בס"ד

Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin’s Pearls from the

Wellspring

Tishrei 5765

The Month of Tishrei Rectifying the Sense of Touch
Tishrei is regarded as the heart of the year, which receives and distributes the spiritual energy for the entire year. The letter of the month of Tishrei is Lamed, symbolizing the heart. The loving, unifying relationship between G-d and the Jewish people is especially revealed on Yom Kippur, when the two tablets were given to us as a wedding gift. The name Tishrei indicates beginning, for it contains the letters of the word bereishit ("beginning"). During the month of Tishrei we are rounding up the parshiot and beginning anew just as the year is coming to a full circle of blessings (V'Zot HaBracha- "and this is the blessing") and is born anew in this month (Bereishit -"in the beginning"). The first half of the month of Tishrei is set aside for judgment, and the second half, which opens with Sukkoth, is a time of rejoicing, culminated with Simchat Torah. By means of this rejoicing expressed in the Simchat Beit Hashoevah, the rite of drawing the water (for the altar of the Temple), one merits drawing into oneself the inspiration of Ruach HaKodesh ("the Holy Spirit"). (Sukkah 50b). I wish us all the true inspirational happiness that comes to a person after emerging victorious from the period of toil and judgement.
Shana Tova Tikateivu v'Tichateimu!!! May you be sealed in the Book of Life.
Chana Bracha Siegelbaum

Pearls from the Wellspring is a monthly email contribution of the students of Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin. We encourage you to send your comments and questions to Rebbetzin Chana Bracha at berot@netvision.net.il
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In this month's issue:
Torah
Starting to Forgive
by B'erot Student, Yasmeen Elisheva.

Journeys
"Reflections On Jonah" - on deciding to come to Israel and on relating to a reluctant prophet
by B'erot Student, Noga Phares

Poetry
"BEYOND MY GAZE" - A response to the First Rosh Hashana reading: Sarah's song to her son, Yitzchak
music and lyrics by B'erot Student Heidi Lee, Copyright, 2004

Announcements
Weddings
B'erot Investment Opportunities. Help us realize the vision of B'erot on our permanent plot!

Starting to Forgive
by Yasmeen Elisheva

It was somewhere around this time last year that I stood in a quaint, warmly lit Chabad house echoing silently and humbly with the love of, and devotion to, HaShem, Torah, and Jewry. My Rav walked over to the bookshelf and took from it the sefer that would be my first siddur. He opened to the page that begins the prayers one reads before retiring at night... "Ribono shel Olom, harayni mochayl l'chol mi shehichiym v'hikniyt osi o shechoto c'negdi..." "Master of the Universe! I hereby forgive anyone who has angered or vexed me, or sinned against me..." My Rav told me to read this before I go to sleep every night. The words he spoke next have continued to ring in my brain ever since. He said, "Imagine what the world would be like if everyone said this each night".
With Rosh HaShana fast approaching, and Yom Kippur looming close behind it, this time of year is a time for teshuva and forgiveness. Soon, we will all be pitifully aware of our failures and shortcomings this past year as we beg and plead and ask forgiveness from our Tatte im Himmel in the hopes that our names will be inscribed in the Book of Life for 5765. But while we are so busy requesting forgiveness from HaShem, wouldn't it really be something if we could give a little of that which we so dearly hope to receive from G-d to our fellow bnai Adam? Why should HaShem forgive us if we will not forgive one another? What chutzpah would we have to even entertain imaginings that G-d should treat us only with chesed and mercy but we, in all our self righteous, holier-than-thou states of mind, should be perfectly justified in our personal anger and frustrations at other individuals?
Anger, in and of itself, is avodah zora. The essence of avodah zora is the injury of the one-ness of HaShem. By creating divisiveness in the world by allowing room for interpersonal fragmentation of our relationships and societies, we disrupt the state of unity necessary for the Shechinah to dwell in Olom HaZeh. And that is idolatry.
Still having trouble forgiving? Then ask yourself one simple question - is it worth the Beis HaMikdash? Because that is what our inability to forgive one another has cost us. The Beis HaMikdash is the price we paid almost 2000 years ago for our stubbornness. And in almost 2000 years, we still haven't learnt our lesson - as seen by the distressing fact that the Beis HaMikdash still has not been rebuilt.
Perhaps you are thinking whether or not you forgive your boss/neighbour/teacher/parent/etc. will not make a great impact in the big scheme of things. Since anyway a global fragmentation of humanity proliferated by each nations' conviction of its own superiority to the next characterizes the state of world affairs. But you are wrong. Perhaps the whole world may not be healed of its self-inflicted illness by this Yom Kippur - but the healing has to start somewhere. And not just anywhere - it has to start, as always, with Am Yisroel.
We, as Jews, have a responsibility, not only to ourselves, and not only to our fellow Jews, but to the world, to each be a sheliach for HaShem, emulating Him in this world. He is the only unity there is, and His way is the only way to fulfill our existential purpose - creating a dwelling place in this world for the Shechinah. Until we start forgiving others, unity is lost to us. Without unity, the Beis HaMikdash will remain lost to us.
You want G-d to forgive you this Yom Kippur? Then start forgiving. Like my Rav said - imagine what our world would be like if everyone would simply forgive each other? Everyone has to start with someone. That someone is you.

Reflections On Jonah - on deciding to come to Israel and on relating to a reluctant prophet
by B'erot Student, Noga Phares

Jonah had quite a time of it. The word "down" occurs five times in the first chapter of Jonah, and some say that these corresponded to the levels of his soul. In running away from what G-d wanted him to do, Jonah went down five levels, until he just wanted to sleep/zone out/die. We've all been there. Hashem sent a number of messengers to wake Jonah. First the storm, the sea, then the ship which was threatening to break, followed by the questioning captain himself. Jonah ignores them all and just lies down. He lies in the lowest part of the boat and sleeps. Now, who in their right mind would do that with a fierce storm brewing?! Especially where he would be the first to drown? So, the captain of the ship sees this odd behavior and begins questioning things, casts lots to see what the gods think; and this all points to Jonah. Jonah "gets it" and runs in the opposite direction. I think once a person "gets it" but runs, it's like having a swarm of honeybees after you (or a huge whale): dangerous to yourself and to all around you. I was told a person either goes forward or backward. There is no standing still. I simply define "standing still" as death.
We studied this Yom Kippur reading of Jonah during my first week at B'erot Bat Ayin, and it gave me a chance for some introspection. It's easy for me to go into denial and rationalize everything, just like Jonah seems to have. Am I running away? Am I running forward? Why do I get so frustrated with the numbers of times HaShem has to send "messengers" to me? The Torah-exploring path I have walked for the past four years is so different from the one I walked before. Friends and family who have known me as a nurse and artist just shake their heads now, when they see me, and smile politely.
I ask myself, can I find strength by holding on to a thread, connected to the rope that leads to the deck above, on my boat? For the first time in twenty years, I have traveled by air, and for the first time in fifty years, I have traveled overseas and to Israel. As they say in Oregon, I'm coming "straight off the farm." Hashem made sure it was my free choice to do this, even though I struggled to have my environment tell me whether to leave home. Each time I came upon an issue to add to my "Traveling to Israel Pro and Con List," it was quickly nullified, constantly forcing me to make up my own mind.
It is said that pain helps a person grow. As an artist, I have always found the small dabs of courage to face a struggling (artist) palate. Yet, is pain a punishment? I was at the dining room table agonizing in tears over whether to leave for Israel, and I said to a friend, "What sort of a god would do this to me??! Pulling me from one end of the earth to the other?" Now I regret having "slammed" Hashem, but through the pains of letting go, I have learned what to hold near and dear. While He teaches me priorities, painfully but lovingly, He's also showing me what sort of a being He is. He offers me something I call a "silver platter," hoping that I smell of the spices emanating from it, to keep waking up spiritually. I can choose to numb out and run like Jonah did, or choose something from the silver platter and really grow. Hashem is breathing into this shell of flesh and bone, from rudder to keel, each day I am here in Israel, at B'erot Bat Ayin.

A response to the First Rosh Hashana reading:
Sarah's song to her son, Yitzchak

"BEYOND MY GAZE" -
music and lyrics by Heidi Lee, Copyright, 2004

Ima, you knew best for me
From every possibility
From high to low
Dry land to sea
G-d spoke so you would say to me

CHORUS:
Go forth, my Love
And don't look back
Don't worry 'bout the things you lack
Everything you need is near
And even when I'm gone
I'll be here

Sometimes Aba couldn't see
Every possibility
He saw the best
In all our souls
It wasn't easy to say no

Still, look to him
Learn his ways
Teach yourself beyond my gaze
G-d made us two to balance all
Truth arises when we call
(CHORUS)
BRIDGE:
The Eternal One
Has us all in his eye
Gives your Aba light
Gives your brother his fight
Our strength is born
Inside the storm
So hold my hand
Keep hope in sight

Go forth, my Love
And don't look back
Don't worry 'bout the things you lack
Everything you need is near
And even when I'm gone
I'll be here

Announcements

KOL SASSON V'KOL SIMCHA! B'erot Alumna Devora Fraunhofer married Moshe Mendal Hager

B'erot Investment Opportunities. Help us realize the vision of B'erot on our permanent plot!

Dear Friends,
With the grace of Hashem after seven years of full-time operation, Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin is finally getting our own 1-acre plot of permanent land, in the most holy and breathtaking, beautiful part of the Bat Ayin Village. There are no words for our excitement to take root and bring my vision to fruition through designing a miniature Garden of Eden with terraces of grapevines lacing the permanent ecological buildings for our students. Pergolas with overhanging grapes, and luscious fig-trees will allow the students of Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin to "…sit everyone under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the L-rd of hosts has spoken it." (Micha 4:4) An orchard of Olive, Pomegranate, apple, pecan, peach, nectarine, cherry, pear and almond trees will provide our students with continuous organic nourishment, and also serve as windbreakers enabling us to grow organic vegetables and herbs in abundance.
We are hiring a landscape architect and would like to start planting as soon as the plan is ready.
If any of you would like to get involved in the planning and participate in the planting and building committee, please let us know. We need all of your help to realize this vision of settling the Land of Israel and permeating it with Torah of our Mothers. You have the opportunity to participate in this holy project.
Please consider Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin with your Rosh Hashanna contributions.

"Write upon them all the words of this Torah…that you may come to the Land Hashem gives you"
? Plant a tree: Olive, Grape, Fig, Pomegranate $36
? Apple, peach, almond, nectarine, cherry $54
? One cart of straw for our organic compost $72
? One load of top soil to plant the winter crop $180
? An orchard of ten trees $300
? Initial landscaping investment in permanent plot $1000

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.

May Hashem greatly bless you and your families with a good and sweet year flowing over with blessings,
Chana Bracha Siegelbaum Founder & Director, Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin