Elul 5768

In this month's issue:

Chana's Prayer: A Model for Restoring Kingdom to the World

Garden of Emuna: Torah & Agriculture Program

Student Profile: Bringing Out the True Me

Give the Gift of Torah: Sponsor a Student

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As the year draws to a close, we look for opportunities to elevate ourselves in order to stand before the King of Kings on Rosh Hashana in the capacity of our highest selves.
The mitzvah of tzedakka (charity) has the ability to avert negative decrees both on a personal and cosmic level. Through supporting a student to learn at Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin, you have the opportunity to perform the mitzvah of tzedakka in one of the highest ways.

Your contribution will support holistic Torah learning in the Land of Israel for those who are materially and spiritually in need. In addition, you will be supporting women in their endeavor to find their way back into the Jewish fold, becoming comfortable with their newfound Jewish identity both in their professions and as the mothers of the next generation.

Our midrasha needs your support now more than ever. Our student body has almost doubled since last year, including Israeli and older students with little means who are not eligible for traditional scholarships.

Therefore this Rosh Hashana, please open your heart and give even more generously than in previous years. If you haven't donated to us yet, please do so now, and if you are already a supporter, we ask you to please double your contribution.

By investing in a student at Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin, you will receive the merit of her learning, and with Hashem's help we will work together to bring the Jewish people a stride forward towards our promised, blessed destiny.

Be part of the blessings Hashem has allowed us to share with Jewish women today by donating to Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin.

May you be inscribed and sealed for good!

Chana Bracha

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Chana's Prayer

A Model for Restoring Kingdom the the World

Chana is a model of how to restore Kingdom (malchut) to Israel and draw down the Divine Indwelling Presence (Shechina) through her heartfelt prayer."She was bitter of soul, and she prayed on Hashem, and wept profusely." (1 Shmuel 1:10)

What was so great about Chana's bitterness? Aren't we supposed to serve Hashem through happiness?

The Hebrew word for bitter is mar, which also can mean to exchange. Chana had an extraordinary ability to exchange her personal bitterness with spiritual elevation.

We may sometimes feel bitterness in our life, whether because of small unimportant matters, or tests that seem too difficult to bear. This bitterness can either make us deteriorate (G-d forbid) or help elevate us.

Chana was able to transform her bitterness to an immense spiritual power of cleaving to Hashem (devekut) through inner drunkenness. Eli the Cohen thought Chana was drunk with wine, because he had never before seen a person drunk with prayer. With the depth of spiritual and emotional intensity, Chana's prayer released her essence from the limited "I" and reached the highest worlds. Her bitterness served as a springboard to reach the pouring out of soul (histapchut hanefesh) in her prayer.

No wonder that our rabbis learn the laws of prayer from Chana!

Rabbi Elazar said, Chana flung words heavenwards, as it states, "And she was bitter of soul and she prayed on Hashem," to teach, that she flung words heavenwards. (Brachot 31b)

Why does Chana pray "on Hashem"?

Chana invented a new mode of prayer. Rather than pray for an end to her own suffering, she prayed for that which Hashem prays. She identified with the pain of the Shechina, teaching us to focus our prayer on the pain we cause the Shechina when we prevent her from being fully revealed in the world through the retribution we necessitate by our mistaken actions.

Chana pierced the heavens with her prayer and revealed a new level of faith (emuna), in the world. "Come and see, two women of this world who said song and praise to G-d in a way that no man in the world ever did! Who were they? Devora and Chana . . . [Chana] opened the opening of faith . . . "(Zohar Part 3, 19)

In the time of transitions, women's faith paves the way for spiritual renewal. The spiritual renewal Chana engendered brought about the transition from the period of Judges to the period of Kings - the reflection of the spiritual kingdom corresponding to the woman. In this way, she became the Divine channel for establishing the malchut of Israel.

The spiritual work of women today will, with G-d's help, restore malchut to Israel.

Thank you for participating with Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin in educating spirited women who dedicate their lives to the Torah of Women in the Land of Israel. With your generous support, together can we reveal new levels of emuna, usher in the final redemption (geula) and restore kingdom to Israel.

May you be inscribed in the Book of Life!
Chana Bracha

Learn more Torah from Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin . . .

Garden of Emuna: Torah & Agriculture

New Program Begins Fall 2008

Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin is pleased to announce our Garden of Emuna Torah & Agriculture Program under the auspices of Rabbi Lazer Brody.

This program, a chiddush (new revelation) in the world, will be the benchmark for living a Torah-lifestyle in harmony with the Land.

Hashem promised Avraham the Land of Israel as a heritage for his children. As descendents of Avraham, it is our task to work in union with the Land to make it flourish for our people.

As we plant orchards, vegetables and herbs, we are not only working to turn over the soil and discover what is beneath, but also to dig deep within ourselves to uproot those areas that harm our spiritual growth, while nurturing the qualities that embody the fruits of our spiritual essence.

We look forward to a fruitful new year!

Learn more about our Garden of Emuna: Torah & Agriculture Program . . .

Bringing Out the True Me

A Personal Journey

My name is Chaya Bracha Adelson. I'm 32 years old. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, but I've spent the last few years in Colorado. I went to a Jewish day school, and then to a public high school. I've always been drawn to outdoor activities, sports and exercise. Before I came to Israel, I studied kinesiology, and then taught physical education, yoga and rafting for several years. I also love to ski, run, rappel-you name it!

I came to Israel by "chance". I was about to start a new job as a PE teacher at a school for gifted children. But Hashem had other plans. When my grandfather was preparing to make aliyah, and my parents offered to pay for my ticket to Israel to help him settle in, I felt that the opportunity had come. I told my boss that I wasn't going to be taking the job, and got on the plane.

Two weeks later, I knew I wasn't going back to America so soon. I went to Tzfat for a couple of months to volunteer, hike and explore Judaism. Afterwards, I lived and volunteered on a kibbutz for five months. The switch from the spiritual high of Tzfat to the physical reality of kibbutz life was extreme, and stirred my desire to explore spirituality further.

I had always wanted to travel to India and Nepal because of my interest in yoga. I wanted to see the people, the real people-not the ones who live in the cities and have made a commodity of their religion, but the people in the villages who still cherished their traditions. I was impressed with the devotion of the people, but at the same time, something just didn't feel right. The final reality check came when I was in Nepal and there was a giant golden calf being worshipped outside of the Hindu temple. An actual golden calf!

Just before I had left Israel to seek out spirituality in India, I had been introduced to Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin. Somehow, I knew that was where I should go next.

I haven't been let down. I've been at B'erot for nearly a year now and plan to continue here. What I love about learning at B'erot and living in Bat Ayin is that each relationship and each experience in my day reinforces the Torah I learn in the classroom. Yet, the essential quality of this learning is that one's relationship with G-d and others is a unique one, and that in order to truly relate to oneself, to G-d and to the world, I need to do the internal work to develop my true spiritual self. At B'erot, I have been allowed to process all of my past experiences, to transform them and elevate them into a Torah life-style. This place has truly been a bracha! Thank you for supporting students like me.

Mazal Tov to Chaya Bracha on your engagement to Amichai Tzipor!

Find out more about our students and alumnae . . .

Zohara Meyerhoff Hieronimus
www.sevenholywomen.com

Sponsor a Student

Not everyone can be immersed in Torah studies deepened by experiencing the holy places in the Land where the events of the Torahs took place. Not all of us can pick up a guitar and sing our love of life and G-d. Not all of us tend to a majestic garden in the Judean Hills from which to eat our meals. The women at Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin are able to and joyfully do so. By funding them, we take part in the circle of G-d's creation and the illumination of the Holy Land.

Join me, Zohara Meyerhoff Hieronimus in supporting women who are called by the Shofar of love to travel to the Judean Hills like the Prophetesses Devorah, Chana, Avigail and Chuldah, who bring messages of moral order, royalty and prophetic inspiration to Israel. Together, we can each be part of Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin's graduating classes and merit the Crown of Torah.

- Sponsor a student for a full year $8,200
- Sponsor a student for a semester $4,100
- Co-sponsor a student for a semester $2,000
- Sponsor a student for a month $820
- Co-sponsor a student for a month $410
- Co-sponsor a student for a month $200
- Co-sponsor a student for a month $100
Donations of any amount make a difference!

For a tax-deductible donation in the USA:
Please make checks out to: American Friends of MBBA
c/o Leah Gelber
6424 Folger Drive
Charlotte, NC 28270
Tax I.D.: EIN 20-1923745

For a tax-deductible donation in Canada:
Please make checks out to: The Tzaddik Foundation
c/o Miriam Kreisman
6592 C. Kildare
Montreal, Quebec
H4W 2Z4
CANADA

For a donation by bank transfer:
Attention: AFMBBA
Wachovia Bank NA
Daqvie 441, POB 563966
Charlotte, NC 28262
Routing 067006432
Account 2000021346550

For a donation in Israel:
Please make checks out to: Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin
Yishuv Bat Ayin
Gush Etzion 90913
ISRAEL

Tizku L'Mitzvot!

Learn more about donating to Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin . . .