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Our Gala dinner is Monday, June 16

Help us reach our fundraising goal of $250,000 by making a contribution of any amount here. It will be matched and count double! 

A ticket to attend the dinner in person is $360. We appreciate all of your generous support.

At Bnai Avraham: The OU's Rabbi Weinreb talks about the Rebbe

Congregaiton B'nai Avraham  celebrated the 28th Yom Hilulah of the Lubavitcher Rebbe last Thursday night.

The evening's speaker was Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, pictured with Bnai Avraham's Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin.

Rabbi Weinreb is editor-in-chief of the new Karen Talmud Bavli and executive Vice President emeritus of the Orthodox Union. He spoke at Bnai Avraham about the Rebbe’s immeasurable impact on his own life.

Rabbi Weinreb's column is published every week in The Jewish Star, which can be found in the shul lobby.

You can view Rabbi Weinreb's talk here.

President's Message 7/8/22

Dear friends, 

Chukat, this weeks Parsha, recounts one of the most well-known episodes of the Jewish people’s sojourn in the desert: Moshe striking the rock. The Torah recounts that the Jewish people cried to Moshe about the lack of water. Hashem told Moshe to speak to the rock and water would come forth. Instead, Moshe struck the rock. Water came forth, but Moshe and Aaron were punished for not following Hashem’s instructions.

In his Dvar on the Parsha, Rabbi Mirvis asks why Aaron punished too? He was just an innocent bystander!  Rabbi Mirvis’ answer is that there is nothing “innocent”  about “bystander." One who allows wrong things to happen is guilty.

Rabbi Mirvis even references Edmund Burke’s quote that “all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”  If we see wrongdoing, we have an obligation to speak up. Rabbi Mirvis does admit that there are times when we should stay silent, but that is for the good of the community, not the person. Even in Aaron's case, where speaking out would have meant speaking against the leader of the people, that was obviously the course that should have been followed. Aaron’s punishment proves that. The full Dvar is here: https://chiefrabbi.org/all-media/dvar-torah-parashat-chukat/ ​​​​

• • • 

Speaking up can lead to great things. I encourage anyone with constructive ideas (or criticisms) to contact me, or any member of the Board, so we can see what improvement can be made. As I’ve mentioned here, there will be a Board meeting later this month where any suggestions can be discussed. 

We are in the middle of planning the events for the second half of the year, but I wanted to bring a specific one to your attention. As many of you know, we have a small Daf yomi group that has diligently been learning the entire Talmud since this cycle began two years ago. Last year, we were privileged to make a Siyum during the nine days before Tisha B’Av. There was no Siyum scheduled for this year, but because I’ve been traveling and falling behind, I’ve missed the Siyum for Yevamot. Since the timing works out, it's an opportunity to have another BBQ Siyum during the Nine Days, on Sunday July 31, to officially finish the masekhet. All are invited; details to follow.

I’ll be back next week and should have more to convey, but for now, I wish you all a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat Shalom from Israel.

Steven Inker

Rabbi Raskin's weekly video: Korach

 

 

President's Message: 6/24/22

Dear friends,

This week, Parshat Shlach recounts the story of the spies that Moses sent to scout out the land of Canaan. As we all know, the reports from 10 of the 12 spies were very negative, causing the Jewish people to second-guess the plan, resulting in forty years of wandering and death in the desert. Only the following generation merited entry into the Land of Israel.

The quick take on the story is that the spies lied to the Jewish People, but a closer inspection shows that they did, in fact, tell the truth. The problem was in the framing. In his discussion of the Parsha, Rabbi Mordechai Kaminetzsky quotes the Steipler Gaon, who states that poor attitudes help forge opinions that are diametric to the truth. The spies were against going into Israel so they spoke of fruit being so large it couldn’t be carried and of a plague killing off the people. They could have concentrated on the bounty of the land, and the fact that, because of the plague, the spies were able to go about undetected.

We can look at events in an unbiased way and appreciate the benefits, or we can wear blinders, stick to our guns and pout because things are not how we want them to be. Rabbi Kaminetzky concludes with the thought that when people have sour opinions and only want to see doom and gloom, then even a ray of light will blind them. We have to guard ourselves from only seeing one perspective, and always assuming that our own perspective must be the correct one. 

I’ll be traveling for the next few weeks. We’re planning out the events for the rest of the year and once they are firmed up I will report on them here. 

Wishing you all a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat Shalom from Israel,

Steven Inker

Thu, June 26 2025 30 Sivan 5785