"

Page 1 of 4
A Fuchs Mizrachi Stark High School Publication


Candle Lighting: 8:21
Havdala: 9:29
Note: The Halachic times listed here are from www.myzmanim.com.
Third to First
By Yasmine Ashwal, 10
th
Grade
This weeks Parashah, Parashat
Bechukotai, ends off Sefer VaYikra with the
rewards and punishments for those who observe
or stray from Hashems Mitzvot. Hashem
describes what is arguably one of the worst
punishments: , in which the Jews will be
exiled from their land; however they will learn
from their sins and return to Hashem.
After the Jews repent to Hashem, Passuk
26:42 tells Hashems response.

, I will remember My covenant with Jacob
and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My
covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I
will remember the land.
Rather than the usual order of Avraham,
Yitzchak, and Yaakov, this Passuk has the names
reversed. Rashi points out that indeed there is a
deeper meaning to that fact that Yaakov was
mentioned first. He states that Yaakov is put first,
because he himself is worthy enough of bringing
Bnei Yisrael to redemption. However, if Yaakov
himself cannot do this, Yitzchak and his merit
will help him. If Yitzchaks help is insufficient,
Avraham will be there to help and will certainly
be able to bring Bnei Yisrael to redemption.
This brings up the question why is
Yaakov so special? Yaakov was a humble man
who spent his days learning Torah and wishing
to please his father, Yitzchak. After Yaakov took
the Bracha that was originally meant for Esav,
Esav was enraged and Yaakov was forced to flee.
When Yaakov tries to return, he sends presents
to Esav in hopes of being able to return in peace.
On his journey back, he runs into an angel and
they fight. At the end of fighting, the angel then
changes Yaakovs name to Yisrael.


Bechukotai

Friday, May 16, 2014 / " "

"
Page 2 of 4
A Fuchs Mizrachi Stark High School Publication
With Yaakovs name now changed to
Israel, he has the destiny to lead the Jews. His
new name means the one who struggled with
G-d in this case, prevailing. Yaakovs new name
not only has a deeper meaning but has Hashems
name in it, - . Yaakov now has Hashem with
him and is given the power he needs to lead Bnei
Yisrael to redemption.
The message we can take from Yaakov is
that no matter how hard things get for us, we
should never give up and always have faith that
Hashem will help us.
Have a great Shabbos!!
Sticks in a Bundle are Unbreakable
By Ari Bar-Shain, 12
th
Grade
Can we work with partners, please?
This classic request is often the first thing
that comes out of a students mouth when they
are assigned a project.
promises that one of their
rewards for keeping His statutes will be:
" , ;
, " .
And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred
of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies
shall fall before you by the sword.
asks on this , if five people can
take on 100, then 100 people should be able to
pursue 2000, not 10,000? Shouldnt the 1:20 ratio
be kept consistent?
I would like to propose an answer to his
question. When multiple people work together,
they can accomplish more as a group than they
can individually. To get back to the class
analogy, if two people work together on an
assignment, then they achieve more than two
individuals can separately. A little while ago on
the internet I saw an interesting axiom. It
explained that the word TEAM can be an
acronym standing for: Together, Everyone
Accomplishes More!
One of the most well known of
is because of which says,
, - , - -- -

"A Song of Ascents; of David. Behold, how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity!"
Himself wants us to live together and
work together. Ill end on a story with which Im
sure a bunch of people are familiar.
Once upon a time there were two
identical towns, with similar people, and the
same wretched condition: there arms were
permanently stiff, and their elbows could not
bend. In one of these villages the people were
dangerously emaciated. In the other one,
however, the citizens were hefty and robust. The
people of the first community werent able to
feed themselves, because of their stiff, and
unbendable arms. The geniuses of municipality
"
Page 3 of 4
A Fuchs Mizrachi Stark High School Publication
number two were also unable to individually
feed themselves, but they worked together in
nourishing their friends.


Obviously, the same message of can be
learned from this story.
!

By Mrs. Rachel Weinstein
The celebrations on Lag BaOmer have
been getting bigger and bigger over the years,
bonfires, dancing, and lots and lots (and lots)
of people. If you like a party, Meiron is the place
to be. I hope you like traffic too because on your
way there youll probably be stuck in it. But hop
on a bus and enjoy the ride (the bus will be crazy
crowded too. Check it out on Youtube!)
But what is it all about? What are we celebrating?
( " " )
, ,
.... : ".
The Gemara tells us that the students of
died during the days of , from
to , meaning . The " says that it
was actually only , which could
be understood to mean half of the time from
to We will not go into the math here
the tradition is that the student of
stopped dying on " . That seems like a
good reason to celebrate!
But for some reason many call Lag
BaOmer, , and the claim is were
celebrating the death of " . Why would we
celebrate the death of a ? Dont we mourn the
deaths of the students of ?

Reb Yonatan Aybashits in the explains :
" " " ,
" "
When " died there was a
a great celebration up there, or if you will, a
wedding celebration up there. He says
it sound like theres a love story retold
here.
When a person dies we mourn, that is the
right thing to do. We live in this world and we
grieve the loss of the person who has passed on.
But up there Hashem is reunited with the
soul of the person. And when the soul is a great
one this is a big deal! This is reason to celebrate!
When Hashem was reunited with the soul of
" there was great joy in the heavens, we
commemorate that. But what can we learn from
that?
I think that the legacy of
is the which in a nutshell tries to introduce us
to spirituality, to a focus on up there as
opposed to down here. It is so appropriate that
the death of " is celebrated and looked at
from the perspective of the heavens, which is the
perspective that his teachings emphasize. Maybe
what we can take from this is to try to focus more
on that perspective too.
"
Page 4 of 4
A Fuchs Mizrachi Stark High School Publication

Shabbat Table Discussion Questions:
By Avi Hartstone, 10
t h
Grade
1. What is the reason for the inconsistent ratios of soldiers to enemies? (26:8)

2. Why are there seven stages of punishment? (26:24)

3. Why is the tochecha written so lengthy, it could have been written much more compact? (26)

4. Why aren't blemishes considered significant here if normally they disqualify offerings? (27:33)

5. Why are there so many more punishments (over 30) than rewards (only 11) available according to this Paras
hah?

Email us at FMSshemesh@gmail.com with your answers or submit them on our website, fmsdvartorah.weebly.com, and you could be featured in
next week's edition!

Brought to you by:
Staff:
Editors in Chief- Ari Bar-Shain and Zev Karasik

Associate Editors- Eli Meyers, Etan Soclof, and Yosef
Coleman

Faculty Consultant-Rav Rick Schindelheim

Distribution Manager-Rivka Coleman

Faculty Manager-Yael Blau

Head Writers-Avi Hartstone and Zak Fleischman
Student Writers:
o Alan Soclof
o Ami Shamir
o Amital Haas
o Aviva Muskin
o Ben Jaffe
o Bentzion Goldman
o Ian Lorand
o Ilan Senders
o Jenna Fox
o Jennifer Brenis
o Joey Frank
o Joey Senders


o Lizzy Soclof
o Michael Brenis
o Miriam Pincus
o Mordechai Blau
o Sarah Pincus
o Seth Weiss
o Sonny Kugelman
o Talya Engelhart
o Yonah Bar-Shain
o Yonaton Shiller
o Zach Zlatin
o Ziva Bibbins


!
To view an archive of past publications or to subscribe to MiMizrach Shemesh, please visit fmsdvartorah.weebly.com.