The splitting of the Reed Sea is engraved in Jewish memory. We recite it daily during the morning service, at the transition from the Verses of Praise to the beginning of communal prayer. We speak of it again after the Shema, just before the Amidah. It was the supreme miracle of the exodus. But in what sense? If we listen carefully to the narratives, we can distinguish two perspectives. This is the first: The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left…The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (Exodus 14:22, 28-
29)
The same note is struck in the Song at the Sea: By the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; The deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea. (Ex. 15:8) The emphasis here is on the supernatural
dimension of what happened. Water, which normally flows, stood upright. The sea parted to expose dry land. The laws of nature were suspended. Something happened for which there can be no scientific explanation. However, if we listen carefully, we can also hear a different note: Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. (Ex. 14:21) Here there is not a sudden change in the behavior of water, with no apparent cause. God brings a wind that, in the course of several hours, drives the waters back. Or consider this passage: During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. The Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” (Ex. 14:24-25).
The emphasis here is less on miracle than on irony. The great military assets of the Egyptians—making them almost invulnerable in their day—were their horses and chariots. These were Egypt’s specialty. They still were, in the time of Solomon, five centuries later: Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also
Rabbi Sacks on Parshat Beshalach
with him in Jerusalem…They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. (I Kings 10:26-29) Viewed from this perspective, the events that took place could be described as follows: The Israelites had arrived at the Reed Sea at a point at which it was shallow. Possibly there was a ridge in the sea bed, normally covered by water, but occasionally—when, for example, a fierce east wind blows—exposed. This is how the Cambridge University physicist Colin Humphreys puts it in his The Miracles of Exodus: Wind tides are well known to oceanographers. For example, a strong wind blowing along Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, has produced water elevation differences of as much as sixteen feet between Toledo, Ohio, on the west, and Buffalo, New York, on the east…There are reports that Napoleon was almost killed by a “sudden high tide” while he was crossing shallow water near the head of the Gulf of Suez.
In the case of the wind that exposed the ridge in the bed of the sea, the consequences were dramatic. Suddenly the Israelites, traveling on foot, had an immense advantage over the Egyptian chariots that were pursuing them. Their wheels became stuck in the mud. The charioteers
February 8, 2020 13 Shevat, 5780 Parshat Beshalach
TORAH
ARTSCROLL 366
HERTZ 265
HAFTORAH
ARTSCROLL 1152
HERTZ 281
Times
Candle Lighting 5:01 pm
Mincha 5:05 pm
Hashkama 8:00 am
Youth Minyan 8:30 am
Parsha Shiur 8:30 am
Main 9:00 am
Beit Midrash 9:15 am
Gemara Shiur 4:00 pm
Mincha 4:55 pm
Shabbat Ends 6:10 pm
R’ Reisman Video Shiur
8:00 pm
Sun. Feb. 9
Teen Minyan
Mon. & Thurs. Tue., Wed. & Fri. Mincha
7:30/8:30 am
9:30 am
6:35/7:45 am
6:45/7:45 am
5:10 pm
Latest Times for Shema/Shemoneh Esrei
Feb. 8 9:33/10:25 am
Feb. 15 9:29/10:22 am
Next Shabbat Yitro
Candle Lighting 5:09 pm
Mincha 5:10 pm
Kiddush is provided by Great Neck Synagogue
Bima Flowers are sponsored by
Tzipporah Gruber
in memory of her mother Paula Mandell
26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Beshalach 5780
Great Neck Synagogue
26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck , NY 11023
516-487-6100
Rabbi Dale Polakoff, Rabbi Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi Rabbi Aron White, Intern Rabbi
Dr. Ephraim Wolf, z”l, Rabbi Emeritus
Yitzy Spinner, Cantor
Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus
Rabbi Sholom Jensen, Youth Director
Zehava & Dr. Michael Atlas, Youth Directors
Mark Twersky, Executive Director
Dr. James Frisch, Assistant Director
Erran Kagan, President Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board
made ferocious efforts to free them, only to find that they quickly became mired again. The Egyptian army could neither advance nor retreat. So intent were they on the trapped wheels, and so reluctant were they to abandon their prized war machines, the chariots, that they failed to notice that the wind had dropped and the water was returning. By the time they realized what was happening, they were trapped. The ridge was now covered with sea water in either direction, and the island of dry land in the middle was shrinking by the minute. The mightiest army of the ancient world was defeated, and its warriors drowned, not by a superior army, not by human opposition at all, but by their own folly in being so focused on capturing the Israelites that they ignored the fact that they were driving into mud where their chariots could not go.
We have here two ways of seeing the same events: one natural, the other supernatural. The supernatural explanation—that the waters stood upright—is immensely powerful, and so it entered Jewish memory. But the natural explanation is no less compelling. The Egyptian strength proved to be their weakness. The weakness of the Israelites became their strength. On this reading, what was significant was less the supernatural, than the moral dimension of what happened. God visits the sins on the sinners. He mocks those who mock Him. He showed the Egyptian army, which reveled in its might, that the weak were stronger than they—just as He later did with the pagan prophet Bilaam, who prided himself in his prophetic powers and was then shown that his donkey (who could see the angel Bilaam could not see) was a better prophet than he was. To put it another way: a miracle is not necessarily something that suspends natural law. It is, rather, an event for which there may be a natural explanation, but which—happening when, where and how it did—evokes wonder, such that even the most hardened sceptic senses that God has intervened in history. The weak are saved; those in danger, delivered. More significant still is the moral message such an event conveys: that hubris is punished by nemesis; that the proud are humbled and the humble given pride; that there is justice in history, often hidden but sometimes gloriously revealed.
This idea can be taken further. Emil Fackenheim has spoken of “epoch-making events” that transform the course of history. More obscurely, but along similar lines, the French philosopher Alain Badiou has proposed the concept of an “event” as a “rupture in ontology” through which individuals are brought face to face with a truth that changes them and their world. It is as if all normal perception fades away and we
know that we are in the presence of something momentous, to which we sense we must remain faithful for the rest of our lives. “The appropriation of Presence is mediated by an event.” It is through transformative events that we feel ourselves addressed, summoned, by something beyond history, breaking through into history. In this sense, the division of the Reed Sea was something other and deeper than a suspension of the laws of nature. It was the transformative moment at which the people “believed in the Lord and in Moses His servant” (Ex. 14:31) and called themselves “the people You acquired” (Ex. 15:16).
Not all Jewish thinkers focused on the supernatural dimension of God’s involvement in human history. Maimonides insisted that “Israel did not believe in Moses our teacher because of the signs he performed.” What made Moses the greatest of the prophets, for Maimonides, is not that he performed supernatural deeds but that, at Mount Sinai, he brought the people the word of God. In general, the sages tended to downplay the dimension of the miraculous, even in the case of the greatest miracle of all, the division of the sea. That is the meaning of the following Midrash, commenting on the verse, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its full flow [le-eitano]” (Ex.14:27): Rabbi Jonathan said: The Holy One, blessed be He, made a condition with the sea [at the beginning of creation], that it should split asunder for the Israelites. That is the meaning of “the sea went back to its full flow” – [read not le-eitano but] letenao, “the condition” that God had earlier stipulated.
The implication is that the division of the sea was, as it were, programmed into creation from the outset. It was less a suspension of nature than an event written into nature from the beginning, to be triggered at the appropriate moment in the unfolding of history. We even find an extraordinary debate among the sages as to whether miracles are a sign of merit or the opposite. The Talmud tells the story of a man whose wife died, leaving a nursing child. The father was too poor to be able to afford a wet-nurse, so a miracle occurred and he himself gave milk until the child was weaned. On this, the Talmud records the following difference of opinion: Rav Joseph said: Come and see how great was this man that such a miracle was wrought for him. Abaye said to him: On the contrary, how inferior was this man, that the natural order was changed for him.
According to Abaye, greater are those to whom good things happen without the need for miracles. The genius of the biblical narrative of the crossing of the Reed Sea is that it does not resolve the issue one way or another. It gives us both perspectives. To some the miracle was the suspension of the laws of nature. To others, the fact that there was a naturalistic explanation did not make the event any less miraculous. That the Israelites should arrive at the sea precisely where the waters were unexpectedly shallow, that a strong east wind should blow when and how it did, and that the Egyptians’ greatest military asset should have proved their undoing—all these things were wonders, and we have never forgotten them.
UPCOMING EVENTS
YOUNG FAMILY SHABBAT DINNER
GNS CHESED, SISTERHOOD MISHLOACH MANOT & SHABBAT SPEAKER & DINNER
AIPAC CONFERENCE & MEN’S CLUB MEMBERSHIP
MEN’S CLUB UPDATE - JOIN TODAY! Now is the best time to sign up to be a member of the Men’s Club.
New members can join for the year (Jan.-Dec.) at a cost of $36. Renewed membership is $54. Lifetime membership is $540. Join the list of present and lifetime members:
JOIN THE FOLLOWING GNS MEMBERS ALREADY COMMITTED TO PARTICIPATING IN THIS YEAR’S AIPAC POLICY CONFERENCE AND SIGN UP TODAY!
Liz Berney
Steven Blumner Robyn Blumner Robin Bours Arnold Breitbart Viviane Breitbart Dana Brody
Hal Chadow
Deborah Chadow
Gary Chubak
Lillian Chubak
William Frumkin
Farla Frumkin
Sharon Goldwyn
Natan Hamerman
Joseph Hecht Erran Kagan
Lisa Kagan
Gloria Kaylie
Jack Lemonik
Celia Lemonik
Joseph Lemonik
Cindy Ludwig
Adeline Markowitz Avram Markowitz Ed Parver Brenda Parver Ellen Polakoff
Rabbi Dale Polakoff Dov Sassoon
Maurice Setton
Gail Setton
Harriet Schimel Dodi Spielman
Robert Spitalnick
Karen Spitalnick
Alan Steinberg
Ron Wasserman
Howard Wolf Michele Wolf
Lifetime Members: Frank Bachrach
Bart Baum
Scott Danoff
Mark Friedman
William Helmreich
Leslie Kahn
Gloria Kaylie
Susan Mayer
Jason Mayer
Robert Mendelson
Stephen Rabinowitz
David Rein
David Schimel Eric Shakin
Alan Steinberg
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld
Members: Jacques Aboaf Andrew Adler
Sheila Bachman
Steven Blumner
Dov Berkowitz
Sanford Brand
Michael Brisman
Arnold Flatow
Jeffrey Freedman
James Frisch
William Frumkin
Abraham Glasman
Rita Gordonson
Marc Gottlieb
Ethan Heisler David Hoenig
Joseph Hyman
Leonard Kahn Emile Kattan
Henry Katz
Robert Katz Robert Knepper
Jonathan Kroll
Richard Lillien
Jack Lipsky
Edward Mazur Hillel Milun
Milt Mitzner Michael Moslin
Morris Nasser Ed Parver Jeffrey Pittell
Arthur Pomerantz
Fred Pomerantz
Richard Reiser Joe Rosenthal
Abe Sedgh
Mehran Sharifian
Frederick Shaw
Jerry Siegelman
Martin Sokol Baruch Toledano
Roz Wagner
Jerrald Weinstein
Edward Weiss
Josh Windsor Howard Wolf
EIRUV ANNOUNCEMENT
Below is a list of individuals & families who have contributed to the 2020 Eiruv Annual Appeal as of 2/3/20 The recommended donation is $200 per family
To have your name added to the list, please mail a check to: GN Eiruv Association, POB 234243, Great Neck, NY 11023 or online at www.greatneckeiruv.org/donate
Thank you!
ROBIN ABADA
DALIAH ABRAHAM
ELLEN & IRWIN ADELSBERG
RALENE & ALAN ADLER
LINDA & BRIAN ALLWEISS
LITAL & JOSHUA AMINI RUTHIE & CHAIM ANFANG
LISA & STURAT APPEL
LISA & MICHAEL ARYEH
GAYLE & STEWART ASHKENAZY
RONA & REUBEN ASKOWITZ
ZEHAVA & MICHAEL ATLAS
DEBRA & SIMON AUERBACHER
NAZ & ADAM AZIZ
AVIGAYIL & DAVID BAKST
VITA BARTH
BATYA & RABBI SIMON BASALELY
HELENE & LLOYD BAYME
LIORA BEN-SOREK
ZELDA & SOLOMON BERGER
ADA & DOV BERKOWITZ
CAROL & CHARLES BERLIN
MICHELLE & PHILIP BERMAN
HOLLY BERNS & DAVID HOENIG
NORMA BILBOOL & JOSH WINDSOR
MILDRED & SAMUEL BLOCK
ROBYN & STEVEN BLUMNER
DRORA & PAUL BRODY
CAROL BUCKMAN
LYNNE BURSKY & NISSIM TAMMAM
LILLY & GARY CHUBAK
GAIL & BURTON COHEN
NAOMI & ADAM COHEN
LAURA & SCOTT DANOFF
NICOLE & MORDECAI DICKER
MIRIAM & GILAD ELLENBERG
ELLY & SUSAN ENGELSTEIN
MARC EPSTEIN
FRAN & STUART FEINTUCH
PEARL FIELD
JACQUELINE & STANLEY FISCHER
SYLVIA & NORMAN FISHER
HANNAH FLAMMENBAUM & CHARLES SEGAL
KATHY & ARNIE FLATOW
JOE & CORINNE FRANCO
JOYCE & MICHAEL FRANK
MERYL & MARK FRIEDMAN
SUSAN & JAMES FRISCH
SHANA FRYDMAN & MARC WILKENFELD
DEBBIE & THOMAS FURST
MARISA & ANDREW GADLIN
OLGA & MATTHEW GARTENHAUS
ROBYN & MARK GELBERG
ADINA & JOSHUA GELLER
ALANA & ADAM GELNICK
SHERRI & MARTIN GHODSI EILEEN & BARRY GINSBERG
CINDY & CORY GOLD
SANDRA & MARK L GOLD
DEBORAH & CHARLES GOLDBERG
RACHEL & ISRAEL GOLDMAN
RABBI ERIC GOLDSTEIN
CAROLINE & MARTIN GOLDWYN
SHARON GOLDWYN
RITA GORDONSON
BETH & MARC GOTTLIEB
AMY & MARTIN GRIFFEL DINA & NATHAN HAMERMAN ERICA & ELIOT HEISLER
HENNIE & WILLIAM HELMREICH
MINDY & CHARLES HERCMAN
RACHEL & JAMIE HIRSCH
BEVERLY & FRANK HOCHEIMER
ALISA & MICHAEL HOENIG
DEBORAH & ROBERT HOLLANDER
LARRY HORN
MARCIA & DANIEL HOROWITZ
LAUREN & JOSEPH HYMAN
HELEN & HARVEY ISHOFSKY
MALKA & RABBI SHMUEL ISMACH
JESSICA & DAVID JACOB
LESLIE KAHN
LOUISE & LEONARD KAHN
FRAN & DAVID KALISH
ROSALIE & DAVID KAMELHAR
THELMA & EMILE KATTAN
JAMIE & MICHAEL KATZ
JENNY & ADAM KATZ
JOAN & HENRY KATZ
DANIELLA & JEFFREY KIRSHNER
STACEY & JONATHAN KLEIN
SYDELLE & ROBERT KNEPPER
BEN KOPLIN EVELYN & OSCAR KRANZ
HELENE & TEDDY KRAVITZ
SURI & DAVID KUFELD
LESLIE & MICHAEL KULE
SARA LEIFER
CELIA & JACK LEMONIK
MARLA & MICAH LEMONIK
CAROLE LERMAN & CHARLES LIBBY
ABBY & RABBI YAACOV LERNER
MINDY & MICHAEL LEVENTHAL
FRIEDA LEWINTER
KATIE & RABBI IAN LICHTER
CINDY & JEFFREY LIEBMANN
JUDITH & RICHARD LILLIEN
TAMARA & BEN JAMPEL
HENRIETTE J LOUZON
GERTRUDE LOUZOUN
CINDY & GLENN LUDWIG
HINDI & BEN LUNZER
TINA MACHNIKOFF
YAEL & RAPHAEL MAIDI SUSANNAH MALEN & NOAH LEIBOWITZ
IRENE & PAUL MARCUS
TOVA & JOSH MARMER
SUSAN MAYER
SHARON & ED MAZUR
KAREN & ALAN MAZUREK
ROBERT & ANNIE MENDELSON
NINA MINER
RUTH & MILTON MITZNER
MICHAEL MORADI ZARA & ELI MORADI GHADAMIAN
ESTHER & STANLEY MORRIS
TRICIA & MICHAEL MOSLIN
MEEKA & DAVID NATANOV
MICHAL & BRIAN NATANOV
ELLEN & MARK NEWMAN
DINA & JONATHAN OHEBSHALOM
JUDY & LANNY OPPENHEIM
BRENDA & ED PARVER
ELANA & DAVID PELCOVITZ
HELENE & JOSHUA PEYSER
SUZANNE & PAUL PEYSER
DARA & ANDREW PFEFFER
ELLEN & RABBI DALE POLAKOFF
ALAN & LOUISA PRAWER
STEPHEN RABINOWITZ
SUSAN & FRED RAVEN
GALIT & GRANT REICHLIN
DIANE & DAVID REIN
DOROTHY & RICHARD REISER
TALIA & CARY REISS
LEAH & TERRY RIFKIN
MARILYN & IRA ROSENBERG
LORI & IRA ROSENFELD
ANIDA & EDWIN ROSMAN
MICHELL & NORMAN RUTTA
JOYCE & MAYER RYDZINSKI ALIZA & DOV SASSOON
MARY & RICHARD SCHANLER
MICHELE & HOWARD SCHATZ
LISA & ELI SCHILOWITZ
DAVID SCHIMEL
SHIRA & ELLIOT SCHREIBER
PARI & HENRY SCHWARTZ
FARANGISS SEDAGATPOUR
KAREN & ERIC SHAKIN
BARBARA & FRED SHAW
YAEL & MARK SHAYNE
ELLEN & MITCHELL SIEGEL
FLORIN & HOWARD SILBERSTEIN
AVNER SKOCZYLAS
ESTHER SLOYER
SHOSHANA & MARTIN SOKOL
ELIZABETH & DANIEL SOLEIMANI CHERYL & ROBERT SPERBER
DODI & JONATHAN SPIELMAN
DEBBIE SPILKY
RACHEL & CHAZAN YITZY SPINNER
FLORENCE & IRWIN SPIRA
KAREN & ROBERT SPITALNICK
ARIELLA & ARI SPODEK
JESSICA & NOAH STEINBERG
RENEE & MELVIN STRAUSS
JILL & RON SWARTZ
SUE & ARTHUR TALANSKY
MICHELLE & NATHANIEL TARNOR
PAMELA & BARUCH TOLEDANO
ELLEN & JOSEPH TUCHINSKY
JESSICA TUCHINSKY
SHARON & MARK TWERSKY
ROSELIN WAGNER
SARAH & EITAN WALLS
CELIA & JEFF WEBER MARNI & MITCHELL WEINBERG
BARBARA & MARK WEINBLATT
JUDY & JERRALD WEINSTEIN
LISA & DOV WEINSTEIN
REBECCA WEISEL
ROMINA & ODED WEISS
MICHELE & HOWARD WOLF
IRA WOLFF
KAREN & EDWARD WYDRA
HEDY & JOSPEH YOUNGER
MAGDA & SAM YEHASKEL
AVIVA & ROBERT ZAUSMER
HELEN & HOWARD ZIMMERMAN
SHELLIE & STEVEN ZUCKERMAN
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Y
A
H
R
Z
E
I
T
MAZAL TOVS & COMMUNITY NEWS Rabbi Polakoff’s shabbos drasha through 5780 is dedicated in memory of DOVID BEN NISSAN v’LEAH
For other such opportunities please contact
Howard Wolf 516-643-3344
OFFICE HOURS FOR RABBI POLAKOFF
Tuesdays 10:00-12:00; Thursdays 1:00-3:00. He can always be reached via 516.637.3674/[email protected].
IF YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO IS MOVING INTO THE GREAT NECK AREA PLEASE LET THE OFFICE KNOW.
Mazal Tov to Michal & Steven Rosenzweig on the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Mayah. Mazal Tov to grandparents Israel & Zehavit Rosenzweig.
TOUR DE SIMCHA AND BIKE4CHAI Are you interested in joining a ride of a lifetime?
Tour de Simcha - July 14th, 2020
Bike4Chai - August 12-13th, 2020
Learn more at a parlor meeting at the home of Talia & Sol Goldwyn, 22 Vista Dr. on Feb. 12th at 7:30 pm. For more info: Chazan Spinner at [email protected].
SISTERHOOD EVENT Sisterhood at SoulCycle is this Thur., Feb. 6th at 7:15 pm.
PESACH SCOPE DEADLINE AND SPONSORSHIP
Please submit all SCOPE material by today Monday, February 3rd to Diane Rein at [email protected]. Thank you!
GNS JOURNEY SERIES TO CENTRAL EUROPE
Deadline to register for the GNS trip to Central Europe for July 13-21, 2020 with Chazzan Spinner is February 15th.
BIKUR CHOLIM – MISHLOACH MANOT
For Purim, the GNS Bikur Cholim Committee is planning to distribute Mishloach Manot to members of our shul that are ill or homebound. If you would like to volunteer to make deliveries (could be used for high school chesed hours) or sponsor Mishloach Manot ($18/person and there are about 36 recipients), please contact Diane Rein at [email protected]. Thank you very much!
ONE ISRAEL FUND 25TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER
The One Israel Fund 25th Anniversary Dinner will take place at the TWA Hotel at 6 pm on February 9, 2020. The Guests of Honor are Dr. Emma Laskin Baum & Bart Baum. For reservations, journal ads and more information, please contact [email protected] or 516.239.9202.
Katie Lichter, Sara Leifer & family would like to thank Rabbi & Ellen Polakoff and the entire community for their outpouring of support following the passing of their beloved father, Kevin Leifer z”l.
NEW CLASS BEGINS THIS WEEK
Join us for a new class on Monday nights beginning tonight - Feb. 3rd through March 2nd at 8:00 pm in the Beit Midrash with Rabbi Lichter. We will learn Megillat Esther in depth, covering approximately two chapters per week until Purim.
CHAVERIM CENTER
Chaverim will meet Wednesday, Feb. 5th for a Bracha Party & Tu B’Shevat Celebration with Amit Yaghoubi.
Saturday, 13 Shevat Ellen Siegel for Sam Bluestein
Sunday, 14 Shevat Debbie Chadow for George Rabizadeh
Alex Rabizadeh for George Rabizadeh
Roz Wagner for David Seider Sam Yehaskel for Solomon Yehaskel
Monday, 15 Shevat Janet Kashani for Rahel bat Avraham
Eliezer Noy for Soltana bat Aharon
Steven Berkowitz for Gail Berkowitz
Belkis Nasser for Ezra Suveke
Tuesday, 16 Shevat David Benrimon for Rachelle Benrimon
Arnold Breitbart for Morris Breitbart Avraham Gabbaizadeh for Shlomo Gabbaizadeh
Orly Steinberg for Meir Shalmon
Joan Braun for Rose Schwartz
Abraham Soleimani for Rebecca Soleimani Moussa Soleimani for Rebecca Soleimani
Wednesday, 17 Shevat Debbie Furst for Aryeh Kaminer Sharon Twersky for Royal Leff
Paul Wein for Shirlee Wein
Thursday, 18 Shevat Isaac Kohannim for Khodadad Avraham HaKohen
Didi Hutt for Moshe Cohen
Leon Fuks for Bonnye Fuks
David Sedgh for Yaacov Sedgh
Friday, 19 Shevat Marc Epstein for Fred Epstein
Elena Berkowitz for Dvora Fridman
Cindy Liebmann for Ralph Geller Ellen Siegel for Alter Aviezer Givner Arthur Kirsch for Abraham Kirsch
Hedva Kessler for Ray Majus
SUNDAY BREAKFAST Sunday Breakfast is sponsored by Harold Seider in memory of his father David Seider and his wife Sheila Seider.
MESSAGE FROM THE ISHOFSKY FAMILY Helen & Harvey Ishofsky wish to thank the members of the community for their concern, support and tefilot. It has meant a great deal to us. Baruch Hashem, Harvey had a successful kidney transplant 4 weeks ago, the donor coming from Renewal, the organization that spoke at our shul in September. Harvey’s immune system is seriously, but temporarily, compromised. Those wishing to visit are asked to call first. Visitors must be cough cold, and sniffle free. No gifts of food may be brought into the house. Thank you so much for your understanding.
Carol Kaufman & Family would like to thank Rabbi Polakoff and the entire community for their outpouring of support following the passing of her beloved mother, Deborah Morgenstern z”l.
YOUNG FAMILY FRIDAY NIGHT AT GNS
Join us Friday evening, Feb. 28th for a Shabbat evening filled with great food, friends and entertainment for the kids. Cost is $125/family and $150/family for non-members. RSVP by Feb. 21st at gns.org or 516.487.6100.
WOMEN’S TEFILAH
Please join us this Shabbat for Women’s Tefilah at 4:00pm celebrating the Bat Mitzvah of Mayah Rosenzweig. Collation to follow sponsored by Michal & Steven Rosenzweig.
SPONSORS OF AIPAC TICKETS
If you were a sponsor of an AIPAC ticket this past Shabbat morning, please call the office to confirm your pledge.