MHA-FYOS Dean's Blog

On Sunday, November 15th our ECE and Elementary Divisions held an Open House for prospective and current parents to experience a Day at the MHA. Parents got to paint and play with blocks and learn first hand the type of educational activities our students do every day. Please watch the video below that highlights some of the many things that makes the MHA so special.

In this week’s parasha , Toldot, Yitzchak is faced with a challenge that his father, Avraham, had faced in the previous generation – famine in the land. Whereas Avraham left Israel and sojourned to Egypt in search of food, Yitzchak is commanded by Hashem to stay in the land. Hashem reassured Yitzchak that He will be with him and that he will be blessed. As Yitzchak grows in stature and in wealth, the local Philistines become jealous of his success. The pasuk says, “and he (Yitzchak) had flocks of sheep and cattle and a great deal of crops and the Philistines were jealous. And the Philistines closed up all of the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Avraham and filled them with dirt.” Avimelech, the king of the Philistines, told Yitzchak to move. Complying with his wishes, Yitzchak moved on to Nachal Gerar. In this new location, Yitzchak uncovered wells that Avraham had dug but that had subsequently been covered by the Philistines and renamed them. Yitzchak...

What an exciting Shabbat for the Memphis Jewish Community! We are so happy to welcome the 15 teams from Jewish High Schools around the country who are in Memphis to participate in the ninth annual Cooper Tournament. Thursday’s competition was fierce and Thursday night’s program - dinner, speaker and a movie – was engaging. All of the competition will be held at the Memphis Jewish Community Center – come out and cheer on the Macs! Thursday night’s program featured Raheem Shabazz – a local trainer who works with high school, college and professional athletes. Mr. Shabazz told his story of growing up as a star athlete in Chattanooga who earned his way to compete on The Ohio State University football team. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury during his college career and ended up dropping out of school. Out of school and father of a two-year-old son, Mr. Shabazz was destitute. He was living in his car with his son, could not provide basic needs for himself or for his child and did not hav...

We want to share with you the news of two very impressive accomplishments by our students. First, ​Dovid Yehoshua Samuels has received a ​Letter of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Out of 1.5 million annual applicants nationwide, only ​34,000 letters ​were awarded. Second, Efraim Wiener ('17) was one of three students from all of Memphis chosen to speak at Monday night's annual banquet for Facing History and Ourselves. He addressed an audience of 750 people regarding the impact that Facing History—a wonderful global organization dedicated to eliminating racism and anti-Semitism—had on his life as a Jewish student at the MHA. A link to the video of his speech can be found below, and on YouTube at https://youtu.be/-4X2GUp36xI . Special thanks to Mrs. Talya Tsuna who works as the MHA's liaison to Facing History. On behalf of the entire MHA Community, Mazel Tov to Dovid Yehoshua and Efraim as well as their entire families.

In this week’s parasha, Avraham Avinu is told of Hashem’s plan to destroy Sedom and its four sister cities. The Torah describes these cities as places of decrepit morals populated by denizens of corrupt values. The Torah recounts that Avraham asked Hashem to preserve the cities on account of the tzaddikim – the righteous people – who lived in the cities. Avraham inquires whether Hashem would destroy the cities if there were 50 righteous people. Hashem responds that He would not. Avraham then inquires whether Hashem would destroy the cities if there were 45 righteous people. Hashem responds that He would not. Avraham then inquires about 40, 30, 20 or even 10 righteous people. Hashem responds that in any of these cases, He would not cause destruction. Our chachamim address a number of issues related to this interaction between Avraham and Hashem. One question that they address is why Avraham chose to inquire about 50, 45, 40, 30, 20 then 10 righteous people. What was Avraham’s ...

This week’s parasha, Lech Lecha, introduces us to our patriarchs, Avraham and Sarah, and shares with us their early encounters in eretz Canaan . After successfully retrieving his nephew Lot from capture, Avram encounters Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem and priest of Hashem. In this encounter, Avram takes a tenth of his possessions and gives them as a gift to Malki-Tzedek – presumably to assist him in his work as a priest of Hashem. The Midrash tells us that Malki-Tzedek is none other than Noach’s righteous son, Shem. Furthermore, our mefarshim (Ramban and others) teach us that Shalem is none other than Yerushalayim. What lesson is the Torah teaching us by using pseudonyms for Shem and Yerushalayim? Why doesn’t the Torah simply refer to Malki-Tzedek as Shem and Shalem as Yerushalayim? The Torah seems to be teaching us a fundamental idea about the purpose of Yerushalayim from its very origins as a city. Malki-Tzedek means “king of justice”. Shalem is a variant of Shalom - “peace”. ...

We are all dismayed by the daily reports of random violence against Israeli citizens and military personnel and concerned about the victims and their families. Let us continue to pray for the speedy recovery of these victims and for the end to these heinous acts. This week’s parsha is Noach. The sedra opens with, “these are the generations of Noach. Noach was a perfectly righteous man in his generation. Noach walked with Hashem”. Rashi seems to be bothered an apparent redundancy – the Torah had already introduced us to Noach and his children in last week’s parsha . In fact, last week’s sedra concludes with the pasuk , “and Noach found favor in Hashem’s eyes”. Why does the Torah find it necessary to reintroduce us to Noach’s offspring and say, “These are the generations of Noach”? Our Rabbis teach that the good deeds of righteous people are considered their offspring. Rashi explains that the generations of Noach referred to in this week’s parsha are not his children but rather h...