Mazal Tov to Ben Porat Yosef fourth grader Rafi Ptashny, who was among the top five students in the fourth grade Holbrook Math Competition last week!

This competition is one of the most challenging middle school math contests in the country, administered by the prestigious Bergen County Academies.

Ptashny also had the opportunity to meet two math superstars at this event: Dr. Po-Shen Loh, head coach of the U.S. math Olympic team, and Dr. Arthur Benjamin, a math professor at Harvey Mudd College and best-selling author and speaker. Dr. Benjamin has courses online that Ptashny has watched and which helped Rafi learn how to solve the Rubik’s Cube in a little over one minute!

“We’re so proud of Rafi for his tenacity in preparing for these math contests,” said his parents, Vera and David. “We’re grateful to Rabbi Zucker, the BPY administration and Rafi’s teachers for supporting and encouraging his pursuit of higher math knowledge.” BPY is so proud of Ptashny for this wonderful accomplishment.