6

The Bad Joke of the Week is…

What did Mario say when he broke up with

Princess Peach?

It’s not you it’s a-me, Mario This joke has been brought to you by Tyler S. ‘20

Want your joke here? Submit it to Mr. Stevens and the re-

porters and staff will pick which one they like the best.

FUNNY PAGE AND PUZZLES

CROSSWORD PUZZLE This Crossword Puzzle is brought to you by Jacob B. ’19

Across

1. Word reference, meaning

4. TV show starring John Stamos

6. Candy, stick, round

7. 5th grade girl

8. Vampire from Romania

11. Mr. Stevens’ Thursday

Down

1. Country in Africa, capital same

name

2. Rains terror on cities, tall, green

monster

3. Spined animal

4. Norway waterway

5. Tentacles

9. Country next to China

10. Fictional animal

The first five students to finish and hand this crossword puzzle in to Mr. Stevens will get

a 50 cent snack shack coupon.

B T W o r l d S t a f f

Faculty Advisor, Mr. John Stevens

Layout, Hailey G. ‘19, Joseph L. ‘19

Chana B. ‘20

Jacob B. ‘19

Zach C. ‘19

Josh C. ‘20

Davi F. ‘20

JoJo F. ‘20

Samantha G. ‘17

Gabrielle G. ’19

Jeremy G. ’19

Yael K. ‘20

Nickie K. ‘20

Rikki M. ’19

Renee R. ’17

Shira S. ‘20

Yael S. ‘19

Ezra S. ‘18

Tyler S. ‘20

Zachary V. ‘19

Volume 1, Issue 2

PURIM AT BT!

By: Hailey G. ‘19

Finally, the bell rang

and you could feel the ener-

gy pumping through the

halls. Every day the hall-

ways are filled with the

same colors, but you could

definitely tell today was

Purim. I could see bright

colors everywhere I turned!

I was very entertained to

walk around and see what

everyone was dressed up as

and I loved to see the crea-

tivity of all the costumes!

Every costume was extreme-

ly unique, and I couldn't

believe how all the Beth

Tfiloh students thought of

them. The entire Middle

School piled into the audito-

rium for exciting activities.

We had a costume contest

which led to joyous laugh-

ter!

Afterwards, the teachers

got to play a game on stage

similar to Charades. The

first teacher would act out a

scene without speaking and

show the second teacher.

Next, the second teacher

would do the same for the

third teacher, and then, the

last teacher would do the

same. Finally, each teacher

would be asked what they

believed they were acting

out and their responses were

hilarious! After the students

watched, they let us join the

fun! The teachers picked

lucky students who were

allowed to have a turn at the

game too! Before all the fun

ended, Beth Tfiloh gave out

bags of mishloach manot

and hamantashan. What a

delicious ending! I can't wait

for all the Purim festivities

next year! Have you thought

of a costume yet?

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Meteorite in Russia 2

Dear Gabby 2

China Hacks Apple? 2

Meteorite in Russia 2

Man From Outer Space? 3

Dvar Torah 3

Interpreters in 5th Grade 3

Yachad Program 4

The Little Mermaid, Jr. 4

B’nei Mitzvah 4

Purim Pictures 4

Funny Page & Puzzles 4

By: Renee R. ‘17

On Thursday, February 7th, the

8th grade went to Heritage Hills for

our annual snow-tubing trip.

We all headed for the hills

(literally), whether it was pulling our

own tubes or taking the lift. The class

ended up at the top of the hill, eager

to ride down. Students teamed up in

groups of 4 to 16 to ride down, and

when we did it was awesome!

Tubing wasn’t the only fun thing

to do. We got wrist bands for unlim-

ited hot chocolate and put tons of

toppings on it. Skating was also real-

ly fun, even if you were a first-timer.

The class all bonded during the

trip and got along. If you weren’t

good at something, people helped and

supported you. We all had a good

time, and I hope that future 8th grad-

ers

have

as

much

fun as

we

did!

8TH GRADE GOES SNOW TUBING !

Volume 1, Issue 2 March 15, 2013

2

Volume 1, Issue 2

CHINA HACKS APPLE?

By: Joseph L. ‘19

Apple announced to the

press on February 19th that

they were hacked by the

same group that hacked

Twitter and Facebook on

February 15th. While most

sources and evidence point to

the Chinese military, others

believe that it was a group of

employees who work at Ap-

ple’s Foxconn factory in Chi-

na who were protesting for

better working conditions.

When CEO Tim Cook

of Apple addressed the press

he specifically said, "The

hackers behind this have so-

phisticatedly and successfully

hacked our company. We

are working to fix this issue

as soon as possible." This is

surprising as Apple has some

of the most sophisticated

technology on Earth.

Many

sources

believe

that the

Chi-

nese

military

is be-

hind all

three of

these hacks (Facebook, Twit-

ter and Apple), but most

news networks and media

have passed around rumors

that a group of Apple Fox-

conn factory employees were

upset about their working

conditions and betrayed their

own company. Apple offi-

cials said that they will be

slowing down production of

their electronic equipment to

fix this issue and get to the

bottom of who really caused

the problem.

Apple employees first discov-

ered the problem in Cuperti-

no, California when their

designing crew came to work

and were surprised to find

that when they updated their

antivirus software the night

before it downloaded a virus

to one of their designing pro-

grams. When the virus was

opened, it downloaded to the

whole server. Apple immedi-

ately created an update for

all Apple devices (iOS 6.1.2)

which will fix a security flaw

within the mother board.

DEAR GABBY

An advice

column by

Gabrielle G. ‘19

Dear Gabby,

I’m not very popular at

school. Can you give me

some advice on how to be

more popular?

Signed,

Unpopular

Dear Unpopular,

You shouldn’t care about

being popular or not! Your

real friends won’t care if

you are cool or ugly or tall

or short. They will just love

you the way you are no

matter what! Don’t care

what other people think

about you or you won’t live

a good and fun life. Be

yourself and be happy!

Gabby

Dear Gabby,

How do I get my friends

back together?

Signed,

Depressed

Dear Depressed,

Your friends broke up?

Gabby

Questions? Need an opin-

ion on something? Write a

note to Dear Gabby and

give it to Mr. Stevens.

Gabby will help!

By: Zachary V. ‘19

On February 15, 2013,

central Russia was hit by a

meteorite. As the meteorite

was falling, it sent fireballs

towards the ground, which

broke windows and even

bricks from buildings. Resi-

dents reported that they

heard what sounded like a

big explosion, they saw a

bright light, and they felt a

shock wave. As the meteorite

shot across the horizon, it left

a long white tail in its wake,

which could be seen from as

far as 200 kilometers away.

About 400 people were

injured because of the mete-

orite, which, believe it or not,

caused more flying shattered

glass than anything else.

However, no one was killed

due to this incident, thank

G-d.

“I was driving to work, it

was quite dark, but it sudden-

ly became as bright as if it

was day,” said Viktor Proko-

fiev, a resident of Yekaterin-

burg in the Ural Mountains.

Yes, the meteorite could be

seen all the way from Yeka-

terinburg.

A local ministry official

said that the meteor shower

could have been connected

to a very large asteroid that

was due to pass Earth at a

distance of about 27,520 kilo-

meters, but this was not veri-

fied.

Incidents like this are

quite rare, however. Chances

of this happening again are

very low. In fact, if any space

object has any sort of chance

of hitting Earth, it won’t hap-

pen until the year 2048. By

then, technology will be

good enough to easily

prevent that object from

hitting Earth.

When the meteorite

crashed to the ground, it

broke apart into pieces. If

one were to find a piece of

the meteorite, they would be

holding an object that is

worth about $1,000 per

ounce. People looking for

valuable items are searching

Russia to find pieces of the

meteorite. Some people are

even taking trips to Russia,

to search for these valuable

pieces of the meteorite.

METEORITE IN RUSSIA

By: Your Student Council

Once a month our Student Council

organizes a Yachad program to wel-

come young adults who are develop-

mentally and physically challenged. We

enjoy a pizza dinner and everyone

works on a project for the community.

Early in the fall we made no-sew

blankets and donated them to a nearby

nursing facility. Sometimes one of our

most talented guests plays the keyboard

and we sing songs of celebration – a

perfect way to enjoy the holiday of

Chanukah back in early December. For

Purim we made groggers for our own

personal use when we heard the reading

of the Megillah. On a regular basis, we

make bags for our Extra Lunch dona-

tions, a program sponsored by Beth

Tfiloh. We have decorated over 200

lunch bags and given them out on

Thursdays, prior to the Extra Lunch

Day.

These Monday evenings are

special times for our 7th and 8th graders

to enjoy the company of our Yachad

guests. We all learn from each other and

have grown to appreciate our individual

talents.

OUR MARCH B’NEI M ITZVAH

Top row: (Left to right): Matthew L. ‘18, Oren P. ‘18, Caleb Z. ‘18, Jordon K.18

Bottom row: (Left to right) Baylee P. ‘18, Meira K. ‘19, Rikki M. ‘19, Ellie L. ‘18

YACHAD PROGRAM

SPRING SPORTS ! ! !

Come one,

come all!!

This is an invite

for all girls mid-

dle school wide to join the

Middle School Girls Softball Team.

The first game is on

Monday March, 18. We need at least

4 more people to join the team before

then to have a full roster. If you are

interested talk to Gabrielle Goldman

in 6th grade to join.

Volume 1, Issue 2

THE L ITTLE MERMAID , JR .

Photos by Mrs.

By: Yael S. ‘19

The Middle School is putting on a musical this

year called “The Little Mermaid, Jr.” It is a funny,

yet romantic, story about a sixteen year old mer-

maid who wants to be human and ends up falling in

love with a prince.

I recently interviewed Yehudit V. from the eighth

grade. She is playing the part of Sebastian and has

to wear a bright red suit as a costume. Yehudit told

me that she likes playing this character because,

“she is just like me, extremely happy.” She also told

me that the hardest thing about playing the part is

having to read the lines

with a Jamaican accent.

I will be writing

about other performers

in later editions of the

newspaper. I hope you

already have tickets for the final perfor-

mance on March 17th because they are

SOLD OUT! (There may possible be an

additional performance next week, stay

tuned!)

4

By Jacob B. ’19 and Leah M.

‘20

Dr. Don Thomas,

retired NASA astronaut,

recently came to Beth

Tfiloh and spoke to the

fifth and sixth grade sci-

ence classes. Dr. Thomas

spent over nine years in

college and holds a doc-

torate degree from Cornell

University. He became

an astronaut in 1991 and

is a veteran of four space

shuttle flights.

In an interview with

BT World, Dr. Thomas

told us that he was in kin-

dergarten when astronauts

first went into space. “I

sat and watched on the

black and white TV and

realized this is what I

wanted to do,” he said.

NASA denied his

first, second, and third

applications to become an

astronaut. Dr. Thomas

took flying and skydiving

lessons and continued to

pursue his dream of be-

coming an astronaut.

Finally, he was accepted

as an astronaut by NASA

after applying for the

fourth time. He told our

class that it is important to

pursue what you really

want and NEVER give

up.

In his talk, Dr. Thom-

as described many inter-

esting things about space

travel. He told students

about a game the astro-

nauts played in their spare

time. One astronaut

would crunch himself into

a ball and the other astro-

nauts would play “catch”

with him in the weightless

atmosphere.

The entire presen-

tation was very interest-

ing, and we would like to

thank Dr. Thomas for

taking time to visit us!

D’VAR TORAH : PARSHAT PARAH

By Josh S. ‘17

This Shabbat is known as “Shabbat

Parah.” It is one of the four special

Shabbatot that gets its name from the

additional Torah reading that is read

when it occurs each year. Two of these

Shabbatot are before Purim, and the

other two are before Pesach.

Shabbat Parah, in which we read

about the Parah Adumah (the red cow),

always occurs on the Shabbat following

Purim. The Torah reading describes

the ceremony in which the Kohaen

used a red heifer as part of the purifica-

tion ceremony in the Beit HaMikdash.

The Jewish people needed to be puri-

fied in order to be ready to sacrifice the

Korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice).

Unfortunately, we no longer have

the Beit HaMikdash, and so the Korban

Pesach cannot be offered. Instead, it is

symbolized by the shank bone on the

Seder plate.

By Emma P.

Two strangely dressed men from

St. Mary's City recently came to BT to

talk about life in the 17th century. The

costumed interpreters told the stories of

Maryland's first years, when St. Mary's

was the colony's capital.

Our fifth grade social studies classes

recently finished a unit in which we

learned about the founding of Maryland.

The presentation by St. Mary’s City

made all that we learned “come alive.”

One of the men gave his name as

Master Spray and acted as a member of

17th century society. He told us that he

“owned” a tobacco farm and that he had

purchased the other man, named John,

as an indentured servant to work on the

farm. John explained that he agreed to

become an indentured servant in order

to have his passage to the New World

paid for by Master Spray. John planned

on one day having his own tobacco farm

and having his own indentured servants.

John passed around the bone from a

cow’s ear. Strangely, it had a piercing

through it. Master Spray ex-

plained that when someone

owned cattle they pierced

their cattle’s ear. If someone

accused another farmer of

stealing their cattle, people

would be found innocent or

guilty based on the cattle’s

ear piercing. If a farmer was

found guilty of stealing an-

other’s cattle, he would be

put in the stocks, or pillory,

where he would be publicly humiliated.

People could throw rocks and vegeta-

bles at the person in the stocks. If the

same farmer was accused again and

found guilty, his hand would be

burned. If someone saw that his hand

was burned it informed them that the

person was not to be trusted. That per-

son would not make a successful living

because no one would want to trade or

do business with him.

The interpreters told us many other

interesting facts about life in the 17th

century and brought real tobacco leaves

for us to touch and smell. Master

Spray and John cracked pen the tobac-

co flower, and we got to all see the size

of a tobacco seed. The actual seed is

the size of a speck of dirt. In addition,

they brought clothing like that worn in

the seventeenth century. Two students

were allowed to model for the

class.The fifth grade had a great time

with the interpreters and would like to

thank them for coming to visit!

M IDDLE SCHOOL V ISIT FROM OUTER SPACE

INTERPRETERS V ISIT F IFTH GRADE

Volume 1, Issue 2

PURIM P ICTURES ! Can you find yourself ?

Volume 1, Issue 2

By: Alyse M. ‘17

In this week’s Parsha, Parshat Vayikra, G-d speaks to

Moses and communicates all the laws concerning sacrificial

offerings. Meal offerings call “menachot” (gifts) are pre-

pared with wine, olive oil, and frankincense. Moreover, A

Kohen must take chometz or a handful of the offering be-

fore it is baked. The meal offering can be matzah, loaves,

pan fried or deep fried. Most importantly, this offering can-

not be leavened. An explanation of why leavened bread is

forbidden in the meal offerings is offered by our Chassidic

masters. They say the leaven, dough that has been ferment-

ed, represents self-inclination and pride. Nothing is more

abhorrent to G-d than conceit. The Talmud states, “G-d

says of the prideful one, ‘He and I cannot dwell together in

the world.’ As we approach Pesach we should keep in mind

this idea. Furthermore, humility is a major theme of the

Passover holiday. We are free and royal, yet, at the same

time we tell the story of our slavery. To summarize, We can

learn from Hashem, that even if we are at the top and have

everything we want, we must remain humble.

D’VAR TORAH : PARSHAT VAYIKRA