For those of you who were not fortunate to be among the over 800 women and girls in Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi’s audience on Tuesday, February 25, let me tell you what you missed. The much-sought-after speaker’s Baltimore lecture debut, “Simchas Hachaim, Finding the Joy in Life,” brought inspiration and laughter to a wide array of our community members. The evening was coordinated by the Storch/Bregin/Spetner Family, The Chesed Fund & Project Ezra, and The Women’s Institute of Torah (WIT).
The Yerushalayim native, an attorney-turned-Torah-lecturer/writer was voted one of the most influential women in Israel. She started out 18 years ago giving shiurim in her living room to 10 students. Today she fills large auditoriums around the world in venues as diverse as women’s seminaries, stadiums, and addiction centers, mesmerizing her audiences with her unique perspectives, practical advice, quick wit, and personal experiences related in her own charismatic style.
Rabbanit Mizrachi’s audiences typically include everyone from high school girls to senior citizens, single and married women, religious and secular, Ashkenazi and Mizrachi. Her audience in Baltimore was no exception. In fact, she was moved to tears by the unity she felt in the room that evening, making note of the obviously wide range of religious observance and how unique it was to the Baltimore community.
I know that relating my favorite part of Rabbanit Mizrachi’s presentation will, no doubt, lose something in the “translation,” though these are her very words. Her charisma, charm, and inimitable sense of humor peppered her presentation – and her audience’s bursts of laughter in response – cannot be captured in print. Nonetheless, I will share just some of her words of chochma with you:
We are going, be”H, to learn this evening together in Baltimore what is the role of a Jewish woman, and our task is so heavy because we have to sell – we have to promote – ancient ideas of family, of education, of tznius to a modern generation….How do we do it? How do we promote ancient ideas?
Women can do it. This week we are reading about the building of the Mishkan. What did the women do? They wove the walls of the Mishkan, and how is it written? In a very strange way: “And the women had such wisdom in their hearts; they weaved the goats.” You do not weave a goat; you weave wool. What does this mean to weave the “ez,” goat?
Ez is your child; ez is your husband. Ez is from the word, me’ez, he dared; the goat wants to run in the open place, and you have to weave this goat and take it home. It’s so important. This effort that you are doing now – and I know it is not pleasant, and I know you don’t like it – but it is for this holy purpose called bayit; our small home is bayit; the bigger bayit is Yisrael; the biggest bayit is the bayit of Hashem. How do we weave them home? How do we sell this ancient, ancient merchandise?
The answer is: Be funny! If you do not know how to be funny, if you do not know how to be amazing, no one will buy your merchandise. I wish our politicians knew that!…When you make the house a Mishkan, you must do it. But you have to be a volunteer…. So do I volunteer, or do I have to do it? That’s the secret of happiness – doing what you have to do and volunteering when you do it….
People forgot what it is to be smiling, to be happy. Our houses are sad. We lose them – our boys and girls, lo aleinu. We are so sad, nervous, busy, and we do everything for them. You go out and work a whole day for them to have a comfortable living, and then you come home and yell at them because you are so tired and nervous. We have to weave them back home; we have to be happy women.”
Rave Reviews
On Wednesday, the morning following the shiur, when the Rabbanit spoke at Bnos Yisroel, the students were just as wowed. After giving a bracha to the Bnos Yisroel fourth and fifth graders, she spoke to grades eight to twelve, as well as some staff members and mothers.
Bnos Yisroel School Director Ahuva Heyman remarked, “Bnos Yisroel is thrilled to welcome Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi and thanks her for taking the time to speak with us about the importance of simcha in the month of Adar, connecting to our Imahos and understanding the good that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has given us passed down from them until today. Her speech was beautiful, relevant, and meaningful, and she enhanced our chodesh tremendously!”
Concludes Linda S. Elman, president of Rebbetzin Frieda K. Hirmes Women’s Institute of Torah, “The women of the Baltimore community are truly indebted to the Storch family for providing us this unique opportunity. What struck me most was the diversity of the audience: women of all backgrounds coming together. Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi acknowledged this in her remarks. In contrast to every other community, where her audiences are homogeneous, in Baltimore, over 800 women from obviously diverse backgrounds joined together to learn from Rabbanit Mizrachi. She kept the audience riveted for over an hour with her inspirational and deep messages, all presented with a sense of humor. I believe every woman in the room came away uplifted by her presentation.”
Popular Baltimore shiur giver, Rivka Leah Goldman, summed up Rabbanit Mizrachi’s presentation best when she shared, “She is unusual in that she can relate to all different types because of her sophistication and her background. She is an attorney and has a command of the language. She is funny, charismatic, dramatic, brilliant, and incredibly entertaining. She has tremendous charisma and an ability to find good in and relate to everybody. She is non-judgmental, and she also is personal – she brings it down, speaking as a mother and wife, and even makes fun of herself. She is real, sharing stories of her life and weaving them with beautiful words of Torah that everyone can relate to, regardless of their age or stage of life. I feel her message is universal; she makes it relatable to everyone. That is what I like about her.”
“What a big zechus for Chana bas Frayda!” concluded Frank Storch, founder and director of The Chesed Fund & Project Ezra, speaking of his mother, Mrs. Hannah (Hirmes) Storch. “The weather was wonderful for a February night. So many women were able to come. It might have taken five years to put all the pieces into place, but it was well worth the wait!”
