Shoshana Rockoff is from West Hempstead, New York. She went to SKA for high school and then spent the next year and a half in Israel learning at MMY. She is currently in Stern college majoring in Biology and minoring in psychology.
Shoshana’s chaburah takes everyone on a journey through Jewish History with each chaburah serving as a stop in time ranging from the creation of the world all the way to the establishment of the State of Israel. At each stop in history, the girls explore different questions in Judaism relating to that time period. Examples include… creating yourself just as HaShem created the world, the meaning of freedom in Judaism, the beauty and importance of Mesorah, the dangers of assimilation and what it means to have true Jewish identity. The ultimate goal as the girls travel throughout time is to learn to live for a history and people bigger than yourself and to gain an appreciation of being a link in the chain of generations. The goal is דע מאין באת ולאן אתה הולך, bringing “our story” of Am Yisrael to “your story” as you grow as an individual and a person. Hopefully everyone can take the lessons from the past and bring them into the future beyond Michlelet.
The amazing girls in Shoshana’s chaburah are Deena (Bruriah), Shayna (Bais Yaakov of Baltimore), Leora (Maayanot), Estee (Bais Yaakov of LA) and Ayelet (Bruriah).
If you could meet any person in Jewish history who would it be?
Ayelet- I would love to meet Sarah Schenirer. If she hadn’t pioneered Torah education for girls of all ages, we wouldn’t be here on Michlelet digging into Torah and learning what we can from those who have come before us. We wouldn’t be going to school and spending hours diving into tanach, understanding mephorshim, and taking away life lessons to live by.
Leora- It would be an incredible experience to meet Dovid Hamelech. He was an incredibly spiritual person who always found the perfect words to express his feelings and connect to HaShem in tefillah. Tefillah is a focal point in my life and I would love to speak to Dovid Hamelech about his experiences and ask for his advice on being close to HaShem through tefillah.
Deena- Meeting Yosef Ha’tzafik would be incredible. Though his life was filled with hardship, he stayed true to Hashem and even gained the title of ‘the righteous’. I would love the opportunity to learn directly from the great gadol and understand how he grew past his suffering.
Estee- Esther HaMalka because I’m named after her and I want to meet the person who risked her own life to save klal Yisrael.
Shayna- I would like to meet the Ramban. Rabbi moshe Ben nachman debated one of the fundamental struggles that many of us face, or at least I’ve faced, many times. He logically proved to the world that Judaism trumps Christi