For over half a century, Rav Moshe Heinemann has been setting the bar high on kashrus, as head of the STAR-K and as a foremost authority in the ever-more-complex field of kosher certification
Photos: Eli Greengart
When the time came to build a mikveh in Lakewood shortly after Rav Aharon Kotler’s petirah in 1962, that all-important mission was entrusted to a talmid for whom the Lakewood rosh yeshivah had forseen a shining future as a moreh hora’ah for Klal Yisrael: Rav Moshe Heinemann, then a Beth Medrash Govoha yungerman in his mid-twenties.
As we sit together in the conference room of the STAR-K, the Baltimore-based kashrus certification agency Rav Moshe Heinemann has led for half a century, he recalls his visit to the venerable Rebbe Yoel of Satmar to discuss the mikveh project. “I asked the Rebbe, ‘What’s the best way to make a mikveh?’ and he replied with customary wit: ‘The best way is not to make it based on the Shulchan Aruch.’ After a pause, he continue
A person might actually miss out on their bashert and years of happiness because they said no based on a picture
The conversation surrounding widespread digital distribution of shidduch photos has only gotten more passionate with the publication of Rochi Kichel’s shidduch-photo saga. Here is a sample of the letters we received
KEEP ASKING FOR PHOTOS: R.D., Miami
Thank you to Mishpacha for facilitating this important discussion regarding shidduch photos. I used to be opposed to the idea of boys asking to see photos, but after reading the letter from “Bochur in Shidduchim,” I have changed my mind.
Early Thursday morning on the tenth of Kislev, I was informed that R’ Shalom Dreyfuss had succumbed to the coronavirus.
Shalom was just 42 years old and left five orphan boys ranging in ages from 4 to 17.
After hespedim in Passaic, Shalom was buried in Lakewood, and the family began their shiva.
That Shabbos morning, when the four oldest boys began to recite Kaddish together, there was not a dry eye in the shul.
Besides the tragedy of the death and his leaving five orphans, Shalom was the baal korei of the shul. He had over 25 years of experience and was a baal korei par excellence.e had leined the entire Torah, and just this past Sukkos he leined Koheles in the shul.
The greatest success is the ability to own up to failure
In the Torah view, the single most essential ingredient of a person’s fitness to hold a position of responsibility is his ability to accept responsibility. There is no greater disqualification for leadership than one’s unwillingness to say the three words, “I was wrong.”
It works the other way, too: Someone with a conscience that impels him to accept blame when justified is also likely to feel unable to stand idly by when wrongs need righting, and will more readily volunteer to step up to act and take responsibility.
Rav Dovid Kamenetsky brings Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski to life. “Everything we have today, the entire yeshivah world, is from Rav Chaim Ozer”
Photos: Eli Cobin, Personal Archives
Walking into Rav Dovid Kamenetsky’s Har Nof apartment, I’m immediately struck by the resemblance to his father, Rav Shmuel, whose picture adorns the living room wall along with a photo of his grandfather, Rav Yaakov. My conversation with this modest talmid chacham, who is also a self-made scholarly historian, shows me just how much his life’s work has been influenced by his illustrious father and grandfather.
The atmosphere that permeated the Kamenetsky home, relates Reb Dovid, instilled a deep connection to Jewish history along with a sense of pride in the rich legacy of the Litvish mesorah.