{"id":17096,"date":"2021-01-07T17:06:09","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T22:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/?p=17096"},"modified":"2021-01-07T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T22:06:09","slug":"message-from-moreh-greg-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83","title":{"rendered":"Message from Moreh Greg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The parshah this week is Parshat Shemot \u2013 the first parshah in Sefer Shemot \u2013 the book of Exodus.\u00a0 Sefer Shemot narrates the journey of Bnai Israel from slavery to freedom. \u00a0 It feels rather appropriate to begin this second part of our year with a book about plagues, signs, and journeys.\u00a0 These days, we feel in the grip of a plague that seems to never end.\u00a0 Just when the frogs disappear, locusts appear, or cattle disease.\u00a0 You get the metaphor. \u00a0 We feel ensnared in a situation that we didn\u2019t create.\u00a0 Encumbered by restrictions to our mobility, our social life, our work life.\u00a0 And we are all forever on the lookout for signs \u2013 a spark, a gesture, some parting of the proverbial seas indicating a path towards redemption and freedom from our situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Winter presents new challenges \u2013 for the students\u2019 learning and mental health, as well as for our own energy, mental and physical health. \u00a0 Regardless of whether we are learning on-line or off-line, we will be asked once again to employ the flexibility, creativity, teamwork, and adaptability for which the Heschel faculty and parent community is renowned.\u00a0 And by Pesach, God willing, Spring and Chag Ha\u2019aviv will bring us some light at the end of the tunnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bnai Israel\u2019s journey from slavery to freedom was not a straight road.\u00a0 There were many moments of hesitation, back-tracking, temporary loss of spirit.\u00a0 And, of course, at the crucial moment &#8212; a leap of \u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">emunah<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and a leap of action as they stepped forth into Yam Suf, into the unknown.\u00a0 To be a free person \u2013 a \u05d1\u05df \\ \u05d1\u05ea \u05d7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05df really means nothing more than taking that leap of action, even, and maybe especially, when we are afraid to take it \u2013 when, the walls of water are piled up ominously around us and the chariots of the Egyptian army are clanging at our backs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At this time, when we might feel overwhelmed by the complexities and the challenges ahead of us, we may recall a teaching from Pirkei Avot:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8: \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05db\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b4\u05d2\u05b0\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[Rabbi Tarfon] said:\u00a0 It is not your job to complete the task<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b6\u05df \u05d7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05d8\u05b5\u05dc \u05de\u05b4\u05de\u05b6\u05bc\u05e0\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013but, neither are you free \u2013 \u05d1\u05df \u05d7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05df &#8212; to avoid it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I find the use of the word \u05d1\u05df \u05d7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \u2013 a \u201cfree person\u201d very interesting in this context.\u00a0 To be a \u201cfree person\u201d is not to be free of the task, or of the obligation; nor is it the freedom to accomplish everything that one hopes to do.\u00a0 Our freedom includes both our obligation to engage with the task at hand and our recognition of the limitations of our powers. \u00a0 So friends, let\u2019s take up the challenge of our freedom:\u00a0 meeting the task before us with courage, compassion, and care for others and for ourselves. \u00a0 Making the best choices we can.\u00a0 Doing the best we can.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shabbat Shalom,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreh Greg <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The parshah this week is Parshat Shemot \u2013 the first parshah in Sefer Shemot \u2013 the book of Exodus.\u00a0 Sefer Shemot narrates the journey of Bnai Israel from slavery to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Message from Moreh Greg - The Toronto Heschel School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Message from Moreh Greg - The Toronto Heschel School\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The parshah this week is Parshat Shemot \u2013 the first parshah in Sefer Shemot \u2013 the book of Exodus.\u00a0 Sefer Shemot narrates the journey of Bnai Israel from slavery to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Toronto Heschel School\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Greg-Beiles-Head-of-School.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jaimie Carson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jaimie Carson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jaimie Carson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/person\/d7f8942f4c7cf509114b2103562b838b\"},\"headline\":\"Message from Moreh Greg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83\"},\"wordCount\":467,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Dvar Torah\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83\",\"name\":\"Message from Moreh Greg - The Toronto Heschel School\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Message from Moreh Greg\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/\",\"name\":\"The Toronto Heschel School\",\"description\":\"A Jewish Day School in Toronto\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Toronto Heschel School\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/The-Toronto-Heschel-School-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/The-Toronto-Heschel-School-logo.svg\",\"width\":1,\"height\":1,\"caption\":\"Toronto Heschel School\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/person\/d7f8942f4c7cf509114b2103562b838b\",\"name\":\"Jaimie Carson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1313b099f5dbef2767e5432c74a7ac61?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1313b099f5dbef2767e5432c74a7ac61?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jaimie Carson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/author\/jaimie\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Message from Moreh Greg - The Toronto Heschel School","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Message from Moreh Greg - The Toronto Heschel School","og_description":"The parshah this week is Parshat Shemot \u2013 the first parshah in Sefer Shemot \u2013 the book of Exodus.\u00a0 Sefer Shemot narrates the journey of Bnai Israel from slavery to ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83","og_site_name":"The Toronto Heschel School","article_published_time":"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Greg-Beiles-Head-of-School.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jaimie Carson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jaimie Carson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83"},"author":{"name":"Jaimie Carson","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/person\/d7f8942f4c7cf509114b2103562b838b"},"headline":"Message from Moreh Greg","datePublished":"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83"},"wordCount":467,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Dvar Torah"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83","url":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83","name":"Message from Moreh Greg - The Toronto Heschel School","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-07T22:06:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/message-from-moreh-greg-83#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Message from Moreh Greg"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/","name":"The Toronto Heschel School","description":"A Jewish Day School in Toronto","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#organization","name":"Toronto Heschel School","url":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/The-Toronto-Heschel-School-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/The-Toronto-Heschel-School-logo.svg","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"Toronto Heschel School"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/person\/d7f8942f4c7cf509114b2103562b838b","name":"Jaimie Carson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1313b099f5dbef2767e5432c74a7ac61?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1313b099f5dbef2767e5432c74a7ac61?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jaimie Carson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/news-views\/blog\/author\/jaimie"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torontoheschel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}