This year, along with Moreh Alan continuing to write the weekly D’var Torah, he will be inviting faculty and staff to contribute as well. This will provide a wonderful opportunity for our community to hear from and get to know more of our team. We hope you enjoy this new addition to our communications and the diverse perspectives it will bring.
About Morah Sefi:
Now in her 6th year at Heschel and her 30th year of teaching, Sefi is known for her fun and engaging approach in the classroom. Her passion for Israel and Israel advocacy shines in her lessons, inspiring students with creativity and enthusiasm. Dedicated to building strong community connections, Sefi actively participates in school events, fostering meaningful relationships among teachers, parents, and students.
This week’s parsha is the first of the second book of the Torah, Sefer Shemot (Exodus). The parsha focuses on the journey of B’nai Yisrael from slavery in Mitzrayim to freedom.
The parsha begins with the transition from the family of Ya’akov that moved to Mitzrayim with 70 people to the big nation that was enslaved by Pharaoh.
We read about the courageous midwives, Shifra and Puah, who refused to obey Pharoah’s orders to slay all first born males. From their courage and fortitude, we learn the middah, “refuse to do bad deeds.”
וַתִּירֶאןָ הַמְיַלְּדֹת, אֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים, וְלֹא עָשׂוּ, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵיהֶן מֶלֶךְ מִצְרָיִם
Pharoah commands that all first born Hebrew boys be killed; but the midwives were in awe of God, and they did not do what the King of Egypt told them. (Ex. 1:17)
On not obeying immoral orders, Shemot’s opening chapters plunge us into the midst of epic events. Almost at a stroke the Israelites are transformed from protected minority to slaves. Moshe passes from prince of Mitzrayim to Midianite shepherd to leader of the Israelites through a history-changing encounter at the Burning Bush.
The entire incident reminds us of one of the most salient findings about the courage of those who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust. They had little in common except for the fact that they saw nothing remarkable in what they did. Often the mark of real moral heroes is that they do not see themselves as moral heroes. They do what they do because that is what a human being is supposed to do. That is probably the meaning of the statement that they “feared God.” It is the Torah’s generic description of those who have a moral sense.
On the 18th of Tevet (this Shabbat) we will acknowledge the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. It is indeed appropriate that the yahrzeit of our school’s namesake and inspiration falls in the same week that we begin to read about the journey of B’nai Yisrael from slavery in Mitzrayim to freedom. In 1963, at a conference on race relations in America, Heschel famously said that it was more difficult for a black American student to cross some university campuses in America than it was for B’nai Yisrael to cross the Red Sea.
Next week, in honour of Heschel’s Yahrzeit, and coinciding with Martin Luther King Junior Day, we will be celebrating A.J. Heschel / Martin Luther King Jr. Tikkun Olam Week at the Toronto Heschel School. Our Junior High Tikkun Olam Committee will be teaching us about the unique contributions of Heschel and King to tikkun olam. Each student will be invited to consider what she or he would “stand up for,” and pray for with their legs.
Like the midwives of the Exodus story, both Heschel and King were exemplary role models of people who reject the wrong and bad deeds they see happening around themselves. Heschel and King had a special relationship founded on their mutual respect for the dignity of human beings and the obligation of religious leaders to stand up against injustice.
Today, we still recognize in many parts of the world, and even close to home, Pharaohs of different forms whose hearts are hardened with prejudice and injustice. On this Shabbat, may we consider how to take up our Jewish obligation to help in whatever small or big way we can to defeat these Pharaohs and continue the journey to freedom for all people that we began 3,300 years ago.
Finally, the first pasuk in Parashat Sh’mot is:
וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְרָ֑יְמָה אֵ֣ת יַעֲקֹ֔ב אִ֥ישׁ וּבֵית֖וֹ בָּֽאוּ׃
These are the names of the children of Israel that arrived in Egypt.
This pasuk, especially this week, has a strong meaning – “these are the names,” as we wait to hear the list of names of our hostages about to be released. Please join me in wishing all 98 of them will come “יבואו” soon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Sefi
