Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

Today, the 23rd of Iyar is a festive day in Megillat Ta’anit. According to tradition, this day arrived in the generation of King David, 5 days early. What I mean is that the original Yom Yerushalayim was today. This is the day that King David captured the city from the Yevusi. Almost 3,000 years later on the 28th of Iyar, we recaptured it again. In between, many conquerors had their way with our holy city, but we were the only ones who built it up. The original plans for Yerushalayim were laid out by David and Shmuel Hanavi when David was in flight from King Saul. What an amazing idea. David’s life is hanging from a thread as the king is chasing him with thousands of soldiers, and David is busy planning the future of our holy city. It’s amazing also to note that the yahrzeit of the one who made these plans with David, is also the 28th of Iyar, the day that would later be Yom Yerushalayim!

This is also a sad day in history for Ashkenazic Jewry. This is the day that the city of Worms was destroyed in 1247. One of the few survivors of the destruction, Rabbi Elazar Rokeach, writes in his Torah commentary how his entire family was killed and he was left for dead in a burning house. When he came to, he saw that all his writings had been destroyed. He was the author of 63 books and the ones that had already been in the hands of others, (Such as the Halachic work, Sefer HaRokeach, his Torah commentaries, his Haggadah, some of his response, and others), have survived to this day. The introduction to the Sefer HaRokeach lists all 63 books. One of those is his commentary to Mishle which I had the great zechus to publish almost 10 years ago. How he carried on to raise another family after these losses is astounding. This story can be found in a lamentation that we say on Tisha B’av called “Mi Yiten Roshi Mayim”, and this date appears in the lamentation. The current Belzer Rebbe is a direct descendant as are the owners of the Rokeach food company. May his memory be a blessing.

Be safe. Be healthy. Be excellent.
Rabbi Allen Schwartz



Rabbi Allen Schwartz
Congregation Ohab Zedek
118 West 95th Street | New York, NY 10025-6604
Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200 | Fax 212.663-3635
E-mail ras@ozny.org
Website: www.ozny.org