B’nai Shalom Bulletin Parshas Toldos/November 22, 2014/29 Cheshvan 5775

B’nai Shalom Bulletin
B’nai Shalom
135 Roseland Avenue
Waterbury, CT 06710
203-754-4159
[email protected]
Rabbi Yosef Sonnenschein
Parshas Toldos/November 22, 2014/29 Cheshvan 5775
Shabbos Schedule
Parshas Toldos
November 22:
Likras Shabbos Program
3:49 pm
Candles/Mincha
4:09 pm
Shacharis
8:00/9:00 am
Latest Shema
8:37/9:13 am
Ladies’ Shiur – See opposite page.
Navi Shiur
3:15 pm
Mincha/Maariv
3:45/5:17 pm
Avos Uvanim (at yeshiva)
6:27 pm
Rosh Chodesh is Sunday.
Weekday Schedule
November 23-28:
Sunday Shacharis:
8:00/9:00 am
Mon-Friday Shacharis
7:00 am
Mincha/Maariv begins 15 minutes
before shkia (sunset)
Mincha times recede from 4:11 on
Sunday to 4:09 on Thursday.
Additional Maariv at 8:00 and 9:30.
Wednesday Ladies’ Shiur 8:30 pm
‫בעקבות הפרשה‬
‫וירא עשו כי רעות בנות כנען בעיני‬
‫ אולי מרומז כאן מה‬.‫יצחק אביו‬
‫שכתב רש"י לעיל על הפסוק ותכהין‬
‫ א) שזה היה‬,‫עיניו מראות (כ"ז‬
‫מעשנן של אלו הנשים של עשו‬
‫ לכן ראה עשו שראה‬.‫שעבדו ע"ז‬
.‫שרעות הן בעיני יצחק אביו‬
Avos Uvanim will be
followed by a dairy Melave
Malka at 7:10 pm. Please
plan your Shabbos day
seuda accordingly!
Musings from the Rav
I did not ask for this honor, nor did I wish for it.
In the beginning I was one among thousands. We looked exactly alike. Carefully
hewn from the Yerushalayim mountainside with modern machinery and ancient
skill, we were cut to size, smoothed and polished. I wondered about my future.
By law, every building in Yerushalayim is covered with Jerusalem Stone, so there
were so many possibilities. I could have been purchased by a high tech electronics
store, or a high style clothing store. Perhaps I would tower above the city as the
façade of a new hotel. Maybe I would contribute my pristine youth to the walls of
an elegant lobby for a medical office or a bank.
Deep within the grains of my soul, however, I yearned for something deeper.
You see, I am not merely a rock as you would find in Italy, or France. My brothers
and I are products of the land that was chosen by Hashem and infused with his
holiness. And holiness begets holiness. As such, with every groove in my surface
I wished that I would be placed in a building of holiness. A shul perhaps. Or a
Kollel. Imagine my joy when I was loaded onto a truck headed to Har-Nof. I
overheard the driver receive his instructions: “To Rav Rubin’s new Shul! Hurry!
The workers are waiting!”
I learned a lot over the next few years. I listened to thousands of tefillos, and
absorbed tens of thousands of “Amens.” Listening to lively debate between
Chavrusos had become a favorite pastime. Over the years I have become well
acquainted with Abaye and Rava, Rashi and Tosfos, the Mechaber and Rama and
many other giants of spirit and intellect. I thought I would spend the rest of my
days, as a brick, carefully ensconced in the floor of Rav Rubin’s Shul, the soles of
Talmidei Chachamim massaging my surface as their souls penetrate the heavens.
Nothing could prepare me for the horrors I witnessed this week. The sight of
holy men being massacred in this holiest of places. If only I, like the rock of Moshe
Rabeinu, could release rivulets of water and cry! Abaye and Rava! Rashi and
Tosfos! Mechaber and Rama! How could the screams of savages and the cries of
holy victims replace the music that is your words? Why wasn’t I chosen instead,
as the Beis Hamikdosh had been when ‫שפך חמתו על עצים ואבנים‬, He poured out his
anger on wood and stones in order to protect the precious lives of holy Jews.
Then it happened. The blood of a holy martyr spilled onto me. I felt choked with
grief and filled with awe. All at once I realized that I had been chosen for a higher
purpose. I was no longer a stone in a Shul. I had become a stone on a Mizbeiach.
The ultimate korbon had been offered upon me. I joined the exalted company of
the stones on Har Hamoriah, upon which Avrohom had offered his son as korbon.
I would never be the same.
The blood was carefully washed off of me by the holy members of Zaka. The
cloths that carefully gathered every drop were buried with the Kedoshim.
Minyanim have resumed. Once again, the opinions of Abaye and Rava fill the
room. As always, I eagerly await the arrival of those morning Mispallelim who
shake off their sleepiness to sing to Hashem. Yet… things are different now. I am
a Mizbeiach now. A conduit between heaven and earth. A vehicle for transforming
the simple and physical into the holy and spiritual.
I did not ask for this honor, nor did I wish for it. But now that I have been
chosen, the memories of these Kedoshim will fill every crevice of my being. Pride
and determination mingle with sadness and yearning. With a stone’s stubbornness, I will stand here in silent testimony to the greatness of the Jewish People.
!‫כי אבן מקיר תזעק‬
In Memory of My Friends
Shul News
R’ Moshe Twersky was az kanameir. Torah and mitzvos to
him were like the air we breathe, and the possibility of the
slightest shortcoming in avodas Hashem was the fear of a
physical poison. Reb Moshe wrenched himself from the
padded future promised by his illustrious family of geonim to
acquire his cheilek in Torah in Eretz Yisrael. His piercing mind
and boyish smile drew many talmidim to his home. Once, he
showed me that there was room to add more segments to his
large sukka. He was continuously adding segments to his vast
cheilek in Torah, in yeshiva or ensconced in his study
surrounded by sefarim.
R’ Kalman Levine was kal kanesher. His light frame was a
winged chariot for his neshama. His lucent eyes were a picture
window into his soul. Simcha shone from his face. Everything
about him spoke out his love for avodas Hashem and his love
for life and simchas hachaim. Watching his hasmada and
excitement in learning and his connection to Hashem in
davening served as a model to everyone in a minyan and in a
community populated by models of ovdei Hashem.
R’ Avraham Shmuel Goldberg was ratz katzvi. Although
he was older than most in our minyan, with twin granddaughters my eldest daughter’s age, he was definitely not
lagging. His vigor was unusual. His work took him to places far
and wide, but when he came home from his distant travels,
none of the wear and tear of the road or the air was evident to
me. He was a friend and a peer. He carried on his person the
experience of maturity, but the alacrity of youth.
R’ Aryeh Kupinsky was gibbor ka’ari. He was bigger than
life. I used to joke with him, that I was forced to keep good
posture by arching my back to look up to him. One would look
up to Reb Aryeh for his true, keen connection to, and lionhearted love of, Klal Yisrael. He was always there for you. He
was drawn to chessed, and drew from wellsprings of endless
energy to perform it. When speaking with him in learning, one
became engulfed in his smile, which was an expression of his
intensive neshama. His learning, his davening - his deep, fiery
faith in joyful times and painful times - his whole life, was full
of energy, which was fueled by his sincerity and his search for
truth. Giving the proverbial shirt off his back was small-time
for Reb Aryeh. Thus, it was no surprise that he literally gave
the skin off his back when he stayed behind to fight against the
gezeira until his body could no longer contain his soul.
In this context, it would be remiss of me not to mention Zidan
Saif, who courageously gave his life so that Jewish men could
go home to their families and come back to shul another day.
- by Reuven Poupko
The “9:00” Kiddush is sponsored by
Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Kirshner,
in honor of the birth of their baby girl, Ariella.
!‫תזכו לגדלה לתורה לחופה ולמעשים טובים‬
The Shalosh Seudos is sponsored by
Mr. and Mrs. Duvie Merenstein.
The Ladies’ Shabbos Shiur will be given by
Rebbetzin Yehudis Wolvovsky, at the
Einsenbach residence, 99 Crescent St., at 2:30.
Yahrtzeits
This Shabbos is the yahrtzeit of Steven Charles Brenner
(Chaim ben Hershel), observed by Gary and Helen Banks; and
of Mitchell Harris (Micha Eli ben Yaakov Yehuda), observed
by his parents, our former Rabbi Judah J. and Rona Harris;
and of Esther Singer, observed by her daughter Rebbetzin
Rona Harris; and of Dora Winikoff (Devora bas Shmuel),
observed by her granddaughter Leslie Bogen; and of Ida
Frankin (Chaya bas Eliezer), whose name in inscribed upon a
stained glass window in the Potoff Sanctuary rotunda.
Sunday is the yahrtzeit of Muriel Rachel Coppell (Rachel
Malcha bas Yehoshua), observed by sister-in-law Noa Miller;
and of Dr. William Lerer (Zev Nasan ben Rav Aharon
Moshe haKohen), observed by his sister Florence Fleischer.
Dr. William Lerer was already a prominent physician when he
died at age 35. He was a disciple and very close friend of Rav
Soloveitchik ztz’l. When Dr. Lerer was young, he wanted to be
a physician, but his father told him he could not, because he
was a kohen. The family met with Rav Soloveitchik, who
suggested a way in which he was able to avoid the problem.
Also, Dr. Lerer introduced kosher food at the Air Force
Academy when he served in the military.
Monday is the yahrtzeit of Samuel Goldstein (Shmuel
Zanvil ben Arye Leib haLevi), observed by his brother William
Goldstein. Mr. Goldstein’s name in inscribed upon a stained
glass window in the Potoff Sanctuary rotunda.
Thursday is the yahrtzeit of Rebecca Baron (Sara Rivka bas
Yitzchak Isaac), observed by grandson Michael Kerzner; and
of Joseph Hutensky (Yosef ben Yitzchak), observed by son
Martin Hutensky; and of Isaac Levine (Yitzchak ben
Yisrael), observed by grandson Samuel Levine; and of Oscar
Kossowsky (Asher ben Yaakov), neighbor of the Marshaks.
This bulletin has been sponsored by
Town & Country Pediatrics & Family Medicine, PC·380 Main Street·Watertown, CT 06795·860-274-8891
B’nai Shalom
135 Roseland Avenue
Waterbury, CT 06710
203-754-4159
[email protected]