February 9, 2007–
Shevat 22, 5767
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman,
This Week!
Featuring
Sisterhood Shabbat
Havdalah Unplugged
We welcome Scholar in Residence Rabbi Burton Visotzky
Download the complete
schedule at
http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/SynaplexscheduleFeb2007.htm
A special thank you to all those who
have made this weekend possible!
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 receiving
our e-mails, check your spam filter to make sure that TBE is not being “spammed
out.”
Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram:
(Click
to scroll down)
Just
the Facts (service schedule)
The (Occasionally) Ranting Rabbi
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunities
Ask the Rabbi Spiritual Journey on the Web
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
Announcements (goings on in and around
TBE)
Five Beth El-Bi
Cultural 8th Graders preparing to leave for
See photos of the first few
days of their trip at
http://www.bcds.org/Israel/Israel.htm
Check out www.tbe.org for our extensive library of photo
albums,
articles, sermons, info about
the temple,
Shabbat-O-Grams and links to
the Jewish world.
Here are some photos of 7th
graders (and the cantor) wrapping at last weekend’s World Wide Wrap. Check our website for more, going up
soon…
Thanks to Dan Young for taking
the pics.
Yashar Koach to our 5th grade,
who collected enough money to donate
400
trees
to JNF
to rebuilt the damaged forests of northern
Quote for the Week
This
week’s quote is inspired by Roni Lang’s
Synaplex presentation this weekend, on “Dealing with Difficult
People.”
“If civilization is
to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships--the ability
of all people, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at
peace.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Click
HERE for
the full Synaplex schedule
for Friday and
Shabbat
Candle lighting: 5:03 pm on Friday, 9
February 2007. For candle lighting times,
Havdalah 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/. The United Synagogue has updated its candlelighting information. To learn more, click here.
Our Torah Portion
for Shabbat Morning
Exodus
18:1 - 20:23 – The Ten
Commandments
1: 18:1-12 (12 p'sukim)
2: 18:13-23 (11 p'sukim)
3: 18:24-27 (4 p'sukim)
4: 19:1-6 (6 p'sukim)
5: 19:7-19 (13 p'sukim)
6: 19:20-20:14 (20 p'sukim)
7: 20:15-23 (9 p'sukim)
maf: 20:19-23 (5 p'sukim)
Haftarah: Isaiah 6:1 - 7:6; 9:5 - 9:6
Haftarah for Sephardim: Isaiah 6:1 -
6:13
If
you liked Storahtelling, you’ll LOVE Storahtelling’s
new weekly blog about the Torah portion Find it at http://storahtelling.blogspot.com/. ORT
Navigating the Bible; Rashi
in English; BibleGateway:
Useful for comparing different translations: Note- this is a Christian site.
What’s
Bothering Rashi (Bonchek) Each
week, one example from the parashah is deconstructed.
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://www.jtsa.edu/community/parashah/.
USCJ Torah
THE ENTIRE
HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE FOUND
WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE TRANSLATION AT http://www.mechon-mamre.org/
100
Blessings: Download information about the grace
after meals (see Birkat
Ha-mazon explained in Wikipedia and in the Jewish
Virtual Library)
The actual prayer can be downloaded at Birkat
Hamazon [pdf]
Morning Minyan
7:30 Weekdays, 9:30 Sundays
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 Guaranteed Minyan
request has been made for this Sunday, Feb. 11. Please
click on the date in the Rosner Minyan Maker at our website, www.tbe.org. if you can
make it. Thanks
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!
Winter Weather Advisory
Note that in the case
of bad weather, weekday minyan does not take place when
The
(occasionally)
The View from Netanya – From Jan
Gaines
Jan, a long time TBE member, lives for half of the
year in Netanya,
Dear Friends,
I'm looking at the brown waters of the sea, and the gray skies. We
have had 4 days of strong storms, bringing good rain but reflecting the
not very peaceful situation here. I'm waiting for blue skies to return.
Sun somehow makes things more hopeful.
The country is in a
mess. The cultural system of protexia and macho
male predators has finally caught up with a new reality in
You read the news so you know that from the President on down to
civil servants in the Tax Authority, there are indictments pending or coming
all over the place. At times I feel the police are
overly aggressive, not to mention our killer press, but then the Israeli way is
not to be quiet. If we had good leadership at the top I think people
would feel more confident but as it is, there is almost zero confidence in
either the Knesset or the PM and cabinet. It seems to go
from bad to worse. Most of us are just waiting for the next, or
"other shoe to fall". However, Olmert is an
expert at the game of politics and is protecting himself at all costs so many
people feel we are stuck with him for awhile unless the police can find
something with his real estate house deal that is enough to bring an
indictment. I doubt it.
And since the Arabs/Palestinians see our internal strife, it emboldens
them to call for more "resistance". The Arab Knesset
representatives don't hesitate to meet with Syrians or Hizbollah or anyone else they chose and roundly
condemn
I fear Hamas will win out over Fatah because they are unbending,
and we continue to prop up Abbas who is just a nicer
looking but weaker Arafat. I keep hoping that Muhammed
Dahlan will at some point take
control, rather than operate behind the scenes, but he probably wouldn't last a
day in the job before being bumped off. So the West continues to put good
money after bad, hoping to stabilize the situation. But it won't work.
So how about the country of
Yes, our weakest populations are single family mothers, the elderly
and of course the Ethiopians. However, the private sector is still very
active in trying to help, and with the new emphasis by the UJF nationwide, I think it will make a difference. I see it in
small ways right here in Netanya. A good friend who runs 3 sewing centers
for Ethiopian men, giving them meaningful daily employment, has run on a
shoestring for 3 years but now tells me she has funding from New York City UJF
and what a big help that is. My own projects with Forgotten People's
Fund, both the vitamins and the expanding Nutrition classes, are doing better
financially (thanks to any of you who have helped through the Stamford
Endowment) so that I don't worry from month to month if we have enough to
keep the program going for another cycle. I see the new police cars that
replaced the broken down vans I used to ride in 5 years ago with the civil
patrol and I'm not sure where that money came from but I think it was in
response to the 2nd intifada. Yes, it takes time for
the money to get here and be put to use, but it's very
gratifying to see tangible evidence of its success.
However, we're still making sandwiches for school
kids, we're still getting calls for help from our ever growing Ethiopian
population here in Netanya (over 12,000 which is maybe the largest for any one
city in Israel), the nutrition classes are still in demand and now seniors are
asking for help as well, and most of all, the need for extra help for Ethiopian
school children is very tangible. I've started
working with 12 year old girls once a week at one of the schools (religious)
which is predominantly Ethiopian. Trying to help them
with English. Tthey can't read or even
recognize basic words, which Sabra kids at their age
have already mastered. It's true that this is only ESL, but it is required in
the curriculum and if these kids are ever going to get ahead, they must have
the basics. It breaks my heart and leaves me frustrated. I have 3 lovely,
loving girls who really want to learn and I'm busy repeating names of colors,
numbers, family members and a few common adverbs like "who" and
"when" and "why". And I'm certainly not much of a
teacher or have any training in this. Our group is composed of some women
from Herzliyah Pituach,
among them the Canadian ambassador's wife who is a real "Jewish
doer", and a group from here in Netanya. But once a week for 90 minutes
isn't going to do the trick, and the English teacher (who is Russian like so
many of them) has her hands full coping with a big class of rambunctious kids.
I could go on about the Education system here but that's another story and a
very big problem nationwide.
I don't want to give you a skewed picture focusing only on
problems. What I see with most Israeli families is
still a growing standard of living, a committment to
living every day in full and especially enjoying more leisure time on weekends,
and a resolve to just shut these problems out, don't talk about them especially
on a national level because there's nothing they can do, and focusing
inward on family and friends. The good old Israeli "help when
needed" standards are still much in evidence.
They may argue, disagree violently, come almost to blows, but in a crisis, THEY
ARE THERE FOR EACH OTHER. That is what I see all the
time and what keeps me optimistic about this country. In spite of
the disastrous war this summer, what we saw was Israelis closing ranks and
pulling together. That exists on an individual, as well as a collective
level. If I'm sick, I will have 3 different people calling to ask if they
can shop for me (or bring me chicken soup). That's such a comfort and such an
inspiration.
The sun is trying to come out now, altho
the sea is still muddy from the winds blowing up the sand. The Kinneret is rising so no one complains about the rain. And
I am going to my Ethiopian girls this afternoon, ready for hugs and a few more
adjectives- - -maybe we'll make up a little song.
LaBriut. Jan
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 Pre-Passover Hametz
Food Collection
As you clean your cupboards in preparation for Passover, please consider
donating unopened boxes, bags and cans of hametz to a
local food pantry. For your
convenience, you can deposit those items in a box outside the Helen Golin Gift Shop, from March 22nd to 28th. We will then deliver the food to a local
food pantry. Check your e-mail for
more information.
Kosher Meals of Wheels From Matt Greenberg of the JFS Jewish Family Service and Congregation Agudath Sholom, in response to several requests from congregants, are exploring the viability of creating a Kosher Meals on Wheels program,
similar to those found in cities across the country. The purpose would be two-fold.
1) To provide nutritious meals to people who would otherwise not have them, or have trouble finding them and
2) Provide a weekly visit to those who otherwise would be isolated. This could be for the elderly who have difficulty getting out, those in need of temporary assistance, or those with maladies that prevent their mobility.
The only way such a program would be viable would be if there were enough people signed up to make it worthwhile to a caterer to prepare the meals.
Agudath Sholom currently has five individuals interested. I am wondering if you could find a way to poll your congregants either by email, weekly bulletin or Shabbat announcements to determine if there are enough people to make this a reality. Please let me know if you are interested in this – rabbi@tbe.org Mitzvah Project – Dog-related Items LINDY FRUITHANDLER WILL BECOME BAT
MITZVAH ON MARCH 17. PLEASE READ
THIS NOTE FROM HER REGARDING HER MITZVAH PROJECT:
For my mitzvah project I am helping Adopt-A-Dog, a volunteer organization in Greenwich, CT, which helps find good, safe homes for homeless animals. They have found homes for many Katrina dogs that lost their families in the hurricane. To help them, I am donating money I have raised, and collecting dog-related items such as toys, collars, bones, and leashes; and cat-related items such as toys, collars, and catnip. Any crates that your dog or cat no longer use would be greatly appreciated by Adopt-A-Dog You do not have to be dog or cat owner to help - Adopt-A-Dog also needs new or used blankets, pillows, soft table cloths, and really anything else that the animals can sleep on. I can collect some of these items myself, but I need your help to collect enough needed items to make a big difference.
I will have a collection box
out in the
You can also help Adopt-A-Dog by saving "Weight Circles" from Purina Brand Dog Food. Adopt-A-Dog receives 8 cents for every pound of weight circles sent in to Purina. Adopt-A-Dog buys 1,000 pounds of dog food every month! Each label that you clip and donate from a 20 lb. bag gives them $1.60 towards their food bill. A 50 lb. bag label means $4.00 in meals for their pooches. Trust me, it adds up! Please clip the labels off the side of each bag you buy and place them in the envelope attached to the collection box.
On behalf of all the homeless dogs and cats at Adopt-A-Dog, thanks so much for your help!
Lindy Fruithandler
322-4712
To check out Adopt-A-Dog for yourself, please visit their website at www.adoptadog.org.