Adar- Having the Last Laugh
By: Mrs. Shalvie Friedman
The month of Adar is a month of "שמחה ומשתה" for the Jewish people. But more than just a time of frivolity, this is a month where we can truly overcome the symbolic paradigm of עמלק, the enemy of עם ישראל as a people, and each of us- its members, as individuals.
The Sefer Yetzira explains how each month in the year is connected to a specific letter in the aleph bet as well as a unique Koach or expression in the human body. These both serve to teach us of the month's deeper meaning. The Sefer Yetzira tells us that the letter for Adar is the letter "ק", and the Koach in the body is laughter. What is the significance of these allusions?
Ephemeral or Eternal?
The Message of the Masquerade
By: Tehilla Berger
(Current MMY Student)
Purim is perhaps the most popular holiday among Jewish children. After all, on what other holiday is it a custom both to dress up and to receive free candy? While masquerading on Purim is both enthralling and invigorating, the peculiarity of the custom begs explanation.
The Mishna Torah has a section in זמנים devoted to the הלכות of פורים and חנוכה. The title "הלכות מגילה וחנוכה" contains a blatant incongruity. Why doesn't the Rambam refer to these הלכות as "הלכות פורים וחנוכה"? Why are the הלכות of פורים referred to by the restrictive title "הלכות מגילה"? What is it about the centrality of the מגילה on פורים that allows it to trump all the other מצוות היום in significance? Furthermore, in the last הלכה in the section, the Rambam equates the importance of the מגילה to that of the חמישה חומשי תורה בימות המשיח. Although the rest of נביאים and כתובים will no longer be relevant, מגילת אסתר will remain pertinent and applicable. While we will abandon the practice of recollecting the painful experiences in Jewish History, we will always commemorate the story of the Jews in שושן. In effect, the message of the מגילה is so great, it is paramount to כל התורה כולה. What then is the potent, vital message that the מגילה imparts to its readers?
 Listen to MMY's Library of Shiurim about Purim:
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MMY Presents to You for the Very First Time...
The Cooking Show
With Sloppy Moe!
These are the most delectable, soft, and hearty Hamantashen you'll ever try, and they're free of eggs and milk too!
Easy to make, and even easier to taste!!
Moe Berman, MMY's long time chef, shares his very own professional custom recipes. Subscribe to the channel to receive his monthly Cooking Show demos.
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Lessons My Father Taught Me
MMY mourns the passing of our dear friend and mentor, Mr. Mendel Balk, father of Bayla (Balk) Haskel. Bayla was a student at MMY for the year 5769 ('08-'09) and currently lives in Givat Shmuel with her husband and two children. Mendel Balk passed away this past January after a battle with cancer. In the last years of his life, Mendel had become a lover of Torah and was on a quest for truth. He was very involved in MMY and became a trusted confidant to Rabbi Katz. Bayla shares her eulogy-memories with us.
"I could talk about the big things that my father did in order for you to understand the type of man he was. But instead, I would prefer to focus on the little things and how my father unknowingly, purposefully, shaped and fashioned my life and at large, who I am as a person..."
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"...ליהודים היתה אורה"-
A Light to the World All Year Round
(Highland Park, New Jersey)
Growing up in Highland Park, NJ, I attended RPRY Elementary school, and Bruria high school. When the time came to settle on a seminary, my interview with Rabbi Katz and the authentic conversation I had with him convinced me to attend MMY. At MMY I learned a whole lot of Torah, and continued with my college education afterwards. My experience at MMY taught me the value of relationships, and encouraged me to go ahead and invest in a future that would be compelling an impactful. After graduating Stern College for Women with a degree in English Literature, I pursued my social work degree at Hunter College School of Social Work.
I recently began my clinical career as a therapist in an outpatient Mental Health Clinic in the Bronx. I counsel groups, families and individuals. I Work with over 100 disadvantaged adult clients, suffering from a range of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, trauma based disorders, and psychotic disorders. I feel strongly about mental health in general; I feel it is G-d's work. But I'm finding this demographic of people to be particularly meaningful to work with. These individuals haven't gotten the same shot at life and healthcare as the average middle class US citizen. They are struggling with severe mental illness, drug addictions, and poverty, and are trapped in underprivileged and traumatized families and communities. Their trauma disorders skyrocket because they never have safety. Many of them have nobody in their lives to impact them, and so I work to build and develop relationships with my clients and assist them through their battles.
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MMY Perspective: From the Front Desk
I have happily been a part of the Administrative Staff of MMY for the last few years. Originally from Woodmere, New York, I have now been living in Eretz Yisrael for approximately 27 years. After graduating SUNY at Albany and working on the upper West Side in Manhattan for 2 years, I decided enough was enough and it was time to return home. My heart was set on making Aliya after an inspirational year of Torah learning and soul searching at Michlelet Bruria, under the guidance of Rabbi Chaim Brovender.
Upon my return to the country I loved, I enrolled in Ulpan Etzion in the mornings and Midreshet Rachel, under Rebetzin Holly Pavlov, in the afternoons. Seven weeks later, I met my future husband, Eliyahu Bor from Manchester, England. After our marriage I worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Hebrew University Givat Ram Campus for a short while.
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MMY Sherut Leumi Girls Back for Second Helpings of Torah!
Sherut Shiur with Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky
Talmidot in MMY have many opportunities to glean the finest values of commitment to Talmud Torah and Shemirat Hamitzvot, Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. It is no wonder that so many talmidot go on to live these values in their lives. Every year there are talmidot who actualize these values by making Aliyah and by serving Am Yisrael through Sherut Leumi. This year's exemplary group of B'not Sherut requested a special weekly shiur for their chevra. They thereby combine all of these values in a weekly event. Appropriately enough, they chose to study Sefer Hamitzvot with Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky.
During the first half of the year, they learned many of the Rambam's shorashim in depth, together with the Ramban and other relevant sources. This afforded an opportunity to analyze many of the fundamental concepts in Torah and the halachic system. It is inspiring to see how they gather, week after week, to come and learn- despite their long hours and demanding work in sheirut.
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MMY Presents:
Kol Mevaseret Journal 5775!
To spend a year learning in MMY is an incredible experience, but the opportunity to share the Torah of the talmidot with whom we spent such a year is even greater. We are grateful to have been able to learn so much from the process of putting together this year's Kol Mevaseret, and we hope that the learning that results from it will be infused with the same sense of hard work, dedication and passion.
One of the most fundamental points of hashkafa taught at MMY is that not only do we have a responsibility to learn, but also to spread that learning beyond the four walls of our Beit Midrash. Kol Mevaseret is a manifestation of that, where we are able to put the skills garnered from our education to the test and bring our learning to even greater heights.
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MMY Esteemed Faculty Member Rabbi Jesse Horn
Recently Released His Latest Written Accomplishment,
DOUBLE TAKE!
In Double Take, Rabbi Jesse Horn bridges the gap between the traditional interpretations espoused by Chazal and other Rabbinic authorities on the one hand, and the simple and straightforward reading of the Tanach on the other. By rigorous and sophisticated Biblical and Rabbinic textual analysis, Rabbinic sources which at first seems at odds with the text can be read harmoniously.
Rabbi Horn uncovers parallels and answers critical questions such as, Why is this story included in the Torah? Why is this detail left out? Why do these two stories parallel each other? and What understanding does the Torah want us to derive about each character?
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