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
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.
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!
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.
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.
Remember to Make an Erev Tashilin
Dairy refreshments sponsored by Shalom and Yardena Cohen in memory of his father, Aharon ben Miriam haCohen Zichrono liVrachah
- No Youth Groups
- Recite Shema: 8:28am
- Youth Groups for ages 3 to 8 in the Upper Classrooms: 9:30am to 11:00am
- Recite Shema: 8:28am
This is the updated Vaad List for 2026
It is forbidden to eat or derive benefit from overt chometz that was owned by a Jew during Pesach. Overt chometz includes items such as cereal, cookies, crackers, pretzels, grains, some alcoholic beverages, and flour. Products that contain vinegar, such as mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard, may be purchased in America, since it is likely that the vinegar is not chometz.
The following is a partial list of local stores and their status regarding the purchase of chometz after Pesach:
All Vaad supervised stores are acceptable for the purchase of chometz. The Vaad encourages the community to patronize local kosher establishments whenever possible.
Dunkin’ Donuts on Raritan Avenue, under Vaad supervision, is acceptable for purchasing chometz. However, baked items should not be purchased before 9:35 PM on Thursday, April 9, to avoid benefiting from melacha performed on Yom Tov. In general, one should wait one hour after Shabbos or Yom Tov, year-round, before purchasing baked goods from Dunkin’ Donuts.
The following supermarkets and their suppliers are non-Jewish-owned, and chometz may be purchased immediately after Pesach:
Acme Markets: (note: All the local Acme Markets have closed)
Aldi
BJ’s
Costco
CVS
Duane Reade (Walgreens)
H Mart
Sam’s Club
SuperFresh
Target (non‑frozen chometz items only; frozen items are supplied by C&S, a Jewish‑owned distributor)
Trader Joe’s
Walgreens
Walmart (in‑store purchases; online purchases are discussed below),
Wegmans
Whole Foods
SuperFresh in Highland Park is non‑Jewish‑owned; however, its current supplier is C&S, a Jewish‑owned distributor. A reputable Beis Din arranged the sale of C&S to a non‑Jew for the duration of Pesach. Accordingly, it is justifiable to purchase chometz from SuperFresh immediately after Pesach.
ShopRite operates as a franchise, with each store individually owned. While most locations are owned by non‑Jews, some have Jewish ownership. Purchasing chometz from a Jewish‑owned ShopRite is clearly prohibited after Pesach. ShopRite stores in the following locations are owned by non‑Jews: Aberdeen, Bound Brook, Chatham, East Brunswick, East Windsor, Edison, Elizabeth, Lawrenceville, Livingston, Marlboro, Millburn, Morristown, Neptune, Somerset, Springfield, Union, and West Orange (partial list). ShopRite is supplied by a cooperative known as Wakefern, which has some Jewish ownership. Nonetheless, it is justifiable to purchase chometz immediately after Pesach from the non-Jewish stores because the majority of Wakefern shareholders are non‑Jewish, and according to some poskim, Jewish ownership is batel b’rov (see Shut Zecher Yitzchok 8, and Mishna Berura, Shaarei Tzion 448:4, quoting Chemed Moshe).
Purchasing chometz from the establishments listed above in Parts 4 and 5 relies on various halachic leniencies. Those who prefer to avoid those halachic leniencies should wait until Tuesday, May 5, to purchase chometz from these establishments
Online retailers such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com may sell products either from their own inventory or from third‑party suppliers. Chometz from their own inventory is acceptable. However, products supplied by third‑party sellers may originate from Jewish‑owned companies. Customers should therefore make a reasonable effort to determine whether the supplier is Jewish‑owned.
Non‑chometz items (e.g., fruits, vegetables, eggs, cooking oil, etc.) may be purchased from any store, whether Jewish‑ or non‑Jewish‑owned.
Alcoholic beverages (excluding wine) may not be purchased from a Jewish‑owned store until after Shavuos unless the chometz was properly sold, since inventory turnover in liquor stores is slower than in supermarkets.
Here are two documents avout the Halachot of Pesach. The first covers making matzah for Pesach. You can see the steps we went through to bake the Sephardi Shmura Matzah that you can buy from our website.
The second document is about kashering your kitchen for Pesach. It covers kashering vessels, ovens, and appliances. The second part of this document is about doing work on erev Pesach. This year, erev Pesach is Shabbat, so there are special halachot that apply and we will soon publish in a new series.