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Veteran askanim Rabbi Shia Markowitz and Rabbi Shmuel Bloom join forces for shemittah
Before Shia Markowitz, a decades-long communal activist whose stamp is on some of the most important communal initiatives in recent years, took over the international shemittah umbrella, he admits that he didn’t have much emotional connection to Eretz Yisrael. Today, joining forces with former Agudah executive Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, the two American askanim are working tirelessly so that the Holy Land can have its rest
Reb Shia Markowitz might just be the most famous askan you never heard of.
Although he’s managed to stay well below the radar, the Monsey resident’s fingerprints are on some of the frum community’s most important initiatives, from decades ago through the present. Reb Shia’s first claim to fame came early on, as a celebrated summertime hoopster, a magician on the courts who helped bring many a victory to Camp Torah Vodaath (CTV) in the frum sleepaway camp basketball le
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Back in the mid-80’s we were moving from Moshav Elazar across the street (highway 60) to our new home in Efrat. So, we called one of the most venerable moving companies in Israel, Hovalot Ya’akovi, in business since 1950, just like me. On the phone, I asked to move the following Monday. The response? ‘No, you want to move on Tuesday, yom she’huchpal bo ‘ki tov!’ I was being informed that Tuesday’s the best day for new endeavors, because that day God said, ‘And it was good,’ twice. At that point, I was trying to remind myself who was the rabbi and who was the truckdriver. Of course, they may just have been fully booked on Monday, but I was convinced.
It was a festive day in downtown Zhitomir in Western Ukraine as large crowds joyfully participated in a hachnasas sefer Torah, bringing a new sefer Torah into Zhitomir’s large synagogue for the first time in a hundred years. Many guests arrived to partake in the grand celebration. Amongst them were shluchim, city