Dear Talmidot, Parents and Friends –

1)         Midreshet News – Becca Masin and Alana Weisstuch

2)         Faculty Dvar Torah – Rav Jason Knapel

3)         Mazal Tov

4)         Mi SheBerach

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Midreshet News

Becca Masin, Miami, FL, Shana Alef

Alana Weisstuch, Woodmere, NY, Shana Alef

This week was a great week at Midreshet! On Wednesday night we headed to Chaverei Masada, in the Masada area, for a night tiyul. We hiked in the moonlight with colorful glow sticks to lead our way. We even learned how to navigate by finding the North Star! We ended our hike with smores making and corn and potatoes cooked over the fire. YUM!

As part of the Shana Bet leadership program, Shana Bet went down south on Tuesday to Kiryat Gat with the OU on a solidarity trip. They helped the economy by doing some shopping, met with the mayor of the town and visited an after school program for kids from underprivileged homes. They had a great experience seeing communities outside of Jerusalem.

On Monday we went on the David Project tiyul. This trip was truly an eye opener. We traveled to East Jerusalem to meet with a Palestinian man to hear and better understand his view on the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and to discuss the specific issues in his area. During the second half of the day we met with a religious Zionistic Jew who lives in East Jerusalem amongst the Palestinians. He shared with us the importance of actively expressing our claim to the land by living in these neighborhoods. We could not help but to admire his bravery.

We are so looking forward to celebrating Chanukah in Jerusalem with our Midreshet family!! Tune in to the news next week to hear all about it….

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Chanukah Same'ach!

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An Inner Drive

Rav Jason Knapel

His whole life, Yosef must have felt like an outsider. His brothers treated him differently as did his father. In Egypt he was separate and distinct and even when he was second in command he was still different than the other Egyptians – he was always the man apart. We can assume that although lonely, his separation from the Egyptians, which after a time must have been self imposed, did not bother him. His separation from the Bnei Yaakov on the other hand must have bothered him very much. Is he still part of the Children of Yisrael? Can he still integrate with them? Will he be accepted?

At the point of his greatest test – the incident with Potiphar’s wife, he is saved by his seeing the face of his father, Yaakov Avenu. What was the power of seeing this image? I saw an interesting explanation a while ago – Yosef saw that if he committed this act he would be making the final break with the Bnei Yisrael and would not be accepted back in. This powerful idea was like a slap in the face – The thing that he always felt – not being a part of the Jewish people would come true not because of the brothers – but because of his giving in to this base desire. That realization was enough to help him conquer his yetzer and remain a true Ben Yisrael.

There are 2 other incidents in the Torah where groups were worried about being separated from the rest of the Jews. One is the case of those who were tamei around the Korban Pesach. They complained to Moshe asking why they would be separated from the rest of the Jews just because they were impure. This Korban that represents being a part of the Jewish people was so important to the tameiim that they begged to be included.The second case is B'not Tzlafchad whose father had died and they would not inherit his portion in the land. They begged Moshe to get their father’s chelek because they want to be a part of the rest of Klal Yisrael – they did not want to be separate.

Oddly enough, both cases have to do with Yosef: The people were tamei because they were carrying the bones of Yosef and B'not Tzlafchad were from Shevet Yosef.This lesson of Yosef and the inner drive to be part of the Jewish People is something we all need to increase with in us. We need on the first level to feel that WE ARE A CHELEK OF KLAL YISRAEL!  That is our origin and center and we need to feel the pain and joy of the rest of our nation as well– as a full member of the family. Also, we need to be loyal to the tenets and beliefs of our great people.

Hopefully we will all take the lesson of Yosef to heart as we wait to be reunited with the rest of our mishpacha, klal Yisrael in our home Eretz Yisrael.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rav K

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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:

 Bluma bat Chaya

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