Why did Rabbi Silberstein send a silver cup to the synagogue cantor?

April 4, 2014   

Rabbi Yaakov Vanderrolde, who serves as a Maggid Shiur at the Grodna Yeshiva in Ashdod, was surprised to receive a phone call in recent days from the gatekeepers of the central synagogue in the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood, where he has served as a public servant for 21 years. In the call, he was told that this year he would not be able to pass in front of the Ark in the synagogue, due to a speech he gave at a demonstration against the arrest of yeshiva student Yaakov Israel Paz, which took place near the Gesher HaMitarim Bridge in Jerusalem. But if the Rabbi Vanderolda did not attach importance to that conversation, he received a letter this week from the rabbi of the synagogue and a member of the Council of Torah Scholars of Degel Hatorah. The rabbi enclosed a pure silver cup with the letter. In the letter, the Rabbi expressed his appreciation for the many years in which he served as a public emissary during the High Holy Days, along with an apology that due to the demand of worshipers at the synagogue, "we are forced to part ways as friends." Worshipers at the synagogue say that there will likely be another development: the owner of the toke, Rabbi Shalom Labin (his brother Yaakov Labin, CEO of the Hapeles newspaper), is also a member of the Bnei Torah movement, and there are worshipers who are demanding that he be removed from his position as well. However, the synagogue rabbi has not yet made a decision on this. Those close to the Rabbi of Vandorla say that this year, too, he will not be left unemployed during the terrible days, as he will serve as cantor in the Grodno Yeshiva, replacing the head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Karlenstein, who, due to his weakness, will probably not pray before the Ark.