12 | S e p t e m b e r 1 4 , 2 0 1 1 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

Editors-in-ChiefHannah Cropf

Caleb Ellis

Managing Editors Sarah Allen

Mia Kweskin Jake WeismanJuliana Wishne

StaffHaley Abramson

Bella AdlerSammy Chervitz

Sarah CohenKyla Gersten

Abigail MillerJennifer Rubin Aniel Shapiro

Lily Siwak Rachel Wolfe

Co-ChairsPeggy KaplanMimi Pultman

AdvisorsBob Cohn

Ellen FuttermanGary Kodner

Mike Sherwin

GraphicsJennifer Rubin

PhotographyElizabeth Ornitz

Funding for Ohr Chadash generously provided by

Michael and Carol Staenberg and the Staenberg Family

Foundation, the Kranzberg Family Foundation and the

St. Louis Jewish Light Publisher’s Society.

United Hebrew’s Cantor Ron Eichaker has seen Major League Baseball’s National

League Central Division from many perspec-tives.

He grew up in Chicago, his kids were born in Milwaukee and he lives in St. Louis. When it comes to the 2011 playoffs, however, Eichaker believes that the Brewers are going to make it, and pitching is the reason.

“When it comes to relief pitching, it is a toss-up between the Cardinals and Brewers. But when it comes to starting pitching, the Brewers have a slightly better advantage,” Eichaker said.

But a late surge by the Cards has taken the vir-tually impossible to merely the highly improba-ble. As the regular season heads into its final weeks, all-stars Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina, along with a surging Albert Pujols and improvement in relief pitching and overall team health, could see the Cards pulling past the Atlanta Braves (for the wild card spot) or Brewers and making it into the postseason.

The 2011 St. Louis Cardinals season has been a bumpy ride, beset by injuries and inconsistent pitching.

Starters Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, Jake Westbrook, Kyle Lohse and Kyle McClellan per-formed admirably in the absence of injured staff ace Adam Wainwright. The team received Edwin Jackson in a trade, and he took McClellan’s spot in the starting rotation, thus also helping the bull-pen. Three of the Birds’ starters have earned run averages of under 4.00 and even Jake Westbrook — the Cards starting pitcher with the highest ERA — is under 5.00.

The relievers have been a mixed lot, both from a health and performance perspective. After releasing Ryan Franklin, the team developed a solid closer in Fernando Salas, but he has given way in that role in recent days to Jason Motte. The relievers are now slotted into more consistent roles, and they are contributing to the end-of-season stretch run.

The biggest issue this year has been the dis-abled list. For a shot at the playoffs, it’s crucial that the entire team stays healthy, but 12 players have been on the DL at some point this season. The biggest loss was starting pitcher Wainwright, who

had Tommy John surgery on his elbow before the season started, bringing former reliever McClellan into the starting rotation. Promising young reliever Eduardo Sanchez has also been sidelined, which for a good while caused chaos in the bullpen.

On the hitting side, third baseman David Freese was also on the DL for a major portion of the year, but luckily his stand-in, Daniel Descalso, proved to be a reliable utility infielder, and Frese has now returned and been very productive. And Pujols was also on the DL with a fractured bone from a collision at first base, but a projection of four to six weeks out luckily turned out to be only two.

Some late-season trades have also contributed to recent optimism. Center fielder Colby Rasmus was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for starting pitcher Jackson, left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski and right-handed reliever Octavio Dotel (both of whom have contributed strongly) and outfielder Corey Patterson. The team also traded a minor league outfielder to the Los Angeles Dodgers for shortstop Rafael Furcal. Ryan Theriot struggled with defense and Furcal has definitely shored up the middle infield.

Still, in the playoffs, whoever makes it in, pitching rules. Eichaker said that the team that wins the World Series is the team with the best pitching staff, which he believes this year is the Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers are strong too, and have Zack Greinke, a starter with ace-quality stuff, but as a former Kansas City Royal has not previously been on a winning team.

And if the Cards don’t make it, well, there’s always next year.

BY JENNIFER RUBINTENTH GRADE, PARKWAY CENTRAL

Cards fans shouldn’t lose hope for post season success

As the summer season ends, millions of students go back to school. While many dread the transi-

tion from beach bags to backpacks, it posed other issues for students in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo., who returned to school Aug. 17.

Twelve-year-old Brooke Parker is one of many Joplin teenagers left without a place to go this semes-ter. Her school, East Middle School, lost both its gym and roof. Its building is not structurally capable for the upcoming school year, so for now, Brooke attends sev-enth grade in a warehouse.

“I [didn’t] know what to expect, especially with gym and choir and extracurricular activities,” Brooke said.

While East Middle School suffered extreme dam-age, Joplin High School was destroyed completely. Bonnie Ardrey and DiVaughn Simmons, both 14-year-old freshmen, were eager to start high school there. But because of the deadly tornado, they now go to Memorial Middle School instead.

“I was excited to go to the new high school, but [now I’m] bummed about going back to middle school. I wanted to experience what my other family [members] did but I’m not going to be able to now,” Bonnie said.

DiVaughn may not go to school in Joplin at all. His family is considering moving to Summer Creek, Texas, but no decision has been made.

Though DiVaughn’s example is extreme, it is not uncommon for Joplin students to move where schools will better meet their needs.

“Most of my friends are moving to another school district,” Bonnie said.

According to the Joplin schools website, the tornado on May 22 destroyed three schools beyond repair. Two more suffered significant damage, including the

administrative building. On June 6, Joplin initiated Operation Rising Eagle to relocate students of destroyed schools to new ones, but the replacements found for students remain temporary.

“We didn’t want to lose our community; we didn’t want to lose our families. Schools are a big part of why people are in Joplin, and getting back to normal quick-ly was very important,” Superintendent C. J. Huff told the New York Times Aug. 18.

Joplin school districts need more than just new buildings. Heather Schuster, Development Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Joplin, has worked closely with Joplin schools to reinstate a healthy educational environment.

“We at the Boys and Girls Club strive to work with the Joplin School District to provide the best possible experience for students. During our afterschool pro-gram we work together to transport children from school to the club. We also work together to get infor-mation on kids needing extra support, raise awareness

about our programs and for funding requests,” Schuster said. “While we are not working on rebuilding the Joplin schools, we are working on how to continue to provide services, such as transportation to the club from the new, temporary school locations.”

Brooke, Bonnie, and DiVaughn are all members of the Boys and Girls Club of Joplin, one of the many organizations that extended their services in the after-math of the tornado to better accommodate the needs of the community. Immediately after the tornado, the club opened free to the public, providing longer hours, three meals and counseling.

“[We are] working with a national partner to try and obtain school supplies for the over 250 kids we see a day and hopefully have extra for other children in the community that are in need,” Schuster said.

St. Louis Volunteers can contribute to rebuilding Joplin schools via the Jewish Community Relations Council at http://www.jewishinstlouis.org/JOPLIN.

Joplin schools reopen despite severe damageBY HANNAH CRoPF

JUNIoR, LADUE HIGH sCHooLBird’s-eye view of damage to Joplin High School. Fresh-men Bonnie Ardrey and DiVaughn Sim-mon are attend-ing Memorial Middle School until it can be repaired. (Photo: wp.joplinfree- thinkers.org)

Ohr Chadash 12

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The eerie silence that overcame my par-ents on September 11, 2001 still leaves

a sobering imprint in my mind. After being pulled from school like so many of my peers, I looked to my parents to explain the odd behavior that gripped them. But only now do the images from that day bring clarity to what I had expe-rienced.

Last Sunday marked the 10-year anni-versary of the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks, events that shook America to its core. From that day forward, our country was forced to reevaluate its international and domestic infrastructure. This shakedown still lends a profound impact to the nation I see my generation growing up in today.

At 17 years old, I find myself among the group of teenagers just able to remember the attacks. Fear stricken teachers tried as gently as possible to convey the gravity of the situation while many frantic parents made the decision to keep their kids home for the day. A sense of foreboding unknown loomed that day in a way that, even after 10 years, doesn’t compare to any moment that I can recall; we were completely immobi-lized. Even after the dust from the World Trade Center had settled, the unease that had gripped a country, previously perceived to be invincible, was unnerving.

Though the attack itself stands in many older Americans eyes as a terribly vivid nightmare, my generation often has to relive the event through video media and photography to digest what happened. Moreover, this younger generation is living in a United States that operates with the ramifications of 9/11. No current teenager remembers airports without miles of secu-rity lines, an ongoing and seemingly stag-nant war with numerous nations in the Middle East, and an underlying, though frequently blatant, xenophobia towards Islam and its followers.

This new American culture encompasses the perceptions and actions of today’s gen-eration. There wasn’t any question that the nation needed to revamp certain things, such as security and its stance on terrorism. Things that now seem like mundane inconveniences in terms of airport security have become a precedent that is essential. It serves as a reminder of the constant vigi-lance that we as a nation must hold to pre-vent any sort of travesty from ever happen-ing again.

But this post-9/11 world is not only a site of defensive precautions and awareness. U.S. military forces have been actively fight-ing in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan in the so-called “War on Terror”

since only weeks after the 2001 attacks. Thousands of American soldiers have died fighting to try and eradicate terrorist orga-nizations and reassert democracy in Middle Eastern countries. The progress, however, has hardly seemed worth the cost. Iraq itself was stripped to the core, and retooled to the liking of its American occupants. Only now, 10 years later, do we see American soldiers finally pulling out. The situation in Afghanistan is much graver. For years the military has fought guerrilla insurgents in the mountains, losing countless lives and hardly making a dent in the resolve of the terrorists.

Additionally, across the country Americans see themselves holding a nega-tive predisposition to people of Islamic or Middle Eastern descent. Stereotypes spur further alienation and misunderstanding of a substantial cultural group, one that shouldn’t be tied to the actions of a small

group of radicals. This sort of labeling and fear undermines core American principles of tolerance, equality and justice.

The 10-year anniversary of 9/11 is no doubt an emotional reminder of a day that changed the course of U.S. history. However, it should also serve as an oppor-tunity. Americans should use this anniver-sary to look at not only how we have evolved in response to the attacks, but also how we used to conduct ourselves as a nation before that fateful day. Even a decade later, it remains just as big of a responsibility to stand true to the moral and social tenants that have defined the United States.

(This article represents the opinion of the writer.)

Growing up in a post-9/11 worldBY caleB ellis

senior, ladue high school

Ohr Chadash COmmentarIes

Hello and welcome to another spectacular year of teen news for teen Jews. This year has loads of potential

because our team has real diversity. In the past, there have been writers ranging from Reform boys and girls to Conservative boys and girls to Orthodox girls. This year we add to the mix an Orthodox boy –- and that would be me. How cool is that? But enough about me…it’s time for you to see what I can offer.

I would like to start my duties as an Ohr Chadash writ-er with something that has been bugging me about my Jewish heritage. I sometimes lie in my bed and stare at the crack in my ceiling pondering how big of a difference I make in the Jewish world around me. First off, let me give you some soothing numbers: There are 14.1 million Jews in the world, according to the Jewish Web Index. Jews make about .22 percent of the world’s population, so it may be slightly easier to make a difference as Jews as opposed to Christians, who represent nearly 2.1 billion people worldwide. So our making a difference is approxi-mately 149 times easier than the Christians.

Back to all seriousness, what can you do as a Jew? How about represent us in the multicultural world by wearing your kippah (Jewish skull-cap or yarmulke)? By wearing a kippah, you are showing that you are proud to be a Jew, making you a role model for Jews around you.

You could inspire other Jews to become closer to their Jewish heritage. It’s very simple, really. All you have to do is wear a little satin circle on your head. So when you’re in the checkout line buying your Vitamin B83 and a cream-filled donut at Schnuck’s, don’t feel ashamed when someone looks at you funny for wearing that little kippah. That kippah is a sign of your commitment to helping Jews around you become invested in their reli-gion… something not everyone has the courage to try. After reading this article, hopefully, you’re ready to put on a kippah and take on the world.

(This article represents the opinion of the writer.)

Show your Jewish pride by wearing a kippah

BY saMMY cherViTZeighTh grade, ePsTein heBreW acadeMY

A New York City firefighter observes the rubble of the World Trade Center shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Jim Watson/ U.S. Navy)

Ohr Chadash 13

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