Mashinsky's' other company, VoiceSmart, was one of the first firms to offer telecommunications switches to handle ordinary voice as well as Voice over IP call routing. Named on over 50 patents, he founded Arbinet in 1996 as a commodity exchange for telecommunication companies to trade unused long-distance minutes. Rav HershelвЂ™s various facets were inherited by his children who continue his work in chinuch, tzeddakah, and avodas Hashem that were a hallmark of this legend of the Monsey community for more than half a century.Alex Mashinsky (born October 5, 1965) is an American entrepreneur and inventor who has founded several notable technology firms in the United States. This endeavor later became officially known as Kupas Ezras of Rockland County-with its numerous branches, lending every kind of assistance to the needy of the Monsey community. Over the years, he assisted tens of thousands. His door and his ear were open to every single person in need, no matter who they were. The sweetness, the heart, and the warmth with which he davened every single tefillah-whether a weekday mincha or tefillas neвЂ™ilah-remain etched into the minds and hearts of all those who knew him.ДЇrom his earliest years, he was a baвЂ™al chessed to his core, because he loved Yidden with every fiber of his being. His primary makom for tefillah was in the Klausenberger shul, of which he was a pillar. This was the chinuch philosophy with which he shaped generations of Monsey children.Д«ut the talmidim were also influenced by his incredible greatness, his elevation, his unique caliber of avodah. вЂњThose talmidim,вЂќ the rebbi said, quoting Rabbi Mashinsky, вЂњneed even more love!вЂќ The menahel asked him вЂњwhat is the key to chinuch.вЂќ The Rebbi answered, вЂњI once heard from Rav Hershel Mashinsky that the most important thing is to love the talmidim.вЂќ вЂњBut what about those really difficult talmidim?вЂќ the menahel persisted. Once, a prospective rebbi was being interviewed by a potential menahel. Each and every one of his thousands of talmidim over the decades absorbed the fire and the love that he imbued in them. He began his chinuch career in Yeshiva of Spring Valley in 1947-a golden tenure that would last for more than half a century. He married the daughter of Reb Menachem Moshe Felsenburg, a legendary askan from the Viener and Nitra kehillos. When the Klausenberger Rebbe arrived in America following the war, he became tethered to him with heart and soul-a fervent connection that lasted until the RebbeвЂ™s passing. Hershel joined that elite group who would go on to become Mechanchim and disseminators of Torah to the future generations of American children. He became an ardent talmid of the great Torah builder, Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, ztвЂќl, who imbued in him a fiery spirit for building Yiddishkeit, which he would go to embody in his own right.ДЄs we noted in our previous installment of вЂњMonsey Memories,вЂќ Rav Shraga Feivel opened Aish Dos in Monsey. He learned under the legends of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, such as Rav Shlomo Heiman and Rav Reuven Grozovsky. The home of his parents-from a long line of Chernobyler chassidim-was permeated with the spirit if mesiras nefesh for Shabbos.

He was born in New York in the year 1925. His 18th yohrtzeit was marked this Shabbos, 20 Shevat.

One of the most legendary figures in the Monsey community, and a pillar of so many of its institutions who was there since the 1940вЂ™s-Reb Hershel MashinskyвЂ™s name is synonymous with old Monsey, and building Monsey.

Mashinsky monsey