Graduation Projects

Graduation Projects are independent research projects that our seventh-grade students present to all students and school families on the day of their graduation.  We're proud of the interesting topics selected by our former graduates, and the fine work performed in completing their projects.  Many Graduation Projects include an audio-visual component.  We invite all our graduates to submit their research papers or presentations to us for inclusion on this page.

2018 - 2019

  • Jonathan Bird - Jewish Influence in the Comic Book Industry
  • Milana Borodkin - Jewish Mysticism
  • Brian Colquist - The Jewish Rock n' Roll "Challah" Fame Honors Geddy Lee
  • James Haber - Jewish Migration in the United States
  • Jason Lefkowitz - Traditions: From Atheist to Orthodox
  • Noah Shapiro - Louis Brandeis
  • Avi Weiss - Antisemitism in America

2017 - 2018

  • Avery Matthew Gordon
  • David M. Lefkowitz

2016 - 2017

  • Skyler Mack - Gene Wilder and Jewish Humor
  • Robin Pestka - The Munich Olympics
  • Alex Silberstein - Jewish Football Players in the NFL
  • Annaliese Simons - Nazi Propaganda and Deception during WWII
  • Maya Zeidman - Jews in the American Revolution

2015 - 2016

2014 - 2015

  • Myla Wailoo - Janet Jagen: Jewish President of Guyana
  • 2013 - 2014

    • Eric Bernheimer – Judaism in Albert Einstein’s Life
    • Julia DiBenedetto – Jewish Rappers
    • Leah Mack – Jewish Pirates
    • Noah Hartwick – Synagogue Architecture
    • Rachel Schlow – Jewish Food
    • Rachel Wyetzner – Firsts in the History of Jewish Women

    2012 - 2013

    • Diana Misrahi - Jewish Life through a Lens
    • Ezra Seidel - Samuel Bak
    • Jem Seidel - Jews and Jazz

    2011 - 2012

    • Maxx Adlerman - To Be or Not to Be: A Comparison of Two Renditions
    • Ethan Cantor - Are Jews like the Luddites?
    • Adam Cantor - Rabbi Joachim Prinz
    • Elliott Wailoo - Albert Einstein and Zionism: His Ideas of the Middle East
    • Maya Jodidio - Kibbutzim
    • Michael Meyer - Jewish Food
    • Madeline Schmidt - Women of Valor
    • Devan Sirota - Sandy Koufax
    • Alyssa Sugarman - Jewish Fashion

    2010 - 2011

    2009 - 2010

    • Zoe A. Sifnakis - Jewish Artists of the Twentieth Century
    • Alyssa M. O'Neill - The Amazing Anne Frank
    • Alec P. Cantor - Jewish Camping and its History

    2008 - 2009

    • Rachel Cantor
    • Danielle Laurie Degutz
    • Karley F. Sirota
    • Jessica Weiss

    2007 - 2008

    2006 - 2007

    2005 - 2006

    • Daniel Bish — The Sunflower
    • Shanna Cole — Jewish Comedians
    • Julia Dougherty — The Origins of Yiddish
    • Rebecca George — The Art of Art Spiegelman
    • Zachary Howard — Anti-Semitic Comedy and the Jews Who Write It
    • Sam Lobel — Jewish Themes in Science Fiction
    • Nicholas Meyer — Creationism and the Big Bang - A Jewish Interpretation
    • Hannah Pawlak — Lovely Lippizaner
    • Sara Pawlak — Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul
    • Ilea Santiago — Angels
    • Jaclyn Welsh — A Brief History of Jewish Music
    • Courtney Yurecko — Betty Friedan: One Jewish Woman Who Changed the World
    • Jonathan Yurecko — Discrimination & Jewish American Baseball

    2004 - 2005

    2003 - 2004

    2002 - 2003

    • Simon Liebling — Atheism and Judaism: Baruch Atah Who?
    • Maxwell William Phillips — A Fire From the Flame of Hate
    • Matthew A. Rubenstein — Hello Dalai: When the Jews Met the Buddhists
    • David Farber Stern — Einstein and Politics
    • Michael Philip Sugarman — Murder, Inc: the History of Jewish Organized Crime in America
    • Chava Sharone Vietze — Jerusalem Through the Eyes of Jewish Women Poets

    2001 - 2002

    • Amanda Cohen — All About the Aleph Bet
    • Elsie D. — The Jewish Defense League
    • Shaquede Frank — The Seven Circles of Bat Mitzvah
    • Camille Hutt — The Life of Klezmer Music
    • Lindsay Kessler — The Three Stooges
    • Morgan Reiss — Bar/Bat Mitzvahs
    • Melissa Roderman — The Remarkable Life of Marc Chagall

    2000 - 2001

    • Hannah Bish — Hannah Senesh
    • Mark Goldsmith — Chiune Sugihara: The Savior of Thousands of Jews During the Holocaust
    • Jenny Mintz — The History of Modern Hebrew
    • Max Mintz — What is the Good of Jewish Humor?

    1999 - 2000

    • Adam Benaroya — The Jewish Roots in George Gershwin’s Music
    • Jesse Diener-Bennett — Klezmer: The Musical Melting Pot
    • Marc Howard — German-Jewish Liturgical Music vs. Classical: Two Worlds of Music Meet
    • Michelle Hutt — The Jewish Influence on Broadway
    • Daniel Kent — Leonard Bernstein: Jewish Themes in His Music
    • Rachel Roderman — Emma, Golda and Gloria: A Profile of Three Notable Jewish Women
    • Scott Sarvetnick — An Historical Overview of the Holocaust
    • Jake Weissman — The Biblical Story of Jacob
    • Anna Weltman — The Party of the First Part: The Marx Brothers As Secular Jewish Humorists

    1998 - 1999

    • Ana Benaroya — Art and Artists of the Holocaust
    • Aaron Buchman — The Israeli Conflict in Lebanon
    • Michael Feldman — The Warsaw Ghetto
    • Judith Meer — I. L. Peretz, the Man and His Work
    • Eve Segal — Albert Einstein's Jewish Identity

    1997 - 1998

    • Emily Bisen-Hersh — An Analysis of Jewish Humor
    • David Buchman — Ben Shahn and His Art
    • Karen Hakken — The Jewish-Titanic Connection
    • Jeremy Halper — A History of the Israeli Defense Forces
    • Rebecca Ullman — The B'nai Mitzvot - Their Evolution and Modern Day Relevance

    1996 - 1997

    • Ellen Beth Goldman – The Effect of the Holocaust on My Family
    • Andrea S. – Jewish Foods
    • Julia Scheinbeim – Jewish Weddings
    • David A. Sontag – Jewish Immigration to South America and Jewish Life in Argentina
    • Nora H. Weinberg – Holocaust Poetry
    • Eve E. Weissman – Reflections on Women in the Bible

    1995 - 1996

    • Jennie Bouwman
    • Maris Callahan
    • Rachel Davison
    • Jessica Leventhal

    1994 - 1995

    • Joel Bernanke — The Life of the Second Temple
    • Makella A. Craelius — God: A Worldwide Dilemma
    • Adam J. Feldman — I.L. Peretz
    • Cynthia Katz — Kibbutzim
    • Daniel W. MintzKlezmer: A Link to my Heritage
    • Laura-Jean Mintz — Israeli Dance and Culture
    • Lee Scheinbeim — The Origins of Hebrew
    • Laura Sontag — Jewish Folklore

    Holocaust Poetry

    The Holocaust is one of the historical periods studied by our Level 4 (7th Grade) students.  Following is a selection of poems written by our students on the subject.

    Survivors

    The Survivors Strong Fighting for life
    The Survivors beat hate beat prejudice
    The Survivors overcame an army overcame discrimination
    The Survivors educating the world making sure it never happens again
    The Survivors there should have been more there should have been millions
    The Survivors - who fought back.

    By Elsie Dedecker

    Trapped in the Shadows

    Trapped in the shadows --

    A voice calls to me --

    We have been taken away

    It's very lonely -

    Very silent -

    Very calm -

    Still

    Trapped here -

    In the shadows

    When the voice calls to me

    I call back

    Having a sense of relief

    That the silence has disappeared

    Then I see a hand

    It reaches for me --

    I think my thoughts, prayers, and dreams

    All came true on that very day -

    I was saved --

    No longer worried

    About being trapped -

    Down there in the shadows

    By Amanda Cohen

    Untitled

    they tortured the Jews

    they tried to wipe us out

    they almost did so

    By Matt Rubenstein

    Untitled

    The Holocaust was

    A Horrible nightmare, a

    curse lasting what seemed

    like forever.

    By Melissa Roderman

    Untitled

    In the ghetto
    My troubles lie…

    Walls of ice
    All around.
    Houses of death
    On Earth's ground.

    What should I do
    Before I die?

    Showers of gas
    That burn your skin.
    There is no way
    The Jews can win.

    They've killed my mother,
    and my father.

    Shot guns, pistols,
    Tools of war.
    In these camps,
    There's no out door.

    My sisters and brother,
    it will always bother.

    By David Stern and Max Phillips

    6 Million

    6 million is a number
    Just a number
    But to Jews it is more than
    a number.
    6 million is the number of
    brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers,
    sons and daughters killed with
    hatred and ignorance of
    human beings.

    6 million can stand as many things.
    But for the Jews it stands
    as the innocent brothers and sisters who perished in the
    Holocaust.

    6 million.
    Remember the 6 million not
    as a number, a quantity, an
    amount but as
    6 million Jews.
    6 million.

    By Shaquede Frank

    Hatred

    Hatred,
    The one word that tears us
    Apart.
    The one word that kills.
    The one word that starts
    Wars.
    The one word that killed me.
    By Chava Vietze

    Holocaust

    Death
    around every corner.

    Darkness
    in every building.

    Dread
    inside and out.

    The stench of all things evil
    Everywhere

    By Simon Liebling

    The Flower

    A flower wilts in the hot July sun
    A young child sits and watches the
    yellow flower die
    The child has seen many losses
    The child has no one
    The child has nothing
    Her last possession was this yellow
    flower

    Her identity is no more than a number
    As the flower dies, the child, small and
    frail, wilts
    with her flower
    Her nameless face closes its eyes and
    lays gently
    beside the flower, never to awaken again

    By Lindsay Kessler

    Holocaust Poem

    Everything was peaceful
    Everything was calm
    Until they came.
    And made the quiet scream
    And the peaceful hurt
    And the good were killed
    So town to town
    Became awaken
    To the evil
    Floating around them
    Not to stop
    For a long time
    But when they left
    All was ruined
    All was destroyed
    All was dead and gone.
    By Camille Hutt

    Holocaust

    There once was a man, a Jew.
    Nazis treated him like poo.
    Checked and burned,
    Many stomachs churned.
    Now the Holocaust is true.

    By Michael Sugarman

    Untitled

    Running, Running
    Are they there?
    Are they catching up
    Chasing dying
    My mother, my father
    My brother suffocating
    Help them! Help me!

    Emaciated people walking, dying
    Help me!
    I'm safe, they're gone
    I'm dead

    By Morgan Reiss