(Note: When I started the Jewish Link in early 2013 together with my co-publisher and friend Mark (Mendy) Schwartz, I assumed I would be writing more often in my own paper. Many of my peer publishers in the Jewish and secular community media world write regular weekly columns on a wide range of topics, and I thought I would do the same. That hasn’t happened, in part due to the struggles of launching a business while having another job initially, and then later, when the Jewish Link became a full-time job for me, the realization that writing a weekly column is really hard work. It’s not simple to find the time and mental energy to write a column on a regular basis, I quickly learned. One small resolution for the secular new year of 2016 is that I do hope to be writing a bit more regularly, and look forward to engaging you—our readership—more directly and personally in print.)
Not long ago, I had the pleasure of attending a 36th anniversary (double chai) annual gala and—simultaneously— eight weddings/chupot (see pictures and article on this page and facing page) in one place—all in the span of six hours or so. Where was I? I was an attendee and participant at the Bris Avrohom 36th Annual Gala where they also celebrated, for the 30th year in a row, making multiple weddings for Jewish couples who had not married religiously or had a proper Jewish wedding. Who ever heard of an organizational dinner and multiple weddings at once?
I was there for many reasons, but mainly because I was invited personally by Bris Avrohom’s founder and executive director, Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky. Although I have known about Rabbi Kanelsky for decades, and recall reading about him in the Jewish Press growing up, and hearing him on JM in the AM with Nachum Segal over the years, I had also heard from good friends in our community that this was a singular event unlike any other.
Rabbi Kanelsky and I have also begun to build our relationship over the past year or so. He has begun to visit the Jewish Link office every so often, and recently took out a two-page ad spread in our paper, highlighting the many menorah lightings that Bris Avrohom did at locations throughout the NY/NJ area. Each year, Bris Avrohom adds locations for menorot, with the goal of ensuring that anyone driving or flying into our area can’t miss the fact that it’s Chanukah. This is real pirsumei nisa (publicizing the miracle of Chanukah), Bris Avrohom-style.
Rabbi Kanelsky told me not long ago that he likes our paper and enjoys having it in his shul in Hillside. When I asked him why he likes the paper, he explained that he likes the paper’s content and gives it out during shul to help keep his shul members quiet. As he is the first rabbi to ever tell me that he uses the Jewish Link to help maintain shul decorum, I figured I had to do something for him and get to know him and his organization even better.
I am not sure what to call the most recent Bris Avrohom gala event that I attended. Definitely unlike any other. Has anyone outside this area ever heard of an organization that celebrates its annual fundraiser with multiple weddings going on at the same time? While I am not normally a cynic, when it comes to nonprofits and community organizations, I believe that I am hard to amaze. That night, I was simply blown away.
I arrived a bit late and missed the multiple-chatan tisch and badekens—which I now regret, of course. I walked right into the areas where the chatanim and kallot and their families were gathering for the chupah. The brides and grooms—the majority of them long-married couples living in the tri-state area who grew up outside the U.S.—were all dressed in their finest outfits and all quite emotional as the ceremony was about to begin. The chupah room was quite wide, as it needed to be, to fit in eight separate chupot side by side. Jewish music star Lipa Schmeltzer led the couples in with his lyrical voice.
As part of the experience, many of Bris Avrohom’s supporters, board members and friends were called up to serve as witnesses or to say a bracha. I was also called up for a bracha for the sixth couple. Rabbi Kanelsky’s son, Rabbi Yudi Kanelsky, was the event emcee and asked that anyone called up for a bracha or any task stay at the chupah the entire time to ensure that everything proceeded as smoothly as possible. So I stood up there the entire time and had the chance to see everything up close.
Standing up there with chatan and kallah #6, both originally from Russia, and their families, was a heartwarming experience. Their adult son stood by their side and cried loudly as he watched his parents get married again. I looked around and saw tears of joy at every chupah. The entire room was filled with simcha and tears throughout the multiple brachot, ketubah readings, the brachot again, and finally, the breaking of multiple glasses one after another in a more-or-less coordinated fashion.
It was a truly special time and moment for each of these families, and for Bris Avrohom as well. I saw up close how Rabbi Kanelsky and his wife Shterney went out of their way to make sure each couple truly felt like a new bride and groom. It was a regular Orthodox wedding, only multiplied eight times and all packed into one hotel ballroom with hundreds of family and friends looking on.
In addition to the pervasive simcha atmosphere, a strong undercurrent of communal achdut (Jewish unity) filled the room. Moments like these do not come about too often in one’s life, and must be treasured. I, too, shed a tear or two, after the glasses were broken. One could simply not help but be affected by the multiple scenes of genuine joy taking place. I understood clearly why my friends said it was a must-attend event. I also believe I now understand a bit more about the success and growth of Rabbi Kanelsky and Bris Avrohom. Mazal tov again…and looking forward to future galas.
By Moshe Kinderlehrer,
JLNJ co-publisher and founder
