May 20, 2006 – Iyar
22, 5766
Send your friends and relatives the gift of Jewish awareness -- a Shabbat-O-Gram
each week, by signing them up at www.tbe.org. To be removed from this mailing list,
sent e-mail request to office@tbe.org. If you have signed up and are not
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being “spammed out.”
We welcome the
Women’s League here this Sunday for a full day of programming, as Ilene kirschner Madwed becomes its regional president!
Mazal tov to her,
and to TBE’s own Fred Springer, who became president of the UJF on
Thursday.
Also, Mazal tov to
Bi-Cultural day school on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, also
to be celebrated at its annual dinner dance this Sunday.
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
“In a controversy, the instant we feel
anger,
we have already ceased striving for truth
and have begun striving for
ourselves.”
Abraham
Joshua Heschel
JUST THE FACTS
Friday Evening
Candle lighting: 7:50pm
on Friday,- Havdalah is at 8:51 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/
K,1 and 2 Shabbat dinner - 5:45 PM
Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:30 PM – Because of the
rain and wet ground, services tonight will be held indoors, in the chapel L
Tot
Shabbat – No Tot Shabbat May 19! Due to scheduling conflict. Tot Shabbat will resume on Friday, May
26. We hope to see you then.
For those who can’t
get enough of Tot Shabbat, Nurit conducts Tot Shabbat Morning at 10:30am
every Saturday morning. All are
welcome to attend.
Shabbat
Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal tov to
Randi Braun and Philip Nussbaum who will become B’nai Mitzvah this
Shabbat morning.
The
sermon topic will be “The Da Vinci
Code: Jewish Perspectives.”
Children’s services: 10:30
Torah Portion: Behar-Behukotai:
Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34
1: 25:39-43
2: 25:44-46
3: 25:47-54
4: 25:55-26:2
5: 26:3-5
6: 26:6-9
7: 26:10-46
maf: 26:44-46
Haftarah - Jeremiah
16:19 - 17:14
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.
We’ve had several people coming lately
who are saying kaddish following recent deaths in the family. We want to make sure we have a minyan
each day. Your presence any morning is greatly appreciated!
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 TBE Job
Search Strategy Group: JUNE- JULY 2006
Tired of
your your job, your company, or maybe even your
career? Changing jobs or your career can be very stressful. Maybe you are
dealing with sudden or involuntary unemployment, or a recent
graduate embracing the Job market for the first time! Whichever situation it
might be, the job search is always a challenging process: confusing,
unpredictable and demoralizing. Ironically, while changing careers and jobs is
a common phenomenon in our society, most people don't understand how rapidly
changing technology has impacted the job search process, or the essential 21st
century job search strategies one needs to adopt to succeed in this
extremely competitive marketplace.
Donna
Sweidan, a career coach and counselor in
1) How to
develop momentum in your job search. Job Searching the Five O'clock
2) How to
create a resume that works and gets the attention that it deserves
3) Beat the
odds: How to make the Internet Job Search work for you
Donna has
presented and led numerous Job Transition Strategy groups and workshops in her
work as a career coach. Before starting her own business, Careerfolk,
she was the Founding Director of Career Services at The New School in
If you
would like to know more about these workshops, or if there is interest in
joining a Job Transition Group, or individual counseling, please contact Donna
directly. She can be reached at 203-613-1049 or donna@careerfolk.com
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!
We all know that the Ten
Commandments tell us to honor our parents…
But what do parents owe
their children?
A superb, detailed response
can be found at the USCJ website:
http://www.uscj.org/What_Parents_Owe_The5462.html
How should we behave
towards people who irritate us?
An Interesting Parable from
“JewishHealing.com”
Sometimes it’s a problem given some of the
unwholesome ways some people act towards us. We may come across despicable
people or some whose behavior is totally unacceptable to us, but yet among them
there may very possibly be a Tsaddik (a self-realized
individual), who can bring about miracles to our lives. Such a Tsaddik is a mirror that reflects our own souls.
So if our behavior is loathsome then the Tsaddik only
mirrors what we truly are. The Tsaddik does not
mirror what we appear to be or what others think we are. On the other hand, if
we are holy, the Tsaddik mirrors that holiness.
The Hassidic literature is filled with stories and legends
about these miracle workers who even while unbeknownst to us play an important
role in our well-being. According to tradition, the world is supported by
thirty-six righteous people (Lamed Vav Tsaddikim) who
themselves are unaware of their holiness and their spiritual gifts.
One such story that has circulated for a long time is the
one about The Shavartze Wolf (The Black Wolf), as
told to the Belzer Rebbe by
the great grandson. I’ve heard several variations of the story, but the
one that’s most memorable to me is the one recorded by Rabbi Shlomo
Carlebach in his inimitable musical style. Rabbi Carlebach’s
version can be found on his album Nachamu Ami
recorded in 1990.
You can find one version of the story by clicking on this
link: http://www.jewishealing.com/shvartse_wolf.html
It’s worth reading because you never know who among
us is one of the true Tsaddikim. It teaches us how we
are obliged to behave towards others. Anyone in our midst could be such a Tsaddik as the Shvartse Wolf. Is
it possible that someone we know may be such a Tsaddik?
With blessings
Wally Spiegler
Happy Hour
J
ONE
THING WE DEFINITELY COULD USE MORE OF IN THIS WORLD IS POSITIVE THINKING. AFTER
http://my.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?course=fas-psy1504
AND
http://my.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?course=fas-psy1504&pageid=tk.page.psy1504.video
I
THINK YOU WILL SEE THAT HIS POSITIVE SPIRIT IS INFECTIOUS – AND I HIGHLY
RECOMMEND THIS SPIRITUAL JOURNEY FOR ANYONE COMING ONTO OUR BOARD!!
By Haim Handwerker
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - Memorial Hall in Sanders Theater at Harvard
University started to fill up half an hour before Tal
Ben-Shahar's lecture was due to begin. The
Gothic-style 1,100-seat hall was built about a century ago to commemorate those
who fell in the Civil War. When Ben-Shahar teaches
there it is packed with students in jeans, though here and there you can see a
young mother with a stroller and a few couples in their sixties.
Today's class is about relationships - one of the more fascinating topics at
any age. When Ben-Shahar, 35, who is bespectacled,
lean and inclined to smile, enters, he does not look like a guru who attracts
hundreds of students. On the platform is a high bar stool on which Ben-Shahar usually does not sit, a movable blackboard and a
huge screen. As soon as the lecture - which is accompanied by music and video
clips from films and television programs - begins, it is apparent that the guy
has charisma. It's a pleasure to listen to him. He is intelligent and funny and
his remarks are rich with a profusion of details. The students are plainly
riveted. When the class ends, they applaud. Afterward, a long line of students
forms to exchange a few words with him. He sits at the front of the stage and
speaks patiently with everyone.
The students, most of whom are women, gaze at him reverently, while Ben-Shahar's army of teaching assistants huddle off to the
side. Also present is a representative of McGraw Hill, the publishing house. In
the wake of his new success, Ben-Shahar is
negotiating the publication of a revised and updated edition of the small book
(112 pages) he published in 2002, "The Question of Happiness: On Finding
Meaning, Pleasure and the Ultimate Currency." He is also working on a new
book, "Permission to Be Human," which, more than any other phrase,
sums up his credo.… to read the rest go
to http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/715022.html
Some
http://www.thesourceisrael.com/current/ Online Magazine about Israeli life
http://cms.hillel.org/NR/hillel_files/shared/PDF/How_I_Relate_to_Israel.pdf Nice lesson, featuring passages by great
writers about
www.rabassembly.org/cjmag/2000fa/lerner.pdf
-- An Appreciation of Yehudah
Amichai – By Dr. Ann Lapidus Lerner of JTS
http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=107
Four Yehuda Amicha
poems about
http://www.thejewishexchange.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=yomyerushalayim&source=haaretz
(view the movie)
http://info.jpost.com/2000/Supplements/JerusalemDay/
(before they starting charging extra for their supplements)
Jerusalem Municipality Website
Jerusalem Capital of Israel (1)
Jerusalem Capital of Israel (2)
Internet Exhibit: Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
Compilation of Additional Documents about Jerusalem
http://www.shalem.org.il/oren/links.htm
Articles by Michael Oren, author of “Six Days of War”
www.biu.ac.il/JS/rennert/
Israel Ministry of
Foreign Affairs: Jerusalem Through the Centuries, www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00w50
Jewish Virtual Library:
The Israeli Knesset:
Jewish Agency: Sources
for Yom Yerushalayim, www.jajz-ed.org.il/festivls/jerusalem/index.html
OU-Yom Yerushalayim Guide & talking points,www.ou.org/chagim/yomyerushalayim/default.htm
Let’s
begin with GOOD NEWS from
Technology | In
Israel, water is the new oil
Israel has been dealing with the problem of scarce water resources for decades,
making it a pioneer in water purification, irrigation and desalination
technologies, and other techniques to help it make the desert bloom. As a
growing number of countries face similar concern about where its next bucket of
water is coming from, they are looking to
Culture | Israel's
'electric' fashion springs to life
It may seem like an unlikely location for the creation of some of the most
original fashion designs coming out of Israel, but Tel Aviv's once-dilapidated Gan Hahashmal ('Electric garden')
district has enjoyed a resurgence as the cutting edge fashion capital of the
country. The collective of 22 designers are also becoming a hit in
Israeli
dates at forefront of shift in market trends
05/14/06 - Agricultural experts from Middle Eastern countries like Egypt, Abu Dhabi,
and Morocco, as well as the US and France converged on Tel Aviv last week to
discuss a subject close to their hearts - dates. Whether learning about new
cooling and distribution methods, or ways to combat the dreaded Red Palm Weevil
pest, the multinational participants stressed cooperation and teamwork. More...
Thanks to Chuck Donin for forwarding this (originally found in the
The
Here are some of the
reasons I love
1. The clock radio rouses
me with "Shema Yisrael," the Jewish pledge
of allegiance, and the weather is nearly always fine.
2. On Memorial Day and
Holocaust Remembrance Day, the act of remembering halts traffic.
3. The Israel Prize
recognizes lifetime achievement for actresses and rabbis, scientists and
singers.
4. Mother's Day is
celebrated on the yahrzeit of Henrietta Szold, who
organized Youth Aliya with Recha
but who had no children of her own.
5. All citizens have
health care, and the fight is on to get coverage for foreign residents.
6. If my car overheats,
even men in designer suits will leap to help me.
7. 25% of Israelis have
been close enough to hear a bombing, yet two million of us were out vacationing
on Pessah. That's resilience.
8. An evening of singing
is still a popular grown-up pastime.
9. Entire families show
up for military graduations and bring enough food to feed an army.
10. A circumcision
ceremony, brit mila, is
important enough to take an hour off from work.
11. Israelis give out
their cell phone numbers - the difference between our private and professional
lives isn't neatly delineated.
12. Supermarkets deliver.
13. We have more In-Vitro
Fertilization per capita than anywhere because we love children.
14. Our beggars are
courageous -- they solicit on even the highest-risk street corners.
15. Nearly every family
story includes persecution, battle experience, and the upheaval of uprooting -
yet Israelis are optimists.
16. Street musicians are
good enough to play in chamber orchestras.
17. Despite the stress,
creativity flourishes:
18 We're talkative - both
the cell phone and voice mail were invented here.
19. We get excited about
cyclamens, almond blossoms, and drive far to see budding Lupins
(tormosim).
20. On Friday, religious
or not, everyone is hurrying towards Shabbat. Check out the bakery lines.
21. Aliyah stories can
make the evening news.
22. We celebrate
Independence Day by holding a Bible contest.
23. The fastest food is
still falafel with its incomparable aroma.
24. Blue and white flags
fly from cars and buildings.
25. "Where were your
grandparents from?" is a common question. Where else would anyone care
about my grandparents.
26. You don't have to be
best friends or kin to be invited to a wedding.
27. You don't have to be
best friends or kin to attend a funeral.
28. By the number of
scientific papers published (more per capita than any other country), you'd
think researchers were in ivory towers. Most do hands-on works, and many serve
reserve duty.
29. First graders read
the Bible in the original Hebrew, and celebrate when they get their personal
copies.
30. Humus is ubiquitous.
31. Political discussions
never stop, not even in the swimming pool.
32. We follow the level
of the Kinneret more faithfully than we do our stock
portfolios.
33. Even soldiers
carrying heavy M-16's will stop to help a parent with a stroller. Note: M-16's
are light. Other wise, this is still true.
34. Streets bear names of
prophets and medieval poets.
35. Calendars change on
Rosh Hashanah because that's our real New Year.
36. Malls have kosher
food-courts.
37. Airplanes have sky
marshals, just in case.
38. We have more museums
per capita than
39. We raise cows in the
desert with yields like those in
40. Before Pesach,
cleaning products are the lead supermarket items.
41. Even in our prisons,
Pesach - the holiday of freedom - is celebrated with a Seder.
42. We have only one
Seder.
43. Purim, our dress-up
holiday, lasts three days.
44. In Jerusalem, it's
hard to tell who's in costume and who isn't.
45. A new garment or a
new haircut elicits a salutation, something between "wear it well"
and "enjoy its newness."
46.
47.
48. For all the talk
about the greening of the planet, we're the only country in the world that
started the 21st century with a net gain of trees. (Thank you, Keren Kayemet!)
49. Israel has the
highest concentration of hi-tech companies except for Silicon Valley, and also
the most yeshivot (Day Schools).
50. After a calamity,
police have trouble keeping bystanders who want to help, away.