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From Joy to Freedom, from Purim to Pesach
When King David brought the Holy Ark to Jerusalem, he rejoiced in utter abandonment of all social constraints. Rebbe Nachman explains that the ability to rejoice releases us from all pretense and posturing and enables us to be totally free. This is why the joy of Purim leads us to Passover - the Festival of Freedom. Freedom allows us to be ourselves, to find our own personal connection to G-d. In a nutshell, this is Makor Chaim's goal in all of our educational programs. We bring to you just a small sampling of this work over the past weeks.
| | | JOY TO THE WORLD!
Makor Chaim's Rosh Chodesh Adar Joyous prayer/study sessions Throughout the World! Clockwise from left to right: 1) Makor Chaim, Kfar Etzion 2) Givat Shmuel, Israel 3) Nachlaot, Jerusalem 4) YU, NY 5) Not shown - Johanesberg, SA
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Highlights from Rav Dov Singer's Month in the US
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Makor Chaim Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Dov Singer, who is on Sabbatical this year, was invited to be a scholar-in-residence at Yeshiva University for the month of February. We started off the visit with a great meeting with YU President Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, who until his recent appointment lived in the Gush Etzion community of Neve Daniel - adjoining the building site of our new campus on Derech Ha'Avot - the historic Road of the Patriarch's.
| | | WHITE FIRE AND BLACK FIRE!
Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, Rabbi of Aish Kodesh and the "Mashpia" at YU is one of America's leaders of the new movement of Chassidut in the modern Orthodox world. Rav Dov spent much of his time working together with his US counterpart.
| | | Pictured here at Yeshivat HaLev - HALB - DRS | | | | YU Candlelight Farbrengen | | | with Rabbi Weinberger, Rabbi Penner & over 100 students
| | | Connecting to the Divine - Workshop in Local Park
| | | | | | Besides teaching at YU, holding teacher training sessions and speaking at local communities, we took time out for a joyous Melave Malka in the Upper East Side with friends old and new, learning and practicing Rebbe Nachman's teachings on clapping and dancing.
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REACHING OUT...
Our trip included meetings and sessions with the entire spectrum of committed Jews from left to right. Pictured below are scenes from our visit to Williamsburg and a class with disenchanted Satmar Chassidim looking for a closer bond with Hashem and his Land.
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Rav Dov's US trip continued in Florida with a parlor meeting in Miami and teacher training sessions in Boca Raton at Katz Yeshiva High School and then ending by spending Purim in Scottsdale Arizona with Makor Chaim graduate , CBT Rabbi Pinchas Allouche and with our graduates Matan Solter & Hillel Attia, serving as Steinsaltz Ambassadors in Arizona.
see more here
| | | | MEANWHILE, BACK IN ISRAEL... | | | We held our annual Purim Flashmob, check it out! | | WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY, our students took part in some Pre-Purim Mischief: Is Today Shabbat?
In the spirit of Purim, Makor Chaim students declared Tuesday to be Shabbat. They went to the mikva, put on white shabbat clothes, turned off their phones, sang the tefilla, had shabbat meals. etc. When they wished a Shabbat Shalom to a young girl passing by, she came home and told her mother, who happens to be an Israeli media star, who then posted a chassidic similar story told about Reb Zusha and Reb Elimelech. Worth struggling with the Hebrew. see more here
| | | | | While Rav Dov was in NY, US Rabbis came to learn his Torah in Israel! See this post from Rabbi Shaul Robinson who heard our Rav Yossi Fruman stand in for Rav Dov at the Tzohar Conference - notice Rav Dov's new book in the picture. In addition to selling out here in Israel, "Tikon Tefillati - Recipes for Devotion" was a hit at the YU Book Fair. | | | PLEASE BE OUR PARTNER!
The first two buildings on our new campus in memory of Naftali, Gil-Ad and Ayal are nearing completion. Here on the historic "Derech Ha'Avot", our work, both physically and spiritually, ties our ancient past to a bright, new future. In the next few months we are looking forward to beginning work on the Beit Midrash, the High School and additional dormitories. We can't do it without you - please be our partners, Come tour Gush Etzion with us, make a meaningful contribution to this magnificent project! | |
HAPPY PASSOVER TO ONE AND ALL! Makor Chaim Institutions, Kfar Etzion 90912, Israel Makor Chaim USA, Inc. 1908 Ave O Brooklyn, NY 11230 An IRS recognized 501C3 non-profit, EIN # 81-2097033
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