That Simchas Torah, he related, was the first time he ever felt like a Yid

Living Higher

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ast week, the Minneapolis community hosted Abie Rotenberg and Joey Newcomb for a Shabbos of achdus and song. The culminating highlight was a Motzaei Shabbos kumzitz/concert, where Abie and Joey regaled the crowd with hits ranging from “Joe DiMaggio’s Card” to “The Krach Fun de Pickle.” Attending the event were many young professionals still on the path toward Torah-observant Judaism.

A particularly poignant moment occurred when Abie related the story behind his classic song “The Man from Vilna.” The song depicts a group of Holocaust survivors who, during the Simchas Torah immediately following liberation, realized they had no sifrei Torah to dance with, and instead held aloft two children and danced with them.

One of the children in the story, Abie shared, was Abraham Foxman, who later became the longtime president of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), devoting his life to combatting anti-Semitism. Abie described how the young Foxman’s parents had left him in the care of a Catholic family during the war, and when they came to retrieve him, he didn’t even know he was Jewish. He had, in fact, developed a scornful disdain for Jews during his time with the Catholic family. But that Simchas Torah, he related, was the first time he ever felt like a Yid.

For everyone in attendance, the story struck a chord. For those privileged to be raised in frum communities, and those whose souls yearn for return, the phrase “the first time he ever felt like a Yid” resonated.

Because on some level, we all know that feeling. And, as Joey might say, it’s geshmak to be a Yid.

Overheard

“You know, Dad, all year we at Toras Aaron celebrate the students. At the last dinner we celebrated you. Today, while we are welcoming you, we are celebrating the melamdim. Not only those that do the daf, but every one of them, who, before a long day, or after a long day, continuously carve out time for their own learning and shteiging. And ohh! is it mashpia on the talmidim. We are proud of you, my dear friends, and wish you chazak, chazak v’nischazek. May your talmidim learn from you and grow in their commitments as well, each in their own special way….”

—Rabbi Dovid Brafman, founder of Toras Aaron Cheder and son of celebrity defense attorney Ben Brafman. The Israeli cheder, which was founded by Rabbi Brafman in 2014 to offer serious learning and a seamless fit within the broader Eretz Yisrael chareidi world, has become a central anchor of Ramat Eshkol’s chutznik community. This past Thursday, Toras Aaron celebrated a siyum for several of the staff members who completed the entire Seder Nezikin together. Rabbi Brafman’s parents, who are the cheder’s primary benefactors, flew in for the siyum and in his speech, their son, founder Rabbi Dovid Brafman, contrasted this event with that of last year’s dinner, at which the senior Brafmans were honored.

HAPPENING in...Tampa Bay, Florida

Kehillos around the world have almost universally adopted a father-son learning program for the long Motzaei Shabbos in the winter season. Last week, the Tampa Torah Center, located in sunny Tampa Bay, Florida, proudly followed suit, launching its inaugural “Dor L’dor” learning program, joining the ranks of thousands of kehillos and hundreds of thousands past and current attendees in one of most ubiquitous learning sedorim in the contemporary frum world.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1087)