Sarah Berman is from Teaneck, NJ and went to Ma’ayanot for high school. Next, she had an amazing year at MMY and is currently loving Stern, majoring in Judaic Studies and Neurobiology. She is excited for her experience here at Michlelet which beH will be filled with incredible Torah learning.
Sarah’s chabura is called “How Our Values Guide Halacha.” The goal is to learn relevant halachos and realize the incredibly meaningful yesodos on which halacha is built, transforming a “to-do list” mindset into a pool of opportunities we are given to serve Hashem. Some topics include netilas yadayim, tefillah, bracha rishona, and semichas geula l’tefillah.
The unbelievable group of girls in Sarah’s homeroom are Tamar Axelrod (SKA), Aliza Beer (Central), Adina Eisenman (Hadar), Meira Ives (YULA), and Shana Schwartz (Bruriah).
What is your favorite idea that you learned in the chabura so far?
Shana: My favorite idea we learned in the chabura so far was the application of the Rashba’s take on the mitzvah of netilat yadayim. He teaches that we wash our hands each morning to resemble the kohanim who washed their hands in the Beit HaMikdash. When discussing the nafka mina, we learned how this idea is not only a beautiful way to perceive the mitzvah of netilat yadayim, it actually makes a difference in the discussion on whether or not to use a kli.
Aliza: My favorite idea that I’ve learned in the chaburah so far is that the purpose of Halacha is to ensure that we live life doing good actions and as a result we become good people and ovdei Hashem. We learned the idea that a persons heart follows their actions and that Halacha is there to ensure that our hearts follow the best actions possible. I really enjoyed learning this idea because it provides a new perspective to Halacha – instead of being restrictive and a set of rules we must follow, it is a set if guidelines there to ensure that we are the best people we possibly can be.
Tamar: My favorite idea that I have learned is the kavana we did on Shema. We learned that there needs to be a special intensity and concentration when saying the first pasuk of shema so that we can focus on קבלת עול מלכות שמים. This was meaningful to me because while I’ve been saying shema since I was little, I didn’t know that we had to have a significant amount of kavana when saying it.
Meira: I loved learning about the different levels and practical ways to have כונה while saying שמע. It was so important to learn about the proper way to say a תפילה that we all say twice a day and it was awesome to be able to use the knowledge we learnt in our chaburah and apply it to my davening routine!
Adina: I loved learning about how meaningful the halachos of our daily lives really are. Understanding not only what we do, but why HaShem wants us to do it, through the texts is such a pleasure. I can’t wait to hopefully apply all of the amazing lessons into my days, enhancing my life as a Torah Jew.