We have begun our annual Od Yosef Chai campaign.  We have explained to our students the needs of poor families in Yerushalayim and the work that the Od Yosef Chai organization does to help them, not only at Purim, but also at Pesach and throughout the year. 

          MDS constantly gets requests to run fund-raising campaigns through our students.  Often they come with posters, prizes, and a lot of promotions.  We say 'no' most of the time, but for more than 15 years we have said 'yes' to Od Yosef Chai, not only because it is worthy but because it helps us to perform our own personal mitzvah of Matanot L'Evyonim properly, something that's not easy to do.  The money we contribute is distributed on Shushan Purim, which is the correct day for Jews in Yerushalayim.  Extra funds are used for Pesach supplies, fulfilling an additional mitzvah of 'Maot Chittim'. 

          I have explained to the students that this is a pure mitzvah, and the rewards are spiritual, not physical.  Educationally speaking, we would like to exceed last year's achievement - not necessarily in dollars but in participation.  We would like to see 100% participation.  The big checks are going to make a difference in people's lives. The additional smaller personal contributions of each student are what they are going to remember when they sit down to your Purim Seudah this year on Sunday, February 28^th.

               The deadline for your O.Y.C. campaign donation is FRIDAY February 26^th.  Thank you for your support.  May this Yom Tov season be one of simcha, mitzvah, nachat, and family warmth for you and yours.

           Our Chanukah care packages made in coordination with the Major Stuart Adam Wolfer Institute have travelled far around the world.  Here is a thank you note to our students from Sheldon Daitch, a Jewish former U.S. soldier now living in Kuwait:

 

           This is just a quick note to thank the students of Manhattan Day School for the recent packets of holiday goodies for the Jewish service members in Kuwait, sent in memory of Major Stuart Adam Wolfer.  There is a small group of active Jewish participants at Camp Afrijan, about 40 miles south of Kuwait City, who attend regular Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat services.  

            I am not an active duty service member in Kuwait, but I did retire from the Army Reserve after nearly 40 years of combined active duty and active Reserve service.  I live in Kuwait with my wife and daughter, and I am employed by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, as part of the US Embassy mission in the country.  We have been here about 18 months, and we anticipate being here for another two years or so.  I suspect I provide some of the continuity for the Camp Afrijan Jewish community, at least until I retire and depart the country.  Again, thanks to all the students at MDS for their letters and gift packs and the support to the Jewish troops in country.

            This week, kindergarten students enjoyed setting up a temporary "garden" in a plastic bag with a variety of seeds.  During class, we discussed the four things that all seeds need to start growing: water, air, warmth, and a good growing place.  Next week, the children will move the seedlings from the plastic bags and place them in soil pots to be brought home.

            Morah Felecie Akerman said: Mr. D. brought us a taste of Spring as K5A observed, touched and drew lima beans.  Mr. D introduced us to the various parts: the seed coat, the meat (seed's food), and the young plant.  Our children actually saw leaves, stems and roots beginning to grow in the baby plant. 

           The next week had our children planting many different seeds hydroponically. We hung them on a line in front of our windows so we could watch them sprout.  Mr. D. asked our children what seeds needed in order to grow.  Our children quickly answered sun, seeds, water and air.  They also mentioned soil but  Mr. D. responded that at this stage of the seeds' development, the seed did not need the soil.  But our children questioned Mr. D. saying that the seeds needed the soil for food.  Mr. D. asked them where else could the seeds get the food from.  They thought awhile and remembered last week's lima bean seed and its different parts.  They piped up and answered the seed itself!

Thank you for your participation in and support of the Limud Program!  Here are this week's dedications:

• Lois Liebowitz gave a silver sponsorship for the month of February in honor of Toby Reich. 

• Mazal tov to Julia Averbuch on the engagement of her son Chanan.
• Mazal tov to Rabbi Asher Heber on the engagement of his granson, Dov Ber Barber.
• Mazal tov to Jessica (NA1) and Herschel Joseph on the birth of Akiva Meir (picture taken by Tzippora Mizrahi)

• February 13         Grade 6 Bat Mitzvah Club meeting, 7:30-9:30 pm.  RSVP to Anne Samet.
• February 15         Presidents' Day; Rosh Chodesh Adar; No Sessions
• February 16         Author Douglas Florian to visit grades K-6
• February 16         Pesach candy forms due
• February 16         Middle School Bracha Bee (written test)
• February 16-19     No afterschool clubs; special ed transportation only
• February 17         For Parents: Bubbie and Zeidy chat at the Esplanade
• February 18         Rosh Chodesh Speaker
• February 19         Grades 1-8: Dress up for our Purim Carnival!
• February 21         Community Events: Uncle Moishy at the Jewish Center
• February 22-25    Terra Nova Tests, Grades 1-7
• February 25         Taanit Esther; 3:30 Dismissal; No afterschool clubs 
• February 26         Deadline for donating to Od Yosef Chai
• February 26         Grade 2 Chagigat HaChumash / Purim Play, 10 AM
• February 26         ECD Purim Celebration
• February 28         Purim!
• March 1               MDS Has Talent: Middle School Talent Show!
• March 3               Nursery 4 trip to Theatreworks play Click Clack Moo
• March 7               Family Fun Days: Meet the author of the Magic Tree House series! 
• March 12             Grade 1 Chagigat HaSiddur: 1A will star at 9 am; 1C will perform at 11 am 
• March 14             Annual Scholarship Dinner
• March 14             Community Flyers: Support a Soldier Day at Ramat Orah, 1-4 pm
• March 17             Parent-Teacher Conferences (by request only), 1:30-6:00 pm

• We are delighted to let you know about a brand new weekly chessed project, Zeidy and Bubby Chat at the Esplanade.  The group will next meet on Wednesday, February 17th, at 9:15 am
• Send Mishloach Manot to Israeli soldiers and earn 10% for MDS!
• Parents Tehillim group meets each morning at 8:15 am in the library
• We are continuing to collect cell phones in the lobby for the Major Stuart Adam Wolfer Cell Phone Drive.  These phones will be exchanged for calling cards which Jewish U.S. soldiers can use to call home. 
• Please label your childrens' clothing and other items.  We have a large lost and found for misplaced items.
• Thank you for keeping our school nut-free.

Potato and Tomato Gratin

Submitted by Marla Baum, mother of Jack (K5B) and Harrison (NA1)

Ingredients: 

4 to 5 cloves of garlic, finely minced                      1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsely

1-1/2 to 2 pounds large, ripe tomatoes, sliced 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick

1.  Preheat baking dish with oil in oven at 350.

2.  In a small bowl, mix together the garlic and parsely.

3.  Place a layer of 1/3rd of the tomato slices in the bottom of the dish.

4.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add a sprinkling of 1/4th of the garlic-parsely mixture and a spritz of olive oil.

5.  Place a layer of half of the potato slices and sprinkle with another spritz of oilve oil.

6.  Layer with half of the remaining tomatoes, some salt and pepper, half of the remaining garlic-parsely mixture and a drizzle of olive oil. 

7.  Top with all the remaining potato slices, then the remaining tomatoes, the remaining garlic-parsely mixture, salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. 

8.  Cover the dish and bake for 30 minutes until potatoes are cooked but not falling apart.  If after 30 minutes the potatoes are undercooked and there is not enough liquid in the pan from the tomatoes to cook them, add broth as needed.  If on the other hand there is too much liquid from the tomatoes, uncover the dish and cook uncovered until the liquids are absorbed.

Enjoy!  Email your recipe favorites to Lisa Gross and Sarra Schwartz for inclusion in future Messengers and our MDS cookbook!

1. (a) Why do Parashat Mispatim's civil laws follow Yitro (3 reasons)? (b) If an eved ivri (Jewish slave) refuses his freedom, why is the ritual to drill his ear performed at the door (3 reasons)? (c) Why does the Torah specify both the loss of: (1) an eye and (2) a tooth, as limbs freeing an eved Cana'ani (non-Jewish slave) if a master injures a limb (2 reasons)? (d) How do we know "an eye for an eye" means payment for the injury and not injuring the other's eye (5 explanations)? (Shemot 21:1-6, 26-27)

(a) To teach that: (1) just as the Aseret haDirbrot are from Sinai, so too are these laws; (2) Yitro ended with laws of the mizbei-ach; therefore, the Sanhedrin, which judges civil cases, should judge near the mizbei-ach (Rashi). (3) Since the Aseret haDirbrot end with prohibiting coveting one's neighbor's property, the civil laws teach what belongs to one's neighbor (Sforno). (b) (1) During makat be-chorot, Hashem spared Bnei Yisrael from the plague and made them His servants when they put blood on the doorposts; the drilling ceremony takes place at the door, which "witnessed" Hashem making Bnei Yisrael slaves of Him only (Rashi). (2) The door leads to the street; passersby would see the ceremony and reprimand the slave for choosing servitude (Kiddushin 22b). (3) The ceremony conveys the slave's duty to guard his master's home's entrance (Ba'al haTurim). (c) (1) If the Torah mentioned only an eye, we would think the law applies only to organs the eved had at birth, and not to teeth, which he did not have at birth; if the Torah mentioned only teeth, we would think it applies even to a baby tooth, which will be replaced; therefore, the Torah mentions an eye to indicate that the law applies only to permanent teeth (Rambam-Hilchot Avadim 5:4). (2) The Cana'anim were cursed to be slaves because of Cham's sin of seeing his father uncovered and telling his brothers; slavery was punishment for his sinning with his eyes and mouth; when the master blinds an eye or knocks out a tooth, the slave, punished through his eye and mouth, atones for Cham's sin and deserves freedom (Medrash Lekach Tov). (d) (1) If someone injures an animal, the injurer's animal is not injured; he only pays for the injury (Vayikra 24:18); the same certainly is true if one injures a person; (2) if one murders another person, he loses his life (Bamidbar 35:30), implying that if he only injures someone's limb, he does not forfeit a limb; (3) since two persons' eyes may not have the same strength or ability, equal compensation can be only monetary; (4) if someone is blind, he cannot pay by losing an eye; the payment  must be monetary; (5) removal of the injurer's eye could kill him, resulting in unequal compensation (Bava Kama 83b-84a).

3.  (a) Why is the command to bring bikurim (first fruits) to the Beit haMikdash in the same verse that prohibits ba-sar be-chalav (meat cooked with milk)? (b) Why does the Torah state the prohibition as not "cooking" ba-sar be-chalav; whereas, with respect to other forbidden foods (e.g., te-reifa, chei-lev, ne-veila), the Torah states only "do not eat it" (2 explanations)? (c) How is the method for getting rid of ba-sar be-chalav stricter than for other forbidden foods (2 ways)? (Shemot 23:19)

5. (a) What was Sefer ha-Berit that the Torah says that Moshe read to Bnei Yisrael (5 opinions)? (b) When their response was "na'aseh ve-nishma", why did they say na'aseh (we will do) before nishma (we will listen) (2 explanations)? (Shemot 24:7)

(a) (1) All of the Torah from Bereishit till matan Torah, including the mitzvot that Hashem commanded at Mara (Rashi). (2) All the laws discussed up to this point, particularly those in Parashat Mishpatim (Ramban). (3) The tochacha (admonitions) in Parashat Bechukotai (Chizkuni). (4) The Aseret haDibrot (Panei-ach Raza). (5) The verse, Shemot 19:5, which denotes Bnei Yisrael's status as an om segula (chosen nation), if they obey Hashem (R. Bechaya). (b) (1) Bnei Yisrael had such complete faith in Hashem that they agreed to perform whatever He commanded before knowing what was required; (2) Bnei Yisrael relied on Hashem that He would not burden them with mitzvot they could not uphold (Shabbat 88a-b).