Community Magazine August 2012

SEIZING THE COMMUNITY I have wanted to write this letter for some time now, to express my gratitude to Community Magazine and Rabbi Mansour for all of his wonderful articles over the years. But it was the recent article, “Seize the Moment,” which actually inspired me to do so. Five years ago, I was almost completely out of the fold. In my second year away at college, I had dropped almost all vestiges of my religion in spite of 12 years of yeshiva education. Then my brother bought me a gift subscription to Community which was delivered straight to my dorm. I appreciated the gesture, but at first, I would only look through the jokes, the advice column and other general interest articles, leaving aside anything that had to do with community or religion. Then I started to read Rabbi Mansour’s articles, the Top 10 questions, and the stories about our heritage. Soon, I was once again putting on tefillin and making sure to eat only food with kosher supervision. I learned that what we have in our community is far more precious than anything out there, and I seized my moments of inspiration to make the positive changes in my life that will last. David. S. A NEW TRADITION OF JEWISH EDUCATION Your “Salute to the Graduates,” the cover profile on Bet Yaakov of the Jersey Shore, and the stories about Yeshivat Darche Eres and Yeshivat Shaare Torah, were each, individually, stimulating and informative. But taken together, these articles were an inspiring reminder of how blessed we are now to have so many quality schools serving our community. I remember when the great visionaries of our community decided to establish Magen David Yeshiva – the first community yeshiva day-school over half a century ago. At the time it was a controversial move, but today, we can’t even imagine our community without Magen David. Even more so, where would our community be without the men and women who are products of this fine institution and who lead our community today? Having outgrown being a one- school-community, we are truly blessed to have so many fine educational institutions of all stripes and colors serving our youth and guiding them in the way of our great traditions and ancient customs. J. Shalom DIRSHU’S TRUE CHAMPIONS Thank you for your excellent coverage of the Dirshu World Siyumim in the last issue (Tamuz 5772 - July 2012). As the mother of a Dirshu participant, I can personally testify that the dedicated men who have participated in the Dirshu learning programs deserve our recognition for their hatmadah (diligence) and accomplishments. As my son explained to me, the primary purpose of the Dirshu program is to give scholars the determination and drive to extend the mastery of their learning much further than they would have otherwise dreamed. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that at the same time as the Dirshu celebrations, the rest of the world, lehavdil , is preoccupied by the physical accomplishments of athletes at the Olympics in London. This difference in focus – between physical and intellectual, material and spiritual – is emblematic of what defines the uniqueness of the Jewish nation. And programs like Dirshu remind us just how proud we should be of our accomplishments in the areas that really matter. Rachel Levy YDE IS READY FOR MORE I would like to thank you so much for printing the article about our school, Yeshivat Darche Eres. It came out beautiful and was a fitting reflection of how proud we are to be part of this fine yeshiva. We hope, be’ezrat Hashem (with Gd’s help), to write more about our high school in the coming school this year, so please be in touch. Abie Dayan CORRECTION : In the Salute to the Graduates article in our July 2012 edition, the pictures of Yaakov Blanco and Raymond Assis from Shaare Torah Elementary School on page 47 were mistakenly switched, as were the pictures of Simon Alalo and Abie Saad from Yeshiva Lev Torah on page 51. The extremely tight deadline for this sizable feature made it difficult to properly proof. We sincerely apologize to the graduates, the schools and the parents for these errors. TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK! WRITE US A LETTER Letters submitted become the property of Community Magazine and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Letters may be edited and revised for length, style and grammar before publication. All submissions are considered for publication unless otherwise requested. Preferential consideration is given to brief comments and insights that relate directly to published content. Anonymous letters are generally not reviewed or considered for publication. LETTERS MOBILE: Scan the Quick Response (QR) code here with your tablet, smart phone or other mobile device. EMAIL: letters@Community M .com WEB: www. Community M .com MAIL: COMMUNITY MAGAZINE 1616 OCEAN PKWY BROOKLYN, NY 11223 FAX: 718-504-4246 12 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE