Runner Pauses In Memory of His Late Rabbi

By COLlive reporter

For the 36th year, the TCS New York City Marathon featured a morning minyan for Shachris at the Fort Wadsworth staging ground for the many Jewish runners and participants of the 49th edition of the world-famous road race on November 3, 2019.

The “International Minyan” tent for New York City Marathoners, inaugurated in 1983, is the longest established religious service of any kind, at any major sporting event anywhere in the world, organizers said.

The Minyan tent was on Drum Road, a short walk inside the main gate, with the first Shachris minyan commencing at 7:00 a.m., and at appropriate intervals thereafter, accommodating the hundreds of participants from around the world who are assigned to the several wave starts of the race.

The Minyan is a project of JRunners, a Brooklyn-based organization dedicated to encouraging physical health for Jewish men and women through athletic competition. The pushka collection this year went to Chai Lifeline, a charity that provides services for cancer-stricken children and their families.

At the tent, Chanan Feldman, a resident of Crown Heights, helped a fellow Jewish runner to put on Tefillin in memory of Rabbi Tzemach Cunin OBM, the beloved Chabad Shliach in Los Angeles who passed away this past year. The runner’s wife told how Rabbi Tzemach has officiated at their wedding last year in Hawaii.

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At the JRunners minyan at the NYC Marathon, organized by Chanan Feldman of Crown Heights, he helped a Jewish runner put on Tefillin in honor of Tzemach Cunin OBM, whose wife tells how he was the officiating Rabbi at their wedding last year in Hawaii.

A post shared by COLlive (@colliveofficial) on Nov 4, 2019 at 9:28am PST