Rabbi Aft's Corner

Dear Friends, This was an exciting week for me with the opportunity to meet the President and to have all the wonderful pictures and video to remind me of this special occasion. It reminded me of how fortunate we are that on a day in which we remembered the Holocaust I could be standing by [...]

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Dear Friends, Today is Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, which leads into Israel’s Independence Day which begins tonight. A siren sounded last night and this morning in Israel as a reminder that there has been much sacrifice in order for there to be a state of Israel. Almost every family in Israel is touched by [...]

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Dear Friends, Due to the kindness of Eileen Filler Corn I had the chance to hear President Obama speak at the Holocaust museum on Monday about his response to genocide in commemoration of Yom HaShoah and subsequently gave him a White Sox kippah. Although the lady in the video blocks some of the conversation, you [...]

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Dear Friends, I recently received the following from a friend who lives in Texas. I hope you will take a minute to read it. As I read this, I was very touched and yet reminded that when things like this happen we really don’t know what occurs. I believe that as we confront issues in [...]

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Dear Friends, Today is Yom HaShoah, the day on the Jewish calendar when we mark Holocaust Commemoration Day. We currently have two students on the March of the Living, which is a pilgrimage to Poland to visit the concentration camps, and then to Israel to commemorate Israel’s Memorial Day and to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. [...]

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Dear Friends, I hope that you have had a meaningful Passover. Please note that it is customary to light a yahrzeit candle on Friday night before you light your Shabbat candles since the last day of Passover is one of the days in which we observe Yizkor and remember our loved ones. In the Siddur [...]

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