Rabbi Shmuel Silberman Middle/Upper School Learning Center Specialist   Shmuel Silberman has worked at Maimonides since 1998. He is married to Sara Silberman , who works in the Maimonides Early Childhood Center.   Do you ever suspect that some people “have it” and some don’t? Do you worry that you belong to the “have nots”? Perhaps this thinking has even interfered with your religious life. Other people supposedly have a knack for spirituality, and you wish you did too.   This week 's parsha, Acharei Mot, uproots this paradigm. We read about a procedure on Yom Kippur where two goats are selected. One is offered on the mizbeach, and the other is sent to the wilderness. Which goat goes where is determined by lots.   “And Aharon will cast lots on the two male goats, one lot is for Hashem and one lot is for Azazel ( Vaykira 16:8).”   Whi...

Dr. Josh Levisohn ('85)   Dr. Josh Levisohn (’85) has spent most of the last 28 years in Jewish day school education, including 17 years as Head of School at Berman Hebrew Academy in Greater Washington, D.C. and Farber Hebrew Day School in Southfield, Michigan. Josh returned to the Boston area two years ago, and in July will begin serving as Head of School at Striar Hebrew Academy in Sharon. As someone involved in formal Jewish education for many years, I have often reflected on what sets our heritage apart from contemporary culture. Some differences are immediately apparent: a sense of kedushah , of obligation and personal responsibility, of peoplehood. But there is another aspect of Jewish life that is more subtle and, in its own way, deeply countercultural: the power, the almost tangible reality, of the words that come out of our mouths.   Words do not feel very real. They cannot be seen or touched; they are fleeting, easily misheard or misund...

Dr. Yael  Jaffe Upper School Judaic Studies Teacher   In addition to teaching Talmud and Navi, Dr. Jaffe leads our Chidon HaTanach elective. She  is the proud mother of  a recent alumnus  and three Maimonides students. We often throw up our hands, feeling powerless as we watch cultural forces develop around us and overtake the trajectory of our generation. Whether in the political sphere, where the right has normalized bullying and the left has fostered a tendency to complain about fairness; or in the moral sphere, where the focus on success has rationalized lying and a lack of inclusive behavior; or in the religious sphere, where talking in  shul  and sleeping in on vacation have become normalized; we commonly fail to engage with these challenges. By nature, we see only two options: succumb to the effects of those forces, or dodge them as they pass by. This  Shabbat , we read with longing about the return of a great leader of the Jewish people, o...

If there is one thing our  Torah  stresses more than anything else, it is the respect we owe our teachers and parents: "honor your father and mother," "stand up for your elders," "defer to your teachers."   At the same time, the  Torah  celebrates many heroes who made their mark precisely by  challenging  and even  rebuking  their teachers. Young Miriam scolds her father for not having more children, an adolescent Avraham spurns the religion of his parents, and countless rabbis ferociously debate their mentors all over the  Mishnah.   My favorite story of conscientious mutiny is a  midrash  on this week's  parsha.  The  midrash  describes the consecration of Shmuel to the  Mishkan  at Shilo. At some point in the ceremony, the  Kohen Gadol,  Eli, asks for a deputy  kohen  to come and  shecht  a  korban.  At this point, Shmuel, who is only three years old,...

Shira  Meuchas Middle School  Limudei Kodesh  Teacher   Shira Meuchas teaches Middle School limudei kodesh and is the Middle School Student Activities Coordinator. She and her husband Yedidya, who teaches Middle/Upper School limudei kodesh, are serving as Brookline Bnei Akiva Shlichim this year. A nation of former slaves needed to build the  Mishkan  in the desert. To do this, many skilled workers were needed. People had to spin and weave, cut wooden boards, prepare bars and sockets, sew, and work with metals. But where would all these skilled workers come from?  Bnei Yisrael  had been slaves in Egypt!   The Ramban raises this very question:   כי ישראל במצרים פרוכים בעבודת חומר ולבנים, לא למדו מלאכת כסף וזהב וחרושת אבנים טובות ולא ראו אותם כלל. והנה הוא פלא שימצא בהם אדם חכם גדול בכסף ובזהב ובחרושת אבן ועץ וחושב ורוקם ואורג Because the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt and worked hard with clay and bricks. They did not learn how to w...

Talya Naggar ('23)   After graduating Maimonides in 2023, Talya Naggar spent a gap year at Medreshet Shaalvim for Women before continuing on to Yeshiva University. She is currently a junior studying Political Science on a pre-law track, with aspirations of pursuing a career in law and public policy. Parshat Ki Tisa  contains one of the most difficult moments in our national story and confronts us with a painful paradox. The generation that stood at  Har Sinai , the generation that heard the voice of G-d, is the very generation that builds the Golden Calf. After witnessing the miracles of  Yetziat Mitzrayim  and experiencing revelation, the Jewish people find themselves panicking when they believe Moshe is delayed in returning from the mountain. The  Torah  records their words: " מֹשֶׁה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֹא יָדַעְנוּ מֶה הָיָה לו ֹ," translated as, "For this Moshe, the man who brought us up from Egypt, we do not know what has b...

Rabbi Jon  Bloomberg   Rabbi Jon  Bloomberg  taught limudei kodesh at Maimonides School from 1985-2011. He and his wife made aliyah in 2012, joining their three alumni children in Israel. Rabbi  Bloomberg  spends most of his time learning Torah, attending shiurim, and visiting his grandchildren. He is about to complete Shas for the second time. In reading  Parshat Zachor,   Devarim  25: 17-19, we fulfill the command of remembering the hostility of Amalek; we remember, we do not forget, we erase the memory of Amalek. For some, Rambam for example, the obligation relates to war against this nation. For others, including Rav Soloveitchik, the message is more universal, expressing broader religious messages, not necessarily related to war.   The obligation to read the  Torah  in the synagogue is rabbinic. The obligation to read  Parshat Zachor , however, is  min ha'Torah , biblical. As a result of this, women may be obliga...