Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Bald and Rabbi Jonathan Rietti will be speaking on the fast day of Shiva Assar B’Tammuz, Tuesday, July 19, at Merkaz Hasimcha, located at 1898 Bay Avenue, near Avenue M and East 18th Street, in Flatbush. The program focusing on “Perspectives of the Three Weeks” is being organized by Torah Connections and hosted by Merkaz Hasimcha. It will begin with Minchah at 6:45 p.m. and the program will start at 7:15 p.m. with Maariv to follow.
Rabbi Bald, chief rabbi of Lvov-Lemberg in the Ukraine, will speak on the timely topic of “Am I Prepared to Leave America?” Rabbi Bald grew up in Brooklyn, where he attended Yeshivas Karlin-Stolin, and he later learned in Yeshivas Slabodka in Bnei Brak. He has devoted the past 18 years to rebuilding the Jewish community in Lvov decimated by 70 years of the brutal Communist regime, and he has helped bring many hundreds back to Torah observance.
Rabbi Rietti, a popular worldwide senior lecturer for Gateways and director of teacher training at Mishkan Yecheskel, will follow with a talk titled “Anatomy of Hatred.”
The purpose of the Torah Connections programs on Shiva Assar B’Tammuz and Tisha B’Av which have been conducted in Flatbush for almost 30 years is to sensitize the Jewish community to the causes and consequences of our long exile from Eretz Yisroel and our responsibility to take steps to end the golus quickly.
Admission to the Shiva Assar B’Tammuz program is $10 per person or $25 per family. To help subsidize the enormous costs of organizing the programs, sponsorships from members of the community are welcome. The entire community is invited to attend. There will be separate seating for men and women. Merkaz Hasimcha is wheelchair accessible.
This year’s annual Flatbush Tisha B’Av program will be held Monday night, August 8, and Tuesday, August 9, at Ateres Chynka, located at 129 Elmwood Avenue, near McDonald Avenue. For more information, call 718.998.5822 or email [email protected].
{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
