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‫בס"ד‬

Rabbi Dov Fischer


RAV, YOUNG ISRAEL OF ORANGE COUNTY
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 300-8899 (Rabbi’s Office)
(949) 551-1010 (Rabbi’s Fax)
www.ravfischer.com
ravfischer@sbcglobal.net

February 20, 2008

Hi, Everyone.

This letter is my first note to you since we began the formation of our new Shul, the Young
Israel of Orange County (in formation) (“YIOC”). I write today because, little by little, a
wonderful new congregation is beginning to take shape, and today marks one month since
that process began. In this letter, I seek to update you on what has been happening, to
invite you to participate as actively as you would like to, and to ask of you simple help.

First, please note that we are building a congregation based on a positive vision of the
future. It will be a Jewish congregation that follows principles and standards that have
been set forth by the National Council of Young Israel: www.youngisrael.org Our focus
will be on praying as a warm community, singing and worshipping with a shared
fellowship committed to Torah spirituality and personal Jewish growth and learning. We
will not look back on past experiments that brought us to this day. We bear no ill will
towards anyone. Rather, with malice to none and with charity to all, we will look forward,
thankful for what has happened in the past, for prior steps in Irvine that planted the seeds
these past two decades that are bearing fruit in Young Israel’s formation. We have learned
from the past, but our vision is for the future.

Initially, allow me to explain that, under the terms of my departure from my prior
rabbinical post, I was forbidden to say “good-bye” before January 22, nor to advise
regarding my plans. I also was obliged to return all membership lists and contact
information. Therefore, much of this first month since departure has been devoted towards
waiting patiently for individuals like you to contact me, to share with me your home and
cell phone numbers, your home and e-mail addresses. You can assist our efforts
profoundly if you kindly would advise others whom you believe are interested in our
enterprise to contact me with their contact information. It is imperative, for the peace of
the community, that I be able to document and log that every source of contact information
in my possession came to me after January 22, 2008. Thanks.

A group of nine people volunteered shortly after January 22, 2008 to come together as an
initial steering committee, to help establish our new congregation. If you also would like
to play a role in our new congregation, kindly e-mail me. At the end of this letter, I list
several areas where your help particularly would be appreciated. The Steering Committee
has met several times, averaging once weekly. During those meetings, important

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foundational matters have been discussed, and initial priority steps have been pursued.
Among the issues we have discussed, we have worked on adopting a Mission Statement
that sets forth our congregation’s purpose and vision. The Mission Statement is almost
ready to be published. It is forward-looking and aims to express our shared commitment to
principles that I know you share deeply.

Clearly, we will be an Orthodox mechitzah Shul. We will use the Artscroll Stone Edition
Chumash and the Rabbinical Council of America Artscroll Siddur with the prayers for
Israel and the Israel Defense Forces. We will conduct our weekly Friday night Shabbat
services, beginning with Mincha at sunset and following promptly with Kabbalat Shabbat.
The services will be festive and marked by congregational singing in the traditional tunes
so well loved. As has gained great currency among my colleagues in the American
Orthodox rabbinate, I will teach an halakhic lesson every Friday night right after we recite
Bameh Madlikin. The discussion will be a chance for me to teach and for us to learn
Torah. My Shabbat “Sermon,” of course, will be reserved for Shabbat morning services.
Friday night services typically will run an hour.

On Shabbat Day, we will daven at 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. As a Young Israel, with a new
vision of what a Shul should be, I am asking you, particularly men and sons – a deep
personal plea – please to be in attendance by no later than 9:30 a.m. on Shabbat morning,
although I hope you will be with us from the beginning of services. Women often arrive
later than men, and that is fine. But I do hope you will aim for 9:00 and certainly be in
Shul by 9:30 a.m. In return, we will conclude services by no later than 11:30 a.m.

After morning davening, we will have a weekly Kiddush. Depending on the volunteer
base, we may include hot chulent at Kiddush every week. It is being explored as a serious
option. In addition, Kiddush is a time to gather socially. After Kiddush, during our
founding phase, we anticipate that we will daven Shabbat Mincha. If you cannot stay for
Mincha, then you cannot stay. Young Israel of Orange County is non-judgmental, and at
the core of the Mission Statement is a clear articulation of a vision of acceptance, where no
person’s feelings ever are hurt. But for those who can remain, we anticipate in the first
phase of YIOC’s emergence that we would daven Shabbat Mincha from approximately
12:30 to 1:00 p.m. Everyone then goes home for Shabbat Day, whether for private lunch,
to host guests, or whatever makes your Shabbat Day happy. As presently contemplated for
this initial phase, families that participate in Seudah Shlishit would alternate, “round-
robin,” hosting others who so participate at hosts’ respective homes every Shabbat
afternoon. Thus, for example, if nine families typically participate, each would host all the
others respectively at a frequency of perhaps once every two months. We would gather for
Seudah Shlishit approximately an hour before Shabbat ends. We would follow with
bentsching, Maariv services, and Havdalah. Because we already will have davened
Mincha, the host family will not need to have a Torah for Mincha services on its premises.
In time, it may come to pass that Mincha will be davened in the afternoon rather than
immediately after Kiddush. But this is the early plan. One of our founders graciously is
making his Torah available to us. Moreover, two local organizations have offered us the
use of their Torahs on Shabbatot when we need a second Torah, too.

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We will conduct Daily Shacharit minyan services, davening every morning, Sunday
through Friday. Sunday mornings we will daven at 8:30 a.m. Monday-Friday mornings,
we will daven at 8:00 a.m., anticipating concluding weekday morning services at
approximately 8:40 a.m. Of the members of the Steering Committee, certain individuals
naturally cannot daven at that time because of understandable workplace obligations that
conflict with the time. We are proud to announce that two-thirds of our Steering
Committee have committed personally to attend daily morning minyan services. This
commitment is part of what makes a Young Israel, much as all our congregation’s officers,
as a matter of fundamental Young Israel policy, will be Shomer Shabbat.

Our congregation will be based in Irvine, California. A location will be announced soon,
much as we now are ordering the Siddurim and Chumashim that we hope will arrive in the
next week or two. Thus, we expect that our first Shabbat services will begin sometime in
the next two weeks or so: if not Friday night, February 29 – Shabbat Day, March 1, then
certainly we will aim for Friday night, March 7 – Shabbat Day, March 8. In understanding
the timing, it is important to remember that no meetings were held and no organizational
steps were undertaken to create YIOC until after January 22, when I departed from my
prior post. Similarly, much of the past month has been devoted to parsing together, one by
one, the names and contact information – and finally our first e-mail distribution lists – as
we have awaited being contacted by individuals like you, interested in being part of Young
Israel of Orange County.

If you are asking the question “What can I do to help Young Israel of Orange County” get
started, here are some real areas:

1. If you know anyone whom you believe would like to participate in YIOC, please ask
that person to e-mail me at ravfischer@sbcglobal.net . Ideally, that person would include
in his or her e-mail his/her: (i) e-mail address; (ii) home address; (iii) cell phone number;
and (iv) home phone number. In addition, (s)he ideally would include the same contact
information for a spouse or significant other (e.g., fiancé, fiancée, etc.). The only way I
can establish a forward-looking relationship with individuals and their families is by my
first receiving that contact information from them on their initiative.

2. If you would like to be part of any of the following committees/ work groups, please e-
mail me to let me know, and I will advise the Steering Committee:

a. Shul Set-Up Committee (to help set up each week during our early phase)
b. The Kiddush Committee (food preparation; clean-up)
c. The Sisterhood: “Young Israel Women”
d. Telephone Committee (to help make phone calls)
e. Any other role you would like to play – just name it, and let’s see whether we
can make it happen

3. We will need financial assistance in various areas. If you are willing to help us
financially, please let me know.

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Finally, please note that I continue teaching our weekly Chumash-Rashi Class every
Tuesday night at Ellen’s and my home (16 Lassen, Irvine 92612) from 7:30-9:00 p.m. We
are in the last two chapters of Sefer Breishit (Genesis), and you certainly are most welcome
to attend and to learn with us. Even before having announced the class in this letter, we
typically have been drawing at least ten people around the table every week, and we
always can set more chairs. Refreshments are served, the learning is good, and the
company is wonderful.

I appreciate your having read the entirety of this letter and the encouragement and support
you have expressed these past four weeks. For Ellen, Aharon, and me, these have been
four of the most wonderful weeks of our lives in many years. Four weeks ago, for the first
time in nearly three years, we went out on a Saturday night. Only as we started driving up
the 405 Freeway did one of us observe that this had been the first Saturday night the three
of us had gone out as a family unit since we had arrived in Irvine more than two and a half
years ago. Fittingly, at the Garth Brooks concert we attended that night in The Staples
Center in Los Angeles, we learned that the performer, too, had not performed publicly for
several years until the night before. One of my Angelino colleagues in the Rabbinical
Council of America and his wife also were in attendance. It was a metaphor that was
augmented when Brooks sang one of his signature songs: “Unanswered Prayers.” In the
key refrain, Brooks sings:

Sometimes I thank G-d for unanswered prayers.


Remember when you’re talkin’ to the Man Upstairs
That just because He don’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care.
Some of G-d’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

Please remain in close touch. Phone calls are always deeply appreciated, but e-mail is
easiest for me to manage because we do not yet have clerical assistance in place. Please be
ready for the word as to our inaugural services in the next few short weeks. Pass the word
to those whom you think would be interested. Please respect the feelings of those who
would not be interested. And please let us know whether there is some area in which you
would like to help.

With thanks to Hashem for all he has wrought and with gratitude for your support,

Rabbi Dov Fischer


RAV, YOUNG ISRAEL OF ORANGE COUNTY (in formation)
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 300-8899 (Rabbi’s Office)
(949) 551-1010 (Rabbi’s Fax)
www.ravfischer.com
ravfischer@sbcglobal.net

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