Parshat Reeh Shabbat Rosh Chodesh

"At the end of seven years, you shall institute a sabbatical year." (15:1) Rabbi Mordechai Gifter related that during a shemittah (sabbatical) year, the Ponevezher Rav ztl once walked over to a tree, gave it a hug and a kiss, and said, "Good Shabbos to you." Using his dynamic style, the Ponevezher Rav taught us the amazing concept of shemittah. For an entire year, all the fields and orchards in Eretz Yisrael experience a Shabbos similar to the Shabbos we experience once a week. If we are fortunate enough to be in Eretz Yisrael during shemittah we should feel the holiness descend onto the Land just as we feel the holiness of Shabbos. There is another aspect to shemittah that bears mention here. Physical objects generally do not contain holiness. A person has to consecrate an object in order to bring holiness to it. During shemittah, however, all fruits and vegetables grown in Eretz Yisrael are automatically sanctified simply because they grew from the holy land. As you drive through the country, every orange, esrog, and cucumber you see growing contains holiness.

August 18, 2012 30 Av, 5772

Rabbi Frand on Parshas Reeh

Torah Artscroll, 998 Hertz, 799 Haftorah Artscroll, 1199 Hertz, 818
I find a need to stress the extraordinary holiness of Eretz Yisrael because the secularist governments leading the State of Israel for nearly 60 years have made concerted efforts to eradicate any holiness associated with the Land, and unfortunately they have been highly successful in doing so. A visitor to modern-day Israel is likely to miss the kedushah of the Land, unless he or she makes a concerted effort to experience the holiness therein. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords, National Public Radio broadcast a report about Israel. The report focused on the contrast between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. One of the people interviewed said, "Tel Aviv is a normal city, unencumbered by history. Tel Aviv is like Miami!" To prove the point of the interviewee, the reporter visited Tel Aviv on a Friday afternoon and recorded the sounds one can hear on a typical Tel Aviv street. Indeed, when you close your eyes and listen to the recording, you can easily mistake it for downtown Baltimore, or any other city in the United States. They played a few moments of rap "music" if you can call it music blaring from the boom box of a group of teenagers hanging out on the street. "This is so normal," the reporter declares. They went on to describe Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon. "Orthodox Jews, many of them dressed in broadbrimmed hats and long caftans, scurry through the streets preparing for the upcoming Sabbath." Jerusalem, the report implies, is not normal. Jerusalem is a city that must carry the weight of thousands of years of history and theology on its shoulders. Tel Aviv is a modern city. Tel Aviv is a "normal" city. Jerusalem is not. Truthfully, attaining "normalcy" was the stated goal of secular Zionism. Early Zionist leaders considered the verse, "We will be like all the other nations" (I Shmuel 8:20), their mantra. They developed the country through the blood, sweat, and tears of the Kibbutz movement, but all the while envisioned a country whose cities would look like all the "normal" cities in the world. What they did not realize was that if Tel Aviv would look like Miami, their descendants might decide that it is not worth living in Tel Aviv if they could just as well move to Miami. And that is exactly what happened. A reporter once traced the descendants of several of the founders of the Zionist state names like Herzl, BenGurion, Jabotinsky, and others and found that over

Times

Candle Lighting Friday Mincha Hashkama Main Minyan Beit Midrash Teen Minyan Gemorah Shiur Mincha Shabbat Ends Sunday August 19 Mon., Thurs. Tues., Wed,. Fri. Mincha

7:32 pm 7:00 pm 8:00 am 9:00 am 9:15 am 9:30 am 6:25 pm 7:25 pm 8:38 pm 7:30/8:30 am 6:35/7:45 am 6:45/7:45 am 7:25 pm

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Kiddush Is Sponsored By Rivka & Carl Rosenberg For a Refuah Shleimah For Dennis Goldstein

26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 seventy-five percent seventy-five percent! of their descendants live outside Israel. To paraphrase Rabbi Emanuel Feldman, former Rav of Atlanta, Georgia, who now spends most of the year in Eretz Yisrael: They abandoned the kibbutz in droves, physically and spiritually, for the less austere life and ultimately the greater comforts and material opportunity of Canada and the United States. The most sacred tenet of the secular Zionist canon settling in Israel is utterly ignored. As the secularists painfully realize, Yerida (emigration) from Israel is primarily a secular phenomenon, while Aliyah (immigration) to Israel is primarily Orthodox. Realistic estimates show that there are close to half-amillion Israeli expatriates now living in the West. Those raised on a religion-less diet abandon Israel for the West, but those raised on mitzvah observance apparently do not find it difficult to abandon the luxuries of the West for a less-comfortable life in Israel. This trend results in an interesting juxtaposition: You can hear Hebrew spoken in electronics stores on 42nd Street in New York or on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, while English is spoken in Israeli yeshivos such as Brisk and Kerem BYavneh. The Orthodox in Israel today ask a troubling question of the secularists: Who are the real Chovevei Zion? Who really loves Zion? Only those who observe Torah and mitzvos want to live in Israel. Only they are willing to live in the "abnormal" land. Eretz Yisrael is not normal. It is not "normal" to have to consider fruit holy simply because it grew in a certain year. But that is what Eretz Yisrael is all about. Moreover, that is what being a Jew is all about. A Jew is encumbered by history. A Jew is encumbered by theology. It is not surprising that those who don't realize the significance of being Jews are not interested in living in a country that was, is, and will always be, encumbered by history and theology. Ironically, the segment of society that secularists consider "abnormal" is willing to live in Israel, the abnormal country. An article in The New York Times documented the secular reaction to American olim (immigrants) to Israel. The spirit of the article was that secular Israelis could not understand how a sane individual who was living in the United States, had a livelihood in the United States, and owned a house in the United States, could come to the ridiculous conclusion that is worthwhile to pack up all his belongings and move to Israel.

Shabbat Announcements Parshat Reeh 5772

In the eyes of secular Israelis, people who make aliyah from North America nowadays must be out of their minds, the article concluded. In a sense, the secular Israelis are correct. People who are willing to give up living in the lap of luxury in favor of a land with far less material opportunity simply because it is a mitzvah to do so are not normal. But only abnormal people can live in an abnormal land. It might have seemed strange to see the great Ponevezher Rav hugging a tree. The Ponevezher Rav was not involved in Green Peace or any other save the earth movement. He had a message to impart with his unconventional behavior. Eretz Yisrael is a land governed by abnormal standards, and it can only be inhabited by people who are equally abnormal. It is that abnormality we should all admire and for which we

SALLY & SEYMOUR OLSHIN ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM GreatNeckSynagogue 2012SummerLearningProgram JewishProfessionalLectureSeries

Reservationsrequiredfordinner.

Great Neck Synagogue Shabbat Activities Program

Tuesday, August 21 Dinner 7:00pm | Mincha 7:25pm Maariv following lecture Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff Judaic Studies Faculty, Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University New York Educational Director, Birthright Israel

Dale Polakoff, Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Wolf ,zl, Rabbi Emeritus Daniel Schwechter, Rabbinic Intern Zeev Kron, Cantor Eleazer Schulman, zl, Cantor Emeritus Rabbi Sholom Jensen, Youth Director Mark Twersky, Executive Director Rabbi Avraham Bronstein, Program Director Dr. Scott Danoff, President Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board

How To Have A Really Good Time: Exploring Five Levels of Pleasure in Jewish Thought

Great Neck Synagogue August Chesed Collection

WE ARE COLLECTING SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND CHILDRENS BOOKS

ITEMS WILL BE DONATED TO THE JEWISH BOARD OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN SERVICES IN BORO PARK. CHILDRENS BOOKS CAN BE FOR ANY AGE - IT WILL BE INCLUDED IN THEIR LENDING LIBRARY.

PLEASE DROP OFF DONATIONS SUNDAY-FRIDAY IN AUGUST AT THE KRON FAMILY 26 WOOLEYS LANE PLEASE LEAVE DONATIONS BY THE FRONT DOOR CONTACT INFO:Vivian@vikron.com or 244-6330

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ANNOUNCEMENTS
GNS UPCOMING EVENTS
SUNDAY BREAKFAST Is sponsored by Vera Bernstein in memory of her parents Rivka bas Yitzchak and Yaakov ben Yehuda Hakoen.

WITHIN OUR FAMILY

Mazal Tov to Celia & Jack Lemonik on the birth of a granddaughter, born to their children Zack & Shari Lemonik and also to siblings Josh, Yael & Ilana. Mazal Tov to Harvey Kaylie on receiving an Honorary Degree HASHKAMA KIDDUSH of Doctor of Engineering from the University of South Florida. Is sponsored by Sandra & Michael Stern in honor of the Mazal Tov to Michele & Howard Wolf on the marriage of marriage of their son Alex to Lior Tabashi. their daughter Rachel to Andrew Borodach son of Ardell & Dr. Gerold Borodach. Mazal Tov to Ralene & Andrew Adler on a birth of a SALLY & SEYMOUR OLSHIN ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM grandson born to their children Nicole & Michael Adler. Our Annual Summer Learning Program is enabled only through the generosity of our sponsors. It is to their credit that the voice of Torah Mazal Tov to Myra & Alon Mogilner on the Bar Mitzvah of is strengthened each summer in our community. their son Joseph. Mazal Tov also to grandmother Sponsorship is one hundred eighty dollars ($180). Please call the Nadine Eckstein. Synagogue office at (516) 487-6100 to be included in this noble effort. Mazal Tov to Sandra & Michael Stern on the marriage of We will recognize and honor all of our sponsors in a special Shabbat their son Alex to Lior Tabashi of Pardesshanna, Israel. Announcements listing. (See page 2 for information about this
weeks lecture). To sponsor a Day of Learning at an additional cost in honor or in memory of a loved one, please contact Mark Twersky. Summer Learning Sponsors: Erika & Josh Olshin Gil Aronowitz In memory of Danit Esther bat Binyamin Avraham. Israel & Sydelle Slochowsky Sharon & Mark Twersky In memory of Danit Esther bat Binyamin Avraham Ruth & Milton Mitzner In fond memory of our distinguished Mechutan, Rabbi Dr. Aaron Levine A'H. He was a much-admired and eagerly -awaited lecturer at our Roshei Yeshiva summer programs of recent years. A renowned and leading authority on the interface between economics and Jewish law, Dr. Levine was also a prolific writer, whose books were published all over the world. Alisa & Michael Hoenig Lillian & Gary Chubak Lorraine & Harold Domnitch Karen & Robert Spitalnick In memory of her father Jonas Steigman,zl. Jolanta & Frank Rosenstein In honor of their parents, zl Carol Buckmann In memory of Mayer Siegel, zl Pam & Baruch Toledano In memory of Harold Kovar, zl Brenda & Ed Parver Rita Gordonson In memory of Lewis Gordonson and Leon & Dora Gershkowitz, zl.

COMMUNITY UPCOMING EVENTS

NORTH SHORE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL NEEDS MUSIC CDS AND TOILETRIES North Shore University Hospital is about to launch a program that offers music (of all varieties) to patients. Kindly drop off donations of music CDs in the synagogue office. Also, the hospital hosts over 250 guests/ year in their Shabbat accommodations. Please drop off unused sample size toiletries (e.g. shampoo, soap, toothbrush, mouthwash etc.) in the synagogue office. Please contact Rabbi Daniel Coleman for further information at (516) 562-4011 or at dcoleman@nshs.edu. MAX JANOVIC BAR MITZVAH CHESED PROJECT Max Janovic will be raising money for Winthrop Hospital Cancer Center for Kids as part of his Bar Mitzvah Chesed Project. It will take place on Sunday, Sept. 9 and Team Max will run and raise money at that time. To sponsor Team Max please call Max at 516-319-0207.

CHESED CHAIR PEOPLE REMINDER Do a Mitzvah!!-GNS- Monthly Chesed Collections-Chair people needed. Please volunteer and contact, Sharon Goldwyn 917 287 7334 or email sgdesignermom@aol.com for the following months. August- School Supplies and Childrens books October- Baby items November- Winter Clothing December- Games and Toys GNS TALMUD TORAH Registration is now open for next years Talmud Torah program. Please contact Rabbi Lichter at ilichter@gns.org for more information. ANNUAL SISTERHOOD DINNER Our Sisterhood dinner this year will be on Wednesday night, November 7th, 2012. We are so excited to present our speaker, Rachelle Weisberger, author of "Biblical Beauty" to discuss the integration of biblical and historical perspectives with practical advice. We are looking for volunteers to collect beauty-themed raffle prizes salon gift certificates, makeup samples, spa-related items, etc. Sponsorships are available - Gold - $72, Silver - $36, bronze - $18 If you are able to help, please email Judy Lillien, syny98@gmail.com . Thank you so much to Judy Lillien for chairing this event!

Y A H R Z E I T

Saturday, 30 Av Vera Bernstein for Caroline Lilly Lefkowitz Joyce Dacher for Jacob Wolfman Tina Machnikoff for Sophie Machnikoff George Miner for Chana Emunah Kule Morris Nasser for Jack Nasser Carl Rosenberg for Henry Rosenberg Ruth Seif for Zelig Dolinsky Myra Sutin for Annie Joffe Monday, 2 Elul Nechama Liss-Levinson for Gertrude Liss Frederick N. Lukash for Leslie Lukash Marlene Rutkin for Ann Fishman Ellen Siegel for Mel Crair Tuesday, 3 Elul Adeline Markowitz for Marcia Perlman Wednesday, 4 Elul Anita Beretz for Erna Levi Reichenberg Faye Berke for Sadie Rosenstein Elana Flax for Morris Matzkin Gisele Katz for Fay Gastwirth Cheryl Sneag for Morris Matzkin Thursday, 5 Elul Harriet Cooper for Jacob Rothstein Sandra B. Gold for Nita Barak Friday, 6 Elul Grace Oster for Michael Horowitz Marlene Rutkin for Morris Fishman Chava Shalmon for Esther Grinszpan