BY: G7

ד''בס

Tishrei 5777

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Dear Talmidos,

A Bochur I once knew traveled to Russia for סוכות. This was back in the days

when Russia had just opened its doors and there were not yet many שלוחים, and

certainly there was not much available in terms of kosher food. Even fruits and

vegetables were hard to come by. So this bochur and his friends had a quite a

job packing. They needed to take along clothing, תפילין, their מנים' ד ... and food.

They packed cases of tuna, dried meat, and canned vegetables. They took along

מצה for יום טוב, because חלה would not stay fresh, etc.

'ברוך ה during their stay in Russia they were able to travel to many small towns

giving Yiden here and there a chance to make a ברכה on the לולב and אתרוג, eat in

a סוכה, and learn a bit about Yiddishkeit.

Two weeks later it was time to pack up again for the return to the United States.

As I am sure you can imagine, their suitcases were empty. Yes, they had clothing

and Judaica articles to take back, but all the food space was empty.

As the bochurim sat, planning how to fit one suitcase inside the other one

bochur said,

“There was so much we needed to pack to bring here – because we knew we

would not find those things here. Perhaps, there are things we can bring home –

because we cannot find them at home.” This got all the boys thinking hard. One

bochur ran out to the yard and came running back with a staff. He thought they

should take that home, to remember the מסירת נפש of the Yid who walked with a

sprained ankle to participate in their פארבריינגעןחול המועד . They were so happy to

give him a ride home. Quickly the chevra scattered in different directions, each

one bringing something back to the suitcase. One had an old מזוזה that had been

hanging in hidden doorway by one Yid, another had the broken shoes of

someone who danced with so much חיות on שמחת תורה (luckily one of the

bochurim had a spare pair for him).

In this way the suitcases were soon filled with articles the bochurim would look

back at all year.

We too, have this special opportunity. Now that the Yomim Tovim of Tishrei are

behind us, we must pack into our hearts and minds all the things we can take

from Tishrei, the head of the year, to look at and learn from all year long.

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The phrase ויעקב הלך לדרכו has three important messages for us – one within

each word.

First, we are being referred to by the name יעקב and not ישראל. Usually we are

called בני ישראל because that is the name that expresses a higher level. Here we

are called יעקב because like יעקב we are holding the עקב of עשו – the heel of

Eisav – in our setting this means the worldly things that do not seem to have

הייליקייט in them. But we have the כח to connect them with קדושה.

הלך – went. We need to keep on going, to grow from day to day, from hour to

hour; constantly moving! Where?

לדרכו – on his path. Our דרך is the דרך (the path(of תורה and מצוות which will lead

us closer and closer to ה' .

It is my hope, that each of you will pack all the things you need to make this

year be the year that brings Moshiach Now!

Morah Malkie Gurkow

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The month of Elul was drawing to a close. Everyone was getting ready for Yom Tov,

and the "scent" of the Yomim Noraim was already in the air. The marketplace was

overflowing with all kinds of merchandise and produce, including the special fruits

that are traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah like pomegranates.

The Jewish section of town was bustling with activity as homes were swept from top

to bottom and new clothes were fitted and sewn. At the same time it was serious

business, as residents prepared themselves for the coming year. More attention was

paid to davening with a minyan, speaking only good language and in general,

improving behavior.

Inside the Baal Shem Tov's Beis Medrash the final preparations before Rosh

Hashanah were also underway. Tefillos were recited with increased Kavana, and all

thoughts were focused on returning to Hashem in teshuvah.

One evening, a few days before Rosh Hashanah, the Baal Shem Tov's students were

getting ready to daven maariv. All that was missing was the Baal Shem Tov himself,

who had yet to arrive. At precisely the appointed hour the Baal Shem Tov entered the

Beis Medrash, but instead of opening his siddur he remained standing, lost in

thought.

Of course, no one dared mention that it was time to daven. The minutes ticked by and

still the Baal Shem Tov seemed distracted, as if he were in another world. His holy

face was suffused with intense emotion. However, the Baal Shem Tov's students were

already used to such things.

When the Baal Shem Tov suddenly roused himself almost an hour later and opened

his siddur, his countenance was virtually shining with joy. That evening, the Baal

Shem Tov davened with unusual chayus and longing. It was obvious that something

of very great magnitude had occurred.

After davening the Baal Shem Tov explained: "Not very far from here," he began,

"lives a Jew who grew up in a traditional Jewish home. But as he grew older, he

began to associate with the local peasants. Slowly he abandoned the a Torah way

of life until he was virtually indistinguishable from the gentiles and completely

estranged from his roots.

"Many years passed. The man left the province where he was born and went to live in

a totally non-Jewish environment. As time passed, he forgot everything about the

Jewish way of life, its tefillos and its minhagim. Before he knew it 30 years had

passed. 4

"Tonight," the Baal Shem Tov revealed, "this Yid happened to be visiting a Jewish town

on business. As soon as he entered the village he could sense the commotion, and this

aroused his curiosity. When he asked a passer-by what was going on the man answered,

'Everyone is getting ready for a Yom tov we call Rosh Hashanah. According to Jewish

tradition, it is the day on which man was created and the whole world is judged.'

"For some reason this explanation struck a chord in the heart of the assimilated Jew.

Maybe it was the exclusionary 'we' that emphasized the huge difference that separated

him from his brethren, or perhaps the mere mention of the Day of Judgment. In any

event, the man's neshomo was awakened, and he was flooded with memories of his

childhood.

"As he wandered through the marketplace he was suddenly stricken by the horrifying

realization that he had exchanged a life rich in meaning for an empty existence. At

that moment he looked up, and was surprised to find himself standing outside the

main shul. By then it was almost dark, and people were arriving to daven maariv.

"The man was seized by an overwhelming desire to join them, but he was also

embarrassed by his non-Jewish appearance. In the end the urge to daven won out, and

he went into the women's section and hid behind the curtain.

"As the chazzan chanted the words 'And He atones for sin...' a shudder passed through

the man's body. How he wished to daven, but the words were long forgotten. Tears

streamed down his cheeks. When the last man had gone home he couldn't bear it any

longer and burst out crying. 'Master of the universe!' he wept. 'I know there is no

greater sinner than I, but I also know that You are merciful and full of loving-

kindness. Heavenly Father, forgive me for my aveiros and I will sin no more. I wish to

return to You and live as a Jew. Please accept my tefila and do not turn me away!'

"The man's heartfelt teshuvah caused a great commotion in shomayim," the Baal Shem

Tov explained, "and his tefilla ascended to Hashem . In fact, it was so powerful that

it brought along with it many other tefillos that had been waiting hundreds of years

to ascend.

"When I sensed what was going on in the man's heart," the Baal Shem Tov concluded,

"I decided to wait for him to daven so I could join him. Tonight's davening was

delayed so we could merit to daven with a true baal teshuvah..."

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Me: What was your experience during Tishrei by the Rebbe?

My mother: As a young child growing up on shlichus in Morocco, my biggest

aim was to go spend Yom tov with the Rebbe. In the beginning I would just go

for Sukkos and then as I got older, I went for the entire Tishrei.

What a beautiful experience it was! The Hadras Ponim of the Rebbe was just

amazing. Waking up early to get a place in the ezras noshim was just amazing.

The three rooms in the ezras nashim were divided; the first one was for the

Israelis and then one for the French women, and then one for the English

speaking.

Me: Which one did you go into?

Mrs. Wilansky: As I speak the three languages I was fortunate to be able to go

to any of them. The davening with the Rebbe was so uplifting.

Rosh Hashana at the Tekios, it didn’t feel at all that we were so squished, how

beautiful it was when the Rebbe blew. The Rebbe would go under his Tallis

with Panim from all of us, as the Rebbe davened for all of us.

Yom Kippur, we stood all day. After Neilah came the Napoleon march which

was the victory. How powerful it was when the Rebbe wished us Gut Yom Tov.

Then came Sukkos, the happiest time ever. I had the opportunity to shake the

Rebbe’s Lulav. The davening during Sukkos was so nice, all the niggunim, the

sichos every night followed by Simchas Beis Hashoeiva, the Yechidus with the

Rebbe. One year, the Rebbe gave all the orchim a siddur with his signature

which I was zoiche to receive, as well! I cherish it until today.

Me: Wow, that was very inspiring. Is there anything else you would like to tell

us?

Mrs. Wilansky: I can’t wait for the day when we will be back in 770 with the

Rebbe and all of you will be able to experience it as well!

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Dear Diary,WOW!!!!! These first few weeks of school have been AH-MA-ZING!!! We did so many fun things so far! First we had the amazing ‘welcome back to school’ rally, and watched the funniest video which starred Mushka Langsam and Chaya Zucker. Wait that’s not all, we then met the new BC head Morah Mussie Greenberg! The next thing we had was the theme breakout with our awesome G.O.! And the theme for this year is…… Just Sip It! Of course we can’t forget about Ms. Sip it and the amazing theme song. And guess what? Every month we have a special drink so the month of Elul was PowerAde. We learn Sefer Hamitzvos with Shprintzel every day!!! G7-G8 had an awesome program ‘Say what?’ where we played a game to get to know each other better. We also have ‘Marvelous Monday’ where every Monday we have a little story or game and we do the theme song with motions and that is so much fun, because it helps us feel the excitement of G.O. in middle of class! G2-6 had an awesome night activity where we had an amazing Talent Show and the best part about it was the former online school students as the judges!! Boy, was it fun.

By: Chaya Majeski

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Oh! How could I forget? We had a really fun program in class about Chai Elul we played an awesome game, like Diary, it was seriously awesome. At that program, our teachers told us a message from G.O. all about a new program where we had to fill out Cheshbon Nefeshquestions on bottles of PowerAde - and if you did it you got into a raffle for a lip balm kit! You don’t understand how cool that is! Those G.O. girls just don’t stop! It’s ah-ma-zing. And… hm what else - oh! G7-g8 had an awesome Tishrei surprise: we can get into a raffle for watching Rebbe videos of Tishrei with the Rebbe and doing mitzvoim - like it’s so awesome. We had the last Hakhel rally to finish of the Hakhel year :( We had an amazing show, game and of course the 12 Pesukim and raffle – great job to winning ShluchaZeesy Grossbaum. We also had a contest to get into a raffle if you say Tehillim on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And you know what the prize will be? It’s a beautiful leather Tehillim with your name inscribed on it! To top it all off, G8 gave us a nice gift to enjoy over our vacation – a Sukkos Fun ‘n Learning booklet with stories of the Ushpizin and amazing fun pages! Did I say this month has been AH-MA-ZING? LOVE, A proud SOS-er

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By: Mushka Bluming

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By: Mirele Deitsch and Shternie Shemtov

Ingredients:

•2 cups sugar

•3/4 cup water

•1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. red gel food coloring

•baking spray

•6 medium apples

Directions:

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan mix together sugar, water,

corn syrup, and food coloring. The mixture will be bright

red.

Set up your candy thermometer so that the tip is in the

mixture and is not touching the bottom of the pot. Put it

over high heat and bring it to a boil. Leave it bubbling on

high until it gets to be between 300ºF and 310ºF. It will

take around 20 minutes but keep your eye on it. It gets

really fast at the end.

While the sugar mixture is getting ready, line a baking pan

with a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle sugar on the

paper. Wash your apples & stick a skewer in the apple

half way. Once the sugar is ready, carefully dip each apple

in the mixture and place it on the pan. Wait for it to cool

for 10 minutes. Enjoy! Send your pictures to

osextra@shluchim.org to be uploaded on the Photo Blog!

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By: Nechama Pelman

שנה טובה ומתוקה

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Jokes & Riddles:

What kind of coat can you only put on when it's wet? A coat of paint.

What starts with T, ends with T, and is full of T? A teapot.

If you say my name, I vanish. What am I? Silence.

I belong to you but others use me more than you, what am I? Your name.

What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? Short.

I can be as small as an ant and big as an elephant but I weigh absolutely nothing. What am I? A shadow.

Why was the calendar nervous? Its days were numbered.

How many ridiculous people does it take to change a lightbulb? 1,001, one to hold the lightbulb, and 1,000 to turn the house around.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Why do seagulls fly over the sea? Because if they flew over the bay, they'd be bagels.

What does one lettuce say to the other? Lettuce be friends!

By: Rivky Kaplan

FIGURE IT OUT!!

You have 3 light switches, there

is a room with a light bulb

connected to one of the

switches, you can only open the

room once, you have to figure

our which switch is connected

to the light, how do you do it?

ANSWER: Turn each light

switch on separately for 5

minutes, one after the other,

first one than two than three.

Open the door. If switch#3 is

the connected one, then the

light bulb will be on, if

switch#2 is the connected

one, it will be a bit warm,

because it was on 5 minutes

ago, and if switch#1 is the

connected one it will feel

cold, because it was on 15

minutes ago!

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A. You weigh too much

A. Granny Smith is an apple

By: Mushka Langsam

By: Chavie Gurkow