MONDAY UPDATE: 22 JUNE 2026
Rami Sherman speaks this evening
At 6.30 pm this evening we welcome Rami Sherman, who will recall for us his memories of that great day 50 years ago when he helped lead the brilliantly executed raid on Entebbe airport which rescued a group of Jewish hostages (details here). Since a large attendance is expected, the event will take place upstairs in the main shul. We apologize to those of you whose mobility is limited: our elevator is still out of action—but we do plan to record Rami’s talk and share it will those who are unable to attend.
When that wall collapses on Shabbat…
You don’t know if there’s anyone under the rubble. If there is, can you start digging on the off-chance someone’s there? Does it matter if he is alive—or Jewish? Suppose he’s alive but unlikely to last till Havdalah? When can you stop digging? If you had joined Rabbi Kenigsberg's Tzurba shiur this morning you would know exactly what to do. But it’s not too late to find out! Just click here.
There’s more to Shabbat than collapsing walls
Learning the laws of pikuach nefesh on Shabbat is a solemn and serious business, but our special day of rest has its more relaxing side too when we mark our holiest day with kiddush in the morning and se’udah shelishit in the afternoon. You can commemorate a loved one’s memory or celebrate a simchah by sponsoring one of these prime-time pleasures—and you get to see your name in print in the Hanassi Highlights. To know more, call Ronny Wachtel on 050-440-3214.
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SUNDAY UPDATE: 21 JUNE 2026
Never too late 1
Last week our member Sylvia Lakeland was the guest speaker in a fascinating program, “How to Be Empowered After 60”. Her talk, “It’s Never Too Late—a Personal Story”, was recorded for posterity and we are delighted to host it here.
Never too late 2
We have hired a bus to take us to Rabbi Wein’s Hakamat Matzevah on Tuesday morning, leaving at 9.30 am. Faced with the choice of sitting on each other’s laps or getting a bus that was too big for us, we opted for the latter. This means that we have more spaces available for anyone who, even at this late hour, wants to come to Har HaZeitim with us. If you’d like to come, call or whatsapp Jeremy Phillips on 053-845-5367 and let him know.
Never too late 3
The Torah Anytime link to Rabbi Eitiel Goldwicht’s parashah shiur for Chukkat reached us at precisely 6.22 pm on Friday afternoon—ahead of Shabbat but a little too late for those of us who attended the early minyan and were by that time joyously singing their way through Kabbalat Shabbat. But the Torah is timeless and, if you come to think of it, this link isn’t late at all—it’s just very early for next year. The shiur is called “A New Era of Leadership: Understanding a Changing Generation”—and here it is.
Our Annual General Meeting
All members of Beit Knesset Hanassi should by now have received by email a link to the Agenda for this Wednesday’s Annual General Meeting and second link to an English-language version of the Balance Sheet for the year ending 31 December 2025. If you don’t think you’ve received this email and can’t find it in your email spam folder, email us at bkhanassi@gmail.com and we will forward you a fresh copy.
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FRIDAY UPDATE: 19 JUNE 2026
Some thoughts on this week’s Torah reading
First, we are delighted to bring you links to Rabbi Kenigsberg’s Hanassi Highlights leader on the importance of looking beyond the immediate, both in English and, thanks to ChatGPT, in Hebrew.
Our member Rabbi Paul Bloom takes a look at Moshe Rabbenu’s exclusion from the land of Israel and asks “why?” He also considers the possibility that this was not a punishment for Moshe but a lesson for us, here.
Rabbi Wein zt’l’s sefer BiMesillah Na’aleh provides much enjoyable and thought-provoking content for Rabbi Kenigsberg’s Thursday night mini-shiurim. Here in yesterday shiur we stop and to ask ourselves what we learn from the larger-than-life and outrageously aggadic personality of Og Melech HaBashan.
Finally, we remind of you of our note on Rabbi Eitan Kupietzky’s stunning talk to our shul on the Parah Adumah, which you can devour here.
Shabbat and the Engineering Profession
There was a time when a religious female Israeli engineer was as rare a species as the red heifer. The fact that such people exist at all stands to the credit of our member George Moschytz, who founded the Engineering Department of Bar-Ilan University. Back in 2018 George spoke to our members on the challenges faced by observant prospective Jewish engineers of either gender. He has kindly refreshed his presentation and we are honored to reproduce it here.
Taste the flavor of the exotic East
Well, it doesn’t conjure mental images as exotic as Tashkent or Samarkand, but Givat HaMivtar is an area in the Jerusalem’s East that has attracted the attention of our member Heshy Engelsberg, and this is what he saw there.
