Bringing down blessing and peace to an upward-looking nation

As many of the families that populated the camps and colonies of the Catskill Mountains begin to return to the city, the streets are quieter, the stores less crowded and shuls a bit emptier. Camp Morris has ended, but the smaller, Sephardic minyan on the grounds continues for a bit longer, and it’s at that minyan that Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, rosh yeshivah of Zichron Moshe in South Fallsburg, frequently appears. That’s because the minyan, as is with many Sephardic communities in the Diaspora, recites the Bircas Kohanim every day, and the Rosh Yeshivah doesn’t want to miss that extra opportunity for blessings brought down.

Mishpacha’s Avraham Elbaz was davening there one morning  when the Rosh Yeshivah slipped in. Once there, Rav Elya Ber  won’t leave until the entire tefillah is complete, remaining at his seat in the back, saying Tehillim at the shtender.

As sounds of summer fade and the Days of Awe approach, words of the eternal brachah hover, bringing down blessing and peace to an upward-looking nation.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 874)