Words From Rabbi White

We begin this Shabbat shabbat Sefer BaMidbar.

My dear friends,

Mr. Manfred Erdstein observes yahrzeit for his mother Julie on Sunday 3 Sivan. May her neshama have aliya.

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This past Tuesday was the marriage of my granddaughter Aliza Novogroder to Daniel Kirstein of Monsey.  The couple intends to move to Cleveland, where they hope to establish IY”H, a business.  And of course, we pray, “she-yivnu bayyit ne’eman beYisrael.”

The wedding continued into Tuesday night, the 28th of Iyyar, the day known as Yom Yerushalayim, commemorating the miracle of the 6-day war of ‘67.

As it says in the final blessing of the sheva berachot, that I was honoured to chant under the chuppa, “soon, HaShem our God, may it be heard in the cities of Yehuda and in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of happiness, the sound of joy, the sound of the bride and the sound of the groom...baruch ‘attah HaShem, Who brings joy to the Hattan together with the Kallah.”

The six-day war was a great miracle, as the surrounding nations had conspired to destroy Israel.

As I have mentioned many times, I always remember listening on a transistor radio to a talk by Ahmed Shukeiry, the founder of the PLO. At the beginning of the war, he delivered a press conference from his office in Amman, Jordan. He told the journalists, "I invite you to my next press conference, to be held next week in my new office in the Sheraton, Tel Aviv." In other words, the message was that from the river to the sea, Israel will be Arab, and, I suppose, Jews who know how to swim would be allowed to swim out to the Mediterranean, chas veshalom. But a great miracle occurred, and not only were we not defeated, but large parts of historical Erets Yisrael were added to the territory of the State of Israel.

                                                                                                                                  This coming week is Shavuot, the holiday commemorating, according to our tradition, the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. We pray that we should be able to defeat our cruel enemies, that the people of Israel be guided by the Torah, and that the Torah should be a guiding force in the life of the young couple.

And enjoy your ice cream!!

Shabbat shalom, Chag sameach, and shalom ‘al Yisrael,

Rabbi Menahem White