Bittersweet celebrations at Bris Avrohom
July 4, 2008
The
Nine couples received a Jewish wedding ceremony; they were married in
The mikvah broke ground two-and-a-half years ago in dedication to the rabbi and rebbetzin's daughter, Bat Sheva, who died when she was just 65 days old, and the rebbetzin's mother, Chaya Esther Zaltzman.
Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky said their daughter truly inspired the mikvah.
"When my daughter was in the hospital, we did everything we could," he said. "We prayed to God, half of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was the Kanelsky family, and they even dedicated a Torah to her in the ICU."
Rabbi Kanelsky said this was the happiest day of his life.
"We changed sorrow into action, raised millions of dollars, but, most importantly, the couples were the first ones to use the mikvah," Kanelsky said.
He said doing just one mitzvah is significant because it impacts everyone and changes the world.
Kanelsky said the mikvah is a special place for him as well.
"It's precious for me to see there's a place for men as well in the mikvah," Kanelsky said.
Phil Levy, one of the primary builders of the mikvah, said he was very proud of the finished product.
"I enjoyed my time building it. I am very happy for the community. It is a blessing, it's modern, its religious, and hopefully people enjoy it," Levy said.
The mikvah has a men's and women's section. For the women, there are Jacuzzis with three different settings, heated floors, soundproof rooms, granite countertops, a spa package containing everything a woman needs to prepare for the mikvah, a robe, slippers, and soothing music.
Mrs. Kanelsky touched everyone in attendance with her emotional words about her mother and daughter that passed away. She said the mikvah was very difficult for her, but great for the Jewish community.
"We have built this mikvah as a legacy to my mother," she said. "Women should not have to travel 72 hours round trip to use a mikvah. They should be able to walk into a state-of-the-art building with a spa-like Jacuzzi, rather than a decrepit building. They should be able to prepare peacefully with relaxing background music, instead of trembling in fear. They should enjoy radiant floor heating instead of ice cold stone floors. They should be granted the comfort of having a telephone in every room to keep in touch with their husbands, unlike my father who worried for every second of every hour that my mother was away."
"Today is a very hard, difficult, emotional, strong, positive feeling, and it is a beautiful, gorgeous Jewish building for the Jewish community," Kanelsky said.
She said this has been two hard years of toil and every detail of the mikvah went through her supervision and approval.
"People have asked me how I had the strength to put up such a building, with all of its details, demands, and stresses, in addition to my usual hectic daily life," she said. "Through the merits of my mother, I have been granted strength from above. As my mother's daughter, I am able to give back to her, and do kibbud em (honoring one's mother) by standing here today at the dedication of this magnificent building in her memory."
She approved the walls, the tiles, the paint, the Jacuzzis, the granite tops, the faucets, the sinks, and the door frames. She regarded every detail with utmost importance in trying to make it beautiful, inexpensive, accommodating, and a comfort and joy for every woman that will use it.
The rebbetzin is the mother of eight children and Bat Sheva was her ninth child.
"It gives me great pleasure when buying new clothes for my kids or supplies for school and I am always trying to meet their needs," she said. "Unfortunately, I can't buy clothes, books, or anything for Bat Sheva."
When the Kanelskys started to plan the mikvah, they would set aside some of their income every two weeks in an envelope in order to help create the mikvah that is there now. When Bat Sheva was in the hospital, they created the Bat Sheva Mitzvah Campaign to which people donated thousands of dollars -- and still do so today.
The rebbetzin said many people were surprised the mikvah was being built right next to her house and was often asked by members of the community if she was going to lose her privacy.
"We gained privacy, because giving and contributing makes my family happy," she said. "It is a building of purity, memory to individuals, purifying souls of my beloved daughter and mother, whose souls are being elevated higher to heaven."
Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Deutsch have been to every wedding at Bris Avrohom; he is the chairman of the temple board.
"Everything the temple has accomplished and, more importantly, the mikvah is all due to the Rabbi and the Rebbetzin, who are non-judgmental, and reach out to everyone. [It] doesn't matter how religious you are, and the Rebbetzin -- she is just a class act," they said.
Danny Kahane, the chairman of the executive committee, said the mikvah was hard to build, but in the end, it looked beautiful.
"Rabbi Kanelsky was the force behind the mikvah; everyone in the community did their best to help it get built," Kahane said.
The founders and the benefactors of the mikvah were Simon and Lina Garber, Mark and Tanya Ginzburg, Peter and Raya Glazman, Rabbi Yarmiyahu Katz, Leon and Rosalyn Kozak, Yechiel and Roseann Levy, Aaron and Sheryl Libermam, Mikvah USA, Steven and Susan Prawer, Gregory Daphna Raykher, and Zvi and Debbie Yarns.
The men's wing of the mikvah is dedicated to the Garbers.
"My husband and I have known the rabbi and the rebbetzin for 30 years," Garber said. "We were students of them and we knew nothing about being Jewish until we met them."
She is very happy to have been able to help with the mikvah.
"I'm really thankful to all of them," Garber said.