Barmitzvah at 99!!
99-yr-old Isaac Borinski visited the 120 Club in Sydney this week and was given the opportunity to put on tefillin for the first time in his life.
Isaac Borinski and Rabbi Eli Schlanger
In front of more than 50 club members, Borinski accepted the offer from Rabbi Eli Schlanger who helped him put the tefillin on.
The Redfern resident was making his first visit to the Club, run voluntarily by Eva Weitzen. Club 120 holds meetings every Tuesday in Bondi’s O’Brien Street…at the headquarters of Rabbi Yoram Ullman’s Chabad community. Although the mode is entertainment for the old, the Rabbi says the Shema and and arrnges the tefillin for all the men attending.
Rabbi Schlanger told J-Wire: “It was an amazing scene. The first time a Jewish boys puts on tefillin is regarded as his Barmitzvah and all the club members treated it as a simcha. They were all standing and singing siman tov mazel tov. Isaac told me he remembered his father and grandfather putting on their tallit and teffilin in his native Odessa.”
Volinsky, who studied science and technology, was a colonel in the Russian army before moving to Australia. His wife passed away a few years ago. The Barmitzvah ‘Boy” has two children, one in Sydney and the other in Odessa and his 100th birthday celebrations are six months away.
For Isaac Borinski who kvelled super nachas at having a Barmitzvah at 99, it will not be the last time he will put on tefillin. He has found a new club, new friends and a new Jewish identity…at the age of 99. Mazeltov Isaac!
