MHA-FYOS Dean's Blog

Parashat Bechukotai, the second parasha of this week’s double parasha , outlines the berachot and kelalot – the blessings and curses for adhering or not adhering to the mitzvot . This tochacha – rebuke – pertains to the Jewish people. When we follow the mitzvot , G-d rewards the Jewish people in order to help us serve Him better. When we do not follow the mitzvot , G-d rebukes us in the form of curses in order to teach us to improve our ways. The Torah says, “And the produce of your threshing season will last until the grape harvest; and the produce of the grape harvest will last until the planting. And you have your fill of food. And you will dwell securely in your land.” On this last statement, “and you will dwell securely in your land”, our rabbis comment in the Midrash Sifra that this blessing applies in the Land of Israel but not in the exile. What a perplexing statement! Our Rabbis are teaching here that the mitzvot that we perform, the closeness to G-d that we achieve throu...

In the second parasha , Kedoshim, of this week’s double parasha, the Torah teaches, “When you will come to the land and plant any food tree, you will treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years they will be forbidden to you; they may not be eaten. In the fourth year, all its fruit shall be sanctified to praise Hashem.” The final phrase of these verses, “all its fruit shall be sanctified to praise Hashem,” is understood by our Rabbis to be the source verse for the obligation to make a blessing prior to eating food – the obligation of bracha rishona . Based on this understanding, our Rabbis teach in Masechet Berachot that it is forbidden to eat food without first making the appropriate initial blessing. This Gemara in Berachot makes a further point. The Rabbis teach, “Anyone who benefits from this world without making a blessing first is like stealing from the holy things of heaven as the verse states, ‘To G-d is the land and everything that fills it’”. The Gemara further analyzes thi...

An excerpt from Rabbi Owen’s remarks at last Sunday night’s Annual Banquet Dinner. One of the most unique and special qualities of our community and school is our strong connection to Eretz Yisrael. Many Memphis expats live in Eretz Yisrael. Annually, 90% of our graduates study in Israel. At MHA, the month of Iyyar is dedicated to programming about Israel. Many of our students study Torah in Ivrit – particularly in the early grades. We further teach Ivrit as a language. We host a Kollel MiTzion in our beit midrash and annually host two young women from the Bat Ami program. These are just some examples of how consciousness about eretz yisrael and about am yisrael is woven into the fabric of our school. Time is precious – particularly in education. For each lesson that we include in our curriculum, another is left out. Why do we dedicate such an investment of resources to connecting our students to Israel? Our parasha – Parashat Bechukotai – outlines the berachot and kelal...