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GNS2016 SCOPE Chanukah 2016 1 שנה!Chanukah טובהhappy Great Neck Synagogue Magazine S|C|O|P|E Chanukah 2016 Kislev 5777 on to The Awesome Present and an Awe Inspiring Future By Ron Malen | Generation to Generation to | Generation The Real Me By Rabbi Moshe Kwalbrun Vulnerability By Robyn Spector-Blumner Shine Your Light! By Ben Yehoshua | Generation to Generation | Generation to | Generation GNS2016 SCOPE Chanukah 2016 1 שנה!Chanukah טובהHappy May this year be filled with sweetness, happiness, and simcha! From Your Favorite Glatt Kosher Caterer! Taste The Exceptional Great Neck Synagogue ∎brit Milahs ∎engagements ∎luncheons ∎bridal showers ∎bar/bat mitzvah ∎Weddings Book Now: 516-466-2222 SCOPE Chanukah 2016 2 Great Neck Synagogue Magazine Great Neck Synagogue GNS2016 S|C|O|P|E 26 Old Mill Road Great Neck, NY 11023 Chanukah Issue | 2016 Table of Contents T: 516 487 6100 www.gns.org Where is Your Dreidel? By Stanley H. Fischer p 12 Dale E. Polakoff, Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi Excerpt From the Recently Published Book The Brooklyn Nobody Knows Jesse Shore, Rabbinic Intern By William B. Helmreich p 16 Ze’ev Kron, Cantor Mark Twersky, Executive Director The Real Me By Rabbi Moshe Kwalbrun p 18 James Frisch, Assistant Executive Director Sholom Jensen, Rabbi, Youth Director My Friend Sam Dr. Michael & Zehava Atlas, Youth Directors By Annie Karpenstein p 19 Lisa Septimus, Yoetzet Halacha Vermeer’s Ayshet Chayil Dr. Ephraim Wolf, z”l, Rabbi Emeritus By Dr. Arnold Breitbart p 20 Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus Winston Churchill and Zionism – Executive Board A Lifelong Passion By Carol Buckmann p 24 Chairman of the Board Harold Domnitch President Dov Sassoon Of Dreidels (Svivonim), Gelt (Kesef) And Latkes (Sufganiyot) Executive Vice President Erran Kagan By Esor Ben-Sorek, Ph.D. p 26 First Vice President Cindy Liebmann Second Vice President Bart Baum Shabbat Afternoon Learning Group Third Vice President Jon Reiss By Ilana Kroll p 27 Treasurer Elie Cohen Shine Your Light! Recording Secretary Diane Rein By Ben Yehoshua p 28 Corresponding Secretary Josh Shatzkes The Chaverim Center Financial Secretary Ruby Askowitz By Fred Shaw p 30 Service Officer Steven Blumner Service Officer Gary Chubak Vulnerability Gabbai Tom Furst By Robyn Spector-Blumner p 31 Beit Midrash Gabbai Jordan Wolf Winning the Lucky Ticket Beit Midrash Service Officer Meir Stein By Philip Steinberg p 34 SCOPE Editorial Board The Last Kiss, The Final Goodbye: A Eulogy Editor Diane Rein By Esor Ben-Sorek, Ph.D. p 36 Art Director Andrew Allen Youth News Contributing Editor Dr. Esor Ben-Sorek By Shoshana Lunzer p 38 Contributing Editor Stanley Fischer Al and Lillian Leiderman z”l Contributing Editor Carol Buckmann 60+ years at Great Neck Synagogue Contributing Editor Dr. William Liss-Levinson By Sharon Goldwyn p 40 Contributing Editor Ron Malen Contributing Photographer Celia Lemonik The Awesome Present and an Awe Inspiring Future By Ron Malen p 43 SCOPE magazine is published three times a year, Sisterhood Message Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah and Pesach, By Farla Frumkin p 44 by Great Neck Synagogue, 26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 What is EMDR? By Lisa Stein p 45 T: 516.487.6100 | F: 516.487.6149 | www.gns.org It is distributed by mail to members and friends of the synagogue. Rebbetzins’ Recipe Corner p 46 Paid subscriptions are available for non-members at $18 per year. Great Neck Synagogue Men’s Club Copyright ©2016 Great Neck Synagogue By Hillel Milun p 48 All articles, logos & material used for another publication or lecture must be expressly requested in writing from GNS. The views ex- Pass It Forward pressed in this magazine are those of the author and may or may not By Nechama Liss-Levinson p 53 reflect the diversity of our membership. Miracles and Wonders By Annie Karpenstein p 56 View previous issues of SCOPE online; scan the QR code below. The Laws of Chanukah p 58 Center For Jewish Life - Charleston, SC By Andy Allen p 62 https://www.gns.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/GNS_SCOPE_C16.pdf SCOPE Chanukah 2016 3 04 Thank you to our wonderful office staff Maxine Nasser, Paula Minsky and Susan Goldstein. I am al- ways appreciative of Rabbi Lichter’s time, effort, ed- itorial assistance, and mostly his sense of humor. Of A Message from the Editor course, Rabbi Polakoff is always available if (when) I need him! Diane Rein Thank you so much to our amazing Art Director, Andrew Allen – we have been partnering on SCOPE for such a long time together – it is Andy’s creative, artistic vision that makes SCOPE so enjoyable for Great Neck Synagogue Magazine our readers. I hope you will personally thank him by email at [email protected]. S|C|O|P|E Finally, on a sad note, I would like to take this oppor- tunity to dedicate my Editor’s Message to a woman who was strong, humble, Torah loving, and the epitomy of an Aishet Chayil – Rahel Ben-Sorek, z”l, beloved wife of my dear friend and eternal Contrib- uting SCOPE Editor, Esor Ben-Sorek. May her mem- ory inspire us and be a blessing. Please read Esor’s beautiful eulogy, “The Last Kiss, The Final Goodbye” Welcome to the Chanukah edition of SCOPE inside this issue to learn more about her life. Wmagazine! On behalf of my husband, David, and our children, Alexander, Oliver and Sophia, I wish you all a very We have many great articles for you to enjoy read- happy Chanukah! ing! Stanley Fischer’s “Where is Your Dreidel?” dis- cusses the origin and history of this much loved Chanukah game. Carol Buckmann always explores fascinating subject matters to write about in SCOPE. “Winston Churchill and Zionism – A Lifelong Passion” is no exception and our readers will enjoy learning Diane Rein about Winston Churchill’s role as an English Zionist ahead of his time. “My Friend Sam,” a beautiful poem authored by Annie Karpenstein, is about our beloved Sam Levitt, z”l. We are delighted to welcome several new SCOPE sponsors who have joined since our Rosh Hasha- nah issue. We greatly appreciate all the support – especially financially - of this publication. We con- tinue to encourage and welcome others to become a sponsor. It costs $36 an issue or $100 for three issues. Thank you so much! Our loyal SCOPE advertisers have also been a tre- mendous source of support and sustenance to this magazine. We urge our readers to support their businesses enthusiastically so that they recognize the value of their partnership with SCOPE and Great Neck Synagogue. So many people help make SCOPE a success! Thank you very much to Executive Director, Mark Twer- sky and Assistant Executive Director, Jimmy Frisch. SCOPE Chanukah 2016 4 Meet Pecan Pecan is a 5 month old yellow Labrador puppy that belongs to the Guide Dog Foundation. The Rein family recently volunteered to raise Pecan for one year and then return her to the Guide Dog Founda- tion when she is old enough to enter their certi- fied training program so she can become a guide or service dog for someone with disabilities. As her puppy raiser, our family has to teach Pecan special behaviors, discipline and commands that will enable her to be a successful service dog. We also have to socialize her as much as possible in all different types of environments. You will even see Pecan at Shabbat services at Great Neck Synagogue! Please remember that when she is wearing her yellow vest do not pet her because she is working. If you are in- terested in becoming a puppy raiser, please contact the Guide Dog Foundation at www.GuideDog.org. Pecan From All of Us at SCOPE May Your Holiday Be Filled With Joyous Laughter & Smiles SCOPE Chanukah 2016 5 06 The victory of the Jews over their Syrian Greek op- pressors was a necessary step for the survival of A Message from our Rabbi the Jewish people. Because it was so necessary, though, the tendency to take it for granted is very Rabbi Dale Polakoff real. Therefore, the rabbis placed the special para- graph that references this military victory of Cha- nukah in the section of the shemoneh esrei known as hoda’ah, in order to remind us that we should al- ways be grateful, even and especially for the things that seem indispensable. At our annual GNS dinner we have the opportunity to publicly express our gratitude for the members of our community that work hard, give generously and care deeply about our synagogue. We should nev- er take that support for granted. But our gratitude needs to extend as well to all of you in our shul who come on a regular basis to services and participate regularly in the myriad of activities our shul offers. We don’t say thank you enough, but want you to Marking the observance of holidays in our prayers is know that we don’t take it or you for granted. Mnothing new. We do it on rosh chodesh, chol ham- oed and other yomim tovim through the addition of Ellen joins me in sending you our warmest regards yaaleh veyavo in the shemoneh esrei, so it should for a bright and enlightening holiday of lights. come as no surprise that Chanukah is the cause for an addition to our shemoneh esrei as well. What is surprising, though, is that Chanukah is not simply another phrase in yaaleh veyavo, but rather it Rabbi Dale Polakoff is marked by its own separate paragraph, and added to the shemoneh esrei in an entirely different place. Yaaleh veyavo is found in the blessing of avodah (worship, the blessing associated with the rebuild- ing of the Beit Hamikdash, when these holidays will be restored to their glory), whereas al hanisim is found in the blessing of hoda’ah (thanksgiving).
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