Emunah – The Common Denominator

 

This Shabbos is not only parshas Ki Sisa but also Parshas Parah. We have just enjoyed Purim and are heading towards Pesach. What is the common denominator between these four events?

 

The common denominator is emunah, faith in Hashem.

 

Ki Sisa tells of the sin of the eigel hazahav, the golden calf, where a section of Klal Yisrael displayed a lack of emunah. Parshas Parah speaks about the quintessential chok – זאת חקת התורה. Purim is the story of how Hashem delivered Klal Yisrael in a hidden way and Pesach is the story of direct intervention by Hashem. Contemplation of both is intended to enhance our faith. Telling and internalising the stories are meant to imbue us with emunah and withstand the travails of our times.

 

The Gemara in Megilah (16a) tells us that when Haman looks for Mordechai to carry out King Achashverosh’s reward of riding on the king’s horse, dressed in royal clothes, he finds Mordechai in the Beis Hamedrash teaching hilchos kemitzah. Hilchos kemitzah are technical laws involving flour offerings.

 

Why hilchos kemitzah now?

 

A well-known public speaker once told me that he tries to throw in the word “relevant” in the first 60 seconds of any of his talks as a means of engaging his audience.

 

Hilchos kemitzah? The first Beis Hamikdash has been destroyed and the second has yet to come. There is no Beis Hamkidash, no flour offerings and no kemitzah? Hardly relevant or pressing!?

 

The answer is that Mordechai is teaching a powerful message. Klal Yisrael are in deep trouble. The noose is tightening around their neck. A date for state sanctioned genocide has been set. Mordechai does his hishtadlus, he makes every effort to guide Esther and together with the rest of the Jewish people, he fasts and prays. And then he teaches hilchos kemitzah.

 

In so doing, he is telling Klal Yisrael the message of the haftorah we read immediately before Purim – נצח ישראל לא ישקר. Mordechai is saying we may be in a precarious state, but we will get through this, we will prevail. There will yet be a Beis Hamikdash and Kohanim will once again perform the avodah and take a kemitzah.

 

This is the message and aim of Pesach too. If used well, seder night is an elevated and effective tool to imbue our children and ourselves with kedusha and hope. It is a powerful way of passing the mesorah to the next generation and connects us to generations past.

 

Moreover, the Zohar calls matzah the “bread of emunah”. It embodies the faith that Klal Yisroel displayed when they followed Hashem out into the desert with few provisions. When we eat the matzah, we are internalising their faith.

 

So these four elements that are in the air at the moment, Ki Sisa, Parah, Purim and Pesach are all linked by the common denominator of emunah. May the contemplation and practice of these themes heighten our own emunah.

 

Good Shabbos

 

Rabbi J Golker

Menahel

Dear Parents and Carers,

As you are aware, National Education Union (NEU) members have voted to strike. The second strike will take place on Thursday 2nd March 2023.

Having read the DfE’s guidance and having assessed – to the extent that we can – how many staff we may have on site on those days and how teaching arrangements can be safely managed, our programme will be as follows:

Hasmonean High School for Girls

• If your child is a vulnerable child or a child of a critical worker and you wish to send them in to school to be taught on the strike day, please add their name to our list using the form here by Monday 27th February.  These children should arrive at school for 9am. They will be supervised in school but will be taught remotely and should bring their own food unless they have pre-ordered it from Hermolis.

• Year 12 and 13 girls should come to school as usual. They will have their normal lessons if their teachers are not on strike. They should get on with their own work if they do not have a lesson.

• All other children will need to remain at home to be taught remotely.

• If a child’s teacher is not striking, the teacher will teach their lesson remotely.

• If a child’s teacher is striking or is unable to attend the lesson for another reason e.g. illness, they will be directed to websites where they can complete work independently in some of the core subjects.

• Where a teacher is able to teach their lessons on the day of the strike, we have asked them to inform students on the morning of the strike via Google Classroom.

• Safeguarding issues should be referred to the headteacher.

• There will be a Purim party as usual on the evening of March 6th. Please see separate communications from HIPE about this.

Hasmonean High School for Boys

• If your child is a vulnerable child or a child of a critical worker and you wish to send them in to school to be taught on the strike day, please add their name to our list using the form here by Monday 27th February. These children should arrive at school for 9am. They will be supervised in school but will be taught remotely and should bring their own food unless they have pre-ordered it from Hermolis.

• However, if your child’s name was added to the list of vulnerable children or children of critical workers sent out last week and they wish to attend shacharis at 7.20am, they should go to the hall where Rabbi Golker will supervise them until 9am.

• Year 11, 12 and 13 boys should come to school for the Beis programme. Year 11 will return home in time to be taught remotely for their secular lesson period 3. Year 12 and 13 are expected to remain in school for any lessons that are going to be taught in person.

• There will be a HIPE Purim event running throughout the day for Year groups 7-10. Please read the separate email to see the time slot for each year group.

• Outside of the HIPE slot, the students should remain at home to be taught remotely.

• If a child’s teacher is not striking, the teacher will teach their lesson remotely.

• If a child’s teacher is striking or is unable to attend the lesson for another reason e.g. illness, they will be directed to websites where they can complete work independently in some of the core subjects.

• Where a teacher is able to teach their lessons on the day of the strike, we have asked them to inform students on the morning of the strike via Google Classroom.

• Safeguarding issues should be referred to the headteacher.

With kind regards,

Mr A McClusky – CEO, Hasmonean MAT
Mrs M Langdon – Interim Headteacher, Hasmonean High School for Boys
Mrs K Brice – Headteacher, Hasmonean High School for Girls
Rabbi J Golker – Menahel, Hasmonean High Schools

 

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.

Teaching children self-discipline is critical. Especially so in a world which offers an ever-increasing number of seemingly tantalising allures.

A professor of psychology in Stanford university once carried out the following fascinating experiment. One by one, he put a group of four-year children in a room and placed a single marshmallow in front of each child. They could eat it now or, if they waited fifteen minutes before eating it, they would receive two. All of the children thought about it, some gave in straight away, some tried to wait, one after fourteen and a half minutes. Poor kid couldn’t take it anymore!

Two out of three children ate the marshmallow. But one third didn’t. They paced the room, distracted themselves in all types of ways, some even smelled the marshmallow, but they didn’t succumb. At the tender age of four, one third of the children in the experiment understood the most important principle for success – the ability to delay gratification. Self-discipline.

But here comes the fascinating part. Fifteen years later, they did a follow up study. They surveyed these children, now aged nineteen and found that every single one of the children who did not eat the marshmallow and displayed self-discipline were happy. They had achieved good grades in school, got into the university of their choice, had good relationships with their parents and their teachers and were generally deemed successful.

A great percentage of the two thirds who ate the marshmallow were not. They did not have good grades, did not have good relationships and had got into some sort of trouble.

So this is what it boils down to. Demonstrating self-discipline. Delaying gratification for a longer term good.

It is an important principle to understand. Some children are more impatient and impulsive than others, but all need to be taught the dangers of these traits and the benefits of self-control.

After decades of slavery and persecution, Klal Yisroel managed to ensure that their newfound wealth did not go to 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.

An important lesson for us and for our children.

Good Shabbos

Rabbi J Golker
Menahel

Dear Parent

I have been thinking about heroes lately following a conversation with Rabbi Golker about Maradona which became the focus for my last assembly. Maradona was a sporting legend but the scenes of grief and the thousands queuing to pay their final respects suggested that this was a man who was more than just a footballer.

When I thought about Argentina during the period when Maradona was growing up, his status became more understandable. The country was ruled by a brutal dictatorship and thousands had disappeared. In 1982, Argentina lost the Falklands war and there was very little for Argentinians to feel proud of in their country. Then a poor boy from a shantytown helped, through his genius, to propel Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986, on the way beating England which came as some compensation for the Falklands defeat. This helped to restore Argentina’s national pride and faith in itself as a fledgling democracy.

We do not live under a dictatorship but the news has been unremittingly depressing for months and we also need some heroes to lift our spirits. Colonel Tom Moore with his aim of raising £10 000 for charity by doing 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday was one such. In the end he raised over £32,000,000. In our daily lives, we can all act as a hero to someone else by an unexpected act of kindness, going above and beyond the call of duty or by quiet thoughtfulness. My hero this week is Mrs Langdon for all her efforts in getting nearly 800 chromebooks out to students, a process which was very far from simple. I invite you to identify the heroes in your life and to acknowledge them.

Wishing you all a Good Shabbos.

Yours sincerely

Mrs K Brice
Headteacher – Girls’ School