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Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Sam Rubanowitz

Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor

Sam Rubanowitz currently serves as Executive Producer of the Talking Point podcast, as well as Outside News Editor and Chief Video Editor of the Boiling Point. Sam joined as a staff writer at the start of 11th grade, contributing artwork also and winning awards for both writing and illustration. Last year he became BP’s first traveling correspondent, flying to Arizona to follow a Los Angeles synagogue group volunteering to help migrants arriving in the U.S. from Central America. He has written extensively on immigration and other political and governmental topics.

After taking the Computer Science course offered at Shalhevet in his junior year, Sam fell in love with programming and took his passion further by interning as a programmer at California Association of Realtors® last summer.

He is a member of three committees on the Del Rey Neighborhood Council and enjoys problem-solving and thought-provoking discussions.

All content by Sam Rubanowitz
UNEXPECTED: Shalhevet's Digital Firehawks Instructor Fred Leach said that he was surprise to see the amount and diversity of support for justice for George Floyd and others. "It’s been encouraging to see people in Los Angeles unite to fight against injustice," he said.

‘Constantly aware’ — Shalhevet’s Fred Leach describes being black in LA

By Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor
July 14, 2020

Mr. Fred Leach, whose title at school is Digital Firehawks Instructor, is part of Shalhevet's Educational Support team. He oversees...

LISTEN: News and interviews in an audio format.

The Talking Point Episode 3: Community Means Community

By Sam Rubanowitz, Executive Producer
April 30, 2020

In this episode, Senior Editor Alex Rubel shares some insight on remaining motivated during this time of quarantine; co-hosts...

The Talking Point Episode 2: Change

The Talking Point Episode 2: Change

By Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor
April 8, 2020

 In this episode, we cover COVID-19 news updates, new Shalhevet academic policies, the Zoom-Seder controversy, and student...

LISTEN: News and interviews in an audio format.

Welcome to ‘The Talking Point’

By Sam Rubanowitz, Executive Producer
April 2, 2020

Given that society is so different right now under COVID-19, the Boiling Point is offering a new way for the community to...

UNCERTAIN: A sign at Canfield Elementary School in Beverlywood was an ironic reminder on Tuesday, when state School Superintendent Tony Thurmond announced all state public schools would remain closed through the end of the 2019-20 year.

Shalhevet to delay decision on reopening in-person school until after Pesach, Rabbi Segal says

Shalhevet officials will defer a decision on whether to reopen on-campus school this year until after Passover,  Head of...

CLOSED: Canfield Avenue Elementary School, an K-5 LAUSD school in Beverlywood, will probably not reopen for the rest of the school year, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond wrote in a letter today.

California state superintendent says it ‘appears’ public schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year

By Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor
March 31, 2020

California schools will likely remain closed for the rest of the school year, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony...

INTROSPECTION: On the turf March 6, the class discussed Purim and personal insecurity. A week later, the topic was  quarantine.

God, fragility and coronavirus: senior Tanach class seeks religious meaning of quarantine

By Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor
March 16, 2020

Rabbi Ari Schwarzberg’s senior Tanach class held a Schoology discussion forum last Thursday on the religious significance of...

HOME: Senior Anna Weiss followed her SAS Biology class online during last Monday’s school closure “preparedness drill.” All classes will be held online next week, according to an email sent out by administration this afternoon.

No on-campus classes next week as school joins accelerating shutdown of L.A. due to coronavirus

By Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor
March 13, 2020

Classes will move online starting next Monday for at least a week, school officials announced today, after two all-day training...

SCREEN: A Google Hangouts window shows IT Director Nick Parsons testing the web application for the online class trial set for Monday. School officials have planned a “preparedness drill” in case school closure is needed because of coronavirus.

Campus to close Monday as trial run for coronavirus shutdown tries out online classes

By Jacob Joseph Lefkowitz Brooks, Editor-in-Chief and Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor School on Monday will be held via...

AWAITING: With the Senate impeachment vote coming Wednesday, Republicans are looking for a quick and easy acquittal of the President on two Articles of Impeachment voted by the majority-Democratic House of Representatives.

Poll finds less than one-third of Shalhevet students favor removing Trump from office

By Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor
February 5, 2020

Seventy percent of Shalhevet students believe President Trump should not be removed from office in the current Senate impeachment...

CLOSE: Andrew Yang, candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, waved to a cheering crowd outside of Tried and True Co. vintage clothing store on Fairfax Avenue just north of school Dec. 19. The storefront had been completely revamped with Yang hats, sweatshirts and other “merch,” and some of the crowd had arrived at 6 a.m., as they might for a drop of rare clothing from a popular manufacturer.

Politics meets streetwear as presidential candidate Andrew Yang comes to Fairfax

By Sam Rubanowitz, Senior Editor
January 31, 2020

  Waiting in line for a Supreme clothing drop on Fairfax Avenue Dec. 19, senior Ben-Tsion Oliel was surprised to see...

BORDER: The Peace Arch, located at the border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in northwest Washington state, was built as a monument to American-Canadian friendship. Earlier this month, American citizens of Iranian descent were detained there for as much as nine hours in a crackdown after the killing of Iranian General Qaxxam Soleimani.

Iranian-Americans at school split on issue of border detentions of travelers

By Sam Rubanowitz and Liad Machmali
January 27, 2020

Learning of new problems for Iranian-Americans at U.S. border crossings, Shalhevet students and faculty of Iranian descent were...

No: It’s ganging up on innocent family

By Sam Rubanowitz, Outside News Editor
November 5, 2019

On Aug. 23, members of the Shalhevet community and respected rabbis of the greater Los Angeles Jewish community gathered...

PARTNERSHIP: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British prime minister, earlier this year. The two countries signed a trade agreement in February in case Brexit occurs.

Brexit fears? Israel has a separate trade deal with the UK, just in case

By Sam Rubanowitz, Outside News Editor
October 16, 2019

Leaving the European Union will mean that the United Kingdom — whose full moniker is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and...

INFLUENCE: Art teacher Roen Salem, back at her desk in the 3rd-floor art room this year, has taught at Shalhevet since it first opened in 1992.

Roen is back!

By Sam Rubanowitz, Outside News Editor
September 15, 2019

To the theme song of the Chicago Bulls, Mrs. Roen Salem walked among the Shalhevet staff to the front of the gym Aug. 28, welcomed...

REST: :Junior Noah Hertzberg catches some zz’s on a second-floor couch May 31. BP photographers had no difficulty finding tired students to take pictures of for this story.

Late-start school day gets a tryout

By Sam Rubanowitz, Staff Writer
June 18, 2019

Shalhevet tested a 90-minute-later school start May 1 in what officials called an “alpha test” of one of various options to...

CELEBRATE:     Students set up decorations on the roof of the Union Rescue Mission Feb. 28.  A city report found 2,473 minors living in shelters in Los Angeles in 2018.

Lighting up the night for homeless kids on Skid Row

By Sam Rubanowitz, Staff Writer
May 5, 2019

Banners hung all around, decorating the rooftop space. Lights flashed and music played loudly, the bass trembling. The tall buildings...

BRAID: Helped by volunteers from Los Angeles and elsewhere, asylum seekers who had been held in detention before being cleared to enter the U.S. were welcomed with their first showers and hot meals at the Casa de Oracion No. 2 church in northern Phoenix Jan. 16. Above, Marian Merritt braided one girl’s hair.

Welcoming the stranger with hot food, scissors and applause

By Sam Rubanowitz, Staff Writer
March 6, 2019

It was almost noon when two Department of Homeland Security buses finally turned into a church parking lot in northern Phoenix....

ARRIVAL:   A 17-year-old and his mother, both from Guatemala, were released in Phoenix Jan. 16 into the U.S. to await their asylum hearing. Faces are blurred to protect their identities.

New policy is sending asylum seekers to wait in Mexico as crime there rises

By Sam Rubanowitz, Staff Writer
February 4, 2019

Three people were arrested in Mexico Dec. 19 for the murder of two teenaged Honduran migrants in Tijuana, as changes in U.S. policy...

DARK:   The new dark mode changes your screen's background picture as day transitions into night.  BP Photo by Sam Rubanowitz.

MacOS Mojave: A desert’s beauty, and features to match

By Sam Rubanowitz, Staff Writer
November 25, 2018

All Photo Illustrations by Sam Rubanowitz, icons from apple.com As diehard Apple fans know, ever since 2013, each version...

No more 'fall back'?    Prop 7 would promote Daylight Saving Time year-round

No more ‘fall back’? Prop 7 would promote Daylight Saving Time year-round

By Sam Rubanowitz, Staff Writer
November 4, 2018

Last night at 2 a.m., California and 47 other states turned back their clocks one hour, returning to Standard Time after almost...

MOURNING:  About 700 people lit candles, sang songs and listened to speakers at a memorial Sunday night for victims of Saturday's synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh.

Faiths and viewpoints come together at Westwood vigil for Pittsburgh shooting victims

By Sam Rubanowitz, Staff Writer
October 30, 2018

On a wide expanse of grass on the south side of Wilshire Boulevard, beyond the noise and traffic of the street, there was a stillness...

BP BP Drawing by Sam Rubanowitz

[Photo] EDITORIAL: Gaza and the perils of polarization

June 13, 2018

BP BP Drawing by Sam Rubanowitz

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