Crown Heights: High School Achdus Event – “One Group, One Goal”

Wednesday evening, 2 of Sivan, all the high schools from the Rebbe’s Shchuna, Crown Heights, got together for a most amazing Achdus event in honor of Shavuos.

When the Yidden came to Har Sinai, it says in the Torah “Vayichan sham Yisroel” in singular form. Rashi explains that this was because the Yidden at that time were “Ke’ish echad, Belev echad” – “Like one man, with one heart”.

The Rebbe made a heartfelt plea -bakasha nafshis- to get together the week preceding Shavuos; To this end an Achdus event took place for all the girls’ high schools in Crown Heights, showing how we are “one group”, with “one goal”.

The event started off with some light refreshments and a warm welcome from Mrs. Chanie Hertzel. She began by mentioning how beautiful it is that all the schools got together, and it was a pleasure to be there. We then heard a message recorded special for us- by someone we all know very well, R’ Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin - click here to listen -, may he have a SPEEDY Yeshua, bekarov mamash, Amen! He spoke to us about Matan Torah - being that we are Hashem's 'kalla', we need to make our chosson proud and re-commit to live how He asks of us. He discussed the concept of Achdus; how it was by Har Sinai and how we have to make it our own today, in our generation.

After R' Rubashkin's meaningful words, we were introduced to Mrs. Leora Nadtochy, a Ba’alas Teshuva who became frum after a seemingly simple, yet inspiring journey. She told us a little about her story, and then shared with us an incredible song she composed about the beauty of dressing like a Bas Melech – a daughter of the king. We thanked her for sharing her amazing talent with us.

Mrs. Hertzel went on to quote a Gemara - a discussion between two Tana’im. One Tanna gently rebuked his friend, who thought to disregard a slight detail the chachamim had taught. "In Torah, details make all the difference." They conversed regarding the Halachos of a Mikva. The question was if one bit of one Se’ah (a measurement of water) missing from the forty se'ah required for a kosher mikva really makes a difference to the validity of the Mikva? The conclusion was that whatever the Rabbanim decide, we must do precisely- because yes, even just 0.015 percent of one Se’ah missing does invalidate the mikva. "The same is with Tznius," Mrs. Hertzel compared, "when our Chachamin put down Halachic guidelines, that’s the Halacha we stick to, not even one inch less..."

The guest speaker, Rabbi Samuels from Connecticut, was fabulous. He shared with us his very interesting perspective on Tznius. With many stories from his 15+ years of experience on Shlichus, and with his incredible knowledge, Rabbi Samuels had us laughing and almosy crying as he shared his view on this sensitive topic: "Hey, It's not a sensitive topic- The Yetzer Hara tricks us into believing it is! When a doctor puts on their white uniform, they don't think "oy, this is so oppressive, I'd rather dress like a fireman today- how dare my patients dictate how i dress.." etc. Why when it's Torah setting the tone, do we become defensive...There's a misunderstanding here that's responsible for this..." The way those on their journey to becoming frum envy us girls dressed appropriately, was an eye opener. We really enjoyed his insight on this topic that lies close to our heart; he left us with a lot to think about.

The program concluded with the girls each choosing one very specific area of tznius in dress, thought, speech or action they'd work on to help ensure that all the encouraging words we've heard will stick with us. One card was picked in a raffle and the winner received a beautiful sefer about shavuos.The cards will be brought to the ohel on Erev Shavuos IYH.

May this be the first of many such events, bringing all of us girls together for an enjoyable and meaningful program.