By Yakov Halstuch
TABC is like the Ship of Theseus.
For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a ship that had every part replaced over time, so at some point the sail was replaced, then the plank, then the mast, etc. This raises the questions: can it be called the same ship if no part of it was originally there? When does it become something else?
Over my time at TABC so much has changed, from the students to the faculty to the clubs to the programming. Of course, I asked myself if TABC can really be called the same school as it was when I started, and this article is my attempt to answer it.
Let’s start out with the kids, the boys, the squad, the students - I could keep going, but it felt unnecessary. When I first came to TABC, I was just a little freshman (duh), looking up to the massive, talented, and impressive senior grade, who had seemingly effortless confidence and capability.
Now, all the kids I used to look up to are gone, and I’m somehow a senior, and I think some kids look up to me now (yikes for them).
To be honest, I’m still pretty nervous and unsure of myself and I don’t think we can do what our seniors could. But it doesn’t matter, because when I look at my fellow seniors who started their own clubs and businesses and run student council, I realize that we have our own strengths and have earned the title of seniors by embodying those values, just differently.
Onto the amazing faculty. There are a whole bunch of new teachers that I can talk about, but I’ll just stick to the major heads of the school. When I was a freshman, we had Rabbi Yablok, Rabbi Weiner, and Mr. P.
Rabbi Yablok get replaced by the sweet-sounding signals (AKA music bell)s of Rabbi Adelman. Friendly old Mr. P is gone, and friendly Mrs. Hecht filled in the void to bring us oh so many new programs in the Beit Knesset.
Even though all these new faculty have their own ways of doing things, they never really seem to affect the classes, as approximately 90% of polled seniors say that their classes feel the same as they did freshman year.
Last but not least, I need to talk about all the clubs and programs that happen outside of class. The changes there started in my Sophomore year, with the removal of Book Day, a day when the entire school went to special classes about a book that we all read.
They also added this little thing called “Club Fair” and then "Club Hour." Sure, it was just one hour in the entire year, but in that short time awareness of clubs was drastically increased. Thankfully, it has been brought back this year, but what about the time in between?
As we all know, that was the “Covid year” (which pains me to even think about), when masks were rampant, but more importantly: mixed-grade programming was completely banned. Not only that, but all sports events were cancelled and clubs met less.
This broke the incredible connections between all the different grades throughout the school, and I was terrified that it would stay that way. Thank goodness it didn’t, and this year we have the brand new Club Hour to make up for lost time, and give us that connection we needed.
But much, much greater than that was what I felt on November 15th: opening night. Roughly 100 TABC students of all ages and sizes came to the Varsity basketball and “packed the pit”. The energy was all over the room, and it was just as strong as it did in my freshman year.
That feeling has spread itself through all my classes, teachers, friends, and days. And it gave me the answer to my question: it really is the same ship, and the same TABC as always, and nothing can ever change it.
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