa-tient player. Electronics Arts, the com-pany t hat makes the game, emphasizedthat the players would have emotion;they said that they would be mad at play-ers that fouled them earlier in the game.However, these emotional senses of theplayers are completely unnoticeable. Ad-ditionally, issues with disconnecting stilloccur often. I can not begin to count howmany disconnects Ive had, but if its anyconsolation, the soundtrack is pretty sol-id. Whenever a new FIFA comesout, everyone says how the physics arebetter than last year, and the nat ural an-swer is thats rubbish. I can honestlysay that the physics have been improved.While playing, you feel the motion of theplayer at every dribble of the ball. A l-though the physics while on the ball areterric, this is not the case on defense.Most reviews say that defending in FIFA15 is harder, but thats only because play-ers will make dumb pokes at the ball orawkward movements, therefore makingmore mistakes; this makes defense seemharder since more goals are allowed. Be-

cause of this there is an advantage onoffense, and it is more simple to dribblethrough defenders. This is probably thereason the game is so much fun. In fact, offense, is probably myfavorite part of the game because of thepassing system. Its not like last yearwhen all anyplayer did was run down theside, cross, and score. Improvements onpassing lend to ball movement down themiddle, and a sense of achievement onceyou string up some passes, get past the

defense, and score. There is now morestress on how well you pass the ball,which makes the game feel more real,and denitely makes the game more ex-citing. Goalies have also been changedfor this years FIFA. Goalies seem smart-er, and at times make fantastic saves, butthere are also a couple negative aspectsto the added IQ on the goalies. First,the goalie sometimes makes a overly fan -tastic save when it is unnecessary. Thisis annoying since then the opposing teamgets a corner kick, and a chance to score.Sometimes its as if they are too smart forthe system, and get lazy. This is notice-able when goalies let in slow dribblers,for example. Overall, FIFA 15 shows thegreat direction that the game is goingin.The culmination of xing problems ofrecent years games is prominent. FIFAcan only get better from now on, and thefuture seems very promising.

The Good:The game is really fun to play. GoodSoundtrack. Scoring goals are more re-alistic.

The Bad:Servers are still unreliable. The newgoalie system is not to great

The Bottom Line:Denitely worth the buy, even if youhave FIFA 14

FIFA 2015

Sports 7January 2015Volume 17, Issue 3Fantasy Football Playoffs

By Doni Scha nzer

In recent years, Fantasy Foot-

ball ha s become an ext remely popu-

lar pastime. Almost every group of

teenagers has its own Fantasy Foot-

ball league. For those who dont

know what Fantasy Football is, it is

an online league in which a group

of people drafts current NFL play-

ers to form their own teams. Every

week, each team plays another team

in the league. Based on the stats that

a player puts up in a particular week,

he earns a certain number of fantasy

points for his tea m. Whichever team

has more points at the end of theweek wins, and the process contin-

ues for the duration of the NFL sea-

son. Teams are ranked according to

record and points scored, and at the

end of the season, there are playoffs

and championship prizes.

This year there were a variety

of sleepers, or players that were not

expected to perform well that ended

up changing some peoples season.

For instance, Andrew Luck, who was

supposed to have an average year

managed to lead the league in points

scored. Additionally, LeVeon Bell

averaged around 18 fantasy points a

game, making him the best fantasy

running back in the game. Another

sleeper was Odell Beckham junior.

Although he had a very slow start

to the 2014 season, he managed to

step it up and had a spectacular n-

ish averaging more than 130 yards

in his past four games. DeMarco

Murray was a second or third round

pick in the 2014 fanta sy football s ea-

son. However, Murray proved to be

the second best running back in the

league this season, averaging more

than 100 yards per game.

On the other hand, there were sev-

eral busts in the 2014 football sea -

son. Doug Martin, a solid running

back, was projected to have a dec ent

season. However, his season did not

go as planed, averaging fewer than

thirty yards per game. Before be-

ing put on injured reserve, Brandon

Marshall was also expected to have a

great season. He managed to have a

few good games, but he did not live

up to his expectations as a high end

fantasy wide receiver.

Fantasy football is huge in

our school. Every Monday morning,

it is the topic of countless conver-

sations. There are several leagues,

whether they remain within a par-

ticular grade or cross grade lines.

Usually, the winner of each league

wins a cash prize and the loser of

each league is punished. This years

seniors decided to make the stakes

higher, said Shep Gerszberg 15. In

their League, each person had to pay

twenty - ve dollars to join. Whoe ver

won received a total of about 250 dol -

lars. More notable, however, is the

severity of the punishment for a last

place nis h. Over the past two years

these punishments included being

forced to eat a concoction made by

the league and a buzzcut done by the

rest of the league.

It appears that the risks areextremely high for the senior Fantasy

football league, yet the players just

think, the money and punishment

is the fun of the league, said Shep.

Jamie Rubin 15 came in last place in

the same league as Shep. However,

he was not too mad;everyone going

into the league knows what they are

getting into and so everyone has a

fun time win or lose. Despite know-

ing he will receive a punishment, he

has no regrets of joining the league,

and has enjoyed himself nonetheless.

In conclusion, the senior Fantasy

Football league is always exciting

and fun. With the stakes as high as

ever, each player struggles to get to

the top and win 250 dollars, knowing

that he can easily fall to the bottom

and obtain a punishment. That is all

part of the f un!.


5/5

Humor8 January 2015Volume 17, Issue 3Operation Tanach

By Ariella Shua

There are several thingsabout our school which many stu-dents just dont understand. Todaywell focus on answering one ofthese many questions. Our ques-tion is: why is our school so cold?

A comment often heardwhen entering a classroom orwalking through the halls is thisroom is freezing! It is not un-usual to see people wearing their

winter coats inside, and once ortwice I even saw some gloves be-ing worn. Interestingly, it is usu-ally only girls that are spottedbeing affected by the tempera-tures of our school. Boys, evennow, are often still seen in shortsleeves, and when girls exclaimits so cold! they usually dis-agree. This is very strange for tworeasons. First, why is our schoolso cold all the time? And second,why are only girls seemingly af-fected by it? After painstaking research

done by The Voice staff, the an-swer to both questions has beenrevealed. It was discovered thatover the last year or so (exact dates

are still being determined), sev-eral prominent authorities fromour school have been part of theMODEST organization. MOD-EST stands for Make Our DailyEmployment Strengthen Tzniut,and it was formed by several ofthe Yeshivas in the Metrowestarea. Exactly which teachers fromKushner are in MODEST has notbeen determined, and since it is asecret organization, all will denyknowing about it, so we havent

quite figured out who is in yet.MODEST has several experimen-tal programs beginning in otherYeshivas, and Kushner was thefirst to adapt the program.

The MODEST programthat began in our school was cre-ated to solve the problem of girlsnot dressing in what school au-thorities consider to be properattire. In order to fix the prob-lem, Operation Temperature AsNeeded: All (bad) Clothing Hated(Operation TANACH) was creat-ed. TANACH involves a change

in temperatures, engineered onlyto be affected by females, whichlowers their body heat by 8 de-grees, as stated by Rosh MOD-

EST, who shall remain nameless.How is this done? And why dontboys feel the change? The Roshexplained that every month onRosh Chodesh, starting with RoshChodesh Cheshvan (around Oc-tober), the Multipurpose Room,where most girls go to daven inthe Girls Minyan, has some se-cret adjustments take place. TheSiddurim that the girls use arecovered with a clear, odorlessgas which, when inhaled, lowers

the body temperature for about 3weeks. Rosh MODEST explained,we make sure to put the solutionon the outside of the Siddurim;that way anyone, even those whodont open them, will have beenaffected. Rosh Chodesh services,as we all know, are longer thanthe typical everyday davening.This works perfectly for Opera-tion TANACH, since the gas ismost effective when those inhal-ing it are breathing it for at least40 minutes, and when sugar isconsumed directly after. Ever

wonder why the school serves usdonuts on Rosh Chodesh? Nowthe answer is very clear. As for whether Operation

TANACH has been a success,MODEST says they believe it hasbeen. Just take a look around thebuilding, Rosh MODEST said.Students, and girls in particu-lar, are definitely more coveredup. All we wanted was to see lon-ger skirts and sleeves. Instead wegot tights, blankets, scarves andgloves. But hey, were not com-plaining, and it seems the girlsarent either. After all, the blan-kets make for some very interest-

ing and unique self ies.Clearly, it isnt just a co-incidence that the girls in schoolare freezing all the time. So boys,learn to tolerate the constant com-plaints about it, and teachers,please dont be offended whengirls wear blankets and Snuggiesto class. It really cant be helped.And girls: for now, I guess our ad-vice would be to just keep dress-ing warm, unless youre willing togo to longer davening or go donut-less. And if you ask your teacherto turn the heat up and they refuse,

pull that skir t down, since, as wealready stated, we dont know ev-eryone on MODEST yet

Temperature As Needed: All (bad) Clothing Hated

volume 17 issue 3 (january 2015)

Documents