Last Thursday night, one of Northern New Jersey’s newest organizations, The Bayit Association, held its first-ever Nine Days shiur at the home of Rabbi Michael and Bassie Taubes in Teaneck. Approximately 75 people were in attendance to hear Shuli Taubes give a shiur entitled “Learn to Do Good; Devote Yourself to Justice (Yeshaya 1:17) What We Can Still Learn about Inclusion in Our Community.”

Prior to the shiur, hostess and Bayit co-founder Bassie Taubes spoke briefly and introduced her husband Rabbi Michael Taubes, Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS and rabbi at Kehillas Zichron Mordechai in Teaneck, who delivered a dvar Torah. Then, Moshe Kinderlehrer, another Bayit co-founder (and co-publisher of The Jewish Link), spoke and gave a short history of the organization, which is a new parent-driven organization dedicated to developing kosher, shomer Shabbat housing for the community of adults with special needs / unique needs in Northern New Jersey. He noted that the organization is looking forward to opening up to three homes within two years, serving at least 12 adults and hopefully more.

Afterwards, Shuli Taubes, currently on the faculty of the Judaica and philosophy department at SAR High School, gave a masterful, wide ranging and thoughtful shiur on the criticism and warnings that the navi Yeshaya gave to the Jewish people in God’s name and its applicability to the contemporary experience and modern society. The shiur was also a personal one for her as she spoke about her own life experiences as the sister of an adult brother with autism, and the pressing need for the right kind of homes for adults like her brother.

To learn more about the Bayit Association, visit www.bayitnj.org. To support the Bayit, go to: http://tinyurl.com/Bayitnj

By Jewish Link Staff