This week, a great milestone was marked, as Rav Issumer Rosenbaum who has been leading a kehillah in Chestnut Ridge for close to two decades, placed coins into the foundation of his shul as the concrete was being poured.
This is in keeping with an age-old minhag of centuries.
But while some use coins of machtzis hashekel, and some use coins used to perform other mitzvos, Rav Rosenbaum used coins that have particular significance.
Eighteen years ago, Rabbi Rosenbaum invited to his home a small group of Yidden who moved into the then-fledgling neighborhood of Chestnut Ridge in Ramapo. The Rebbe spoke to them about the importance of building a mikvah and what a big zchus it is.
A young boy, named Shimshy Feder attended the meeting with his father, the renowned askan Zishe Feder. He listened to the rebbe and without telling anyone he went home, took all his Chanukah gelt and brought it over to the rebbe's house.
Deeply moved by this gesture, the Rebbe put the coins aside... for when the time would come to pour the foundations.
It took longer than expected, and the process involved no small amount of zoning hearings and legal hurdles for the rebbe finally received the permits to build his new shul.
The little boy of eighteen years ago by now the father of young children. But the rebbe never forgot about that first donation.
This Friday, Erev Shabbos Parshas Poroh, while workers began pouring the concrete for the new shul, the rebbe brought out those coins and inserted them in the freshly laid foundation at the precise place where the mikvah will be located.
As the concrete dries, and a beautiful edifice will rise above it, it will be upon the foundations of sincerity and sacrifice, zeal, generosity, and kindheartedness that will accompany this shul for years to come.
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