Join the synagogue for a prospective member brunch this Sunday, March 17 from 10 a.m.-noon.
(Courtesy of Fleetwood Synagogue) This past Shabbat, Fleetwood Synagogue in Mt. Vernon, New York hosted its second annual NYMC/TCDM Shabbaton with themed events, Q&A sessions, and shiurim all focused on the intersection between medicine and halacha. Over 20 students and families from nearby New York Medical College (NYMC) and Touro College of Dental Medicine (TCDM) joined, spending Shabbat together with classmates, getting to know fellow students, and learning about the benefits of Fleetwood, just a short drive from the campus.
On Friday night the attendees enjoyed dinner together in shul followed by an oneg and Q&A session dedicated to medical halacha questions. Fleetwood’s rabbi, Rabbi Dr. Yosef Cohen, a pediatric resident at Montefiore, was a superb leader of the discussion bridging the medical and halacha fields, highlighting intricacies and nuance in both fields. Questions included how to keep Shabbos in a hospital, halachic considerations of metzitza b’peh during circumcision, and even the idea of extracting sperm from a deceased patient so the wife can have his child.
On Shabbos day, the students joined in a community lunch, getting to enjoy the delicious in-house catering from the shul kitchen committee. They spent the afternoon learning in the shul’s regular weekly chinuch shiur and chabura groups and enjoying each other’s company outside of the school setting. This was followed by a festive seuda shlishit with a shiur on the halachic considerations of the treatment of terminally ill patients.
Several Fleetwood residents are currently students at NYMC/TCDM. The event was coordinated by current dental student Gabrielle Dayan and her husband, Fleetwood’s assistant rabbi, Zaki Dayan, and Elisheva and Akiva Chase, also a student at TCDM. The school’s campus is about 20 minutes from Fleetwood.
For more information on Fleetwood, email [email protected]. Fleetwood Synagogue is hosting a prospective member brunch this Sunday, March 17 from 10 a.m.-noon.
