Ariel Jeselsohn Class of 2026   The following is an abridged and edited version of a lengthier  Dvar Torah  that will appear in the  A Bisl Torah: Pesach Edition . This student publication of  Divrei Torah  for the upcoming holiday will be distributed to local  shuls  in the Boston area and will be available online at  www.maimonides.org/pesach .   During the seder, there is a special  mitzvah  to tell the story of the exodus from Egypt. The verse says: “״וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֵאמֹר בַּעֲבוּר זֶה עָשָׂה ה’ לִי בְּצֵאתִי מִמִּצְרָֽיִם “And tell your sons during this day, because of this ‘ה did to me, when I left Egypt.” (שמות י״ג: ח׳) There is also a  mitzvah  to remember the exodus every day and every night. We learn this from דברים ט״ז:ג׳, which says: “לְמַעַן תִּזְכֹּר אֶת־יוֹם צֵֽאתְךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּֽיךָ” “In order to remember the day you left Egypt all of your life.” There is the  m...

Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Jaffe Dean of Judaic Studies and Rabbi of the Maimonides Kehillah With Great Thanks to the Unnamed Jew  Who Hails from Brooklyn The first of many school activities this week – including the annual Drama Club play and the Ezra Schwartz Memorial Baseball Tournament – was the twelfth grade environmental science class trip to upstate New York on Monday to watch the total solar eclipse. Environmental science is one of three science offerings for twelfth graders at Maimonides, along with Advanced Placement Biology and Advanced Placement Physics, and the students were able to experience science and  Hashem 's wondrous creation together on a trip chaperoned by teacher Dr. David Fischer and Chiel Educator-in-Residence Jacob Pinnolis, and hosted by Risa and Zev Gewurz.   All Maimonides School field trips, academic competitions, and athletic activities are scheduled around regular  davening , and it often happens that our student athletes, thespians, or mock-triali...

Rabbi Moshe Simkovich Former Maimonides School Faculty Member פרשת שמיני The Danger of Going a Little Too Far Nadav and Avihu conceivably went a little too far in their pursuit of a righteous cause. But the cost of passionately going too far, of working with an inner fire that gets out of control, can burn the very source of that passion. This leaves a tragic result that simultaneously has an element of  kedusha  – בקרבי אקדש (Vayikra 10:3) – as a lasting mark.   I returned from a trip to Israel just before  Purim . While there, I spent some evenings talking with former students, now soldiers who served in Gaza and the north. To hear about their experiences was compelling, but not easy. Bravery and solidarity exist in a framework of tension and devotion. Mixed in is doubt, and for some the mixture leads to behavior that is the result of confused passion.   For example, I learned that one reservist, while on a sweep through houses in Gaza, in a situation where th...

Dr. Caroline Peyser-Bollag Maimonides Class of 1983 If you have ever been to Israel, you have probably marveled at how the words and expressions that you know from your study of  Torah  or  Tanach  come to life in modern Hebrew. During a visit to the biblical petting zoo you encounter רחלים and עיזים, the lambs and goats from  Sefer Bereishit . If you go shopping you may be looking to buy בגדים, clothes, the very same term used to describe what the priests wore –  בגדי כהונה– or maybe you are looking to purchase כלים, utensils. Similarly, phrases from the  Torah  have become everyday idioms in conversational Hebrew. For example, when Yaakov specified to Lavan that he would work an additional seven years specifically for Rachel, he said ברחל בתך הקטנה,  for Rachel, your youngest daughter , so that there should be no confusion or room for deception. In modern Hebrew, this same phrase is used to mean “explicitly.” Likewise, the expression הבל הב...