A Message From Vicky

Rosh Ha-Shanah 5771
M
I D R E S H E T
A Message From Vicky
T
This past year, Am Yisrael lost a great woman, Lady
Amelie Jakobovits. At her passing, she was mourned
as “the mother of British Jewry,” but in her lifetime,
she was the wife of the late Chief Rabbi of Great
Britain, Lord Jakobovits, and an unusually dynamic
person in her own right. Lady Amelie was a beacon
of chesed and compassion and a source of down-toearth good sense and good counsel. Her emunah
was unshakable, whether during her experiences in
the Holocaust or after suffering the loss of close family members.
I was one of the extremely fortunate people who had an unusually close
relationship with her. Lady J, as she was affectionately known to her friends,
was my aunt, and also often stepped in to act as my mother. I can honestly
say that so much of what I became and so
much of what our children became was a result
Lady Jakobovits
of the love she showered upon me and the
provided us
lessons she taught me.
with the anchor
When she was a young mother of five, it was
and stability
natural to her to become a mother to her sisterin-law’s four children when she passed away. I
we needed
was a twelve-year-old child, the second of those
four children whom she helped to weather that
terrible storm. She provided us with the anchor and stability we needed at the
time, never allowing us to wallow in self-pity. Both “Aunty Amelie” and my
uncle made it clear that they had great expectations for us and would not
allow us to disappoint our family.
As I try to recover from her loss, I think of the great lessons my aunt taught
me, and which I would like to share with you on the eve of Rosh Ha-Shanah:
• Never take yourself too seriously. Maintain a sense of humor about
yourself and recognize that we all have shortcomings. If you attain this
midah, it will be easier to relate to every human being with respect.
• There is good in every person. It is your job to find it.
• When you are with individuals, make them feel that they are unique
and you are truly interested in what they have to say. Everyone
who knew my aunt felt they had a special relationship with her
because that is how she related to them.
• If you have nothing to do (which never happened to her), do
chesed. The opportunities are limitless. My aunt spent the first
hours of every morning (after davening) phoning people who
continued on page 2
M O R I A H
Dear Parents
and Alumnae
On the seven Shabbatot which follow Tishah
Be-Av, we read the “Shiva De-Nechemta,” a
series of special haftarot of consolation. We begin
on “Shabbat Nachamu” with “Nachamu,
nachamu, ami…”, and continue for seven weeks,
until the Shabbat before Rosh Ha-Shanah.
If we follow the haftarah
carefully each week, we
sense a progression:
Our relationship with
Hashem rises from the
ashes of destruction,
growing in strength
each week, until, by the
end of the seven weeks, we
are being embraced once again as Hashem’s
bride in the haftarah of “Sos asis ba-Shem.”
These seven haftarot seem to link Tishah BeAv with Rosh Ha-Shanah. But what is the
connection between the destruction of our two
Batei Ha-Mikdash and the New Year?
We often think of Rosh Ha-Shanah as a time
of fear and awe, a day of judgment. But Rosh HaShanah is also a chance to begin again with a fresh
slate, with the mistakes of the past year wiped
away by teshuvah. Even more than that, it is a
time of special closeness to Hashem, culminating
with the celebrations of Sukkot two weeks later.
Tishah Be-Av brought us terrible suffering because
of our failings in Ben Adam La-Makom (the first
Beit Ha-Mikdash) and Ben Adam La-Chavero
(the second Beit Ha-Mikdash), but if
we learn from those failures and
grow beyond them, strengthening
our connection with Hashem
through tefilah and mitzvot and
our relationships with fellow
human beings through chesed
continued on page 7
Michal Porat-Zibman, Alumnae Director
Shalom to
our dear
alumnae!
I want to
welcome the
wonderful class
of 2009-2010 to
the Midreshet
alumnae family.
It’s only been a
few months since our last
newsletter, when I wrote
for the first time as
Director of Alumnae
affairs, and Baruch
Hashem, so much has
happened since then! We’ve
uploaded videos of prechagim messages from
various faculty members
via YouTube, recorded
special shiurim for
alumnae in honor of
Shavuot, and had various
reunions and shiurim over
the summer.
And now, as we begin the
new year with this year’s
Midreshet crew, we’re also
working on more ways to
connect and reconnect with
you this coming year. So...
stay tuned!
Please email me at
[email protected]
for any suggestions or ideas
you may have, or if you
just want to update your
contact information so we
can stay in touch.
May Hashem bless you
and your families with a
Ketivah Va-Chatimah
Tovah, and a beautiful,
healthy, and sweet new
year, a year of continued
spiritual growth and a year
of staying in touch with
your Midreshet Moriah
family!
Spotlight on
Alumnae Leaders
E l i s s a
S c h e r t z
(2003-04) Lawrence, New York
After graduating from Stella K.
Abraham High School for Girls, I spent
a year learning in Midreshet Moriah. I
then continued my studies in Stern
College for Women and graduated
with a BS in Marketing. I now work
for a magazine subscription company
and also part-time for New York NCSY.
Because of my classes at Midreshet Moriah and my exposure to
the dedicated faculty who showed their love of Torah, I realized
that sharing these values with others is what I want to do.
Working with NCSY, I have headed trips to New Orleans to help
rebuild the Jewish community in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, as well as organized and run a trip for high school
students to Berlin, Germany. For the last three years, I have cochaired a community-wide tzniut fashion show, Project
Frumway, and have started Project Jump, a soon-to-be-national
program in yeshiva day schools which gives students hands-on
experience in kiruv and chesed.
recalled how helpless I felt. Getting involved in B’lev Echad was an
opportunity to honor those who were killed al Kiddush Hashem.
In 2009, I served as a committee member for B’lev Echad, a
worldwide Hachnasat Sefer Torah event commemorating the
eight students who were killed in Mercaz Harav. Remembering
the first night I arrived in Midreshet, when Dr. Applebaum and
his daughter were tragically killed in the Café Hillel bombing, I
My love for kiruv and Eretz Yisrael stems from my year of
studying at Midreshet Moriah. From the variety of classes I took,
and because of the relationships I developed with faculty
members, passion and love for Torah and helping others has
become an invaluable part of my life.
A Message From Vicky
At this year’s Yom Iyyun on Zionism,
Major Ro’i Levi, a commander of the
Golani Brigade’s commando unit,
explains to the Class of 5770 how
the IDF fights using the latest
technology and intensive training, but
also the highest ethical standards.
continued from page 1
were ill or suffering. On her last Erev Pesach, she
phoned over six hundred people.
• There are very few real problems in life. But there are
many situations which need a solution. Don’t dwell
on the problems – work on the solutions.
• There is nothing as healthy as laughter and a good
sense of humor. Hashem wants us to be happy, and
therefore limits our time of aveilut.
• Nothing is as important as hakarat ha-tov, whether to
Hashem or to the people in our lives. Never forget to
thank those who are good to you.
2
Finally, I would like to add a perspective on marriage for
those of you who are or will be married (I hope that means
all of you). When my aunt was about to marry my uncle,
who was already Chief Rabbi of Ireland, he said to her, “I
don’t want you behind me, and I don’t want you in front of
me. I want you beside me.” They were blessed with a
marriage that was a true partnership, where each one
helped the other achieve greatness. This blessing of ahavah,
achvah, shalem, ve-re’ut is what I wish each one of you for
the coming year. May we hear of smachot from you all!
Mrs. Vicky Berglas, Director
Reflections on Midreshet
Sharona Elmaleh
(2009-10, Shana Bet 2010-11) Toronto, Canada
You get so much out of being in
Poland – it totally changes the meaning of the
Holocaust to see firsthand where it all took place. You
hear so many stories that are so inspiring: of a man who
saved his small portion of food to light Chanukah candles
in a time of darkness; of a girl who risked her life,
climbing into a giant soup pot to smuggle a shofar into the
camps to be sounded on Rosh Ha-Shanah.
It’s mind-boggling to realize how hard it’s been for
the Jews to survive, let alone keep the chagim – yet they
persisted. We, B”H, have it so easy. We pause our TV
shows and go upstairs to our already-set menorahs, or
walk five minutes to Shul to hear the shofar. We need to
put our lives in perspective, taking nothing for granted –
not the people in our lives, nor our freedom, Israel,
anything. We need to be proud to be Jewish – these people died Al
Kiddush Hashem because they were Jewish, and died as proud Jews. We
need to follow their example, remember them and what they stood for,
and be proud.
Midreshet really helped solidify these ideas by giving us the
materials we use to build our emunah, bitachon, ahavat Yisrael, and
ahavat Torah u-Mitzvot.
Reflections
Midreshet
on
Gaby Markovich
E
(2009-10) Boca Raton, Florida
Everyone always says that you never fully
experience the “Yoms” unless you celebrate
and commemorate them in Israel. After
having had the opportunity to do so, I agree
100%. Midreshet made all the “Yoms” so
special and memorable.
On Yom Ha-Zikaron, we joined the rest of
Israel in commemorating at Har Herzl the
soldiers who have fallen. We also heard
moving speeches by the soldiers. After a
tekes ma’avar in Neve Daniel, the mood
switched from somber to exciting – we
danced the night away at Rav Eitan’s house.
The next day, on Yom Ha-Atzma’ut, we
went to Neve Aliza, where we danced,
barbequed and played baseball. To top the
“Yoms,” Yom Yerushalayim was truly
unforgettable: We danced and sang the
whole day through the streets of Jerusalem.
Midreshet made sure that through all these
activities, we felt connected to Am Yisrael
and Medinat Yisrael.
Celebrating Yom Yerushalayim Eve, Rachel
Rosenberg, Tova Medetsky, Sharona Elmaleh
and Rachel Levy rock Midreshet with some
guided improvisation on the “darbuka.”
3
Yishuv Life Inspired by Midreshet
A
P’nina Gabler (2003-04, Shana Bet 2004-05) Hollywood, Florida
fter graduating Weinbaum
Yeshiva High School in
Florida, I came to
Midreshet Moriah, where I
fell in love with the learning, the teachers and
with Israel. Midreshet
Moriah has had a tremendous impact on my life and continues to do so. Before my year in Israel, I
never thought I would live here, let alone
study here, in Bar-Ilan University.
Midreshet Moriah certainly opened
my eyes to Zionism in a
way that I never
Taragin’s Nevi’im classes, Michal’s
mishmars and Vicky’s Holocaust classes.
All that I learned pointed to some incredible understanding; something that was
in our daily prayer and our weekly
parsha, but had never before come to
light as it did sitting in that Beit Midrash
in the middle of Yerushalayim, with
Sha’are Zedek Hospital on one side and
Har Hertzl and Yad Vashem on the other.
I just had to take advantage of this
tremendous blessing. I, too, wanted my
children to learn Torah from such a
young age and understand the words
imagined. I
guess it helped
living right across from
the Har Herzl military cemetery,
where we would go with Michal, taking
our places along with the rest of Am
Yisrael to experience the pain of losing
another soldier. My seminary year even
began with a terrible tragedy, yet it only
ignited a longing inside me to unite with
Israel and live among my nation, my
family. This indescribable, unexpected
yearning grew slowly, throughout Shani
so much
more naturally than I did. I, too,
wanted to spend the chagim
walking around Yerushalayim saying
Chag Same’ach to the storekeepers and
cab drivers. I, too, wanted to see people
and look into their eyes, knowing we
shared something very special. I wanted
to be here to share in the joys and in the
sorrows of our nation.
As this yearning intensified, things
began to fall into place, with return-
Taking advantage
of our open
invitation to all
alumnae to come
back home and
learn with us,
Joanna Blumenthal,
Brianna Brockman,
Rebecca Weinstein,
Rena Rosenberg,
Avichayil Arfe, Elana
Mittel and others...
hit the Beis to learn
with Malka and get
a Torah recharge.
4
ing to Midreshet for Shana Bet and then
aliyah that December. I became a
madrichah the following year at Tiferet,
starting Bar-Ilan University and finally
finding my husband here in Israel
(Baruch Hashem, it does happen!). We
have been privileged to host many
yeshiva and seminary students at our
Shabbos table, returning the favor which
we received so many times.
I have just finished a course in
Cranio-Balance Therapy, and I also work
for a property management firm. But the
truth is that my kids take up most of my
time, with one boy almost 3 and another
who’s 14 months old. We’ve been living
in the beautiful, idealistic community of
Kochav HaShachar – 45 minutes north
of Yerushalayim, in Mateh Binyamin. We
love the peacefulness and kedushah we
sense here, either through the incredible
people living here or maybe just from the
land itself. There’s nothing better than
driving with the kids in the car and my
toddler pointing straight ahead asking,
“Is that Yerushalayim?”
And being so grateful to respond,
“Yes.”
Proudly holding their trophy from the
Camp HASC-sponsored “Hascetball”
tournament, squad members
Tikki Miodownik, Rachel Ohayon, and
Aliza Saltzburg celebrate their victory
and make us proud!
Ariella Perl and Ayala Mocton proudly show off the fruit of (a
great deal of) their labor – this year’s student yearbook, full of
fun and great memories!
Building
a Spiritual Home
Rabbi Yitzchak Lerner, Senior Faculty
With great
appreciation
to those who generously
contributed to our Midreshet Moriah
Scholarship Fund 2010-2011
Mrs. Nicole Appleman
Dr. Dov and Dr. Ada Berkowitz
Mr. Rubin and Mrs. Mandy Brecher
Mr. Barry and Mrs. Sharon Fleischmann
Mr. Neil and Mrs. Rozi Minsky
Mr. Martin and Mrs. Evelyn Pollack
Dr. Jay and Dr. Helena Rubin
Mr. Kenneth and Dr. Rochelle Sherman
Mr. Baruch and Mrs. Esther Weinstein
Please take part in our scholarship effort and
make it possible for a young woman to spend
her year at Midreshet Moriah by contributing to
the Midreshet Moriah Scholarship Fund.
Opportunities are also available to dedicate a
shiur in honor or in memory of someone special
to you.
Remember – your contribution will enable us to
provide another Midreshet Moriah student with
the chance to experience a year of learning and
growth in Eretz Yisrael.
To contribute or for more information,
please contact
Polly Kramer, Development Associate,
at [email protected]
There are two we take three steps forward, we
main ways that enter Hashem’s chamber and speak
we as Jews with Him. On the other hand, when
communicate one learns Torah, Hashem comes
with Hashem: down to us.
We all aspire to be granted the
through tefilah
and through brachah of building a Bayit Ne’eman
talmud Torah. Be-Yisrael. The question is how one
These two means are connected to goes about achieving it. I think using
our hearts and our heads. When the the principle that Rav Aharon sugGemara in Ta’anit asks what is meant gested may provide guidance in how
when the Torah prescribes that one to begin. Our homes must be places
must serve God with one’s heart, of constant Torah learning, places in
the answer is – tefilah. On the other which we are bringing Hashem
hand, learning is carried out with inside. An architect in the secular
one’s head. This idea of serving world will always say that when
Hashem through prayer, the heart, building a house, the room around all
and through learning, the head, is else revolves is the kitchen. As
also evident through our Tefilin – the observant Jews, however, the first
“shel yad” is next to our hearts, room we must design is the one
while the “shel rosh” is next to our where sefarim will be kept, where
the learning will take place. From
heads.
Talmud Torah and tefilah are the there, everything else in our homes
backbone of the Jewish people. In takes its cue.
Parshat Balak, when the prophet
During the Yamim Nora’im, we
Bilam tries to curse the Jewish will communicate with Hashem
people, he aimed, Chazal tell us, through both tefilah and learning. We
straight for our Batei Midrash and our have the opportunity, in a very
Batei Knesset. He knew that here, in intense way, to concentrate upon
these two realms, lies our our relationship with Hashem. With
inheritance. In the end, Hashem the help of these two powerful tools,
turns his curse to a blessing, and may we be zocheh to serve Hashem
Bilam ultimately proclaims, “How to the utmost degree.
goodly are your tents, O
Jacob, your dwelling
places, O Israel.” The
Gemara in Sanhedrin says
that this refers to houses
of prayer and learning.
Rabbi Aharon Kotler,
founder of Lakewood
Yeshiva, asks what the
difference is between
these two forms of
communication, learning
a n d d a v e n i n g . H e Rabbi Lerner renewing the Midreshet
answers that when we connection with our alumnae in London at
pray, we ascend to this year’s “Sem Fair.” Thanks for all the
Hashem’s palace. When help with recruiting, ladies!
5
Rabbi Hanoch Teller
I’M VISITING A SYNAGOGUE in
Michigan, minding my own business, when an
elderly gentleman, a total stranger whom I
shall call Reb Nochum, approaches me.
Without so much as a “Hello” or any other
comment, he asks me if I wish to hear a story.
Reb Nochum seats himself across from
me, and spreads out his hands. On his left
forearm is the faded blue numeric reminder
of a sojourn in Auschwitz, what some refer to
as “the passport to Heaven.”
Reb Nochum’s hairline has long gone,
and his face is thin and long, and I dare say
dignified. There is this sense about him that
though his body may be here, his mind is a
million miles away. Pointing to an imaginary
calendar, he announces, “It is just thirteen
days until erev Yom Kippur, a special day, you
know.”
“Years ago,” he begins, “my friends and I
faced a serious dilemma on erev Yom Kippur.
We were prisoners in the world’s most
demonic jail, yet we had made a
commitment to live, even though life may no
longer have been worth living.
“Hunger had its effect upon us, filling our
minds and dominating our thoughts. Our
incessant hunger throbbed in every limb of
our bodies, yet it could not distract from the
pain in our feet.
“Shoes were not an insignificant issue in
the Lager. Death began with the shoes which
were never the right size, and never
matched, causing painful sores which became
fatally infected. Walking in them was like
dragging a convict’s chain, and trying to run
away and escape in those instruments of
torture was a thorough impossibility.”
“Ausrücken and Einrücken was the
constant refrain of our lives: go out and come
in; work, sleep, barely eat, fall ill – get beaten
along the way – get better or die. Had we
been logical,” Reb Nochum adds in a tone
devoid of self-pity, “we might have resigned
ourselves to the situation. Our fate was
beyond our control and thoroughly in the
domain of our masters’ whim and will. But
men are rarely logical when their own fate is
at stake. And, like I said, we had made a
commitment to survive.
“The key was believing that the worst
would not happen to us. Those who didn’t
follow this formula were the first to succumb.
More important than the state of our physical
health was the state of our minds. If we didn’t
have the will to live, the struggle for existence
was utterly hopeless. The Muselmanner – the
walking zombies who were more dead than
6
alive – had already lost their
desire to live, but just had not
yet given up the ghost.”
“This brings me to erev
Yom Kippur when we had
our greatest dilemma. My friends and I – rigid
skeletons sitting on the floor, eyes glazed
from starvation – thought long and hard
about what we would do. We had thus far
maintained not only our lives, but also our
humanity and faith in the Almighty.
“It was amazing, but somehow, we had
managed to blow a shofar in the camp on
Rosh Ha-Shanah, not a hundred blasts, but a
few whispered notes. We also managed to
eat matzos on Passover. Mind you, I am
talking about celebrating a festival in
Auschwitz, where the value of a cigarette
was greater than that of a life. I was
personally involved in the matzah baking, and
the feeling of triumph provided us with the
greatest feast of freedom.
“But on erev Yom Kippur, about 14
months after our arrival, we had an
insurmountable dilemma. We had to give
zedakah on that day – the day before it would
be determined ‘Who will live, and who will
die’ – but we did not own a thing. They had
taken away our clothes, our shoes, our
names, even our hair. The intention was that
once we were deprived of
everything, we would become
hollow, forgetful of dignity and
restraint, and once you lose all, you
can lose yourself as well.
“And this is precisely what we were
fighting against, which is why giving zedakah
was so important to us. We were obsessed
with fulfilling this mitzvah and contradicting
the savagery which surrounded us. But even
after overcoming incredible hurdles in the
past, we were still at a total loss as to how to
deal with this current challenge, and we
began to weep.
“Suddenly a fellow Jew placed his tin cup
to his cheek and collected his tears and
passed the cup to me. I sipped the charitable
gift and then reciprocated by placing the cup
to my cheeks and passed it to my neighbor.
He followed my lead, but by this point we
were no longer collecting tears of sadness.”
When Reb Nochum finishes his tale
there are long moments of silence. I want to
thank him for sharing his experience with me,
but a lump is lodged in my throat. This
wizened octogenarian must know what I am
thinking, for he dabs at his glistening eyes and
comments, “It’s OK. This is the season when
we must share; I just started a little early this
year.”
As part of our tiyul
to the Galil and
Golan this spring,
Midreshet stopped
off at Mitzpeh Hila,
home town of Gilad
Shalit, to hear an
update on his
family’s situation
from a close family
friend.
The Fine Details
R
Rav Tzvi Meyer
Zilverburg (a special
tzaddik living in
Yerushalayim) says that
the greatest mistake
human beings make is to
underestimate the
immense significance of
their actions, both
positive and negative.
This past year,
Midreshet Moriah was
zocheh to undertake a chesed project to raise
money for an orphan kallah. To introduce the
project, Mrs. Esti Yarmush (a true ba’alat
chesed) came to the Beit Midrash to speak.
She shared a story about a girl who was in a
terrible car crash, but walked away
completely unscathed. The girl’s father asked
her if she had done anything special that day
to merit the tremendous miracle that
occurred. After thinking it over, the girl
remembered that she had given money for
hachnasat kallah that day. “That is the action
which saved you!” the father proclaimed.
“The Steipler Gaon once asked why in eilu
devarim it mentions three mitzvot in
succession: bikur cholim, hachnasat kallah, ulevayat ha-meit. What is the significance of
this order? He answers that one who
performs the mitzvah of hachnasat kallah is
saved from a gezeirah of sickness or death.
And so it is – because of the mitzvah of
hachanasat kallah, you were saved.”
About a week or so later, Sara H., a
Shana Aleph student, was in a serious car
accident on a motzei Shabbat on her way
back to school. She walked away without a
Dear Parents and Alumnae:
Rena Coren, Faculty
scratch, though the injury
could have been severe.
When Aviva F. (Shana Bet)
heard about the accident, she
asked Sara if she had given any
tzedakah to hachnasat kallah
recently. Sara paused for a
moment and then it hit her –
the gift she had bought for her
hosts on Shabbat was one of
the candy baskets being sold
to raise money for the orphan
kallah! Perhaps it was the seemingly effortless
act of giving tzedakah for a kallah that had
saved someone from harm.
From the Torah perspective each detail
is significant and has tremendous
repercussions. As Rav Wolbe explains in Alei
Shur, everything, including the most massive
of structures and creatures, is built from
atoms invisible to the eye.
The same is true of our
spiritual selves. When we
want to better ourselves
and grow, we tend to begin
imagining the life-altering
changes we’ll need to
make... and we despair. But
in truth, all we really need to
do is take one tiny baby
step, to find one small
change we can make in a consistent manner.
By doing so, we not only improve ourselves,
but also the world around us.
A case in point is the story above. A
group of students decided to take on the
mission of raising money for an orphan
kallah… a speaker was brought in to inspire
the students about the mitzvah... the inspiration further heightened the students’ drive to
raise money in creative ways... in one means
to raise money,
candy baskets
were sold... one
student bought a
basket for her
hosts… perhaps
bi-zechut the
mitzvah, she was
protected in a car
accident... one
Shana Bet student
put together the
pieces of the
deed... once again
inspiring all who
heard the story...
the story then became the basis for an article
about doing teshuvah, so more
people can be touched by the
event.... From here, who knows
what positive deeds may result
from even one person reading the
article and taking it to heart... and
on and on.... One little act of
chesed or tzedakah influences not
only us in our own lifetime, but the
ramifications of the act continue
echoing and gathering momentum, all the way down the line.
May Hashem bless you all to find one
small action to take upon yourselves this year.
May you be zochah to experience the impact
of the action on all levels in your own lives
and the lives of others. Ketivah va-chatimah
tovah!
we not only
improve ourselves,
but also the
world around us.
continued from page 1
and justice, Rosh Ha-Shanah provides a time to celebrate our spiritual redemption.
May it be Hashem’s will that we use the time before Rosh Ha-Shanah, starting all the way from Tishah Be-Av and through Elul, to engage
in a broad-ranging cheshbon ha-nefesh, helping us understand where we fall short and enabling us to arrive at Rosh Ha-Shanah with joy in
Rabbi Eitan Mayer, Menahel Chinuchi
Hashem’s warm embrace. Le-shanah tovah tikateivu ve-techateimu!
7
Mazal Tov
MidMmoer
Sum nion...
Reu king
Loo ward
forour
to ter
Win nion!
Reu
ENGAGEMENTS
Gila Feldman (07-08) and Alby Chait
Aliza Isaacs (06-07) and Jason Misher
Nurit Kreiger (04-05) and Yonatan Klaym
Maya Krohn (06-07) and David Joyandeh
Rachel Levy (04-05) and Sam Stern
Nicole Nathan (06-07) and Chaim Grossman
WEDDINGS
Jaclyn Adelsberg (03-04) and Naftalli Moskovitz
Sarah Deneroff (06-07) and Dani Kolat
Hannanel Gershinsky and Bat-Chen Dukan (son of Ruthie
and Ahituv)
Jackie Green (05-06) and Stephen Moster
Enny Kadoch (08-09) and Zev Herskovits
Rochelle Lewin (08-09) and Asher Landaw
Chavie Lieber (06-07, 07-08) and Yoni Stokar
Aimee Pelikow (04-05) and Yoely Zipki
Aliza Sher (07-08) and Eli Scher
Stephanie Spinner (05-06, 06-07) and Avi Levie
Aviva Wilner (06-07) and Daniel Gordon
BIRTHS
Aliza (Fertig) (87-88) and Philip Friedlander on the birth of
twins
Evyatar and Achinoam Katz (Executive Director of Midreshet
Moriah) on the birth of a son
Sarah (Lichtenstein) (99-00) and Ari Bajtner on the birth of
twins
Emily B. (Shapiro) (93-94) and Ben Menashe on the birth of
a daughter
Dassi (Wagner) (99-00) and Itzi Barr on the birth of a
daughter
Rena (Zlatin) (99-00) and Josef Schenker on the birth of
twins
ACHIEVEMENTS
Dr. Yocheved Debow on the completion of her doctorate
CONDOLENCES
Our condolences to Midreshet alumna, Ariella Wruble
Chernikoff (2003-04) on the tragic, untimely loss of her
husband, Daniel Chernikoff
Midreshet Moriah
Located at the Educational Wing of
Shaare Zedek Medical Center
P.O. Box 3235, Shmuel Bayit 12, Jerusalem, Israel
Telephone: 02-652-7449 • Fax: 02-651-1524
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.midreshetmoriah.org
To contribute or for more information, contact Polly Kramer,
Development Associate, at [email protected]
Midreshet Moriah
IS A GOLD MEMBER OF THE
S. DANIEL ABRAHAM
ISRAEL PROGRAM
Design: Benjie Herskowitz
Reflections on
Midreshet
Shevs Matanky
(2009-10, Shana Bet 2010-11) Chicago
It was my dream to be able to participate in the official
Nefesh B’Nefesh arrival ceremony, and this past January, I fulfilled that dream. Nefesh B’Nefesh is an organization that assists
immigrants in creating a new life in Israel, not only facilitating
their arrival, but
also helping
them integrate
them into Israeli
life. The moment
the olim stepped
off that plane,
everyone came
together as a
family to welcome them to
their new home.
I’ll never forget
the most inspirWith all the spirit and joy for which we’re known,
ing moment I
witnessed, as an Midreshet welcomes a planeload of brand new Olim
at Ben Gurion airport this past winter!
eighty year-old
woman olah was lifted onto someone’s shoulders and we all
danced with her. We all danced together with full hearts, as
though we had all just made aliyah! Nefesh B’Nefesh provided
me with one of my most meaningful experiences this past year.