בס"ד

Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin’s

Pearls from the Wellspring

Nissan 5764

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The name Nissan is related to the Hebrew word Nitzan‑Bud, since this is the month when everything buds. In Nissan it is a special Mitzvah to say a bracha on a flowering fruit tree. The bracha is:

בָּרוּךְ… שֶׁלֹּא חִסַּר בְּעוֹלָמוֹ דָבָר, וּבָרָא בוֹ בְּרִיוֹת טוֹבוֹת וְאִילָנוֹת טוֹבִים לְהַנּוֹת בָּהֶם בְּנֵי אָדָם:

Blessed …Who did not lack in His world a thing, and created in it good creations and good trees, for the pleasure of humanity.

We praise G‑d for the flowers that herald the promise of the fruits sanctified as Bikurim (the first fruit sacrifice) on Shavuot. Just like the redemption from Egypt leads to the giving of the Torah, the flowering tree testifies that the fruits are yet to come. The month of Nissan carries the promise that redemption is on its way. May we all bud and bring forth fruit-giving flowers of redemption!

With Blessings of the Torah & The Land,

Pessach Kasher V'Sameach,

Chana Bracha Siegelbaum

In this month’s issue:

· “The Meaning of Seder” Essay by B’erot student Esther Tova Vider

· “Cleaner Pesach Cleaning” Advice from B'erot Student Keren Or Peretz

· “Unburying the Pintele Yid” Purim Reflection by B’erot student Rivka

Leah Dubitsky

· “Yael Ben Yehuda ~ B'erot House Mother” by B’erot Student Ra’ayah

· “B’erot Annual Pessach Appeal” Our continued existence and growth is

dependent on your generous contribution.

“The Meaning of Seder” by B'erot Student Esther Tova Vider

Preparation for Pesach is often paralleled with the idea of cleansing ourselves of our personal “chametz.” But how does the actual chag parallel our everyday lives? After weeks of cleaning, we come into Pesach and sit at a meal that is about order, “Seder”. Lately I have been thinking about how we can incorporate the Seder into our lives. I wondered if the Seder was teaching us to be orderly, to have a plan and be prepared. There is a Yiddish expression “Man plans and G-d laughs.” This has proven to be true many times in my own experience. So I went back to the cleaning process to try to get a better grasp on its meaning and how it has been, and continues, to be played out in my life. The answer for me is this: cleansing is a form of teshuva. When we do teshuva we are asking Hashem to help us come close to Him. How do we do that? The answer is through making observing his Torah and mitzvot, the Seder of our lives. This year may our preparation, our cleansing process; enable us to perform the Seder of life at our highest level.

“Cleaner Pesach Cleaning” by B'erot student Keren Or Peretz

Pesach is coming and cleaning is at the threshold. I have several healthy, ecological, and inexpensive recommendations for your Pesach cleaning. If you have growing in your garden rosemary, lavender, geranium, lemon grass, lemon trees, pine or cypress trees, you can create an ecological “cleaning liquid” that will clean floors, windows, refrigerators, in fact the entire house. An added benefit is that this natural “cleaning liquid” disinfects, repels insects, and leaves a pleasant non-toxic odor that will help to uplift your Pesach cleaning mood. It is very easy to make, just cut a handful of 3 or more of the above herbs and steep them in boiling water. For example take the juice, peel and insides of 2 lemons, a handful each of rosemary and lavender in a pot with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Remove it from the fire and let it sit for about an hour, then strain. The result is a liquid concentrate that you can add in any amount, as you would soap liquid, to a bucket of water. If you don’t have access to any of the herbs you may use essential oils but they are costly and the smell isn’t as delicate. Eretz Yisrael is filled with many herbs that are beneficial for cleaning. The listed ones are only a few examples of what grows in the Land to make your Pesach cleaning very nice. Happy Pesach cleaning!

Rosemary ~ purifying, refreshing, and disinfecting

Lavender ~ disinfecting, kills germs, balancing and calming odor

Geranium ~ disinfecting, repels insects, helps with good mood, increases energy

Lemongrass ~ kills bugs, disinfecting, gives energy and increased strength

Cypress ~ disinfecting and repels bugs, aroma creates optimistic atmosphere, refreshing and warming

Lemon ~ use all parts of the lemon including peel. Refreshing, brightens repels insects, and kills germs.

Pine ~ use the needles, purifies, relaxes, aroma helps to create nice optimistic atmosphere.

“Unburying the Pintele Yid” By Rivka Leah

Who would have ever thought? A room full of “hardened criminals” sweetly singing voluntary repetitions of “Halleluka” and “Mishenichnas Adar”? Baruch Hashem! The yetzer hatov is victorious again! During the month of Adar, the women of B'erot graced Neve Tirza, Israel’s penitentiary for women, located in Ramla, with a special musical Purim celebration. Announcing honestly that we weren’t really a band, that we were just enjoying a Purim masquerade, we bitulled ourselves to Hashem’s will and steeled ourselves for boos and flying tomatos. Much to our delight and surprise, we were not escorted hastily from the stage by growling Amazons. In fact, the charming neshamot of cell block #613 were fully supportive and participatory, and even blessed us with a glimpse of their considerable creative talent. It was truly an honor to see the faces of these fierce and troubled women, no doubt many of whom had been institutionalized for years, glow with what I intuited to be memories of more innocent years. What a joy to see these passionate neshamot channel their raw energy through powerful darbuka solos, captivating belly-dances, and unique vocal improvisations to traditional Jewish songs. Spirits high, Purim masks sparkling in the afternoon sun, we closed our welcome experience with the distribution of healthy mishloach manot. Prisoners, B'erotters, and guards alike left the scene visibly uplifted, energized, empowered, and no doubt inspired to more refined relationships with Hashem, themselves, and each other.

Sometimes it is so easy to create tikkun that I am filled with the hope that geula shleima can really be achieved in this lifetime. All separation is illusion, we are all the children of one Borei. The neshama strives inherently towards the good: Hashem. All we have to do is create a nourishing environment for it to grow in. We hope to continue visiting the women of Neve Tirza more regularly. If you are interested in joining please stay tuned to upcoming event on the B’erot website www.berotbatayin.org

“Yael Ben Yehuda ~ B’erot House Mother” By B’erot Student Ra’ayah Turnbull

Being the B’erot House mother is a job that requires talent, skill, humor, and forbearance, not to mention years of training raising your own children. Yael Ben Yehuda has been the B'erot dorm-mother for 7 months but to us, it is as if she has been family “forever”. If you want to know what makes Yael our house-mother so special, here is her job description:

Chevruta – must know Chumash, Nakh, and midrashim, must be able to work with women at different levels and with different interests, must know Rashi, Rambam, Ramban, Or HaChaim, Sforno…and be able to throw in Rabbenu Yona because you are a fan.

Late-night Halachist – must be able to answer questions concerning kashrut, Shabbat, chagim, tithing, etc., or refer questions to house-father or have the numbers to our Rabbis handy.

Nurse – must be able to provide care and cures for flus, stomach virus, strep throat, infections, migraines, sprains, etc, must be able to make and deliver soup at a moments notice.

Seamstress – must be able to fix skirts for weddings, Chagim, Shabbatonim and, at times, be able to produce whole garments for weddings and family celebrations.

Shabbat Plans Concierge – It’s Friday morning and you decided to stay in Bat Ayin for Shabbat or perhaps you decided to go to the old city…forgot to call around for meals and a place to stay? NO PROBLEM, just call Yael….

Meat Kitchen Facilities Provider – must have a meat kitchen, well endowed with meat pots and utensils… MUST, MUST, MUST…and an already-cooked pot of chicken soup doesn’t hurt either.

Cook – must be good; must make extra because good smells don’t stay home.

24-hour store clerk – must be able to provide sun-dried tomatoes, organic whole wheat flour, olive oil, matza meal, vegetables, etc. in case someone runs out or forgot to buy at the Bat Ayin makolet.

Repair person – must be able to fix washing machines, refrigerators and hook up gas tanks.

Human Alarm Clock – must wake any B’erot student who may have happened to briefly forget the classes begin at 8:45…this rarely happens of course.

Comforter – must be a Yiddishe mama. As Yael says, quoting Rebbetzin Tzipporah Weinberg (who got this from her mother), “There is no job too big for the Satan and he never retires.”

Tochacha (rebuke) giver – must be a Yiddishe mama…enough said.

Embroidery Teacher – yes, all you single ladies, making and embroidering a tallit bag IS a segulah for marriage.

Good Story Teller – must be able to tell, with interest and drama, about the time one of her sons got lost somewhere is the Shomron. Or about feeding 400+ bar mitzvah guest with one giant vat of cholent, or about the time she had to fix the dress for a bride in under one hour…

Good Listener – must be good friend to any women passing through B’erot

Yael Ben Yehuda – B’erot House mother and Aishet Chayil

Yael Ben Yehuda lives in Bat Ayin with her husband, Yehoshua, and they have 7 children and grandchildren.

Announcements:

Welcome Back Home to returned B’erot Students: Emunah, Tzophia and Esther Tova, and Welcome to Keren Or and Merav, our new Israeli students.

Simcha Tov u’Mazal Tov! 5 Former B’erot students will be kallas this summer, keep reading our B’erot website for announcements and upcoming pictures.

Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin is currently accepting applications for its upcoming programs:

“Counting the Blessings” 29 Nissan – 4 Sivan (April 20 – May 24)

“To Grow and Let Grow” 10 Sivan – 5 Tammuz (May 30 – June 24)

"Healing & Transformation" Torah & Healing Seminar (July 4 -July 17)

"Soul Connections" Torah & Meditation Seminar (July 18– July 31)

“Let my Essence Praise You” Torah and Creativity Seminar (Sunday August 8^th- Shabbat August 14)

“In the Path of our Mothers” Intensive Elul Seminar (August 18- September 23)

“B’erot Annual Pessach Appeal”

As spring is at our doorstep, we invite you to a meaningful day of learning and tour of our organic garden and nature replete with wild flowers in bloom. Our students from USA, Canada, England, Australia, Holland and Sweden welcome you to join them any day of the week in our full-time experiential learning program.

Please accept the opportunity to support some of our many projects in honor of Pesach!

Without Flour there is no Torah (Avot 3:17)

q Kimcha d'Pischa- One box of Shmura Matza for our students $18

q Essential food for our communal kitchen $36

q One cart of straw for our organic compost $72

q New pots and pans for our communal kitchen $100

q Repair the sprinkle system of the B'erot garden $144

q One load of top soil to plant the spring crop $180

A donation of $100 and above entitles you to a fresh-picked selection of organic greens and herbs from the B'erot Bat Ayin garden.

Your support helps some of the most creative and gifted women enrich their inner lives and express their Jewishness. Just like planting a seed yields a much greater future crop, you can make a difference not only in lives of our current students but also in the lives of their future children. By supporting Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin, you are strengthening the future of our entire people.

In the merit of supporting women's Torah learning in Israel, may you find your b'shert (soul mate), may each of your daughters grow up to be a true Eishet Chail, (woman of valor), and your sons walk in the way of the Torah.

With blessings of the Torah & the Land,

Chana Bracha Siegelbaum

Donations of $100 and above are tax deductible in the United States and

Canada.

For a tax-deductible donation in the United States make checks out to:

The Gush Etzion Foundation.

For a tax-deductible donation in Canada please make checks out to Mizrachi of Canada.

Please mail your contribution in the enclosed self-addressed envelope to:

Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin

The Village of Bat Ayin

Gush Etzion, 90913

Israel