כ׳ סיון תשפ״ד

From the Desk of the Executive Vice President

Dear Chaverim:

It is a busy and exciting time at the RCA. Before outlining staff changes in the organization, and providing some fascinating ideas for Shabbos, I want to provide a few short updates.

In this week’s email:

• RCA Updates
• Introductions to new RCA team members
• Chomer Lidrush - Parasha Shelach

I. Weekly Updates

• Member Notes:
• We are happy to report that Ari Sytner’s son is recovering at home from his recent illness. The family is so appreciative for your tefillos and support.
• Akiva Males continues to recover from his eruv related fall. Baruch Hashem, he is getting back to his holy work with the Young Israel of Memphis.
• We wish a refuah shlaimah to Bracha Zelda bat Rachel Golda Balk, wife of Hanan Balk, who underwent a long surgery yesterday. Please continue to daven for her recovery.
• We are indebted to Reuven Tradburks, who has been representing the RCA at multiple war-related shiva calls in Israel. Reuven sends out a weekly message to many people and last week’s piece was particularly poignant. I encourage you to read it here. Among this week’s funerals was that of Malkia Gross, hy”d. Kol Hakavod to Noah Cheses, who accompanied members of his family from the Young Israel of Sharon.
• RCA Elections 2024. Watch your emails as we approach next week's elections.
• Conference of Presidents
• I am proud to be representing the RCA today at a full day conference in Manhattan on Antisemitism bringing together the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. The conference has brought together a broad array of Jewish leaders to unite and stategize in the face of an unprecedented threat to teh Jewish community of North America.
• In a similar vein, the RCA co-signed a letter with the Conference of Presidents this week protested Wikipedians who are seeking to ban the use of ADL's statistics and information. The attacks are part of the post-10/7 explosion in orchestrated attacks on the Jewish and pro-Israel community. In this case, the detractors are focusing on ADL's support for the use of the IHRA definition as a demonstration of their bias - towards Israel - which they posit as being disqualifying.
• Thank you to the officers, executive committee members, and RCA chaverim who continue to work on a new strategic plan for the RCA. More details will emerge of a scheduled summer of work on next steps for the RCA.

II. The RCA Professional Team – Words from Zvi Engel and Menachem Penner

Marilyn Amar, our esteemed Office Manager, will be retiring after years of exemplary service to the Rabbinical Council of America and its members. Her unwavering commitment, professionalism, and warm spirit have been the backbone of our organization, and her contributions have been invaluable.

Throughout her tenure, Marilyn has ensured the smooth operation of our office and has been a pillar of support and inspiration for all of us. Her attention to detail, organizational skills, and genuine care for our staff and members have left an indelible mark on our community.

As Marilyn embarks on this new chapter in her life, we extend our deepest gratitude for her many years of hard work and dedication. We will greatly miss her presence, and we wish her the all the best.

While Marilyn was unable to join us at our recent convention in Stamford, we hope to find an appropriate opportunity to express our hakarat hatov in the future.

Thank you, Marilyn, for everything. Your legacy will forever be a part of the Rabbinical Council of America.

We are also excited to introduce new members of our team:

Bonnie Leff joins the RCA as Administrator and brings a wealth of corporate experience to our office, having been a career Chief of Staff in both healthcare and on Wall Street. Her work includes a concentration in human resources, organizational development, project management, and communications. In addition, Bonnie has served the Central New Jersey Jewish community as an effective lay leader for 20+ years in strategic planning, conducting rabbinical searches, and community engagement for The Hebrew Academy of Greater Monmouth County, The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey, and Congregation B’nai Israel, Manalapan, New Jersey. Bonnie also serves as the administrator of The Morris and Gertrude Bienenfeld Dept. of Jewish Career Development and Placement at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University.

For personal issues related to placement, she can still be best reached at bonnie.leff@yu.edu. For RCA matters, feel free to email her at bleff@rabbis.org.

Maury Rosenfeld joins the RCA as Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President. He will play multiple roles focusing on content creation for these weekly emails and the website. Maury has a wealth of expertise and experience in this area. An alumnus of Yeshiva College and RIETS, Maury was a founding editor at 18Forty, after serving as an executive speech writer and advisor at both the Orthodox Union and RZA-Mizrachi. Maury is also an educator at DRS Yeshiva High School, and is passionate about what the RCA can do to help rabbis. Drop him an email at mrosenfeld@rabbis.org. 

The entire RCA Professional Team stands by to help you and lead our critical organization:

• Rabbi Menachem Penner: Executive Vice President
• Rabbi Adam Dubin: Director of Operations
• Bonnie Leff: Administrator
• Rabbi Reuven Tradburks: RCA Israel Representative
• Rabbi Michoel Zylberman: Administrator, Regional Courts for Conversion
• Abby Lerner: National Director of Conversion Services
• Maury Rosenfeld: Special Assistant to the EVP
• Dov Levine: Controller

III. Chomer Lidrush - Shelach

• Be Your Own Army

Rabbi Moshe Eisemann sees Bnei Yisrael's attempted "gate-crashing" of Eretz Yisrael after having the promise to reach it rescinded in the aftermath of teh spies as a powerful teaching moment:

They now understood that they had failed in courage, had not dared to admit their own spiritual prowess, and lacked belief in what tehy could do if they were but determined to do it. From the depths of their despair, tehy had caught a glimpse of who they really were; tehy had come to know that nothing could really stand in their way.

He stresses that this crashing of the gates of Israel was doomed to failure. Future attempts, we may suggest, may well be not just successful - but necessary. This cam be a stepping stone to discuss personal and community tensions relating to Aliyah in 2024.

Full piece here (beginnings, p. 65-68)

• "What a paradox! What an irony!"

In a famous letter to a talmid, the late RIETS dean, Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, z”l, used a beautiful approach of his grandfather – Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlop, zt”l, author of the Mei Marom – to connect the complaints of the nation to the episode of Dinah and Shechem, driving home an important message for our generation.

It is the burden and the crown of the Jew to be able to negotiate with a honed spiritual elegance between the open and the closed, of course, within the undeniable bounds set down for us by the Torah. 

Full letter here.

• What Was Really Behind the Spies' Plan?

Rabbi Elie Munk’s Call of the Torah (Bamidbar, p. 141) brings a different perspective on the meraglim, borrowing from the Baal HaTanya: 

The Sin of the Spies is seen in another dimension by Chassidic Sages. They teach that the Jews led an ideal life in the desert. They had an abundance of food in the manna which fell from the heavens; they had water from the miraculous well of Miriam; they had clothing which did not wear out (Rashi to Deuteronomy 8:4). And so they could devote themselves totally to Torah without the slightest material concerns. In the Promised Land, on the other hand, they would have to plant and work the fields. This did not seem to them an improvement over their life in the desert. In accepting such a negative view, they failed to recognize the importance of a life of action, a life of doing mitzvos, especially those connected with the soil of Israel (Likutei Torah to 36:4). 

• The Failure of Self-Image at the Center of the Spies' Mistakes

Dr. Erica Brown points out that “Sometimes we see ourselves as weak and believe that others think of us the same way. But perhaps we’re wrong. We usually look stronger than we deemed possible.” Full text on the 929 website. 

• Who Shall Lead the Jewish People?

Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky’s essay on Yehoshua and Kalev (Amittah Shel Torah II, p. 164-169) is worth learning and worth sharing this shabbos. What made Yehoshua more relatable and suitable than Kalev? The fact that he was human and susceptible to sin. “The needs of the generation were such that only the greatness of Yehoshua could answer them, not the greatness of Kalev.” 

The Talmudic Encyclopedia Vol. 52

The Talmudic Encyclopedia dedicates Volume 52 to the memory of Rav Zevulun Charlop, zt"l

The Talmudic Encyclopedia is initiating the production of a special volume:

War in the Light of Halacha

You now have the opportunity to contribute as a valued partner in this unique endeavor

In This Issue:

• OU Kashrus Conference 2024
• OU Kosher Marks Another Successful Pesach Season Educating Thousands
• OU Meets with the USDA
• Lo Basi: Chanan Without Yedias Ha'Taruvos
• The Ingredient Panel: Vitamins
• Making it in the Workplace, and Creating a Kiddush Hashem in the Process

Current IDF Wounded

(as of June 21, 2024)

With thanks to Rav Reuven Tradburks and Rav Dovid Fine

Introducing: Shem Olam Holocaust Institute

from our chaver Rav David Fine

Click Here for more information

Yemei Iyun in Tanach

In-Person in Alon Shvut

and Online from Anywhere

Sun., Aug 4 - Wed., Aug. 7

For more information, email tanach@herzog.ac.il

TRADITION QUESTIONS: Who Knows Numbers?

by Chaim Strauchler, Click Here

REVIEW: Torah in a Connected World

by Tamar Koslowe, Click Here

• Who We Are
• Click here to order the RCA Madrikh
• RCA - Assistance in Contract Negotiations, Apply Here
• The RCA Siddur Avodat Halev is available from Koren Publications at a discount by contacting shlomop@korenpub.com
• Interest free loans of up to $5000 are available to RCA chaverim through the Rabbi Myron and Sarah Rackowitz Fund. Please contact Menachem Penner for more information.
• Burial plots are available in the RCA section of Eretz haChaim Cemetery in Bet Shemesh. Contact Dovy Grunbaum, 1-866-437-2210, for details.
• To sign up for the RCA Health Insurance Plan contact Jay Wildstein at the Grober-Imbey Insurance Agency, 516-872-9500 x3027
• RCA Retirement Plan Resources Click Here. For information about the RCA Retirement Plan contact Steven Greenbaum, Altigro Pension Services, at 973-439-0200, ext. 224.