Oleh oleh, oleh oleh

On Tuesday we went to Ben Gurion airport to Greet people who made Aliyah! We made posters the night before and then flooded the terminal with seminary girls and tons of singing. It was like the Nefesh bNefesh video in real life! I cry every time (type into YouTube Nefesh BNefesh - come back) 

I love watching people unite with their families!!!!!!!

Since we were in Tel- Aviv (omg so got there) we toured a bit and ate by the water. 

Great trip 👍👍

Shabbat by Lauren

First of all I didn't realize my Shmot blog didn't go through last week so sorry

Last Shabbat was great! We were six girls staying by our Rakezet, Lauren. We got an empty apartment down the block so we had great accommodations. I love going there for Shabbat. It's Lauren, her husband and their two daughters who are like 3 and 1. They live In Ramat Eshkol and their building it's swarming with little kids just running around. They walk into any apartment and talk to whoever is there. Like little kids were popping in all Shabbat just to say hey or get a snack. 

At the dinner table Lauren's husband Issachar Dov (or Kevin) shares a Halacha בן אדם לחברו every week. This week it was about greeting everyone you meet with a pleasant face. You should be constantly smiling when you see people and you should try to be the first one to say hi. Nice

They also read this book called What If? It basically gives you a situation and asks you what to do. 

• A man jokingly tells his friend to microwave an etrog to make it ripen quickly - who is responsible for the damage?
• A surgeon learns a new technique from a presentation, without paying the entrance fee. May he use that technique, or is it stealing?
• A mother doesn't want to reveal her child's illness, thus keeping people from praying for him. Is that permitted?

It's stuff like that. So much fun. 

(Lauren I know you read my blog sometimes so hey, your food was great!!!!)

Saturday was chill. The second after lunch was mincha and then a second after that was seudat shilishit and right after that was havdala. It was all so quick!!

It was a good one. I got to read some of my (signed!!) Jonothan Sacks book. It's called Covenant and Conversation. It's about Sefer Shmot and it goes through it Parasha by Parasha with insights you've never seen before. Def recommend it! Not an easy read but it's great

Kk peace

Millie 

שמות

My DT isn't typed up yet so here's my friends...

Enjoy!

In this weeks parsha Shemot, Moshe Rabeinu asked Hashem why he causes bad things to happen to the Jewish people. We learn from the Gemara that Hashem says It's chaval what He's lost! Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov never complained about what He did! Yet here Moshe complains at the first thing that's tough! The Gemara says that Moshe was punished after as he was questioning the middot of Hashem. 

Later on in the parsha, Rashi comments on the incident where Moshe kills the Mitzri. 

Rashi says that on that day Moshe decides to go outside he saw the affliction with the Jews, and witnessed an Egyptian hitting a Jew. We learn that Moshe looked both ways to ensure no other Egyptians were around. He saw no other man around and so he then hit the mitzri. Moshe then goes outside the next day and sees two Jews hitting each other! He walks up to them and upon seeing Moshe they ask him, are you going to kill us like you killed that mitzri? In the next pasuk we read that Moshe got scared the matter was now known. Immediately following, the 3rd passuk reads that Pharoah knew what happened. 

Yet pshat clearly writes that Moshe was careful to make sure that no one could see him! How does this make sense? 

The Chofetz Chaim explains that as there were no Egyptians around, it must've been Jews who saw and told Pharoah. This is such a powerful idea, when Moshe says the matter is now known, he wasn't talking about being scared that Pharoah found out! Moshe now realizes the answer to his question, it was the Jews talking about other Jews that caused bad things to happen to them. 

This message is really important; the lack of unity between the Jews can destroy. 

May we all help bring achdus in Klal Yisrael and help others to do so too....!

Shabbat shalom! 

Ariella :)

My own input- What I get out of this is the importance of guarding your tongue. Lashon Hara is one of the most powerful weapons a person could use. The Chofetz Chaim has written a lot on this subject. Personally, I've been reading his "page a day" book since I was 16 and it really helps you realize how dangerous speaking badly about people is and how go stop or ateady refrain. It's one of the hardest things to stop but hopefully we will remember to think about this weeks Parasha next time were about to say something 

SNOW ❄️⛄️❄️⛄️❄️⛄️❄️⛄️

Hey guys I know I haven't posted for a few days...it's been crazy

Last Wed, as you probz saw on the news, it snowed. Then it snowed again. We had a foot in a half. Most of my school was stuck in for Shabbat. The caterer couldn't come deliver since the roads were blocked so we had to cook ourselves. People waited on line to GET IN to the grocery store and then bought out the whole thing. We made bags and bags of frozen shnitZel, strong beans, deli roll etc. obv I had my own grilled chicken on the side with my roasted veggies. 

It was a great bonding opportunity. We all cooked together and ate together. No real administration was around except for our madrichot who I give so much credit to for being so organized and on top of things. We had a lot of singing and a shiur. Classic midmo "in Shabbat" except we really did it all ourselves. It was so nice to see everyone pull together. 

Anyways the whole week we were basically stuck in. I stayed indoors from thurs morning straight till Sunday night. Not a step outside. And when I did leave, I wondered why I did and I basically froze my toes off. Hailing a taxi for 45 min isn't exactly the warmest activity. Some great stories from that night. 

I was getting some cabin fever so the second the trains were back up and running I left for the gym. It was the best hour of my week. 

Throughout the week we watched tons of movies and spent a lot of time in the beit Midrash. Totally milked the free time thing. We had no school because since the country never gets snow, they don't have plows and therefore the roads were closed. None of our teachers made it to school. We had a few classes on Skype which was cool. 

It was really an experience of a lifetime. 

I saw so many people help eachother. People pushing cars out, hosting eachother when the power went out, etc. That's Israel for ya. 

משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם

פרשת ויחי

This weeks Parasha is Vayechi. Jacob is about to die so he talks to all of his sons individually and gives them blessings. 

First up is Reuven. Jacob tells Reuven .....

He's the oldest and the strongest and he's up these BUT hes פחז כמים. He has "water-like impetuosity." In English, this means that he didn't think before he acted. It was one mistake that led him to lose his national leadership. He was hasty and reckless. Rashi says that he acted like flowing waters that rush in any direction and don't think about the consequences. Therefore, אל-תותר- you cannot be foremost. Jacob flat out tells Reuven, his oldest son, that he doesn't deserve to serve in the superior positions that were designated for him. 

תרגום יונתן says that since he sinned the birthright was given to Joseph, the Kingship 

to Judah, and the priesthood (כהונה) to Levi. 

It's crazy how he lost so much from one little act. In Parashat Vayishlach it says ....

Reuven interfered with his fathers affairs. He moved his father, Jacobs bed to Leah's tent. (This is a Rashi- in the פשט it says "וילך ראובן וישכב את בלהה- which can be interpreted differently) His intentions were good. He didn't want his dad to sleep with his maidservant before his mother. So listen, we know how important כי יד אב ואם  is and we wouldn't think that someone like Reuven would do something to violate it. However, even minor sins of great people are judged with great gravity. 

This whole situation is totally relatable to our lives today. We really need to think before we act. Each and every one of our decisions can have such a huge reward or consequence. We live in an instant gratification society and sometimes we don't think our choices through. We have to take into accounts the possible ramifications of our actions. We have to use the free will we were blessed with wisely and make sure we don't stray from the path of who we are/ want to be. It's crazy how a mistake that takes a second to make can ruin so much of what you have going for you. It's all because we didn't stop and think about what we were about to do. I'd like to believe, personally, that if Reuven stopped before moving the bed to think about the possible ramifications of his action, he would of stopped in his tracks and  not done it. 

So the next time you're about to bash your friend behind her back, talk back to your parent, chest on your test, or even pig out at 1am, stop and think. I feel like these are all situations that people can be found in, naturally, but they don't always THINK before their final decision.

Shabbat Shalom!

Carmel Spa

ASMFKDKGHJKL IT WAS BEAUTIFUL 

The food was amaaaaazing. We went to all these workout classes and a meditation class. I got a massage and facial, chilled in the Jacuzzi, steam room, sulfur bath, and sauna. It was just so relaxing. There isn't much to say cuz I mostly just read and stuff but it was amazing like everyone's just walking around in robes and slippers! That's it! 

Also there was a Beatles tribute band one night which I enjoyed thoroughly. 

Us in a Jazz Room. I felt like an old person. 

On Saturday night I was glad it was over because at the end of the day, I stink at doing nothing. Like I love being productive and when I'm not, I feel like I'm missing something. However, personal this was a good Shabbat for reflecting. Much needed and I RECOMMEND THIS HOTEL TO ALL OF YOUUU

Saying bye to momma was hard but I know it's for the best

Peace 

Mommaaa

The day I've been looking forward to since I got here. Mommaaaas comin

So Brenda and I decided to surprise our moms at Ben Gurion Airport. So happy I did that! We were standing there with our balloons for an hour with so much excitement. 

When they finally came out from baggage claim we started jumping. It was like a movie if you play it in slow motion. Anyways it was great to reunite. It got a little bit emotional lol. Momma and I took a taxi to the Citadel to check in. It felt like I saw her yesterday. Mommy brought me tons of food and clothes. We had a list of emails going on for a while with stuff I miss 

Here's a fraction of the food haaaa

Ok so there was a Hanukkah Chagiga going on at my school so I dragged my mom there. We rekuded and kumsitzd and mommy got to meet a lot of my teachers. After showing mom my dorm and unpacking some of my goodies  we went to Kedma, a restaurant on a roof in Mamilla which overlooks the old city 

S'cute (do people still say that?)

Monday- so we enjoyed the Citadel breakfast. Like a lot. Then we took a taxi to school. It's a thing to bring your parents to class so that's what I did. For lunch we went to Beit Hakerem which is a really nice shopping center across the street from my school. It's soooo convienient. We ate at cafe Hillel got some frogurt and shopped. (Classic us all summer long)

After one more class mom got jet lag and took a nap in my bed 

I wanted to give my mom the real experience of being Millie so we took the train to the shuk

So squishy. 

Mom LOVED Machane Yehuda. And she loves cauliflower 

We made some nice memories over there. After dropping our bags off by the hotel, we went to the Kotel for Arvit. The Old City was paaaaacked. 

I know this picture isn't crowded but trust me it was. It was so weird going to the Kotel with Mommy because I get to go every week ברוךה׳ but it was a once in a while thing for Momma. 

We taxid straight to Agas Vetapuach (amazing restaurant with gluten free pasta) to meet my friends for dinner. Yeah so it's a thing to take your daughters friends out to dinner so we did that. The food was siiiiick. Momma and I went to Town after to buy every souvenir shop basically. Funny cuz I haven't walked into those stores all year haha

Tues- brought Momma to school again. We went to a few Shiurim In the morning. After that we met Sheila and Brenda and Dafna for lunch at the Old Tachana. 

we ate at Fresh Kitchen. Recommended.  Get the warm green sald with Tofu. So cute cuz my Mom, Sheila and Dafna were a crew in highschool and they still are! 

Momma and I chilled by the vendors and bargained. We got a Gorgous mezuzah for the house in Bk

This is us with the lady we bargained with haha. She makes stuff out of glass and incorporates Kabbalistic symbolism. Very cool. 

We went to Dafna to light Chanukia with the fam afterword. It was so nice to see each kid make their Brachot one at a time and then light. I played some dreidel with Michael and won a twizzler. Go me. 

Dinner was at Black Burger. It was Momma, me, Brenda and Sheila. After enjoying my sirloin steak we went to the Kotel (second night in a row! ברוךה׳) for a meaningful Arbit. 

Wed -momma and I went to Tel Aviv. We hung out on the Namal which is a promenade on the water 

We walked around and stuff. Yeah. We had a late lunch at CafeCafe with my moms cousin ish relative. It's cool that we have family here. 

We went to Nevei Tzedek which was an excellent call. It was like soho. 

We dug it. Got some cool handmade leather bracelets. We went to the Old Tachana (the Tel Aviv one) to cap off our night in town. 

Back in Jerusalem we had Citadel sushi. 

Food was probs a highlight of this trip. Loljk love you mom. 

So Thursday morning we went to town to buy souvenirs before checkout. Then we began our journey to THE CARMEL SPA IN HAIFA. 

Continued in next post

Parashat Vayigash

Crazy week! Here's a Dvar Torah from my friend Ariella Prais...

Parshat Vayigash

With greatest thanks to Rav K,

In this weeks parsha the Sfat Emet noticed the difference between the way the children of Yaakov are mentioned as opposed to the children of Esav. 

The Torah tells us that Yaakov went down to Egypt with “shivim Nefesh” seventy soul(s). The word Nefesh is in the singular. While counting the descendants of Esav the Torah speaks about Nefashot – souls in the plural. The Sfat Emet comments that this is the secret of the Galut and the Geulah. The Jewish people went into Galut as one – with achdut - together. The purpose of this galut was to create the Jewish Nation – the multitudes of Jews that would come out of Egypt – again not individuals alone but with achdut – togetherness. The Sfat Emet goes on to comment that even though the Jewish people are compared to Stars that is because each individual has their particular shlichut to perform. There is nothing wrong with individuality or with differences. In fact the differences between individuals is put there by Hashem, as each of us has our own mission- but we need to work together to survive the galut and eventually to attain and maintain the geulah.

​This idea is found not only at the end of the Parsha but throughout. When Yehudah and Yosef meet with each other and go “head to head” the Midrash compares them to 2 kings who are “avru yachdav” that eventually work together. In fact when we look at the haftorah from Yechezkel we see that Yechezkel is told by Hashem to take 2 branches and write on one Yehuda and Bnei Yisrael and on the other Yosef / Ephraim and Yisrael. Hashem then tells Yechezkel to put the 2 branches together and they will miraculously form one branch!! This seems to be foretelling the future Geula will be when Bnei Yisrael form one unit.

What is the secret of getting to this unity that is so lacking in our generation? This also is found in our Parsha. When Yosef reveals himself to Binyamin they fall on each others necks and cry. Rashi explains that Yosef was crying for the 2 destructions of the Temple that happened in the chelek of Binyamin. Whereas Binyamin cried about the destruction of Shilo that happened in the chelek of Yosef. However, each knew about their “own” destruction as well! So why did this not bother them? 

A Chassidic Rebbe explained that they were each crying not for themselves but for the other. They cared about the others problems more then their own. This is the secret of Jewish Unity and the Yeshuah from the galut – when we care about the other more than we care about ourselves. When we focus on the other person’s pain more than on our own. 

In todays day, it may be hard to focus on Jewish Unity, we just have to keep reminding ourselves what Klal Yisrael is really about and what we should really focus on....

Shabbat Shalom

Ariella :)

Shabbat in

On Friday I got to go to Alison's brother, Harry Tawils bar mitzvah. It was beautiful! It was on the roof of Beit Shmuel which overlooks parts of the old city. The minyan was on the roof which was really stunning. 

The crane ruins it? I was thinking the same thing. But listen to what the rabbi had to say about it... He said that were so lucky to have the זכות (merit) to be able to witness Hashem rebuilding Jerusalem in order to get ready for the coming of Mashiach. Beautiful way to look at the situation. I kind of felt bad in the beginning that all of this construction was going on during their bar mitzvah but once the rabbi pointed this out, watching that crane move back and forth got me so excited. 

Anyways, it was a magnificent party, great speeches, amazing food, and even better people. 

It was so refreshing to be surrounded by people from the community. I really felt like I was at home. This really made going back to school hard for me. 

I was getting ready for Shabbat when I realized that ALL of my friends were with their parents at hotels this weekend. It was such a rotten feeling to know that I'm stuck In school for Shabbat while everyone else was together. FOMO to the MAXXXXX. Kabbalat Shabbat was so emotional for me. I couldn't deal with the Ashkenaz minyan. I miss Shaare Shalom like CRAZY. I got to hear a normal Syrian minyan for the first time in months on Friday morning and then I had to go hear the one that I'm not used to. I actually went into shock. I just wanted to be back with my fellow community members. Knowing that everyone was on Davod e st just killed me. I felt trapped in school and it's even worse because my Mom (hey mom) is coming tomorrow and I had to just sit and wait it out. (I had permission to leave to the hotels whenever I wanted but no one had a solid plan so I couldn't meet them)

Anyways, I probably didn't miss out on much. I got to learn a solid amount of Torah this Shabbat, so in the end it was worth it. 

It's really so important to make the best out of these situations. So I did. 

Have a great week people!

Parashat Miketz

In this weeks Parasha, Pharoh had a dream. 

This juxtaposes Yaakovs dream from a previous Parasha 

In Pharos dream it tells us where he is standing, which is by the Nile (which is their God) Someone worships Avodah Zara stands over their "God". In Yaakovs dream, Hashem is standing on top of the ladder.  Their Avodah Zara takes on all sorts of forms and shapes and they do whatever they want. Man was created in the image of God. God wasn't created in the image of man.

Just a quick thought 

Shabbat Shalom! 

Last weekend

Sorry this is so late but it's been crazy here between learning, planning a chanuka party, a fundraiser, (and having a social life) I had like no time to write 

But anyways last week Jen called me and invited me to one of her teachers for Shabbat, so I went. It was in Beit Shemesh which is beautiful! There are parks everywhere, like a lot of parts of Israel. So we took the kids to play 

They're all red heads. Adorable!

Anyways the host and hostess were great. Mr. And Mrs. Hauchauser (probably spelled that wrong sorry)

The food was excellet 👌

We had some convos about the Parasha until we found out that the host teaches dating classes. That's when the subject changed. Hahaha. Classic sem girls asking a teacher about dating. 

Anyways Jen and I stayed up ligit till 3am talking but we got up for shul anyways. 

The whole afternoon we just walked the streets of Beit Shemesh which is great because I love seeing where I am. I love seeing as much as Israel as I can. 

So yeah. It was really a cute weekend 

Stay tuned 

פרשת וישב slash I went on a tangent about my love for shabbat

Shalommmmm

Here's a quick idea from the Parasha that I feel like sharing with ya people in Eretz America. 

So in this weeks Parasha Vayeshev, it says 

(After Joseph told them his dreams In Which they bowed down to him)

Why does it say שמר?

Rashi says he was looking out. There were 11 stars in Joseph's dream. It's a prophetic dream signaling Hashem's plan  to bring about fulfillment of ברית בן הבתרים

Another opinion is that we use the word שומר to know if someone is a religious Jew who keeps Halacha. In order to find out if someone is religious we ask of they're Shomer Shabbat. What does it mean? That he observes it properly and everything? Nope. It means that he looks forward to Shabbat. We should be doing everything correctly but we should be looking forward and so excited. We don't do it to say we do it. We do it because we love it. 

This is my little rant now...

Shabbat is really the best. Every week we celebrate our eternal anniversary with Shabbat. We should care about it and love it just as much as a husband loves his wife.

 

It's not the Jews that keep Shabbat, it's Shabbat that keeps the Jews.

Yeah. Let that sink in. 

 

Shabbat gives us the ability to have clarity (if you do it right!) It's really such a spiritual day. You can keep Shabbat fully with every Halacha and you may not feel the resonating אור in your soul. You can miss the whole fundamental thing. Hashem blessed the seventh day. When we turn around in shul on Friday night and say בואי כלה, בואי כלה were welcoming in Hashem- not Shabbat. Were supposed to be thinking about ourselves and our relationship with Hashem. We need to prepare for shabbat. We need to let go of the physical and get to the spiritual. Use your ערב שבת the right way. Were dealing with the physical all week so we need Shabbat to let go, be spiritual, and think. If you do Shabbat correctly, you get אור

Thanks for reading through this 

Have a meaningful Shabbat 

Millie  

Masadaaaaa

So we climbed Masada today. It was chill. 

We learned a lot about the history of this place. In short, we fought the Romans, we lost, and we committed suicide. 

Herod built these palaces on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. We usually see Herod as a great builder but he was really such a horrible man. He built these palaces because he knew people would want to kill him. They say you had a better chance of surviving if you were his pig rather than his child. Why, you may ask? Because the man killed 13/15 of his kids. 

Most tour guides show their group all of Herods stupid bath houses where he sat and filed his nails thinking about which Jews to kill tomorrow. Thankfully my tour guide had a good head on his shoulders and he taught us about what really went on. The tour was long and rough (really sad stories) but here's a thought that really stuck with me. 

So 70 years after Herod built this whole thing on top of Masada, Jews went up there to hide. 

They needed Mikvehs which is what you see in the picture above. You see the pretty mosaic floor in the middle? That was built by Herod. The Jews broke right into it in order to build the Mik. They broke into the physical to get in touch with the spiritual. Today in this day and age we get so distracted with the physical that we don't even stop for a second and think about what we really want for ourselves. We have to take a break off of the physical and have that spiritual time to think. (Sorry if I sound like a hippie- it sounded better in my head)

This was a powerful message for me and I hope you can all take away from it. 

There's a lot more to be said but I don't want to bore you guys.

After hiking down we stopped for a while to wait for it to get dark out for the next part of our Tiyul. 

These are sooo edited but I just wanted you to see where I was in the dark. We hiked (or walked) (or scaled a mountain) in the pitch black night. We sat down at one point and sang while our tour guide played guitar. We got glow sticks which was cute. A good time to reflect. So up my alley. Really great way to end our trip

Peace out everyone

Have a great week! 

😄

P.S. Happy birthday to Norman and Adele Greenberg and Jeanne Franco!  Wish I was there to celebrate with all of you. Ad 120 😘

Flatbush seminar??

This weekend my Gemara teacher from highschool invited some Flatbush kids over for Shabbat Lunch. (She just made Aliyah)  Ms. Anzaroot, duh

So we had ten girls sleeping in Brovenders on Friday night. It was amazing! I was expecting a chill weekend full of sleeping but it was really so meaningful. We all came together and set up a whole meal. I had the honor of making Kiddush and Liba made hamotzei. WE HAD KIBBEH

okay so one reason why I loved this meal was because (we didn't realize this until after) but we didn't talk about anything non Torah related for the whole meal. Afterword we went around the table giving Divrei Torah and discussing our opinions and interpretations. May I remind you that we were under no supervision at this meal and no staff member from the seminary was prompting this. I am proud to say I sat at a table of Flatbush graduates and we elevated the table to a table of Hashem. We sang some zmirot before we got up to chill upstairs.

.......

We all got up for shul in the morning and then walked to Ms. Anzaroots apartment. My counselor from ILEAD Janice Mizrahi was there too- they're good friends. So were Elliot Shalom and Ariel Shammah because Elliot's her cousin.  It was so nice to be all together. Lunch consisted of Lachmegene, (I don't know how but my autocorrect just suggested the spelling) and medias. Some classic Shabbat staples. We chilled for a while until we went back to Brovs to read and relax before havdalah (which was done by Ariel) 

I love our independence. Such a great Shabbat. 

Week in review

Had a pretty exciting week here 

Went to The Kotel alone on Sunday night. I recommend this to everyone. Go for an hour (after 10pm when it's not to crowded) with your phone off ALONE. 

 Went to go see Doctor Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks speak at the Great Synogague on Tuesday night. Basically my whole school went so we were excised from classes. He spoke about Kiddush Hashem. He's amazing. Such a smart man! He really blew me away. I love how modern and down to earth he is. I bought one of his books after and got it signed 

I was standing right behind him for a solid 10 minutes waiting to get it signed. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity. My British friends thinks it's hilarious because they see him all the time 

So we had a Henna party on Wednesday 

School hired a Teimani woman (yeah, fr Teiman) to come teach us about this party. Basically she taught us the history behind it and the culture. We learned the dances and got costumes

Afterwords we basically reenacted a henna party. 'Twas fun. I love learning about all of these different Jewish traditions that I've never heard of. 

This morning (Friday) I went to Tel Aviv with some friends to run a 5k for Yachad. Time was 24:59- I Think it was my fastest. 

Great time. 

Excited for a relaxing weekend phew

Peace out friends 

Parashat Vayishlach

This week we read פרשת וישלח. In perek לב pasuk ו we see that Esav came out to Yaakov with 400 men

And Yaakov was scared 

Why does it say ויירא and also ויצר לו? Rashi said that it's repetitive because one one hand he was scared he'd get killed and on the other hand he was scared that he'd have to kill someone else.

Golda Meir said, we can forgive the Arabs for anything in order to make peace. Anything except for making our children fighters.

One more thought...

Yaakov said קטנתי. I am not worthy or I have been diminished, I am little, I don't deserve to...

Yaakov had such great humility. He was as modest in the sense that he recognized that everything he does is because of Hashem. He helps you with everything you do. 

I kept it short this week but if you want some more insight on this weeks Parasha here's my teachers...Rav Jason Knapel

Here is an idea from this week that I heard many years ago:

Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi would learn this weeks Parsha every time he had negotiations with someone from outside the Jewish World (we are talking governmentt leaders such as a Romans) because in this Parsha we have the historic battle between good and evil or Yaakov and Esav. It's interesting to note that Esav comes with four hundred men – a rather large number to overpower Yaakov and his eleven sons, not all of whom were full grown. Esav was no slouch of a fighter as we see from his development. Why so many? It may have been in order to overwhelm and if need be wipe out Yaakov. This is one method that the Esav's of the world use against Bnei Yisrael and we have seen the results of the destruction (Hitler used a whole war machine against the tiny Jewish people). But we also see a second idea; when he meets Yaakov in the end he does not apply force rather he hugs him. The hug is telling. If he could not destroy Yaakov and Bnei Yisrael through arms he would apply the other method – by keeping him close, by making him a friend, by loving him so that he assimilates from Yaakov into something else. We see this might be the reason why Esav wants Yaakov to accompany him as he leaves and why Yaakov gets out of it in such a flimsy way – he realized that this wasn’t a kind offer but another attack against him, more subtle but just as deadly.

We have seen this approach as well and none better than in modern society where once the enlightenment happened the Jews were welcomed with open arms as long as they did not stand apart. This method has been more affective than the first one as we are in the process of losing millions of Jews within the next two generations without a single bullet being fired.

Something to think about…

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Knapel

Ramat Eshkol

This weekend was absolutely nuts. I could really just keep on talking about it for hours. 

Our school is divided into 2 groups. There are two learning coaches, or rakazot, that help us achieve our goals and learn properly. My Rakezet, Lauren had our group of 30 girls split up into different apartments in the area to sleep in. We were also placed into homes for Shabbat lunch. So first of all let me say how nervous I was going into this. I was going through my closet trying on shirts with the highest necklines and trying on skirts that I wouldn't normally wear. (ברוךה׳ I ended up with pretty solid outfits- tzniut and fashion wise). I was scared I wouldn't be able to act myself around people. What shook me up the most was the fact that we couldn't even buy our host a cake from the bakery down the block because the people in Ramat Eshkol hold a really high standard of Kashrut. So we got them a plant. When we got to our hosts house we were sooooo relieved. (My friend Lizzie and I) The family was so excited to have us. They were totally down to earth and their kids were adorable. After "schmoozing" (girls love that word, yeah I dunno) we figured out that I'm friends with one of the hostesses cousins in Brooklyn. Small world no?! Well, sma Jewish world. 

Rebecca and I went to shul at a Sephardic one where my friend Joey Pinchas also happened to be praying (I found this out on Saturday night). 

Dinner was by Lauren and her husbands apartment. The food was awesome. I gave a dvar Torah (similar to the one I posted Friday) Her husband is so cool. I Everyone's husbands have been amazing so far. 

After dinner was when I experienced what was highlight of Shabbat for me. 

The first speaker we went to was a woman named Jen. She told us about her life. In a nutshell, she was from New Jersey and she was never religious. She had it all going on. A great job with a big fat paycheck but she decided to let it go for religion. She got married to her wonderful husband and together they moved to Israel and had four daughters. Everything seemed to be going well until her husband was diagnosed with Lukemia. After a year and a half of battling it out, prayers, phone calls, visits, treatments and tears,they lost. 

I can't do Jen justice by trying to retell her story but her message was powerful. She really made me think about my life in a way I never have before. I had such clarity with my thoughts it was as if I was a new person. She went on and on about how life is what you make it and about taking what you have, good or bad, and embracing it. Living in the moment. 

At the end of Jens story, she got remarried and had another baby. She lives in Ramat Eshkol and is living a normal happy life. 

"Your experiences shape you but more importantly, you shape your experiences"

After hearing her speak and asking a bunch of questions, we walked to Meah Shearim which is a super frum community. There were signs all over warning women that they must me dressed modestly in order to walk down the streets. The signs had specific instructions on what to wear. Something I didn't even know existed. 

We went into a shul to see some tish with a Lebovitch Rabbi. It was hard kg relate to you. The woman's sections was nothing. We were on a balcony with sound proof windows that were mirrors on the other side so the men couldn't see us. Looking into the men section all I saw was a rabbi praying at a table. On his left and right were his followers. They were all admiring him in their black hats and streimels. The whole thing was just foreign to me. We left after about 5 minutes. 

Our final stop for the night was the Chassidish Rabbis daughter. Her name is Bashi. I'm not sure exactly how it works but basically her dad is the Cheif Rabbi of some sect of Chassidut. We got to her house at 11:30pm and she was up with her little baby. Her accent was so think and her English was broken but she encouraged us to ask her anything we wanted about her community. We covered everything from women shaving their heads, men guarding their eyes from femals, (anti)Zionism, men spitting on untsnius women in the street, to how dating (okay it's totally not dating) works. These people basically live in a bubble of Torah, mitzvot and simcha. It's such a different lifestyle. These guys are the real deal. This is as hard core as it gets and this opportunity to ask questions to the utmost epitome of a Chassidish women was once in a lifetime (actually, she's having some of my friends over next week. She loves Ramaz girls) 

One thing that drove me nuts is that they don't follow the news at all whatsoever. 

The biggest thing for me was how she met her husband. Her Father, a huge Rabbi knew him from his father. They met for 20 minutes and got engaged on the spot. They didn't see eachother for eight months and then got married. She said her marriage is great and she wishes this method on all of her children. She even told us that Her husband doesn't know if she's ugly or not because he never seen what another woman looks like before. 

I know this is absurd but it's extremely important not to judge them. They're also Jews. They just live a really really different life. There are so many details I left out cuz I don't wana drag it out...

Saturday was great. I ate by Lauren's sister. She and her husband were amazing and so was the food. We had great stimulating conversations about the Parasha. (Her husband is a teacher at Torat Shraga so it makes sense that we were obsessing over his ideas) 

After lunch we went back to Lauren to chill and have seudat shlishit. Lauren had some really interesting friends over. Her friend Rachel is a convert to Judaism. She's straight up from Taiwan. She moved to LA when she was 16. She graduated college and worked so hard for her fat paycheck. Long story short she met her husband, a not relig Israeli at a night club. He wanted to marry a Jew so she looked into it and fell in love. Rachel and her husband openly told us their story and answered our questions. They are crazily passionate about Judaism. It was SO inspiring. 

One of the best Shabbats so far. It was so thought provoking. I didn't even get everything down on here. So many ideas were discussed. That's for my jour al though 😉

Till next time

פרשת ויצא

Heyyyy so this weeks Parasha is Vayetzeh. It starts off with this pasuk in perek כח, 28...

Rashi has a problem with this. He said that the Torah has no reason to say ויצא. After looking into it, he said that it comes to teach us that when a good person leaves his community, the whole city feels it. If you're someone that gives a lot to your community then you will be important and people will look up to you. When making plans for the future, have in mind that you could be something big. 

So when Yaakov gets tired, he finds some rocks, puts them around him and uses some other rocks as a pillow. That night he has a dream. He sees a ladder with angels going up and down. Yea yeah yeah we learnt this stuff in first grade. Okay let's move on

When he wakes up from his sleep, he declares that Hashem is with him. What? Did he not know?

אנכי- If you want to find Hashem and make a connection, you have to disconnect from yourself. You can't only be thinking of you and your needs. This is Yaakov basically discovering Hashem. He named this place בית-אל. 

This city was called לוז, (Looz) before he changed it. Why? Looz was (according to the Gemara) famous for an acorn tree at the entrance. That's it. That what was special about it. His being there transformed this "shanty town" into a "house of God" He makes the Loozers (LOL) into בית-אל in a transformation. 

I know this is out of order but back in pasuk יב 

We have this symbolic dream. This isn't what you leaned in first grade....

The ladder was מצב, firmly planted in the ground. If your ראש, head, is מגיע שמימה you will elevate everything. When your feet are firmly planted in this world you will have more clarity of vision and you can better emulate Hashem. 

The מלאכים, angels, were going up and down the ladder. What does this mean? Well the word מלאכים also means messenger. Everyone in this world is a מלאך in everyone else's lives. The way you connect to the world is with interaction with fellow humans. If we appreciate this, they will come down the ladder to give us opporitinites to do good and therefore bring us up the ladder. 

Be aware of the angels in your life. 

Shabbat Shalom!