We also thank all of you who wanted to come to the Dinner but were unable due to geographic and/or calendaric constraints.
Videos and other details from the evening will be forthcoming, iy”H, in the days ahead.
Please click on the link below to read the address given by SFW’s Menahel, Rabbi Yamin Goldsmith, at the Dinner.
Birshut K’vod Rosh Hayeshiva, K’vod S’gan Rosh Hayeshiva, Rabanim, Members of the Board of Directors, our honorees Allen and Judy Fagin, Parents and, acharot chavivot dearest Talmidot….
We find ourselves between Parshat Sh’lach and Parshat Korach - between two parshiot that depict and describe two potentially-fatal crises to the nascent B’nei Yisrael. This past Shabbat - in Parshat Sh’lach - we read about the Meraglim who challenged the very notion of B’nei Yisrael entering Eretz Yisrael. And this coming Shabbat - in Parshat Korach - we will read, iy”H, about Korach and his followers who challenged Moshe’s capacity as a leader.
Looking deeper into these two crises, I think we will find that they are actually very similar. Korach’s challenge against Moshe Rabbeinu stemmed from Korach’s inability to appreciate the past. “Who is Moshe?” they said audaciously. “Why should he be our leader? After all “כָל הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדֹשִׁים”! As Rashi says: “כולם שמעו דברים בסיני מפי הגבורה” - they all heard Hashem’s mitzvot on Har Sinai! Or, as the Ibn Ezra says: “כי כל העדה מיום מעמד הר סיני היו קדושים” - from the day they stood at Har Sinai, the entire nation is holy.
We find ourselves between Parshat Sh’lach and Parshat Korach - between two parshiot that depict and describe two potentially-fatal crises to the nascent B’nei Yisrael. This past Shabbat - in Parshat Sh’lach - we read about the Meraglim who challenged the very notion of B’nei Yisrael entering Eretz Yisrael. And this coming Shabbat - in Parshat Korach - we will read, iy”H, about Korach and his followers who challenged Moshe’s capacity as a leader.
Looking deeper into these two crises, I think we will find that they are actually very similar. Korach’s challenge against Moshe Rabbeinu stemmed from Korach’s inability to appreciate the past. “Who is Moshe?” they said audaciously. “Why should he be our leader? After all “כָל הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדֹשִׁים”! As Rashi says: “כולם שמעו דברים בסיני מפי הגבורה” - they all heard Hashem’s mitzvot on Har Sinai! Or, as the Ibn Ezra says: “כי כל העדה מיום מעמד הר סיני היו קדושים” - from the day they stood at Har Sinai, the entire nation is holy.
To Korach, Moshe was no different than anyone else! The past, indeed our entire history is meaningless. What Moshe did for us, all of the miracles that he facilitated, our shared history and national memoirs…. they mean nothing. We are a nation, said Korach and his followers, which does not care about ancient relics and outdated antiquities!
On the other side of the coin, on the other side of the spectrum, we find the Meraglim from Pasrhat Shlach. The meraglim, the very leaders of Klal Yisrael were, with a few, notable exceptions, unable and unwilling to embrace the future. The desert, while not physically comfortable, was emotionally comfortable…. socially comfortable... religiously comfortable. The hierarchy was secure. Their position, protected. Why rock the boat? Why take risks? Why enter into Eretz Yisrael when everything is fine right here in the desert?
In short, while Korach could not see and appreciate the past, the meraglim could not fathom nor look towards the future.
On the other side of the coin, on the other side of the spectrum, we find the Meraglim from Pasrhat Shlach. The meraglim, the very leaders of Klal Yisrael were, with a few, notable exceptions, unable and unwilling to embrace the future. The desert, while not physically comfortable, was emotionally comfortable…. socially comfortable... religiously comfortable. The hierarchy was secure. Their position, protected. Why rock the boat? Why take risks? Why enter into Eretz Yisrael when everything is fine right here in the desert?
In short, while Korach could not see and appreciate the past, the meraglim could not fathom nor look towards the future.
At Sha’alvim and at Sha’alvim for Women, we work hard to be the farthest thing, baruch Hashem, from both the mistakes of Korach and of the Meraglim. We are proud of our beautiful, genuine, glorious, 50-year past. Yet we’re not nervous not hesitant to look with vision and foresight towards the future: we are not content to rest on our significant laurels.
A quick, personal yet paradigmatic example: Twenty six years ago I stepped off the airplane at the old terminal at Ben Gurion airport to spend what I thought would only be one year at Sha’alvim. Rav Michael Yammer - at that time our madrich and also a member of the Sha’alvim kollel - and Rav Galinsky met us at the airport and immediately exuded warmth and a sense of welcoming that was able to override my intense homesickness.
I arrived at the Yeshiva and again I was welcomed by my Rebbe in Shiur Aleph, Rav Yaakovson. I was spellbound by Rav Meir Schlessinger’s welcoming smile and inspirational sichot. The loud, noisy sounds of the Kol shel Torah in the Beit Midrash was periodically pierced by the even louder sounds of the Kol shel Torah by another member of the Sha’alvim Kollel, Rav Hendler. Shiurim by Rav Lebor, occasional sichot by Tzvi Kasspi… the visits of a young, American soldier serving in Tzahal, Rav Ari Waxman, learning b’chavruta with not-yet-“Rav” Reuven Ungar, learning Gemara bekiyut with Rav Baruch Felberman….. these are my memories…. These are our memories…
That’s the past. That’s the foundation!
We appreciate the past. We value the past. But we don’t stop there. We also build on the past. We are excited to look to the future, to see how and in what new ways we can change.
That is, in a nutshell, how Sha’alvim for Women began. Founded by - and borne from - the past, yet with an eye towards the future.
Today, I am proud to say, Sha’alvim for Women is known thank G-d for our intense, focused learning, for caring for each student, for the best faculty in the world, and, yes, the best alumni in the world. We look at - and care about - the whole student - from our Beit Midrash to our exercise room - both, recently infused with new funds from gracious gifts.
The same warmth of spirit and intensity of learning that we have all experienced at Sha’alvim for half a century is now being continued at SFW.
In that vein, we all say thank you to the Fagins and to our supporters and our parent-body. It is because of you that Michelle Elmaleh, Rabbi Turetsky, Rabbi Felberman, our outstanding faculty, and I can be hosts to the most wonderful, curious, focused and giving young women, the students at Sha’alvim for Women.
Thank you to everyone who believed in us - and who continue to believe in us - , who supported us - and continue to support us - and who continue to make sure that incredible, unforgettable, extraordinary Torah experiences at Sha’alvim for Women continue for the next half-century and beyond!
