KAJ NEWSLETTER a Monthly Publication of K’Hal Adath Jeshurun
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KAJ NEWSLETTER A monthly publication of K’hal Adath Jeshurun י' תמוז תש"פ July 2, ‘20 Volume 50 Number 9 RETURN TO OUR BEIS KNESSES, PHASE II -the Kehilla has been able to continue its return ,הקב''ה With an ongoing feeling of tremendous gratitude to to-Shul plan. With seats marked off for social-distancing, masks required at all times, and many other precautions and guidelines in effect, Shul was, as of Shabbos Parashas Shelach, open for both men and women. (From the perspective of the ladies’ gallery it was, in fact, shelach lecho anoshim.) the following week, as of Shabbos Parashas Korach, children under Bar/ Bas Mitzvo were allowed to attend as well. In lieu of the traditional Shabbos Mevorchim sermon on Parashas Shelach, Rav Mantel, on the preceding Wednesday evening, delivered the last of his telephone Divrei Chizuk, and focused on the Kedusho of a Beis Knesses. Ideally, a person does not merely enter Shul, but Shul enters the person! The Rav continued the idea of Shul as a Mokom Kodosh, a Mikdosh Me’at, when, on Shabbos after Mincho he discussed the Mishno in Pirkei Ovos (5:5) which enumerates the ten Nisim which occurred in the Beis HaMikdosh. We owe the Rav many thanks for—among so many other things—the Divrei Chizuk by teleconference that the Rav prepared and delivered for these past few months. that the situation, both locally and on a world-wide scale, continues to stabilize and הקב''ה We pray to improve. זצ''ל AZKORO ON THE SHELOSHIM OF RAV PERLOW An Azkoro was held, via teleconference, on the occasion of the Sheloshim of Rav Yaakov Perlow, on Thursday, June 4th/ 12 Sivon. Nearly 160 different phone lines called in to the Azkoro, at which Rav Mantel, Rav Yehoshua Perlow and Rav Mordechai Stern spoke. All three speakers noted the very special Kesher that Rav Perlow, a Chassidish Rebbe, shared with our German-Mesora Kehilla. A recording of the Azkoro is available on the Kehilla’s website (under the Thursday night Chumash shiurim listing). Recordings of Rav Perlow are also available; if anyone has tapes of his Shiurim and would like to share them, the Kehilla office would be very happy to digitize and then return them. RABBI NOSSON DOV LOWENTHAL As was announced in a recent letter to our membership, Rabbi Nosson Dov Lowenthal has been appointed our new Rosh Kollel, commencing on July 1st. Rabbi Lowenthal will be recruiting new Chavrei HaKollel, .בע''ה ,and will begin delivering Shiurim as of Rosh Chodesh Elul Rabbi Lowenthal is assuming the position that Rav Meir Levi held until his recent retirement. Rav Levi was Rosh Kollel for more than three decades, serving with dedication and distinction. We wish Rav Levi continued Hatzlocho in all his endeavors. 1 Vol. 50, No. 9 KAJ NEWSLETTER Rabbi Lowenthal learned in Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic, under the leadership of Rav Meir Stern and in Yeshiva Gedola of Paterson under Rav Elya Chaim Swerdloff. Rabbi Lowenthal also learned in Yeshivas Brisk (Yerushalayim) and Beis Medrash Govoha (Lakewood), before joining the Riverdale (Telshe) Kollel, where for the ten years he learned there, he delivered both in-depth Chaburos to fellow Avreichim, as well as shiurim to the general Riverdale community. Most recently—for the past two years—Rabbi Lowenthal was a Shoeil uMeishiv in Yeshiva Ahavas HaTorah in Staten Island. Rabbi Lowenthal’s connection to Washington Heights goes back to his grandfather, Rabbi Avrohom Lowenthal, who taught in our Yeshiva for many years, and to the latter’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adolf Lowenthal who, though they did not live in the Heights, were friends and members of the Kehilla for many years. We wish Rabbi Lowenthal much Hatzlocho in his new position here. זצ''ל RAV DR. SHLOMO BREUER The 6th of Av (this year, July 27th) marks the ninety-fourth Yahrzeit of Rav Dr. Shlomo Breuer, son-in-law and successor of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch. Born in Pilisvorosvar, Hungary, Rav Breuer learned under his maternal grandfather, Rav Shimon Wiener, as well as in Nitra, before joining the Pressburg Yeshiva then under the leadership of the Ksav Sofer, Rav Avrohom Shmuel Binyomin Sofer. Rav Breuer led the Frankfurt Kehilla from 1890 until his petiro in 1926. Rav Breuer strengthened and expanded what his father-in-law and predecessor, Rav Hirsch, had built up the Frankfurt Kehilla to be, most noticeably with the establishment, in 1893, of the Frankfurt Yeshiva, (Torah Lehranstalt). It was also during Rav Breuer’s Rabbonus that the imposing Friedberger Anlage Shul was built. Rav Breuer established the “Orthodoxer Rabbinerverband” and the “Orthodoxer Gemeindeverband,” to strengthen both his Kehilla as well as the Kehillos of Germany and beyond. It was in this same vein that Rav Breuer played a major role in the founding of Agudath Israel, in 1912. Rav Breuer’s sermons, collected and redacted as the three volumes of Chochmo uMusar, as well as his Sefer Divrei Shlomo continue to be learned to this day. יהי זכרו ברוך Vol. 50, No. 9 KAJ NEWSLETTER זצ''ל RAV ELIYOHU GLUCKSMAN This coming 4th of Av will mark the sixteenth Yahrzeit of our unforgettable Dayan Eliyohu Dov Glucksman. Originally from Germany, Rav Glucksman, with the support of his wife, Rebbetzin Ruth Glucksman, had where he shared a bench with Rav ,זצ''ל the rare opportunity to learn in the Kollel of the Chazon Ish Rav Glucksman’s Seforim—Birchas HaShulchon .זצ''ל Yaakov Yisroel Kanievsky, the Steipler Go’on (original frontispiece pictured below right) and his Tziyunim on Shas—are well-known. Rav Glucksman developed a unique teaching style which endeared him to hundreds of Talmidim and Talmidos. Rav Glucksman joined the Kehilla in the 1960’s not only as Dayan, but as Youth Director, a role which led to the decades of his teaching in both the Rika Breuer Teachers Seminary and our Beth Jacob high school. Rebbetzin Glucksman, too, taught in YRSRH, as a beloved sixth-grade Morah for many years. Even when Rav Glucksman, due to failing eye-sight, stopped officially teaching, he still would address the classes on occasions such as the anniversary of Kristallnacht, until very close to his petiro. יהי זכרו ברוך זצ''ל RAV MOSHE YEHUDA JACOBOVITS The Yahrzeit of Dayan Moshe Yehuda Jacobovits, the 29th of Av, will fall this year on August 19th. Rav Jacobovits was born in 1890 in Lackenbach, one of the Sheva Kehillos. His father, Rav Shlomo Zalman Jacobovits, was the Dayan of the Kehilla there, a position Rav Moshe Yehuda’s maternal grandfather had also held. Rav Moshe Yehuda learned in Galanta, under Rav Yosef Tzvi Duschinski, and in Pressburg under Rav Akiva Sofer. Rav Jacobovits served as Rav in Köln for twenty years, until the Nazis’ rise to power and the impending Churbon Europe forced him to flee, first to Strasbourg, where he served as Rosh Yeshiva until the outbreak of World War II, then to various locations in France, and ultimately to Switzerland. Through all of his travails, Rav Jacobovits drew those he met close to Torah. Under exceedingly difficult circumstances, he looked to care for the Tzorchei Tzibur of the place he was in, both in France and later in the D. P. camps, seeing to the baking of Matzo for Pesach, the making of Shoforos for Rosh HaShono, Vol. 50, No. 9 KAJ NEWSLETTER to Talmud Torah, the establishment of Shuls, and, in one instance, the construction of a Mikve. After the war, Rav Jacobovits established a Yeshiva in Lugano, Switzerland. When Rav Jacobovits arrived in Washington Heights in 1947, he was appointed Dayan and supported Rav Breuer in all facets of the young Kehilla, including, crucially, Kashrus, as well as taking over for Rav Breuer when the Rav was recuperating from a heart attack. Dayan Jacobovits was Niftar only three years later, in 1950, on Shabbos, the 29th of Av. Some twelve years after his petiro, his widow, Rebbetzin Hanna Jacobovits, and sons published some of his Kisvei Yad on Chumash, the Megillos, and the Hagada shel Pesach, under the title Zichron Moshe. An expanded edition was recently reprinted by his family. יהי זכרו ברוך GRADUATIONS After a senior year to remember, with much of the spring semester taught via Zoom or phone, YRSRH seniors celebrated their graduations with much Simcho, if in a somewhat different form and venue than they, or anyone, might have imagined just a few months ago. Both YRSRH eight grades celebrated their commencements on Sunday, June 21st/ 29 Sivon, in the respective backyards of classmates in New Jersey. Our very best Mazel Tov wishes to the YRSRH junior high school graduates, including our members’ children Raphael Blank, Yitzchak Zev Rosenthal, Avrohom Rubanowitz, and Shlomo Strauss, pictured below, and YRSRH Bais Yaakov Middle School graduates, including Kehilla members’ children Sara Rivky Ashen, Sara Malka Ciner, Russi Cohen, Rivka Gordimer and Golda Kunofsky, pictured following page. Vol. 50, No. 9 KAJ NEWSLETTER The YRSRH Mesivta twelfth grade graduation was held on Thursday, June 18th/26 Sivon in Stolin Hall in Monsey, as the class celebrated their Siyum on Maseches Taanis. Pictured below, Rabbi Shraga Soloveitchik, Menahel, with graduate Eliezer Rosenstock. Our very best Mazel Tov wishes to Kehilla members’ twelfth grade graduates Nechemia Klugmann, Eliezer Rosenstock and Yaakov Rubanowitz, and Misses Basya Chana Rosenthal and Tamar Spoerri. Not to be outdone, the Pre-1A classes succeeded in celebrating their end of year “graduation” and Sidur Party as well: By means of a video hook-up, and drive- (or walk-) by for each individual child’s turn, the children were able to hear and see both their teachers and classmates on their big day.