Shalhevet Cahana (’10) There's a story about Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, on Parshat Bechukotai. He was traveling that shabbos, away from his family. Upon his return, when his family shared their respective shabbos experiences with each other, his son shared that he fainted during  Kriyat HaTorah !“What happened?” asked his father. His son replied, “It was the  Tochechah ! It was so bitter!”  His father was puzzled. “I don’t understand – you hear me read it every year. Why did you experience it differently with the other  Ba’al Koreh ? Dov Ber replied, “Indeed, you read it every year. But when you read it, Abba, I hear blessings.” How is this possible? No matter how one  Ba’al Koreh  might sing the words – the curses are clear and explicit. What was Dov Ber saying?  Though the Parsha begins with 11  Psukim  of blessing-rewards for performing  Mitzvot , the portion is dominated by 49 curses of  Tochecha ...

Dr. Yardaena Osband (’93) This week we will be celebrating  Lag BaOmer  right after  Shabbat Parshat Behar , from  motzei Shabbat  until Sunday. So what exactly is  Lag BaOmer?   Rabbi Yosef Karo writes in the  Shulchan Aruch  ( Orah Hayim  493: 1-2) that during the period before  Lag BaOmer,  one does not make a wedding or cut hair because the students of Rabbi Akiva died between  Pesach  and  Shavuot.  The well-known passage in  Yevamot  (62b) teaches us that 12,000 pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students died at one time, between  Pesach  and  Shavuot,  because they did not treat each other with respect, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁלֹּא נָהֲגוּ כָּבוֹד זֶה לָזֶה. Less well known is the  midrash  in  Kohelet Rabba  (11:6:1) which provides a slightly different explanation for the deaths of the 12,000 pairs – because the students were begrudging to each other in regards to their...

Rabbi Shimmy Trencher Executive Director of Community Engagement “How would you describe a Jewish person who is faithful to the  Torah?”   Inevitably, when I ask students this question, they describe someone who keeps  Shabbat  and  kashrut , someone who  davens , someone who is careful about  Tzniut , and someone who learns  Torah . “What about honoring your parents? Or visiting the sick? Or giving  tzedakah ?” I ask.   “Well,” they say, “Those are in the  Torah  too, but they’re also just part of being a good person.”   Of course, we know that the  Torah  includes  mitzvot bein adam l’makom  — between man and G-d — as well as  mitzvot bein adam l’chaveiro  — between man and man. But to many of us, those in the second category seem so intuitive and universal that it’s easy to forget their importance to what it means to be a  Torah  personality.   Historians tell us, however, th...

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...