Sponsorships: March 5, 2011
February 28, 2011
Kiddush is sponsored by Great Neck Synagogue.
Bima Flowers in the Beit Midrash are in honor of the Bat Mitzvah of Kira Heisler.
Seudah Shlishit is sponsored by Malka Gad in memory of her husband David Gad, z”l and her mother Dina Hakimi, z”l, and by Donna & Joseph Hecht in memory of her father David Gad, z”l.
Sunday Breakfast is sponsored by Cindy & Glenn Ludwig in memory of her father, Alvin Gelber.
Strategic Planning
February 28, 2011
DEAR MEMBERS,
At a recent Board Meeting I announced the forming of a Strategic Planning Committee. Under the chairmanship of Dr. Hal Chadow this committee will begin the process of developing a strategic plan for Great Neck Synagogue which will not only tell us where we currently stand, but will help us plot a course for the future.
We are a large shul with many members and a diversity of views and opinions. In order to facilitate the work of the committee we have established an email address for your thoughts, concerns, questions and recommendations. The committee can be reached at strategic@gns.org. We have accomplished many wonderful things but there is still much more to be done. I look forward to your participation in this important project.
Sincerely,
Joseph Hecht President
Strategic Planning Committee
Hal Chadow, Chairperson
Michael Aryeh
Bart Baum
Dov Berkowitz
Carol Berlin
Sarita Greszes
Dina Hamerman
Edward Mazur
Grant Reichlin
Dov Sassoon
Roya Shavolian
Ex Officio Members
Rabbi Polakoff
Rabbi Lichter
Rebbitzen Elaine Wolf
Joseph Hecht
Scott Danoff
Avery Modlin
Mark Twersky
Within Our Family : March 5, 2011
February 28, 2011
Mazal Tov to Michelle & Ethan Heisler on the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Kira. Mazal Tov also to grandparents Gitty & Gilbert Louzoun.
Mazel Tov to Sam Levitt on the birth of a granddaughter born to his children David and Blima Levitt
Zumba Class
February 28, 2011
Back by popular demand, the Sisterhood is offering another free Zumba class on Wednesday evening May 11th at 8:00pm in the GNS gym presented by instructor Michelly from Zumbrazil. Please bring your own water and towel and wear sneakers. Women only. To make a reservation, please contact Kimberly Mayer at kjgreen01@hotmail.com.
See Flyer
Scholars Kollel Schedule for March 2011
February 28, 2011
Great Neck Scholars Kollel
Schedule for March
| 02/28/11 | 03/01/11 | 03/03/11 |
| Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv |
| Uncovering the Purim story | Uncovering the Purim story | Parsha |
| 03/07/11 | 03/08/11 | 03/10/11 |
| Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv |
| Uncovering the Purim story | Uncovering the Purim story | Parsha |
| 03/14/11 | 03/15/11 | 03/17/11 |
| Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Purim:The Purim seuda |
| Uncovering the Purim story | Uncovering the Purim story | Parsha |
| 03/21/11 | 03/22/11 | 03/24/11 |
| Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv | Eruvin:Getting carried away with the eruv |
| Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Parsha |
Includes Breakfast
* Every Friday morning the Kollel will be having breakfast with Rabbi Frand (video)
*The Kollel has recently launched a Bikur Chollim program. Please contact Mr. Steve Zuckerman for more details.
Shabbat Announcements Feb. 26, 2011
February 22, 2011
February 26 Shabbat Announcements
Shiva Notices: Friedlander and Tuch z”l
February 22, 2011
Great Neck Synagogue notes with sorrow the passing of Jennie Friedlander, beloved mother of our member Linda Mandelbaum.
The period of Shiva, ending early Monday morning, February 28, 2011 will be observed at the Mandelbaum residence, 17 Picadilly Road in Great Neck.
Services will be as follows:Tuesday - Maariv at 7:30 PM,Wednesday - Shachris- 7:45 AM Mincha/ Maariv - 5:25 PM.
Please note that on Wednesday the family will be having lunch between 12 and 2 PM and dinner between 6:30 and 7:30 PM. The family requests that no shiva calls be made during those times. On Thursday and Sunday the family requests that Shiva calls be made ONLY between the hours of 1 to 5 PM and 7 to 9 PM, and on Friday between 1 to 3 PM.
May the family be comforted among those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem.
Great Neck Synagogue notes with sorrow the passing of Sadie Tuch, beloved mother of our member Louise Kahn and grandmother of our member Galit Reichlin..
The funeral and Shiva are taking place in Israel. Notes of condolence may be sent to 18 Oak Drive, Great Neck, NY 11021.
May the family be comforted among those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem.
Within Our Family: Feb. 26, 2011
February 22, 2011
Mazal Tov to Elain and Charles Berger on the upcoming marriage of their son Peri to Lindsey Plotnick, daughter of Leslie & David Plotnick of East Setauket.
Mazal Tov to Julia & David Jadidian on the birth of twin girls, Batya Mazal & Bina Tivona and Mazal Tov to grandparents Phyllis and Massoud Jadidian.
Mazal Tov to Sharon Goldwyn and David Birnbaum on the engagement of their daughter Jordanna Birnbaum to Aryeh Amsel, son of Mindy and Mayer Amsel.
Mazal Tov to Judy & Richard Lillien on the engagement of their son Andrew to Rebecca Levitan daughter or Greg and Rachel Levitan of Baltimore , MD.
Sponsorships: Feb.26, 2011
February 22, 2011
Kiddush Is Sponsored by Great Neck Synagogue
Seudah Shlishit is sponsored by Lily and Gary Chubak in memory of his mother Ida Chubak and by Lloyd Bayme, Mark Gersten, Natan Hamerman, Michael Hoenig, Jack Lipsky, Sam Movsas, Steve Rabinowitz, Ray Sandler, Howard Wolf, Sam Yehaskel and Steve Zuckerman in honor of a Siyum to mark the finishing of Mesechtah Avodah Zarah by the Saturday afternoon Gemorrah Shiur.
Parshas VaYakhel 5771 Stephen Rabinowitz, MD
February 22, 2011
Cherubs B”H
In Parshas Terumah, HaShem gave Moshe detailed plans for the Mishkan, including two gold cherubs on the ark cover, and woven cherubs in the curtains (Exodus/Shmos 25:18-22, 26:1 and 31). Verse 22 tells us: “I will arrange My meetings with you there. I will speak with you from above the lid between the two cherubs that are on the Ark of the Testimony, and (what I say to you there is) all that I will command you to tell the Israelites.” In this week’s parsha we see Betzalel’s execution of this plan (translation based on Rashi adapted from Rabbi Chaim Miller):
Exodus/Shmos 36:
Talmud Bavli Sukkah 5b and Chagiga 13b: What is the meaning of the word k’ruv/cherub? R. Abahu said: “It means “like a child,” because in Babylonia (where they spoke Aramaic) they call a child “ravya.” Rashi (1040-1105), based on this, states on verse 25:18 that the cherubs had children’s faces. Rashi believed that the Ark served as a home for the Torah, but that the Ark lid was a separate vessel, with the cherubs representing HaShem’s love for the Jewish people. Ba’al haTurim connects this idea with Hoshea 11:1. “When Israel was young, I loved him.” See below for his further comments. On verse 26:31 regarding the tapestries Rashi says those cherubs were “tziyurin shel brios (pictures of creatures).” On verse 26:1 Rashi says that the cherub pictures were incorporated into the weaving, with different pictures on either side of the tapestry, a lion on one side and an eagle on the other side (this helped to ensure that the same side of the curtain would be turned inward each time the Mishkan was assembled). Mizrachi (1455-1526) says that Rashi only gave the lion and the eagle as examples, and not as specifics. Other commentaries on Rashi, Minchas Yehudoh (R. Yehudoh Eilenberg, 1610) and Sifsei Chachamim (R. Shabsai ben Yosef Bass, 1641-1718) say that the paroches curtain showed pictures of the four creatures that would later be seen by Yechezkel (1:10) on the Chariot: a man, a lion (king of wild animals), an ox (king of domestic animals), and an eagle (king of birds). Because the ox called to mind the sin of the golden calf, in Yechezkel’s later vision the ox was replaced by a cherub with the face of a young child, in contrast to the face of the adult man.
Ibn Ezra (1092-1167), quoted by Rabbis Drazin and Wagner, rejects the view that the word is Aramaic in two parts, k’ruvya (”like a child”), and regards it as a single word meaning “form.” Rashbam (1085-1158) suggests the cherubs had the form of winged birds.
Ramban (1194-1270) disagrees with Rashi, saying that the Ark and its lid was all one vessel, a focal point for HaShem’s dwelling place. He says that the cherubim on the Ark cover functioned as HaShem’s Chariot, bearers of the Glory of G-d. HaShem chose this place for His Presence because of the tablets inside the Ark. Ramban relates this to the chariot that Yechezkel saw and he echoes the Gemara statements that the cherubs were shaped like children.
In Bava Basra 99a, Onkelos (35-120 C.E.) says the cherubs were formed like children, and their faces were angled (toward each other), like (the face of) a student taking leave of his teacher (turning only partially away from the teacher, so as to be respectful). Baal haTurim (1269-1343) says that the two cherubs on the Ark lid appeared as two friends discussing words of Torah. The gematria numerical value of cherubim is 278, the same as “maray kavod (an appearance of glory).” The gematria of “shnay hakruvim (the two cherubs)” is 637, equal to that of “Avrohom, Yitzchok, Ya’akov.” The cherubs were there to recall the merits of the Patriarchs, particularly by forming a threesome of the two cherubs with Moshe: The initial letters of the words “mibayn shnay hakruvim (from between the two cherubs)” spell the name Moshe. The Chasam Sofer (1762-1839) says that the cherubs on the Ark lid symbolized Torah students who faced each other, but also faced downward toward the Torah within the Ark, so whatever differences may arise in scholars’ interpretations of the Torah are based on genuine attempts to uncover truth. No Ark was constructed for the Second Temple because, without the Tablets within it, the Ark served no purpose.
Rabbeinu Bachya (1255-1340) says that the cherubs were placed in the Mishkan and the Beis haMikdosh to illustrate that HaShem designates angelic beings from time to time to perform miracles on earth. To ensure that none would think this was a representation of HaShem Himself, two were made. To prevent the notion that two domains exist, or that HaShem shares power with another, the wings were pointed toward heaven, showing that they were recipients, rather than dispensers of Divine bounty, with their faces down toward the Tablets of Testimony in the Ark. The cherubs were a male and a female. Tractate Yoma 54a says “Rav Ketina said, ‘When the people of Israel would ascend (to the Temple) on the festival, (the Kohanim) would roll up the curtain for them, and show them the cherubim which were joined together (in an embrace), and (the Kohanim) would tell them, ‘Behold your fondness before the Omnipresent is like the fondness of a male and female.’ ‘ ” The Gemara there discusses whether this occurred during the era of the First Temple or the Second Temple, and whether this refers to the cherubs on the Ark lid, or to the 15-foot high gold-plated olive-wood cherubs that Shlomo haMelech placed on either side of the Ark, or to cherubs that were painted or engraved on wooden panels that covered the stone walls of the Holy of Holies. The Ark with its lid and cherubs was not displayed in the Second Temple. Rabbeinu Bachya says that the shape and position of the cherubs suggested a readiness to embrace each other, but not that this actually occurred, especially since this would be in public view. The purpose was to show that Israel’s relationship with HaShem was direct, without any intermediary. He quotes Bava Basra 99a as to the posture of the cherubs - R’ Yochanan and R’ Elazar: one says (they stood with) their faces toward one another, and (the other) one says their faces (were pointed) toward the House (eastward toward the Holy). Meaning, when the Jews fulfilled G-d’s mitzvos, the cherubs faced one another to symbolize the love between G-d and His people. When the Jewish nation would stray, the cherubs would miraculously turn to face the House, to remind them of their obligations.
Rav S. R. Hirsch (1808-1888) lists two distinct functions for the cherubs. They act 1) as guardians and protectors, and 2) as bearers of G-d’s glory. The cherubs were formed from the ends of the very Ark cover that they protected. Thus, by keeping G-d’s Torah, the keeper becomes his own cherub and also a cherub of G-d’s glory; his keeping of G-d’s Torah becomes his own protection, and at the same time he becomes a bearer of G-d’s glory on earth.
Meshech Chochmoh (1843-1926) says that the cherub on the partition curtain/paroches dividing the Holy from the Holy of Holies reminds all that only the High Priest on Yom haKippurim could enter the Holy of Holies. On that day Israel is compared to ministering angels, who are called cherubs (quoting Ibn Ezra’s commentary on Bereishis 3:23). Those angels are many times in Tanach called “wearers of linen”, like the Kohen Godol on Yom haKippurim. In verse 36:8, the curtain is called “ma’asay khoshayv (an act of intellect)” because the cherub angels have no corporeality, but only intellect; a condition approximated by the fasting Kohen Godol.
Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin (1881-1966): Our children were the guarantors when the Torah was given and protect the Torah from being forgotten to this day. (Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, of blessed memory, whose Jahrzeit we recently observed, frequently quoted the Gemara Shabbos 119b: “The world is sustained by the breath from the mouths of schoolchildren.”) The cherubs teach us that childhood education should be grounded in Torah, not as a supplement to other disciplines, but hammered out of one block. The voice of prophecy emanated from between the cherubs, just as our link with G-d stems from Jewish children studying Torah. Even when prophecy ceased from the adults, it still existed among children studying Torah, so that Haman and Nero and Titus predicted events by asking Jewish children what they studied that day. When a Jew’s education is founded on Torah, he is inspired to cling to the Divine Presence and to his fellow Jew. They face one another with love and brotherhood. Solomon’s giant cherubs were only gold-plated (see above) and stood on the ground, facing the House. This signaled that a secularized education leads to self-interest and divisiveness, each one concerned only for his house. Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky adds: Cherubs are children. They can be wonderful, faultless angels when they are rooted in Torah, or, as in Bereishis, they can wield destructive swords when alienated and estranged.
Rabbi Menachem Liebtag (Yeshivat Har Etzion): The concept of the Mishkan is rooted in the story of Gan Eden. The first and only other Torah mention of cherubs is in Bereishis 3:24, where Rashi and Saadiah describe them as angels guarding the entrance to Gan Eden, to prevent the entry of the unworthy. The focal point of the Mishkan is the cherubs in the Holy of Holies from where G-d’s word emanates (25:22). The Mishkan is a microcosm of Gan Eden; an ideal environment in which man can cultivate his relationship with G-d, can strive to come closer to HaShem. The kruvim on the parochet remind man that his entry, although desired, remains limited. The kruvim over the aron indicate that the “etz ha’chayim (the Tree of Life)” of Gan Eden has been replaced by the “luchot ha’eidut (tablets of testimony)” kept inside the Ark, as it says in Mishlay 3:18 “Etz chayim hi la’machazikim bah (she (the Torah) is a Tree of Life to those who take hold of her).” Thus, the Mishkan teaches us that by keeping the laws of the Torah, man becomes worthy to embark on the path of return to the “Tree of Life.”
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