As the year winds to a close, Central students are joyfully sharing the products of their imaginations with the wider world. Last week on Wednesday, Central’s ACE Team 40 concluded a spectacular year by presenting their design for a nearly two-million-square-foot water park and hotel site in Chenango County at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen in Manhattan.

The title to this wonderful, impactful exhibit, “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in downtown Manhattan, is somewhat misleading. It is not an exhibit about Auschwitz, although we do get there – seeing a showerhead from the gas chamber, a German gas mask, an empty Zyklon B canister, and a huge cauldron where the watery soup was made for inmates – but that is later.

On Sunday evening, May 15, the community gathered at Beth Gavriel for an energizing shiur given by Rabbi Eliyahu Yormak, a rebbe at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. Rabbi Yormak began, “We just finished the chag of Pesach. Hashem should load us with brachah. The mitzvos of Pesach are an endless z’chus and bring endless k’dushah.” He shared that the amount of merit we accrue from our mitzvos depends on how we relate to the mitzvah.

MTA raised a total of $551,080 for its Scholarship Fund during a 24-hour fundraising blitz held on Monday, May 6, and Tuesday, May 7. With help from a committee of dedicated parents, rebbeim, faculty members, and talmidim who worked around the clock, MTA surpassed its original goal of raising $400,000 and increased the goal to $550,000, which was then exceeded. All donations made during the 24-hour+ fundraising blitz were matched 1:1.