Dear Shaare Family,
This week’s Hakarat HaTov Corner is dedicated to the men and women who turned out to make the Massive Morning Minyan the annual success that it is. It is a fitting tribute to the memory of Mr. Izrael Becker z”l, whose yahrzeit is on Shabbat and for whom minyan attendance- and Shaare Tefilla in general- was such an important part of his life. If you said you would come but didn’t quite make it, don’t worry- it’s the Teshuvah season! Come to minyan on a different day, or evening. Your presence is always appreciated!
I am also grateful to Joan and Bernie White for conceiving the idea of, designing, and donating a new High Holiday parochet for the main sanctuary. It will debut on Motzei Shabbat at the Soulful Selichot at 11:30 P.M. I hope everyone will be able to attend. The Selichot service on the first night is “opening night” for the Ashkenazi High Holiday season, and our yearning, reflective, uplifting and participatory Selichot will surely put you in the right mood.
Rabbi’s Recommendations
I shared with you my personal High Holidays playlist.
Here is a recording made by Dr. Elli Kranzler, the baal tefillah for several decades at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, of some of thehighlights of the Rosh Hashanah davening there.
It was made at the height of COVID, when shuls were operating under restricted numbers and many were not yet comfortable returning. He titled it “Lashuv Habaita,” “To return home,” expressing the yearning so many of us had for just that. Aside from being an accomplished psychiatrist, Dr. Kranzler is a founding member of D’veykus, and many of the tunes we sing (and he sings) on the Yamim Noraim were actually sung by him in the original. As much as the recording itself, it is worth reading his introductory notes.
Shul Of The Week
Congratulations to last week’s winner Graeme Rael, and runner up Janice Schwarz, for correctly identifying last week’s mystery shul as Congregation B’nai Brith Jacob in Savannah. This shul is remarkable for several reasons, two of which I mentioned as hints. First, it features what may be the largest work of hand painted synagogue art anywhere in the United States, designed by its long time Rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Rosenberg and painted by artist Gisbert Palmier.
Second, it is the site of the first ever chapter of NCSY. The advisor was a young Rabbi Baruch Taub, who went on to be the founding Rabbi of the BAYT in Toronto, one of the largest Orthodox shuls in North America (by size and membership. After several decades of service, he retired and now lives in Netanya, Israel.
Finally, there are quite a few families in this shul who are sixth or seventh generation Orthodox Jewish Savannahans, a remarkable statistic for any city, let alone a smaller community.
This week’s Mystery Shul
This week’s mystery shul is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its sanctuary this weekend by dedicating it in memory of their late Rabbi Emeritus z”l, who served the congregation with distinction as Rabbi and Rabbi Emeritus for over 70 years (!). A famous artist who grew up in this synagogue, and whose family had been active in it for several generations, recorded a Grammy-award winning single with the shul’s Cantor and Choir.
Name the shul and, for extra points, the Rabbi Emeritus, the artist, the name of the single, and the Cantor.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky
