MOSHE MONDAYS by Aviva

Aviva and Brett, so glad to hear you are doing "MOSHE MONDAYS" in Moshe's zechut/merit.                                        Big Book of Legends --Aviva has from our house with our blesSings, was Moshe's, z'l favorite. Aviva continued to study with Moshe, z'l long distance from the time she left for college. Today is Moshe's yahrzeit. I know this is pleasing him like crazy. He was the AD, the witness on A&B's ketubah. See photo. Here's a note from Aviva on her first day in her new home. In Moshe's honor, Brett and I did a little studying last night. We unearthed one box of jewish books, opened it up, and found the book of Samuel. We read the first chapter--the story of Hannah-- in Hebrew and English and the commentary. I think we may make it a weekly Moshe Monday Study session.Love, Aviva AVIVA'S THOUGHTS ON HER BELOVED REB MOSHE i was there in spirit today. all day today, i carried with me the photos (B gave me) of moshe. i shared the pictures and stories with brett's family family and our friends. my earlierst memories of moshe are are intertwined with my earliest memories of  your family. i remember being a little kid sitting at your big shabbos table at your old house while Moshe led the drinking song--the one where you "fill in" our names. I always felt so special when he decided that it was "my turn" in the song. mom said that your eulogy, kenny, was extraordinary. i hope to read it/hear it soon. please forward a copy if you can. I plan to go to shul during this week, here in boston, to say mincha-maariv in moshe's honor. i had one moment with moshe, that i will never forget. it stands out, because normally, i think of him as a very matter-a-fact person. he always showed me love, but he was never one to be overly sentimental. on the last day of shiva for my dad, i attended the tuesday afternoon study group at his house. we were all going around taking turns reading in a circle. the topic that day, happened to be the death of one of our forefathers. when it was my turn, the paragraph i began to read described in great detail, the preparation of the dead body and the specific details about burial. because it was so soon after dad's passing, it was a pretty heavy part to read. anyway, the moment i started reading, i think moshe realized that it may be an uncomfortable passage for me.  as i read, the paragraph became more detailed and precise about the post-death process. i could sense that moshe felt badly that this was my paragraph. suddenly, in the middle of my reading i felt his right arm around my shoulders, and a gently squeeze on my arm. he held my arm until i finished my last sentence.  when i was done he regrouped and continued normally with his lesson. it was a private telepathic moment between us--moshe letting me know his deep sadness for me--basically saying everything...without it actually coming out in words. i'll always remember that moment we shared. it was beyond a teacher-student or grandfather-grandaughter moment...it was a true friendship moment. many hugs, aviva Aug. 19, 2007 ~ ~ ~ From: Aviva  Sun, 19 Aug 2007 Subject: Reb Moshe Cohen. Baruch Dayan HaEmet A few notes on our last afternoon with Moshe.  Moshe spoke about his good friend, Zero Mostel, callling him a "savior" b/c he would pull Moshe off of people when Moshe got into fights. I remember Moshe saying for every misdeed there is a deed. Basically that people are good at heart. Moshe also expressed his love for movies, especially Lil Abner, saying he picked up on the fact that it was it was "a Jewish story" right away. In the army they used to have a trivia game where Moshe was the main contestant and the audience would give him lines from movies, and notes from music, and he would be the best one at guessing the origin. HIs last teaching I remember was a response to Barbaba asking about the parsha "shoftim"... He talked about the last line--not to turn a blind eye...based on the pasook. "a community is resposible if an unidentified man is found dead in the outskirts of the story." Moshe was very thankfull for my visit and kissed my hand and i kissed his hand. i was always thankful to him for the visits. Wish I was there today love, aviva ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ thanks for sharing, Aviva. yes, Moshe likened lil Abner to Tu B'Av.--- MOM .