Rabbi Shimmy Trencher Executive Director of Community Engagement   Rabbi Shimmy Trencher serves as Executive Director of Community Engagement, overseeing admissions, recruitment, marketing, communications, community programming, and alumni affairs. Prior to joining Maimonides, Rabbi Trencher was a high school principal and dean of students. He is married to Stacey (Kepnes) Trencher ('93).   Recently, I made a mistake at work.   I  really  don't like making mistakes. As a child, I remember getting up in  shul  to sing  A'anim Zemirot  and counting on my fingers the number of mistakes I made! However, while I have worked quite a bit on being less critical in the face of being human, I still want to hold myself to a high standard and do the right thing. From a psychological perspective, I tend to understand many of my challenges in this area through the lens of Alfred Adler's theory of  Individual Psychology . Adler, an early theorist and f...

Atara Eis ('99)   Atara (Sendor) Eis ('99) is a  Yoetzet Halacha  and currently serves as one of the Deans of Nishmat, the Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Studies for Women. She previously founded Nishmat's U.S. branch, the Miriam Glaubach Center.   If you knew me during my twelve years at Maimonides, you probably already know that I am not great at holding my cards close to my chest. I am pathologically transparent. So this week's  parsha  makes me a little uneasy with Eliezer's talent for selective storytelling. While some commentaries see Eliezer as subtly sabotaging Avraham's plan to find a wife for Yitzchak, Rashi quotes a  midrash  that seems to praise his storytelling. Why else, asks the  midrash,  would the  Torah  lavish such real estate on this long, detailed retelling, when so many  mitzvot  appear only in brief hints? Eliezer is introduced simply as "the servant, the elder of Avraham's house...

Yedidya Meuchas Middle/Upper School  Limudei Kodesh  Teacher   Yedidya Meuchas was the Chatan Tanach of the 2019 International Adult Bible Contest. He and his wife Shira, Middle School Student Activities Coordinator and Limudei Kodesh Teacher, are serving as Brookline Bnei Akiva Shlichim this year.   A guiding principle found throughout the  Midrashim  and commentaries on the book of  Bereshit  is  מַעֲשֵׂה אָבוֹת סִימָן לַבָּנִים  – "the actions of the forefathers are a sign for their descendants." This means that the stories we learn about the patriarchs and matriarchs are not just ancient history. They are our story – the story of what we have gone through and what is yet to come. Looking closely at the founding generation of our nation is like studying the spiritual DNA of all of us.   In this week's  parsha , Abraham and Sarah – both elderly – receive a message from three visitors that they will soon have a son. Sarah's re...