I I 85th ANNIVERSARY DINNER OF CONGREGATION l;IETH EL OF BORO PARK Honoring our Revered and Illustrious Rabbi SEAVIEW JEWISH CENTER Brooklyn, New York May 30, 1988 1 Greetings from the Officials and Officers of <(iO/~ f?lJeUv gt o/ ~ ~a4/p . Rabbi ............................... : ............ Dr. Israel Schorr Cantor ........................................ Rev. Benzi on Miller Religious Director ............................. Rev. Raphael Moses President .............................. ·.......... David Silverman Vice President ...... ................................ Nathan Arlan Vice President ............ .. ..................... Herman Pollock Comptroller . .... ................................... William Helft Treasurer . ............. ...................... .. .. Benson Lazarus Secretary ........................... ................ Irving Kaplan Greet1n9As f!~m the Officers of 9t~J/I~~~ Presidium .. ....... ....... ..... ................. .. Past Presidents Treasurers ...................... Goldie Herman and Judy Neiman Financial Secretary .............. : .................... Rose Levine Corresponding Secretaries . .. .......... Mimi Arlan, Muriel Milstein Recording Secretary ............................... Sylvia Meltzer Social Secretaries ....................... Lillie Chalfin, Sara Kwitel, Beatrice Pollock and Ida Zimmerman 2 L I ,/- .. CONGREGATION BETH EL OF BORO PARK DEDICAT ES THI S JOURNAL TO ~12'(:\n '.li i1 ))i)~ , U'lJNi lli\.JY 9/)l/. ,~.vuud /7~ N" \.J'J 'lJ Who has honored our Shul With 50 years of Exceptional Service and Who has devoted himself tirelessly to many Organizations and Institutions on ~ehalf of Eretz Yisroel and Klal Yisroel for more than 60 years 3 .. ) I From Wiszhnoweick to Boro Park Our Beloved Ra bbi, Dr. Israel Schorr was born in the early 1900's in Wiszhnoweick, a small town in Galici a, Poland. During World War I, he went to Hungary where he studied at the Papa Yeshiva (a division of Unsdorf Yesh iva) . His advanced study was under the tutelage of the Gaon, Rav Maier Arack, ?11 :s t and he was wi dely known as an ' 1?Y. Rav Arack in his Smicha letter of recommendation descri bed him as a 1'9':::11 "l'• n wh ich characterizes him to this day. :::i1n 1nm received his m n1? nDmo in 1923 from Rabbi s Mei sels, Rappaport and Wi llig, three of the greatest European Sages of that era. The newly ordained Ra v began his community service as a mn m m m - v1 in Kosov in 1924. In 1926 Rabbi Schorr was married in Cracow to a Bora Park girl, Baila Diamond. In 1927 he came to the U.S. with his wife to begin the Bora Park phase of his life as the Rav of Cong.Tiferes Yisroel where he served for four years. Rabbi and Mrs. Schorr were blessed with a daughter, Goldie, who had an outstanding academic career at. Shulamith School for Girls, New Utrectht H.S. and Barnard College. Goldie married Dr. Lawrence Horowitz who is one of the lead ing Gastroenterologists in N.Y.C. and their three ch ildren are a source of great pride and joy to their grandfather. Mitchell is an M.D. (Rad iologist), Barbara excelled in science at Yale University and Susan is presently attending Princeton University. Before coming to Beth El, Rabbi Schorr was the Rav for six years at Congregation Sais Yisroel. During this period, he was also a Rosh Yeshiva at the Yitzchok El chanan , Yaakov Yosef and Shlomo Kluger Yeshivas . 4 .. Not only was Rabbi Schorr a brilliant scholar and teacher of Torah , he was also very successful in the secular academic world . In 2112 years at Eron Prep, he obtained a High School Equivalency Diploma and with great alacrity went through the Baccalaureate, Masters and. Doctorate programs in English literature at Columbia University. His leadership qualities were recognized by his fellow rabbis who have chosen him for the past five years to be the Yoshaiv Rosh of the Vaad Harabonim of Boro Park. He was the President of Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi for two years and was Chairman of the Board of Education of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva. A listing of his other activities would be endless but to mention just a few - on behalf of Israel, U.J.A., Israel Bonds and Vaad Hachinuch Hatorani, on behalf of the local Torah world, Machzikei T.T. , Etz Chaim, Sh ulamith and Toras Emes Yeshivas, H.l.D.E.C. and P'Tach and on behalf of the community at large, Israel Zion Hospital - later Maimonides Hospital, Infants Home, Jewish Chaplain of the N.Y. C . Sanitation Dept. and many more. In 1976 Rabbi Schorr was given the honor of delivering the Opening Praye r for the U.S. Congress. As to his Beth El service, most of you are familiar with his magnificent brilliance as teacher, lecturer, sermonizer and darshon. Many of you, in good times and bad have benefited from his friendship and counsel. Congregation Beth El has been most fortunate to have had as its Rav for 50 years and hopefully 0>1vy1 nNr.i ;y, a Rav who has achieved world wide recognition as one of the· 1nn >'/nl. 5 .. SUNSHINE AND MOONLIGHT Umbrellas were not originally used as protection against the rain. People of olden times were not bothered by rain. Rain was a blessing . The C hi nese had umbrellas twelve centuries befo re the c o mmon era. They used a large leaf of some tropical plant to sh iel d themselves against the heat of the sun. In later years, umbrellas of fabric appeared and were used as a symbol of dignity and high office. The G reek and Roman women used parasols to preserve the whiteness of the sk in which today is out of vogue- especial ly if Jesse Jackson wins second place, brow n skin w ill be "in". The umbrella is still with us. One often wishes that someone would invent a gadget to be used as a shield against th e li melight and spotlight that are liable to shine on one who would rather prefer to remain obscure. T here are those who would like to avoid the glare refl ected on them by celebration. T hey would prefer to give honor to others rathe r than bei ng the recipients of honor. However, since there is no such mechanical contrivance, one has to submit to the display. There is a phrase irl the Psalms (19-7) mnnn 1no) VN1, "There is no hiding from the heat." Regardless of these musings, I feel privileged to be the Guest of Honor of a glorious Shul among prominent dignitaries and dear f riends. You intend by means of this dinner to express your feelings of loyalty to the Shul and to the service offered by my humble se lf for f ifty years for the sa ke of Torah and Judaism, along the lines of Rabbinical duties and devotion. It is exalting and exhilirating. It would only be conceit to deny the gladness and delight that I experience through this gala event. 6 However, one cannot ignore the sad side effects evoked at this occasion by looking to the right and left in search of the many distinguished people who gave so much of themselves- their spirit, energy and money to sustain our Shul. They granted me encouragement and inspiration and are now absent and denied the chance to share the satisfaction of the achievements and accomplishments of the later years with nostaglia. Memories can surely tighten our hearts. Along with these emotions, one cannot help but feel subdued by the many failures and frustrations one has met by not doing what one should have done and failed to do. As the moon turns its bright side toward us, we do not get a view of the dark side because of the uniform rotation. It takes exactly the same time to turn around its own axis that it takes to go once around the earth. Likewise, a person displays his bright side to the viewer and conceals his dark side. May the "Eternal" judge us by the limited good deeds we have done and forgive us what we have left undone. If we have succeeded in reaching a certain peak, may time not flatten it and flattery not inflate us. May the sunshine encourage us to do mo.re and the moonlight console us to be content with what we he have done. Rabbi Dr. Israel Schorr 7 .. It is my pleasure as president to extend my warmest greetings to al l of you gathered here this evening. Yo u have come to honor our esteemed and illustrious Rabbi, Dr. Israel Schorr at this banquet which celebrates the completion of fifty years as our beloved rabbi and spiritual leader. Our Guest of Honor is most deserving of the Kavod we are bestow ing upon him. Rabbi Schorr has been a ve ry ded icated servant to our people and to Jewish causes. His devotion to our Shu I has'earn ed him our deepest grat itude. We all pray th at the Almighty grant him many more years of good heal th and strength to continue his noble work on behalf of Beth El and Klal Yisroel. On behalf of my fellow officers, governors, members and myself, I w ish to extend heartfel t than ks to ou r Dinner and Journal Chairmen, Rubin Horowitz and Pa ul Roth an d to our Journal Edito r, William Michaelson. A special "Y'yasher Koach" to Muriel Milstein and Nathan Arlan for thei r many months of d iligent efforts which made possible this most successfu l evening. To those gathered here this evening, I express my si ncerest appreciation for your continued loyalty, dedication and devot ion to our Shul. David Si lverman Rabbi Dr. Israel Schorr, our spiritual leader at Co ngregatio n Beth El of Bora Park for the past 50 years, has been an inspiration to everyone w ho has come in contact with him.