When I think back to my childhood in the 1960s, I realize that the wonderful memories of Shabbos and Yom Tov, which have stuck with me until today, had a major impact on how I live my life. Let me take you on a brief journey through my childhood years, which reflect not only on my family but also on the Baltimore community in those not-so-far-off days.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
Before Rosh Hashanah, my mother would search the stores for special new fruits. There was a fruit and flower stand at Reisterstown Road at Mortimer Avenue that would bring in exotic “Shehechiyanu” fruits for Rosh Hashana. We got our honey to dip the challa and the apple from our own company, which sold gourmet food Both Liebes’ and Jack’s carried European Kosher deli and hot dogs manufactured right here in Baltimore. The company was owned by Ignatz Davidovitch, a”h, and, ybl”ch, David Miller. s. It was a special, orange blossom honey from Florida.
We would often invite elderly people for the special Yom Tov meals, where my mother would serve the crispy-crusted heavy German challas she baked, as well as her gooseberry, apricot, and apple pies. As a special treat, my mom would make sweet carp with an orange roe (the fish eggs). It was delicious, but you had to watch for the fish bones. Both Manny’s, a fish store near the Avalon Theatre, and Friedman’s fish store on Rogers Avenue had kosher fish only. My dad, a”h, loved Tulkoff’s freshly-ground white horseradish, purchased at the outdoor stall in Lexington Market; it was the freshest and hottest horseradish available.
Shearith Israel, where we davened for Selichos and then Yom Tov, was a long davening, as many piutim were said. The cantor, Chazan Baum, and Mr. Louis Miller chanted the special German nusach. Many people would wear white clothing or white yarmulkes and ties for the whole of the Yamim Nora’aim, and some had special, all-white taleisim that they used only then.
The main tashlich location for Upper Park Heights in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, was at Taney and Cross Country, and everyone gathered there.
Live chickens for kapparos were available at Schuster’s and at Margareten (M&M Poultry), and on Erev Yom Kippur, they were really busy. The lone mikvahs for the men were in Shearith Israel and Rabbi Taub’s shul. For the pre-fast dinner, my mom would make chicken in einmach souppe, boiled chicken in a white pareve cream sauce.
Erev Yom Kippur, there was a very long Selichos davening at Shearith Israel – although over at the Adas on Rogers Avenue, the Selichos were over in five minutes, as their nusach for Erev Yom Kippur was very short.
One of the most memorable Yom Kippurs, for me, was in 1973, when the shul had a blackout during Kol Nidre. Rabbi Mendel Feldman, z”l, was very troubled and kept saying it was no coincidence. The next morning, walking to shul, we got the word Israel was at war.
Then there was the time we were about to sit down for our seudah before the taanis (fast), and Sinai Hospital called to say that my dad was having chest pains while visiting at the hospital. They admitted him and said he would need to spend Yom Kippur in the hospital for tests. Fasting was not possible. I rushed to the hospital, and my father had me call Rabbi Feldman, who, with the approval of the doctors agreed to allow my father to fast provided he would be on IV fluids.
Motzei Yom Kippur
Right after the fast, it was our family’s minhag to hold a succah-decorating party. The source for this minhag is alluded to in halacha, which says that one should start the new year by doing a mitzva immediately after Yom Kippur. All the children in the neighborhood would gather around our ping pong table and make chains from colored paper and other decorations for the succah. In the beginning we glued the paper, but when it rained, the colors would run, the glue would come apart, and the chains would end up carpeting the succah floor. In later years we would carefully staple the rings of alternating colors.
Succos
When I was a small child, our succah was fashioned from doors attached to each other with hinges. Our schach came from Bais Yaakov. They sold greenery as a fundraiser, which Mr. M. Leo Storch had donated after pruning the pine trees that grew on land he owned. The Gutman brothers volunteered to deliver it in a big truck they brought down from their Pennsylvania farm. Aravos were grown at Bais Yaakov’s campus on Greenspring Avenue, near Cylburn Park. Shuls and Hebrew bookstores – Pern’s, Central, and Friedman’s – sold lulavim and esrogim. In those days, it cost about $20.
In 1959, my parents bought our first small pipe-and-canvas succah, approved by the OU and the RCA Rabbinical Council of America and shipped from New York. It had a blue bottom and yellow top, with Kiddush, Ushpizin, and some pesukim printed on the yellow part. I had the Kiddush and Ushpizin transferred to new canvas of the same color a few years ago and use it to this very day. Another item I still use is a large wooden Jewish star made by my grandfather, which served as the chandelier in our succah. It was covered in either foil or fancy paper, and from it, we hung chains made of fresh cranberries that we had strung together with a needle and thread.
During this period, people began to use bamboo poles for schach; bamboo mats came many years later. My mom was famous for growing esrogim in her home. My dad would have Rav Hopfer inspect the esrog tree and determine which esrogim were kosher. In the years the tree failed to produce, we purchased our esrog from one of the bookstores or from the shul.
Food and More
Baltimore’s Vaad Hakashrus had not yet been organized, so people patronized establishments where they trusted the individual Rav who gave the hashgacha.
Wasserman and Lemberger butcher shop was under the Rav of Shearith Israel: first Rabbi Feldman, z”l, and now, ybl”ch, Rabbi Hopfer. The frum community also frequented Weintraub’s butcher shop and Shapiro’s Supermarket, with its full meat and poultry department.
There was no Dunkin’ Donuts, but the kosher bakeries made both glazed and chocolate-covered donuts. Kosher retail bakeries were Reinberg Bakery, Azman Bakery, Schmell’s Bakery and Goldman’s. Pariser’s was a wholesale bakery operation. Bakery favorites were the brownies, donuts, Boston cream pie, fresh peach cake, and cinnamon sticks. Silber’s Bakery, which had branches all over town, also had one on Reisterstown Road. While it was not under hashgacha, some frum people would purchase the famous Silber’s rye bread. Like today, bakeries were busy Thursdays and Fridays and before all the Yom Tovim.
To prevent consumer fraud, the City hired an inspector to visit stores that claimed to be kosher. Reverend Aron Lichtenstein was the City inspector; his job was to ensure that the stores claiming to be kosher used only kosher ingredients.
Jack Boehm, father of 7-Mile’s Herschel Boehm, carried a good selection of kosher cheeses and chocolate bars, and brought in some kosher items from New York. His tiny grocery was on Park Heights, in the Pimlico section, across from the race track. At the cash register, Mrs. Boehm kept a ledger, and many people would charge their groceries to their account and pay up when they could. It was an early form of credit card. Leibes’ Deli on Rogers Avenue carried many popular kosher items, like Educator and Stella De’Oro cookies, which were very popular at a time when kosher baked goods like today’s Entenmann’s, Nabisco (Oreos), Dunkin’ Donuts, and Duncan Hines cake mixes were not kosher-approved items.
Both Liebes’ and Jack’s carried European Kosher deli and hot dogs manufactured right here in Baltimore. The company was owned by Ignatz Davidovitch, a”h, and, ybl”ch, David Miller. Slatter’s Supermarket, Schuchman’s, and the Food Barn (a Safeway-owned store), in Pimlico, carried kosher products. Further out, the kosher Shapiro’s Supermarkets had locations in Randallstown on Liberty Road and at Hilltop, off Rogers Avenue and Reisterstown Road, which later moved to Old Court and Reisterstown Road. Food Fair, Giant, A&P, Eddie’s, Food-a-Rama, Grand Union, and later Farm Fresh at Smith Avenue were all carrying some kosher foods.
Baltimore kosher caterers – Bluefeld, Baida, Schleider, Berlin, and Shabbat – had various hashgachas. Later came Weiss caterers, Hoffman caterers, and the Knish Shop.
There was no Hair Cuttery, so people got their hair cut at Sal’s or Gentleman Quarters or to the barber across from Field’s Pharmacy, as well as other small shops that served the Park Heights and Pikesville neighborhoods. The two shomer Shabbos barbers in town were Segal’s in lower Park Heights and Sandler’s in Pimlico.
Succah Hopping
One of our joys as children was to go “succah hopping.” Unlike today, you had to walk the entire neighborhood from Northern Parkway to Clarks Lane to visit just 20 or 30 succahs. Today you can find 20 and more on one block.
We were intrigued to find that Rabbi Feldman’s succah had no decorations hanging from the ceiling, as the Rav’s minhag was not to have a chazitza, a separation, between those who sat in the succah and the schach. Eugene Kaufman, on the corner of Gist and Trainor, used X-mas string lights to decorate his succah. Others hung fresh fruits and real gourds. Bee traps had not yet been “discovered,” but we somehow survived the bees. The Neys, at the corner of Gist and Menlo had a metal succah, made of aluminum, and the best refreshments. The delicious soft licorice they put out made their succah the favorite destination in the Glen neighborhood.
I also remember taking our lulav and esrog to non-frum neighbors, so people could bench the arbah minim.
Simchas Torah
Simchas Torah at Shearith Israel was rather subdued; the Rav, chazan, and president made only three hakafos with orchestrated, dignified dancing. The shul was the main center in Upper Park Heights, but things began to lighten up in the late 60s, when Shearith Israel boys were returning from yeshivos and bringing a more leibadik simcha experience. Rabbi Feldman encouraged the change, and – aside from Ner Israel, further down Park Heights – Shearith Israel had the main hakafos around town. Flags and candy treats were distributed to the kids, and Mr. Jerry Senker would call out, “Tzon kedoshim,” and all the children anwered “Ba-a-a-a”!
After dinner on Simchas Torah, all the boys and girls gathered at Shearith Israel for the 45 minute walk to Ner Israel, in Forest Park to participate in the yeshiva’s hakafos – well chaperoned every step of the way!
I davened at Shearith Israel, and the siddur used was the Sfas Emes, a Roddelheim siddur, but over at the Adas on Rogers Avenue they used the Tikkun Meir siddur. With ArtScroll not yet existent, the siddurim, machzorim, and Chumashim were much different from what is available today.
Chol Hamoed Fun
On Chol Hamoed, many families trekked the Baltimore zoo, Gwynn Oak Amusement Park, or Enchanted Forest, in Ellicott City. They went bowling at Northwest or Hilltop lanes (duck pins) or to a movie at the Avalon or Crest Theatres. Going to Washington D.C. or Gettysburg, visiting museums, taking in a performance at the Morris Mechanic or Center Stage, or attending a Bullet game at the Civic Center, a Clippers ice hockey game, or an Oriole or Colts (a”h) game at Memorial Park were all great activities. There was no kosher hot dog stand, so you had to bring your own nosh. A Jewish soccer team played in Baltimore in the early Sixties, and I remember my dad taking me to see the Hakoach Soccer Team.
Chanukah and Shopping
Most people used candles on Chanukah, since there were no pre-made oil menorah sets back then. If you wanted to use olive oil, you could purchase glass oil holders, but you had to get wicks or make them yourself.
Read’s Drugstore and Woolworth, a five-and-dime chain of stores, were retailers where you could find a Chanukah gift. Neither of them exist anymore. Toys-R-Us had not yet been “born,” but you could go to the Toy Barn on Hayward Avenue. People bought electronics at Luskin’s and Himmelfarb’s on Park Heights, since Best Buy did not exist. Bikes were purchased from Princeton Cycle on Park Heights. And Ernie Brafman, a”h, owned the Hobby Shop, where you could find educational and hobby-type toys. It later became an art store and framing business. People shopped for gifts at Gundy’s, Howard’s Luggage, Tuerke’s Leather, and the many stores at both Mondawmin Mall and the fashionable new outdoor Reisterstown Road Plaza.
Beautiful ties cost one dollar at Tie City; that’s all they sold, and they had a large variety of colorful ties. Around all the Yom Tovim, Mr. Harry Wolpert, a businessman who was the chairman of the Ner Israel, outfitted most of frum Baltimore men with Hanes underwear at wholesale prices.
In the Fifties and Sixties, people still went downtown to shop. Brager Gutman, Hochschild Kohn, Hutzler’s, Hecht’s, and Stewart’s were the major department stores of Baltimore – all of them Jewish owned. Also downtown were Calby’s, Sam Glass, and Gage, where men got outfitted for Shabbos and Yom Tov. Gage even tested for shatnez. Men bought their black or gray narrow-brimmed hats at the Joyce Hat Shop or the hat shop on Baltimore Street. Hats were custom made, so there was no need for expensive Borsalino headwear, which hadn’t yet arrived anyway.
As for women’s sheitels, there were few sheitel machers in Baltimore in those days. I recall a Mrs. Doris Rock, a”h. Later, Mrs. Aliza Schor, tbl”ch, an Israeli, worked from her basement. But I assume most women purchased a sheitel in New York. All sheitels were human hair and made to fit. Then came the new low-cost synthetic-fiber wigs. Those were all the rage for a while, until “custom sheitels” made their debut. They were like the old-time sheitels, and cost many times the price of the synthetics.
The Reisterstown Road Plaza was built in 1962. Hamburger’s, an upscale store carrying both men’s and women’s attire, was located there, and Hecht’s and Stewart’s department stores anchored it at either end. By the way, the Plaza was an outdoor mall and only got its roof many years later.
Purim
Both TA and the Yeshiva put on Purim shpiels, or plays, on Purim. Purim day, boys would visit their rebbes’ homes. My favorite two stops were Rabbi Feldman’s tisch and Rabbi Binyamin Steinberg’s Purim seuda on Rockwood Avenue. The best shalach manos stop was Cantor Baum’s home, because his wife made an incredible Hungarian rich chocolate “kokosh.” Hamantaschen were plentiful from the local bakeries, but most mothers also made their own. Kids dressed up in mostly homemade costumes as Mordechai and Esther, with a few Achashveirosh and Haman impersonators.
One Purim, over 50 years ago, a recording my parents did for the Hapoel Hamizrachi was broadcast over WBAL radio. My father narrates the story of Purim to the music my mother sang and played on piano and lute. I still have the recording.
Talmudical Academy would broadcast a half-hour show featuring the boys’ choir with a cantata, usually written by Dr. Gershon Kranzler, z”l. “Purim versus Pesach” was one such cantata, performed in 1961 and starring Stan Lustman as Shlomo Hamelech and Ronnie Grey (future son-in-law of Rabbi Samuel Vitsick) as the Purim clown. It also starred Jeffrey Cohn, Stanley Amernick, Tuvia Perlman, Lee Flamm, and Rabbi Dovid Shapiro. The half-hour television production was directed by New York choir master Seymour Silverman. I converted the 16-millimeter tape reel to VCR and then to DVD.
Ner Israel would feature a half-hour television show led by Rabbi Joseph Schechter with students of the Yeshiva, like Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger, Rabbi Leib Hoffman, Rabbi Elchonon Oberstein, and Dov Lokatch, discussing the chagim so people would understand the Yom Tov and its meaning.
Pesach
Starting right after Purim, our home went into Pesach mode. Every room and closet and drawer was turned upside down to get rid of all chometz. Every pocket of our clothing was checked. Pesach cleaning took a full month. We kashered silverware and kiddush cups at the shul, but sometimes we did it at home; I remember a red-hot rock being dropped into a metal pail or pot of water boiling on the stove to make it overflow and make sure the water was hot enough for proper kashering.
Erev Pesach we burned the chometz in the alley, as private fires had not yet been banned. Then my mom spent the entire day getting ready for the Seder. She was busy baking Pesach cakes and cooking. The house was redolent with the smell of the fried onions she placed inside giant matza balls. Those were absolutely sensational.
Finally, we all sat down at the Seder in our best new clothes. It was not our minhag to wear a kittel at the Seder. Nor do I remember handmade shemura matza being used by most people. Machine shemura made by Horowitz and Margareten, under Breuer’s hashgacha, was the preferred product in the Yekkish (German) community. We purchased our shemura from Liebes’ Deli. Years later, after Baltimoreans began buying hand shemurah, a hand shemura bakery opened in Baltimore but only lasted a few years; it was unsuccessful competing against New York and Lakewood matza bakeries.
Only a limited variety of canned fruits, vegetables, and fish were available, so most everything was made from scratch. One year there was a botulism scare on canned tuna that caused a recall. Canned macaroons and questionably kosher marshmallows were favorite treats. Barton’s chocolate chewy chews in the tall black tins as well as their boxed chocolates were the gourmet labels of the time. Festive, a Baltimore brand started by the Yofee family, Haddar, Season, Rokeach, Horowitz and Margareten, Lieber’s, Manischewitz, and Streit’s all carried Pesach hechsherim.
There was no list of medicines and cosmetic items. We avoided Colgate and Crest toothpastes, deodorant, and shampoos, and bought Adwe, Erba, Freeda, and other heimishe brands for all our cosmetics and vitamins. With chalav Yisrael not easily available, we purchased milk from Koontz dairy or Cloverland dairies before Yom Tov for the entire week. Some time in the Seventies, Schmell and Azman opened a Pesach bakery; before than all cakes had to be home baked. The kosher wine selection, in the Sixties and early Seventies, was limited to Kedem Malaga, Concord, Tokay, and Sauterne.
Motzei Pesach, we “rumpled,” which meant we returned the kitchen to chometz mode. All Pesach keilim were stored away for the following year. After the rumple, some men had the habit of going to a non-Jewish beer pub or bar to have a toast and chometz beer or whiskey beverage.
Shavuos
The seven weeks after Pesach soon passed, and we celebrated Shavuos. Before the holiday, my mother made sure that both our home and our shul were decorated with flowers. Baruch Hashem, she continues that tradition today as the sponsor for flowers at Shearith Israel.
Bakeries were full of cheese cakes and cheese Danish. There was a dairy operation in Baltimore called Castle Farms, located in Lexington Market downtown. They had no hash gacha, but I remember some frum people buying cottage cheese and sour cream from that business. Before Pride of the Farm, Mr. Ernie Gutman and others obtained chalav Yisrael milk from a farm in Pennsylvania or from New York.
I remember the all-night learning at Shearith Israel, as well as taking a break at 2 a.m. and walking up Park Heights with not a car on the road.
Tisha B’Av
Tisha B’Av arrived. I remember sitting on the floor with my family eating the seuda hamafseches, making sure to apply ashes to the egg right before the taanis. The following morning, the kinos were very lengthy. At Shearith Israel, we davened and said kinos until 1 p.m. Today, I still use my grandfather’s kinos, which he used in the 1930s as gabbai of his shul in Limburg, Germany. In it, he recorded all the shul times for the davening and who got aliyos at Mincha for every Tisha B’Av in the 1930s and early 40s. This is a family heirloom with much history recorded.
Shabbos Kodesh
We looked forward to Yom Tovim, but Shabbos was the highlight of each week. Every week, my parents invited Shabbos guests, especially elderly single people who they feared could be lonely. They would also be with us for most Yom Tovim. I remember the Maas sisters, a Mrs. Veger, and a good friend of the family, Mrs. Leah Kahn. Many a Friday night, we had a special guest, Mr. Abraham Morgenroth. Mr. Morgenroth was a very distinguished and elder bachelor. I can see him in front of me even now. An impeccably dressed gentlemen, he arrived in a conservative navy or black coat, a three-piece gray or navy suit, highly polished fine leather tie shoes, tiny glasses that he wore over his tiny eyes, and a large black yarmulke, which covered his head after he removed his hat. He lived right around the corner from us, in an apartment on the corner of Narcissus and Trainor Avenue, which he reached by climbing a steep staircase. After dinner, he filled his thermos bottle with hot water from our kettle on the Shabbos blech so he could have hot water on Shabbos morning, and my dad and I would walk him home at a slow pace.
Mr. Morgenroth spoke with quiet authority. He was highly educated and very well read. We talked about everything, from parsha to Wall Street to conservative politics, and Abe Morgenroth was very well versed. There was so much to learn from this very wise man. He definitely left a memorable impression; I learned much from this special Shabbos guest. Mr. Morgenroth regularly attended Shearith Israel. He had an elderly lady friend, a very distinguished, highly-educated woman, who also davened in the shul.
My Parents’ Shabbos Table
My dad worked extremely hard during the week and often came home very late from selling on the road for our family food business. Whenever possible, I would sit with him and eat some nosh. Perhaps because he was so often absent during the week, Shabbos and Yom Tov were extremely special. The whole family ate together and spent real quality time together. Dad’s minhag was to wash before kiddush both Friday night and for Shabbos lunch. This minhag of German origin is especially wonderful on Succos, as you wash before entering the succah. Many have adopted the minhag, but the Mishnah Brurah does not recommend this action; one should check with his Rav before adopting a practice that is not in one’s mesora. As a descendent of German Jews, it is our family minhag, and we as well as our son’s mishpacha continue to do netilas yadeim before kiddush.
We were schooled from our youngest years in zemiros, both German and American songs in harmonious melodies that mamash (truly) penetrated the heavens. My parents had a different Shir Hamaalos for Shabbos, and a special Yom Tov tune for every Yom Tov. One Shir Hamaalos was a famous opera aria. Friends would often gather around our table to hear beautiful zemiros, and the Sedarim were filled with tunes my grandfather sang. We still sing those special tunes, and the music score is actually in my mother’s Haggadah, which she still uses today.
My mom made gruenkern soup (green wheat kernel soup), another German minhag, rather than cholent. She left it on the blech – later we used a hot plate – so we had hot soup for Shabbos lunch. I never heard of cholent till I was fourteen years old! The special treat for Shabbos would be freshly baked German-style challas. Special foods not used during the week adorned our Shabbos table: Swedish lingonberries, hearts of palm, sweet carp, goose, and sweet breads were family culinary favorites. My mother prepared a “honeymoon” minute steak roast (so-called because it was impossible to ruin, as it always turned out perfect) that melted in your mouth.
Before Shabbos or Yom Tov, my mother made sure to finish early so that she could visit nursing homes. We were taught the mitzva of bikur cholim as we accompanied her on erev Shabbos and Yom Tov and distributed treats and played music to give cheer to the elderly and ill.
Shabbos after shul, my father learned Kitzur Shulchan Aruch with Alvin Cohen and Dr. Gershon Kranzler, and later with H.P. Cohn. After learning, we would often go to a kiddush, either at the Kranzlers on Devonshire Drive, where we sang unbelievably joyous zemiros and heard wonderful divrei Torah, or at the Bondis’ home on Menlo Drive. Mr. Felix Bondi was a well traveled business executive and had wonderful stories of journeys abroad. Torah and geography were often the discussion at the Bondi table. Mrs. Jennifer (Rosy) Bondi was the daughter of Rav Breuer of K’hal Adas Yeshurun, the German kehila in Washington Heights. In 1958, Rabbi Shimon Schwab, then Rav of Shearith Israel, left to assist Rav Breuer with the leadership of that kehila in New York.
Shearith Israel Shul
To be called to the Torah or to daven from the amud, a hat and jacket were strictly required. Young boys, even before bar mitzva, followed the German minhag of wearing a tallis. Many of Shearith Israel’s post-bar mitzva youth would daven at the Adas, at the Pirchei minyan on the third floor.
Before bar mitzva, I would attend a Shearith Israel youth oneg for boys and girls led by Eugene Kaufman, the head of HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Agency, run by Baltimore’s Associated Jewish Charities. He was assisted by Julia Bamberger and his daughter Elinor Kaufman.
After Shabbos lunch, there were Pirchei and Bnos Shabbos groups, in a different home each week. Bnai Akiva had a bayit on Park Heights, and youth groups and meetings took place at that location every Shabbos. In the afternoon before Mincha, Mr. Kurt Flamm, who was one of my favorite rebbes at TA, gave a mishnayos shiur to the young boys at Shearith Israel. Motzei Shabbos we had youth programs, like melave malkas and other social activities. Pirchei and Bnos Shabbatons and collegiate Yavneh Shabbatons were often held at Shearith Israel.
Eretz Yisrael
My parents instilled in my sister and me a strong love for Eretz Yisrael. They had tremendous hakaras hatov to Hashem and to America and were very patriotic. There were tears in my mother’s eyes when she sang “G-d Bless America.” As for Israel, I guess you could say we were ardent frum Zionists. My sister was born in 1948, so my parents named her Aviva, from the Hebrew word “aviv,” springtime, the season when Israel became a state. My mom demanded that the schools where she taught music should play both the America and Israeli anthems at banquets and social functions.
In Conclusion
These memories of Shabbos and Yom Tovim remain vivid in my mind and, to this day, bring me a special feeling of warmth and tremendous joy at beautiful davening, Torah learning, singing, hachnasas orchim, and spiritual avoda. I had the zechus (privilege) to have wonderful parents who showed me by example how to serve Hashem in the spirit of “Ivdu es Hashem besimcha,” in joy. Nowadays, my wife Ronnie, our daughter Michelle, and our daughter in-law Shavy make beautiful Shabbosim and Yom Tovim. They, like my mom and Ronnie’s mom, create the wonderful and delicious cuisine and set the royal tables that make a glorious celebration of Shabbos and Yom Tov. And so, the traditions, baruch Hashem, continue.
It is my fervent hope that we have passed this rich tradition on to our children and grandchildren, and that it will, im yirtzeh Hashem, bring us all to the geula sheleima bimeheira beyameinu. Good Shabbos!â—†
