Lord Mayor John So and Rabbi Chaim Herzog in the Sukkah
Rabbi Boruch Lesches, formerly Rosh Yeshiva in Sydney, has moved to the United States where he is Rav of the Chabad community in Monsey, NY. COL has an article and photos of him conducting a farbrengen in Crown Heights this Sukkos (see here).
This is not the first time he has farbrenged in Crown Heights in the short time that he has lived in the States. Obviously his talents are appreciated more over there than they were Down Under.
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The "Tefillin Stand" at the KotelA choshever balaboss named IB came up to me in the break between Musaf and Mincha today and said he needed to tell me something that recently happened to him in Eretz Yisrael when he went to his grand-daughter's wedding.
The morning of the wedding he went to the Kossel with members of the wedding party. While there he put on Tephillin at the Chabad table and got all those with him to do so as well. Later that evening at the wedding he suddenly felt unwell and when they gave him some water to drink he couldn't swallow it and then the glass dropped from his hand. His daughter (mother of the kallah) is a doctor and she immediately told him that he was having a stroke. They rushed him to hospital where he was indeed diagnosed with a stroke and by that time he was totally paralyzed on one side and was unable to talk. They gave him various medications and hooked him up to all sorts of machines. Eventually he fell asleep. While asleep he dreamt that a Rabbi came to see him. He recognized from the pictures that he had seen that it was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe asked him if he had put on tephillin that day and he answered eagerly that he had put them on with the Rebbe's Chassidim at the kossel. The Rebbe asked him to show him - so he pulled up his sleeve and the marks from the straps were clearly there. The Rebbe's face lit up with a huge smile and he put his hand on the man's arm and said "Zeit gezunt" and then walked off. The balaboss woke up the next morning and to the astonishment of the doctors and his family he was able to move and talk without any problem whatsoever. The story happened two weeks ago and he was the picture of perfect health today in Shule. (I called over a number of our Lubavitcher yungerleit who daven in our Shule to verify the story directly from him in case anyone thought that the fast had caused me to hallucinate...).
There is no reason whatsoever for him to have made up a story like this and the look on his face when he told me the story and the tears in his eyes all added to the impression that this had been a very real experience for him...
A Gut Moed.
A record number of Jews gathered Monday at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City for the traditional massive Birkat Kohanim, priestly blessings.
The ceremony has become a tradition ever since the liberation of the Temple Mount during the Six-Day War in 1967 and is seen as an observance of the Jewish obligation to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple three times a year, on Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles). During the weeklong Pesach and Sukkot holidays, the ceremony is held on the second of the Hol haMoed (intermediate) days.
Hundreds of kohanim, Jews who trace their lineage to Aaron, the first High Priest, stood closest to the Western Wall to take part in the special blessings. Attending the Western Wall prayers Monday were Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger, as well as Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. Rabbi Rabinovitch told Arutz-7 that Monday's priestly blessing marked the largest such gathering for prayers at the site since the first Sukkot after the Six Day War.
Police were forced to close the gates leading to the Western Wall Plaza due to its being filled to capacity by worshippers. "The blessing, however, reaches those stuck outside the plaza as well, obviously," Rabbi Rabinovitch said. He added that many of those packing the plaza were not outwardly observant. "Many secular Jews have adopted the custom of making a pilgrimage to the Western Wall on the holiday," he said.
Lithograph by Chaim Goldberg
I saw this post on Mentalblog here regarding Kapporos held in Rabbi Pinchas Krinsky's backyard in Boston. The Boston Herald article appears here.
In a related story, also in the Boston Herald here, a neighbour of Rabbi Krinsky is complaining of the smell and the goings on during Kapporos at his home. Unfortunately the names of this neighbour and her husband appear to be Jewish...
These stories reminded me of the time, many years ago, when Yom Kippur was also on Monday. Kapporos on erev Yom Kippur was arranged by Reb Arel and held early Sunday morning in his backyard. At that time I was expecting the police to turn up due to the noise that the chickens were making. Maybe his neighbours were more understanding and tolerant.
Gmar Chasimah Tovah!
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Some reactions to the Pope's comment on Islam last week:
These and more can be seen here.
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Wishing all a
Kesivah Vechasimah Tovah
A healthy, happy and peaceful year
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May 5767 bring true peace throughout the world
with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu
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From the Dry Bones blog
I know it is "old" news but I just saw this article on CrownHeights.info here. A non-English (or French) speaking man is davening on a plane and the crew appears to overreact. I find the comments much more interesting than the article. Why do so many of our frum Jewish friends expect every non-Jew to know and appreciate the subtleties of our religion but themselves have no inclination to understand anything outside of Yiddishkeit?
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