Sponsorships: May 12, 2012
May 7, 2012
Kiddush is sponsored by Donna & Joseph Hecht.
A Herring Table is sponsored by Eddie & Peter Weiss in memory of their mother Bertha Weiss, z”l.
Hashkama Minyan is sponsored by Susan & David Sedgh.
Youth Cholent is sponsored by Diane & David Rein in honor of their son Alexander’s birthday.
Sunday Breakfast is sponsored by Florence & Irvin Spira in memory of his mother Yehudit bas Dovid Halevy.
Chesed Drive for May 2012 For Hachnassat Kallah
May 7, 2012
Please donate kitchen utensils, small appliances, (toaster, mixer, etc…) & new every day kitchen items.
Please make sure any items that will touch food directly are brand new.
Drop off times will be:
Tuesday May 22nd 9:30am - 3:00pm
Wednesday May 23rd 9:30am - 3:00pm
Drop off at 55 Cooper Drive in Saddle Rock - box near garage
Thursday - May 24th - 8:00 pm - 9:30pm
Drop off at back entrance of Great Neck Synagogue
If you need to make other arrangements to drop off items please contact Great Neck Synagogue at 487-6100 or send email to pspilk@aol.com
Parshas Emor 5772 S. Rabinowitz, MD
May 7, 2012
Chodosh B”H
Parshas Emor is the eighth of ten parshios in Sefer VaYikra. The parsha contains 124 verses, including 24 positive mitzvos and 39 prohibitions. Chapter 23, verse 14 presents the prohibition of eating new grain/chodosh before the bringing of the Omer barley offering in the Beis haMikdosh on the second day of Pesach, the sixteenth of Nisan (translation adapted from R. Chaim Miller):
Sifra, also called Toras Kohanim, is the midrash on VaYikra, which is also called Toras Kohanim. Sifra was written by Rav around the year 220. It states that the chodosh prohibition applies to the five grains used in baking bread (wheat, oats, rye, spelt, and barley) and not to beans or legumes (or corn or rice, etc.). Gemara Menachos 70a tells us that the grain of stalks that took root in the ground after the second day of Pesach is considered to be chodosh and cannot be eaten until after the second day of Pesach of the next year. Even after that, the new grain cannot be used in the Beis haMikdosh until the Shtei haLechem is brought on Shavuos. Grain from stalks that took root before the previous Pesach is called yoshon/old.
Gemara Rosh HaShanah 30a and Gemara Menachos 68a&b and Gemara Succah 41a say in mishnayos that one of the remembrances of the second Beis haMikdosh expounded by Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai from a Torah verse is that we may not eat chodosh until after the complete day of the 16th of Nisan, the day when the Omer would have been brought. When the Temple stood, we could have eaten after the actual Omer ceremony. The ceremony consisted of waving the Omer of barley, then removing a kometz (three fingersful) and burning it on the Altar. In the absence of the Temple, we might have thought we could eat after daybreak on the 16th. R. Yochanan explained that we couldn’t do that, especially because it might cause us to jump the gun if the Temple is (miraculously) rebuilt during the night of the 16th, and the Omer isn’t offered until later in the day.
Rashi (1040-1105) tells us that our Sages differed in Gemara Kiddushin 37a in their understanding of the phrase “in all the places that you dwell.” This phrase appears again in verse 21 regarding the counting of the Omer and the observance of Shavuos, and in verse 31 regarding the observance of Yom haKippurim. In these verses the phrase is understood to mean “throughout the world,” and even when the service in the Beis haMikdosh cannot be performed, so Rav Yehudoh understands it that same way here. On the other hand, all other agricultural mitzvos except for orlah (the first three-years’ fruit of a tree, which we know to be an exception by halachoh l’Moshe miSinai), grafting mixed species of trees (a Torah law), and other kilayim (sowing together mixed species of seeds or crossbreeding, a Rabbinic enactment) seem to apply only in Eretz Yisroel. R. Eliezer therefore understands the chodosh mitzvoh to apply only to grain grown in Eretz Yisroel, and only after the fourteen years in which the entire land was conquered, divided among the tribes, and settled in the time of Yehoshuoh. The gemara does not specifically decide which opinion rules. For hundreds of years, European rabbis raised questions in an effort to permit people in difficult situations to eat chodosh. For example, even if a chodosh prohibition does exist outside Israel, is it rabbinic rather than Biblical? What if the age of the grain is uncertain, or the grain grew on land far away from Eretz Yisroel that could never have contributed grain to the Omer, or on land owned by non-Jews? Does the law pertain to grain derivatives such as beer and whiskey? Another thought is that older grain is more likely to contain insects, which are Biblically prohibited from consumption, trumping rabbinic rules.
Rambam (1135-1204): Based on Torah law, anyone who ate at least an olive’s bulk of new grain before the Omer was liable to flogging. This applies to every location and every era. While the Beis haMikdosh stood, new grain was immediately permitted in Yerusholayim once the Omer was offered. Elsewhere, it was permitted after midday. After the destruction of the Bayis, the Torah prohibits new grain until after the whole day. Nowadays, wherever people observe two days of Yom Tov, the Sofrim prohibit chodosh for all of the 17th of Nisan until the evening. The Sages have a tradition that each prohibition, for bread, for parched grain flour, and for parched grain kernels, is independent. Anyone who ate at least an olive’s bulk of each type is therefore liable to three sets of flogging.
Ramban (1194-1270) waits until verse 28 to comment on our phrase “until this very day.” He takes it to mean “the essence of this day itself.” Even if the Omer offering is not brought on 16 Nisan, the new crop is prohibited before and permitted after that date, in all places and in all times.
The Chasam Sofer (1762-1839) opposed the nascent Reform movement with the pun, “chodosh asur min haTorah,” meaning that new practices are forbidden by the Torah.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902-1994) said that the bringing of the Omer to initiate the use of the crop aroused the community to feel that the first and the best of one’s works should be devoted to HaShem. But the Omer was brought only from Israeli produce. How could those outside Israel be similarly motivated? One school concluded that the law of chodosh should apply everywhere, to recruit everyone’s involvement in bringing the first of everything to HaShem, even though the Omer didn’t come from their crops. Another school believed that being denied participation in the law of chodosh would arouse more longing to devote one’s works to HaShem. The former opinion relates primarily to the material, animal being, influenced by food withdrawal. The latter opinion relates more to the spiritual being, yearning for closeness to HaShem.
Avrom Pollak, Star-K President, says that winter wheat in the United States is planted in the fall and harvested in early summer (mostly for brittle products: cookies, crackers, pretzels, and matzos). Since these varieties took root before Passover they are always yoshon. Similarly, rye is a winter crop and is considered yoshon. One note of caution: rye bread is made from both wheat and rye flours and can be chodosh. In the United States approximately 75% to 80% of all wheat grown is of the winter variety. Spring wheat, which contains significantly higher amounts of gluten than does winter wheat (and therefore produces more flexible products), is generally planted in the spring and first harvested in late summer (mostly for bread, bagels, and pasta). Since this type of wheat was not in the ground before Passover it is chodosh until Passover of the following year. Thus for all practical purposes the need to be concerned with chodosh begins in late summer after the spring wheat has been harvested and lasts until the second day of Passover when chodosh automatically converts to yoshon status. To keep things in a positive perspective, one can accurately say that for approximately one-half the year everyone is in full compliance with the chodosh restriction…. It seems clear that the overwhelming majority of rabbinic authorities throughout the ages held the position that the prohibition of eating chodosh applies outside the land of Israel and even after the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed. Yet the common practice in most European Jewish communities was to rely on the decidedly minority lenient opinions which permitted one to eat chodosh. It seems that the prevailing customs had much to do with the fact that bread was much more a staple of one’s regular diet than it is today. Expecting people to go without bread for long periods of time, as yoshon flour was scarce, would have imposed a severe hardship which could very well have been injurious to the health of a relatively poor population. Considering these facts the rabbinical authorities of that time relied on the more lenient minority rulings (and long-standing usage may attain a force of its own).
Rabbi Moshe Heinemann says, “It is important to stress that one who does not keep chodosh is not considered in the wrong. Rather, adherence to the laws of chodosh is in the category of hiddur mitzvah, similar to kosher vs. glatt kosher…. Individuals who are interested in accepting upon themselves this beautiful mitzvah should accept it bli neder (without a vow), in order not to create possible problems where no yoshon products are available.”
As always, one should consult his/her own Orthodox rabbi when it comes to matters of practical halacha.
Parshiot Achrei Mot-Kedoshim by Jeroen Reuven Bours
May 4, 2012
You can read this week’s Parasha without any commentaries and still every word will be clear to you. Without any interpretation of our Sages, the meaning of every word is understandable. Every custom and direction of how to make atonement is explained without much symbolism. If you do decide to follow the commentaries of lets say Rashi, you will see that Rashi doesn’t interpret, but rather underscores the gravity of the instructions and laws set upon Bnei Israel. This week we get the instruction to make atonement in the seventh month on the tenth day. It says to “treat this day as Shabbat on which no one shall work - neither we, nor the stranger who dwells among us.” This Parasha writes about how to make atonement first and what to make atonement for, afterwards. But there is another part that belongs to this week’s Parasha, and that is the part in the Siddur we read on Yom Kippur itself. In it, we find the ways to bid for forgiveness. We say on Yom Kippur: “Ashamnu, bagadnu, gazalnu…” - “We have become guilty, we have betrayed, we have robbed…” and so on. Exactly the sins which we learn about in this week’s Parasha. So the connection goes as follows: 1- We learn how to repent, through making precise offers in a precise way. 2- We learn what the sins are; What not to do. And, 3- In our Yom Kippur Siddurim we ask for forgiveness in a certain repetitive order. What’s in between this week’s learning of the sins and Yom Kippur’s asking for forgiveness, is life itself. Every year we walk the narrow path between good and evil. Yet no one can say that he or she can forget what the rules are. After all, we read them word for word this week. In this Parasha we are instructed to hold the “day of atonement” to reflect on the many do’s and don’ts. The command to hold this day of atonement - Yom Kippur, is put right in the middle of the Parasha - one could say; right between the part on how to gain forgiveness and the part with all the different sins. What does this mean? It is as if the prescribed “day of atonement” is there to remind us that it will be impossible to be perfect. Therefore, the Torah announces a special day to start all over again before we even start! From this Parasha, Hillel learned that if one could follow only one rule, it should be; To love another as oneself. The rest of the rules of good behavior would surely follow. We all know how a potential convert wanted Hillel to explain the complete Torah while standing on one leg. Hillel chose the words “Do upon another as you do upon yourself, the rest is commentary.” Was he right? Of course he was. Every year on the tenth day, in the seventh month we beg for forgiveness with the words; “Ashamnu, bagadnu, gazalnu…,” because we cannot be 100% good. We all try to stand on one leg, but only for so long.
Mother’s Day Books & Bagels ~ Sunday, May 13
April 30, 2012
Books & Bagels
Sunday, May 13 ~ 10:00am
Braun Youth Center
The Arrogant Years: One Girl’s Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklyn
by Lucette Lagnado
Breakfast will be served
Babysitting will be provided
Book sale and signing will follow author presentation.
Complimentary Admission
No RSVP Required
The Arrogant Years ($15) is available for pre-order through the synagogue office
The author of the award-winning The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit—hailed by the New York Times book review as a “crushing, brilliant book”—returns with this, the extraordinary follow-up memoir
In The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, Lucette Lagnado offered a heartbreaking portrait of her father, Leon, a successful Cairo boulevardier who was forced to take flight with his family during the rise of the Nasser dictatorship, and of her family’s struggle to rebuild a new life in a new land.
In this much-anticipated new memoir, Lagnado tells the story of her mother, Edith, coming of age in a magical old Cairo of dusty alleyways and grand villas inhabited by pashas and their wives. Then Lagnado revisits her own early years in America—first, as a schoolgirl in Brooklyn’s immigrant enclaves, where she dreams of becoming the fearless Mrs. Emma Peel of The Avengers, and later, as an “avenging” reporter for some of America’s most prestigious newspapers. A stranger growing up in a strange land, when she turns sixteen Lagnado’s adolescence is further complicated by cancer. Its devastating consequences would rob her of her “arrogant years”—the years defined by an overwhelming sense of possibility, invincibility, and confidence. Lagnado looks to the women sequestered behind the wooden screen at her childhood synagogue, to the young coeds at Vassar and Columbia in the 1970s, to her own mother and the women of their past in Cairo, and reflects on their stories as she struggles to make sense of her own choices.
“The Arrogant Years [is] a paragon of memoir writing, a story about the complex swirl of people and events and forces out of which individual lives are made — some, like Ms. Lagnado’s, more painfully, but also more fully, than others.” (New York Times )
“Lagnado is at her best when she plumbs her own psyche to sort out her life’s ups and downs…a rewarding journey.” (Washington Post)
“Lagnado is a gifted storyteller who spins ordinary family experiences into enchanting fairy tales, complete with magical backdrops…nasty villains and dashing heroes…. Vivid and evocative…tender and heartfelt.” (Kirkus)
“Lyrical…[Lagnado’s] memoir is a fully fleshed, moving re-creation of once-vibrant Jewish communities.” (Publishers Weekly )
Shabbat Guest Speaker Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
April 30, 2012
Shabbat, May 12
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
Internationally acclaimed author and lecturer
Shabbat Morning Address
following services in the Goldwyn Sanctuary
“Hillel: Seven Lessons From a Two Thousand Year Old Rabbi” (Part I)
Shabbat Afternoon Shiur
one hour before Mincha
“Pirkei Avot: Eternal Ethics For Contemporary Times”
Seudah Shlishit Presentation
following Mincha
“Hillel: Seven Lessons From a Two Thousand Year Old Rabbi” (Part II)
To purchase personalized copies of Rabbi Telushkin’s Hillel: If Not Now, When?, please contact the synagogue office: 516.487.6100
Ambassador Efraim HaLevy: Wednesday, May 9, 8:00pm
April 30, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 8:00pm
GUEST SPEAKER Ambassador Efraim HaLevy, former Director of the Mossad, in honor of the publication of Israel’s Silent Defender: An Inside Look at Sixty Years of Israeli Intelligence.
Co-sponsored by GNS Men’s Club & Jewish Political Education Foundation. Refreshments will be served. To pre-order books, please contact the synagogue office.
Within Our Family: May 5, 2012
April 30, 2012
Mazal Tov to Jacqueline & Stanley Fischer on the birth of a grandson, born to their children Rachel & David Fischer.
Mazal Tov to Nadine & Josh Shatzkes on the birth of a son. Mazal Tov to grandparents Karen & Robert Spitalnick and great-grandmother Gisella Steigman.
Mazal Tov to Yifat & Zachary Mittleman on the birth of twins, a boy and a girl, and Mazal Tov to grandparents Rona & Myles Mittleman.
Sponsorships: May 5, 2012
April 30, 2012
Kiddush is sponsored by GNS with a Herring Table sponsored by Lisa & Michael Aryeh in honor of Raffi Farzan Kashani and Sean Sedaghatpour who layned their Bar Mitzvah parshas.
Sunday Breakfast is sponsored by Shirley & Aaron Eliach in memory of his mother, Chana Eliach, z”l.
Within Our Family: April 28, 2012
April 24, 2012
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