Video: Ice Bucket Minyan

At the Dinerman-Kreiman wedding in S. Diego Wednesday night, in the presence of a smiling Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz, ten attendees performed the ‘ice bucket challenge’ to raise awareness for ALS.

From VIN News:

The Wednesday night wedding of Chaya Dinerman and Mendy Kreiman in San Diego was the site of one mass Ice Bucket Challenge, with numerous donations rolling in for the Hurwitz Family Fund, benefitting the family of ALS sufferer, Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz.

“It was spontaneous,” Rabbi David Smoller.  “Someone said let’s get ten rabbis to do the ice challenge.  Ten of us took buckets of ice cold water and dumped it over our heads and many people in the audience sponsored money at that moment.  The caterer, Morris Derry, was the one who brought us the water and the buckets and he did it with us, too.”

Rabbi Hurwitz, a father of seven and the Chabad shaliach to Temecula, California, was diagnosed with ALS last winter.  A group of five Chabad rabbis, including Rabbi Shmuel Fogelman, administer the Hurwitz Family Fund.

“He deteriorated very quickly so we set up a fund to take the responsibility for supporting them,” explained Rabbi Fogelman.

Rabbi Hurwitz, who can no longer speak, communicates only with his right hand, using an iPhone to text friends and family and to continue posting weekly divrei Torah on his blog, yitzihurwitz.blogspot.com.

“His spirit is amazing,” said Rabbi Folgeman.  “He is an incredible human in a strangely difficult situation.”

According to Rabbi Fogelman, the Hurwitz family has been enjoying the Ice Bucket Challenges.

“It is very uplifting to them and makes them feel good,” said Rabbi Fogelman.  “It means that people know about them are thinking about them.  People should know that doing the challenges is meaningful to those who are dealing with this condition.”

Singer Benny Friedman did an Ice Bucket Challenge in Hurwitz’s honor.

“When we know people who are affected by this terrible illness and we feel powerless to do anything to fight it, this is a little tiny way to say to these holy people, we love you, we are thinking of you, and we are ready to embarrass ourselves to prove it,” said Friedman.