THURSDAY UPDATE: 6 AUGUST 2026
Thank you thank you thank you
We should like to express our deep gratitude to Rabbi Kenigsberg and his team for their efforts in creating a program to mark Rabbi Wein zt’l’s first Yahrzeit that was meaningful, informative and in keeping with the dignity of the moment. An additional yashir kochachem goes to those of you who remembered to mute your cell phones during the proceedings. You are a shining example to those people present who did not.
Rabbi Wein zt’l’s first Yahrzeit event recorded
TorahAnytime recorded last night’s event in full and we will share a link to it once it becomes available. In the meantime, if you want to know how it went, we have published a note on it on The Hanassi Blog, here.
“A legacy of sight, a lifetime of vision”
Last night we received a very beautiful and most moving tribute to Rabbi Wein zt’l from someone who knew him personally and whose family “adopted” him in his later years—Rebbetzin Ariella Goldwicht. You can read her tribute here.
מסר אישי
Rabbi Kenigsberg’s parashah piece for this coming Shabbat is published in English in today’s Hanassi Highlights—but you can try your hand at reading it in Hebrew, thanks to Chat GPT. You can access it here.
Beating about the Gush
Our member Heshy Engelsberg has taken a recent trip to Alon Shvut, which lies at the heart of Gush Etzion (named to signify the "return" (shvut) to the historic oak tree (alon) after the bloc was evacuated during the 1948 War). To see the sights, watch the video here.
To fight, to inspire, to sing!
After maariv on Sunday 6 September we are delighted to host an evening of inspiration with Rabbi Yishay Engelman, who relates his time in combat, his injury and his rehabilitation through words and music. Everyone is invited—and there’s no need to register. Click here for details.
If you still feel inspired after last night …
… and you are looking for a way to share your inspiration with others, please be assured. No-one else has yet come forward to sponsor kiddush this Shabbat. To put your inspirational thoughts to good use, call Ronny Wachtel on 050-440-3214 and he will help you to fulfill our dreams.
***********************************
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: 5 AUGUST 2026
Rabbi Wein zt’l’s first Yahrzeit: arrangements for today
Minchah today will be at the early time of 7.00 pm, following which there will be a special event to mark the first Yahrzeit of our esteemed mara d’atra Rabbi berel Wein zt’l. The event will be held in the upstairs Beit Knesset and, since we expect a large turn-out for the occasions, ladies are requested to head right up to the gallery. Thanks!
Speakers will include Rabbi Joel Kenigsberg, Rabbi Chaim Wein, Rabbi Mordechai Kronenberg and Simon Swidler. We also have a little surprise in store. Please note: this event will not be transmitted on Zoom, but it is to be recorded and the recording will made available to all. Maariv will follow the program.
Rabbi Wein zt’l and his love of Israel
To mark the commencement of Rabbi Wein’s Yahrzeit, Rabbi Kenigsberg chose for last night’s mini-shiur a fitting piece in this week’s parashah, Re’eh, drawn from Rabbi Wein’s book of divrei Torah, BaMesillah Na’aleh. In this piece, we learn what it means to yearn to return—and discover to our surprise that the problems we face today closely resemble those faced by Ezra and Nehemiah more than two and a half millennia back. For more, follow the shiur here.
Repent, body and soul!
On Monday 31 August we welcome author and broadcaster Rav David Samson to our shul where he will give a shiur on “The Art of Teshuvah: making peace between body and soul”. This shiur, arranged together with our friends at OU Israel, will offer some penetrating insights into Rav Kook’s Orot HaTeshuvah. Everyone is welcome. For details, click here.
Movie Matinee: save the date
The Women’s League is proud to announce this month’s Movie Matinee screening: it’s ‘North by Northwest’ and the date is Tuesday 18 August. If you want to know who’s in it, check the flyer here.
******************************************
TUESDAY UPDATE: 4 AUGUST 2026
To know, or not to know? That is the question
When the news is bad, we have three options: we can shrug it off and look to a brighter future, give it full credence, or frame it within its context and respond accordingly. Our member George Moschytz takes us through a poignant case-study on the processing of bad news, with a surprising twist. For more, click here.
Lost, abandoned—or merely unwanted
We’ve been going through the shelves of our Beit Midrash library of late, and have been quite surprised—and not a little embarrassed—at how many of the books on display don’t actually belong to us. We would love to return them to their owners if possible and we’ll be mentioning them, a few at a time, in the hope that their true owners will come forward and be reunited with them. First up are the following
- Chumash im bi’ur Yashar. This is a handsome five-volume commentary on the chumash, in mint condition, by an Italian scholar and philosopher, Rabbi Yitzchak Shmuel Regio (1784-1855);
- Sefer Keli Yakar al Chumash Devarim (2003). This is the commentary of one of our most illustrious scholars, translated into English with a commentary by Rabbi Albert Milton Kanter, Rabbi Emeritus of the Skokie ValleyAgudath Jacob Synagogue;
- Divrei Shira (Lakewood, 1988), this being a work by Rabbi Moshe HaLevi Levin on bein Hametzarim, Aveilut and Kaddish.
If any of these are yours, or you would like to claim them if no-one else does, please email us at bkhanassi@gmail.com and let us know.
Put away your buckets and spades
It may be holiday time but, if you were thinking of disappearing off to the beach on Thursday morning—think again! Rabbi Eitiel Goldwicht will be delivering the next in his series of parashah shiurim to honor the memory of Rabbi Wein zt’l this coming Thursday, as usual. And if you missed last week’s shiur on Parashat Eikev, you can at last find it on TorahAnytime here.
