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b'With the extremely wide acceptance of the second Sunday in May as Mother\'s Daysee herethis episode discusses the role the mothers of the co-hosts had in shaping the trajectory of the lives their children have led.These women, both charismatic, accented European expatriates provided crucial ingredients that helped define these two unique Rabbis.The conversation touches on salient differences between the refugees from Western European countries(Bechhofer\'s parents) from those escapees from Russia and Poland(Kivelevitz\'s) in terms of the tools their homelands gave them for integration into America.Rabbi Kivelevitz also comments on the positive way the sophisticated Jewish communities of the New York metropolitan area (where the Bechhofers lived) accepted and honored the Pletei HaShoah,allowing them access and identity as American Jews.This was in sharp contrast to the refugees who relocated to smaller cities,(as in the Kivelevitzes case)where the established congregations were embarrassed by the impoverished,ragged Yiddish speakers. Despite the impressive philanthropy funnelled through local federations that enabled the survivors to eventually become financially solvent,those families were marginalized socially,always sensing their otherness.Mrs.Shulamith Bechhofer(see here for a biographical survey of her life)was a master teacher in her own right and took a strong role in "Robbie\'s"education from the first grade onward.As a scion of the illustrious Schochet Rabbinic family,she encouraged her oldest son to strive for excellence in scholarship and reach for Rabbinic leadership of only the highest order.She might have preferred to see Robbie as a top flight attorney,yet when he announced as a ten year old that he wanted to be a Rabbi,she arranged for him to attend preparatory camps that established Bechhofer\'s cosmopolitan sense of the Yeshiva world he has thrived in.With no regard to the expense,she enrolled him in Gemara enrichment programs that provided him the background to begin his formal Yeshiva studies functioning way beyond his grade level.Bella (nee Portnoy)Kivelevitz was a product of the intense communist schooling of the 1920\'s and 30\'sthat stressed the natural sciences,as well as art ,music and literature.She matriculated into the prestigious Moscow Medical Academy and graduated at the age of 20,simultaneously awarded her degree as a full fledged Doctor and commission as a Captain in the Russian army.She encouraged her youngest son to understand fully the nature of all phenomenon and to approachdogma with skepticism,and seek answers to human problems in classic literature.Rabbi Kivelevitz remarks of her creative games that spurred him to increase his vocabulary and writefiction,and fondly recalls the plays,concerts and movies she would take him to,and the late night conversations that ensued after the classic films they watched together on an old black and white Zenith.Kivelevitz has no doubt that his love of Midrashic nuance and the literary readings of shakla vitaria he has entertained students through decades of teaching,are due in large part to her.\\u05ea\\u05d4\\u05d9\\u05d4 \\u05d6\\u05db\\u05e8\\u05dd \\u05d1\\u05e8\\u05d5\\u05da \\u05d5\\u05ea\\u05e0\\u05e6\\u05d1\\u05e6"\\u05d4Please leave us a review or email us at ravkiv@gmail.comFor more information on this podcast visityeshivaofnewark.jewishpodcasts.org See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate'