Your Religious Committee is hard at work bringing religious programming to our shul. Our successes may be measured by our weekly shiurim with diverse topics that will interest every literary taste. They include classes given by David Amsel right after our Rinat Yisrael minyan Shabbat morning services Rabbi Michael Wolff on various Mishna Brura topics each Shabbat afternoon before Mincha, Rabbi Ze’ev Binder each Monday evening on Gemara Tractate Shabbat, as well as Rabbi Yitzchak Gimple each Wednesday night on Aruch Hashulchan, dealing with Jewish jurisprudence. Our Daf Yomi class, dedicated in memory of Yechiel Glustein is given daily by two of our talented volunteers, Elliott Silverman and Yehuda Kops. Please come as often as you can and enjoy these wonderful year-long classes, geared to accommodate every intellectual level.
We have scheduled several events in the next few months which we are certain you will find of interest:
Beth Zion is pleased to present our Yom Ha’atzmaut Shabbaton lecture series featuring Rabbi Yehoshua Grunstein. Rabbi Grunstein has been in our shul several times, inspiring us with his wide-ranging knowledge and his ever-present smile. His topics for this weekend will include ‘The Jewish claim to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel’, as well as other enlightening Israeli current events.
This year, we are most fortunate to welcome Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, who hails from New York City as our Shavuot Scholar-In-Residence. This is one of our shul’s oldest and most successful programs. Dr. Sciffman is indeed a scholar of note, who specializes in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the history of Jewish law & Talmudic history. His knowledge is however not restricted to these topics and we have chosen several topics from his wide repertoire, which we believe will tickle your intellectual curiosity as you find him interesting, informative as well as mind-stimulating. The Yom Tov climaxes with his keynote lecture which he will deliver during the second day of Shavuot Luncheon.
Our next focus is Tisha B’Av, for which we are on record as having the most appropriate program in the city. As the other synagogues do, we show the Chafetz Chaim Heritage movie, but what makes us unique is our Annual Tisha B’Av Holocaust Survivor Lecture that features an actual survivor, relating his/her personal experiences during that horrific time in our nation’s history. This program has been widely accepted and each year the attendance grows.
Back by popular demand, we have secured Cantor Yechezkel Klang from Israel to lead our High Holiday Main service in The Rabbi Sidney Shoham Sanctuary. As well, we have our “shtibel-style” Rinat Yisrael second minyan for our members who prefer a more European type of service that will take place in the Albert Spector Auditorium.
Stay tuned for further programs as we bring them to fruition.
Finally, let us take this opportunity to wish you and your family a Happy and healthy Pesach.
David Ronis & Zigui Levkovic
