Megillas Esther: All together at North Shore

Despite a massive snow storm on Purim Day, a milestone was reached in Great Neck, at the North Shore Hebrew Academy Middle School, when 19 students, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, braved the inclement weather to read Megillas Esther for their schoolmates, parents and faculty.

Dr. Paul Brody (second from left, wearing the tallis of his zayde, Rabbi Jacob Brown, z’l, who convinced him that reading the “Gantze Megillah” was not insurmountable), has instructed more than 225 students for the past 14 years, enabling them to read the megillah at synagogues, hospitals, nursng homes and private homes, for those unable to attend synagogue.

Head of School Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin (far left) and Rabbi Adam Acobas (not shown) facilitate the students’ hectic schedules to enable adequate review time with Dr. Brody. Dr. Brody, who has read the megillah for over 40 years. He chanted it at the Great Synagogue in Leningrad in 1985 despite great peril, since gabboyim were members of the KGB.