By the way, all of our summer dates have been finalized. Make sure to tell your friends and family.

Internship for Leaders
June 6 - July 4, 1999

MBA Leadership Mission
June 21 - July 1

Since my trip on the Fellowships I have completed another degree from the University of Toronto, and now work as a teacher in the Toronto District School Board. I LOVE MY JOB!!!!!

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Baila,
Just wanted to drop a quick hello again to you and the 94 Fellowshippers. How was
the winter leaders program? Hope everything is doing well with you.....

Claudia Davis
goldesq@aol.com
(I changed my email address!)

Hate the evil acts of the wicked, but do not hate the people themselves. Every person is worthy of being cherished by virtue of being created in the image of the Almighty. Therefore we cannot hate another person. Rather, our love for the Almighty should be so deeply internalized, that from this love we hate evil deeds.

By hating only evil actions, you elevate yourself because you are increasing your love for the Almighty. The next time you see someone do something evil, try to distinguish between hatred of the act and hatred of the person.

(see Rabbi Yechezkail Levenstein - Ohr Yechezkail, Midos, p.145; Rabbi Pliskin's "Consulting the Wise")

What do you call steaks ordered by 10 Jews?
A. Filet minyan.

Moishe walks into a post office to send a package to his wife. The postmaster says "this package is too heavy -- you'll need another stamp

Moishe replies "And that will make it lighter?"

Q. What is the proper blessing to recite before logging on to the Internet?
A. Modem anachnu lach.

Q. If a doctor carries a black bag and a plumber carries a tool box, what does a mohel carry?
A. A Bris-kit.

Three guys are about to be executed and they are asked what they wish to have for their last meal. The Italian responds "Pepperoni pizza," which he is served and then he is promptly executed.

The Frenchman requests a filet mignon, which he is served and then he is promptly executed.

The Jew requests a plate of strawberries. "STRAWBERRIES"????? "Yes, strawberries." He is told "But they are out of season." "So nu, I'll wait."

More and more campuses are getting the message that Jewish life is a meaningful and exciting life. Here’s but a sample of what’s happening around the country.

Denise Lax, Winter ’99, is doing great things at SUNY Buffalo. The Hillel is sponsoring a big conference with the theme of ‘Freedom,’ and Denise is running a workshop entitled "Responsibility to a Free Society" where she is having a lawyer from the community come in and speak.

Michael Behar, Summer ’97, now a Senior at University of Florida, is undertaking a mamoth project. He is the executive director of Shabbat 1000, a campus-wide effort to bring Jews from all backgrounds to experience Shabbat as a community for one Shabbat in mid-April. There will be Friday night Shabbos meals in every corner of U Fla. The festive spirit will culminate in a huge, unity-building Havdalah service and a free concert Saturday night.

Nothing like the fire of Jerusalem to get us going and motivate us to make a difference. Let’s all learn from our peers, look within, and figure out how we can share the beauty of Israel and Jewish ideas with our friends.

GOOD MORNING! When was the last time you read the Bible? When you were in Sunday School? Maybe you never read the Bible at all—or maybe it was late at night in a hotel room and you were desperate for something to read. Chances are, if you ever tried to read the Bible, it seemed like gibberish.

Now there is a fascinating new book out—Bible For The Clueless But Curious—written by my Aish HaTorah colleague and friend, Nachum Braverman. It won’t throw a bunch of "thous" and "forsooths" at you, it won’t talk down to you from the pulpit or try to make you feel guilty. It won’t ask you to accept a bunch of religious dogma on blind faith and it won’t pretend to be the only book you will ever need to read if you want to be happy.

It will speak to you like the thoughtful human being that you are, and, by way of a gallery of icons, present the wisdom of the Bible in a fun and uniquely insightful fashion. To give you a taste of the book, here are some excerpts:

By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread (Genesis 3:19)

God’s punishment of Adam after he and Eve eat form the Tree of Knowledge. Colloquially, "go get a job." Of your seventy allotted years, deduct the twenty-three spent sleeping and eleven and half spent bathing and eating. That leaves thirty-six. Of those, twenty-three (minimum) will be spent working, which leaves just thirteen for loving, dreaming, thinking, planning, growing, singing, dancing, reading. That’s a curse.

You are dust and to dust you will return (Genesis 3:19)

Nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of being shot in the morning. Death is a blessing because it forces us to distinguish between the lasting and meaningful and the trivial and fleeting. (Ever heard someone eulogized for driving the latest car?) Death wasn’t part of the original plan, but after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, G-d decided man needs the discipline of a final exam.

Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:9)

Cain’s evasion of responsibility for killing Abel. He implied the guilt was actually G-d’s for failing to prevent the murder from taking place. See: "Where was G-d during the Holocaust?" See also the definition of chutzpah: the man who kills his parents and throws himself on the court’s mercy because he’s an orphan.

An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:24)

The basic principle of justice, known as "the law of talon". Punishment is only just when it’s commensurate with the crime. In actual practice, Biblical courts didn’t remove eyes or teeth, but calculated their monetary value and assigned that amount as damages. Mothers voice the law of talon when they say, "One day your children will drive you crazy, just like you’re driving me crazy!"

The Bible for the Clueless But Curious is available at better bookstores everywhere or by calling toll-free 877-758-3242.

This is the Torah portion containing the giving of the Ten Commandments. (It is important to note that they are the Ten Commandments and not the Ten Suggestions.) Did you know that there are differences in the Ten Commandments as stated here (Exodus 20:1 -14) and related later in Deuteronomy 5:6 - 18? (Here IS a Suggestion: have your children find the differences as a game at the Shabbat table during dinner; there are approximately 30 differences).

Before the giving of the Ten Commandments the Almighty tells Moses to inform the Jewish people, "And now, if you hearken well to Me and observe My covenant, you shall be to Me the most beloved treasure of all peoples, for Mine is the entire world. You shall be to Me a kingdom of cohanim (role models for the rest of the world) and a holy nation." (Exodus 19:5-6)

Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro (Yitro or Yisro in the Hebrew) joins the Jewish people in the desert, advises Moses on the best way to serve and judge the people—by appointing a hierarchy of intermediaries -- and then returns home to Midian. The Ten Commandments are given, the first two were heard directly from G-d by every Jew; the people then begged Moses to be their intermediary for the remaining eight because the experience was too intense.

The portion concludes with the Almighty telling Moses to instruct the Jewish people not to make any images of G-d. They were then commanded to make an earthen altar; and eventually to make a stone altar, but without the use of a sword or metal tool.

The Torah states, "You shall not make anything to be with Me; gods of silver and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves." (Exodus 20:20) What does this command against making idols come to teach us about life?

The Chofetz Chaim cites the Midrash (Yalkut, R’aih) which states that we must take care not to be remiss in our responsibilities to the poor, for failure to show mercy is equated with idolatry. How is this so? A person who keeps all of his money for himself in contradiction to the Torah’s command to give charity shows that his faith rests with his money and not with G-d. (Idolatry is defined as believing that anything other than G-d has power.) The Chofetz Chaim adds this concept is hinted at in our verse: "You shall not make for yourselves gods of silver and gods of gold"—do not make gold and silver into a god.