Nissan
5779
April
2019
Dear
Friend,
I
hope this note finds you and your family well.
The
recounting of the Ten Plagues is one of the most dramatic and
theologically challenging sections of the Torah. In their way the
plagues represent a kind of nightmarish undoing of creation. Water,
which represents life, becomes blood, the weather and the animals go
beserk and the crowning blow is not the emergence of man, but his
death. All the Egyptians suffer because Pharaoh refuses to change his
mind – God will not let him. Why? “So that the Egyptians shall
know that I am the Lord when I stretch my hand over Egypt and take
the children of Israel from their midst.”
Perhaps
the Egyptians are the primary audience for the plagues as they are
related in the Book of Exodus but subsequently, for the generations,
they are to remind Israel of God’s might. For this reason, the
recitation of the plagues plays a prominent role in the seder. As
horrific as they were, for the rabbis, ten plagues were not enough.
Rabbi Yose the Galilean, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva seem to
compete with each other to say that at the Red Sea there 50, then
200, then 250 additional plagues.
The
rabbis are doing more than playing math games. They are illustrating
God’s awesome power, one that is sometimes is not fully recognized.
As we think about the many miracles that God performed for our
ancestors, we should also think of those He has done for us as
individuals, as families, and as the Jewish people. I daresay that we
will be able to count to a high number as well.
Sometimes
it seems that what we have accomplished at the Old Broadway
Synagogue, thanks to your support, is, lehavdil,
miraculous as well. We have had wonderful Shabbosim with Rabbi Avi
Heller of the Orthodox Union, and Cantor Eric Freeman of the Belz
School of Jewish Museum at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Heller and Rabbi
Elie Pollack continue to give fascinating shiurim after
davening on Sunday mornings. Under the leadership of Rhonda
Taylor-Ramsuer and Laura Radensky, our Women’s Rosh Chodesh group
meets every month for learning and fellowship.
Songwriter,
guitarist and singer Lazer Lloyd gave an inspiring Chanukah concert,
and we also had a lively Chanukah party that featured arts and crafts
for the children and a visit from New York City Council Member Mark
Levine. Greek-Israeli musician and singer, Avram Pengas, performed at
our Purim party.
We
celebrated with Josie Steinhauer and Spencer Katzman the naming of
their daughter, Hattie. We also celebrated the bris of Mathias and
Sara David’s son, Josh, welcomed the arrival of my grand-daughter,
Bayla Yosefa, and celebrated the wedding of my son, Asher, to Georgia
Trester. We are looking forward to more simchas in the future.
As
I wrote in a previous letter, the beams in the ceiling above the
electrical room have slipped significantly. This problem is made more
urgent by the fact that the stairs to the second floor begin on this
part of the first floor and are being compromised by the damage. We
hope to jack up the floor and install a steel beam on posts across
the basement and the Ladies Room to shore up and stabilize the first
floor and staircase. We will have to move the electrical, gas and
water service, and accordingly, the cost for the entire project will
be about $75,000. We have applied for a $25,000 matching grant from
the New York Landmarks Conservancy and hope to hear soon whether if
we will be awarded the funds. We have also raised $30,000 towards
this project. Although we have come a long way, even if we receive
the grant, we will still be $20,000 short. We hope that you will help
us with this project, as you have helped us in the past.
Thank
you for your generous support of our programming and for the
restoration of our historic building. You have enabled us to welcome
people in the tradition of Rabbi and Mrs. Kret, zikhronam
le-vrakhah, with
meaningful davening, a beautiful shul and a warm community. As
Passover approaches, we hope that we continue to be worthy of your
assistance so that we may continue to be a beacon of Yiddishkeit and
Torah to many Jews in Harlem, Morningside Heights and the Upper West
Side.
Thank
you in advance for your help.
Warm
wishes for a sweet and kosher Pesach.
Paul
Radensky
President
