vital information: Fwd: Parshat Noach: Compound Dividends

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Fwd: Parshat Noach: Compound Dividends - The Power of Small Actions

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The OU Women's Initiative - Torat Imecha Parsha <ouwomen@ounetwork.org>
Date: Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 7:02 AM
Subject: Parshat Noach: Compound Dividends - The Power of Small Actions
To: <agentemes4@gmail.com>

As we begin the Torah cycle, we are heartbroken by the sudden and profound loss of Rabbi Moshe Hauer, zt"l, whose voice of Torah and heart of compassion guided so many. His teachings were marked by clarity, sincerity, and a deep love for Hashem and His people. Even in sorrow, we find direction in the Torah he so passionately shared — to live with faith, integrity, and purpose. As we turn to the parsha, may our learning this week serve as a tribute to his enduring legacy, and may we carry his spirit of humility and devotion into our own Torah journeys.

Torat Imecha Parsha is dedicated by Brenda Gewurz, l'ilui nishmat her beloved husband, Shmuel ben Yehuda Leib, and Rochel Mirel, whose love of studying parsha was an example to all.

Noach

Mrs. Chana Meira Katz

Listen Now

With over 20 years of teaching and four years of administrative experience, Mrs. Chana Meira Katz has dedicated her career to educating women in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Los Angeles, California. Her multifaceted approach to Torah learning integrates her Hadar Bais Yaakov education, Ohr Lagolah Kiruv training, as well as a Master of Science in Jewish Education from Azrieli Graduate School of Education and Administration and a Master of Education in Teacher Leadership from Brandeis University. She currently teaches at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy in Los Angeles and extends her impact by hosting weekly shiurim for women in the local community. Passionate about empowering women through Torah study, Chana Meira is dedicated to making Torah learning not only accessible but also profoundly relevant to women's lives.

Dvar Haftorah

OU Women's Initiative

Founding Director

Rebbetzin Dr.

Adina Shmidman

Noach - Dimensions of Divine Harmony

Yeshayahu 54:1 - 55:5

וְכׇל־בָּנַיִךְ לִמּוּדֵי ה' וְרַב שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיִךְ
And all your children shall be disciples of Hashem,
And great shall be the peace of your children.
(Yeshayahu 54:13)

The blessing of peace is woven throughout our tefillot — concluding the Shemoneh Esrei, punctuating Birkat Kohanim, and echoing in countless verses and prayers. We yearn for a world of ultimate peace — a time and space where harmony prevails, and all dwell together beneath a shared canopy of understanding and unity.

Our Haftorah, with its tone of consolation, supports this vision: וְרַב שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיִךְ — peace will be rav, abundant and far-reaching among your children. Yet in his Iyunei Haftorah, Rav Avraham Rivlin, longtime Mashgiach of Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, offers a subtle and profound insight. He reads rav not as "much," but as "many." Can peace, he asks, be many?

If peace can be many, it suggests multiplicity — that peace exists not as a single, static state but in many forms. Rav Rivlin explains that peace is multi-dimensional, composed of layers and levels of harmony: between nations, within communities, among friends, and inside the human heart. Each form of peace demands balance — a careful dance between differing needs, values, and goals.

True shalom emerges when we acknowledge and honor the presence of the many — when we forgo the narrowness of self and make space for the other. The rav — the multitude of perspectives and desires — becomes absorbed into the wholeness of shalom.

Today, as we continue to pray for shalom, this vision feels especially urgent. The call for וְרַב שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיִךְ is not only for vast peace but for many peaces — therestoration of calm to broken hearts, safety to our children, unity within our people, and quiet strength for those who defend our land. Each layer of

shalom brings us closer to the wholeness we seek, where the many become one — where the harmony of heaven touches the struggles of earth, and peace, in all its forms, is finally complete.