Community Magazine September 2012

Community Chest Top Gun Tournament provides fun and fundraising for sBH Top Gun, the annual sports event held to raise money for Sephardic Bikur Holim (SBH), took place this year on Sunday, August 12, 2012 at the home of Steve and Amy Sasson. In support of SBH’s mission to help provide food, housing, career services and medical care to those in need, participants competed in tennis, soccer, basketball, volleyball, football and ping pong tournaments. This year’s event was a huge success, bringing thousands of people from our community together to watch the top players of the community compete in various sports and enjoy themselves, while simultaneously supporting the vital work of SBH. The tournaments began early in the morning, and ended with a delicious barbeque and distribution of trophies in the evening As the day went on, the basketball tournament came down to the two finalists: Team Ramaz vs. Jamie Doueck. The final game was exciting and full of suspense, with the two teams battling it out neck-and-neck. Jamie Doueck got ahead 17-13 and seemed poised to win, but then Ramaz scored a three which made the score 17-16. Jamie Doueck shot one back in return, and then Ramaz scored another 3 shot making it 20-19. With the ball in their hands, Jamie Doueck shot and missed. With the ball up in the air, Ramaz got the rebound and took a lay-up for the win. The crowd cheered and flooded the court to congratulate the winners. The well-attended event was guided from beginning to end by Charles Anteby and the event was only made possible by hosts, Amy and Steven Sasson and Adelaide and Ralph Khezrie, who displayed unending generosity and hospitality. And finally, the community also owes a debt of gratitude to Sephardic Bikur Holim for all the hesed it does and for constantly giving the youth opportunities to give back to the community. –Albert Gindi Bet Midrash Gevoha Honors the 50th yahrtzeit of rav aharon Kotler z.s.l. The impact of Rav Aharon Kotler’s life on the Jewish nation is immeasurable; his contributions to Torah were larger than life and truly indescribable. An acknowledged gadol hador (leader of the generation) for American Jewry and prime builder of educational and Torah institutions, Rav Aharon is perhaps best known as RoshYeshivah and founder of Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG) in Lakewood, New Jersey. Upon its establishment in the 1940’s, BMG was just a fledgling yeshivah. Today it is the largest yeshivah in America and a bastion of Torah for the world. Rav Aharon infused a generation and a country with a never-before-seen, unbridled love for the learning of Torah. His life and his message were simple: limud haTorah lishmah (learning Torah for its own sake). This philosophy – a bold revelation at the time –transformed the post-Holocaust national and international Torah landscape forever. Quite often, after a long, exhausting day of fundraising and advocacy, Rav Aharon returned home hungry. Not for food, but for Torah. Because, as Rav Aharon once commented to Dr. Ernst Bodenheimer, after a long grueling day of activity on behalf of the Jewish people, “it doesn’t come close to a page of Gemara.” While most would have felt spiritually satiated from the fact that they had advanced the cause of Torah, Rav Aharon knew that such activity and effort do not stand alone – they are rooted in a foundation of Torah, and therefore advocacy alone wasn’t enough. He hungered for more; he was starving for Gemara learning. Fiercely passionate, the fire of Torah consumed his persona in a manner that was visible to all who saw him; its tenets dictated his every action, word, and thought. Rav Aharon’s whole life was anchored in the primacy of Torah, and his every action was dictated by its morals and its message. Rav Aharon Kotler was a transcendent figure, one who in many ways singlehandedly drove the rebuilding of the Jewish nation; and so it’s only appropriate that the Jewish nation as a whole comes together to recognize his immeasurable contributions to the world. On Sunday November 18, Beth Medrash Govoha will host a 50th Yahrtzeit i n memory of Rav Aharon Kotler. Details about the event will be announced over the coming weeks and months. Look for more information about this momentous event is future issues of Community. 98 Community magazine