From Sydney to Times Square
03/03/2016 02:13:53 PM
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Dear [first_name] Having lived in New York for several years and visited often, travelling via subway is an altogether familiar experience. Infinitely safer now than when I first came here over forty years ago (when avoiding a mugging was foremost in your mind), the subways sport a wide range of interesting people and sights. Buskers who set up elaborate sound systems, preachers on soapboxes warning that the end is nigh and of course the rows of people glued to the silver screens in front of them.
But nothing prepared us for the trip we took last Motzaei Shabbat when carriages and carriages of Jewish teens, in train after train, made their way from Brooklyn's Crown Heights to Manhattan's Times Square.
As one song after another resonated loudly throughout the carriages, the atmosphere was electric. From the well known Jewish hits, to the cheers, to the national anthems of the tens of countries represented by the thousands of kids who had come to participate in the CTeen International event.
Travelling with the Rebbetzin and I was the South Head contingent, and boy did they make us proud! Competing successfully against the many more Frenchies and Yankies in the same carriage, they drowned them out with a rousing "Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie, Oy, Oy, Oy!" (Click here for video) A non-Jewish guy in his thirties sitting next to us really got into the groove. Camera in hand, he stood up, moved with the beat and hummed along. He told us that it was the best subway ride he had ever experienced. Never had he seen so much joy, so much pride. I thought we were going to have to do a conversion there on the spot! And then on to Times Square. Its bright screens always turn night into day, but never before have they featured thousands of Jewish kids singing and celebrating to the accompaniment of the famous Eighth Day band. Thousands more spectators - Jewish and non-Jewish - stood outside the barriers enjoying this wonderful display of Jewish pride. And let's not forget the evening's highlight - Mark Sonnenchein's fiery address to the crowd as he proudly represented Australia, while fellow South Headers Joshua Sher and Myriam Sebban (and of course Tzemach, Yeruchem and Brookie) cheered him on.
All in all a truly uplifting experience - a burst of bright Jewish light so desperately needed in our world today...
And now a word from one of the participants, Joshua Sher:
"The CTeen International Jewish Leadership Convention in New York was an awesome and inspiring experience from the singing on the subway to Havdallah and concert in Times Square I would recommend this weekend to all. Meeting Jews my age from all over the world was amazing to do and I would go again in a heartbeat".
Click here to watch South Head's very own Mark Sonnenschein open the Motzaei Shabbat event at Times Square and click here to watch another inspiring video from the evening!
With best wishes for a Good Shabbos on behalf of the Rebbetzin and all of us at South Head,
Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM
P.S. Next Friday Night, March 11, we have the honour of hearing from (Res.) Major General Eleazar Stern.
Never On Friday!
Mr. Dudu Fisher
Parasha Sheet
Parashat Vayakhel
A: The Torah only mentions things that are necessary and certainly does not repeat things if there isn’t an additional lesson to be learnt. So clearly another lesson about the observance of the Shabbat is to be learnt here. (It is interesting to note that the Mitzvah of observing the Shabbat is mentioned more often in the Torah than any other Mitzvah!) Hashem wants us to work for a living. We work at our jobs in order to earn money to purchase the things we need to live and to serve Hashem. But Hashem wants us to remember that it is really He who blesses us with all of our needs. He sends us His blessings through our jobs. Some people may think that they themselves are the ones who earned their jobs, but this is not so. We need to realize that the money we have comes from circumstances controlled by Hashem, and He can change them at any time! Through the words ‘In six days the work shall get done’ the Torah is teaching us that we need to do whatever we can to make sure the week's work is accomplished during that week, knowing all the while that in this way Hashem’s blessings will come. Getting it done is totally different from putting yourself totally into the work. When a Jew comes to Shabbat knowing that Hashem is the One who provided for him during the week, he keeps Shabbat in an entirely different manner. He feels that all of his weekday work has been accomplished and so he does not think about his work on Shabbat. When one thinks this way, then even during the week he will do all he can to serve Hashem by even bringing holiness into the workplace e.g. encouraging a Jewish co-worker to light Shabbat candles, put on Tefillin or place a Mezuzah on the office door. It is through these acts and through constantly thinking about Hashem and the importance of the Shabbat that we can bring Hashem’s holiness into the world through our jobs. Recommended Library Reading
Jerusalem 
JERUSALEM, The Biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore. This epic history of 3,000 years describes how this small town became the strategic battlefield of clashing civilizations and also the holy city, the shrine to three faiths, Jewish, Christian and Islamic fundamentalism. The author researched archives, his own family papers, current scholarship and visited archaeological digs. Montefiore has published a history of Jerusalem in its broadest sense. Shabbat Shalom, COMMUNAL EVENTS
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SHMINI
Rose Bay, NSW 2029
(02) 9371 7300