Thursday, July 24, 2008

My Em Habanim family

Yesterday I recieved an e-mail from my good friend Sidney Chriqui of Em Habanim in California.
It gave me another chance to reflect on how many people influenced my life to this point. Sidney, a wise man a few decades my senior, is one of those special people that showed me how it is never too late to make a change and an improvement in your life. I will not share the details now on how he went up to read the Torah a quite a few years after his 13th birthday, but I have to say that it taught me a lesson on how much you can achieve if you set your mind to it, no matter what people may think possible. It is one of the experiences that inspired me to believe in people and pushed me to open this Beit Midrash. Thank you Sidney.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Baruch Hashem

Yesterday was the fast of the 17th of Tamuz (to learn more click http://www.aish.com/holidays/tisha_bav_and_the_3_weeks/default.asp).
Not so many came, but we had a good learning day. I didn't think we could have Mincha because we didn't have anyone to read the torah, and i wasn't even sure if we had six people who fasted, which is needed for taking a torah out.
ALL THE SUDDEN, 2 people came off the street asking if we are doing mincha, and another potential student showed up unannounced. Turnes out, he can read the torah, and he is a kohen.
you can always look at things like that as coincidence, but I see it as God smiling at us.

Then again God smiled at us this morning, 9 30 we already had almost ten students and an hour later we had fifteen. we actually had to add more seats. Baruch Hashem

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Sium Party



Yesterday we had a great Sium Party at the Beit Midrash. One of my students from my daf yomi lesson had to fly out of the country and may miss the party we will have later this month to mark the end on one more masechet (tractate of Talmud) so I decided to double the fun and have an extra party.

Some of my students from my daily lesson in my neighborhood came to celebrate with us and Rabbi Haim Louk, my teacher and mentor from my days in Los Angeles, and the greatest Moroccan musician of our time, came to teach and sing with us. here is a link to some of his songs online: http://www.piyut.org.il/cgi-bin/search.pl?Expression=%E7%E9%E9%ED+%EC%E5%F7
click on any of the links there... one of my favorites :http://www.piyut.org.il/tools/player.html?quality=good&per=http://media.snunit.k12.il/piut/GoodQuality/719.wma&d=n

We had some great food, given to us by my good friend Yossi Vashdi from Shalom Falafel (look, I even found a link to that... http://www.mapa.co.il/ng/buildrecord_d.asp?id=8748 )

It was an unbelievable experience, so uplifting. I think that some of what made it so great was the mix of people. everybody felt comfortable, everyone was at ease. Check out some of the pictures...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

rosh hodesh trip





On Sunday we went on a trip to celebrate the new month. We went to Ein Karem... WOW


We wanted to go out and break out of the norm a little bit and it proved to be absolutely right.


We hiked for ten minutes and reached a little spring. We walked past the spring for a couple more minutes and found a huge fig tree.


We sat under the tree and had some pita and hummus, some cold cuts as well.


We spoke a little and it was heartwarming. The students shared and the staff shared in how we feel about the last four months. Some of the guys said it was a miracle for them that the Beit Midrash opened. They felt great about having a place where they can fit in, where they don't have to explain themselves.
I shared with them how i have fears as well, everyday i have fears, what if they don't like us, the program, me... I told them how every morning i come and pray that the students will show up and i am never sure. I know how hard it is and I'm very sad that i have my limits as to how much i can help.
as you can see, i got my place on the tree and i must say i got extremely energized from this trip.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Thank all the helpers

I think it's important to acknowledge and thank God, and his messengers: the people who are helping us (and i am including the Shaf Yativ staff, namely Udi Marili) carry out the vision of this Beit Midrash.

I must thank the Nissim family for allowing us to open up in the beautiful Yad Harav Nissim Building.

My utmost thanks to Sagi (Gary) Kolodaro for building the website, helping have it make sense online but mostly for his encouraging words and friendship

special thanks to my friends Ariel Azoulay and Eliahu Saban for their generous donations that help us get off the ground and our dear neighbor Moshe Yosef Lefkowitz for his great support

On this first thank you note I must thank my parents Eli and Galia for their support and backing for all these years.

And lastly, my wife Eris. I love you

What is Shaf Yativ????

Shaf Yativ
I guess I must explain what Shaf Yativ is and what the name means.

Let's start with what it is...
Shaf Yativ is a new program I opened up with Udi Marili, which is aimed at mental rehabilitation through the tools of Torah and the Beit Midrash setting. You can read all about it on the website http://www.shafyativ.com/ . if you're already there, read the "note from the Rabbi" http://www.shafyativ.com/shafyativ/Note_from_the_Rabbi.html

Now about the name...
I was looking for a name to the program and thought Arameic is a good place to start. I consulted with a few rabbis and one of them opened the Gemara (Rosh Hashana 24)
He showed me Rashi's commentary about a place named Shaf Ve'Yativ (some say Shaf Yativ) in Babel :
A synagogue in ancient Babel, made of stones from the Temple "which was ruined and re-built and always had holy spirit present in it" as soon as I saw the meaning I said "that's the name."