Community Magazine December 2013

LETTERS MOURNING THE PASSINGOF HACHAMOVADIA YOSEF, ZT”L The articles [in the November 2013 issue] about the passing of Hacham Ovadia Yosef opened my eyes to the fact that the magnitude of our loss will greatly be felt in the coming weeks, years and decades, as our leader and rabbi can no longer answer our questions and teach us all he knows as he has always done. His work and dedication to the Sephardim here, in Israel and throughout the world were inspiring. Hacham Ovadia Yosef’s accomplishments as Chief Rabbi of Israel were extensive, as he brought the Sephardic people Jewish pride and an understanding of our halachot and minhagim. He was a great rabbi who taught our rabbis through his written works, and by learning with them and visiting our shuls, schools and community every chance he got. The pictures in your magazine and words of what he said were inspiring. We lost our leader and we are all in deep thought as to how we can keep future generations educated and knowledgeable about his teachings so our future will be solid like the past of the Sephardic people. May his work be around for generations to come so we may always know with confidence who we are and what we need as a Jewish Nation. Raquel Boujo My family and I would like to commend you and the entire Community staff on the magnificent job you did on the “special commemorative section” on Hacham Ovadia, zt”l . Over the years, our community was blessed many times with the opportunity to welcome the hacham into our shuls and yeshivot to inspire and to teach us. He would give us a sense of pride in continuing our golden Sephardic heritage of Torah, hesed and mitzvot . While reading your comprehensive coverage on the hacham, we felt that sense of inspiration and pride once again. We really enjoyed the great photographs, interesting facts and awesome stories. This issue is one for the ages – definitely a collector’s issue. Beautiful work! Incidentally, in the top photo on page 79 of Maran visiting the Deal Kollel, the “unknown” person seated between Rabbi Shaul Haber and Rabbi David Cohen is Rabbi Reuven Semah of Magen Avraham (the West Long Branch Synagogue). Max H FULFILLING A MOTHER’S DYINGWISH The article titled, “The Man behind the Sheitels” in last month’s issue was very moving. It is quite remarkable that a woman who survived the Holocaust and then had to battle cancer at the end of her life still had such strong faith in Hashem. I found it very inspiring that her dying wish was to help others by opening a sheitel business with the objective of providing quality sheitels at affordable prices for everyone. Just as amazing is that her son fulfilled his mother’s dying wish despite the fact that he knew nothing about the business. I think this story would make for a very captivating movie or DVD. This is the type of story that gives hizuk (inspiration) to every Jewish person of every religious level. Collette G. ARCHEOLOGY I would like to express my thanks for the intriguing article detailing the discovery of the ancient royal communique which helped shed light on the Maccabean revolt of Hanukah. This well-written piece gave pertinent background, interesting details surrounding the case, and compelling information as to its ramifications for Biblical archeology in general. After reading this article I finally gained an inkling as to why there is a dearth of excavations confirming the veracity of the Torah. It always disturbed me in the past, but now I think I understand the reason. For those who have complete faith in Hashem and the Torah, all this is so unnecessary, but for the many of those whose faith is not as strong – these types of findings are very significant. On one hand, the need to “prove” the authenticity of the Torah just shows what a pathetic state the Jewish community is in; but on the other hand – look at what Hashem is now revealing to us! Sammy B. CORRECTION In the article titled, “Love For All” in last month’s issue, Rabbi David Shelby was inaccurately described as being a former shamosh of Hacham Ovadia Yosef zt”l . Rabbi Shelby was a very close student of Maran and learned under him for 12 years, however, he was not his shamosh. We apologize for the error. TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK! WRITE US A LETTER 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 FAX: 718-504-4246 POST: Community Magazine 1616 Ocean Pkwy Brooklyn, NY 11223 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. 14 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE