Tag: shul

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Excitement was in the air as the 12th Siyum HaShas of the Daf Yomi cycle approached. Mendy, who had joined the Daf seven and-a-half years earlier, eagerly anticipated taking part in this major event at MetLife Stadium along with 93,000 other participants.

A few years ago, I happened to be in Los Angeles for the fast of Tisha B'Av. Towards the end of the fast, between afternoon and evening prayers, the rabbi of the shul asked if I could say a few words to the congregation to explain the significance of the holy day and the fast.

Mr. Blank worked through the summer, so his family stayed in the city. "It would be nice to get away to the country for a weekend," his wife suggested.

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When Tevye walked back to his wagon, Ruchel was missing. Tzeitl reported that a young man from the village had unharnessed Tevye's horse and taken it to the barn for a feeding. Apparently, he had taken Ruchel with him. Tevye's eyebrows rose in surprise. Of all of his daughters, Ruchel most resembled his Golda.

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The Alperts needed some work done around their house. The contracted Mr. Fixler, a general handyman, to do the job. While working on one of the fixtures, Mr. Fixler accidentally knocked his drill off the ladder. It landed with a thud on the floor of the entranceway, cracking a tile.

Mr. Meyers scurried around the wedding hall, making sure everything was properly in place; his son was getting married. "Could you please watch this envelope?" he asked his close friend, Mr. Koenig.

Mr. Scher had a portfolio manager for his investments, but preferred to track certain stocks himself. One was TorahTech, a start-up that specialized in harnessing new technology to disseminate Torah.

Mr. Sam Braun stood at the back door of his house with another man dressed in rugged jeans and a baseball cap, surveying the back yard. The man had a tape measure in his hands, and took measurements along the length and width of the yard. The two then walked to the side of the house and again measured and talked, gesticulating with their hands.

In the 19th century, the heart of European Jewry – its centers of Torah learning, its crown of glory – was centered in the vast expanse of the Russian Empire. There, under the hand of the czars, lived millions of Jews – poor in material wealth but blessed with a love of Torah and a dedication to their faith that was unshakeable.

"Welcome to the bar mitzvah celebration of our dear son, Eliezer," Mr. Siegel announced to his guests. "The bar mitzvah boy will now make a siyum Mishnayos, which will be followed by the main course."

It's Iyar 11, the yahrzeit of Methuselah at the 969 years of age (according to one opinion). I suppose on this day Jewish geezers go down to the park and pass judgment on the pigeons (You call that pecking?). It's also the yahrzeit, in 1884, of Judah Philip Benjamin, the second Jewish senator in U.S. history (from Louisiana), who also served in the cabinet of President Jefferson Davis (yes, yes, they lost).

One thing is certain about Robert Feinland - he has shuls on his mind. His career has spanned over 40 years, exploring landscape, cityscape, sculpture and abstraction. For many of those years he has focused on the relentlessly changing urban landscape of New York, feeling the necessity to document and, in some way preserve, the physical fabric of the city he loves. A selection of recent paintings, most concentrating on the Crown Heights community, is currently at the Chassidic Art Institute. Many of the images are of shuls.

Yankel drove with his wife to the yeshiva's annual dinner. "I hope we'll be able to find parking," she said.

Former pro-Soviet Jewry activist and local Upper West Side all around tzadik Glenn Richter has been collecting food from the Ohav Zedek synagogue and similar institutions and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently, when he attempted to bring a traditional Shabbat cholent leftovers from a shul kiddush, he was refused on account of the Bloomberg administration's decree against giving too much salt, fat and fiber to the homeless.

It’s my first moment of wakefulness, and I’m chilled to the bone. Pull the covers over myself, I’m thinking, while I decide to roll over to look at the clock. It’s 5:30 a.m. and I’m exhausted. But attending morning minyan – even once – is the least I can do.

Shmuel Bender and Asher Beckerman were study partners (chevrusas). They also sat next to each other in shiur. Shmuel felt fortunate to have the privilege of learning with Asher, whom he admired greatly.

"When someone completes his job faithfully you must pay him fully, even if no benefit comes from the work. For example, if a person ordered a delivery of medicine for a critically ill patient, and the person died or recovered meanwhile, the driver must be paid."

Shabbat is a time of menuchah, of rest. It is also a time of simcha, of happiness. We are often too busy during the week to stop and think about how we can do something simple to bring simcha into someone else’s life. When we can combine the menuchah of Shabbat together with its inherent simcha, we can bring ohr laYehudim, light to all of us.

In this week’s parshah the Torah discusses many of the various aspects of the mishkan. The Torah dictates in detail the manner in which the walls of the mishkan were to be erected. At the instructions’ conclusion, the pasuk says, “Vahakeimosa es hamishkan, k’mishpato asher har’eisa bahar – and you shall erect the mishkan according to its laws, as you will have been shown on the mountain” (Shemos 26:30).

"Although a shomer sachar is generally obligated in theft and is expected to watch extra carefully, he can stipulate with the owner for a lower level of responsibility . . . A number of authorities maintain that when the owner was aware of the conditions in which the merchandise would be kept, it is considered as a stipulation that such guardianship suffices."

Sixty years ago and fifty years ago. 1952 and 1962. They were memorable years for many of us.

Border Policeman was caught on camera stealing from a shul pushkah.

Kanner Hall was the site of Ohr HaChaim’s recent annual melaveh malkah. The shul, known as the Spiegel Shul and located in the Fairfax-Hancock Park community, was originally founded by Spiegel family members. The Spiegels still tend to the shul’s needs.

"Fine & Feder Furniture" had been a landmark in the shopping center for decades. The two partners had opened a small store thirty years before and now ran a humongous showroom. Rumors were circulating of a breakup in the partnership, though, due to developing mistrust.

"Yosef, congratulations on your graduation!" said Uncle Sam. "I want to buy you a new bike as a present."

It’s not often that I get to speak to a rabbi about to celebrate his 99th birthday.

"Do you realize that it's Shaindy's 30th birthday in a month?" Sara asked Penina. "It's amazing how time flies!"