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Midreshet B’erot Bat
Ayin’s Pearls from the
Wellspring
Tammuz 5764
The link for the newsletter with photos/illustrations
is http://www.berotbatayin.org/Tammuz.htm
The Month of Tammuz: Rectifying the
Sense of Seeing
Vision
is the sense of the month of Tammuz. The midrash teaches us that the Jewish
people were tempted to make the golden calf on the 17th of Tammuz as
a replacement for Moshe because the Satan showed them a vision of Moshe hanging
dead between heaven and earth. (Shemot Raba 41:7) Perhaps television today can
be compared to the vision of the Satan who made the Jewish people lose hope.
The screen shows a vision, which is seemingly objective. However often it is a
product of a certain agenda to destroy the Jewish people and our mission in the
world. It may show a vision of Jews murdered and tortured, making the people of
Israel lose hope and scared to live here. It may also portray a false image of
the Jews as aggressive perpetrators. This is destructive for the Divine Image
of Israel, and can alienate people spiritually from her. In this month we have to really work on
purifying our vision and seeing beyond the mask of external physical reality by
connecting with the Divine light behind the mask. What you see is not what you get. You can visit Israel and just see a lot of old rocks. You
can walk on the Judean hills, and see nothing but trees and houses. If you look with G-d-colored glasses,
you may see beyond the surface to get a sense of David Hamelech who walked
these very hills with his flock as he composed the lyrics and tunes of the
Tehillim.
Chodesh Tov!!! Chana Bracha Siegelbaum
Pearls from the Wellspring is a contribution of the students of Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin. We are pleased to have so many unique women with differing opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the general outlook of Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin. We encourage our readers to send their comments and questions to Rebbetzin Chana Bracha at berot@netvision.net.il . If you would like to write to our students because you are interested in their art, their essays, or have ideas on how to help our young women with their goals, please send email to bba@netvision.net.il and put the student’s name in the subject line. Todah Rabah, Ra’ayah, assistant editor
In this month’s issue:
Reflections
“Second
Chances” ~ Pesach Sheni and the
Hillula of Rabbi Meir Ba’al Ha-Ness
by Ra’ayah
Journeys
“Growing
Jewish” ~ Essay on Growing Upward
by Aharona
Miriam
“Rising
to the Challenge” ~ On Making
Aliyah
by Malkah
Poetry
“Earth”
~ by Aviva
Photographs
taken by Shulamit
Announcements
Weddings and
births
Upcoming Seminars and Events
B'erot
Investment Opportunities. Our
continued existence and growth is dependent on your generous contribution.
Second Chances
By Ra’ayah
14 Iyar 5764, Pesach Sheni,
At the Kinneret, Tiveria
The Hillula of Rabbi Meir Ba’al Ha-Ness
Hashem spoke to Moshe saying “Speak to the Children of
Israel, saying, If any man will become contaminated through a human corpse or
on a distant road, whether you or your generations, he shall make the
Pesach-offering for Hashem in the second month, on the fourteenth day…(Bamidbar
9: 9-11)
Pesach Sheni about second chances.
Almost 2 hours after we were to leave Bat Ayin, we,
the women of B'erot Bat Ayin and other women from the Yishuv, are on 
our way to Tiveria, to the kever (tomb) of Rabbi
Meir Ba’al Ha-Ness, which is along the shore of the Kinneret. Today is his Yartzeit, but it is called
a Hillula (from the word for praise, Hallel). Everyone is excited.
We are 11 women and 4 babies and we are a cross section of Jewish life in
Israel. We hail from all corners of the earth: Bukhara, Denmark, Australia,
Sweden, Chile, the United States, the Caribbean, we are married and single,
young and older, born Jews and converts.
Some of us came to Israel a few weeks or months ago, and some have lived
in the land for 20 years. In a
way, we are all Ba’alot Teshuvot.
We have returned to the land.
Today we are celebrating second chances.
The Gemarah relates that when the Roman general Caesar Nero marched his army into battle to conquer Yerushalayim, he wanted to determine if he would be successful in destroying her. Thus he shot arrows in all four directions and they all fell toward Yerushalayim. He took this as a sign from heaven that he would be victorious. He then found a young boy and asked him to tell him what he learned today. The child read him the verse “and I will take revenge on Edom, through the Jewish people.” He thereupon said to himself, “G-d wants me to destroy His house and later avenge Himself on me?” He immediately decided to convert and become a Jew. It was from him that Rabbi Meir Ba’al Ha-Ness descended.
The Hillula of Rabbi Meir Ba’al Ha-Ness
A Hillula is a celebration of the life and deeds of a tzaddik. People come to the kever of Rabbi Meir to pray to Hashem in the merit of this righteous rabbi. A Hillula is not somber or sad. There is music and people are picnicking. Thousands of people are here to pray, make a request, offer thanks, cry, or just touch the kever of Rabbi Meir. Every kind of Jew is here: Cheredi, Zionist, Askenazi, Separdi, Chassidic, litvak, traditional, secular, old, young. It is crowded and the sun is hot, but there is such joy in the atmosphere. People are walking around offering mezonot (cake) and fruit. Like parents, a tzaddik is always happy when his “children” eat.
Aneni Elo’kay d’Meir Aneni (Answer me G-d of
Meir)
When Rabbi Meir wife’s sister was imprisoned, Rabbi
Meir set out to save her. He
disguised himself as a Roman noble 
man and bribed his way into the prison. He attempted to get the guard to
release her. However the guard was
afraid of his superiors who would hold him accountable if she went
missing. Rabbi Meir assured him
that should he get caught all he had to do was call out Answer me G-d of
Meir and he would immediately be saved. The guard didn’t believe him so he set vicious dogs after
him. Rabbi Meir called out
"Answer me G-d of Meir," immediately the dogs turned in to gentle
puppies. The guard, seeing the miracle, let her go. Soon his superiors found out and took him to be hanged. The guard called out "Answer me
G-d of Meir." The rope
snapped and he was saved.
For generations we have come here to pray "that
Hashem heal us spiritually and physically, and all of the ill among Am Yisrael,
that Hashem give us good sustenance, that we only rely on the good of His
hands, that we succeed in Torah and mitzvot, that we act correctly and
favorably in everything we do.” Aneni
May Hashem bless His people with peace.
There was a woman who returned home late on Friday
nights because she attended the lectures of Rabbi Meir. Her husband was
furious. He demanded that she go
and spit in Rabbi Meir's face.
Rabbi Meir knew what had happened. He pretended to have an ailment in
his eye and asked the woman to heal him by spitting in it 7 times. He then told
her to go back and tell her husband that she spit in his face, not once but
seven times. Rabbi Meir would do anything to bring peace between a man and his
friend or a man and his wife
At his Hillula there is such achdut
(fellowship) between Jews. We
offer each other food and drink, we say Tehillim together. “May there be peace within your
walls and serenity within your palaces.
For the sake of my brothers and friends, I shall speak peace amongst
you…” (Tehillim 122: 7-9)
The gates of Teshuva are never closed
Even a tzaddik can do teshuva. Rabbi Meir knew what it is like to
succumb to the yetzer hara (evil inclination). The gemarah relates how Rabbi
Meir was tested. One day while
he was walking on the side of a river the Satan appeared as a ravishingly
beautiful woman on the other side.
Upon seeing her, Rabbi Meir jumped in the river to swim across to
her. It is said that the angels in
heaven wept and called to Hashem not to let Rabbi Meir fail this test. Suddenly the beautiful woman
disappeared. Rabbi Meir realized
that no matter how holy a person is he should never let his guard down against
the yetzer hara. Only with
Hashem’s help can we fight our yetzer hara.
Rabbi Meir was a talmid of Elisha ben Abuya also
called Acher. Elisha ben Abuya
went into the Pardes with Rabbi Akiva, Ben Zoma, and Ben Azzai. He came out a heretic and was
excommunicated. Nevertheless Rabbi
Meir continued to befriend him. He
tried very hard to get Acher to do teshuva. But Acher, mistakenly and sadly, believed that everyone has
the opportunity to do teshuva…except Acher. In the end Rabbi Meir helped Elisha ben Abuya gain his
portion in the world to come. Rabbi Meir taught that there is always the
opportunity for teshuva.
The Gemara relates that Rabbah b. Shila once met
Eliyahu haNavi. He said to him:
What is the Holy One, blessed be He, doing? He answered: He utters traditions in the name of all of the
Rabbis, but the name of Rabbi Meir he does not utter. Rabbah asked him, Why? – Because he learned traditions at
the mouth of Acher. Said Rabbah to
him: But why? Rabbi Meir found a pomegranate; he ate the fruit within and the
peel he threw away! He (Eliyahu)
answered: Now He (Hashem) says Meir my son says: When a man suffers to what
expression does the Shechina give utterance? My head is heavy, my arm is heavy. If the Holy One, blessed be He is thus grieved of the blood
of the wicked, how much more so over the blood of the righteous that is shed.
Even HaKadosh Baruch Hu (so to speak, but of course
not really) does teshuva. As Rabbi Yehoshua Rubin, our Tehillim teacher says:
Hashem always gives us a second chance, but you know what He gives that is even
better than a second chance? …a third chance…and even better?…a fourth…and even
better?….
I thank our history teacher
Shulie Mishkin, our Tanya teacher Miriam Rhodes and the website Camp
S’dei Chemed International for providing gemarah on Rabbi Meir.
Growing Jewishly
An Essay on Growing Upward
By Aharona Miriam
Growing up, I had two impressions of Judaism. Firstly, that it was a religion based
on rules and restrictions, none of which I understood, and secondly, that it
required the latest fashions and the most expensive summer camp as a ticket to
fit in socially. I grew up in
suburban Toronto, in a reform Jewish community – in other words, there was a
reform temple nearby, and religious holidays and school holidays were
synonymous.
It was not until I came to Israel and began to study,
that I learned that the halachot are in fact the physical acts necessary
to live congruently with a greater spiritual reality. I also discovered that the most valuable objects within
religious Jewish homes are not the clothes, furniture, or tapestries, but
rather the books. My original
perspective has changed dramatically.
I have been studying in Israel for almost three months
now, but I have learned more about spiritual realities within the physical
world than I have ever thought possible.
This month at Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin, in the “Grow and Let Grow”
seminar, I and other women living and learning here, have been working with
particular concentration on the importance of the land in Eretz Yisrael and how
to work with and care for it, how to grow food and reap the obvious rewards.
During the B’erot Bat Ayin Wheat Festival, we
learned about the spiritual makeup of wheat and the process necessary to
produce wheat flour – from planting to grinding. We were privileged to visit a local flourmill owned and
operated by Bat Ayin resident Amnon Rimon. We also learned the technique and spiritual significance of
challah braiding.
From a grand perspective, Judaism’s teachings reflect
the value that education and knowledge equates to a greater appreciation for
the value of life. The Wheat
Festival was a fun and informative exemplification of B’erot’s participatory
hands-on approach to Jewish learning for women dedicated to spiritual growth.
Aharona Miriam has been at B’erot for over a
month. She is growing into her
Hebrew name, we still call her Amanda.
Aharona Miriam/Amanda is an extremely talented photographer and her work
will be featured on the B’erot Website very soon. She is an intrepid traveler who has journeyed all over India
and Southeast Asia taking photographs.
It is her ambition to work as a documentary photographer for National
Geographic or similar journals. We
think her work is beautiful.
Please visit our website soon and see for yourself.
Rising to the Challenge
On Making Aliyah
By Malkah
Making aliyah can certainly be seen as a time of trepidation and uncertainty. For a very few it is an easy transition without many hitches, but for most, it is a time of frustration and difficulty. I am going to step out on a limb here and say the latter scenario is actually the healthier – spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
I once heard a Rabbi say that when he lived in
Jerusalem, he didn’t feel that he was really doing anything. So he moved to Shvut Rachel, a Yishuv
next to Shilo. He lived
there for 5 years, but he still felt that he was not growing. So he moved to a givah that was,
at that time, uninhabited. He
drove up with 3 buses and squatted on the land with his wife and two sons. The family would go to Shvut Rachel
twice a week for water rations because they didn’t have plumbing. 8 other
families soon joined them on the new Yishuv. Shortly after, they attempted to build permanent residences,
but they encountered problems with the army. Every time they tried building a water tower, the army tore
it down. At one point, the men of
the Yishuv were thrown into prison. They didn’t just sit and lament, they sang and danced and
learned Torah and eventually the army threw them out of prison. They went back to the hilltop and
continued to build the Yishuv.
Since that time, they have encountered problems with local Arabs and
they have had a difficult time cultivating the land, but they continue to
progress.
When this particular Rabbi told me this story, he also
said that when he started encountering all of these challenges, he knew that
this was the exact place HaKadosh Baruch Hu (G-d) wanted him to be in,
because without challenges we cease to grow. Without growth, how can we attain our full spiritual
potential?
I have tried to take to heart what this Rabbi had to
say. Through all of the ordeals I have had to face – the long strike within the
government when I first arrived, moving to a place where people only spoke
Hebrew, being evicted from my living place with less than ten days notice,
facing the culture shock of living in a new country: I must say it is difficult
to live in a place where “no smoking” signs and garbage cans seem to be more
decorative than practical – I have tried to keep a positive outlook. I constantly tell myself that Israel is
the only place a Jew should live, and not only a place worth living in, is a
place worth fighting for. There
have been many times over these several months that, despite these mottos, I
have felt downhearted. It wasn’t
until I came to Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin that I began to feel light
again. I work hard here and I
believe I can contribute a lot in my own unique way, which up till now has been
an aspect lacking in my life in Israel.
I continue to push myself everyday, whether it be in Torah studies,
doing chesed, working in the garden, or even making my living space
beautiful. With Hashem’s help, as
I continue on this path, I will find happiness and fulfillment. Also I must say it would have been very
difficult indeed to find the balance I craved for so long without the help of
the wonderful students of Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin. Thank you Rebbetzin Chana Bracha, Elana, Yael, Yasmin,
Shulamit, Leanne, Anna, Ra’ayah, Emunah, Claudia, Yehudit, Shibolet, Aviva, and
Aharona. And special thanks to my friend Talya and the Adam family of Alon
Shvut for their support through the rough times.
Malkah has been a student at B’erot for over a
month. She is tutor and is a main
force in our garden renovation project.
She is also leading the assault against the mole cricket problem in the
Rebbetzin’s garden. Recently
Malkah painted the kitchen area of her room a chartreuse green. All agree that the color, while
stunning in French décor, looks hideous in Malkah’s beautiful Moroccan-themed
room. We still hold her in high
esteem though, even after this lapse in style. At press, she has covered every inch of the offending green,
quite prettily, with all of B’erot’s white tablecloths. Stay tuned to find out if Elana, our
administrator, will spend any more money on paint so that Malkah could live
well in her room. Anyone wanting
to contribute to the B’erot Paint Fund can send contributions to Midreshet
B’erot Bat Ayin. Malkah will be
very grateful.
Emunah in the Wheat Fields
Earth
By Aviva
The earth is a womb. She is a forest.
She nurtures the seeds out of her love for the
trees.
The seeds understand not and wish not to fall from
their high places where they blow in the breeze, living in their flower petals
and pinecones. To fall from those
heights to the ground is, for them, to die. To dissolve into nothingness from their once proud state,
shattering their dreams of becoming a forest.
But the secret that the earth keeps, as she nurtures
and tends to their broken hearts
and wilted egos, is that she is the source of their
strength and stability.
She feeds them with the help of the sky and light,
cradling them in her belly and only allowing them to peer from their darkness
when she feels that they are ready to once again know the world.
Out of her folded cradling arms they raise their heads as they look again at the light of which they had reminisced and mourned during the days in her shade, soon realizing that to grow is to first be shattered apart and fed like a mother bird to its hatchlings, like a woman to her child.
And stretching upward, always upwards, before
beginning again.
Hopefully, this time, with a memory and longing for
the fall to the ground, soft and welcoming, cool and comforting, reuniting with
the earth.
Aviva is presently student in B’erot and is about to
return to America to continue graduate studies in veterinary care and medicine. She is a musician and glass artist –
she just recently completed a beautiful piece as a wedding gift for former
B’erot student Nechama. Time
really flies when you make new friends.
We will miss her. May
Hashem bless you Aviva and bless your endeavors. Come home soon.
Announcements
KOL SASSON V’KOL SIMCHA! Three former B’erot Students were recently married! Elana Mala married Yeshiva
Machon Meir student Yehuda Yitzchak on 19 Iyar. Rivkah Adina married Yeshiva Bat Ayin student Eliyahu
Yehuda on 16 Sivan, and Nechama married Hamivtar student Yedidiyah on 22
Sivan. We will have pictures on
our website very soon, stay reading.
MAZAL TOV! To Former B’erot Student Aviva and
her husband Yitzchak (student at Yeshiva Bat Ayin) on the birth of their son
Chananyah Ya’akov on 16 Nissan.
Upcoming Seminars and Events
There are several wonderful seminars to
happen at Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin:
“Healing and Transformation” Torah and Healing Seminar, 15-28 Tammuz
(July 4-17). During the “3 Weeks”
we will have the opportunity to rebuild our inner temple by healing our body
and soul.
“Soul Connections” Torah and Meditation Seminar 19 Tammuz –
13 Av (July 18-31). Increase your
Torah Knowledge, Revitalize your inner femininity, Awaken your soul and experience
a rebirth of holiness. Also join
us on our annual Full Moon Desert Hike.
We Need Your Financial Support
A washing machine is needed
HELP! Our washing machine broke beyond repair (at one point it was taped together.)
At Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin we are encouraged to live
simply and connected to the land.
We grow fruits and vegetables for our meals. We make healing ointments and teas with local herbs. We learn pottery, embroidery and
sewing. We don’t have televisions
(a student once called it “Victorian”.)
However there is a limit: having to hand-wash whole loads of wash is a
little “too Victorian.” We are,
after all, women of our times.
Some students have been too busy learning and working to get to
hand-washing. They have been
reduced to formal wear. While they
do look lovely, the dress you wore to your sister’s wedding is not exactly ideal
for the 3:45 agricultural workshop.
So please, we need your help. A
washing machine cost about 2000 shekel (500 U.S. dollar). Ideally we would like a new one because
there are many girls and guests and the machine is used often. Please send a donation (or a brand new
machine;-)), it never hurts to ask…) Even a used machine in workable condition
would be helpful. We appreciate it.
Tesku lemitzvot (May you merit more mitzvot)
************
Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin is in need of your financial
support as we develop our women’s learning program. We are planning a permanent building with larger classrooms
and a library, and a women’s dormitory.
We also want to have advanced learning programs and an Israeli program
(for women who speak Hebrew.) With
Hashem’s help, we want B’erot to be a wonderful and comfortable place for
Jewish women to come and learn. We
need your help, because you help us to grow.
Please send contributions to
Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin
The Village of Bat Ayin
Gush Etzion 90913 Israel
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.