In this week's parsha, Vayechi, Yaakov blesses his son’s before he passes away. Three sons in particular get rebuked of their past actions. Reuven gets rebuked for switching his father's bed after Rachel's death and because of this his melucha gets taken away from him and given to Yehuda. Levi and Shimon get rebuked for destroying the city of Shechem because of Dina's rape. However, after the incident of chet ha egel at Har Sinai, Shevet Levi really stepped up and channeled their anger towards a kidddish Hashem instead of a chillul Hashem. Therefore Hashem rewarded them with the privilege of working in the Beit ha Mikdash. From this we see how Levi changed his life around.

This past week we had a Preida for Shana bet who are sadly leaving us next week after four amazing months together. At the preida we heard beautiful words of reflection and inspiration from faculty, Shana bet and our very own Shana alef girl, Rachel Slater. We also saw a hilarious yet poignant video that shana bet had put together. Seeing Shana bet leave makes us, the girls of Shana alef, want to apply the advice and concrete lessons they have left us with, to take another step forward and become more dedicated to our learning. As the first semester comes to an end, we now have a better sense of what direction we intend to go in the future. In some way we can take Levi’s example; when he lost his temper he used it for the bad initially, but later on he used his temper for the good and changed his future. After four months of settling in and becoming more aware of the opportunities that await us, we now know that it’s our turn to step up to the plate, strive towards our full potential and change our future.

We were also privileged this past week to go to the airport and greet the Nefesh b’Nefesh flight of new olim. These people have picked up their lives from whatever country they have come from in order to move to a place they are less familiar with. They too have enhanced their lives by taking this courageous step forward. We at Midmo decorated posters, dressed in white and blue, wore Israeli flags and came to the airport full of spirit and enthusiasm to greet the olim. When they finally landed they had this look of awe and amazement. They had no idea that there would be 86 seminary girls singing and dancing in honor of their arrival. They are an inspiration to us all.

Chayale Fellig, Aviya Fried and Leah Friedman, Shana Alef