Kindness

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Respect

There was once a beggar named Leib'ke who would always sit outside the Synagouge.
.A business man named Menashe, who was in financial trouble, gave Leib'ke some Tzedakah and asked him for a blessing for his business.
As a result of the blessing, Menashe had tremendous success in his business. Before any business trip he would ask Leib'ke for a blessing and it always worked! His business flourished and he opened many new stores!
Many people started coming to Leib'ke to ask for various blessings and all the blessings he gave were fulfilled. The holy Baal Shem Tov heard about this and asked Reb Leib'ke to come to him. The Baal Shem Tov asked Leib'ke what he did to merit that all his blessings should be fulfilled. Leib'ke said that he did not know, so the Baal Shem Tov asked Leibke to tell him about his life.
Reb Leibke said that he wasn't always a beggar. He used to be a tailor and would travel from place to place with his partner and they would fix people's clothing or make new clothes for them. After two years of saving up money they decided to go back home to their families and open a business in their home town.
On the last leg of their journey, they came to a town where a landlord had thrown a Jewish family into his dungeon because they could not pay their rent.
The ransom to free the family was half the amount of money that the tailors had saved up during the past two years. Leib'ke took his entire share of the money and used it to free the poor family. When he came home he had debts to pay but because he had no money left he became a beggar.
The Baal Shem Tov told Leibke that because of his self sacrifice to help the family in the dungeon all of his blessings would be fulfilled. The Baal Shem Tov helped Leibke start up his business again and learnt with him Torah. Leib'ke became a great Torah Scholar and was respected by all.

The lesson from this story is that we should respect every person because you never know what circumstances brought the person to where he is. Every person is special and has a mission on this earth!

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Tolerance

There was once a group of boys in a sleepaway camp who would not TOLERATE their bunkmate Yossel'e because he was fat and could not run fast or hit a ball. They made fun of him and blamed him for losing every game they played.

On the day of their hiking trip to Pumpernickle mountain the boys decided to run ahead of Yossel'e and scare him when he would finally reach the top of the mountain.

The boys saw a haunted house at the top of Pumpernickel mountain and figured it would be a great place to hide from Yossel'e. Unfortunately there were bank robbers hiding there too! A few hours later when Yossel'e finally reached the top of the mountain he climbed a tree and saw through the window that his bunkmates were in trouble. He quickly called the police and saved all the boys!

The boys realized how wrong they were and apologized to ossel'e. Hashem created each and every one of us for a reason and each person is special and has a mission on this earth. Yossel'e may of been fat but he had a heart of gold and was able to save the boys only because he couldn't run as fast as them. The boys finally acquired the character trait of tolerance. They realized the importance of respecting every person even if their looks, opinions or behaviors are different from our own.

Self Control

Rabbi Eliezer welcomes a poor beggar to his home.

The guest tries to make Rabbi Eliezer angry and lose control. When it is time for Kiddush, he grabs the bottle and drinks the wine all up.

When it is time to wash for the Challah, Rabbi Eliezer's wife tries to hide her disappointment when the guest ruins the towel with his filthy hands.

Rabbi Eliezer stays calm when the guest grabs all the food on the tray for himself!

The guest eats everything that is in the pot!

The guest falls asleep with his feet on the Shabbos table and begins snoring very loudly but Rabbi Eliezer displays unbelievable self control the entire time.

Rabbi Eliezer and his wife were blessed with a baby boy because of their great hospitality and self control. The guest was really Elijah the Prophet in disguise. He was sent to test Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Eliezer and his wife passed the test with flying colors!

Behind the Scenes!
Thank you Hanna for decorating the towel with your handprints!
Evan played his part so well and he didn't have to get his hands dirty after all!
You are all such great actors!!! Thank You!!!

Responsibility

Many years ago the farmers of Grapetown received a letter from the king. The king had heard that Grapetown produced the best and most tasty wine around and he wrote that he would be coming to visit and sample the wine for himself.

The farmers were so excited and began to prepare for the king's arrival. They decided to put a huge barrel in the center of the town and each farmer would put one bottle of their best wine into the barrel. In this way the king would be sure to taste the finest wine of Grapetown.

The only problem was that each farmer decided to put water instead of wine thinking that if everyone else put in wine, no one would notice if there was just one bottle of water in the barrel.

When the king came and opened the special faucet, out came pure sparkly water with no trace of wine! The king was very disappointed and the people were very embarrassed.

All the people had the responsibility to put in a bottle of wine, but what were they missing?

Humility

When G-d was looking to choose a mountain on which to give the Jewish people the Torah, He chose Mount Sinai because it was the humblest mountain.

 Thank you Rachel for being Mount Sinai, you sure look pretty with all those flowers which helped us keep score during the game. Hanna, you were a terrific sport being the tallest mountain in the desert!

 Those cupcakes look too pretty to eat! 

Now for the question: If G-d wanted to teach us to have humility then why didn't He give the Jewish people the Torah in a valley?

What are Middos?

Middos Song