Moonlit Blessings

Project Coordinator: Rachel Bachrach
Illustrations: Marion Bellina

As told by Dovid Shurin to Sandy Eller

Did I know that my life would change forever almost half a century ago, standing with my grandfather outside 770 Eastern Parkway under a starry nighttime sky? I was completely clueless.

It was Motzaei Yom Kippur when Zaide and I gathered outside with a crowd of men and boys to say Kiddush Levanah, the ceremony of sanctifying the new moon several days after the first sighting on a clear night in which the moon is visible. Of course, we were all hungry after our 25-hour fast, but our meal would have to wait a few minutes more so we could seize Tishrei’s relatively short window of opportunity to recite these special tefillos now that the Yamim Noraim were behind us.

To me he was simply “Zaide,” but to the rest of the world he was Rav Moshe Dov Ber Rivkin, a revered rosh yeshivah at Yeshiva Torah Vodaath for almost 50 years. And on that early October night, Zaide shared with me that in addition to the joyous tenor of Kiddush Levanah, Chazal tell us that one who observes this mitzvah won’t die a sudden or accidental death. I was 26 and had never heard this before, and coming from Zaide, who had been diagnosed recently with stage four lung cancer and was told he wouldn’t survive more than three months after Rosh Hashanah, you can bet I said Kiddush Levanah with more than a little extra kavanah and enthusiasm.