Letters from the Jewish Community Center of LBI.

A special message for each of you from Rabbi Michael S. Jay, Spiritual leader of the Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island

October 8, 2023

A Message from Rabbi Jay

As I prepared for services this morning, my mind was not fully on the Torah, as it should be on this day of Simchat Torah, Celebration of the Torah. I should have been celebrating the joy and wonder that is our Torah, our tradition, and our people. Instead, I was continuing to be horrified by the news of what evil people have done. Around 700 innocent men, women, and children murdered. 2000 innocent men, women, and children injured. 100+ men, women and children taken hostage. The breadth of the barbarity has yet to be fully understood. Attacking civilians on a Holy Day cannot be defined as anything but pure evil.

How could one dance with the Torah under such circumstances. While we prayed for family, and congregants, and loved ones, and Jews, and the Israeli Defense Force, and the government, and the souls of the dead, and the families who have lost loved ones, and for healing for the injured, we also needed to, somehow, gain strength for all of them.

From where, will that strength come? The Psalms tell us that it will come from God. The Rabbis tell us it will come from Torah. This is true. But it will also come from us. When we show solidarity, love, and connection we will be giving strength. It will come from each Jew realizing that he/she is responsible for every other Jew.

Today during services, we went outside to hand water to runners of the annual LBI 18 Mile Run. We showed the runners love, but they returned it to us in triplicate. Strangers kissed the Torah I was holding. Runners kissed the Israeli flags that others were holding. Others called out: “We are praying for Israel”.

It is important that we all unequivocally condemn these acts of violence and terror against the State of Israel. The deliberate targeting of innocent civilians and using human shields by Hamas is unacceptable and must be condemned by the international community, especially as Israel works to defend itself against these attacks.

It is likely that when Israel takes steps to prevent Hamas from ever again perpetrating evil, the international community will begin to make equivalency arguments, and demand that Israel stand down. It will be up to all of us to defend Israel’s right to defend itself against the evil people who wish to harm and/or destroy the one and only Jewish homeland.

I, and the Board of the Jewish Community Center of Long Beach Island, will be providing information to you about how we can each best help Israel as this situation progresses. In the interim, as we did on Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, we will continue to say special prayers for Israel and the Jewish people. Join us for any service.

We will continue to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel, and with ourselves as Jews. We are a holy unified people. Am Yisrael Chai (The People of Israel Live). Please see the Israel Meditation below

B'Shalom

Rabbi Michael S, Jay

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A Message from Don Pripstein to family and friends which we are sharing.

I was at our congregation's Simchas Torah service this morning. Happening at the same time here on Long Beach Island was the annual 18 mile run. Those of you who know me well know that except for patriotism and family, I don’t get particularly emotional or inspired by happenings, holidays, or events, but this morning was one of the most awesome, exhilarating, feelings I have ever had, and I want to share it with you.

First, some background:

Jews, all over the world, celebrate Simchas Torah as a joyous Holiday when we finish reading the Torah and immediately start reading it again from the beginning. We take all our Torahs out of the ark, and everyone dances around with them, or we march, dance and wave Jewish flags. Our Jewish Community Center has been located on LBI Blvd. since early 1950s.

St. Francis is the very large Catholic church and organization on our Island, and right after eleven Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics in 1972, our JCC and St Francis jointly started to sponsor an 18 mile run. That is the length of LBI and the Blvd which runs uninterrupted from 1 end to the other. After 9/11 the run also began commemorating those perished there. This has become a very big event for participants and spectators, and now there are about 3 dozen other businesses and organizations on or near LBI that also provide financial help for the event. Every year between 700 and 1500 people sign up to run the course. Many serious runners come from far away, and use this as a tune up for the full marathons they will run in NYC, Boston, Chicago or elsewhere. Spectators line the Blvd to watch and cheer the runners on. There is a water station every few miles to hand out cups of water to the runners that want them, and because we are a major sponsor, and it was Israeli athletes that are remembered, the JCC always has a station in front of our synagogue with anywhere from 10 to 20 volunteers.

The 18 mile run is always the 2nd Sunday in October, and it sometimes coincides with one of the Succoth Holidays. In those very few instances in the past we have notified St. Francis that we couldn’t participate, and someone else was found to have a station in our vicinity. We were ready to do so again this year when our Rabbi made the very wise decision to recommend that we still have our station and work the service around it. This was done many weeks ago before the current war between Hamas and Israel.

This weekend the only news seems to be the Hamas attack on Israel, and the numbers killed or captured. This morning when the first of the runners were approaching our location, we interrupted our Torah service and all went outside to watch, to hand out water, or to wave an Israeli flag from the celebration we had just had inside our building. Having been a volunteer at the water station for at least the past 20 years, I always had a cup of water in each hand to give out. Today I passed out water with my right hand and waved my Israeli flag in my left hand. Others in our group of volunteers also did the same, or just stood behind us waving a flag, Rabbi Jay was out there in his Tallis carrying a Torah.

I was amazed at the number of runners that broke ranks to go over and kiss the Torah. And whether they grabbed water from me or not, I had at least 3 dozen runners reach over and touch my flag, or just say that they supported us and Israel. And others handing out water had the same experience.This was happening on Long Beach Island, not in some predominately Jewish enclave in a big city. I was so emotionally touched by this outpouring of support for Jews and Israel, I had to share it, and repeat that I was emotionally inspired by it. No question that it was the highlight of my High Holiday season. I was so moved that I am writing an extra check for one or more of the organizations that work in Israel and need our support.

Don