Dear Shaare Family,
Someone asked me on Tuesday morning whether I had recovered yet from the amazing Shabbat we experienced with Shulem Lemmer and members of the Yedidim Choir (leader Aron Elya Friedman, Zindy Brody, Yoeli Schnitzler and Sruli Laufer). I said that I had not, and that I don’t want to recover- it was the Shabbat of a lifetime! Based on the feedback I’ve been receiving, I think many of you feel the same way. Even people who don’t like Chazzanut or don’t think they have the patience for a longer or more tuneful davening were telling me how much they enjoyed it. Of course, the phenomenal davening, Oneg and Seudah Shlishit were transformative. Shulem and the choir led us in tefillah and singing that featured popular music, well known tefillah tunes, Chassidishe niggunim (some of which I plan on including in our tefillot regularly) and Chazzanut, and he was at home in each of these. It seems like there is nothing in the realm of davening that he can’t do, and it all sounded even better when it was enhanced by the choir. And he got us dancing, too- on Friday night during the davening and the oneg, on Shabbat morning during the Birkat HaChodesh (to Rabbi Feitel Levin’s famous Rosh Chodesh Kislev niggun that is the theme song of every Chabad Kinus Hashluchim) and almost non-stop at the concert on Motzei Shabbat.
I think there was another aspect that made this weekend special, too, and many people picked up on it. This Shabbat was a force for unity (one person remarked that this Shabbat is what Shaare used to look like every week), as people joined us from every shul in the neighborhood, from other neighborhoods and even from other cities. It was also a unifying experience as Jews of all kinds davened together- a Modern Orthodox shul with yeshivish guests, led by a young Chassidish singer and choir, singing the prayer for the State of Israel, and everyone was made to feel welcome.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the Hakarat HaTov Corner, I am grateful to all those who made this weekend possible. The sponsors, of course, but also the hosts who housed and fed Shulem and the choir, the planning committee, the kitchen crew and all of you who showed up, smiled and sang along. I look forward to many more Shabbatot like this- may we only go from strength to strength!
Rabbi’s Recommendation
For more of Shulem Lemmer, I highly recommend his YouTube Channel or instagram page. For more of the Yedidim Choir, visit their YouTube channel or instagram page.
Mystery Shul Of The Week Answer
The clue from two weeks ago was: When the shul where this stained glass window is located was built, a critic decried it as the sign of “a society that cannot tell the difference between beauty and extravagance.”
The shul is the The Jerusalem Great Synagogue, better known for the magnificent stained glass windows above the marble Aron Kodesh, designed by Regine Heim of Zurich, Switzerland. The window pictured here is one of many that adorn the perimeter of the synagogue, designed by the synagogue’s architect, Alexander Friedman, depicting themes of Shabbat and Yamim Tovim. When the synagogue opened in 1982, the critic Yitzchak Tischler decried it as a garish symbol of societal conspicuous consumption, in the aforementioned quote. Whether he was right or not, the synagogue still remains a central address for tefillah, torah and tourism in Jerusalem- and most people have never heard of Yitzchak Tischler
This Week’s Mystery Shul Of The Week
This shul just celebrated its 150th birthday. It is the only surviving shul in a city that was once the center of a major Chassidic group, and has been reconstructed several times. Name the shul, the city where it is located and, for a bonus, the Chassidic group that was headquartered there.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky
