Page 2 - Announcements Mon. Feb. 28

26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Pekudei 5782
charitable provisions was almost inconceivable. Later in the
same book, Maimonides says: We are obligated to be more
scrupulous in fulfilling the commandment of tzedakah than
any other positive commandment because tzedakah is the
sign of the righteous person, a descendant of Abraham our
father, as it is said, “For I know him, that he will command
his children…to do tzedakah”…If someone is cruel and does
not show mercy, there are sufficient grounds to suspect his
lineage, since cruelty is found only among the other
nations…Whoever refuses to give charity is called Belial, the
same term which is applied to idol worshippers (Laws of
Gifts to the poor, 10:1-3). Maimonides is here saying more
than that Jews give charity. He is saying that a charitable
disposition is written into Jewish genes, part of our
inherited DNA. It is one of the signs of being a child of
Abraham, so much so that if someone does not give charity
there are “grounds to suspect his lineage.” Whether this is
nature or nurture or both, to be Jewish is to give.

There is a fascinating feature of the geography of the land
of Israel. It contains two seas: the Sea of Galilee and the
Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is full of life. The Dead Sea, as
its name implies, is not. Yet they are fed by the same river,
the Jordan. The difference is that the Sea of Galilee receives
water and gives water. The Dead Sea receives but does not
give. To receive but not to give is, in Jewish geography as
well as Jewish psychology, simply not life. So it was in the
time of Moses. So it is today. In virtually every country in
which Jews live, their charitable giving is out of all
proportion to their numbers. In Judaism, to live is to give.

GNS Class Schedule
Sunday
9:15 am: Midrash Class - Rabbi Polakoff

Monday
8:30 am: Scholars’ Kollel - Rabbi Froimowitz
8:30 pm: Gemara Sota - Rabbi Polakoff
Tuesday
8:30 am: Scholars’ Kollel - Rabbi Polakoff
Wednesday
8:30 am: Scholars’ Kollel - Dr. Alan Mazurek
Great Neck Synagogue 9:00 pm: WNL Chabura - Rabbi Lichter
26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck , NY 11023
516-487-6100 Thursday
8:30 am: Scholars’ Kollel - Rabbi Lichter
Rabbi Dale Polakoff, Rabbi 9:15 am: Women’s Chumash - Rabbi Polakoff
Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi
Rabbi Yehoshua Lefkowitz, Intern Rabbi Friday
Dr. Ephraim Wolf, z”l, Rabbi Emeritus 8:30 am: Scholars’ Kollel - Rabbi Froimowitz
Yitzy Spinner, Cantor
Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus Shabbat
Rabbi Dr. Michael & Zehava Atlas, Youth Rabbi & Youth Director 8:30 am: Parsha Shiur
Mark Twersky, Executive Director before Mincha: Gemara Moed Katan
Dr. James Frisch, Assistant Director Rabbis Polakoff & Lichter
Jordan Wolf, President
Dov Sassoon, Chairman of the Board