Rabbi Yitzchak Kershenbaum Leads High Holy Day Services at Home

Rabbi Yitzchak Kershenbaum, head of the Grodna Yeshiva, led High Holy Day services at his home with a small gathering of close associates and family members. Days before the holiday, Rabbi Kershenbaum delivered a special strengthening discourse to the yeshiva's students.

The services followed the established customs of the Grodna Yeshiva, including traditional melodies and liturgical poems led by Cantor Ephraim Fuentek. Students and alumni, Rabbi Yechiel Wilensky and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Shwimmer, officiated the Musaf and Neilah prayers, respectively. Rabbi Shwimmer is the grandson of the late Cantor Rabbi Tzvi Eisenstein.

During Kol Nidrei, Rabbi Kershenbaum held the Torah scroll, accompanied by his son, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo, who serves as head of the yeshiva's "kibbutz" (student body). A significant moment occurred when Rabbi Kershenbaum was called for the third aliyah during the morning Torah reading. He subsequently requested a special "Mi Sheberach" prayer for his colleague in leading the yeshiva, Rabbi Tzvi Derbkin.

For the Maftir reading of Jonah, Rabbi Kershenbaum honored his student and close associate, Rabbi Shmuel Venderolda, who has significantly assisted with admissions for the incoming freshman class. The Neilah prayer was conducted with great fervor, with Rabbi Kershenbaum's voice heard reciting prayers and supplications for the salvation of all Israel. The services concluded with his son, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo, blowing the shofar.