Baltimore, MD - Feb. 14, 2020 - Walking into Torah Institute of Baltimore on Tuesday February 11th was invigorating to say the least. As people entered the double doors they were greeted by a large CIJE sign (Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education), signaling the palpable excitement that was bustling inside. Students came from as far as Yeshiva of Greater Washington, and Talmudical Academy  to participate in the Maryland State Robotics Competition hosted by Torah Institute of Baltimore. 

This is the first annual CIJE robotics tournament in Maryland run, by Adam Jerozolim, Joseph Saltzman, Phillip Brazil, and Executive Director, Judy Lebovits. Spearheaded by the outstanding English Department Coordinator Dr. Suzanne Cotter, Torah Institute (T.I.) has been at the forefront in embracing CIJE as a curriculum partner. Therefore, T.I. was delighted to volunteer to host the first tournament in Maryland. The next tournament, March 29TH, will be hosted by the Talmudical Academy.

The entire experience built up the students’ confidence, skills, sense of achdus, ahavas yisroel between teams, and camaraderie. Additionally, many invaluable life lessons have been learned such as time management skills, work ethic, responsibility, working well with others and being a team player. 

The T.I. boys spent many hours split into teams to create robots from scratch with the help of Mr. Kaufman, and Robotics Club Presidents - students Ephraim Gersten and Yechezkel Kirshenbaum.  T.I. entered sixty-four middle school competitors (14 teams) who built, programmed, and implemented the assigned tasks to earn points in the competition. The boys used their recess time for over five months in addition to evening time at a host parent’s home to build, program, and implement the assigned tasks. T.I. bought a half rink to allow the boys authentic practice against each other. But notably, they mostly helped each other overcome challenges, which was a very inspirational part of the process.

The boys used skills such as physical manipulation, critical thinking, creativity, and complex engineering skills to each create and program the perfect robot. Each robot had to be very agile, having the ability to move in every direction, pick up a box and ball, move quickly around the rink, and put the object on the goal.  Every robot was aesthetically unique, as each boy utilized his own ideas and creativity to help his team. The boys in each group demonstrated impressive team work. Yechezkel Kirshenbaum and Ephraim Gersten, the T.I. Robotics Club presidents led the way, every day for the Robotics Club and competition. They were available, instructive, inspiring, and motivating. Students in other groups sang their praises: “They (Yechezkel and Ephraim) could have done even better in the competition for their own team, if they didn’t help everyone else so much.” In fact, during one of the last recess meetings, the teams spontaneously gave Ephraim and Yechezkel a standing ovation. 

There were also many helpers who worked together with the older students in tandem to create the most ideal environment for efficiency and time management. Seeing the younger boys working with the older ones with such ease and respect was an inspiration for all to see. These helpers had practiced setting up the complex competition table for the Robotics Engineers to play in the competition. There was a CIJE official judge leading the competitions at every table.  The judges were keeping score on tablets which connected to four large screens displaying real-time scores which many of the boys excitedly kept tabs on throughout the tournaments. After sixty-nine qualifying rounds; eight semifinalist teams advanced to determine the champions. It was a close competition in the finals and especially exciting to see team T.I. - 10 win the tournament!

All the schools did a fantastic job, the achdus and energy in the room was tangible.

The Robotics Tournament Champions are:

  • Torah Institute – Team 10: Shmuel Dovid Eichorn, Yisroel Meir Feinberg, Avromi Fine, Mordy Radzyner, Akiva Sova
  • Torah Institute – Team 7:   Shmuel Abba Reischer, Yosef Soltz, and Elimelech Stern, and Mordechai Tendler.

The Robotics Tournament 2nd Place winners are:

  • · Torah Institute – Team 1: Ephraim Gersten, Moshe Goodman Yechezkel Kirshenbaum, and Meir Simcha Paige
  • · Talmudical Academy Team 6: Tzvi Aryeh Markowitz, Yehoshua Hoffman, and Yossi Rubelow 

Torah Institute is looking forward to a brand new competition with deeper programming opportunities on March 29th hosted by Talmudical Academy. Until then, the boys of all the schools will practice, by possibly using their creations to pick up their socks, do their homework, and make their bed. :-)