We are currently embarking on another successful and productive semester at Yeshivat Magen Avraham. Time has passed by quickly so far this year and in that time, our students have accomplished so much. In the month of December alone, our students have participated in high-level classes, attended inspirational and educational seminars with community leaders, partook in after-school programs, and enjoyed our wonderfully planned holiday festivities. YMA continues to grow and we are on the right track to shaping our students into future leaders for this community and beyond.

This month, we took the students to visit Richard Sutton who is the owner of LT Apparel Group, also known as Lollytogs. Sutton's company works with large brand names such as French Toast and Adidas and he had a lot of wisdom to impart on our young students in order to help shape their futures. The boys came to Sutton's office in NYC and enjoyed lunch as Sutton discussed important business and life lessons. Sutton empowered out students by assuring them that if one wants to accomplish something, they have to do it for themselves because no one will do it for you. He also discussed the important fact that right now, in a high school setting, many young boys have easy lives while, in the real world after graduation, everything is not as accommodating. The boys came out of their informative talk feeling very good about the importance of education and how that truly translates to a higher salary and position for their future careers. 

Another successful community member that our students had a chance to meet with this month was Isaac Levy, owner of AND1 which is a successful footwear and apparel company. Levy spoke to the students about having the self-confidence to be successful in life. He stressed how important it is to believe in yourself and work hard in order to achieve true success. Unlike Sutton's speech, Levy's presentation was a round-table discussion in which our boys were able to interact with the successful community member. The students were able to engage in a conversation with Levy focused on business, success, Hashem, and parnassah and it proved to be a very positive experience all around.

This month our students have also participated in our night program in which they come to learn Torah after school hours have finished. Many of our students volunteer to come to the Bnei Ovadia Shul to learn every night of the week. On Thursday nights, the students enjoy our Cholent party while learning with their Rabbis. On other nights, the boys enjoy dinner at Holy Schnitzel. Regardless of the food, the learning that takes place is always done in a relaxing and enjoyable way. Every night that our students come to learn, our Rabbis are always impressed to see how eager they truly are.

As for our courses that we have offered this semester at YMA, our Real Estate course has proven as a great success amongst our 12th-grade students. This course provides the students with a very strong education on the current real estate market. This month, we took the boys to the courthouse in downtown Brooklyn in order to teach them how to buy homes out of foreclosure. We taught the students how to finance this kind of project as well.

Here at YMA, we are teaching our students to be the next successful and well-learned generation of our community. We are ready to make history through our students in the YMA way. We continue to be inspired by what we are striving to accomplish and we look forward to the rest of the school year.

Shelly Greenstein - Forman

editor@sephardic.org

Shelly Forman is currently serving as editor-in-chief of Sephardic.Org. Shelly curates the content that comes through to Sephardic and makes sure that each and every article, video, and image on the site goes along with our amazing mission statement.