When women learn with women

Beit Knesset Hanassi is privileged to have many fine members who have much to offer the shul and, indeed, the wider community. One such member is Gitta Neufeld. If you have yet to meet Gitta, let us introduce her to you.

Gitta (right) has over 40 years of experience in educational leadership, teacher training and special education in both general and Judaic studies.  She has served as Program Coordinator of the Touro University Masters in Jewish Education and Special Education program, and Director of Education and Pedagogy for the Sephardic Rabbinical College and the Allegra Franco School of Educational Leadership, and worked with Herzog College in Alon Shvut to create and then coordinate a Tanach teaching program.  She is currently an educational consultant for a variety of Jewish educational institutions.  The recipient of multiple awards for teaching and adult education, including the Covenant Foundation Award for Excellence in Education for her work in the Syrian community, Gitta is a Jeopardy! champion, whose Final Jeopardy! question was on Tanach.

Gitta is keen to encourage women-for-women learning here at Hanassi. This is what she says on the topic:

In the Rechavia community, we are blessed with a plethora of women’s shiurim of all types, some of which are hosted in our own Beit Knesset.  Most of these shiurim are frontal, with a learned teacher explaining material and sharing insights. The Hanassi community has many learned women who, though they may not be giving formal shiurim, have much to share.

Collaboratively learning – women learning with women – adds another dimension to the process.  There is an opportunity for deeper engagement in a shared, collaborative and supportive environment.  At the heart of traditional Torah study is chavruta, whose sounds echo in every bet medrash.  By learning collaboratively, we can discuss, debate and analyze the texts together.  Each learner can bring her own unique perspective, knowledge base and background to the process. Collaborative learning also fosters a greater sense of community, strengthening connections and creating a shared purpose as participants delve into texts, share insights and experiences, and arrive at rich and meaningful conclusions. Learning together also models the importance of learning for our families and friends.

If you’d like to know more about Gitta’s ideas, email bkhanassi@gmail.com and we will pass your message on.

Stones that speak: come visit the Jerusalem Archeological Park

We all know that Jerusalem is a city of great beauty -- but beauty is something that lies on the surface. A superficial inspection will easily tell us if something is beautiful or not.  But Jerusalem is far more than that. It is a city of history, and this history stretches back for thousands of years. 

We know of Jerusalem's past from Tanach and from the writings of our earliest sages, and this knowledge has helped nurture our love of Jerusalem for countless generations when we were hopelessly separated from it. However, now we have our city back, and Ir HaKodesh is speaking to us -- not through words but through the very bricks, tiles and stones with which it was built by our ancestors and others in its multifaceted past.

The Jerusalem Archeological Park sheds much light on Jerusalem's physical past. Though mute, its stones and structures offer eloquent testimony to the life and times of its former inhabitants. We thank our member Heshy Engelsberg for sharing with us this video clip of the Archeological Gardens. It lasts a little under 25 minutes and, if you watch attentively, you will even catch a glimpse of Heshy!

You can access this video by clicking here.

A promise deferred, a passive response: Vayechi 5785

The book of Bereishit reaches its climax this week with the deaths of our father Yaakov and of Yosef. The era of the founders of our people ends in relative tranquillity and contentment, albeit on foreign soil. It will be a long and arduous journey for the descendants of Yaakov to return home to the Land of Israel. 

The dark and foreboding era that is about to begin was foretold many years earlier to our father Avraham. From the simple meaning of the words of the Torah, it is apparent that the family of Yaakov made themselves comfortable and settled well in their home in Goshen. Though the promise of Yosef that the Lord would take them forth from Egypt was certainly remembered and passed on from one generation to the next, there was no sense of immediacy regarding this promise and its fulfilment; the Jews would view Egypt rather than the Land of Israel as their home for a long time. They hastened to return to Egypt after burying Yaakov in the Cave of Machpela: it was their home while the Land of Israel was a far distant goal, a dream that would somehow eventually be realized but that had no direct bearing on their day-to-day living. 

This attitude persisted throughout the long history of the Jewish people and of its various exiles, in Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Europe—and today the entire world—where outposts have hosted and still host the Jewish people in our far-flung diaspora. The Jewish people were never in a hurry to leave any of these places and return to the Land of Israel. We have seen this in our time too.

It is difficult to understand why the holy family of Yaakov seems so passive and unresponsive in relation to the Land of Israel. There are commentators who state that they were aware of the heavenly decree that they would have to be strangers in a strange land for many centuries, so they accepted their lot and decided to make the best of it under the circumstances. However, as Maimonides points out regarding the Egyptian enslavement of the Jewish people, Egypt was not preordained to be the oppressor and enslaver of Israel. Nor was it apparently preordained that those early generations of Jews living in Egypt were to fulfil the vision of Avraham to be strangers and slaves in a land that did not belong to them. According to Maimonides the Egyptians had a choice as to whether to enslave the Jews, and the Jews—before their enslavement—equally had the choice of leaving Egypt and returning to their ancestral home in the Land of Israel. However we deal with this baffling issue, there is no question that this represents a template for all later Jewish exiles and for Diaspora Jewry in all times and places. Seemingly, only tragedy moves the Jewish people and, throughout our history, tragedies abound. Let us hope that history does not repeat itself in our time as well. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

Fasting on Friday: the strange case of 10 Tevet

Just two days ago Beit Knesset Hanassi was privileged to host, together with OU Israel, a wonderful lecture by Rabbi Hershel Schachter on Asarah be'Tevet and the implications of that solemn day falling on a Friday. Rabbi Schachter has a whole list of responsibilities to shoulder, being Senior Posek for OU Kosher and Rosh Yeshiva RIETS/Yeshiva University -- but he still found time to come and speak to us for nearly an hour on this highly topical issue. 

OU Israel has posted Rabbi Schachter's shiur in full on its YouTube channel. So, if you didn't get the chance to hear it in person, or if you were there but want to do some chazarah and revise it before tomorrow's tzom, you can enjoy it by clicking here. 

For the record, tomorrow's fast begins at 4.55 am and it goes out at 5.17 pm. If you are fasting, we wish you a צום קל (tzom kal), an easy fast -- and also a meaningful one.

Is Galut so bad?

If you were in shul on Monday afternoon, you would have heard a thought-provoking devar Torah by our member Rabbi Paul Bloom, putting to good use those few but precious minutes that separate minchah from maariv.  An expanded version of Paul’s devar Torah was published the same day on Arutz Sheva’s Israel International News website, here, under the title “Is Galut so bad? Bittersweet Exile - A reflection on Galut and the call of Eretz Yisrael”. This is how it reads:

Many years ago, Rabbi Riskin of Efrat visited Highland Park, New Jersey, and described it as an example of "bittersweet Galut." The community boasts yeshivas, shuls, mikvahs, and kosher restaurants—a vibrant Jewish life in exile. Highland Park is one of many communities worldwide where Jews are well-educated, professionally successful, and comfortably settled. Why would anyone willingly trade such a secure and predictable life for the uncertainties of living in Eretz Yisrael?

This question is not new. Jewish communities have faced this dilemma since the very first exile: the Galut of Egypt. This Galut lead to Bnei Yisrael coming home and eventually building the first Beit HaMikdash , but tragically, 80 percent of the Jews in Egypt were unwilling to leave and perished during the Plague of Darkness.

History has repeated this pattern. For example, during the Babylonian exile, when Cyrus allowed the Jews to rebuild the Temple, only a small percentage returned to Israel.

In early 20th-century Europe, many Jews were persuaded by their rabbis to stay put due to concerns over religious observance in Israel and America. Tragically, countless lives might have been saved had Jewish leadership encouraged emigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s (of course, since Hitler and the Mufti were building concentration camps in today's Israel, they would have not have been saved had Rommel won the Battle of El Alamein, which he thankfully lost).

Hindsight reveals the profound dangers of inertia and complacency, yet radical change remains challenging in every era.

The Comfort of Exile

In Parashat Vayigash, we read how the children of Israel grew comfortable in their new, albeit foreign, surroundings. The Torah states:

וישב יִשְׁרָאֵל בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרִים בְּאָרֶץ גּשֶׁן וַיַחֲזוּ בָּה וַיִפְרוּ וַיֹרְבּוּ מְאָד

"Thus, Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired property there and were fruitful and multiplied greatly" (Bereishit 47:27).

Ya’akov Avinu foresaw the dangers of this complacency and took proactive steps to ensure his descendants would not lose sight of their ultimate mission.

Ya'akov’s Final Request

In this week's parsha, Vayechi, as Ya’akov’s life drew to a close, he summoned Yosef and made an unusual request:

אםּ־נָא מָצָאתִּי חֵן בְּעֵינֵיךּ שִׁים נָא יִדְךּ תַּחֲת יָרַכִי וְעָשִׁיתָּ עָמָדִי חֶסֶד וֶאֵמֶת אַלּ־נָא תְקַבְּרִנִי בֶּמַצָרִים

"If I have found favor in your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh and do kindness and truth with me: do not bury me in Egypt" (Bereishit 47:29).

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains the deeper meaning behind this request. While Ya’akov trusted Yosef to fulfill his wishes, he insisted on an oath to emphasize the importance of not being buried in Egypt. This was more than a personal preference; it was a national message.

Pharaoh and the Egyptians likely viewed Ya’akov's burial in Canaan as a rejection of Egypt. For Ya’akov, this act symbolized that his family did not consider Egypt their true home. After 17 years in Egypt, Ya’akov witnessed how the Nile River began to replace the Jordan River in his family’s eyes. Egypt no longer felt like exile to them. This troubled Ya’akov deeply, prompting his emphatic request to be buried in the land of his forefathers.

By expressing this wish as Yisrael, the bearer of the national mission, Ya’akov left a lasting message: Galut is unnatural, a punishment, and must never become permanent. His descendants were to strive for their return to Eretz Yisrael—not just after death, but ideally during their lifetimes.

Living, Not Just Dying, in Eretz Yisrael

The Chatam Sofer sharply criticized those who choose to live in exile but arrange to be buried in Eretz Yisrael. He interpreted the verse "komemiyut l’artzeinu" (“standing upright to our land”) as a call to return to Israel alive, not posthumously. Chazal also condemned this practice, applying harsh words from Yirmiyahu:

וֶנַחֲלָתִּי שָׁמֶתֶּם לָתֹעֵבָה וַתָּבֹאוּ וַתָּמֹאוּ אֶתּ־אֶרצִי

"You turned My inheritance into an abomination during your lifetimes, and defiled My land after your deaths" (Yerushalmi Kilayim 9:4, Bereishit Rabbah 96).

Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi explained that this critique applies to those who could have lived in Eretz Yisrael but chose not to. The Talmud Yerushalmi teaches that there is no comparison between one who returns their soul in the bosom of their homeland and one who does so in foreign lands.

A Legacy of Longing

Before his death, Ya’akov blessed his grandsons, Ephraim and Menashe:

הַמַלְאָךּ הַגֵּאל אֶתִּי מִכָּל־רָע יְבָרֶךּ אֶתּ־הַנְעָרִים וֶיַקָרֵא בָּהֶם שְׁמִי וֶשָׁםִי אַבֹתָי אַבְרָהַם וֶיִצְחַק וִיֳדְגוּ לָרֶב בְּקֵרֶב הָאֶרֶץ

"May the angel who redeemed me from all evil bless the lads, and may my name be called upon them, and the names of my fathers, Avraham and Yitzchak; and may they multiply greatly in the midst of the Land" (Bereishit 48:16).

Ya’akov’s blessing subtly reinforced the importance of longing for Eretz Yisrael. By connecting their blessing to the land, he reminded them of their true homeland and their duty to return.

Eretz Yisrael: The Source of All Blessings

Chazal teach that all blessings flow from Zion:

• Torah: כִי מִצִּיוֹן תָּצְא תֹורָה "For out of Zion shall Torah go forth" (Yeshayahu 2:3).
  
  
• Blessing: יְבָּרֶכְּךּ ה' מִצִיוֹן "May the Lord bless you from Zion" (Tehillim 128:5).
  
  
• Life: כְּטָלִל חַרָמֹן שֶׁיֹרֶד עָל־הָרְרֵי צִיוֹן כִּי שָׁם צָוָה ה' אֶתּ־הַבְּרָכָּה חַיִּם עַד־הָעוֹלָם "Like the dew of Hermon that descends upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, eternal life" (Tehillim 133:3).

Today, the opportunity to live in Eretz Yisrael is within reach for almost every Jew. Yet many remain in the comfort of exile, ignoring the profound call of our forefather Ya’akov.

The Time to Act

Will we heed Ya’akov’s warning and take steps to leave the Galut? The land of Israel awaits—a land of unparalleled blessings and divine connection. Let us rise to the challenge, fulfill our destiny, and begin planning our future in the land of our forefathers.

Making Holocaust remembrance meaningful: a day for universal kaddish

Tomorrow the Jewish world commemorates the tenth day of Tevet, one of the many sad dates that form the Jewish calendar. The date commemorates the beginning of the siege and eventual destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is one of the four biblical fast days that were ordered by the rabbis and prophets of Israel, and is accepted by all of the Jewish people, having been observed for many centuries.

After the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust the Jewish people and the State of Israel searched for a proper date and method to give expression to their grief in remembering the innocent victims of that terrible unprecedented slaughter. The State of Israel set a date at the end of the month of Nisan as Yom HaShoah. This observance includes the sounding of a siren, a minute’s silence, special memorial programs, together with somber music and serious programming on the radio and television.

The Holocaust has also been memorialized in films, museums, books, lectures and almost every other means. However, the rabbinate of Israel sought to commemorate the tragedy in a different, more traditional manner. They set aside the tenth day of Tevet as the day of memorial and of universal recitation of Kaddish in memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust.  

In Jewish history all tragedies have been marked and remembered by fasting. Since the tenth of Tevet is a fast day, the rabbinate attached the universal Kaddish day for the Holocaust to it. Aside from the four usual fast days—the tenth of Tevet, third of Tishrei, seventeenth of Tamuz and the ninth of Av—there were additional fast days such as the twentieth of Sivan, which Eastern European Jews observed. These fast days commemorated the pogroms and expulsions that Ashkenazic Jewry experienced over the centuries, from the Crusades through Chmielinicki and beyond.

Whenever possible, the commemorations such as that for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain were attached to the ninth of Av or other fast days. That was always the pattern in Jewish life. But one of the great difficulties of modern Jewry is how to commemorate the enormous events that have occurred to us in the last century. How is the establishment of the State of Israel to be commemorated? How is the memory of the victims of the Holocaust to be sanctified?

In Jewish tradition all great events have been commemorated within a religious context. However, in our time, when a great section of the Jewish people and its substantial leadership no longer saw themselves bound by traditional religious norms, the questions of commemoration mentioned above have produced very controversial results. Religious Jewry attempted to install a religious tone into these otherwise secular commemorations. The success of doing so has been only partial and therefore a great deal of ambivalence regarding these commemorations remains.

The universal Kaddish recital on the tenth of Tevet is the religious attempt to have a unified memorial service in a manner that is dignified, traditional and acceptable to all Jews. My personal impression is that this commemoration has gained some momentum over the past few years. Whether it will ever be able to gain the universal acceptance that the rabbinate hoped that it would achieve remains yet to be seen.

As the generation of the Holocaust falls to the attrition of time, the difficulty of commemorating the Holocaust in a meaningful fashion to new generations of Jews increases. The efficacy of a universal Kaddish day, such as on the tenth day of Tevet, depends on some sort of Jewish feeling and emotion. To create such a feeling or emotion without recourse to Jewish tradition, faith and ritual becomes a very difficult task. Thus the tenth of Tevet and its universal Kaddish day message reveals the deep problem of Jewish identity and the place of tradition and some sort of religious ritual in our society and lives.

The Jewish world, in its historical memory, forgets little if anything. That is why the commemoration of events in Jewish history, both tragic and triumphant, remains embedded in Jewish life. Though the form that remembrance of the events of Jewish history takes may vary from time to time and generation to generation, we can be certain that Jewish memory and eternity will prevail. Therefore the universal Kaddish day on the tenth of Tevet takes on greater importance than just being a day of fasting and commemoration. It is a day of national rededication to the values, history and mission of the Jewish people.

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein      

Chasing the mechanical rabbit: Rabbi Wein

“The Impending Disaster” was the title of the eighth and final lecture in Rabbi Berel Wein’s series, “The Jewish World 1880-1914”. The disaster in question was the First World War which, with perfect hindsight, could have been predicted and prevented. However, the overwhelming force of inertia made it impossible for the major European powers to change their collision course. In addition, the fact that the monarchs of so many of Europe’s nations were related, and indeed were on good terms with one another, was regarded as a sort of insurance policy.

The main thrust of this lecture was conceptual, not geographical in its focus as Rabbi Wein sought to sum up the major points that he had raised in previous weeks and tie them together, painting a depressing picture of the state of Judaism before war broke out. Rampant assimilation, conversions based on convenience rather than conviction and the quest for university admission in preference to Jewish scholarship were trademarks of Jewish social and cultural behaviour at that time. “The Jews are always chasing the mechanical rabbit”, quipped Rabbi Wein, meaning that we have a tendency to pursue ends that are nugatory and valueless.

Even within the orthodox community there were rifts and disputes: should they secede from the majority or not, and should they preach that poverty and hardship are conditions that had to be accepted?

Rabbi Wein then painted with a broad brush a picture of world history that lay outside the scope of his earlier geographical lectures. This included a review of the growth and sustained force of the British Empire as well as the Russo-Japanese War which shocked European complacency and demonstrated that Europeans did not enjoy ethnic superiority over their Asian rivals.  He also spoke of developments in military technology, particularly where artillery replaced sheer weight of numbers as the decisive factor in battle, and of the succession of national alliances that characterised the period.

Giants clash -- but who is the real winner? Vayigash 5785

The opening verses of this week's Torah reading are among the most dramatic and challenging in the entire Torah. Two great, powerful personalities in the house of the children of Yaakov—Yehudah and Yosef—engage in a clash and debate of epic proportions over the release of their brother Binyamin.

 At first glance it seems obvious that Yosef has the upper hand in his struggle. After all, he is the viceroy of Egypt, the commander of the palace guards who are armed and ready to do his bidding. In contrast Yehudah has very limited options as to what to say and what to do in order to obtain the release of Binyamin. Yosef’s position of power appears unassailable but the impassioned plea of Yehudah cannot easily be ignored. 

Since each of the two great antagonists, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, has the power to prevail over the other, perhaps we can conclude that neither is the victor in this clash of ideas and worldviews. The true champion who emerges from this story is the hoary old Yaakov. Seemingly isolated back in the land of Canaan, mourning and despondent as to the fate of his family, he shouts in anguish: “Yosef is no more, Shimon is no more; both of them will be lost to me!” It is this image of their father that haunts both Yehudah and Yosef. Each, in his own way, wishes to do justice to his father and to everything that he represents. And it is this selfsame image of Yaakov that brings Yosef to the climax of the story and to his ability, nay necessity, to reveal himself and be reconciled with his brothers. 

Jewish rabbinic thought over the ages has always sought to make the story of Yosef and Yehudah relevant to each generation of Jews. I think that the most relevant message for us from this great narrative is that it is the image of our ancient father Yaakov that truly hovers over all of our current struggles. It is our tasknot merely to win the debate with our other brothers or even with outside powers that are seemingly stronger and greater than we are, but rather to remain faithful to the old man that we can no longer see but who is always with us.

What gives both Yehudah and Yosef troubling pause in the midst of their impassioned debate is their uncertainty as to what their father would think of their words and their actions. It is this unseen presence of Yaakov that drives the brothers to reconciliation and to restoring a common purpose in their lives and those of their families. Father Yaakov has looked down at every generation of the Jewish people and—one way or another—every generation has been forced to ask itself “What would Yaakov think of us, our words and our behavior?”

It is this ever-present idea in Jewish life that has been an aid and a boon to our seemingly miraculous survival as a people and as a faith. We may not see Yaakov but we can be certain that he is there with us today as well. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein

Happiness in our hall!

Last night--indeed, the very last night of 2024-- the Hanassi Beit Midrash, which doubles as a hall, resonated to some very happy sounds. The reason? We were hosting a special event--a batmitzvah celebration by 31 families of evacuees from Shlomi, close to the Lebanese border. 

Not everyone in Rechavia is familiar with Shlomi. Though the modern town of Shlomi was founded in 1950, it has ancient antecedents: on the road between Shlomi and Kibbutz Hanita, Israeli archaeologists found the remains of Pi Metzuba, This prosperous town got name-checks both in the Talmud Yerushalmi and in the Tosefta (Shevi'it 4:8). Pi Metzuba was destroyed in the early seventh century when Persia (yes, it was those Iranians again) invaded the region as part of its broader conflict with the Byzantine part of the Roman Empire.

Anyway, following targeted attacks by Hezbollah and Palestinian factions based in Lebanon, Shlomi -- a border town of around 7,500 inhabitants -- was evacuated. Some of the town's residents are currently based locally in Jerusalem, many in hotels. As such, they do not have a natural focal point for their communal activities.

The families of the young ladies who were bat mitzvah said that, with all the upheavals they have experienced and dislocation in their regular lives, they were truly pleased just to be able to do something absolutely normal for a change -- to celebrate a family simcha in a real shul hall and with all the fun and fanfare that goes with an absolutely normal celebration. We may not have been there last night but we can still share their sense of simcha by enjoying the photos which they have shared with us. 

Rabbi Aharon Ziegler a.h.

Earlier this month we lost our dear member Rabbi Aharon Ziegler, a.h. We have now received from his family the following memorial and one of his divrei Torah, which we share with you now:

Rabbi Aharon Ben Tzvi Ziegler A”H was small in build but very large in stature. He influenced many people through his teachings, lectures, articles and personal interactions. He will surely be missed by family, friends and Klal Yisroel. May his memory be a blessing for all.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

We Jews are referred to as “Yehudim”, because most of us come from Shevet (tribe of) Yehudah. This is the most common reason given for our name, even though there are numerous other names that our people and religion could go by. Yet there is glaring reason for that choice of our name, which I heard from Rabbi Weiss based on our parasha.

In the narrative, Yosef takes Shimon as hostage and demands that the brothers bring Binyamin to Mitzrayim (Egypt), as a precondition for both Shimon’s release and then he will provide more food for Ya’akov’s family. Ya’akov Avinu is understandably hesitant. Having already lost Yosef, his favorite, he fears losing Binyamin his only remaining son from his beloved wife Rachel. It is here that Yehudah bravely rises to the occasion to declare that he would act as an orev, a surety, a guarantor for Binyamin. “If I don’t return him”, he says to his father Ya’akov, “I will bear the sin forever” (Bereishit 43:9).

Yehuda’s pledge is highly unusual. Normally when a debtor guarantees collateral, the collateral comes from a third party, other than the debtor himself. Here, Yehudah takes his obligation to a higher level. Yehudah himself is both the one who makes the commitment as well as is the guarantor. This indicates how seriously Yehudah takes the pledge or the areivut he is offering.According to Rav Soloveitchik, areivut means more than just another concern for a fellow Jew. It means that I am a surety—each and every Jew is a surety for every other Jew. Just as a surety is held responsible as if he had been the debtor, so also, every Jew is a surety for all the spiritual obligations of every other Jew.

The Mishnah in Shabbat (54b) states that a Jew in not permitted to have his animal work or carry things on Shabbat. However, the cow of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya did go out in public carrying a ribbon on its horns, ( a practice of which the other Rabbis disapproved). Then the Gemara asks, “what do you mean by the cow of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya. Did he have only one cow, that you identify it with him”? He had over 120,000 animals!”. So the Gemara responds, “No! We are not referring to an animal of his. We refer to an animal in his community—but  since Rabbi Elazar did not object, we hold him responsible!”

Our obligation to our fellow Jew is unique. As we are more connected to our inner family with whom we share a common tradition, history and destiny, so too concerning our larger family—the  people of Israel. Hence we are called Yehudim, as we are named after the person who so intensely exemplified Ahavat Yisrael.

Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi (1075-1141) noted that all Israel can be compared to a human body. When one limb hurts, the entire body is affected. All Jews are one body. When one Jew is in pain, Jews everywhere feel that pain. And when a Jew dances and experiences joy, we all dance and feel the joy. We pray that our community will be full of joy and Semachot.

The family add that, if anyone wishes to send a donation in his memory, can they please donate to the Almanot of Chayalim fund (English version here, Hebrew version here).

Concepts of Judaism, by Isaac Breuer (Book of the Month, Tevet 5785)

 Rabbi Isaac Breuer (1883-1946) was a major figure in twentieth century Neo-Orthodoxy, following

n the footsteps of his maternal grandfather Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch. Though he both trained and practised as a lawyer, it is as a religious and political personality that he was best known, being the first President of Poalei Agudat Yisrael.

Rabbi Breuer was also a noted thinker and author, whose deep thought is well reflected in Concepts of Judaism, a selection of his writings selected and compiled by Jacob S; Levinger. Although the Neo-Orthodoxy movement had defined itself from the start largely as an opposition to the German Reform movement, Rabbi Breuer already regarded the Reform movement of his day as essentially the impotent and dying remnant of the Haskalah. For him, the real enemy of Orthodoxy was both political Zionism and Religious Zionism, which he considered especially dangerous because they possessed an authentic Jewish instinct and impulse. The goals of the Zionists paralleled the goals of his own Agudah organization in many areas ("reunification of land and nation"), but without the stress which Agudah laid on adherence to halachah and tradition. Indeed, he envisioned a Messianic Torah state in the land of Israel, and could not abide the idea of "reunification of land and nation" coming to pass through the agency of secular Zionist forces in the form of a secular state.

This work is part of the Marvin N. Hirschhorn library, which is housed in Beit Knesset Hanassi.

The meaning of 'Oz'

Last night, our Beit Knesset Hanassi community gathered for a deeply moving and meaningful Melave Malka, featuring Rabbi Doron Perez, Executive Chairman of World Mizrachi. The evening was more than just an opportunity to come together for song, learning, and good food. It also provided a timely opportunity to hear an extraordinary message of faith, resilience, and strength in the face of unimaginable loss.

Rabbi Perez (shown here addressing us) shared personal reflections on the tragic passing of his son, Daniel Perez Hy”d, who fell in battle on October 7th while defending Nahal Oz. Daniel’s heroic legacy is a source of strength for his family and Klal Yisrael, even as his body remains in captivity. In his remarks, Rabbi Perez illuminated the profound significance of the word "Oz" – the name of Daniel's tank battalion, the kibbutz he defended, and the numerical value of this year marking 77 years of the State of Israel.

Rabbi Perez connected "Oz" to its myriad appearances in our tefillot, weaving together its deeper meanings with lessons of Jewish courage and faith. He spoke about the contrast between the opening of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch, where one begins with gevurah and the other with oz, emphasizing that oz represents the strength to stand up for what we believe in. At this pivotal time in Jewish history, when Jews around the world face attacks for defending Israel, Rabbi Perez reminded us of the critical need for oz – the inner fortitude to act with conviction and unwavering belief.

The evening was enriched by a warm and delicious milky meal, including latkes that truly captured the festive spirit of Chanukah. We owe special thanks to Shirley March and Judy Gilbert for their tireless efforts in organizing every detail of the event and creating such a welcoming atmosphere. Our heartfelt gratitude also goes to John Graham, whose musical accompaniment added a soulful dimension to the evening.

As we lit up the night with Torah, music, and camaraderie, we left inspired to carry the message of oz into our lives. May we continue to draw strength from one another and from the example of heroes like Daniel Perez Hy”d as we stand tall in defense of Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael.

Thank you, Rabbi Kenigsberg, for providing us with this summary.