MHA-FYOS Dean's Blog

What are we recognizing and celebrating this evening? The answer to this question is different for different people here tonight. For parents, family members and friends, graduation from high school is a moment in time; a milestone to reflect on our children’s growth and development over seventeen or eighteen years of life. For teachers, graduation is an opportunity to celebrate the transformative power of education and, in the case of our school, to emphasize the lasting impact of a Torah education. For students, graduation is an indicator of freedom. Leshon HaKodesh , the Hebrew language, employs three terms for freedom or the quality of being free – chofshi , d’ror and cherut . Why does Hebrew use three terms for freedom and what concept of freedom does each term convey? The term chofshi is used by the Torah to connote the freedom that a master gives a servant in letting him go. The master frees the slave. What type of freedom is this? It is the freedom from the master’s coercion...

Parashat Behar introduces the institution of shemita – the seventh year of a seven year cycle. Shemita touches two areas of life: Shemitat karka – agriculture  Shemitat kesafim – loans  From an agricultural perspective, shemita demands that we allow our land to remain fallow. No planting, no commercial harvesting, no tilling the soil. Anyone is permitted to harvest for personal use from any other’s field. These laws apply only to the land of Israel and are in force even today. From a monetary perspective, shemita demands that we cancel loans. These laws apply today even outside of the land of Israel. What messages should one take away from experiencing a shemita ? What enduring understandings does the Torah teach through the laws of shemita ? The most obvious understanding that shemita conveys derives from its comparison to Shabbat . In fact, the Torah calls shemita a Shabbat for the land. Shabbat occurs every seventh day – shemita occurs every seventh year. ...