Cong. B’nai Israel of Manalapan, New Jersey has invited members of the community to join them on Tisha B’Av to learn with their guest lecturer, Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier.

Zuckier is a research associate at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and a maggid shiur at Stern College. He received his Ph.D. in ancient Judaism from Yale University and was director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Yale University. He studied at Yeshiva Har Etzion and received semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University.

Zuckier will speak at 8:30 p.m. on Tisha B’Av night, Monday, Aug. 12, after the 8:15 p.m. Maariv, on “Forever Our Jerusalem,” an exploration of the long-standing Jewish connection to the land of Israel and the city of Gold. The reading of the Book of Eicha will follow at 9.

Rabbi Ken Brodkin of B’nai Israel will lead Shacharit and offer explanatory Kinot starting at 8:30 a.m. on Tisha B’Av day, Tuesday, Aug. 13.

Zuckier will speak at 10:30 a.m. on “From Babel to Bar Kochba and Beyond: A History of Jewish Exile and Return,” an exploration of critical moments of Jewish exile from and return to the land of Israel. The shul will also offer a screening of the film “Faith and Fate: The Miracle of Israel, 1945-1948,” produced by Rabbi Berel Wein, at 11:30.

“B’nai Israel is proud to serve as a center of mitzvot and connection to the Jewish people for our central New Jersey locale,” said Brodkin. “We are fortunate to bring a speaker the caliber of Rabbi Zuckier to Manalapan to help folks reflect upon and strengthen their Israel connection. This Tisha B’Av is a vital time for us to daven together and stand with Israel.”

“On this Tisha B’Av let us honor our past sorrows, embrace our present challenges in Israel and work together toward a future of shared peace and unity,” said Shari Tepper, president of B’nai Israel. “Listening to Rabbi Dr. Zuckier is a thoughtful way to begin to work toward those goals.”

B’nai Israel is located at 33 Gordon’s Corner Rd., Manalapan. For more details on this scholar in residence, email to [email protected]

Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes your comments. Harry is a big, big fan of Manalapan’s Cong. B’nai Israel, the shul’s warm and engaging rav and its energetic and welcoming lay leaders.