Bookworm: The Rav on Joseph Page 5 Who’s in the kitchen dishes on Chanukah and Latkes Page 7 A Chanukah story from the Labovitz collection Page 13 Disaster Recovery Center at YIW Page 18
THE JEWISH
STAR
VOL 11, NO 47 ■ DECEMBER 7, 2012 / 23 KISLEV 5773
WWW.THEJEWISHSTAR.COM
First Shalhevet alumni reunion in Israel By Malka Eisenberg In another first, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Zev and Mrs. Renee Friedman met this week in
Jerusalem with the girls of the first alumni class of Shalhevet High School for Girls. “We went to visit the students learning in Israel to keep the kesher (connection),”
Photo courtesy of Shalhevet
Rabbi and Mrs. Zev Friedman with Shalhevet alumni at their reunion in Israel.
NCSY strives for record By Malka Eisenberg NCSY, the International Youth Movement of the Orthodox Union, is planning a recordbreaking menorah lighting for this weekend on the first night of Chanukah in Connecticut. Over 1,000 menorahs, or chanukiyot, will be set up, lit and blessings said, in a huge ballroom in the Stamford Hilton Hotel at 7 p.m. on Saturday night, December 8th as part of an “inspiring and motivating” Shabbaton, explained Hanna Schlager, NY NCSY’s director of development. The goal is to break the Guinness World Record for the most menorahs lit simultaneously in honor of Chanukah. NCSY purchased all the menorahs and candles for the event thanks to a generous sponsorship and all of the participants may keep their menorahs to use for the rest of the holiday. For many, this will be the first time they have lit a menorah and said the brachot, blessings, on the candle lighting, pointed out Schlager. The blessings will be projected and
transliterated to facilitate the process. NY NCSY and Atlantic Seaboard NCSY have joined together for their annual Winter Regional Shabbaton, from Friday, December 7th through Sunday, December 9th. More than 500 teenagers from both public schools and Yeshiva day schools will be there, as well as adults, advisors and staff. The youth and adults hail from Long Island, Westchester, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Rochester. The extreme monorah lighting event is the idea of the Regional Director of NY NCSY, Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, noted Schlager. Lightstone felt that teens celebrating their first Chanukah would be even more inspired through the Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d’s name) of participating in their first lighting and beating the Guinness World Record. Schlager pointed out that the previous record was 782 menorahs lit, set last year by the Merrick Jewish Center. She noted Continued on page 3
Rabbi Friedman wrote in an email. “Also (we went) during this time to show solidarity with the people of Israel.” The Friedmans visited with the students a few days after the cease-fire brought a halt to the incessant barrage of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza. Rabbi Friedman noted that all of the graduates studying in Israel came except for two who were on a trip with their school. The students met with the Friedmans in Jerusalem and ate pizza, chummos, and cookies baked by one of the students, Gavriella Pearl. “The purpose of the trip was to visit them and see how they were doing,” explained Rabbi Friedman. “All of them were learning well and growing.” He said that all of the girls are doing well. “Being that we came during and in the aftermath of the crisis in Gaza,” he added, “everyone we met was appreciative of the support of the American Jewish community.
It is a small gesture…let’s think of the sacrifices our brothers and sisters are making for World Jewry on an ongoing basis.” Midreshet Shalhevet expects that at least 90% of their second graduating class of 20 students will study in Israel next year. The students will be attending MMY, Shaalvim, Migdal Oz, Harova, Tiferet and Nishmat. Rabbi Friedman plans to maintain a connection with the Shalhevet alumni when they return to the States next year by inviting them and setting up “learning time with them,” he said. He noted that as Rosh Mesivta at Rambam he also spent time with the Rambam students in Israel, as well. He visited 12 yeshivot and gave shiurim to American students in some of them. The Rambam graduates learning in Israel join Rabbi Friedman for an annual Shabbaton as well.
A time to weep, a time to laugh By Malka Eisenberg A program that included a Siyum HaShas, videos, Torah insights and speeches, commemorated and memorialized a brief life whose influence continues to bring joy and inspiration to children and adults in the Five Towns-Far Rockaway community and worldwide. Billed as an evening of remembrance, reflection and inspiration, a standing room only audience filled the men’s and women’s sections of the main sanctuary of the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst on Tuesday night, to commemorate what would have been Levi Yitzchak Wolowik’s 13th birthday, his bar mitzvah. He passed away when he was nine. A cross section of the community Photo courtesy of Wolowikfamily
Shabbat Candlelighting: 4:10 p.m. Shabbat ends 5:13 p.m. 72 minute zman 5:40 p.m. Torah Reading Parshat Vayeishev. Shabbat Mevorchim Hachodesh Tevet
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