Shomer Shabbat Scouting Right here in Highland Park
Purchase your High Holiday Seats 2026
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are around the corner, and it's time to purchase your high holiday seats. Click below to download the form. This form must be filled in and seats paid for by August 26, 2025.
You may purchase your high holiday seats directly from our webpage, or download the paper form and mail it in or return it to Congregation Etz Ahaim with your payment.
Members must be current in their dues as of August 2026 to receive a seat assignment
NOTE: We never want to let financial considerations prevent anyone from attending. If you need financial help to pay for High Holiday seats, contact President Ray Morris at 732-985-5648 evening or 732-744-4403 daytime.
Publishing Volume 2 of Shu"t Minchat Eliyahu
Dear Friends,
With much siyata d'Shmaya, we are, G-d willing, soon publishing Volume 2 of Shu"t Minchat Eliyahu. The vast majority of the questions were asked here in the Eitz Ahaim community.
Anyone who wishes to contribute for a refuah sheleimah, or l'havdil in memory of loved ones publishing Volume 2 of Shu"t Minchat Eliyahufor an aliyat neshamah, will be blessed from Above, and we will print their name in the sefer. Click the link below to see some excerpts from the book.
Tizku l’mitzvot!
Rabbi David Rosenthal
Yeshivat Midrash David in Highland Park Shows Signs of Growth →
By Harry Glazer: July 16, 2026 | Jewish Link
In September 2025, The Jewish Link reported on the establishment of a new yeshiva in Highland Park, housed in Congregation Etz Ahaim. The yeshiva is led by Rabbi Eliyahu Tal, the rav of the shul.
Earlier this year, after Pesach, the yeshiva—now named Yeshivat Midrash David—added a new rebbe—Rabbi David Rosenthal, who also serves as the director of the Manalapan Jewish Connection. He formerly taught at the Shalom Torah Academy. In the upcoming academic year, Rabbi Rosenthal will also take on an administrative role in the yeshiva.
On the yeshiva’s new website, https://sites.google.com/view/yeshivatmidrashdavid/home, the school describes itself: “The goal of our yeshiva is to develop talmidei chachamim who excel in learning and middot tovot. The yeshiva provides a warm, focused, personalized and growth-oriented environment where bochrim learn how to learn, gain knowledge of the masechta, study practical Halacha, and gain hands-on experience in various areas of Jewish life such as shechita and safrut. Also, tutoring is available for those students pursuing their GED.”
Rabbi Rosenthal added: “We share with other yeshivot the goal of producing learned Jews with middot tovot. We focus on acquiring the skills to decipher the Gemara or colloquially ‘learning how to learn.’ Our strength is that our students come from diverse backgrounds, yet all possess a seriousness and maturity with which they take their religious growth, something unique for boys in high school. Also, since we are a small yeshiva, Rabbi Tal and I are able to get to know the boys and help them grow in an individualized way. In addition, we are unique in that we provide many ‘hands on’ classes such as shechita and safrus.”
Students with Rabbi Eliyahu Tal (on the left)
Asked about how the yeshiva prepares the students for life after the yeshiva, Rabbi Rosenthal stated: “As Jews we believe life is about serving God and thinking about others. Unfortunately, there is a pressure to conform to a society which often does not share our goals and values. To combat this pressure, I believe the greatest thing we can do for our students is to engender in them a love for Torah. This is something which cannot be taught but must be experienced. This is the most important thing I think we can do for them. Also, I teach secular studies in the afternoon and we work with the students to find the most appropriate institution for them for the next stage of their lives.”
“Rabbi Tal’s yeshiva is a source of great pride to the leaders and the members of Congregation Etz Ahaim,” said Shelomo (Saul) Beck, president of the shul. “Not only have the bachurim recently completed a certification in shechita, but their maturity and middot also reflect the high level of Torah education they’re achieving. It’s truly a pleasure to have them here.”
Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at harryglazer615@gmail.com and he welcomes reader feedback.
Support the Highland Park/Edison/New Brunswick Eruv
Image what life would be without the Edison/Highland Park Eruv. Here’s an article from the December 17, 1978 New York Times describing what life was like:
When Mrs. Irwin Asher moved to nearby Edison a little more than a year ago, she found it difficult to make friends.
The primary time for socializing was Saturday, and for the last seven years Mrs. Asher had spent her Saturdays at home with her children. It wasn't just that Mrs. Asher was a doting mother; she simply was observing the restrictions of the Jewish Sabbath.
There could be no wheeling baby carriages, no carrying sefarim or talits, no visiting the sick in hospitals, no bringing food over for Shabbat. We are use to the eruv, and the fact that it has never been down in over nine years. This includes Friday, July 5, 2019 when we spotted a message on a Facebook group that somone noticed the eruv was down. The eruv was back up by noon that very day and once again up by the time Shabbat came.
However, maintaining the eruv does cost money, and every year, the Eruv Committee raises money from the members of the various Orthodox congregations who benefit from it. Now it’s Etz Ahaim’s turn to fund raise.
We are asking everyone who benefits from our eruv to contribute $36 to help maintain it. This works out to a mere 70¢ every Shabbat. These funds help with repairs, expansion, insurance, etc. This also includes are webpage, and a whole technology behind it to keep everyone informed about the eruv’s status. Not one penny goes to the various volunteers who check the ten miles of eruv every week, and whose vigilance helps keep it up.
Please click on the button below (or go to https://etzahaim.org/news/eruv-2024) and contribute $36 or.whatever you can afford to help keep the eruv up and running.
P.S. For those who do not know, we have multiple ways of informing you of the status of the eruv. You can get our Mastodon updates pushed to your phone. You can get Facebook updates from our Facebook page, or you can subscribe to our email list and get emails every Friday once we’ve determined the Eruv’s status. Go to our webpage at https://hperuv.org for more information where we display the latest status. And if you’re old fashion, you can also call the Eruv Hotline at tel:732-487-ERUV for the latest updates.
Do you know that most people who are looking to move to Highland Park first search to see whether Highland Park has an eruv? Because of this, we keep a lot of information about the Raritan Valley community on our webpage. Come take a look!
Sunday Breakfast is Back
Special Kiddush to Wish Shai and Sigalit Aharon Goodbye as They Return to Israel
We are losing a Congregation Etz Ahaim family, but it’s at Israel’s gain.
Join us for a farewell Shabbat Kiddush honoring Shai and Sigalit Aharon
When: Saturday, July 18 — Parashat Devarim
Where: Lower social hall (downstairs)
What: Special meat kiddush featuring schnitzel and Israeli‑style salads
Come by to say goodbye, wish them well as they make their home in Israel, and share hopes that we may all join them there one day.
If you would like to help sponsor this event, please click on the button below.
We Need You!
Congregation Etz Ahaim isn't the building. It's the people who are our members. They make our congregation a lively place. They help us make our community.
We need people to help us raise funds to rebuild our synagogue and make it beautiful. We need people to help run events to draw in new members and make everyone feel welcome. We need people to do dozens of little tasks that help keep our synagogue running.
We cannot do this without you. Please volunteer for the various committees we are currently setting up to help us make Congregation Etz Ahaim a home for Judaism and Learning.
Here are a few places where you can help out:
Changing the Yahrzeit lights once per month
Organizing the Post-Shabbat Cleanup and setting the AC and lights,
Making sure Etz Ahaim is locked up every night
Helping distribute event flyers around the town,.
Shopping for our weekly Qiddush
Helping setup events.
Recruiting volunteers. The more hands, the easier the task.
If you would like to volunteer and help make Etz Ahaim your synagogue, please click on the button below.
Schdule for Shavuot
Thursday May 21 — Erev Shavuot
Remember to Make an Erev Tashilin
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Mincha/Arvit: 7:50pm
- Candle Lighting: 7:55pm
Tikun Leil Shavuot Shavu’ot Night learning schedule:
Dairy refreshments sponsored by Shalom and Yardena Cohen in memory of his father, Aharon ben Miriam haCohen Zichrono liVrachah
Shavu’ot Night learning schedule
- Tikun Leil Shavuot Led by Rabbi Tal: 11:00pm to 1:00am
- Rabbi Feldman: 1:00am
- Rabbi Jaffe: 2:00am
- Rabbi Kaufman: 3:00am
- Rabbi Tal: 4:00am
Friday — First Day of Shavuot
- No Youth Groups
- Recite Shema: 8:28am
- First Shaharit: 4:45am (Sunrise 5:36am)
- Second Shaharit: 8:45am (Shema 8:24am)
- Special class on Halachot of Bassar v’Halav (meat and milk): 6:30pm
- Minhah 7:00pm,
- Candle Lighting for Second Day of Shavuot: 7:55pm
Shabbat Kodesh — Second Day of Shavuot
- Youth Groups for ages 3 to 8 in the Upper Classrooms: 9:30am to 11:00am
- Recite Shema: 8:28am
- Shacharit: 8:45am
- Kiddush After Services
- Sefer Shmuel Class: 6:40pm
- Mincha: 7:20pm
- Followed by Pirkei Avot
- Se’udah Sh’lishit is sponsored by Leo and Dina Horowitz in memory of Kalman Ban Leibush
- Arvit and End of Shabbat and Yom Tov: 8:50pm
- Shabbat and Yom Tov: 8:50pm