Kitat Maayan כיתת מעיין

      Hello Kitat Maayan!      I know there are many concerns about the tiyuul tomorrow and about possibly facing hated by others in the Kotel.  I have done many protests in the past, and I would like to share some advice to you.  If you are faced with someone trying to create conflict either with you or the group, try to do your best not to show them that they are getting a reaction out of you.   For example, when you are praying tomorrow and hear shouts and whistles, do not look at those people.  Instead, concentrate on the prayer and the strong community around you.  Be prepared with a few facts to counter those who try to challenge you.  If someone tells you that women should not be praying at the kotel or that the women's section should not have a torah, be ready to counter act. If you get angry, don't let the people protesting W.O.W see it.  Find a friend or a teacher that you know that you can t...

Jeremy Faust Oral Law Assignment “You shall not commit robbery” The mitzvot seems incredibly simple but can be interpreted to be relevant in many aspects of life. I interpret this no stealing of any physical or emotional thing is allowed. This would wrong mean that telling something to someone that is unnecessary and damages their emotions is robbing them of their happiness. That would mean that every person must try their best to not rob people of their natural positivity. Of course, physical robbery is not allowed at all. This is ironic because to find this mitzvot I took Ethan’s Tanach without him knowing. I don’t believe this is a violation of the mitzvot because; I intend to give it back when I am done, and knowing Ethan, he would have been fine with me using it. This contrasts with his cereal, which I know is in short supply, and he wouldn’t want me eating. This is how I apply this mitzvot to my life, by doing what is moral and what does/doesn’t fit within the definiti...

The verse I chose for this assignment was “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the Lord am your God” Leviticus 19:33. I chose this verse because I felt it is the most relevant to our world today. I can really relate to this quote in many ways. I interpret this commandment as telling us to be accepting of all people and to treat everyone, even strangers, like you would yourself. It reminds me of the golden rule, ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’. This seems so simple. But it goes as far as to tell us to treat a stranger as one of your citizens. This to me really has modern day value. We hear all the time about immigrants coming to United States. This commandment furthers me in my belief that we should be welcoming these immigrants with open arms. America was built upon immigrants and fo...

GOLDIE ELKINS OCTOBER 17, 2017 JEWISH HISTORY MY CHOSEN MITZVAH- LEVITICUS 19 "You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your god; I am the lord."  How I interpret this quote: Don't make fun of death people and don't sabotage a blind person by doing something that would hurt them. This quote is not literal but also figurative, the point is to treat people the same as you, regardless if they have a disability that may make them different. Just because we are all different, doesn't mean we aren't all humans who deserve the same amount of respect as we may be given.  I spoke a bit about why I chose this on Danis blog because what she had to say had some what of a relation to my reasoning as well. When my little brother was born he was supposed to be mute. He was born with a speech disorder called Apraxia. Apraxia stunts your brain and gives it the challenge to say...

Today, Kitat Maayan visited Beit She'arim, Beit Alpha, and the Sachne spring. We started off our day with a quick two hour nap on the bus ride to Beit She'arim. Beit She'arim or the House of Measurements, is located in the lower Galilee. We sat on a couple of benches in the grass beneath the  trees. After a quick recap of yesterday's lesson, we began talking about Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai. The two rabbis existed side by side and both of their ideas were widely accepted. Hillel and Shammai had opposing views. An example of this would be the Hanukkah argument over which way to light the menorah. Hillel says start with the first candle, while Shammai says start with the eighth candle. We came to the conclusion that most Jews ended up following Hillel. Then, we sang the Hillel Omer song. After, we proceeded to talk about the narrowing of oral law. Oral law or Toshba, are the laws that are not written down and are often changed over time and are considered to be les...

Hey guys, The story below is originally a facebook post from one of my old JC camp counselors. I really wanted to share this with you because I feel like it shows the soul and uniqueness of the country we're living in. ~Beca By: Stefan Boroda After shopping for the last of our Sukkot supplies, my wife and I got on the #24 bus in Hadar this morning. In typical fashion, everyone cuts the line and I'm last to get on. As I swipe my bus pass, I ask the driver to confirm that the bus is heading to Horev. He tells me it is. Then he looks at me, and says something in Hebrew I can't understand. I stare back at him. Then he says something else. Something about a cell phone. Something that happened a few months ago. And then it hits me: The day after we landed in Israel--a little over two months ago--we lost my wife's cell phone on the #24 in Haifa. "I remember you. You're in the picture on the phone! You wear a big kippah!" And then he scolds me--...

This morning kitat maayan started their day with a little hike and some hot coffee. The first thing we encountered was a building shaped like a pyramid used as a burial cave for wealthy Jewish families. But for us to cruelly know what we were explore g was really Jewish we had to see a beit Knesset. Which we had did indeed end up finding. Looking around the area we found a large stone which might have been part of a niche in which a menorah was placed are two on either side. The niche and location of the structure are near another Jewish burial cave thus supporting the idea that it's a Jewish settlement. After our little hike we found a nice shade spot where we learned about the bar Kochva and about the revolt. There are 4 main reasons for the additional revolt against the Romans. The first was that people truelly believed our leader, Bar kochva, was the messiah. The people wanted to believe that he was and partly why it was easy to acknowkwdge it as a fact was bec...