Shabbat
– O – Gram
November 4,
2005 and, Heshvan 2, 5766
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman,
In Memoriam – Rabbi Abraham
Lieberman – teacher of generations of children and adults at the
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NEWS ITEM: The Westhill Swastikas
On Tuesday morning I met with the principal
of
Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram: (click to scroll down)
Just
the Facts (service schedule)
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunities
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
Announcements (goings on in and around TBE)
This
Shabbat Morning – Our first annual (animal-free) “Blessing of the Animals!”
Quotes for the Week
On the topic of “Tsa’ar Ba'alei Chayyim” – Kindness to Animals
Statement
of Eliahu Bakshi Doron, Chief Sephardic Rabbi of
It is the law of the Bible to care for all living creatures and to
prevent the pain and suffering of animals.
Statement
of Rabbi
The violation of the law of tsaar ba'alei chayyim is a serious
violation of the spirit of the Holy Bible. The Chief Rabbi encourages
activities that contribute to raising public awareness on this subject, and to
encouraging the maintenance of this Jewish law.
Statement
of Rabbi David Rosen, Spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League
I caution about the serious Biblical law of tsaar ba'alei chayyim.
Not only is it forbidden for every Jew to act in a manner that causes pain and
suffering to living creatures, but also to engage in any act that makes it
difficult to provide help to a living animal, as it says in Shemot Chapter 23,
sentence 5. Those who care for our Holy Bible should take it seriously and give
immediate assistance and aid to relieve the pain and suffering of living
beings, since they were created by our G-d, blessed lord of angels.
(Rabbi David Rosen is an Advisor to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. From
1979 to 1985, he was Chief Rabbi of
JUST THE FACTS
DON’T FORGET SHABBAT UNPLUGGED NEXT
FRIDAY
(ALONG WITH OUR
Friday Evening
Candle lighting for
Stamford, CT: Candle lighting: 4:29
pm (Oy) on Friday, 4
November 2005.
For candle lighting times, other Jewish calendar information, and to
download a Jewish calendar to your PDA, click on http://www.hebcal.com/. To see the festivals of other faiths as well,
go to http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/
Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:30 PM – in the CHAPEL
Tot Shabbat this week: 6:45 PM – in the LOBBY
Shabbat Morning: 9:30 AM -
MAZAL TOV TO Isaac Sterman, WHO BECOMES
BAR MITZVAH THIS SHABBAT MORNING!
Children’s services: 10:30
AM, including Jr. Congregation for grades 3-6 and Tot
Shabbat Morning for the
younger kids.
Torah Portion: Noah - Genesis
6:9 - 11:32
1: 8:15-22
2: 9:1-7
3: 9:8-17
4: 9:18-29
5: 10:1-14
6: 10:15-20
7: 10:21-32
maf: 10:26-32
Haftarah – Isaiah
54:1 - 55:5
Shabbat Afternoon/Havdalah: 4:15 PM - MAZAL
TOV TO Emma Cohen WHO BECOMES BAT MITZVAH THIS SHABBAT AFTERNOON!
See a weekly
commentary from the UJC Rabbinic Cabinet, at www.ujc.org/mekorchaim. Read the Masorti commentary at http://www.masorti.org/mason/torah/index.asp. University
of Judaism, JTS commentary is
at: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/.
USCJ Torah
Former Knesset
Speaker Avraham Burg offers Torah-based commentary on current affairs (Y-net)
THE ENTIRE HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE
FOUND WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE TRANSLATION AT
Morning Minyan: Sundays at 8:30 AM (note new
time!!!),
Weekdays at 7:30 AM – IN THE CHAPEL
TO ENSURE A “GUARANTEED MINYAN” FOR THE DAY OF
YOUR YAHRZEIT – GO TO THE ROSNER MINYAN MAKER AT WWW.TBE.ORG
AND ALSO CONTACT ME AT RABBI@TBE.ORG.
Minyan Mastery
Now you can become more comfortable with the prayers of our
morning service by heading to…
http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/minyanmastery.htm
The Rabid Rabbi
Teen Gambling at bar
Mitzvahs – a REAL problem
Yes, gambling is
part of our culture (ask alex Rodriguez and pete rose). But it is also
addictive and every bit as much as sickness as drinking and drugs. See the following articles for more:
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041022-025224-3656r.htm
"It
is important for parents and teachers to know the signs of their child or
student developing an addiction to gambling," said Elizabeth George,
director of the North American Training Institute, an organization that
specializes in youth and gambling addiction.
NATI
has developed a list of ways for teens to identify a problem:
-- Do
you prevent your family and friends from knowing how much you play poker?
-- Do
you play poker with money that is supposed to be used for other reasons like
lunches, clothing, car insurance or saving for college?
-- Do
you often gamble longer than you wanted to and lose more money than you
intended?
-- Is
poker the main source of what you do to feel good about yourself?
-- Do
you ever lie about whether you play poker or how much you lose?
-- Do
you miss school or other important events because of gambling?
--
Have you ever stolen money or property in order to play poker or pay gambling
debts?
"Knowing
the signs of a gambling problem is the first step in prevention and early
detection of a serious gambling addiction," George said.
She
said about 70 percent of all high school seniors gambled within the last year, and
much of that time was before the popularity of all the poker tournaments began
to surge.
Today’s new york
times sports section has an article by
http://www.azcentral.com/families/articles/1008fam_poker.html
In a study last
year by the Adolescent Risk Communications Institute, more than half of young
people age 14 to 22 reported gambling in an average month. The study found that
those younger than 18 favored card games, sports betting and bingo.
Check out this
alternative – at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/04/03/MN41460.DTL
Victor
White, seventh-grader and board member, had his bar mitzvah in October, which
featured a gambling theme -- with fake money.
``Until
the last few weeks, I centered on what I was going to get and what my party was
going to be like,'' he said. ``It didn't hit me until right before the bar
mitzvah that there's a religious aspect to this. People are centering more on
presents than on the religious part.''
so tell me, would
you consider having an animal house style toga party at your child’s bar or bat
mitzvah? If you would, there’s little I can say… then ask yourself; is a poker
party any better? What messages are our
kids getting from the ways we celebrate their religious coming of age?
This week’s
Guest Columnist is Gary Geller, who is leading a group from the UJF on a
mission to
Tuesday night the group went out for
an authentic evening of Romanian food and dance. The floor show at the
restaurant was most enjoyable. Alot of music and dance. One of the
highlights was when the singer and two instruments begin to work the room. We
were up front, so of course we were the first table. After she sang a couple of
songs, she asked our nationality. In goo old American I mentioned US. One of
our Romanian friends yelled out "Evri" (Jewish). Her response was to
break out a rendition of Hava Nagila followed by Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. This
was totally unexpected. Then aout a half hour later we heard Hava Nagila
again, so we knew there were other Jews in the audience.
Yesterday we were out the door at
7:30 driving to the other side of town to visit the Central Kosher Kitchen and
the meals on wheels program. When we got there we saw three trucks all loaded
for deliveries. Inside the trucks was food for 2 days and medication, all part
of the 3 time a week meals program, where they deliver over 300 meals a week.
It used to be more, 5 times a week. What is delivered is a meal in an
individual pot, which is transferred to containers upon arrival, as well as
soup to be ladled from a large pot. They een demonstrated how the trucks are
loaded from the "dumb waiter". The kitchen was spotless and we saw
the layout of what was being delivered that day, either a standard meal or a diabetic
meal (pictures to follow). Everything there is prepared under the supervision
of a mashkiach that the women wanted to take along with us. You will have
to ask them.
We then walked across the driveway
to the adult day care center. On a given day there are between 20 and 30
seniors spending the day in activities, having tea and sandwiches and being
with friends. They are picked up by car and brought there. There is a list of
possible attendees who are called each day to see if they want to come, and if
so what time the car would be there. I failed to mention that these two sites
are in a former old age home. As the elderly population began to fall, and this
home fell into disrepair, a new modern facilitie was built elsewhere. FedRom
with the help of JDC and others renovated this facility into what it is today,
a necessary part of the Jewish Social Assistance program.
We are now back in the bus and off
to
Food packages - In
As you might have expected. The
social service workers are grossly underpayed, making maybe $150 per month. One
"perk" if you want to call it one, is that the FedRom workers receive
food packages and some clothing points as well. There are attempts to help out
and to try and keep them at their jobs.
Then we were back in the bus for a
half hour drive to the Rosen Old Age home. A more modern facility (mabe 20+
years old). There are 115 residents here and like all of the other places we
visited the budget cuts are beginning and they are beginning to speak about how
to increase revenue without changing the feel of the place. Should they open
the doors to non-Jews, should they take in private paying residents. Each
brings with it potetial problems. many decisions need to be made over the
next 3 to 6 months.
Our final stop before the airport
was The Jewish Agency youth club. We saw some of the young women who
danced for use the first evening. It's a Small Jewish World. We
kept running into the same faces, which I found very comforting. Tova Bin-Nun
the JAFI rep has been here off and on for 13 years. In that time over
3,000 Romanians have made Aliyah. We met on 30 year old doctor who was about to
leave for
hat is where i am this morning,
writing from Jeruslaem. Because we came in so late, it still hasn't hit me that
I am here. More about that later. But for now we say farewell (for now) to
L'hitra'ot.
-----------------
Greetings from
Well, we arrived last night in Tel
Aviv, along with Rosh Hodesh, just before midnight, but just after the
new moon was sighted, though not by us on the plane. Taking an El Al
flight from Eastern Europe is not the same as taking it from
We're met at baggage by a UJC person
who tells me there have been so many missions lately, she feels like she lives
there. We were packed onto the bus and then off to
I set my alarm for 7:30 and I am
downstairs by 8 ready to get started. I needed to get
Not only does Ella sell wine, but
they ship to
Now came the excitement. The drive
to the Hass Promenade and a magnificent panaramic view of
After making a Shehechiyanu (led by
the two women whose first time this is) we drove to the kotel and the tour of
the tunnels beneath. Driving around the city ther was the
I have to drop off now and meet the
group for dinner.
Shalom from
-----------------------
What would a Friday afternoon
be like without my rushing to put out my weekly piece. It's 3:25pm and in 15
minutes the group will meet in the hotel lobby to light candles before taking a
ride to Shir HaHadasha for Friday night services and a peaceful time for all of
us to reflect on what this week has brought us.
For those 9 of us who began our trek
on Sunday afternoon, it will be a day without time, without a schedule.
Everything is optional. I already heard from the group visiting the
Today we spent the day in the
To follow up with yesterday's
remarks, the operative word is Shopping. Last night before dinner, last night
after dinner (though most stores were closed) and today in the
Shabbat Shalom for Jerusalem.
THIS WEEK’S FEATURED
PROJECT:
NOAH’S ARK.ORG
Noah's
Through their adoption program, most animals quickly find good homes with kind,
responsible people to care for them, while others live at Noah's
Also, check the World Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: http://www.wspa-international.org/site/index.php?page=257&ilocale=1
And in
Check out this fantastic mitzvah project being
produced by last week’s Bar Mitzvah, Jeffrey Jablon!
Yasher Koach, Jeffrey!
CHARITY BASKETBALL
TOURNAMENT
For
6th, 7th and 8th Graders
To benefit