QUESTION:   

Dear Rabbi Ali,  

I have been married for eight years. My wife is a wonderful person, I can’t deny that.  We do struggle in one area though, which is the source of tremendous frustration. My wife has frequent rages, where she will yell and scream. The “infractions” that I have done to warrant these lashings are very insignificant. For example, if she says to take out the garbage and I tell her, “I’ll get to it in a few minutes,” she goes into a fit, many times in front of the kids, which pains me so much. She does mention often that she is depressed and unhappy with herself. When I mention to her to seek help, she gets very defensive. Rabbi, I do feel hopeless. Is there anything that I can do to get her the help that she needs? 

Thank you in advance… 

R’ ALI’S RESPONSE:  

There are multiple points that you bring up however, I would like to discuss one point. Many times, people are looking for practical tips and ideas. In your situation, you basically want to know how to get your wife the help that she needs. However, many times a few perspective changes can alleviate a lot of frustration. We should stop with the all-or-nothing mentality and realize that every little bit of clarity and change is tremendous, as I will explain. Maybe you will be able to get her the help that she desperately needs and maybe you won’t, but if we can bring you to a place that’s below your “boiling point,” well, then you won’t be boiling. 

First, I’d like to mention your attitude towards your wife. I’m sure you mean well as do many others in your situation. However, if she tells you that she is going through some serious emotional issues, there is no reason to become defensive or even be moved by her outbursts. Many times, people will tell me that their spouse is suffering from something emotionally, and on the other hand they get frustrated as to how they are being treated. To be as blunt as possible, it’s not you, it’s her. Stop getting defensive and just be there for her. If you understand that it’s not you, there’s nothing to be defensive about. 

The truth is, this concept applies in healthy marriages to some extent. When a spouse is emotionally charged and venting, there’s really no need to get frustrated or angry. Recognize that they are going through something right now. It could be a hard day at work or with the children, or any number of things. Most of the time they are not yelling and screaming to engage in a logical debate. To be clear, you are never justified for “losing your cool,” or saying negative things to your spouse or to anyone. The prohibition of ona’at devarim is mentioned in the Torah and therefore we must be very careful with everyone’s feelings. I admit, restraining oneself takes work, but this is what we’re here for. I’ve seen so many heroes overcome some tough marital challenges. I believe you can do it as well.  

As for the emotional status of your wife, there’s something that’s extremely important to think about. There’s a lot that you can do to help her emotional state even without or before she gets help. I know from experience and logic, that a husband who “plays his cards right” can minimize a lot of his wife’s emotional distress. How so? Many times there are other issues contributing to her frustration. It could be that she doesn’t feel understood. On top of her emotional issue, she now has a husband who not only doesn’t “get her,” but she may also feel that her husband thinks that she is crazy. This is very painful. If you would be there for her when she’s yelling at you and putting you down, you can minimize her frustration. “I see that you’re very upset. I feel terrible. I’m here for you.” As Rabbi Avigdor Miller, zt”l, said, those words, or something similar, are like a balm on a wound. 

 This is a sensitive topic and should be discussed with a competent professional. The ideas here are food for thought and should in no way be a substitute for professional advice. 

David Gordon 

Imagine the scenario: the mass attack against Israel came from all sides, coordinated by Iran. Lebanon fired tens of thousands of missiles, and sent combat units across the border. Syria, Yemen, and Iraq sent missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles aimed at Isrrael’s heartland. Meanwhile from Gaza, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad followed, firing so many missiles, as to overwhelm the Iron Dome. Roads, electrical grides, communication systems, army bases, and airports were all destroyed. 

This was the doomsday scenario that never happened – at least not yet. Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a Middle East scholar and lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar- Ilan University,  predicted this tragic scenario six months before October 7th. Dr. Kedar is also a research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan and is the Vice President of “NEWS-RAEL – Pro Israeli Dynamic Feed,” a news site about the Middle East. 

Iran’s Plan and Hamas’s Departure 

“The Iranian plan was a barrage to destroy Israel within a week,” Kedar told Community Magazine.  But Hamas went rogue on October 7th.  

Hamas was directed to wait until the order came from Iran for a coordinated assault. The Islamic Republic wanted to attack when their nuclear capability was ready, to deter any retaliation.  

When 200 senior Israeli Air Force fighter pilots froze their active reserve duty (meaning they would not serve if called for reserve duty)  to protest proposed judicial reforms in March 2023, Hamas recognized this as a strong sign of the deep fissure in Israeli society and decided to capitalize on Israel’s weakness.  

Kedar cited that the infighting and mass demonstrations “destroyed the image of Israel as a powerful country” to its neighbors. “It [the discord in Israeli society] inflated the Jihad glands in the bodies of our neighbors. They went out in the streets to celebrate. ‘No fighters, no pilots!’ It encouraged them to start the war.” Hamas was just looking for the right time, and, although some say that the Nova music festival was not even on Hamas’s radar, the festival came as a welcome opportunity for Hamas – thousands of unarmed partygoers in one place.  

At the same time, Hamas sought to derail negotiations to bring about normalization between Israel and the Saudis. According to Kedar, the result of that normalization would have been a kind of peace-making domino effect: Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Tunisia, Mali, Chad, and Niger, would have followed suit, also normalizing relations with Israel, “mainly because of the American goodies.” But that would have diverted attention from the Palestinian cause, Kedar said – that would have been unacceptable to Hamas. 

Hamas’s Aspirations 

The plan, then, was to kidnap hundreds of Israelis, with the expectation that Israel would swap them for many more Palestinian prisoners. In 2011 a single IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit, was exchanged for 1,027 prisoners, almost all Palestinians and Arab Israelis, including prisoners who had killed Israelis in terrorist attacks. The anticipated trade-math was exhilarating. Clearly, the Palestinians miscalculated the aftermath. 

Still, Jihadists believe that the destruction and civilian casualties are the cost necessary to destroy Israel, Kedar said. The Koran preaches that dying for Islam is praiseworthy, and therefore, “the tantrum over civilians killed is for the foreign media. It’s good PR.” 

According to Kedar, the entire conflict centers around the notion that Israel stands opposed to radical Islam, because they believed that Islam was supposed to have replaced Judaism and Christianity. “And this is why the war was called the Al-Aqsa Flood, because when Jews are alive and praying, it means there’s a resurrection of Judaism, and something they cannot fathom.” 

Kedar is an expert on Islamist groups, and Middle East affairs. He served 25 years in the Israel Defense Forces intelligence, specializing in Arab political discourse and media, and Islamic groups. Having written scores of articles on Arab politics, Kedar often appears in the media, providing analysis and commentary on Middle Eastern affairs.  

Consideration of Clans 

And now, in the struggle to determine a workable plan in the twelve months since Operation Swords of Iron launched, Kedar proposes splitting Gaza and the Palestinian Authority along its clan lines, administered by their own communities. The words “clans,” or” tribes,” he believes, should not conjure up only negative connotations.  The social construct of clans is embedded strongly into Arab culture. If the clans were  split up and had their own autonomy, this would avert conflicts between the clans, and Israel. “It fits the culture of the Middle East, because it fits the clan mentality.”   

Countries where clans have their own separate autonomy are more successful. We see this in countries such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, that have economic stability, safety, law, and order. These countries, by no coincidence, are run by clans: al-Sabah (Kuwait), al-Thani (Qatar), al-Nahayan (Abu Dhabi), al-Saud (Saudi Arabia), al-Hashem (Jordan), and so on. Compare these to the Arab countries where the clans are in disarray, such as Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. 

“A Palestinian state with all of the clans together would fail, because it [would exhibit] the same [type of] disease as seen in Syria,” he said.  

Kedar wrote his PhD on the Syrian attempts to convince their people of the efficacy of a single clan, and to focus on a single enemy, Israel. “It didn’t work,” Kedar said, “because interclan and religious conflict killed hundreds of thousands.” 

“If they had a minimal awareness of togetherness, they wouldn’t kill each other. 

“Every clan sees the other clan as the enemy because they are ‘not from us,’” Kedar said, adding that prejudice and discrimination is rampant in the region. 

Clans in Gaza 

This can be seen between Gazans, and Arabs in Judea and Samaria. As far back as 1994, for example, when a hundred Gazans planned to come to Judea and Samaria for university studies, none of the locals were willing to rent them a room.  

“Gazans are seen as Bedouin, people who live in the trees and in caves,” Kedar said, “and are not taken seriously. Those who live in the city view themselves as [being part of] high culture and high society.”  

Kedar says that in terms of clanship, Palestinians live in compounds, or “you might say, a community.” The word in ancient Arabic for clan and neighborhood are homonyms, he added. “If you moved across the street to another clan, it would be like you were exiled. Clans don’t intermarry.” Kedar noted that in Hebron alone there are five different clans. 

For at least eight decades, Gaza has been split into five administrative districts, without much clan overlap. Kedar’s idea is to let Gazan clans run their own affairs. 

“This could very well work – with no Hamas, which no one wants,” he said. “Otherwise, a Palestinian state could very well turn into another Hamastan.” 

In 2006, Hamas won the elections in Gaza. Hamas representatives are the majority of the legislative council of the Palestinian Authority, which prompted Mahmoud Abbas to “paralyze the council,” to maintain control. “To this day, Hamas says Abbas is illegitimate because of what he did,” Kedar states.  

It’s a struggle for many to hear conversation about clans and tribes, Kedar said, because it isn’t politically correct. “It reminds people of the Indians – it raises all kinds of conscience problems.” 

World leaders, especially those who are forming policy and donating billions in aid, operate with a Western mindset – involving innovation, reciprocal altruism, and human rights. “But this misunderstanding and ignorance of the Arab mindset isn’t just alive and kicking. It’s alive and killing.” 

Looking Ahead  

The world watches closely as to what will happen in Israel, now nearly a year since October 7th. Two daring assassinations carried out by Israel have increased tensions. Hizballah top commander Fauad Shukur (who was behind the rocket attack in the Druze village Majdal Shams where 12 children were killed while playing soccer) was killed in Beirut. Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh (who travelled to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian) was assassinated in Tehran. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, agitated by the major security blunder by Tehran, has issued an order to strike Israel directly in retaliation for Haniyeh’s death.  

Will Tehran strike? Will Operation Swords of Iron conclude, and to what resolution? Or will our prayers be answered by the coming of Mashiach?  

Sandra phoned me sounding very concerned. “Rabbi, I need your help. Isaac’s hearing has declined. His hearing specialist recommends that he wears hearing aids. But he refuses to wear them! He is making our lives unnecessarily complicated! And do you know why he refuses? Because Isaac has blown the shofar for our community on Rosh Hashana for over 30 years, and he’s concerned that if he starts wearing hearing aids, he will be unable to continue doing so. Rabbi, is that true?” 

We will answer Sandra’s question in three steps. Firstly, someone who is totally deaf is exempt from the mitzva to “hear the sound of the shofar,” and one who is personally exempt from the mitzva cannot blow the shofar on behalf of others (O.C., 589:2; Hazon Ovadia, Yamim Noraim, p. 125). The Beit Yosef explains (ibid) that deaf people are excluded because the mitzva is to hear the shofar, not to blow it. That is why the beracha recited prior to performing this mitzva is “to hear the sound of the shofar.” Kaf HaChaim (ibid, #6) adds that according to this reasoning, someone who is blind is obligated to listen to the shofar since he can hear, and consequently he can also blow the shofar for others.  

The second issue is how to relate to someone like Isaac, who is hard of hearing but is not totally deaf. Here, the halacha states that they are obligated to fulfil the mitzva as long as they can hear the sound of the shofar. Kaf HaChaim (ibid, #13, quoting Halachot Ketanot) goes so far as to say that this even obligates someone who can only hear with the aid of a mechanical listening device. Hacham Ovadia, zt”l,  (Yabia Omer, O.C., 7:18:2) explains that this is no different to seeing with the aid of a pair of glasses, which is halachically recognized as vision. Hence, only someone who is severely deaf and cannot hear even when the shofar is blown very loudly is exempt from the mitzva. Moreover, even somebody who can only hear when aided by a mechanical listening device is obligated to fulfil the mitzva of shofar, and consequently he can also blow the shofar for others. 

The third issue is whether electronic hearing aids are equivalent to the mechanical listening device discussed by the Kaf HaChaim. The Mishna in Rosh Hashana (27b) teaches that to fulfil the mitzva, one must hear the actual and original sound of the shofar, not its echo. By the same token, Hacham Ovadia (Yabia Omer, OC 1:19:18) rules that one does not fulfil the mitzva when hearing the shofar via a PA system, as one is not hearing the actual sound of the shofar. He writes that following a discussion with Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, they both concluded that a PA system projects an amplified electronic sound and not the original sound of the shofar, which means that one does not fulfil the mitzva by hearing the shofar over a PA system. 

Does the same concern apply to electronic hearing aids? Hacham Benzion Abba Shaul (Ohr Lezion, 4:5:16), Rabbi Auerbach (Minchat Shlomo, 9:1), and many other poskim rule that they, too, produce an echo or an electronic sound that is not the actual shofar sound. However, Hacham Ovadia (O.C., 7:18:2) rules that electronic hearing aids are equivalent to mechanical hearing devices and one may fulfil the mitzva of shofar while wearing hearing aids. The Rishon LeZion, Hacham Yitzhak Yosef, (Yalkut Yosef, Rosh Hashana, p. 397) quotes the aforementioned Minchat Shlomo, adding that Rabbi Auerbach heard from the Hazon Ish that there may be room to differentiate between hearing aids and a PA system, and to consider hearing aids a form of direct hearing.  

In conclusion, one does not fulfil the mitzvah of shofar when hearing it via a PA system. There is a difference of opinion regarding electronic hearing aids. However, since Isaac is only hard of hearing and not totally deaf, he is obligated to hear the shofar according to all opinions. I therefore advised that he remove his hearing aids while blowing the shofar for others, in order to fulfil the mitzva according to all poskim. The same applies to anyone else who is not totally deaf and wears electronic hearing aids. The hearing aids should ideally be removed when the shofar is sounded and one should stand near to the baal toke’ah if necessary. If one cannot hear the shofar without them, one should wear them and fulfil the mitzva according to Hacham Ovadia. 

Rabbi Yehuda Finchas is a worldwide expert, lecturer, and author on Medical Halacha. He heads the Torat Habayit Medical Halacha Institute. His latest book is “Brain Death in Halacha and the Tower of Babel Syndrome.” To contact Rabbi Finchas, email rabbi@torathabayit.com. 

Sam J. Sutton 

As the 2024 M&S Softball regular season enters its final stretch, the stakes have never been higher. The race for the top seed, the jockeying for playoff positioning, and the looming wild card showdown all make for a thrilling conclusion to the season. 

The Front Runners 

Sitting atop the standings with an impressive 8-2 record, Gabe Abady’s Sarah’s Kibbes are on the verge of locking down the #1 seed. Their consistent performance throughout the season has put them in the driver’s seat, and with only two games left, they are focused on finishing strong. Securing the top seed would not only be a testament to their dominance but would also grant them the advantage of facing the winner of the wild card game in the semifinals. 

Sarah’s Kibbes have been a model of consistency, with strong contributions from key players in both their offense and defense. The team’s chemistry and ability to perform under pressure have been evident all season, making them a formidable opponent for any team they might face in the playoffs. 

A Late-Season Surge? 

Currently holding the #2 seed with a 6-2 record, Edmund Beyda’s IDF team is in a unique position. With four games remaining on their schedule, they have the potential to challenge for the top seed. If IDF can capitalize on their remaining games and Sarah’s Kibbes falter, a shift at the top of the standings is not out of the question. 

IDF has shown flashes of brilliance throughout the season, and their roster depth allows them to compete at a high level even during challenging matchups. The upcoming games will be a true test of their resilience and ability to perform in high-pressure situations. A strong finish could catapult them into the #1 seed, altering the playoff landscape. 

Battle for Position 

Sabon’s Predators currently occupy the #3 seed with a 6-4 record, and they are keenly aware of the importance of finishing the season on a high note. With the potential to move up in the standings or solidify their current position, the Predators are focused on maintaining their momentum. Their blend of veteran leadership and emerging talent has been a recipe for success, and they will need to lean on these strengths as they navigate the final games of the season. 

SJG’s Resilience squad sits at the #4 seed with a .500 record of 5-5, a position that comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. The Resilience team knows that their playoff fate could hinge on the outcome of their remaining games. Securing the #4 seed would mean hosting the wild card game, giving them the home-field advantage. However, a slip-up could see them dropping in the standings and potentially facing a more challenging path to the championship. 

Wild Card Chaos 

The playoff format in M&S adds an extra layer of drama, with the #4 and #5 seeds facing off in a one-game wild card matchup for a right to advance to the semifinals. Currently, the Bleacher Creatures, captained by Sammy Esses, occupy the #5 seed with a 3-6 record. However, their position is anything but secure. With three games remaining, the Bleacher Creatures can clinch a playoff berth with two wins. But should they stumble, a tiebreaker scenario could unfold, adding to the chaos in the standings. 

The Final Battle, captained by Teddy Ishak, stands at 3-8, with only one game left on their schedule. Interestingly, that game is against the Bleacher Creatures. A win for the Final Battle would not only give them a shot at tying for the #5 seed but could also create a three-way tie, depending on other results. Such a scenario would undoubtedly lead to a tense and dramatic finish to the regular season, with tiebreakers coming into play to determine the final playoff spots. 

The Road Ahead 

As the regular season winds down, the excitement and tension are palpable. Each team is locked in, knowing that every game could be the difference between a playoff run and an early exit. Fans and players alike are on the edge of their seats, anticipating how the standings will shake out and who will emerge victorious in the wild card game. 

Stay tuned to all the latest updates and analysis on our popular YouTube channel and our website, www.MandSBaseball.com, as we head down the stretch and into the playoffs. 

Rabbi David Sutton and Dr. David Katzenstein, LCSW-R 

How do we separate ourselves from our desires? How do we show ourselves that we are not our desires? It sounds easy to say: Just let your desires float, just let them be. 

But how do we carry that out? 

Acting Against Our Will 

As a young man, Rav Yerucham Levovitz described his struggles and his subsequent kabbalah before Yom Kippur (cited in Alei Shur, Vol. II, p. 248). “I see that I’m not controlling myself. I’m in someone else’s hands. And that someone else is the materialistic forces inside of me that are controlling me. And not only that, they are also bribing my intellect – to fool it into doing improper things just to get me away from goodness. And therefore, I accept upon myself to make my daat, my awareness, the one in control. Hashem should help me. I have accepted upon myself, bli neder, to do things against my will five times a day.” 

How do we do something against our will? If we have an urge for a coffee, for a caffeine fix, we can tell ourselves, “No, not now. I don’t need that coffee. I will manage for another hour without it.” That’s going against our will, breaking our ratzon. Or, let’s say we go to our car and then realize we forgot to bring an item we planned to return to the store. At first, we may say to ourselves, “The return can wait until tomorrow. I don’t need to go back into the house.” But if we think about it, we are just being lazy. If we force ourselves to schlep back to get that item, we are breaking our ratzon, just like the great baalei mussar. 

To enable us to overcome certain desires, we use a technique called “thought diffusion.”  This refers to the process in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) where individuals learn to disengage from their thoughts and see them as mental events, rather than absolute truth. The goal is to help people become less attached to their thoughts and more focused on the present moment, leading to greater psychological flexibility. In the example with the coffee, it would be to amend the thought of I need this coffee, to I’m having a thought that I need this coffee. 

Rav Yisrael Salanter, the father of the Mussar Movement, once woke up in middle of the night because he was thirsty. In those days, before indoor plumbing, if you were thirsty, you’d have to go to the well. His first reaction was, “Maybe this isn’t genuine thirst; maybe it’s just unnecessary taavah, desire.” (Of course, this is beyond our level.) He decided it was unnecessary, because he didn’t need it. But then he said to himself, “Hold on, maybe it’s laziness stopping me from going to the well.” 

So what did Rav Yisrael do? He got out of bed, walked to the well, drew the water from the well, came back home, and spilled it out. 

That way, it was clearly not desire and clearly not laziness. That’s a very high level. 

Forces That Control Us 

In his personal notes cited above, Rav Yerucham mentioned that he felt materialistic forces inside of him gaining control over him, with avot, fathers, and toldot, children. Rav Wolbe asks: What are these forces? 

As discussed earlier, after Adam HaRishon sinned, the forces of evil entered us. These are the fathers, and they create children, what Rav Wolbe calls “ribuy retzonot she’b’lev,” an abundance of desires in the heart. But these desires are not us; they’re foreigners. Yet it can be difficult to recognize that these constant urges, wills, or desires, which are constantly popping up in our hearts, are all outsiders. 

We think desire is our self. And we think that spirituality and intellect and knowledge are something strange. Desire for delicacies, for honor, and for money seem natural to us, while spiritual concepts seem unnatural, something we have to force ourselves to delve into.

TAKEAWAY

Step one is to start separating our selves from our desires. And the only way to do that is by not feeding our desire, not giving into it. When we control our desire, we can see that we are not our desire. 

If you accepted upon yourself to refrain from X, Y, or Z, and then a day or two later you suddenly feel a strong urge to do X, Y, or Z, remind yourself, “I certainly don’t need to do this. I am just having a thought that I need to.” 

As the new school year approaches, students and parents alike are gearing up with the latest hi-tech gadgets to enhance learning and productivity. The 2024 back-to-school season is brimming with technology designed to make education more engaging and efficient. Whether you’re a tech-savvy student or a parent looking to equip your child with the best tools for success, this year’s lineup of gadgets promises to transform the academic experience.  Here are eight must-have tech gadgets for the coming school year. 

Logitech MX Vertical Wireless Mouse 

Hand and wrist pain, often a result of marathon computer sessions, can really put a damper on your work. The Logitech MX Vertical’s tilted, upright positioning can help prevent those long days doing research at the library from coming back to haunt you. 

Glocusent Book Light 

Late-night cram sessions can be a huge strain on your eyes. Glocusent’s new and improved Book Light is a subtle, low-light alternative that’s more versatile than a clip-on book light. 

Lapgear Home Office Lapdesk 

Sometimes sitting at a desk just isn’t the vibe. Lapgear’s lapdesk can make it much easier and more comfortable to work from your bed or couch by giving you a sturdy surface on which to plop your laptop, notebook, textbook, and other materials. The soft padding on the underside is designed to keep your lap cool even after hours of work, and there’s a built-in mousepad on the top for you to use with your favorite accessory.  

Kobo Libra Colour 

Rather than lug around too many heavy textbooks in your too-small backpack, get an e-reader like the Kobo Libra Colour to make your life easier. One of the newest models from Kobo, the Libra Colour, has a 7-inch E Ink Kaleido panel, page-turn buttons, an upgraded process, and stylus support! 

Echo Dot (4th Gen) Kids Edition 

The Echo Dot Kids Edition has all the same features you’ve come to know and love with the Echo Dot, but with more kid-friendly features and better parental controls. Kids can ask Alexa questions and even get help with their homework or ask Alexa to read them a story. Parents can set daily time limits, filter songs and content, and review activity in the Amazon Parent Dashboard. 

Bange Backpack 

If you are buying all of these amazing tech products, get an equally high-tech backpack that can protect all of them and more. Bange’s backpack is in a class of its own. This bag is functional, affordable, and comes with an in-bag charging port to boot! 

2-Pack Portable Charger Bundle 

School days mean long hours and longer screen times. Don’t let your phone die on you midday with this incredible 2-pack portable charger bundle. This charger gets rid of pesky wires, in addition to providing a state-of-the-art LED screen to indicate the remaining battery life. 

Crucial X9 Pro 

It’s a good idea to have all of your important documents for school saved in more than one spot. A portable SSD like the Crucial X9 Pro is a good solution, giving you another spot to save all of those papers, lab reports, syllabi, and the like that you can take with you anywhere and everywhere. Roughly the size of a credit card, it can easily be tossed into a bag or slipped into your back pocket before you rush out the door for the day. Its aluminum body is also IP55-rated, so it’ll survive contact with water and dust. 

Victor Cohen 

Yeshivat Moreshet Yerushalayim is a unique community-friendly post-high school yeshiva in Israel, headed by Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Harold Sutton. Its mission is to shape future leaders that are bnei Torah, who will carry their experience at the yeshiva throughout their lives. Moreshet offers its students top-notch rabbis, trips to explore the land, and connections to their rabbis and fellow students that will last for the rest of their lives. 

The yeshiva opened with a class of only eight students. The incoming class is fifty strong.   

The Alumni Event 

Once a year, Moreshet  invites all alumni to a reunion so they can gather together to celebrate the yeshiva’s accomplishments and to learn about its vision for the future. 

Usually,  reunions are hosted in an alum’s backyard. However, due to bad  weather the event needed to be moved indoors.  Thankfully, Congregation Magen David of West Deal graciously offered to host the event. 

In past years only former students have been invited. This year the incoming students were invited as well. Newcomers and old-timers got to chat together, with 250 attendees altogether. An added plus was the presence of some of the yeshiva’s rabbis, flown in for the event,  including Rabbi Yehoshua Shani and Rabbi Tanchum Gold.   

The  reunion’s theme was “The Shuk,” and an abundance of shuk-style food was featured, including shawarma, candies, spices, and a variety of nuts. According to Daniel Braha, the chief architect of the event, they wanted to create a warm, familiar environment for alumni, and a welcoming environment for incoming students. 

The alumni network of Moreshet is like a family. As Jacob Kassin, who was very involved with  fundraising for Moreshet, said, “The importance of the event is to bring all the alumni together and to create a sense of family and unity. It’s also to show the parents and the community as a whole what we have built and will continue to build.” 

A Night to Remember 

Sammy Saka opened the evening. He spoke about the day Rabbi Sutton pitched Moreshet to Hillel Yeshiva’s board. He noted that Hillel was proud to have such a large percentage of students attending the yeshiva’s first year. Rabbi Saul Kassin expressed gratitude towards the Moreshet leadership for nurturing it into the success it has become. Rabbi Sutton thanked the many people involved in creating and sustaining Moreshet. He marveled at how what started off as only eight has become 250. 

Hacham Shimon Alouf detailed the importance that we should place on our tradition and the specific values our community teaches us. He pointed to the depraved, corrupted values of the outside world and cautioned Moreshet’s alumni to adhere to proper values. 

Rabbi Gold, a dayan in Israel, led the learning for the night. He described a recent case on which he ruled, then he split the room into groups, and had each group work together to find solutions for the dispute, utilizing sources from the Gemara, the Rishonim, and the Shulchan Aruch. 

The evening closed with an emotional presentation by Rabbi Shani, who lost his son Uri, H’yd, on October 7th. A short video that Uri had recorded was shown. Even though Rabbi Shani and his family were struck by a devastating tragedy, the rabbi seemed strong and resolute. He served as an inspiration for everyone in the room. 

This reunion was a beautiful and meaningful event. It was appropriately representative of the yeshiva, a place dedicated to teaching skills to produce graduates dedicated to Torah learning, under the tradition of Aram Soba, and dedicated to Sephardic values.