{"id":59002,"date":"2018-01-11T09:46:27","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T14:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=59002"},"modified":"2022-11-13T22:38:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T03:38:57","slug":"shochets-family-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/shochets-family-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shochet\u2019s Family Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was a <\/span>shochet<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(kosher butcher) in Brisk. When Abe Kirshtein left Europe for Charleston in the 1920\u2019s, he figured he would continue in his line of work. After all, a <\/span>shochet<\/span><\/i> can\u2019t have a better resume than getting <\/span>kabbalah<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(certification) from Rav Chaim Soloveitchik.<\/span><\/p>\n

But when he arrived in Charleston, there was already a <\/span>shochet<\/span><\/i> in town. And so after a few years of peddling from door to door, he opened a furniture business on King Street, the main street downtown. He was in good company. At one point in history, Charleston, South Carolina was the largest Jewish community in the United States and most of the Jews were merchants who owned stores on King Street. It is even said that there was a time when all of King Street was closed on\u00a0<\/span>Yom Kippur<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The furniture business stayed in the Kirshtein family and is today, managed by Abe Kirshtein\u2019s grandchildren, although the original property on King Street was recently sold. But though the family retained the same profession, the religious nature of the family changed over the years. While they maintained a love and pride for being Jewish, their level of observance didn\u2019t rise to the level of Papa Kirshtein.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, when Rabbi David Radinsky took over the leadership of Brith Sholom Beth Israel, the elderly <\/span>shochet<\/span><\/i> gave him his <\/span>Seforim<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(Jewish books) from the Old Country, assuming his own children and grandchildren might never use them. <\/span><\/p>\n

The names Rabbi David and Barbara Radinsky are legendary in Charleston, as the rabbinic couple who gave 34 years to the community. Their wisdom and warmth inspired many families on their path to growth, with one woman recently sharing that the voice of her conscience sounds an awful lot like Rebbetzin Barbara Radinsky. <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the women who formed a close relationship with the Radinskys was Joellen, the fiancee of David Kirshtein, grandson of the <\/span>shochet<\/span><\/i>. When she was young, she had been taunted as \u201cJew-ellen\u201d, because of her interest in philosophy and spirituality. Now, through the rabbi and his wife, she became enthralled with Judaism.<\/span><\/p>\n

When their children were little, Joellen became determined to take them to <\/span>shul<\/span><\/i>. David wasn\u2019t too excited about the concept of \u201cwasting his Saturdays\u201d, sitting through the long services. Undeterred, Joellen packed up her kids and took them to <\/span>shul<\/span><\/i> on her own. It wasn\u2019t long before David started to join them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Next came kosher. Joellen decided she didn\u2019t want her family to eat out at non-kosher restaurants. She knew that if she said something to David, he might not agree so whenever he suggested going out for dinner, she found reasons for suggesting they stay home instead. After a few months of this, he said to her, \u201cSo, it seems we aren\u2019t going out to non-kosher restaurants\u201d. And that was that. <\/span><\/p>\n

When their children graduated eighth grade from Addlestone Hebrew Academy, Charleston\u2019s Jewish day school, they faced their greatest challenge yet. There was no Jewish high school in town. David\u2019s business and his entire family was in Charleston and they couldn\u2019t move. They knew that if they wanted their sons to stay religious, they would have to send them away to a Jewish high school in another town, as difficult as this would be. Each child was asked whether he wanted to stay in town or board for high school and every child chose to continue his Jewish education out of town. Rabbi and Barbara Radinsky had moved to Memphis, which had a Jewish high school with a dorm and so they sent their sons there. <\/span><\/p>\n

Through every Jewish event in their family: bar mitzvahs, graduations, sending a child away to school, Rabbi Radinsky gave them a special and unique gift: a <\/span>sefer<\/span><\/i> that had belonged to Abe Kirshtein, the <\/span>shochet<\/span><\/i>. Each milestone earned back another one of \u201cPapa\u2019s <\/span>seforim<\/span><\/i>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, David Kirshtein is a devoted <\/span>minyan<\/span><\/i>-goer who drives the middle school students of the community to school after <\/span>shul<\/span><\/i>, so they can help out with the <\/span>minyan<\/span><\/i>. He served as the board chair at the school, is on the board of the <\/span>shul<\/span><\/i> and is one of the <\/span>baalei Tefilla<\/span><\/i> for the <\/span>Yamim Noraim <\/span><\/i>(High Holy Days)<\/span>. It is truly hard to imagine he was ever reluctant to spend the day at <\/span>shul<\/span><\/i>. Joellen, covered in her blond sheitel and (always black and funky)\u00a0<\/span>tznius <\/span><\/i>clothes is the bedrock and inspiration of the Jewish community. She cooks for <\/span>shul<\/span><\/i> dinners and organizes community events, all as a volunteer. No <\/span>chessed<\/span><\/i> is too much for her and she never has a word of complaint or a bad word to say about anyone. She and David love to learn, attend every class the shul offers and they can easily quote anything that Rabbi David Forhman ever wrote or said, with David referring to themselves as \u201cForhmaniacs\u201d. (Key word for Rabbi Fohrman affienciendos – learn more here<\/a>). If all of that doesn\u2019t describe how unique and committed they are, this does: their dog is named Shatnez because she\u2019s a mixed breed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Their growth has not just impacted their home but has also had reverberations in the entire community. Somehow, the Kirshteins became a magnet for young men looking to learn more about Judaism. Week after week, they housed these men for <\/span>Shabbos<\/span><\/i> and most who spent time in their home have since become <\/span>frum<\/span><\/i>; some have even become Rabbis. David\u2019s brother and his wife also embarked on a <\/span>frum<\/span><\/i> life after seeing the beauty of Judaism in David and Joellen\u2019s home. <\/span><\/p>\n

Joellen\u2019s license plate reads \u201c<\/span>Eishet Chayil<\/span><\/i>\u201d (Woman of Valor) as a gift from David and there is no doubt in anyone\u2019s mind that there is no more fitting a title for this modern day <\/span>Sarah Immeninu<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Kirshteins have been blessed with much <\/span>nachas<\/span><\/i> from their four boys. Avi spent a year learning in Israel and is about to graduate Yeshiva University. He spends his time working with adults and children with disabilities. Aaron also spent a year in Israel and is now getting his degree at YU. Asher is enjoying the wonderful opportunity of learning with his <\/span>rebbeim<\/span><\/i> at his high school in Memphis and Zevi will be graduating eighth grade and has chosen to join his brother in Memphis next year. A few weeks ago, Aaron got engaged to a lovely frum<\/em> young woman, Haley Kandelshein and the Kirshteins are thrilled about having a daughter join their family. G-d willing, there will be many <\/span>smachot<\/span><\/i> in the Kirshtein family. <\/span><\/p>\n

One can only imagine the <\/span>nachas<\/span><\/i> of Abe Kirshtein, <\/span>a\u201dh<\/span><\/i>, a <\/span>shochet<\/span><\/i> from Brisk, as he looks down from <\/span>Shamayim<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(heaven) at his family who has come back home and inspired so many to follow along.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He was a shochet\u00a0(kosher butcher) in Brisk. When Abe Kirshtein left Europe for Charleston in the 1920\u2019s, he figured he would continue in his line of work. After all, a shochet can\u2019t have a better resume than getting kabbalah\u00a0(certification) from Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. But when he arrived in Charleston, there was already a shochet in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133465,"featured_media":59083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Shochet\u2019s Family Returns - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The elderly shochet gave his seforim from the Old Country to his community rabbi, assuming his own children and grandchildren would never use them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/shochets-family-returns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Shochet\u2019s Family Returns - 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