Dear Parents,

The theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day which we are commemorating this week is: One Day. This can be interpreted in different ways – one day this will all be over or reflecting on the one day when everything changed. Or it can indicate endurance.

Iby Knill who is a Holocaust survivor said:
You didn’t think about yesterday, and tomorrow may not happen, it was only today that you had to cope with and you got through it as best you could.

There are important lessons for us here. The first is to value what we have as one day we could lose it. I hope none of us would be torn away forcibly from our families but illness, job loss or enforced separation are experiences we have all come close to over the past months.

The second is to live more in the moment and to make the most of each day. It can sometimes be hard to see the ordinariness of life as a gift, it is often easier to see it as a chore or series of obligations which need to be met. However, if we stop for a minute and really consider what it would be like to have everything snatched away, even the inconveniences or drudgery can become something to cherish.

So I would urge you this weekend to pause and reflect just how much we have to be grateful for.

Shabbat Shalom!

Mrs K Brice
Headteacher
Hasmoenan High School for Girls

Dear Parents/Carers,

In this week’s parsha, Yisro, the concept of freedom is celebrated. Interestingly, this freedom is a result of the Torah being given, rather than the freedom following the exodus from Egypt. Many of the commentators discuss this shift in the concept of freedom: this is not freedom from oppression but a different kind of freedom which enhances personal liberties. The Torah can be viewed as providing us with a blueprint for human action and a framework to feel safe and free within carefully constructed parameters.

In a similar vein, we are welcoming the more relaxed Covid freedoms that have been announced by the Government this week. From Thursday 20th January, students no longer need to wear face coverings in our classrooms. They need to continue to wear them in the corridors and communal areas until Thursday 27th January. Please note that TFL still require students to wear face coverings on London Transport.

We are hopeful that the list of these new-found freedoms continues to grow and that soon we are able to put these past few years of the pandemic behind us.

Have a wonderful Shabbos.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs D Lebrett
Headteacher
Hasmonean High School for Boys

Dear Parent,

Klal Yisroel find themselves in dire straits in this week’s parsha. Trapped between the Egyptian army in hot pursuit and the deep blue sea, they cry out to Hashem. The Medrash tells us that only on seeing רכוש של מצרים בידם, the wealth of the Egyptians in the hands of the Jewish people, did the sea split.

This is very strange. The waters did not give way for the men, women and children of Klal Yisroel, but only for the Egyptian plunder! What does this mean?

Rabbi Pinchos Roberts explains that after decades of slavery and persecution they were suddenly free and very wealthy. But their newfound wealth did not go to their heads, it was firmly in check – it was בידם, in their hands and in their control.

The Yam Suf witnessed this remarkable self-discipline of the Jewish people and only then split its waters.

Rabbi Dovid Kaplan tells a wonderful anecdote about a girl who lost a towel on a school trip. The mother, upset at the school for their careless supervision of the property of others, called the Headteacher.

After apologising and re-assuring the mother that the school would try to locate the missing towel, she asked the mother “What did it look like?”

“It was white,” said the mother, “with ‘Holiday Inn’ written across it.”

After decades of slavery and persecution, Klal Yisroel managed to ensure that their newfound wealth did not go their heads. It was בידם, in their hands and in their control. That, says the Medrash, is what so impressed the Yam Suf that it split its waters.

Chazal (Eruvin 65b) tell us that a person’s relationship with money is a good indicator of who that person is. To have newfound wealth and still be in control is impressive indeed.

Children have a canny ability to detect honesty or the lack of it, both of their parents and teachers. Let us live our lives with honesty and use whatever resources we are blessed with wisely. Our children will notice, and it is a true indication of who we are.

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi J Golker
Menahel