Community Magazine June 2009

46 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Simcha Holtzberg contacted the owner of the Tempo soft drink company, who began delivering a shipment of drinks to the Old City each year before Yom Kippur. Today, with the profits earned from his banquet hall, Rabbi Ephraim Holtzberg serves 7,000 personal cakes and over 1,000 drink bottles to worshippers at the Kotel after Yom Kippur. Rabbi Holtzberg also uses proceeds from the hall to purchase new toys and games for young patients at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva, which he regularly visits. The thought- ful gifts coupled with Rabbi Holtzberg’s infectious optimism help to brighten what is otherwise a very dark and painful period in the lives of these children. Appropriately, the name of the venue used to finance these hesed projects is “The Simcha Hall,” memorializing both the name and essence of Simcha Holtzberg, a man who brought simha (joy) to those who had all but forgotten what the word meant. A Vision to Serve the Blind Like his father, Rabbi Holtzberg devotes much of his effort to the plight of wound- ed IDF soldiers and victims of terror attacks, particularly those who have lost their eyesight. Two years ago, to mark the yarsseit of his father, Rabbi Holtzberg arranged and hosted a special party for blinded soldiers and their wives at The Simcha Hall. Not satisfied to merely entertain, the objective was to excite and inspire the guests. “The Talmud teaches that blind people are never satiated, because they don’t see their food,” Rabbi Holtzberg remarked. “I therefore ordered the finest foods in large quantities – so that the guests of honor could enjoy a meal that would allow them the opportunity to feel full!” Among the IDF veterans in attendance whom Rabbi Holtzberg took special interest to inspire was Professor Yekutiel Gershuni, a noted historian at Tel Aviv University who had lost both arms and most of his hearing and vision during army service. “I took him aside and shared a thought that was told to me by Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl shlita , rabbi of Jerusalem’s Old City,” Rabbi Holtzberg recalls. “The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe Nachmanides, 1194- 1270) writes that when Mashiah comes, all Jews will reach the level of prophecy that the nation attained at Mount Sinai. We are told that at Mount Sinai, Gd healed all the wounded, blind and deaf members of the nation who were maimed during the oppres- sion in Egypt. Similarly, when Mashiah comes, all the blind will regain their vision; the deaf will regain their hearing; and all injured limbs and organs will be repaired. With this, I hoped to offer some measure of spiritual encouragement, alongside the food and music.” Ten years earlier, Rabbi Holtzberg chanced upon a group of blind IDF veterans at the Kotel, where they were being given an exclusive tour of the newly excavated tunnels beneath the Wall. He immediately thought to himself, “I will not forgive myself if I don’t do something special for these sol- diers!” He approached the group and prom- ised to treat them all to a luxurious dinner at the Tel-Aviv Hilton – something his father had done annually for wounded soldiers. With lots of hard work and determina- tion, Rabbi Holtzberg overcame formidable financial and logistical hurdles and gave the sightless soldiers an evening they would never forget. Popular Israeli singer Yoram Gaon entertained, and then Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Hacham Mordechai Eliyahu shlita, delivered an inspiring address. Under the Guidance of Torah Leaders Rabbi Holtzberg regularly consults with some of the generation’s Torah leaders for guidance and assistance in all aspects of his work. His primary mentors are Rabbi Elyashiv and Rabbi Nebenzahl, but over the years he has also established a relation- ship with Maran Hacham Ovadia Yosef shlita , whom he had the opportunity to meet dozens of times. His relationship with the Hacham, Rabbi Holtzberg notes, has offered him a unique perspective on the sage’s towering stature. “Everybody knows of Rav Ovadia’s scholarship and photographic memory,” Rabbi Holtzberg said. “But I also got a glimpse of the warmth, sensitivity and kind- ness that he extends to all people.” His most memorable experience with Hacham Ovadia involved the tragic story of Gila, a teenage girl who was seriously wounded by a bombing attack on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem. The injuries left her severely impaired both physically and mentally, and no medical facility was prepared to admit her. Gila’s parents had no choice but to tend to her themselves, at home, continuously, for some fifteen years. Finally, under the emotional drain of the endless ordeal, they buckled and both suf- fered severe heart attacks. Rabbi Holtzberg, who had been working with the family, realized that something had to be done to help Gila and her parents. Simcha Holtzberg a.h. with Rav Aryeh Levine z.s.l. Food and drink supplied by Simcha Holtzberg for worshippers at the Kotel at the close of Yom Kippur 1967.