Please Support the Old Broadway Synagogue!

Teves 5782

December 2021

Dear Friends,

I hope this note finds you and your families well.

The Gemora, Taanis, page 23a, relates an enigmatic story about Choni Ha-Maagel (Choni the circle-maker), which I would like to share. I am paraphrasing Sefaria’s translation:

One day, Choni was walking along the road when he saw a man planting a carob tree. Choni said to him: “After how many years will this tree bear fruit?” The man replied: “Seventy years.” Choni said to him: “Is it obvious that you will live seventy years, so that you can expect to benefit from this tree?” The man replied that he had found a world full of carob trees. “Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants.”

Sleep overcame Choni and …he slept for seventy years. When he awoke, he saw a certain man gathering carob pods from that tree. Ḥoni said to him: “Are you the one who planted this tree?” The man said to him: “I am his grandson.”

The Gemora continues that Choni went home and then to the beis midrash and announced that he was Choni Ha-Maagel, but he was not believed in either place.

There are at least two important lessons in this passage.

The first is that, just as we have received many things from the past, even from many people we have not known personally, we are obligated to prepare the world for the coming generations, even if we will never meet them.

The second is that we need to take advantage of the time that we have now to accomplish as much as we can, whether it is in learning, or building a family, or a community, or helping to develop and support Israel. Just as Choni’s return from the past was not successful, we cannot expect that there will be a better time than right now to make things happen.

These insights from the Gemora help inform what we do at the Old Broadway Synagogue. We are very active for a small community! In addition to the excellent derashos that Rafi gives every Shabbos, our Women’s Rosh Chodesh group, under the leadership of Rhonda Taylor and Laura Radensky, is going strong. We are fortunate to have a wonderful children's group under the leadership of the teen members of the group, who have been davening and learning, and putting on plays based on the weekly Torah reading. Rabbi Heller continues to give wonderful shiurim every other week. Lastly, we had a lovely Chanukah party with arts and crafts live music provided by Lawrence Goldman, Natanel Laevsky, and Eliano Braz.

I am also pleased to say that we have been building up our library of sifrei kodesh at the shul. Thanks to a number of contributions, both monetary and in-kind, we now have a beautiful new set of the Artscroll Mikra’os Gedolos, individual volumes and sets of the Gemora, sets of Mishnayos, and sets of the major meforshim. I would like to add that these books are heavily used and we anticipate the library growing even further.

Continuing our efforts to preserve our historic 98 year-old building for future generations, we have been moving forward on our floor reinforcement project. As noted previously, the first floor in the lobby has been sinking, and the construction that we are about to begin will stabilize and level the floor and keep it sound for the foreseeable future. We have hired a contractor, and have begun to clear out the space in the basement in preparation for the work. We are still raising money and we hope to raise another $40,000 to help cover the cost. With your help, we know that we can reach this goal and complete the work. Please keep us in mind as you make your year-end contributions.

In all, we are doing what we can to preserve Yiddishkeit for future generations, with urgency because as it is written in Psalm 119, “Es la’asos le-Hashem,” “Now is the time to act for Hashem!”

Speaking personally, it is a tremendous zechus for me to be part of the holy community that makes up the Old Broadway Synagogue. Thanks to your support, it has continued to be a place of learning, of Torah, of chesed, as inspired by Rabbi Kret and Mrs. Kret, may their memories be for a blessing. With Hashem’s help, and with your help, may we continue to be a beacon of Yiddishkeit and Torah.

Paul Radensky

President

Please click here to make an online contribution to the Old Broadway Synagogue.

High Holiday Message for 5782 - 2021

Elul 5781

September 2021

Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you and your family well.

As we approach the end of the year, we should be aware that the new year is a shemittah, or Sabbatical, year. Just as we are to rest on the seventh day of each week, the Torah commands us to allow the agricultural land in Israel to rest on the seventh year of each seven-year cycle. God promises that the produce of the sixth year will be plentiful enough to last for three years- for the sixth year itself, for the seventh year when we are not allowed to plant, and for the eighth year in which we do plant, but when we still have to wait for the crops to mature in order to bring in the harvest. Just as the laws of Shabbos are restrictive but result in rest and in spiritual and physical rejuvenation, so too shemittah results in both spiritual and physical renewal. The first is because during shemittah, we rely on God, deepening our faith. The second is because by letting the land lie fallow, it will recover its nutrients and become fertile again.

During the past year and a half, many of us were forced to rest. For all of us, many things have changed. As we approach the new year, let us do a cheshbon ha-nefesh - an accounting of the soul. Let us recognize that we are all in God’s hands, and let us cherish with greater appreciation our families, our communities and everything we have. In this way, may we proceed me-afelah le-orah, from darkness to light. May God bless us with success, happiness and above all, good health in the new year and the years to come.

We are looking forward to the High Holidays. B’ezras Hashem, Orrin Tilevitz will lead Selichos as he has done for over 30 years, on Saturday night, August 28th at 12:30am. Rabbi Reuven Hoff and Yosef Tannenbaum, will again lead services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. For everyone’s safety, we will keep the building well-ventilated and will ask people to wear masks and observe social distancing.

The past year and a half have been challenging for all synagogues, but I am pleased to say that Old Broadway has been doing well under the circumstances. We lost some congregants but we gained new ones. We have had regular services every week with a thoughtful divrei Torah and a delicious kiddush. We have had a number of simchas including two bat mitzvah celebrations and two marriages. Under the leadership of Rhonda Taylor and Laura Radensky, the Women’s Rosh Chodesh Group has met regularly on Zoom. Rabbi Heller has been giving excellent shiurim in the shul twice a month. Among the topics were: “The Secret History of Lag Ba-Omer,” “How Much Risk Can You Take on Yourself to Help Someone Else?” “When Does a Child Become and Adult,” and “Celebrating and Mourning at the Same Time.” The shul also organized a first aid, CPR, and AED (automated external defibrillator) course and we also purchased a defibrillator. Under Dale Brown’s stewardship, the garden in the back courtyard is in full bloom.

After a pandemic-caused delay, the project to reinforce the first floor lobby and staircase is on track again. When the shul was built in 1923, a staircase was planned to the basement on the south side of the lobby. The staircase ultimately was installed on the north side of the lobby. Unfortunately, the floor on the south side was not properly framed out and has been sinking ever since. We plan to jack up the ceiling and floor to level it, and then, in order to stabilize the floor, we plan to install a steel beam that will cut across the ceiling in the northeast corner of the basement. This work will require moving gas, electric and water lines. Drawings have been prepared, submitted to the Department of Buildings, and approved. We have invited three contractors to submit proposals. Our project manager estimates that the job will cost $84,000, although does not include unforeseen contingencies that may arise while doing the work. So far, we have raised about $32,000. Accordingly, we are still raising funds and will be grateful for your support.

Your generous help has enabled us to welcome people and provide them with beautiful davening and a warm community. You have also enabled us to maintain and restore our historic building. As the New Year approaches, we turn to you again. We hope that we continue to be worthy of your support 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. May Hashem inscribe and seal you and your families for good health, happiness and success for the New Year.

Le-shanah tovah tikatevu ve-techatemu,

A gut gebentsht yor,

Dr. Paul Radensky

President

THE OLD BROADWAY SYNAGOGUE IS OPEN - COVID INSTRUCTIONS

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to inform your that the Old Broadway Synagogue is open for services. According to New York State regulations, we are allow to admit 25% of our capacity. We still have space for a few additional mispallelim. If you would like to join us, please email us at paulradensky@gmail.com or at obs15old@gmail.com. 

In order to make sure that everyone is safe in the synagogue, we require everyone who attends the shul to observe the guidelines below.

Warm wishes for a good week.

Paul Radensky
President

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COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Safety Protocols

In accordance with New York State regulations we have opened the shul but at reduced capacity. In order to keep everyone safe, everyone who attends must abide by the following instructions:

1. We require that people who are new to the synagogue and wish to attend services email us in advance of their arrival. We can reached at paulradensky@gmail.com or obs15old@gmail.com.

2. While in shul everyone should wear masks, with exception made for the light kiddush. Please note the mask rule will be enforced. 

3. Within the synagogue, you must sit at least six feet apart from other people (except from those who live in the same household as you do).

4. Please refrain from shaking hands, hugs or other personal contact. Please bring your own siddur oir take a siddur and keep it at your seat.

5. Members and guests over 65 years of age and/or those members with immunocompromise issues and underlying health conditions should not attend shul.

6. If you feel even mildly ill, you should not attend shul.

Soap is available at the sinks and hand sanitizer  has been placed throughout the building.

Please Join Us for Our Chanukah Simchah!

Please Join Us for Our Annual

Chanukah Simchah

Motzoei Shabbos

December 28, 2019, at 6:30pm

We will have music, latkes, sufganiyot,

arts and crafts, a candle-lighting and a lot of fun!

A $10 donation would be appreciated!

!חג אורים שמח

!אַ פֿרײליכן, ליכטיקן חנוכּה

Warm wishes for a Zisn, Kushern Pesach!

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