Dear Talmidot, Parents and Friends –

1)         Midreshet News – Daniella Goldberg and Caitlin Schechter

2)         Faculty Dvar Torah – Mrs. Yehudis Smith

3)         Mazal Tov

4)         Mi SheBerach

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Midreshet News

Daniella Goldberg, Teaneck, NJ, Shana Alef

Caitlin Schechter, Boca Raton, FL, Shana Alef

This past week began with a delicious Rosh Chodesh breakfast of pancakes, yogurt and cereal (ofcourse!). It was such a great way to start off the new month of Kislev! This past Shabbos, parshah Toldos, we went to Tzfat. After an early morning start we arrived in Tzfat well rested and began a tour of the city. We visited several shuls and learned a little about the mysticism of the city. After the tour, we got a chance to go to the Tzfat shuk. Many of us stopped at the candle store to purchase havdalah candles for our families. We then wandered around the shuk in search of jewelry and food. Thankfully, we found both. 

Friday night we got the opportunity to choose a shul to attend for Kabbalat Shabbat. Many of us chose the Carlebach minyan and were immersed in the lovely songs and ruach that was there. Avigail Jarashow gave a great Dvar Torah during dinner and afterwards we had the privilege of hearing from an inspiring speaker, Chaya ben Baruch. Her story has truly inspired us to work on our chessed. 

After dinner, we sang zemiros, and the soldiers staying in our hotel joined in with hopeful thoughts and inspiring songs. We really felt more connected with our soldiers after this night. Shabbos day was very short but full of inspiration! After davening shacharit in the shul of our choice, we returned to the hotel for a delicious Kiddush.  At lunch we heard more uplifting Divrei Torah from Kayla Krok and Shiri Wasserman (shana bet). Following lunch and a Shabbat nap, we had another inspiring speech by Lauren's (our rakezet) husband and at seudat shlishit, Channy Cabessa (shana bet) shared with us more inspiring thoughts.                                                                           

On the way home Saturday night, we stopped to visit Rav Shimon Bar Yochai's kever in Meiron and after our long ride back from Tzfat, our madrichot surprised us with a pizza party dinner which was really great!  

Sunday afternoon, we went to the Kotel to say Tehillim along with thousands of others, led by Chief Sephardi Rabbi, Rav Amar. It was a deeply moving experience and made us all feel truly part of Am Yisrael.

Also, this week we welcomed back Bracha and Rav Eitan. We missed you!

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It's All About Connecting

Mrs. Yehudis Smith

In the beginning of Parshat Vayeitzei we find a story that many of us have known since childhood. We find the famous story of Yaacov Avinu’s dream. The story of the rocks uniting together under Yaakov’s head and after he drifts of in to dreamland, he sees malachim going up and down a ladder. This is a wonderful story and is definitely a lot of fun for children to learn about but why does the torah spend so many pesukim telling us this nice tale? There is obviously so much more to Yaakov’s dream than meets the eye.

In the sefer Netivot Shalom one can learn about the great significance of this story. The sefer explains that we must first understand a bit about Yaakov’s background to fully understand this interesting dream. Yaakov was a man who only knew the four walls of the study hall; basically he learned torah day and night. This was supposed to be his task in life, to study torah to his hearts content all the days of his life. God did not intend for Esav to be a rasha. His mission in life was to go out in to the physical world to hunt, and fish etc. and elevate that. He was also meant to be in the “outside real world” and stay away from evil. Unfortunately Esav did not fulfill his mission and Yaakov saw what was happening. He realized that he had an obligation to not only fulfill his own mission in life, but to fulfill Esav’s as well. He therefore ventured out of the Beit Midrash and he had a dream….The dream was meant to tell Yaakov, do not worry, you can connect to Hashem wherever you are! Even though Yaakov would not be learning Torah every minute, he would be able to connect to Hashem through the outside world. Additionally, a fundamental part of Avodat Hashem is elevating all of the beautiful aspects of the physical world and connecting to G-d through them.

We see this example once again with Avrham Avinu. Avraham Avinu had ten tests, one more difficult than the next. The last test was buying Me'arat HaMachpela from Efron. It seems comical that this test would be right after Akeidat Yitchak, in which Avraham was asked to give his son as a sacrifice. Although this sacrificial offering was not actually given, the willingness to do so showed that Avraham had passed the test. In comparison to Akeidat Yitzchak, what was so difficult about buying Me'arat HaMachpela? Avraham was buying it from Efron who was not exactly an honest person, yet he was extremely careful to act with honesty and dignity. It is often easier to pass tests that make a big “shebang”, but in our day to day encounters, it is often difficult to act in a proper way.

A person has to recognize that we do not only connect to Hashem through sitting and learning all day. We can connect to Hashem through every day challenges. When we speak nicely to someone who is not treating us as they should, or we are honest even when our reputation is at stake, that is a golden opportunity to connect with Hashem!

Shabbat Shalom

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Mazal Tov!               

Mi SheBerach List

We have started a new list. Please email midmoriah@gmail.com if there is a name you would like to add.  

Names added this week:

For complete 5772 list, please go to: http://midreshetmoriah.com/alumnae/?id=464