By Eliana Eisenberg, Grade 6
Hi, my name is Eliana Elsenberg and tomorrow I am graduating from Grade 6 at Hebrew Academy. This week’s Parsha is Parshat Beha’alotcha.
In the parsha, we learn about the Jews leaving Har Sinai after a whole year of camping there. Miriam, Moshe’s sister, got leprosy as a punishment for speaking badly about her brother. This was horrible timing! Not only did that mean that she would have to leave the camp and wait until she was healed, it also meant that the entire Jewish nation would wait a full week for Miriam to heal, and travel only once she rejoined the camp.
A question arises as to why hundreds of thousands of people have to wait for one person who was sent away for something that she did wrong? The answer to that is really amazing.
Before Moshe was born, Pharaoh had commanded that all baby boys must be thrown into the Nile River. When Moses was born, his mother placed him in a basket in the river. She followed Pharaoh’s command, but managed to save her baby’s life. Miriam sat in the bushes by the river, watching her baby brother and making sure he remained safe in the basket.
Now that Miriam was sent out of the Jewish camp and would be unable to travel with her people, how could Moshe not wait for her? He had so much appreciation for all she had done, and now was his chance to show it.
However, why would the whole nation have to wait for her? They, too, wanted to show appreciation to their beloved Miriam for all she had done for them. Therefore they were right behind Moshe, waiting for her.
From this parsha we learn to show our appreciation, our Hakarat Hatov. Because of this, I would like to take a moment to show my appreciation to Hebrew Academy. I would like to thank all the staff and teachers that take the time to make sure that we can learn in a warm environment that we love. Every day we are greeted in school with the smiling faces of all our teachers and administrators. Thank you so much for everything that you do.
To conclude, I hope that you can learn from our parsha, to be grateful and show appreciation to those who help you.