This week at Midreshet! Smadar Rosensweig, a beloved teacher from Stern College came to speak at Shiur klali. She spoke about the common misconception that whatever happened in Sefer  Berieshet created a set destiny for each shevet. She disproved this statement by showing us how shevet Levi actually created their own destiny and took their negative characteristics of rage and rashness from the story of Dena and Shechem and turned it into something positive that would teach future generations a very important lesson. This taught us that no destiny is ever set in stone. You can always change your negative characteristics into positive ones and be whoever you strive to be.

Last Thursday night's mishmar, was a huge hit. The room was packed and no one left the room the same person they went in as. Michal has been teaching this mishmar for 12 years and it has always been one to remember. She teaches it in memory of an old friend of hers, Mikey Butler z"l,  that fought an unbelievable fight and the support he got from his incredible family. We learned what it's like to rise above any curveball that HaShem throws at us and come out with even stronger faith. It was so special that people decided to stay extra late on Thursday night to learn in his memory.

This past Shabbos eight girls went to Rav Lerner's home in Beitar which is entirely chareidi. They experienced a community that is different than the average modern orthodox community that most of us were brought up in and it gave them a larger view on how other Torah observant Jews live. It was a great experience as well as a really fun shabbos.

Also, this past Shabbos Rav Eitan hosted five girls at his home in Neve Daniel. The Friday night davening and the community itself was beautiful and inspiring. Many teachers live in Neve Daniel and seeing many of them outside of the school environment in this warm community was very comforting and wonderful to see.

This just in from Michal - Michal’s Rakezet group has been discussing different ideas as an effort to add light and increase kindness as a response to the difficult security situation in Israel. One idea that arose was volunteering at Yad Eliezer. They took their Tuesday lunch break this past week and went to Yad Eliezer to package food for the needy. They packaged sixty boxes which will help sixty families for a month.        Yashar Koach to all who participated!

Shira Leifer and Jessie Levart, Shana Alef