Mindi Gelbtuch lives in Woodmere, NY, attended Manhattan High School for Girls, and currently studies in Lander College for Women in Manhattan. Before college, Mindi spent a year and a half learning in Michlalah Jerusalem seminary- she is thrilled to be back in Eretz Yisroel, this time learning with (and from) Sharon Dahan, Ayelet Raden, Shoshana Schiowitz, and Chaviva Storch. Sharon is from Brooklyn, NY and attends Manhattan High School for Girls (going into 11th grade); Ayelet is from Boca Raton, FL and attends Hadar High School for Girls (11th); Shoshana is from Teaneck, NJ and attends Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls (11th); Chaviva is from Baltimore, MD and attends Bais Yaakov of Baltimore (12th).
Mindi’s Chaburah was inspired by a class (taught by Rav Andi Yudin) she took in Shana Bet on the Chazon Ish’s sefer “Emunah U’Bitachon”. The Chaburah’s unofficial title is “Faith It ‘till You Make It” (coined by fellow Madricha Shoshana Rapps)- this Chaburah centers around the themes of Emunah and Bitachon in Hashem. Each individual Chaburah focuses on a different topic in Judaism, specifically with the angle of Emunah and Bitachon. Some topics are ‘predictable’, like “Avraham Avinu” and “Pesach”. Other topics are somewhat ‘unexpected’, like “Emunat Chachamim” and “Aaron HaKohen”. But throughout all the topics, the goal is to gain a greater understanding of the underlying Emunah and/or Bitachon, with hopes to strengthen each girl’s personal Emunah and Bitachon.
“With great learning comes great hunger”- hunger for Torah of course, but also hunger for some snacks! Each Chaburah is accompanied by some sort of snack or candy, and that’s why Mindi’s question for her Chaburah had to be about learning and food:
“What is your favorite food? Connect it to a meaningful lesson, thought, or idea.”
Sharon: “My favorite snack is a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. On the outside a Reese’s cup looks like normal chocolate but as you eat it you discover the delicious peanut butter flavor. Michlelet is similar in the sense that in the beginning it’s sweet and great like chocolate and you think it can’t get better. Yet, as weeks pass, you begin to discover that it can get even better, like the peanut butter after the chocolate.”
Ayelet: “My favorite snack (in Israel) is Doritos. I love them because there are so many different flavors of Doritos. That is also one of the reasons I love Michlelet. There are so many different types of girls here to become friends with. Despite our differences, we are united by the reasons we came on Michlelet. Every day I realize that it doesn’t matter where we come from or which “flavor” we are- we are all here to learn, to grow, and to surround ourselves with amazing people.”
Shoshana: “My favorite snack is Jelly Bellies. I learned in this Chaburah that having Bitachon means that you recognize that in every situation that you are faced with things can go well or can go badly, but whatever the outcome is, you have to trust that it’s from Hashem and that it’s for your ultimate good. This idea applies to Jelly Bellies because you never know if you are going to get coconut or toothpaste! In any experience, you just have to trust that it’s all from Hashem, and some day you will look back and see how much you’ve grown from that experience.”
Chaviva: “My favorite snack is an ice cream sandwich. This connects to what I learned in a Chaburah with Mrs. Weinberg. We were learning about Parashat Ha’azinu- in one of the pesukim, Moshe says that “the Shamayim and Aretz will be witnesses”. Rashi comments that the reason for this is because the Shamayim and Aretz exist forever and they have the ability to reward and punish. The Kli Yakar asks: How can they be witnesses if they don’t have a mouth and can’t testify for us?
He answers by saying that in Bereishit, on the sixth day of Creation, the Torah writes “הששי”, not just “ששי”. The ה in gematria is 5. This hints to the 5 Books of Torah, and ששי hints to the sixth day of Sivan, which is the day we received the Torah. This shows that if we don’t accept the Torah and keep it properly the world will go back to nothingness- because we accepted the Torah the world is still around. Therefore, the Shamayim and Aretz are witnesses, because by continuing to exist, we know that people must still be keeping Torah.
The Kli Yakar continues to say that the spiritual and physical worlds repel each other, and the way they stick together is through the Torah. Otherwise, the world would fall apart. Similarly in an ice cream sandwich- the ice cream is the glue that holds the two cookies together. Without it, the entire sandwich falls apart.”