Options 1 - Midrasha - Rebecca & Nicola
Before our Midrasha journey begun we had no idea what to expect. It was all very new, as none of us had ever been in this environment before. Yet we were all buzzing with excitement at the thought of learning with incredible teachers, rabbis and mentors.
The first day began with us arriving at Midreshet HaRova where we had the chance to catch up with past Moriah students. We were greeted by Tanya HaLevi with open arms, who immediately calmed our anticipation, filled us with excitement as she began our first lesson. Tayna mainly focused her lesson on how to distinguish our emotions. Specificity positive verses negative. One of the many concepts she shared with us is how we have the ability to look at “life changing” experiences as “life chancing” opportunities. As we all have the chance to change. At the conclusion of the inspirational lesson we had a much needed Coffix break, to re-energise us.
We then entered into Rav Jonny’s class, who we had had the privilege of meeting before. His lesson discussed “Why Moshe was chosen as the redeemer and leader of the Jewish people?” We began in chavrusa groups, where we were given the opportunity to unpack sources. Doing this in small groups helped us to delve deeper into the text and ask more questions. We left his classroom feeling inspired and eager for his next lesson after lunch. We finished our day at Midreshet HaRova hearing from Rav Jonny once more on the topic of “The Transformational Power of Tefillah.” This was followed by an engaging discussion with our very own madrachot, Dinah and Keren.
After a fantastic day of learning we ended with a beautiful and delicious dinner in the warm home of Miriam. We felt at home straight away once seeing our siblings and past IST participants names signed on her kitchen wall. We gathered together to enjoy a lovely meal while debriefing about the day. This was a lovely end to the day.
On day 2 we had quite the sleep in until 7:15!!! We headed straight to Midreshet Neve. We had the privilege of hearing from five unique speakers, who all discussed different, and engaging topics. One of the speakers, Raquel discussed “What are we doing in this world?”, Her energy and humour had us all engaged. She spoke about our purpose in life, and how we need to view it. We learnt that in order to appreciate the good times, we need to go through bad experiences. One message that stood out to us from her was “G-d will keep challenging your weaknesses until you make a change” this means that G-d will keep testing us until we act on our weaknesses, to the point where our weakness are no longer weak and it becomes our strength. Another speaker, Avigail spoke about the concept of thoughts and thinking. She said that thoughts just come and go and that they are passive, and that thinking is active. She emphasised that “just because you think it, doesn’t mean it’s true”. We thought this was a really important message that everyone can practice in their everyday life. This was a great take away message to conclude the day.
After an intense day of learning, we were lucky to have the opportunity to do yoga with Ayo. It was a great way to relax and process our thoughts. After yoga, we went straight to a delicious dinner. The dinner was an absolute treat! We were served multiple salads, scrumptious pizzas and very tasty pasta. Dinner was followed by a Q&A session with Ranana Levy. This was a great end to the day, as we had the perfect forum to ask our questions. Doing midrasha with a small group of girls allowed us to be open and honest with each other which was really comforting and the perfect environment we needed to explore our Judaism.
Day 3 began with another sleep in, until 7:15 again. Instead of praying at the hostel, we headed to the Kotel. Praying at the Kotel made it easier to connect and pray with more meaning. We went to the Aish HaTorah World Center, you know the website! Aish.com! We started our day with the absolute privilege of hearing from Rav Dov Bear. He entered us into "the most important day of our lives" and truly set the tone of the day, he simply made us aware of where we were for the day, the significance of our existence and helped us prioritise what we truly want to be remembered for. We then heard from three incredible speakers whom once again, spoke about three separate topics. The first speaker, Rabbi Gabriel Friedman spoke about the Seven Wonders of Jewish History, his humour and interactive way of teaching really drew us all in. The second speaker, Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis spoke about all the hidden codes in the Torah, it was mind boggling to hear what hidden messages had been written all along in the Torah, not to mention how many hidden messages are still to learn. It’s crazy to think that the Torah predicted so many major events. The third speaker, Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser, spoke about G-d’s Role in History. With many technical difficulties, he gave us an amazing shiur. And after 3 days of incredible speakers we were given a generous 50 shek voucher in order to keep up our learning. We all purchased books based on topics that we were interested in thanks to the shiurim and incredible teachers, who opened our eyes to these concepts.
Overall, midrasha was an amazing experience, we were able to learn so much as well as form special bonds and friendships. During these past 3 days we have learned vital life lessons and studied amazing Jewish concepts. This enriching opportunity has given us the basis to continue our studies and take these important lessons and implement them into our day to day lives.
Thank you everyone on Midrasha for this amazing opportunity.
Rebecca Marks & Nicola Herman - 11.12.2019
