The Short Vort
Good Morning!

Today is a Erev Shabbos Parshas Shemos 5779

The Bar Mitzvah

Tomorrow my oldest grandson will be called to the Torah to officially join the ranks of Jewish men.
As all Jewish young men, he will have a modest celebration, receive gifts and it will be a time for the family to be together.
Every Jewish family in the world has special reasons to thank HaShem when their child or grandson becomes Bar Mitzvah.
Each and every story of how a boy was privileged to become an adult is a cause for celebration.
This is true wherever the Bar Mitzva takes place and whoever the family is.
It’s always a time to thank HaShem.
If the Bar Mitzvah is in Johannesburg or in Jerusalem, it is a cause for celebration and an opportunity to thank HaShem.
The special nature of my grandson’s Bar Mitzvah is that he is celebrating it in the exact same place - The Old City of Yerushalayim- where his great-great- great- great- great grandfather, Rav Zalman Tzoref Salomon Zt”l settled in 1811!
His ancestor Rav Shlomo Zalman was the main shaker and mover in establishing the first Ashkenazic Shul in the Churva complex.
The Shul was named the Menachem Zion Shul and opened in Teves of 1837!
Rav Zalman Tzoref Zt”l was murdered by Arab terrorists in 1851 and was never privileged to see the actual Chura Sul which was built in 1864.
Tomorrow, on Parshas Shemos 5779,181 years after my grandsons’ ancestor opened the first Ashkenakic Shul in the Old City (Menachem Zion), he too shall stand in the exact same place and join a proud line of ancestors.
I thank HaShem that I am privileged to live to see this day!
“If not now, then when?”- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman, Rabbi, Congregation Ahavas Israel, Passaic, NJ