About three weeks ago, the Agudas Yisroel of Zurich held its
festive annual melave malka in one of the grand
ballrooms of Zurich. Over 500 people attended this gala
affair. The Swiss Jewish journal, De Yiddishe Zeitung,
gave full coverage to the events.
This year, the event held annually as a melave malka
was upgraded to the status of a full-scale dinner. Prominent
rabbonim from all parts of Switzerland dignified the occasion
by their presence. On the dais were HaRav Padwa of Zurich,
HaRav Metzner of Lucerne, HaRav Hershel of Zurich, HaRav
Levinger of Basel, HaRav Mantel of Lucerne, HaRav Levi of
Zurich, among others.
Highlights of the dinner included a farewell to Rav Fisher, a
prominent Zurich educator who is moving to Bnei Brak, the
awarding of a citation to Mosi Hertz of Zurich, and the
introduction of a concept relatively new to Swiss Jewry:
kiruv richokim. The new organization, known as
Lima'an Achai, is headed by Rav Sholom Weinman.
To give further impetus to this new drive, two veteran
figures of the kiruv movement came from Israel to
address the dinner: Rav Moshe Grilack and Rav Mordechai
Neugroschel. The dinner was followed on Sunday by a session
devoted to kiruv. Here, once again, the guests from
Israel were among the featured speakers. The speeches were
received with great interest by an audience of 130, among
them some of the most prominent member of the Zurich Jewish
community. Among the subjects examined were to the relevance
of mitzvos to the modern age, the reconciling of Judaism and
science, understanding the role of a woman in Jewish life,
and the revelation at Sinai.
