More Mitzvot For Shaya

People continue to pledge to do a Mitzvah in memory of Rabbi Shaya...please consider adding yourself to this list by visiting www.mitzvahforshaya.com

Elimelech Chaim: I will bl"n take part in the writing of the Harlem Torah.

Aviva : I will offer to help someone in need on a regular basis.

Levi Yitzchok: I will purchase one or more Jewish books in the next month to begin a personal Torah library.

Itta Malka: I will add to my ongoing schedule of Torah study.

chaya mushka: I will give Tzedakah to a worthy Jewish cause or individual in need.

Chaim Shmaryahu: I will take a Jew to the Rebbe's Ohel for the first time.

Chaya mushka: I will spend one hour of my time with a lonely person once a month.

Rochel: I will give a donation to Chabad of Harlem.

malka: I will keep a charity box (pushka) in my home, and give charity every day.

Dvorah: I will award my children (grandchildren) for their achievement in Jewish knowledge.

nechama dina: I will be take part in the writing of the Harlem Torah

Koorosh: I will not eat milk and meat products together.

Michol Pinchas: I will add to my ongoing schedule of Torah study. I will study Tanya daily.

dovid: I will add classes to my ongoing schedule of Torah study. I will read tehillim everyday  .
rochel leah: I will study about the Torah portion once a week for fifteen minutes for the next two months.

ysroel arye laib: I will purchase one or more Jewish books in the next month to begin a personal Torah library.

chana: I will add to my ongoing schedule of Torah study.

chaya mushka: I will work on keeping neat by making my bed every day for a week.

chaya mushka: I will encourage someone to start lighting candles.

chaya mushka: do safer hamitzvot evryday

yehoshua zelig: keep my room clean for a week 

Jaia Mushka: I will offer to help someone in need on a regular basis.

mema: I will offer to help someone in need on a regular basis.

Rochel: I will make the effort to learn the daily Sefer hamitzvot. 

Chaya Mushka: I will light Shabbat Candles at the right time for four consecutive weeks.

Tzvi Yitzchak: I will give a donation to Chabad of Harlem.

Visits to Bel Air

Every year I waited for your phone call. When is the traveling camp coming to us? Sometimes, I worried that maybe there was no traveling camp this year; so I would call you R' Shaya, "What week are you going to be spending with us." 

My wife and I that waited for you and your wife to spend Shabbos with us. Who on Shlichus has the merit to have such a fine couple visit their moised? We always waited for you! Do not get me wrong we loved the camp dearly; but hosting you was our dearest treat! 

The bus pulls up, and your voice booms "Chaim" we hug and royalty has visited Bel Air. The men of our shul always loved hearing your stories, you made an impression. 

Not many saw your dedication to the traveling camp. You were always looking for ways to give the campers what they need most "a wonderful experience to love the idea of Shlichus". 

Last year, your camp through California, but we didn't enjoy a Shabbos with your campers. It pained us that we couldn't give your campers what you loved most, a Bel Air Shabbos. We did everything we could to make your camp feel like they deserve to have royal service, because you brought royalty to us. 

Now, my wife and I can only talk about the memories. Your name lives on here, but as the summer approaches, I can promise you I will be waiting for your phone call. Oh to hear you say "Chaim" one more time. We truly love you and will miss you.

Chaim & Charna Mentz 

A Note From A Shliach

Hosting R' Shaya and the camp was a real highlight for me whenever we had the chance and the special zechus. R' Shaya and ylch"t his wife not only truly showed their appreciation in a noteworthy and most mentshliche way, R' Shaya also gave me tremendous chizuk in our shlichus. Things seemed to be sometimes crazy over the past few years, but every time I saw R' Shaya, he asked me - truly genuinely - how things were, and proceeded to give me an uplift of energy that I still work off of. My appreciation for that, as well as admiration for a man who decided to change his lifestyle to take on the challenging one of a campus Shliach in later years, is deeper than can be expressed. I think of him often, and I only wish I had known him longer. May we be reunited immediately, and the family and all of us never know tzaar again. 

Simchas Torah with Shaya

One year at Simchas Torah, around Noon, we didn't have a minyan. We couldn't have hakafos, and the davening was...at a standstill. Rabbi Gansbourg and a few other men (all but one in black hats) went to the Starbucks two blocks away. I can only imagine how they must have gently, but firmly asked "Are there any Jewish men here". Sure enough, they came back with an Israeli man and his son who had just become a bar-mitzvah. They were here on vacation, and the Rabbi convinced him to come. I volunteered to go to the other Orthodox synagogue in the neighborhood that could easily have spared some people, but I came back empty-handed. 

Rabbi Gansbourg would go anywhere. 

-Dana Friedman

Mitzvot For Shaya

www.MitzvahForShaya.com is up and running...please make sure to visit and and pledge your own Mitzvah. Here are some of the incredible Mitzvot which have already been pledged:

Chalom: "I will study about the Torah portion once a week for fifteen minutes for the next two months."

Shaul: "I will attend the shabbat morning minyan twice a month"

Etel Bracha: "I will purchase a verse in the Harlem Torah."

Benyamin: "I will put a Mezuzah on one of my doors that didn't have one yet."

Eliyahu: "I will study about the Torah portion once a week for fifteen minutes for the next two months."

Leah Shoshana: "I will give a donation to Chabad of Harlem."

Melech Rapheal: "I will study perkei avot, 1 chapter a week, for six consecutive weeks on Shabbos!"

Chaya mushka: "I will give a donation to Chabad of Harlem."

Chana: "I will encourage someone to start lighting candles"

Chana: "I will study about the Torah portion once a week for fifteen minutes for the next two months."

Yosef: "I will spend one hour of my time with a lonely person once a month."

Hadasah Zehava: "I will award my children (grandchildren) for their achievement in Jewish knowledge."

Rivkah: "I will recite the Shema every day."

Sara yakovah: "I will visit a sick friend."

faygie: "I will add to my ongoing schedule of Torah study."

Tzvia: "I will offer to help someone in need on a regular basis."

Tal: "For the month of Nisan, I will memorize Tanya for fifteen minutes each day, bli neder. "

Tziporah Sara: "I will only buy foods that have reliable kashrut supervision."

Gavriela Schwartzman: "I will offer to help someone in need on a regular basis."

Tal: "I will light Shabbat Candles at the right time for four consecutive weeks."

Rimona: "I will light Shabbat Candles at the right time for four consecutive weeks."

Moriah: "I will recite the Shema everyday for a week. (I plan to do more, but I wanted to do the smallest so I wouldn't break my commitment!) "

Ariel : "I will call my grandmother to say hello and to remind her that I miss her, I love her, and I can't wait to see her for Pesach."

Rachel: "I will offer to help someone in need on a regular basis."

Rabbi Shaya

Rabbi Shaya, of blessed memory, was an incredible soul. A pure and kind soul, bursting with life. Wherever he went, whatever he did, Rabbi Shaya has touched and changed us all. As a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle, a Shliach, a friend, a trip leader - Rabbi Shaya's soul has touched the soul of many. Please share your story of how you were touched by this very special man so that these stories can be shared with others and be preserved as loving memories.

(To share your story, please comment on this post - stories and thoughts will then be posted as blog posts. )