May 6, 2006 – Iyar
8, 5766
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This week –
our first Friday night OUTDOOR service (at 6:30)!!!
Next week –
our final “Shabbat Unplugged of the season” (at 7:30)!!!
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)
Quote for the Week
“There
is no other day of the year where our hearts beat as one as on this day; there
is no genuine unity which can compare to that expressed so intensely as on
Remembrance Day with a force that encompasses every soul in Israel. I know there are no words which I can say to ease your
pain, but I commit myself to you… I will do all
that I can to strengthen the security of the State of Israel
—Interim
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
speaking at the Yom Hazikaron ceremony at Jerusalem ’s Mount Herzl Jerusalem
Friday Evening
Candle lighting:
7:36pm on Friday,- Havdalah is at 8:35
pm on Saturday evening. 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 – OUTDOORS (Weather permitting)
Tot
Shabbat featuring - 6:45, in the sanctuary
Tot Shabbat will be
hosted this week by Jackie and David Herman, in honor of their children, Nathaniel
and Douglas.
Both children attend Sara Walker.
Attention Tot Shabbat
hosts: You are encouraged to
bring a special decoration with you (including pictures, children’s
drawings, etc.) to help commemorate your special event.
No Tot Shabbat May 19! Due to scheduling conflict, Tot Shabbat
will not be held May 19, but it will be
held during Shabbat Unplugged on May 12, at 7:30 pm. Tot Shabbat will also be held on Friday,
May 26.
Shabbat
Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal tov to Annie Cohen and Yonatan
Karas, who will become B’nai
Mitzvah this Shabbat morning!
Children’s services: 10:30
Torah Portion: Achare
Mot – Kedoshim - Leviticus 16:1 - 20:27
1: 17:8-12
2: 17:13-16
3: 18:1-5
4: 18:6-21
5: 18:22-30
6: 19:1-3
7: 19:4-14
maf: 19:11-14
Haftarah for Ashkenazim: Amos 9:7
- 9:15
Haftarah for Sephardim: Ezekiel 20:2 - 20:20
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
For online Parsha quizzes from Pardes in Israel, go to http://www.pardes.org.il/online_learning/parsha_quizzes/ Torah for Kids: http://www.torah4kids.net/ Weekly Lesson of Popular Israeli Rabbi Mordechai Elon: http://www.elon.org/archives/archives.htm - and his parsha sheets: http://www.mibereshit.org/special/download_eng_pdf.htm From Bar Ilan University: http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/; http://www.torahproductions.com/weekly_article.jsp
THE ENTIRE
HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE FOUND WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE
TRANSLATION AT
Morning Minyan: Weekdays at 7:30, Sundays at
9:30 AM
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.
A guraranteed Minyan has
been requested for this Monday.
Please sign up at the Rosner Minyan Maker!!!
Excerpts from my
sermon from last Shabbat
So
How
ironic it is that the prayer for
Chapter
66, Verse 13: “As a mother comforts
her son, so will I comfort you;
you shall find comfort in
During the archaeological excavations that were carried out near
the
The inscription on the Western Wall may
well have reflected the joyous prospect that the
I’ve seen that graffiti many times,
most recently last summer, when our group actually prayed under it, since it is
located in that southwestern corner of the kotel
adjacent to what is now called Robinson’s arch. And each time I
look at it, I think of the joy those workers must have felt – and how
devastated they must have been at Julian’s quick demise. They would have been
even more devastated had they known that only a few centuries later there would
be a new religion, Islam, that would build a shrine, the Dome of the Rock would
be built on that very spot, and that it would take 17 centuries for the Jewish
people to regain control over that holy place, but that the temple itself would
not be rebuilt.
Compared to 17 centuries, 58 years is not
a long time to be lingering at dawn, not a long time of “not
yet.” Things are not yet
perfect, but they are not so horrible either. Yes, the Iranian president speaks openly
about incinerating
But how horrible can
things be for the Jews, when doctors in
No, things aren’t so horrible at
all, not even in “not yet”
Ari Shavit, a commentator for Ha’aretz,
describes
True,
Last week,
when a terror attack in Tel Aviv shattered the illusion of quiet in the middle of
Pesach, the country did not come to a standstill. Israelis have learned to live with the
terror –with the operative word being “live.”
And so, on
this week of Yom Ha-atzmaut, we think of those
workers at the wall who inscribed that verse from Isaiah: You shall see and your heart shall rejoice, your limbs shall flourish like grass.”
These words were
recited by Ross and Billie today, and our hearts DID rejoice. We are living at a truly
remarkable time, one that those workers 1700 years ago never could have
imagined. The Jewish people have
been reborn, in our homeland. That
fact has happened – nothing “not yet” about it. We can’t rest on our laurels in
this year of Nach
– but we can rest assured that Isaiah’s vision, and the dream of
these workers, has already been fulfilled.
Independence
Day 2006: 7 Million Israelis
On the eve of
COMING THIS FALL!!
For more information, go to www.starsynagogue.org
If you are interested in participating in our steering committee
or would like an info packet, contact me at rabbi@tbe.org
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunties
Beth El Cares
Cathy Satz (968-9191; csscounsel@yahoo.com)Cheryl Wolff (968-6361; cwolff@optonline.net)BETH EL CARES co-chairs Lock of Love
Todah Rabah to Rebecca
Satz, the latest
Rebecca just couldn’t wait until Sunday May 7 when Beth El Cares
will be hosting another group donation
for children and
teens to cut their hair for “Locks of Love”. If your hair is
10” or longer (in a ponytail),
join us on Sunday May 7.
Guy Sasson & Company will be coming
to
Advance sign-up is required. Mother and daughter teams will
be accepted-Cathy will volunteer to “adopt a daughter” for her
team!
Contact Cathy Satz to schedule your appointment.
Cathy Satz
968-9191 (
Sunday,
June 4, 2006
The
The Walk/Run will be on June 4, 2006
in the morning at Shippan. Each
year TBE members walk together to raise money for cancer patients and their
families. In 2005, we had 51 walkers and our team raised over
$5,200!! This year our goal is to raise
$6,000.
We welcome all new and past walkers
to come together to form the Sisterhood’s TBE
Walk Team. We always have a great time for a good cause. You can
walk at your own pace and you will have other TBE members to walk with!
The course is either 3 or 5 miles (your choice).
See the special TBE Walk and Run
webpage at http://shf.convio.net/site/TR/819699896?pg=team&fr_id=1030&team_id=1110. You can pre-register there as well as
read a message from Beth Silver – she can also be reached at 967-8852, beth@silverconsulting.net.
Looking forward to
having YOU on the team!
Or go to http://www.jerusalemonline.com/
Judaism and Cremation, Part
2
Following last week’s q and a on cremation, I had this e-mail
exchange with congregant Michael Swartz (who’s Hebrew name is Akiva), that helps to “flesh out” the matter (oy) even more.
With his permission, I reprint it here.
From: Michael Swartz
Hi Rabbi
Thank you for the "Ask the Rabbi" question this week --
it's a question I have difficulty with too. And
you made me think about it quite a bit... (a
good thing) My thoughts on the subject are coming more
from an environmental concern:
How can we continuously bury the dead?
Is it sustainable?
Wouldn't G-d want us to "recycle"?
Won't we one day run out of room?
Everything will turn to dust eventually, so does it really matter
if we cremate or not?
There's an interesting book I read in the library years ago called "God's Junkyard" (or something like that)
-- and it speaks of how our great open spaces are being flattened for
various human endeavors. It seems
to me that you can still honor the dead in other ways --
whilst honoring the living and the earth at the same time.
One more thing: If we are to be humble before G-d, why would we
leave markers? -- Which, essentially, proclaim
our egos for posterity... And one final question:
Besides common law, is there any Jewish law that says you can't be buried
anywhere else but a cemetery? This is heavy stuff --
I'm going to have to think about it some more...
Thanks
-Akiva
Hi Keev
I've often thought about the environmental impact - more so when
burying holy books rather than recycling them . When
we bury people, at least the decomposed nutrients enter the soil and help to
"push up daisies," as the saying goes. There's a big difference
in my mind between that and ash, where the energy is expended, burned, and goes
up in smoke. The space issue is problematic if you are driving through
For me, the smokestacks of
As for other locales of burial, there are differing opinions about
above ground burial as well as stacking beneath the ground and burial at
sea. In the talmudic
era, most tombs were in caves. But in-ground burial is the form that is universally
accepted now.
This is a fascinating, if morose topic. Thanks
for commenting.
Let’s
begin with GOOD NEWS from
This was circulated this
week by our community educator, Ilana De Laney.
The Middle East has been growing date
palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-
Israeli date trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough
to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder.
The cell phone was developed in
Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by
Microsoft-Israel.
The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in
Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centering processor were
entirely designed, developed and produced in
The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in
Voice mail technology was developed in
Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the
The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996
by four young Israelis.
According to industry officials,
In proportion to its population,
With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups,
Outside the
The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the
On a per capita basis,
Twenty-four per cent of
In 1984 and 1991,
When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of
Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern
times.
When the
Relative to its population,
democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. (Hundreds
of thousands from the former
Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century
with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was
achieved in an area considered mainly desert.
Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the
first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast
cancer.
An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper
administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in
treatment mistakes.