On Thursday, March 14, students in TABC’s Scholars Program headed out to midtown Manhattan for an exciting excursion. The Scholars Program is a two-year honors initiative during which students identify and master a field of intellectual study that appeals to them by researching and presenting an in-depth project in that discipline, with faculty guidance and outside mentorship. The students first stopped at the Morgan Library, where they listened in fascination to an interactive presentation entitled Myths and Symbols: Mesopotamia to Modern, in which they learned how certain symbols were employed in consistent ways through artifacts and artwork over the course of ancient, renaissance, and modern times. They saw cylinder seals and artifacts associated with figures from biblical times, including the Assyrian king Shalmaneser and Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.

The scholars were fascinated by what they saw, and asked many questions as they processed everything along the way. The boys enjoyed lunch from Bravo Pizza just four blocks away from the Morgan Library before heading to the International Spy Museum, where they dodged lasers, attempted to circumvent lie detectors, and learned about the history of espionage. They were fascinated to learn the stories of Alan Turing intercepting messages from German U-boats in WWII, as well as how the Stuxnet virus temporarily paralyzed Iran’s nuclear program just a few years ago. Each student left the museum with a thought-provoking psychological and physical profile of where they would best fit in the spy industry. Many thanks to Scholars Program Co-Director Rabbi Shaya First and Zachary Ottenstein for accompanying the boys on the trip, as well as to Scholars Program Co-Director Cary Riker for arranging the itinerary.