The Jewish Center SHABBAT BULLETIN

APRIL 29, 2017 • P ARSHAT TAZRIYA -MATZORAH • 3 I YAR 5777 EREV SHABBAT Sanctuary Dedication 7:00PM Minchah As we eagerly anticipate The Jewish Center’s Centennial year, we are delighted to announce its inaugural celebration on Shabbat 7:30PM Candle lighting morning, May 6 th at 11:15am. At that time we will dedicate our Main Sanctuary in recognition SHABBAT of the extraordinary leadership of the Fischman Bayer family over 7:45AM Hashkama Minyan (The Max and Marion Grill Beit these past 100 years. Midrash) Gala Kiddush to follow. 8:30AM Rabbi Israel Silverstein Mishnayot Class with Rabbi May we merit to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of our Yosie Levine lives, to behold His beauty, to pray in His Sanctuary. 9:00AM Shacharit (3 rd floor) The Hanno Mott Lecture on Contemporary Jewish Ethics 9:15AM Hashkama Shiur with Rabbi Avi Feder, The Bracha Featuring for Hallel on Yom HaAtzmaut Rabbi Yona Reiss and Professor Mark Cohen 9:30AM Young Leadership Minyan (1st Floor) Monday, May 8th 9:25AM Sof Zman Kriat Shema 7:00PM Members-only reception with the presenters 10:00AM Youth Groups: Under age 3 (drop off optional, 7:45PM Mincha babies must be able to independently sit upright), 3-6-year- 8:00-9:15PM Presentation and Q&A See insert for more details. olds: Geller Youth Center, 2nd-6th graders: 7th floor To register please visit Jewishcenter.org Hot Kiddush (1st & 5th floor)

WITH THANKS TO OUR KIDDUSH SPONSORS: Scholar-In-Residence Br. General Bentzi Gruber Pre-Minchah Shiur: 6:30PM Hashkama Kiddush Vivian & Daniel Chill , in commemoration of the Jerusalem: Challenges and Opportunities yahrzeit of Daniel's father, Rabbi Abraham Chill and Vivian's 50 Years In the Making brother, Joseph Jacobs Seudah Shlishit: Ethics In The Field: An Update Community Kiddush , Paula & Dr. Joseph Winik, Teri & Larry Gra- Br. General Bentzi Gruber is Vice Commander ber and Linda Graber , in honor of the birth of a daughter to (reserves) of Division 252, an armored division of Ahuva and Peter Winik 20,000 soldiers. As an entrepreneur, he has estab- Community Kiddush , Lynn Montz & John Leubsdorf, in memory of lished Internet startups, been a real-estate devel- the fifth yahrzeit of Lynn’s mother, Helen Montz oper and initiated biotech research. He is founder of “Chesed In Community Kiddush, Rabbi Yosie Levine, in honor of the members The Field,” a non-profit that brings together IDF reservists and of the Israel Silverstein Mishnayot Class on the occasion of their chronically ill and disabled children for special events throughout completion of Masechet Makkot the year as well as “Ethics in the Field” to shatter myths and pre- sent the facts missing in today’s discussion of Israeli counter terror- 4:00PM Bikkur Cholim/Bikkur in the Home (meet at 730 Co- ism. lumbus Ave.) 6:30PM Pre-Minchah Shiur with Br. General Bentzi Gruber, The Annual Martha Sonnenschein Memorial Lecture Jerusalem: Challenges and Opportunities 50 Years In the Featuring Scholar in Residence Making Raizi Chechik 6:30PM Parent-Child Learning with Rabbi Avi Feder May 13 at 11:00AM 6:35PM Daf Yomi Women and Torah Transmission: 7:20PM Minchah A Case Study from 19th Century Vilna 7:20PM Afternoon Groups Seudah Shlishit Speaker: Br. General Bentzi Gruber, Ethics In UJA-Federation of New York Jewish Community Memorial Service The Field: An Update Wednesday, May 24 at 6:30 pm 8:31PM Shabbat Concludes Hosted by The Jewish Center DAILY SERVICES Featuring Colonel Jonathan de Sola Mendes, USMCR (Ret) Sunday. April 30 Mon. May 1– Friday, May 5 Shacharit 8:30AM Thur. May 4 Shacharit 7/8AM Daf Yomi 7:45AM Shacharit 7/8AM Daf Yomi 7:45AM WOMEN ’S TEHILLIM GROUP Minchah 7:40PM Daf Yomi 7:45AM Minchah 7:00PM Monday, May 15 at 7:15PM Minchah 7:40PM Candle Lighting Contact Joyce Weitz for more info. at 212-877-1176 7:38PM The Jewish Center - The Modern Orthodox Center for Jewish Life and Learning 131 W. 86 th Street, New York, NY 10024 • www.jewishcenter.org • 212-724-2700 UPCOMING EVENTS UWS Community Young Professionals Yom Hazikaron Memorial and Yom Ha’atzmaut Celebration Monday, May 1 at The Jewish Center The evening will begin with Min- chah and a special tekes for Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Remembrance Day, followed by a Ma’ariv Cha- gigit for Yom Ha’atzmaut with a musical Hallel. Then, everyone is invited to a concert and a pop up shop catered by Grill 212. This event is made possible by the generous support of the JCC and their Upper West Side Cele- brates Israel Week. Register today! http://www.uwsisrael.org/programs-src/young-professionals- Please visit Jewishcenter.org to register celebration-concert

Young Leadership Lecture Series Featuring Rabbi Donniel Hartman Author of Putting God Second: How To Save Religion From Itself Monday May 15th at 8:15PM 4th Floor Beit Midrash

Young Couples and Families Shabbat Lunch with NY Times Best Selling Author Beth Kobliner May 20th at1PM "Make Your Kid A Money Genius YOUTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES (even if you're not)" Pricing and Registration will open soon. Yom Ha’atzmaut Rooftop BBQ May 2 at 4:30-6:30pm Sisterhood Annual Brunch Sponsorship opportunities available. Sunday, May 21 At the home of Nancy Sklarin Please visit the Jewish Center web- What is it like to work for the most cutting edge company, site to register. Google? How does technology and humanity meet, and how did a former student of anthropology find herself amidst all of Meet the Marines! Pizza with our Soldiers in honor it?" Meet Jewish Center member and Sisterhood brunch’s fea- of Memorial Day tured speaker, Abigail Posner, Head of The ZOO, Google’s Wednesday, May 24 at 6:00PM creative think tank. Prior to The JC Memorial Day For more information email [email protected]. lecture, we invite our youth to join US Color Guards and Soldiers for Book Club Meeting: dinner and a short Q&A. To register, sponsor and Sunday, May 21 at 7:30PM for more information please con- Little Failure: A Memoir by Gary Shteyngart Discussant: Rachel Lurie tact Jenn & Gaby at At the home of Maureen & Laszlo Marcus 645 [email protected]. West End Avenue. All are welcome to join for our final book club meeting of the year. If you End of the Year Seudah Shlishit have questions, please email Dinah at Saturday, June 3 [email protected]. Sail into Summer with special Family Comedian Guest. Stay tuned for more details! UJA-Federation of New York Jewish Community Memorial Service Add a birthday sponsorship to one of our fun- Wednesday, May 24 at 6:30 pm filled youth events! Hosted by The Jewish Center Party Choices this year Include Arts Featuring Colonel Jonathan de Sola & Crafts, Movie Nights, Zumba, Mendes, USMCR (Ret) Krav Maga, Laser Tag, Bubble Soccer. Email Jenn and Gaby for more details and dates at [email protected].

To sponsor Kiddush or Seudah Shlishit or a JC event, please contact Aaron at [email protected] OHR SOMAYACH UWS S HABBATON COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS Shabbat Morning May 6 Young Leadership Minyan THANK YOU TO OUR USHERS Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz Gilda Chodosh & Originally from Johannesburg, South Avi Jacobowitz Africa Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz studied medicine at the University of Witwa- THANK YOU TO CSS tersrand and graduated with distinc- We would like to once again thank CSS and our dedicated CSS tion in surgery. He spent a year in St. members for providing the security for our synagogue this week. Louis, Missouri, as an American Field Service Scholar and elective work in internal medicine at Washington Univer- CONDOLENCES sity. He founded the Jerusalem Medical Ethics Forum, of Zeesha Twersky on the passing of his father, which he is Director, for the purpose of teaching and Rabbi Shlomo Twersky. promoting knowledge of Jewish medical ethics interna- tionally. He has written many highly acclaimed works on the deeper aspects of Judaism, as well as a recent books COMMUNITY ACCOMPLISHMENTS on Jewish Medical ethics and Free Will & Destiny. He Congratulations to Alexis Mayer Goldstein on receiving the currently lives in London, where he lectures on Jewish Young Leadership award at the Sharsheret thought and medical ethics for the Jewish learning ex- Annual Benefit Luncheon. change of Ohr Somayach. Congratulations to Harriet & George Blank on being honored at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy- Rae Kushner Yeshiva High Seudah Shlishit School Annual Dinner Shabbat May 6 Rabbi Dr. Yitzchok Breitowitz (Rav of Kehillos Ohr Somayach). CENTENNIAL PLANNING UPDATE After a distinguished career as a Rav in Dear Members, Silver Spring, Maryland and as a world -renowned lecturer and rabbinic author- As you know, planning for our Centennial Year is well under- ity, has made aliya to Eretz Yisrael and way. As we begin to fill in the calendar, we're looking to find joined the Ohr Somayach faculty as a senior lecturer. He exciting and dynamic speakers/personalities who will be especial- was ordained by the Ner Israel Rabbinical College in ly fitting for this monumental year. If you or someone you know 1976 and is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and has access to any such people, please be in touch with us or with Harvard Law School (JD, 1979, Magna Cum Laude). In Rabbi Zirkind. addition to his rabbinical position, he was a tenured Thank you. professor of law at the University of Maryland specializ- ing in contracts, commercial law and medical ethics. Andy Kaplan, Andrew Steinerman and Rachel Wolf Centennial Year Co-Chairs FEMALE RESIDENT SCHOLAR SEARCH The Jewish Center is currently searching for a Resident Schol- ar. This leadership position is designed to engage with and connect to our entire community with a special focus on the many women in the community. The primary responsibilities of Thinking of running the this role include teaching Torah and forming deep relation- New York City Marathon? ships with community members. A complete job description Join The Jewish Center Centennial Team! may be found at www.jewishcenter.org . To recommend a Space is limited. candidate or for questions, please contact Rabbi Levine or For more information, please email [email protected] any member of our search committee: Andrew Borodach, If you would like to support the Jewish Center Aliza Herzberg, Mark Segall or Adina Wagman or Centennial Team please visit the JC website. email [email protected] .

COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF CLASSES For more information visit our website or contact Rabbi Dovid Zirkind at [email protected] DAILY (except Shabbat) WEDNESDAY Israel Friedman Daf Yomi Israel Friedman Daf Yomi with rotating Women of the Bible with rotating JCU Faculty, JCU Faculty, 7:45AM with Rabbi Yosie Levine 1 hour before Minchah at 11:00AM * Stay tuned for more information of our TUESDAY upcoming classes. Advanced Gemara Chaburah SHABBAT with Rabbi Noach Goldstein Rabbi Israel Silverstein Mishnayot 7:45-8:30AM Class with Rabbi Yosie Levine Nosh and Drash with Dr. Adena Berkowitz, Hashkama Shiur 10:15-11:30AM with rotating JCU Faculty, 9:15AM

To sponsor Kiddush or Seudah Shlishit or a JC event, please contact Aaron at [email protected] Yosie Levine Rabbi The Metzora, Israel, and the Perspective of History Dovid Zirkind Rabbi Noach Goldstein, Resident Scholar Associate Rabbi

While patience is a virtue, making people wait anx- urement! Apparently then, while a slight change Chaim David Berson iously without clear reason is certainly not. Commen- would be sufficient to exit the realm of tzaraat , the Cantor tators thus struggle to explain why the Torah subjects Torah saw fit to establish an examination schedule the metzora to such a plodding process. The kohen’s geared towards highlighting dramatic change. Erica Brown job is to declare that the skin lesion presented to him This certainly contains relevance on a per- Community Scholar is indeed tzaraat , rendering the person an impure sonal level. Cheshbon ha-nefesh is a central concept metzora . Afterwards, the metzora cannot escape that for Jews in general, but especially for the metzora in Noach Goldstein status until the kohen reexamines him and determines particular. The tzaraat dramatically informs him that Resident Scholar that the lesion has begun to shrink or fade. As soon as a religious transformation is badly needed, but any- Avi Feder the kohen makes that determination, the metzora may one who attempts to transform overnight will likely William Fischman immediately commence the purification process de- fail. Steady effort combined with periodic self- Rabbinic Intern tailed in Chapter 14. examination is a much more effective course. We Presumably, the metzora would desire want the metzora to notice if his tzaraat has changed, Aaron Strum priestly reexamination as frequently as possible. De- not only the expert kohen examining him. Executive Director clared impure in the morning? Have the kohen return In addition, the Bechor Shor’s idea resonates the next day—or even better, that afternoon! How- on a national plane, especially as we prepare to Jenn & Gaby Minsky Youth Directors ever, this is not the process the Torah legislates. Ra- celebrate Yom Ha-Atzmaut this Monday night. As the ther, the metzora must wait seven full days from the State of Israel turns 69 and enters its seventieth year, OFFICERS moment his impurity was declared before the kohen a full biblical lifespan (Psalms 90:10), we have Avi Schwartz may revisit his case. The tzaraat may have already reached a point where Medinat Yisrael is a fixture, an President shrunk on day one, but he must wait for an entire institution whose existence has been fully absorbed week until he can find out. by the national consciousness and is now virtually Andrew Borodach th First Vice President The 12 century sage R. Yosef Bechor Shor taken for granted. (also known as Ri of Orleans), a prime disciple of However, we must not allow that to happen. Michael Jacobs Rabbeinu Tam and a follower of the pshat school of Vice President We must think historically, not thinking of our national Rashbam, offers an explanation both simple and history in terms of day-to-day life, but with an ap- Deena Blanchard compelling: any gradual change can be detected preciation of the sweep of time and the drop in the Vice President much more easily through intermittent inspection than historical bucket that the State’s existence has been. Mark Segall through consistent surveillance. We occasionally have Assistant Vice President difficulty recognizing people we haven’t seen in a What would our perspective be if we were revisiting few years, while those we see frequently never seem the Land for the first time since April of 1967? Or of Yaron Kinar Treasurer to change. Therefore, while the shrinking process may 1917? 1017?! The transformation would be so indeed have begun on day one, the Torah requires a astounding that we literally would not believe what Len Berman seven day interlude so that the difference is easily we were seeing! So as we prepare to celebrate and Assistant Treasurer detectable. thank God for the miracle of our Jewish State, let us Andrew Kaplan Now, the kohen surely could notice even Assistant Treasurer subtle changes to a tzaraat -blemish. Just as an interi- telescope out of our own day-to-day perspective or decorator can easily sense the difference between and attempt to appreciate the miracles that He has Miri Lipsky “ghost white” and “snow white” (to say nothing of wrought before our very eyes. Secretary

“egg shell white” or “baby powder white”), an expe- PHONE NUMBERS rienced priest would definitely notice if the lesion was slightly dimmer than it was yesterday. And in order Yoetzet Halacha to tell if it shrunk in size, he could simply take a meas- Ilana Gadish [email protected] SAVE THE DATE 646-598-1080 THE JC ANNUAL DINNER Monday, June 12, 2017 Jewish Center at Museum of Jewish Heritage Chevra Kadisha 212-724-2700 x555

Guests of Rabbi Community UWS Mikvah Honor Dr. Leo Jung Service Award 212-579-2011 Barbara & Guy Memorial Ben Cooper

Reiss Award Hatzoloh Deena 212-230-1000 Blanchard &

Akiva Eruv Status Novetsky 212-724-2700 x4