Ma Chadash?Bites
9 Shevat l Parshas Bo l Jan 22

Bo Parsha Lesson- Actions, Actions, Actions
For Year 2 of Parsha Lesson, I will be focusing on one practical middah, character trait, to think about in the week ahead and steps we can take to attain it.


Background
At the end of this week’s Parsha we have many mitzvos which are related to the Korban Pesach. One of the mitzvos specifically is that one is not allowed to break any of the bones while eating the Korban Pesach. The reason for this is that it is not the way of honorable ‘sons of kings’ to break bones to pull out from them every last bit of food. Noble people eat freely of the food that is easily available to them.

The Sefer HaChinuch continues and explains that the reason for these mitzvos of the Korban Pesach and the specific way it must be eaten is in order to remember how Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim and chose us as his nation of holy and aristocratic people.

Question
Why, however, is it necessary to go through this whole endeavor every year? Why not just read the story of our exodus from Egypt and perhaps even learn about it in depth. Why the need to have an actual Korban Pesach and go through this whole process every year? 

Answer
The Sefer HaChinuch explains that the reason why this is so necessary is in order that we will truly and properly remember our being freed from Mitzrayim. Without the actions of playing it out and experiencing the Korban Pesach and the Seder again and again, the fact that we were taken out of Mitzrayim and chosen by Hashem to be his people will not become part of us.  

Lesson
As the Sefer HaChinuch himself continues and elaborates, the lesson to be learned from these mitzvos, and so many other mitzvos and rituals of Judaism, is that a person’s thoughts and feelings follow his actions. It is NOT the other way around. 

Certainly the thoughts and feelings that a person has will lead him towards certain behaviors, but what is reinforcing those thoughts and feelings and determining what they are, are a person’s actions. This can, therefore, be either a virtuous or unvirtuous cycle. What should one do? He should ‘gather his strength’ and through a focused system bring his behaviors and actions in line with where he would like to be and then his thoughts and feelings will follow- aiding him in doing that which he believes is correct. 

There is a famous line I heard attributed to a modern-day psychologist that I think sums up the Sefer HaChinuch’s insight- ‘people are not irresponsible because they are unwell, they are unwell because they are irresponsible.’ 

First Step
The first step in a person’s development and growth always needs to be refraining from doing that which the person recognizes as being wrong. A person should try with one small area of challenge to put this idea into effect. Choose something small and doable, but that has been nagging at you for some time. For 90 days make a conscious effort to NOT do this thing which has been so difficult to withhold from. 

The idea would be to actually experience how this way of growing and improving yourself can actually work. To actually experience both not doing a negative behavior or to do a positive behavior long enough to notice the effect on one's thoughts and feelings. Once a person has experienced this for themselves firsthand, they will then be motivated and have the necessary fuel and drive to move on to more difficult areas of growth and eventually to a lifetime of growing. 

This positive experience and motivation is what will make the whole process work! Negativity and getting down on one’s self for not doing what one knows to be correct will not lead to proper action. And in fact, it is not reason to get down on one's self. Hashem gave us challenges and people make mistakes- there is nothing unique or bad about that. The question is, how does one improve themselves and grow.

Positivity brings the necessary energy for one to be successful at the challenge of life- to improve one’s self. And the most important positive energy is the feeling that one CAN improve themselves.
 



Have a wonderful Shabbos!


Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
 
What's happening...


Principal's Update (Excerpted)

Mrs. Aviva Hoberman
Our Erev Shabbos program this week was extra special! Each week, our students learn about another aspect of Shabbos, and this week all the pieces came together as we had our own mock “Shabbos Seudah”! Students came dressed in their Shabbos finery, and sat down at lovely tables to enjoy kiddush, challah, special Shabbos songs called zemiros, and some delicious hot kugel and cholent! We leave school each Friday so inspired, and excited to come home and make Shabbos special in our own homes.
On Monday, our students had a day off, but our ever devoted teachers spent the day working hard! Our staff’s commitment to professional development is a hallmark of our school, and we pride ourselves on never being complacent with the status quo; we are always looking to make learning more effective, fun, and current. Their hard work at the beginning of this week is already evident in new ways of teaching, new units, new approaches, and will, iy”H, continue in the weeks and months ahead.


General Studies

Mrs. Rochie Goldberg- 4th Grade
We are in the midst of our fascinating unit on waves in Science. The students have been exploring the properties of waves while reading up about them. We experimented with hands-on activities and digital resources together. We discovered different kinds of waves and how they travel. We learned about many factors of waves including sound, pitch, light and shadows. The students enjoyed learning some of the American Sign language too! We will complete our unit with a project which we are looking forward to beginning soon.


Pre- School

Mrs. Esther Baila Berl- Kindergarten
The children in Kindergarten have become real readers! They have been reading, as well as spelling, two and three letter words with the vowel ‘a’. The children can read and spell words like hat, can, fat, Sam, sad and mat, as well as sentences, like, ‘Sam is a cat,’ and ‘The cat sat on the mat.’ The children have been playing a matching game with the sight words that they have learned so far. They have been working on proper sentence structures, which entails a capital in the beginning of a sentence, spaces in between words, and a period (or other punctuation mark) at the end. The students in Kindergarten have become real readers and writers!


Enrichment

Mrs. Caren Mandelbaum- WINGS
Do You Remember?
By Madison J. Terzo
 
Do you remember when things were normal?
When people would go to work.
When people would go to stores and shop.
When everything was open.
When we were in large groups.
When we weren’t socially distanced.

Do you remember when things were normal?
When everything wasn’t virtual.
When kids would go to school.
When groups of kids would play outside.
When we could eat in restaurants.
When plexiglass wasn’t in front of us.

Do you remember when things were normal?
When we kids could go to Summer camp.
When we could go on trips and vacations.
When we could go to sleepovers.
When we could join and participate in clubs.
When we weren’t hidden behind a mask.
 
Longing
By Mackayla Smekhov

There’s an old manor down the block,
With an old decaying door made of rock,
It calls to me, the voice piercing my head
I think about the mysteries it holds, as I dream in bed.
I’ve never felt such a yearning, a longing before.
All I want to do is enter that door.
Maybe it’s the weird signs on the door that attract me so,
Or the birds on the roof guarding their home.
The door seems to say “open me, see my secrets and treasure,”
My head squirms for all the pleasures.
Every time I pass that old, magical house down the block,
My heart screams at me to open the lock.
Instantly, my feet are heavy as a rock.
Stubborn and firm, they tell me to wait
And walk past the old rotting gate.
Only for the longing I had deep inside,
Did I allow my feet not to hide.
My fingers on the old brass knob.
It sends a cold chill down my spine.
I take a breath, watch the door open,
“Creeeek” fills my bones, enters my ears.
My longing is finally let aside,
It enters me, the word I’ve been longing to say, “I’m inside!”
 


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