This week at Heichal HaTorah, Dr. Joel Berman, Heichal’s assistant principal for STEM, brought physics class to life, teaching his students how load and direction pulleys work together to reduce the force needed to lift heavy objects. Dr. Berman recalled for his students how when he was a combat infantry soldier in the IDF many years ago, he watched the mechanic remove the engine from his jeep. He put two chain loops around the engine and proceeded to lift the engine out of the jeep pulling on the chains using only two fingers! Intrigued, Dr. Berman learned that change of direction pulleys, which reverse the direction of motions, and load pulleys, which halve the force required to lift an object but doubles the pulling distance, enable a smaller force to move heavier objects. This was demonstrated for the students in their physics lab. Learning comes alive at Heichal!