May 30, 2008 Newsletter

Good Erev Shabbat to all!

We again would like to remind everyone that the 43rd Annual Dinner will, B'Ezrat Hashem, take place on Tuesday evening, June 17th at 7:00 PM in the Utopia Jewish Center, 64-41 Utopia Parkway, Fresh Meadows, NY. Mr. & Mrs. Yisrael Nisanov and Dr. & Mrs. David Wallach will be our Guests of Honor. We are also extremely proud to honor Dr. Pamela Siller as our Alumna of the Year, in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments in her field of Psychiatry. Speaking of alumni, we were happy to welcome back this week Avigdor (Matt) Saunders (class of '99) who inspired our older boys with his personal story of his path from HAWQ to being a true Ben-Torah today. Avigdor is pursuing a career in social work. This summer he will be learning at Ohr Somayach in Monsey, NY. His accomplishments are a great source of inspiration to all of us. Also, we welcome aboard another accomplished alumnus, Danny Reiss, who is heading our intensive Summer Recruitment Program focusing on Jewish children currently in Public School. This program will be launched with a special event during JEP release time on June 11th in conjunction with Rabbi Finestone and the Queens JEP.

In the beginning of this week’s Parsha, Bamidbar, we have once again the counting of the Bnai Yisrael. This counting took place on the first of Iyar during their second year in the desert. It was already the fourth time that the Bnai Yisrael were counted. The first time was when Yaakov and sons went down to Mitzrayim. The second time was when the Bnai Yisrael left Mitzrayim. The third time was after the Chait HaAigel (the sin of the Golden Calf). And now they are counted for the fourth time. Our Chazal explain that a person counts and carefully keeps track of things that are very important and valuable to him. Similarly, this frequent counting of the Jewish people is indicative of how precious each and every member of the Klal Yisrael is to Hashem. Each of us have a unique role to play, and the mission of Klal Yisrael is incomplete if even one person is missing. We know that in Beraisheit, Hashem told Avraham Avinu his descendants would numerous as the stars in sky. When one views the array of stars in the sky from a distance, they appear as mere specks of lights. However, upon closer inspection, we know from our own sun, that each star is, in reality, a powerful ball of energy that can potentially be the center of an entire solar system. So too, it would seem on the surface that each individual Jew is just a tiny, insignificant part a huge multitude, and has little impact on the total picture. However, the Torah is teaching us that every Jewish Neshama is a Olam Malay (a whole world). As the Mishnah says, "Why did Hashem create the world with only one individual? To teach us that he who saves one life, saves an entire world”. This important lesson should reinforce our efforts to reach out to every Jewish Neshama!

Shabbat Shalom!


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