Dear Talmidot, Parents and Friends – 

1)       This week at Midreshet Moriah

2)       Faculty Devar Torah – Mrs. Malka Hubscher

3)       Mazel Tovs

4)       Mi She-Berach List

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This Week at Midreshet

This past week at Midreshet, along with all of klal Yisrael, we mourned and cried for the members of the Fogel family of Itamar, who were brutally murdered. On Sunday morning, we took a bus to the funeral, joining thousands of Jews who arrived at Har Hamenuchot to pay their respect and join together during this tragedy.  

May Hashem comfort the mourners and grant strength to the surviving children. 

The students are working hard to maintain the level of simcha mandated by Chazal for the month of Adar. There have been many themed dress-up days, including "What you will be 10 years from now" and "the 1980's". Check out the new pictures and see what many of our girls aspire to be (and some, just having a laugh). 

Tuesday, the students and teachers all left classes at 10:55 a.m. to stand outside for five minutes while reciting tehillim, as a show of solidarity for Gilad Shalit. This effort was initiated by a private citizen and had been publicized with posters and through e-mails in an effort to remember Gilad as we celebrate the festivities of Adar. 

This week we also had the joint Midreshet Moriah - Midreshet Darkeinu program of the year. Many of our students joined the Darkeinu students (a seminary for students with special needs) in learning together about Purim. As always, it was a powerful and memorable experience. 

Wednesday night, our students joined a panel of made up of faculty in discussing the halachot of Pesach. Questions were prepared and submitted before the panel, in addition to girls' spontaneous questions that came up in the moment. 

Chag Sameach to all of our friends and alumnae!

Pictures from our year can be seen at http://midreshetmoriah.com/pictures/

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Parshat Tzav 

Silent Strength

Mrs. Malka Hubscher  

Megilat Esther opens with a description of the grand party Achashverosh threw during the third year of his reign. Why throw a lavish party in his third year – why not an inaugural ball at the start of his kingship? Many possible explanations are offered to this question. Chazal suggest (Megilah 11b) that the party was to celebrate the fact that the Beit Hamikdash had not been rebuilt; Achashverosh miscalculated the seventy-year exile prophesied by Yirmiyahu and therefore threw a party in celebration of the final downfall of the Jewish people. Others suggest that the party celebrated the king’s birthday, or perhaps his successful military conquests throughout the world.  

If we look again at the peshat of the pesukim in the Megilah, perhaps another answer can be suggested. The Megilah tells us in (1:3-4):  

(3) In the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his officers and his servants; the army of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him; (4) when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty, many days, even a hundred and eighty days. 

A simple reading implies that Achashverosh’s primary motivation in throwing the party was to show off all of his wealth and riches.  Indeed, the Megilah continues by describing all of the fine materials and utensils which were used at the second party for the people of Shushan. Perhaps this detailed description of all the king’s riches is meant to convey that the very reason for the party was simply for the king to show the people just how rich and mighty he was.  

Throughout the Megilah, Achashverosh is portrayed as a man with very little self-confidence. He never makes an independent decision and is therefore easily manipulated by his ministers and members of his court. Those decrees that he does make, he often regrets later.  A person lacking self-confidence always feels the need to show or prove to others just how great and powerful he really is. As a self-conscious, non-confident king, Achashverosh felt the need  to compensate for his sense of inadequacy by displaying his wealth, hoping that his people would be led to think of him as powerful and worthy of great honor.

 This midah of Achashverosh is in direct contrast to Esther. She is a beautiful woman with great faith and confidence and because of her self-assurance, she asks for nothing from Hatach, feels no need to speak of her past, and has no need to show off her strength. Her strength is proclaimed by her silence, her modesty and her internal ko’ach (power) and emunah (faith). This is the ultimate strength of Am Yisrael: our internal power, our spiritual and inward strength, our ko’ach penimi.

In the parshiyot at the end of Shemot and the beginning of Vayikra, we read of the construction and erection of the Mishkan and the service performed there. The crown jewel, the most prized of all the vessels of the Mishkan, is the Aron Kodesh with the golden Keruvim (cherubs). It is no accident that the most prized vessels remains hidden behind the parochet, to be seen only by the Kohen Gadol and only on Yom Kippur. In contrast to Achashverosh, we feel no need to publicly exhibit our riches and our greatness.  It is only those who lack real inner strength who feel the need to show their prized possessions to the world.

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Mazel Tov 

Engagements:

Daniela Brodsky (Madricha) and Adam Kabins

Yhi ratzon shetivnu bayit ne'eman bYisrael

Weddings:

Sarah Lukin (05-06) and Yehoshua Auman 

Sophie Bacaner (06-07) and Aaron Leach.

Mazal tov also to sister Tali Bacaner Levy (Midreshet 04-05, 05-06)

Yhi ratzon shetivnu bayit ne'eman bYisrael

Birth:

Chana (Bachrach) Tzanani (98-99) on the birth of a girl

Yhi ratzon shetizku lgadla lTorah lChupa ulMa'asim tovim.

 Please help us stay informed - http://midreshetmoriah.org/send-mazaltov.asp 

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Mi SheBerach List