“כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר ה’ מירושלים” NEWS & VIEWS e-mitzion Dear Students, Alumni, The official newsletter of Midreshet HaRova Parents and Friends, Pesach 5771 So much has happened since I last wrote just before Chanuka. Baruch Hashem, the year has so far been excellent. We sadly Contents: bade farewell to last year’s MTA and happily said hello to a new MTA who have settled in to the intense learning program of the Midrasha magnificently. We News and Views have a full group of prospective Northern Hemisphere students for the coming year, including students Dvar Torah from England, Germany, Holland, Canada and the United States (as well as our current South African and Poland Trip 5771 Australian students), and it looks like we will have an impressive group of Shana Bet students too. Zionism Seminar 5771 As you will read further on, our Choir was awarded first place in the Kedma competition performing a song Competitions – Choir and Art composed by our very own Avital Hoschander, and Rachel Sterman (who was also very involved in the Letter from a Student choir’s success) received second place in the Yeshiva University art competition. Images from Purim Mazal Tovs and Announcements This year a record 67 Midrasha students participated giving. In those terrible days of shiva, the acts of Rami in our yearly journey to Poland, whilst the remaining Levi stood out to remind us how good a human being 44 students took part in our highly successful Zionist can be. The Kiddush Hashem reaches the skies. Rami Seminar run by Rabbis Shames, Susman and Yonatan Levi is the truest Jewish answer to fundamentalist together with Yona Fish. terrorism; the Jewish answer is not to become like them, Heaven forbid, but to be the antithesis of them. As we approached the month of Our objective in life is to constantly Adar we naturally anticipated a Man has choice - he choose to be human beings, and never month of celebration only to be can choose to murder to revert to animal behavior. If we have shell-shocked by the terrorist attack to emulate them in order to survive in Itamar and the consequent bomb in cold blood or he can then perhaps, dare I say, survival is not attack by Binyanei Hauma. I have, in choose to give and worth it. Life is a means and not an a recent article, already related to the ends. If, in order to live, we reject all unimaginable horrors of Itamar, but never stop giving… the our values then we are no longer living I would like to take this opportunity Jewish answer is not in the true sense of the word. That is to tell of a heart-warming incident to become like them, what Chazal explain to us when they (related to me by Shira Baron, 5764) tell us that despite the importance and that occurred in the aftermath of Heaven forbid, but to be centrality of living a healthy life there these cold-blooded murders. the antithesis of them. are certain transgressions that, if forced As you may or may not know, there to perpetrate, we should rather die than is a rather formidable chain store in Israel called Rami do. We have survived 2000 years of exile because we Levi – Shivuk HaShikma. These supermarkets were have never lost the image of God in which we were established by Rami Levi who started his business from created, and by which we live our lives. scratch in a small shop in the shuk in Yerushalayim On the same subject, I received many emails from many years ago. During the Shiva, Rami Levi himself alumni after the murders in Itamar. One student arrived with food for the mourning families. When the forwarded me an email that she quite rightly family thanked him he explained that he intends to presumed I would like, and in essence I did. However, I keep bringing food to the orphans on a weekly basis was disturbed by an unnecessary use of words. It read until the youngest of them turns eighteen. When I something like this: read about this it simply brought tears to my eyes. The juxtaposition of wild animal behavior to pure human “Instead of posting videos and changing your statuses kindness left a deep impression on me. to express your frustrations, let’s actually make a real, concrete difference for the Fogel family!! It would be Invariably during our trips to Poland we focus on the nice to finish Shas Mishnayot during the shloshim for title of Primo Levi’s masterpiece, If This is a Man. As we the Fogel family.” travel through a country that is drenched in Jewish blood, we go out of our way not just to describe the The idea was phenomenal, and I hope it happened. crimes of the Nazis but to show the courage of the I am full of praise for those who initiated it and hope victims too. Man has choice - he can choose to murder that they continue to create such positive projects in in cold blood or he can choose to give and never stop the future in better circumstances. My problem was with the first line of the email – we often seem to have survival and cultivated the land. We are a nation of a need to promote a program by negating another, and learning and doing, and both have to be encouraged in most cases, it is totally unnecessary. Not everyone simultaneously. can pick up mishnayot and learn; not everyone feels the Let me conclude with a wonderful event that I was urge to say Tehillim. At a time when the world was rightly informed of recently by one of our bogrot: preoccupied with the enormous tragedies of Japan, I believe that there was a real need to explain to whoever “Deb and Simone David’s parents (Both sisters are may be listening what happened at Itamar. I never saw bogrot from Sydney who have made Aliyah) made aliya the videos, to be honest I don’t really today along with Mrs. David’s 93-year- know what a changed status is, but I The people of Israel are old father. All four David children live in applaud anyone and everyone who the people of the Book, Israel with three David grandchildren tried to do something to help. And it and following the passing of Mrs. but we are also the people encourages me to know that so many David’s mother a couple of months people care enough to scream out in who entered the Land of ago, Grandpa Adler (who was a outrage. Israel, fought for survival chalutz in ‘Palestine’ after the war) told Mrs. David that he wanted them all to As religious Jews, we need to take a and cultivated the land. move to Israel.” leaf out of the book of Chabad. We We are a nation of learning need to learn to encourage our fellow What a fantastic story! I am in awe of Jews. It is all too easy to criticize and doing, and both a man who, at the age of 93, picks and negate. Even in an ideal world have to be encouraged up his bags and moves to Israel from there needs to be a combination of Australia! As we approach the Chag Torah learning and Tehillim-saying simultaneously. of Pesach which is followed by Yom together with political activism. I am Ha’atzmaut, let us be sure to remember not even talking about convincing the nations of the we were brought out of Egypt for a purpose; we were world. I am relating to the hundreds of thousands of meant to receive the Torah and then proceed directly unaffiliated Jews who don’t even know what mishnayot to Eretz Yisrael. There was a slight delay in our plans, but are, but they spend (unfortunately) hours of their lives we made it eventually. As we all know there is only one on Facebook. For those of you working online I think real reality for Am Yisrael, and if a 93-year-old man can that you did do something concrete, and I thank you do it, then we all can do it. for that. A parent of one of our alumni posts pro-Israel Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, Be’Eretz Yisrael! information sometimes twice a day around the world but specifically in Washington; this is crucial. The people Chag Sameach VeKasher! of Israel are the people of the Book, but we are also David Milston the people who entered the Land of Israel, fought for Education through the Eyes of Leil HaSeder The following dvar Torah is from Rav not fall asleep.” It Milston’s upcoming two-volume series, was taught about Ki Va Moed, on the Chagim and Moadim. Rabbi Akiva [that] Publication, upon completion, will be he never said, “It is announced on the website. time to rise [cease study]” in the As we browse through the Haggadah, Chazal supply Beit HaMidrash, us with a number of extremely important suggestions except on the eve regarding education: of Passover and 1. The medium of curiosity the eve of the Day of Atonement. On the eve of Passover, “Why is this night different from all other nights? On all because of the children, so that they might not fall asleep other nights, we may eat leavened or unleavened bread; and on the eve of the Day of Atonement so they should tonight we must eat only matzah. On give food to their children.”1 all other nights, we may eat all kinds of If we can trigger I believe the four questions of vegetables; tonight we must eat bitter engagement and excitement Ma Nishtanah are the minimum herbs.