Jews in the South
I just read Adina Peck’s article in the summer 2025 issue, “Yes, There Are Jews in Charlotte: Living Jewishly in the American South.” And a great article it was! It was well written and well documented.
And I learned much, even though, having lived here for thirty years, I thought I knew all there was to know about Jewish Charlotte.
Elias Roochvarg
Cantor Emeritus
Temple Israel of Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
The True Path to Success
Thank you for the very wise article by Rabbi Yisrael Motzen (“No Labels, No Limits,” summer 2025).
Rabbi Motzen teaches us that success doesn’t depend on someone’s talents, intelligence, strength, riches or anything else. It depends on emunah—the pure and simple faith in Hashem—which brings one to see the world in its proper light.
Naftali Rubin
Jerusalem, Israel
The Chazzan’s Role
In response to Yosef Lindell’s thoughtful article, “Between Nusach and Niggun: The Chazzan’s Evolving Role” (fall 2025), I would like to share an important perspective I heard a number of years ago from Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, rav of Shearith Israel Congregation in Baltimore, when he addressed ba’alei tefillah in the community. What follows is my summary of his words, as I understood them.
There is a widespread misconception about the role of the shaliach tzibbur. Many think his primary function is to inspire the kehillah. While that is certainly important, he has a more critical role to play: he is speaking directly to Hashem on behalf of His people. The central focus of the shaliach tzibbur is Chazaras Hashatz, Kedushah and other tefillos established to ensure that those who are not fluent in davening could still fulfill their obligation to daven. That was the very reason the role of shaliach tzibbur was instituted.
Rabbi Hopfer went on to explain: the role extends even to those who cannot be present in shul, the am shebesados [those who worked in the fields and were often far from the town]. These individuals were considered anusim—prevented from attending minyan through no fault of their own—and yet the shaliach tzibbur fulfills their obligation nonetheless. One might ask: if they are not present to hear him daven, how can he fulfill this role for them? The answer lies in the principle of shlucho shel adam kemoso (a person’s emissary is like himself). Just as when the leader of a community goes before a king and speaks as the representative of the people who sent him, so too the shaliach tzibbur speaks before the Ribbono Shel Olam on behalf of his kehillah. Thus, the shaliach tzibbur is their emissary, their mouthpiece.
This, Rabbi Hopfer explained, means the shaliach tzibbur must have a profound sense of rachmanus (compassion) for his people. He must daven with the awareness of the struggles in his community, families crushed by staggering tuition burdens, people enduring financial difficulties that strain shalom bayis, men and women confronting health challenges, children suffering with learning or focusing issues, young men and women still waiting for shidduchim. A shaliach tzibbur who feels this collective pain and brings it before Hashem will daven in an entirely different way. As the tefillah says: “Heyei im pifiyos shluchei amcha Bais Yisrael—Be with the mouths of the emissaries of Your people, the House of Israel.” The shaliach tzibbur is meant to be the very mouth of Klal Yisrael. When a person truly feels the pain of others and cries out to Hashem from that place, those tefillos pierce the heavens. But alongside the pain, the shaliach tzibbur must also feel the goodness, the beauty and the nobility of our people. That combination, both empathy for suffering together with gratitude for the blessings of Klal Yisrael, creates a tefillah filled with authenticity, love and compassion.
May we all be zocheh to approach tefillah in this spirit and, through such heartfelt davening, bring yeshuos and nechamos to our communities and to all of Klal Yisrael.
Yaakov Jake Goldstein
Baltimore, Maryland
Building Communities from the Ground Up
I read with great interest Judy Gruen’s “Putting Springfield, New Jersey, on the Map: Ben Hoffer” (fall 2025) about the flourishing community of Springfield, New Jersey, led so dynamically by Rabbi Chaim Marcus. I remember well when my uncle, Rabbi Israel E. Turner, the shul’s founding rabbi, showed me the shul building as it was being constructed in the early 1970s. Rabbi Turner served as the rabbi and then rabbi emeritus of the congregation from 1973 until his passing in 1996. He was followed by Rabbi Alan J. Yuter, who led the congregation from 1987 until 2002.
I recall speaking at Rabbi Turner’s funeral, which took place in the shul, where I focused on his total devotion and deep love for the shul, its members and the greater Springfield community. I am certain that he would take great pride to see how this fledgling community has become a makom orah and avodah, with families continually moving in and enjoying all that the shul and community have to offer. His vision for the future has come true!
Bonnie Frankel
Woodmere, New York
While it was great to see Phoenix, Arizona, featured in Sandy Eller’s “Warmth Beyond Sunshine in Phoenix: Shaun and Gary Tuch” in the last issue, the article seemed to present a very narrow narrative. The Orthodox community in Phoenix, founded in 1965, possibly earlier, has been flourishing. There are over seven Orthodox shuls of different types within a one-and-a-half-mile radius in Phoenix and at least three in Scottsdale, which is twenty minutes away, as well as numerous Chabad centers in the Phoenix metro area. Within nine miles of each other, there are four kosher grocery stores as well as expanded kosher sections in Safeway and Fry’s (Kroger). Trader Joe’s and Costco carry kosher meat, and there are some independent sellers of frozen bulk meat.
Restaurants? Your article stated that there was one. Within a few miles of each other there are two dairy and two meat restaurants in Phoenix. In Scottsdale, there are two wonderful meat restaurants and an excellent dairy restaurant.
Schools? There are Orthodox schools including Chabad schools for preschool through eighth grade. There are also a number of single-gender high schools and a co-ed high school. Numerous youth organizations, for all ages, are available as well.
Having lived in places where I had to travel forty-five minutes to an hour to buy kosher food or go to a kosher restaurant, I find that Phoenix is blessed with plentiful opportunities to purchase kosher food or dine out.
Additionally, Phoenix, with its low property taxes compared with other cities, can be affordable.
In short, Phoenix is filled with Yiddishkeit.
Ellen Nechama Poor
Phoenix, Arizona
Thank you for presenting the inspiring stories of Orthodox Jewish communities building and rebuilding, including Cincinnati, Ohio (“How a Shul Rewrote Its Story: Yosef Kirschner,” by Judy Gruen). Beneath the happy endings are the senior board members, whose steadfast efforts preserved the institutions and who then focused on working with the next generation to address their evolving needs and preferences.
Dr. Leonard J. Horwitz
Cincinnati, Ohio, and Deerfield Beach, Florida