Annual Meeting: Thursday, June 2, 2011
May 31, 2011
David and Roselin Wagner, Dr. Paul Brody & Marc Kalter
ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
The Annual Meeting will took place Thursday evening, June 2.
Sponsorships: May 28, 2011
May 24, 2011
Kiddush and Bima Flowers are sponsored by Rona & Reuben Askowitz in honor of the Bar Mitzvah of their son Aaron.
Seudah Shlishit is sponsored by Mimi and Chaim Hirsch in honor of the upcoming marriage of her daughter Chaya Sara to Jeremy Shelton.
Sunday Breakfast is sponsored by Florence & Irvin Spira in memory of his mother Lilly Spira.
Within Our Family: May 28, 2011
May 24, 2011
Mazal Tov to Doreen & George Zobel on the birth of a granddaughter Ella Charlotte, born to their children Nicole & Jonathan Nichols. Mazal Tov also to great-grandmother Sabina Geist.
Mazal Tov to Rona and Reuben Askowitz on the Bar Mitzvah of their son Aaron and to grandparents Rita and David Woldenberg and Liz & Marty Askowitz.
Mazal Tov to Janet & Mitchell Lencher on the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Kimberly.
Mazal Tov to Lynn & Stephen Rabinowitz on the upcoming wedding of her daughter, Sara Steinberg to Lee Bienstock and Mazal Tov to grandmother Elizabeth Katzwer.
Mazal Tov to Sandy & Mark Gold on the upcoming marriage of their daughter Nicole to Natanel Shoshani.
Mazal Tov to Idida & Stewart Kaplan on the engagement of their daughter Michelle to Adam Botwinick.
Mazal Tov to Mimi & Chaim Hirsch and Rabbi Shalom & Aksana Jensen on the upcoming marriage of Chaya Sara Jensen to Jeremy Shelton.
Mazal Tov To Judy & Jerrald Weinstein on the engagement of their son Dov to Lisa Jaffe daughter of Judy and Andy Jaffe. Mazal Tov to grandmother Shirley Weinstein.
Within Our Family: June 4, 2011
May 20, 2011
Mazal Tov to Viggi & Danny Arbusman on the upcoming marriage of their son Ron to Margot Blum, daughter of Jane & Stanley Blum.
Mazel Tov to Lisa and Ivan Kaufman on being guests of honor at the North Shore Hebrew Academy Dinner.
Mazal Tov to Ester & Eliezer Noy on the marriage of their son Eran to Nina Dayan, daughter of Ezra & Billie Carlebach Dayan.
Mazal Tov to Issac Sachmechi on receiving an award from The Amer. Assoc. of Diabetes Educators and being reappointed to Assoc. Prof. of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, School of Medicine.
Mazal Tov to Charlotte & Perry Schneider on the engagement of their daughter Lauren, to Sam Flaks, son of Susan and Michael Flaks.
Mazal Tov to our Rabbinic Intern Daniel & Yael Schwechter on the birth of a baby girl. Mazal Tov also to grandparents Donna & Leon Schwechter.
Mazal Tov to Jane & Yossi Tuvia on the upcoming marriage of their son Guy, to Hilary Lewin.
Mazal Tov to David Werber on receiving the Career Achievement Award from the City College School of Architecture.
Great Neck Scholars Kollel Schedule for May
May 18, 2011
Great Neck Scholars Kollel
Schedule for May
| 05/02/11 | 05/03/11 | 05/05/11 |
| Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count | Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count | Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count |
| Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Parsha |
| 05/09/11 | 05/10/11 | 05/12/11 |
| Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count | Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count | Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count |
| Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Parsha |
| 05/16/11 | 05/17/11 | 05/19/11 |
| Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count | Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count | Sefiras Ha’omar:Making it count |
| Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Shmonei Esrei: Davening with our hearts | Parsha |
| 05/23/11 | 05/24/11 | 05/26/11 |
| Talmud Torah:Learning how to learn | Talmud Torah:Learning how to learn | Talmud Torah:Learning how to learn |
| 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.
An Incredible Culinary Opportunity
May 18, 2011
For the first time in its 63 years of existence, Great Neck Synagogue will be hosting what we hope will become the ANNUAL CHOLENT COMPETITION. At the Graduation Kiddush scheduled for June 25, members will have the opportunity to sample some of the best tasting, most creative cholent recipes, prepared by our members right here in the GNS kitchen. A team of expert tasters is being put together to determine the winner of the competition. If you would like to enter your cholent into the competition, or if you want to suggest someone else’s cholent for consideration, please email Rabbi Polakoff (rabbi@gns.org). This competition is open to all - ashkenazim and sephardim, chasidim and mitnagdim, litvaks and galicianas. Please watch for a list of competitors that will be sent out within the next few weeks, and make sure to join us on June 25th, for the ultimate showdown.
Parshas B’Chukosai 5771: Stephen Rabinowitz, MD
May 18, 2011
B”H
This last parsha in Sefer VaYikra contains 78 verses, including seven positive commandments and five prohibitions. It begins as follows (translation adapted from Rabbi Chaim Miller) VaYikra/Leviticus 26:3-4
The Zohar (said to have been edited by R. Shimon bar Yochai in the second century C.E.) says that the first part of verse three relates to studying Torah, which is the focus of the Oral Law. The second part relates to performing mitzvos, the focus of the Written Law. Where it says “observe them/osom” the word osom is written without the letter vov, so that it can be read as “atem/you,” meaning literally that “you will make” the Name of HaShem holy. Our Torah study and observance adds to the glory of Heaven.
Rashi (1040-1105) notes that the performance of the mitzvos had already been required of us before this parsha began, so that the point of verse three is not to restate that requirement, but to inform us that the study of Torah, toil in Torah, is a necessary prerequisite to the performance of mitzvos. A person should always be immersed and striving in some Torah subject. The Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902-1994) pointed out the relationship of the word “b’chukosai” to the word “chakikah,” which means “engraved.” The verse, therefore, is not only telling us to learn, but how to learn. Learning must not be superficial, like ink on paper, but engraved into us by thorough repetition. In return for our diligence, HaShem will not only give us the reward of the rain that is necessary to sustain our lives, but, says Sifra (the halachic midrash to VaYikra), He will give it to us when almost everyone is indoors, such as late on Friday nights.
Ramban (1194-1270) observes that the Torah goes on to list several additional rewards for Torah study, but that rain is mentioned before any of the other blessings in our chapter. He states that rain is the greatest of blessings, not only in giving us food and water, but also in the health that good food promotes and the ability to procreate.
Rabbeinu Bachya (1255-1340) takes a focused understanding of these words to mean that one who observes the laws of Shemittah and Yovel given in the previous parsha will be rewarded with physical, material blessings. The greatest of these blessings is peace and security, without which an abundance of food and drink has small value.
Ba’al HaTurim (1269-1343) the initial letters of the words “im b’chukosai teileichu” spell the word “avos/Patriarchs,” meaning that one should continue in the path of the Patriarchs.
Alshich (1508-1600) the actual reward for performing Torah precepts is spiritual and is reserved for the hereafter, but HaShem gives us material bonuses in this world.
Or Hachayim (1696-1742) provides 42 explanations for verse three. He emphasizes the need to toil in the study of Torah, continually learning and reviewing to reach greater levels of understanding. Ignorance can lead the most well-meaning person astray, so no stopping place is acceptable. One must always move forward.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (1740-1810) in Kedushas Levi refers to the Gemara Kiddushin 40a which states that one who intends to fulfill a mitzvoh is credited with that mitzvoh even if he/she is unable to complete it. The principal reward is to ascend to a higher spiritual level, where one can fulfill additional mitzvos. This process of thinking of mitzvos and planning to do mitzvos is called walking on the right path. The material rewards we receive for these mitzvos are intended to facilitate the performance of additional mitzvos.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) says that verse three means, “If, in satisfying your physical aspirations, you move strictly within the limits drawn in my Torah….” If we follow His statutes we will be morally pure. If we study His commandments and take them to heart, we will be enlightened intellectually and conscientious in our actions. And if we carry out His commandments, we will be executors of justice and loving kindness. In this merit … what was taken away from mankind because of its disobedience to G-d … will become a reality for Israel in its own land … and will ultimately be restored to all mankind.
Sfas Emes (Rabbi Yehudoh Aryeh Leib Alter (1847-1905)) talks of following HaShem’s path in terms of King David’s statement in the Midrash, “Master of the Universe! Every day I would think things over, and decide to go to such and such a place… But my feet led me to synagogues and batei midrash.” One might understand this to mean, “I intended to go to Wall Street, but my feet led me to Lakewood.” The Sfas Emes, however, says that the inner reality of all places is the same, so that he would understand, “I decided to go to Wall Street, and I did go to Wall Street, and there I encountered the exact same presence of HaShem, albeit in a different guise, that I would experience in Lakewood.”
Rabbi Uziel Milevsky (1943-1993): We are promised natural rewards, such as rainfall, plentiful harvests, and peace. Seeing the Hand of G-d in our paycheck is more difficult than when winning the lottery. But failing to see the miraculous in everyday life is a residue of the enslavement in Egypt. Only recognizing that everything comes from HaShem allows us to be genuinely free.
Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein (1934- ) quotes a question asked by Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz: “We are taught that a baby learns the entire Torah while in its mother’s womb. Why then do we not stand up before an expectant woman, since we are in the presence of a Torah genius? The answer is that the baby acquires knowledge without any effort, and that is not the type of Torah knowledge that we are required to honor. As Rashi says, we honor the effort and the toil that is lavished on learning, not the learning itself.
Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky (1937- ) quotes from the Italian Rabbi Avrohom Menachem Rapaport (1540-1604) in his Torah commentary Minchah Belulah: At the beginning of our verse the word “im,” spelled “aleph-mem,” reminds us that HaShem has brought salvation to Israel throughout the generations through people whose names began with those letters: in Egypt it was Aharon and Moshe; in Persia it was Esther and Mordechai; in the redemption from the Babylonian exile it was Esther’s son King Artachshasta (see Gemara Rosh HaShanah 3a&b) and at Chanukah it was Matisyahu and his sons the Macabees; finally, it will be through Eliyahu and Moshiach. The way to merit the ultimate “im” is by “walking in My statutes and keeping My commandments.”
Annual Congregational Meeting: June 2, 2011
May 18, 2011
The Annual Congregational Meeting will take place on Thursday, June 2, at 8:30 pm.At that time we will have our election of officers, induction of new members,memorial for departed members and committee reports.
See flyer for new slate
Sponsorships: May 21, 2011
May 17, 2011
Kiddush & Seudah Shlishit are sponsored by Karen & Edward Wydra in honor the Bar Mitzvah of their son Shawn and the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Eliana. Karen & Edward are also sponsoring the Women’s Tefila Kiddush .
Seudah Shlishit is also being sponsored by Sonia Movsas in commemoration of the end of shloshim for her late husband, Dr. Samuel Movsasa, z”l.
Shabbat Announcements: May 21, 2011
May 17, 2011
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