In this Issue:
Torah Related Items and Rabbinic Resources
CYIR's Erev Yom Yerushalayim Tiyul Draws Tourists, Residents Alike
CYIR Announces New Campaign to Provide Dental Care for Gush Katif Evacuees
"Rabbinic Court head supports use of prenuptial agreements" - Jerusalem Post
Current and Upcoming Events
Over 120 Attend EYE SQUAD/CYIR Symposium on Parents' Preparing for a Child's "Year in Israel" - Presentations Available for Download
Good and Welfare
Torah Related Items and Rabbinic Resources
 a) Divrei Torah Bulletin for this Shabbat: Please find NCYI’s Divrei Torah Bulletin for Naso written by Rabbi Shmon Silver, YI of Greater Pittsburgh, PA, by clicking this link.
b) Divrei Torah Bulletin for Shavuot: Please find NCYI’s Divrei Torah Bulletin for Shavuot written by CYIR member Rabbi Yaakov Homnick, by clicking this link.
c) Torah Mitzion, the organization that has established Religious Zionist Kollelim throughout the world, has produced a Shmittah Educational Kit, in conjunction with the Jewish Agency for Israel, and Mahut - Beit Midrash L'Morim. The kit contains lesson plans on a CD-ROM which employ profound and challenging texts in twelve units - each covering a different aspect of Shmittah. Each unit includes a written lesson plan for the rabbi/teacher/counselor as well as a comprehensive source sheet for participants. The CD can be purchased for NIS 40 from Torah Mitzion - office@torahmitzion.org; 02.620.9020.
d) Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Rosh Yeshiva of Ateret Cohanim in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem and the rabbi of Bet El, will respond to all SMS messages on any issue regarding halacha or hashkafa. SMS messages can be sent by Rabbanim to Rabbi Aviner at 052 365 3028. Service available only in Israel.
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CYIR's Erev Yom Yerushalayim Tiyul Draws Tourists, Residents Alike
 On Erev Yom Yerushalayim 5768 (June 1, 2008), 45 members and friends of CYIR: Council of Young Israel Rabbis In Israel set out on a day trip aimed at acquainting participants with the outlying areas of Yerushalayim and the political hotspots that are discussed these days. The goal of the day, entitled "Jerusalem Today", was to encompass both the North Eastern and South Western areas and to get a close look at the demographics between Jewish and Arab populations, the geographical layout, the water issue and more. Eve Harow of Efrat was our guide for this event.
The tour began with a visit to the E1 area positioned between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim. This is the site of much controversy as every time Israel wants to build there it is condemned by many countries and in the UN. Thus far it houses a police station and one caravan. We then continued with a bus tour of the city of Ma’ale Adumim, today home to thousands of Jewish families, which is the Eastern buffer of Jerusalem. We then drove on to Mount Scopus where we saw various panoramic views facing in every direction. We continued through an Arab suburb onto the Mount of Olives where we stood facing the Old City on top of the famous graveyard. It was especially special to be here on Erev Yom Yerushalayim as it was from this direction that the paratroopers came in 1967.
We continued onto Yeshivat Beit Orot where the group was addressed by Rabbi Michael Strick, CYIR's Director, and Shlomo Zwickler, Executive Director of Beit Orot.
After an Israeli style lunch, we circled the Old City and made our way to the new and growing Jewish Neighborhood of Har Homa on the city’s South-East tip. We travelled along the new Zatar road and passed the communities of Tekoa and Nokdim. We then entered the center of Gush Etzion that is seen as the Southern buffer of Jerusalem. We visited Efrat and Alon Shvut and ended up at the scrumptious Shifun bakery in Neve Daniel. It was from this high vantage point that we were able to look out to the West. We continued back along highway 60 viewing the infamous security wall and coming into Yerushalayim from her Southern entrance at Gilo which is seen by many ‘impartial’ observers at the UN, EU etc. as an illegal settlement instead of a suburb of Yersuhalayim despite the fact that thousands of Jewish families live there.
The trip was a great warm-up for the Yom Yerushalayim festivities and the first of many day trips planned for the future.
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CYIR Announces New Campaign to Provide Dental Care for Gush Katif Evacuees
 CYIR: Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel is pleased to announce a new campaign in association with Dr. Sheldon Abramson to provide DENTAL CARE for the evacuees of GUSH KATIF.
"There are in excess of 200 Gush Katif evacuees in need of immediate dental exams, x-rays, and emergency dental care" said Dr. Abramson. "Proper dental care often takes a back seat to other family concerns - how much more so with those that continue to struggle with the evacuation from their homes in Gush Katif" he said.
In addition to providing fine dental care, Dr. Sheldon Abramson’s clients are enveloped in a warm, genuinely caring atmosphere. He provides dental care to Holocaust survivors and those Israeli elderly living below the poverty level. With minimal financial help from friends and others, Dr. Abramson has treated dozens of Holocaust survivors since July 2007. He is also a member of the Advisory Council of CYIR: Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE: CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY!!!
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"Rabbinic Court Head Supports Use of Prenuptial Agreements" - Jerusalem Post
 Jerusalem Post - June 2, 2008: Rabbi Eliyahu Ben-Dahan, administrative head of the Rabbinic Courts, recently expressed his support for prenuptial agreements as a potentially important remedy to the tragic situation of agunot ("chained women" - women who are denied a divorce).
Ben-Dahan also said that the Rabbinic Courts have in the past upheld prenuptial agreements.
"Prenuptials can be very helpful in expediting divorce procedures," said Ben-Dahan in a telephone interview over the weekend.
 "Especially in cases where it is clear that the couple's divorce is unavoidable, but where halacha does not give the Rabbinic Court judges the power to obligate the husband to give a get [writ of divorce]."
Ben-Dahan made his support for prenups public at a conference last week...
The conference, organized by The Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel, Matan, Mifnim and Yad L'isha, together with the The Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University, brought together rabbis, marriage professionals and lawyers and taught them the benefits of prenuptial agreements.
Click here for the full article.
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Current and Upcoming Events
July and August 2008/Tammuz and Av 5768 - CYIR/Young Israel Day Trips and Blood Drives to be offered: details regarding dates and itineraries to be posted shortly. Check www.youngisraelrabbis.org.il periodically for updates.
SAVE THIS DATE:
Friday, September 5/5 Elul– CYIR Celebrates 18 Years of Service to Israel by honoring its Founders, Leaders and Builders at a Friday morning brunch in Jerusalem. Founders being honored include Rabbis Meyer Fendel, Macy Gordon, James Gordon, Sholom Gold, Arnold Heisler, Moshe Rose, Nachman Kahana and Yaakov Zev. In addition to the founders, Rabbi Simcha Krauss, Rabbi Chanoch Yeres, and Dr. Lorell Blass will be honored for their leadership of CYIR programs that have become the hallmark of its activities. Our guest of honor will be Mr. Yaacov Moreshet, head of Hilat Shoham Ltd., an investment firm which picks companies that conform to halacha to serve as their investment base. DETAILS WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY.
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Over 120 Attend EYE SQUAD/CYIR Symposium on Parents' Preparing for a Child's "Year in Israel" - Presentations Available for Download
 Understanding the implications of sending a child to Israel and making appropriate decisions for the post-high year are issues that affect all parents. Although the frequent transforming nature of the year in Israel commonly manifests itself through changes in religious belief and observance, it equally impacts attitudes and behaviors in familial, social, psychological and emotional domains.
These matters were addressed at an important symposium entitled “Preparing for the Post-High School Year in Israel: What Every Parent Needs to Know” which took place month at Young Israel of Woodmere, NY.
 Symposium presenters included (l-r) Dr. David Pelcovitz, the Strauss Professor of Education and Psychology at the Azrieli School of Jewish Education at Yeshiva University, and an expert in Child Psychology; Rabbi Chaim Wasserman, Rabbi Emeritus of Young Israel of Passaic/Clifton, NJ, and CYIR President; Elisheva Kaminetsky, Director of Religious Guidance at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls; Rebbetzin Judi Steinig, the Director of Programming for the National Council of Young Israel; and Rabbi Aaron Tirschwell, the Director of the Eye Squad, and the National Council of Young Israel’s Director of Israel Operations.
Sponsorship of the symposium was provided by the Eye Squad, CYIR: Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel, National Council of Young Israel, Young Israel of Woodmere, NY, and Ezrat Chayim – Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.
Click here to download symposium presentations.
Click here to download the Eye Squad brochure.
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Mazal Tov
Rabbi Nachman Kahana (Young Israel of the Old City; CYIR Vice President), on receiving the Torat Yisrael Award by the Orthodox Union's Israel Center.
Rachel Levmore, CYIR's Coordinator of Prenuptial & Get-Refusal Prevention Projects, and her husband David on the marriage of their daughter Tammy to Edden Slomowitz.
Rachel Levmore, CYIR's Coordinator of Prenuptial & Get-Refusal Prevention Projects, and her husband David on the birth of their first granddaughter.
Rabbi Dovid Fendel (CYIR member; son of Rabbi Meyer Fendel, CYIR Vice President) on receiving the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism.
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CYIR: Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel 
