Letter to CHAT

348 Glengrove Avenue West
Toronto ON
M5N 1W5

December 3 2007



Ms. Jill Garazi,
Admissions Coordinator
TanenbaumCHAT South Campus
200 Wilmington Avenue
Toronto ON
M3H 5J8

Dear Ms. Garazi

My name is Daniel Baum. I am currently applying to TanenbaumCHAT South Campus for grade 9. I went to a Hebrew day school from grade 1-6. I then made the decision to transfer to The Sterling Hall School for grade 7 and 8. I have enjoyed S.H.S very greatly. Striving for success, I have become the Character Education Prefect in my school, as well as being on many sports teams, such as hockey, soccer, basketball, and hopefully more coming up. TanenbaumCHAT is my first choice of high schools. I have been on a tour of CHAT and so have my parents. I am well suited to attend TanenbaumCHAT because I could bring many important qualities to your school and I could definitely see myself going to high school there and enjoying it.

I could bring many important qualities to your school, including athleticism, smarts, and generosity. I am very gifted at sports. Currently, I am playing on the hockey team at SHS, and I have played on basketball, and soccer. I am hoping that in the third term I will play either softball or rugby. Outside of school I play hockey, hardball(baseball), flag football, swimming, basketball, soccer, and basically every sport. I enjoy being competitive, but at the same time, making sure to have fun. The best part of sports to me is being able to play with friends and to be active. I am also well-educated in school and in the outside world. I averaged an 85% last year. My parents feel that I have not even come close to being at my potential in school. I feel that I should try to reach my full potential and stay there. I am working hard to do that. I understand that in the world there are many people who are not as well off as me. I feel that I can help change that. Many people go hungry or sleep outside. I try to help fix these problems at any chance I can, including organizing things in school. At school right now, we are having a food drive to help prevent people from going hungry. I am one of the 6 main students who are running this drive. Every time I see a homeless man or women on the street, I feel obligated to give him or her money. We should give these people a bit of our loose change, no matter what they do with it. That is why I am well suited to attend TanenbaumCHAT.

I could really enjoy your school and could definitely see myself going to high school there because I would like to enhance my knowledge about my Jewish heritage and I know many people there and can make friends quite easily. I would like to enhance my knowledge about my Jewish Heritage through Rabbinics, and learning the Hebrew language. I feel that I can enhance my knowledge through Rabbinics because Rabbinics is about your Jewish history. I should know where I come from and about my ancestors’ pasts. If I am to believe in our glorious religion, then I should know about what makes our religion what it is and how to fully fulfill my duties as a Jewish citizen. I a proud to be Jewish, so I should show that I am and I should learn more about the laws and how to complete them. It would help me greatly if I knew the Hebrew language because then I would be able to communicate with Israeli citizens, I would expand my mind, and I would feel like I am contributing more to the Jewish religion. I have cousins in Israel, and it would be great if I could communicate with them in Hebrew. In fact, it would be great to be able to talk to anyone in Hebrew. I would expand my mind because I would use the language part of your brain more, and I would have a new talent, to fluently speak Hebrew. I would feel more part of the Jewish religion if I could speak Hebrew fluently. I believe that I am friendly or already friends with about 90% of the kids that go to Bialik, I go to a Jewish camp and am friends with everyone my age, and I am friends with kids that are Jewish at SHS who are coming to CHAT. As you can see, I already am friends with many kids that will be attending TanenbaumCHAT. I also know how to make friends quite easily. In grade 2, I knew very little kids in my class. After one week, I was already best buddies with one of the kids. I am still very tight with this kid, even though we are at different schools. At SHS in grade 7, after one week at school, I was already friends with several boys. As you can see, I feel that I have no trouble making friends, wherever I am. That is why I am well suited to attend TanenbaumCHAT.

I would be honored if TanenbaumCHAT accepted me to attend their school. I had always wondered how cool it would be to attend a school with so many kids, and the fact that hopefully I will soon experience it is mind-boggling. It would be an adventure everyday! I also know that your school can provide quite a challenge, which would be outstanding for me, as I enjoy taking on challenges head first and conquering them. I certainly feel that I could strive in the environment at TanenbaumCHAT and feel excited to come to school in the morning at the same time. I would love to attend TanenbaumCHAT.

Please contact me anytime if you have any questions or just want to talk at:
Telephone: 416-487-9211
Email: tbaum@rogers.com
Or by post at the address above.


Yours sincerely,



(Signature)


Daniel Baum

Mud Revised

Mud

Mud that you can’t get around,
It’s slopping,
It’s there,
To pass, you must go through it,
Through it, you must go,
So you stop first, and look at it,
Although you can’t tell how deep it is.

So you step through it,
And test your luck,
And,
And…
And your luck is rotten,
You fall straight through.

Because as it turns out,
The mud is deep and endless,
Cold and brown,
And you think you can’t crawl up and try again,
But, indeed, you do, and you try it again,
Because you realize that otherwise, you’ll never succeed.

But, sadly, you know that after more hard steps,
You’ll be back again,
Trying again,
Working hard again,
Crawling like a baby again.

But maybe you don't fall through,
Instead you succeed!
And the joy, passion, and accomplishment
That runs through your body,
Is never-ending.


Daniel Baum

Dominik Hasek

dominik hasek was born in chekeslovakia in the mid-sixstys he was drafted in the 13 round of the NHL entry draft by the chicago blackhaws where he was never given a chance to shine because of this, he was traded to the buffalo sabres where he won many trophies including a couple vezinas and two back to back hart trophies in 1998 haseks buffalo sabres made the stamley cup final and lost to the dallas stars in 2002 hasek won a stanley cup with the detroit red wings he went to ottawa for a short spirt and then back to detroit he has done many intersetsing things including starngeling a reporter and being the only goalie ever to win two back to back hart trophies

Mud

Mud

Mud that you can’t get around,
It’s slopping,
It’s there,
To pass, you must go through it,
Though it, you must go,
So you stop first, and look at it,
But you can’t tell how deep it is.

So you step through it,
And test your luck,
And,
And…
And your luck is rotten,
You fall straight through.

Because as it turns out,
The mud is deep and endless,
Cold and brown,
And you think you can’t crawl up and try again,
But, indeed, you do, and you try it again,
Because you realize that otherwise, you’ll never succeed.

But, sadly, you know that after more hard steps,
You’ll be back again,
Trying again,
Working hard again,
Crawling like a baby again.

But maybe you don't fall through,
Instead you succeed!
And the joy, passion, and accomplishment
That runs through your body,
Is never-ending.


Daniel Baum

The Dradel

The Dradel


This dradel of mine,
All silver and shiny,
In the middle,
A box that seems hollow, except for a soft-sounding ball that rolls around slowly.
But it’s not.

In the box is whatever you chose,
For me, it’s my great-grandfather.
The one that weeks before WWII broke out,
Came to Canada as a farmer,
Yet he had never farmed.

He was a jeweler,
Creating masterpieces by day,
And a family by night.
He was the only one of his family that came to Canada,
The rest would never again have the chance.
He made this dradel,
And this year, my great-grandmother gives me this dradel.
This dradel for my Bar Mitzvah.
The dradel with this silver box,
The silver box of the Great-Grandfather I never knew,
Only through this dradel.

Daniel Baum