Dvar Torah
Parshat Behar
By Rabbi Dr. Richard Ehrlich
The Torah portion of Behar introduces us to the laws of Shemittah, which this year is presently. For six years we are to work the land but on the seventh year, the Shemittah year, we are enjoined from working the land.
“And if you shall say, what will we eat in the seventh year, for we have not planted or gathered in our grain [due to the restrictions of Shemittah, I will appoint my blessing to you in the sixth year, and it will yield enough rain for the three year period [the year before the Shemittah, the Shemittah year, and the following year, until you can plant and reap the harvest]”[Vayikra 25:20-21).
Ovadya Sforno (1470-1550), writes that the nature of Hashem’s miracle varied according to the quality of bitachon (faith in Hashem) shown by the Jewish people. If their bitachon was great, the miracle was that a year’s quantity sufficed for three years. If not, they received three years quantity of grain in the sixth year. The first was a hidden miracle; the second obvious to everyone.
Why, we might wonder, did the lower level of bitachon evoke the more obvious miracle, i.e., the threefold quantity of grain?
The traditional sources explain that Hashem avoids doing open miracles. Such miracles seem to imply that the natural order Hashem created, and which He described as “very good,” is not complete and needs adjustment from time to time.
In reality, there is no difference between nature and miracles. Both are expressions of the Divine will. The Splitting of the Sea, our Rabbis/Chazal say, was already decreed from the creation of the world. It and other miracles are merely natural events which occur infrequently; nature is miraculous events which occur regularly.
From our vantage point, however, miracles appear as exceptions to the natural order. As such, they can diminish God’s honor in our eyes by implying an imperfection in His creation. Therefore, we do not pray for miracles or derive benefit from the products produced by miracles.
The hidden miracle of being satiated with smaller portions, so that one year’s yield would last for three years, however, did not serve the needs of those whose faith was weak. Seeing a normal yield in the sixth year, such a person would grow worried that his crops were insufficient for the coming years. He needed to see the grain for three years in front of him to feel secure.
And now for the amazing point: Hashem responded to that need to see the grain in front of him, and provided a threefold quantity of grain, even though the need to do so was engendered by a lack of faith and trust in Hashem. How astounding is Hashem’s kindness.
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin (1749-1821) once asked the Vilna Gaon (1720-1797) what the Talmud means when it says that one of the attributes of Hashem is the fact that “He is somayach bechelko,” content with His portion. By definition, Hashem is complete unto Himself and needs nothing. The Gaon explained that the Jewish people are referred to as Hashem’s portion. Although he would like us to be on a higher level, nevertheless, He is content with us at whatever level He finds us.
We are enjoined to imitate G-d in all his ways, and the manner in which He relates to us contains many valuable lessons in how we should relate to one another. Many times our friends, spouses, or children are not on the level we would like them to be. We must learn from our Creator that despite our hopes for their growth, we must accept the reality of the present situation and deal with them at their present level. With ourselves, too we must not confuse our aspiration for higher levels with our present level. We must accommodate our present level and that of others, while always striving for greater and greater perfection.
Special Announcement
Mazal Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Ferber upon the birth of their baby boy!
May he grow from strength to strength and be a source of true yiddishe nachat.
Congratulations to the Green Team, our Color War Winners!
This week, SIHA hosted a special day to celebrate Lag B’Omer! Students participated in a school-wide Color War, and were divided into the Green and Blue Teams. The captains for the Blue Team were Anna Gershkovich and Doron Glickman. Blue Team General was Oren Dery. Captains for the Green Team were Noga Sayag and Noah Garber, while the Green Team general was Noam Tisona. Both teams competed in a series of challenges.
Both teams were impressively organized by their leadership!
Mrs. Hazen would like to call out the Blue Team Members, especially Elior Factor and Ariella Shindelman for showing kindness and great sportsmanship while cheering younger students on no matter what team they were on!
A special mention goes to the Green Team Cheer, which included a song and a dance that all students from grades K-8 participated in!
Finally, a big thank you to Ms. Klahr and Alex Ortiz for their time and energy in organizing and making our Color War happen despite the rain!
Judaics
Second Grade
We had a wonderful week in 2nd grade as we are are practicing our Kriya skills daily. Many of the students are now able to distinguish between a Shva Noch (quiet Shva) and Shva noh (loud Shva). We are learning the meaning of our daily morning Brochot. We are up to the brocha of “Ozer Yisroel b’gevura.” We have been discussing gevura all year. The children know gevura means having inner strength to make the right choices. Chava(Sophie), Aaron Schwartzman and other students told the class of personal experiences they were in, and rose to the challenge using their gevura muscles. Shabbat Shalom. Morah Spiegel
Fourth Grade
What a beautiful week it was in our amazing class. Each day was very exciting.
The Davening, the learning, the friendships, and the color war. It was an action-packed week.
We started our week with a quiz on what we learnt last week in Chumash. The students knew it very well. In our lessons of the week, we learnt about that Hashem told Avraham to have a Bris Mila. It was very interesting that Avraham who was an old man, Hashem made a miracle that he should have a child. We have to realize all the miracles that Hashem does for us each and every day.
In Halacha we learnt about Lag Ba’aomer. We learned that the Students of Rabbi Akiva did not get along with each other and were killed. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen, and we have to get along very well with our friends.
Color war was loads of fun. The cheering, the races, etc. it was amazing how nicely the teams performed.
Students of the week are Sarina, Ariella, and Alivia.
Let us all enjoy a beautiful Shabbat.
Keep up the good work.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi B.
5th and 6th boys
This week, we began another new Mishna. We learned about a Suka that has 4 walls and Kosher S’chach, but the S’chach is in the center of the room and does not reach the walls. We learned that the suka will be kosher as long as there is less than 4 Amot [less than approximately 7 feet] – cubits from the S’chach to the walls.
This is based on the idea that the “wall is bent” = “Dofen Akuma”, and therefore does reach the kosher S’chach. The same would be true in other similar cases.
In Parasha, we covered many ideas;
Every 7 years is Shmita , just as every 7 days is Shabbat.
On Shabbat we do not work, so too for the entire year of Shmita, we do not work the fields in Eretz Yisrael aka Israel. This year 5782 is Shmita , in Israel, many many farmers are respecting the Torah and keeping the laws of Shmita. Jews around the globe are making it easier for them to keep Shmita by raising money for them as they may not sell/profit from this year’s crops.
We also learned that every 50 years is Yovel the Jubilee year.In our times we are not able to celebrate the Yovel.
We learned about not jipping people monetarily, and about not hurting people’s feelings. We also covered that everything that we have is from Hashem.
We are to use His gifts for what He wants us to use them for,i.e. $ for Tzedakah charity.
WAR breaks out in SIHA… color war.
Blue team versus Green team.
We enjoyed some real school spirit!.
Thank you to Miss Esther Klahr and all of our beloved generals for running such a fun program.
Refua Shleima to Gavriel ben Bilha, and Yonah Dovid.
Shabbat Shalom
7th and 8th Girls
In Parasha, we covered many ideas;
Every 7 years is Shmita , just as every 7 days is Shabbat.
On Shabbat we do not work, so too for the entire year of Shmita, we do not work the fields in Eretz Yisrael aka Israel. This year 5782 is Shmita , in Israel, many many farmers are respecting the Torah and keeping the laws of Shmita. Jews around the globe are making it easier for them to keep Shmita by raising money for them as they may not sell/profit from this year’s crops.
We also learned that every 50 years is Yovel the Jubilee year.In our times we are not able to celebrate the Yovel.
We learned about not jipping people monetarily, and about not hurting people’s feelings. We also covered that everything that we have is from Hashem.
We are to use His gifts for what He wants us to use them for,i.e. $ for Tzedakah charity.
WAR breaks out in SIHA… color war.
Blue team versus Green team.
We enjoyed some real school spirit!.
Thank you to Miss Esther Klahr and all of our beloved generals for running such a fun program.
In Halacha we really moved full speed ahead.
We covered a lot of pertinent and practical Halachot. If we change our locations this usually will require another Bracha, We also learned that if we eat a lot of Mezonot baked food, this will be treated as bread i.e. [this will not apply to cooked foods i.e. noodles.] and we would be required to wash, as we would prior to eating bread, say Hamotzi, and Birkat Hamazon.
We finished Parashat B’haalot’cha! We have been studying this Parasha, in depth, in addition to the weekly Parasha.
We look forward to celebrating this milestone!
Shabbat Shalom
7th and 8th Boys
What an accomplishing week we had in class.
We started off with the beautiful Davening. The boys put on their TefiIlin.
We learned our Pirkei Avot lessons. One of the important lessons that we learnt was that if there is no leader, you should be a leader. Everyone has the chance to be a leader and do good things.
In halacha we learnt very interesting Halachot regarding the Tefillin we are very privileged to wear. We learnt about how long the Straps of the Tefillin should be.
We watched a great video about Tefilla. Tefilla is something that we always need to work on to improve.
In Parsha class we learnt about Shimttah. It is amazing to have the beautiful Mitzvah to care about the fields that hashem gives us.
Noah, Noam, Doron, and Deri were great heads of color war. Color war was loads of fun.
Students of the week are Asher, Oren, and David.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi B.
Elementary School
Kindergarten
This week kindergarten learned how to read and spell words with the vowel teams AY and AI. They learned all about nonfiction books. They learned about text features, read nonfiction books, and they began writing a nonfiction book about bears. In math they continued to review how to identify and count pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. They also worked on adding and subtracting within 20 using different strategies to increase their speed. In science they did a fun experiment to learn about the parts of a seed. They were very excited to find a little baby inside their seed. They hung their seeds in a bag on our class window to see if they will grow. In social studies they reviewed needs and wants. They learned about saving and spending and the differences between goods and producers.
Second Grade
What an exciting week for 2nd grade! In academics, we finished up our KWL essays and our fractions unit. We also played a really fun game during math class! We opened up a 2nd grade store, where you can buy various items, like pencils and markers. Sophie Braun and Brianna Sanders were the cashiers. They had to assess their inventory and see how much money they started with. Then, each student was able to purchase things (I know the money looks real in the pictures, but it is play money, courtesy of Zachary Kipnis). In the end, Brianna and Sophie had to add up their remaining inventory and their money, and make sure their books were balanced. They did a great job, their books were balanced in the end, meaning they gave everyone the right amount of change! In other news, COLOR WAR!!!! On Thursday we had color war! 2nd grade was on the green team. In one of the the pictures below, you can see Brianna Sanders celebrating with the green team after she won the relay race! The green team won in the end! The blue team showed excellent sportsmanship, and made the contest really close! Great job everyone!
In science, students discussed specific energy types and practical energy sources. Associated hands-on activities help them identify energy types in their surroundings and enhance their understanding of the concept of energy.
Third Grade
In grade 3 math this week we used scales to weigh a variety of classroom objects. We compared different units of measure like pounds and ounces and grams and kilograms. We solved tricky multi-step word problems involving pounds and ounces by using real world connections to the problems. As a class we created a conversion chart to quickly convert pounds into ounces.
In ELA, grade 3 used RACE writing strategy to develop well structured writing pieces. We critiqued our responses by peer editing and provided each other with constructive feedback to make our writing better. We continued our shared reading of James and the Giant Peach and used quotes from the text to create illustrations rich with details and imagery.
Our Color War was a hit! Grade 3 Green Team demonstrated their school spirit by making posters to support our team. We discussed what it means to have good sportsmanship. We gave examples of how to win well and how to lose well.
In science, students reviewed chapter concepts about Cycles on Earth. Students enjoyed being a “Meteorologist” and announcing the weather prediction.
Fourth Grade
This week in math students completed unit on funding area and perimeter, worked on multiple step word problems, reviewed multiplying by two digit numbers and long division.
In ELA students worked on story writing and presented them to class.
We are continuing to read and enjoy our class chapter book, The Tales of Despereaux.
In Social Studies we read about locations of Pacific states and kids are memorizing names of States and capitals.
In science, 4th graders were so excited to learn about “Electricity”. Students learned and observed electric charges in matter; identify positive and negative charges. I can not wait for their amazing science fair projects!!
Fifth Grade
Greetings and Salutations!
This week has been busy for the 5th grade.
They continued their vocabulary and root word study. They also learned about adjectives- articles and demonstrative adjectives to be precise.
The 5th graders practiced analyzing the poem of the week. I am happy to say that this week the students found the poem quite entertaining. Lastly, they continued their novel study.
This week I would likr to send a big kudos to Izzy for his amazing sportsmanship and caring during color war.
In math, 5th grade finished learning about average, line plots, and graphs.
In science, 5th graders finished the last chapter of “Building Blocks of Matter”. They enjoyed and learned a lot about different chemical formulas, and tried to figure out different kinds of solutions using indicator strips. Way to go 5th graders!!!
Middle School
Middle School ELA and Social Studies
6th Grade
In ELA, we continued our persuasive writing unit. Students researched, created an outline and wrote drafts. They also continued their novel study of the Outsiders.
Greetings and Salutations!
This week in 6th grade we learned about the decline of the Roman Republic. The 6th graders also learned about the formation of the Roman Empire and Caesar’s role in it.
This week I would like to commend Ruti for taking point in class discussions.
7th Grade
In ELA, the 7th graders continued their novel unit on The Giver. Students are doing an amazing job in class discussion, and are ready to finish the novel next week. Students practiced writing wonderful paragraphs, and learned about writing structure in class.
In Social Studies, students learned all about the presidency of Thomas Jefferson.
8th Grade
Eighth graders continued their novel study of the Book Thief. We discussed character motivation and story structure. In Social Studies, students wrapped up their lesson on the French Revolution and started learning about the Napoleonic Wars.
Middle School Math
6th grade learned about the area of polygons.
7th grade learned how to solve systems of equations with elimination, substitution, and graphing
8th grade learned about arithmetic and geometric sequences.
Middle School Science
6th
Students started a new Unit: Energy and Motion.
Students described balanced and unbalanced forces; define acceleration; calculate net force; explained how the forces of friction, magnetism, and gravity act in our daily lives.
7th Grade Science
Students are investigating how our body systems work together to maintain homeostasis. They are currently taking a journey through the digestive system and discovering how nutrition and circulation play an important role in supplying our body with the nutrients it provides and how it actually gets through our bodies.
8th Grade Science
Students are preparing for the Living Environment Regent by taking practice exams and working through various aspects of this regent. In addition, students are investigating how energy flows through ecosystems, how biotic and abiotic factors affect those ecosystems and the importance of interdependence within each system.
Jewish History
7th grade had a very eventful week. The class did beautifully on their quiz and is really demonstrating their knowledge of what we are learning. We focused on the Mishkan, how it was central to Jewish life in the desert and what it meant to the Jewish nation. We also learned how the Jews camped in the desert.
8th grade learned about the times of the Rishonim and the different customs of different groups of Jews.