Ramaz School
Ramaz School ישיבת רמז | |
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File:Ramaz logo.png | |
Location | |
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Information | |
Type | Private coeducational primary, middle, and secondary |
Established | 1937 |
Founder | Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein |
Principal | Rabbi Haskel Lookstein |
Grades | Nursery-12 |
Number of students | approx. 1,100 |
Color(s) | Blue and Gold |
Mascot | The Ramaz Ram |
Accreditation | Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, New York State Association of Independent Schools |
Newspaper | The RamPage |
Yearbook | Ramifications |
Website | ramaz.org |
The Ramaz School is a coeducational, private Modern Orthodox Jewish prep school located on the Upper East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.[1] It consists of a lower school (nursery-4th grade), a middle school (5th grade-8th grade), and an upper school (9th grade-12th grade).
The Ramaz Upper School is a college preparatory school. It is located seven city blocks away from the other two school buildings, and draws students from throughout Manhattan, as well as commuters from throughout the New York Tri-State Region.
The school is affiliated with Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun ("KJ"), located on E. 85th street, which shares a building with the lower school and is across the street from the middle school.
Architect James Rossant designed the new school buildings.
History of school
Founded in 1937 by Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein, Ramaz got its name from the initials of Rabbi Moses Zevulun Margolies, the grandfather-in-law of Lookstein.[2] The current principal, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, is the son of Joseph Lookstein and was a member of the first class of six students.[3]
Classes were held in many locations over the years, including the vestry rooms of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun. After the closing of Finch College, Ramaz bought the college's campus and renovated the buildings[4]
Leadership
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein scaled back his role as Principal of the Ramaz School at the end of the 2005-2006 school year, but he remained the rabbi of the associated Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue. He appointed Judith Fagin, formerly the headmistress of the Middle School, as Dean of the Ramaz School; she now administers day-to-day operations.
The Headmaster of the Lower School is Rabbi Alan Berkowitz, Ramaz '79, and the Headmistress of the Middle School is Smadar Seinfeld. The current Dean of the Upper School is Ira Miller. Rabbi Joshua Bakst retired in 2003 and is currently the Dean, Emeritus. Rabbi Jay Goldmintz is the Headmaster of the Upper School.[5] and Rabbi Shlomo Stochel now serves as Assistant Headmaster. Rabbi Kenneth Schiowitz is the Rosh Beit Midrash (Head of Beit Midrash)
Recent developments
On November 30, 2007, The Wall Street Journal listed Ramaz as one of the top schools for graduates entering the top eight universities in the country, with 10 out of a class of 100 (class of 2007) going to these schools[citation needed].
The Ramaz School had proposed a 28-storey project to be built in place of the Lower School during 2008-2010. The building would have replaced the current school with a new building split into ten floors used by the school and topped by 18 floors of condominiums. Air rights of the adjoining synagogue would be transferred for use by the adjoining school/condo structure. The project may have had to be scaled back following a review by the City's Board of Standards & Appeals because the height is more than what is permitted at this site.[6] The plans were withdrawn by the school in July 2008.[7]
Financial
In January 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ramaz lost $6 million in the collapse of the Bernard Madoff investment scheme[8]. Rabbi Lookstein did mention a month earlier in a New York Times article that "It is a small part of our endowment, we will be able to continue functioning normally"[9].
Sports
The Ramaz School's team name is the Ramaz Rams. Ramaz fields a number of competitive and recreational athletic teams throughout the school year, such as basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, hockey, track, soccer, tennis, fencing, and dance. Ramaz has recently created a crew team which will be begin its inaugural season this spring. In most cases, their teams are members of the Yeshiva High School Athletic League which represents many of the Jewish day schools throughout the New York metropolitan area. In addition, they play exhibition games against other schools both in the Jewish day school and non-Jewish private school communities.
The boys varsity basketball team won Ramaz's first championship in over 40 years in 2005 coached by Randy Dulny. Dulny and the boys also won the championship in 2008.
Academic teams
Ramaz's academic teams include the debate, College Bowl, chess, Torah Bowl, Model United Nations, and Model Congress teams, which compete solely against other Yeshiva high schools, and the mathematics, mock trial, and BIC (Business Investment Club), which compete against both public and private high schools. Ramaz Upper school students have also succeeded in numerous academic competitions in both the arts and sciences, including the 2004-2005 Siemens Westinghouse Competition [10] and the 2007 NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing.[11][dead link]
Upper School Student Government (The G.O.)
President: Ethan Stein
Sr. Vice President: Rachel Marcus
Jr. Vice President: Daniella Sakhai
Treasurer: Daniel Robbins
Secretary: Jackie Oshry
President: Talia Thurm
Sr. Vice President: Adam Werner
Jr. Vice President: Ethan Stein
Treasurer: Corey David
Secretary: Rachel Bicky
Publications
Ramaz's publications include:
- Breakthrough - a science and technology publication
- El Ramillete - the Spanish student newspaper
- Lambpage - the Middle School newspaper
- Likrat Shabbat - a weekly publication devoted to Shabbat
- Our Israel - a publication devoted to Israel
- Parallax - the school's award winning literary magazine
- Toses - the Hebrew student newspaper
- Ramaz Voice - the school Politics and Current Events newsletter
- Rambytes - the school's emailed newsletter
- Ramifications - the school yearbook
- RamPage - the Upper School newspaper
- RamStreet Journal - a business publication of Ramaz.
- SFAC News - Student Faculty Administration Committiee meeting minutes
- Tarte aux Pommes - the French student newspaper
- The Sports Report - a sports publication
- XeVeX - the mathematics magazine
- 78 - the school magazine
Notable alumni
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2009) |
- Isaac Herzog, Israeli Tourism Minister and son of former Israeli President Chaim Herzog[12]
- Natasha Lyonne, actress in the American Pie movies[citation needed]
- Daphne Merkin, author and journalist[13][dead link]
- Michael Mukasey, the 81st United States Attorney General[14]
- Achinoam Nini, Israeli rock singer[15][failed verification]
- Joshua Prager, author and journalist[16]
- Adam J. Szubin, the current director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control[17]
- Merryl H. Tisch, New York State Schools Chancellor [2]
- Laurence and Preston Robert Tisch, the namesakes of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University[citation needed]
- Tevi Troy, the Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services[18][failed verification][19][dead link]
- Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation[20][dead link]
- Jonathan Waldstreicher, medical student and MBA, founder of kosherheaven.com
Fun Facts
The current secretary of the Ramaz Upper School, Ms. Linda Malamy, was featured in a Liz Claiborne ad campaign run in magazines and on billboards from January through March, 2009.
External links
- Ramaz
- Kehilath Jeshurun
- Data for Ramaz School, National Center for Education Statistics
- The Ramaz Upper School is located at 60 E 78th Street, NY NY 40°46′30″N 73°57′42″W / 40.7750°N 73.9617°W. The Lower and Middle School buildings are located further uptown, on 85th Street: 40°46′44″N 73°57′23″W / 40.7790°N 73.9564°W
References
- ^ Ramaz Mission and Legacy
- ^ Ramaz School Legacy, Ramaz School. Accessed August 8, 2007.
- ^ Gurock, Jeffrey S. (1989). Ramaz: School, Community, Scholarship, & Orthodoxy. Ktav. ISBN 0-88125-323-5.
- ^ Goldberger, Paul. "A Bridge Known as Ramaz School.", The New York Times, June 4, 1981. Accessed July 16, 2008.
- ^ Ramaz Contact Information
- ^ Beyer, Gregory. "Condos Above Classrooms Strike Some as an Odd Mix", The New York Times, November 11, 2007. Accessed January 8, 2008.
- ^ Snyder, Tamar. "Ramaz Pulls Plug On Condo Tower", New York Jewish Week, July 4, 2008. Accessed October 17, 2008.
- ^ Private Schools Feel the Pinch Amid Recession, Wall Street Journal, 2009-01-26
- ^ "Wall St. Fraud Leaves Charities Reeling", New York Times, 2008-12-15
- ^ Siemens Foundation 2004-2005 Winners
- ^ NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing 2007-New York
- ^ Damage to Diaspora ties, Jewish Living (Toronto), November 15, 2006. "Herzog calls his years at the prestigious Ramaz school 'the formative period of my life.'"
- ^ Biographies for "SELF-CONCEPTIONS: WOMEN, CREATIVITY AND JEWISH IDENTITY", YIVO, accessed January 2, 2007.
- ^ Heller, Jamie. "Mukasey’s Pedigree", The Wall Street Journal Online, Law Blog, September 17, 2007. Accessed September 17, 2007. "Mukasey graduated from Ramaz in 1959 and went on to Columbia College and Yale Law School."
- ^ Century, Douglas "The Yemenite Madonna: Bronx-Raised Nini Becomes Pop Star Noa", The Forward, January 13, 1995. Accessed October 17, 2008.
- ^ Cohen, Irwin. "Baseball Is Dull Only To Those With Dull Minds", The Jewish Press, February 7, 2007. "The best book you can get about Thomson’s homer, the 1951 season, the players, sign-stealing and more is Joshua Prager’s The Echoing Green. Prager, who grew up in New Jersey, went to Moriah Day School, Ramaz High School and spent a year in yeshiva after high school before going on to college and a writing career with The Wall Street Journal."
- ^ U.S. Treasury - Biography of Adam J. Szubin - Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), accessed December 5, 2007
- ^ Biography of Tevi D. Troy, accessed December 5, 2007
- ^ The United States Mission to the OSCE: Office of Public Affairs - Tevi Troy, accessed December 25, 2006
- ^ [1], The Jewish Journal (Boston North), July 2, 2004.
- Articles with dead external links from February 2009
- Educational institutions established in 1937
- Elementary schools in New York
- High schools in New York City
- Middle schools in New York
- Modern Orthodox Jewish day schools
- Modern Orthodox Jewish day schools in the United States
- Private schools in New York
- Education in Manhattan