Rabbi Phillip Moskowitz (’99) Associate Rabbi, Boca Raton Synagogue Travis Freeman grew up in Corbin, Kentucky and lived a typical, all-American kind of life. But one morning in 1993, at the age of 12, Travis woke up with a severe migraine that lasted nine days. On the tenth day, he woke up with the headache gone but with a new problem: His left eye started to hurt. Then it started to swell.   The next day he went to the doctor and found out he had a massive infection. He went to the University of Kentucky hospital, where the doctors ran tests and found out he had a severe sinus infection, one that at the time was fatal for 70 percent of the people who contracted it. Of the 30 percent that survived, most lived in a vegetative state. He was the second person in the world to have it only affect his eyes.   The doctors were able to save his life, but he would never be able to see again. As Travis said, “In less than two days, in less than 48 hours, I had gone from perfect 20/20 v...

Rabbi Dov Huff (’00) Middle and Upper School Principal ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם The stated objective at the start of this week’s  parsha  seems straightforward on the surface. But the four  parshiyot  of painstaking detail dedicated to the construction of the  Mishkan  make us think about what it actually means to build a sanctuary so that  Hashem  can dwell among us. At the core of this undertaking is the  mitzvah  that launches this project : Terumah . There are two components of the  terumah , donations brought to the  Mishkan . They require two distinct types of participation from  Am Yisrael.  On the one hand,  Bnei Yisrael  were to bring donations  kol nediv lev , "each man as his heart desires." This contribution is about self-expression and self-direction. It is how each participant finds their own personal meaning and connection in the way they relate to  Hakadosh Baruch Hu . The opportun...

Morah Robin Meyerowitz Early Childhood Center Director In one classroom, an Early Childhood student is building  Har Sinai  with clay. In another, children are dancing to the song “I am a mountain, so very high.” And in yet another, the students are enthusiastically acting out the scene of  Matan Torah . As I walk down the hall from the Early Childhood Center to the Elementary School, I hear the teachers and students studying the  Aseret Hadibrot,  reading the text and discussing the ideas. In the Middle and Upper Schools, students are engaged in the learning of  Mishnah  and  Talmud . Everywhere you go within this building, you hear  tefillah . You hear  Torah . And if you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of previous generations of our students, many now with children and grandchildren of their own. As we read  Parshat Yitro , we are reminded about the famous  Midrash  that the  neshamot , souls, of every Je...