March 9, 2007– Adar 20,
5767
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple
Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut
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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
The
Beth El Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary (new)
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
Announcements (goings on in and around
TBE)
TBE Youth Programming
Joke for the Week
Purim at TBE
Check out www.tbe.org for many more Purim photos,
plus our
extensive library of photo albums,
articles, sermons, info about
the temple,
Shabbat-O-Grams and links to
the Jewish world.
Quote for the Week
“Kashrut is a tool in the
arsenal of civilizing humanity
toward gentleness, empathy, and restraint.”
-- Rabbi Brad Artson
JUST THE FACTS
Remember
to turn the clocks one hour ahead on Saturday night
Candle lighting: 5:36 pm on Friday, 9 March
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.
SHABBAT
UNPLUGGED
Friday, March 9 at 7:30 PM
Followed by
a Sit-Down Oneg and Rebbe’s Tish
A special Tot Shabbat will
also be held at 7:30
AND SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR NEXT SYNAPLEX SHABBAT
APRIL 7
THE THEME OF THIS DAY-LONG PROGRAM WILL BE
“MATZAH
AND MITZVAH: JEWISH JOURNEYS”
FEATURING JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME …AND
BEYOND
DARFUR, HOLOCAUST, INSTANT YIDDISH, MIRACLES AND LIFE
EVERLASTING,
ADULT BAT MITZVAH REUNION
FROM 1989,
NO-HATE-BUT-HARMONY,
NESHAMA YOGA, MIND-BODY-SPIRIT BIKE
RIDE, AND GOOD PASSOVER FOOD!
LEARNER’S, TRADITIONAL AND MEDITATIVE SERVICE
SESSIONS ON
“THE ETHICS OF EATING,” NUTRITION, KEEPING
KIDS HEALTHY,
RAISING YOUR ADULT CHILD
COLLEGE-TALK FOR TEENS, CHESS, TOUCH FOOTBALL
A CHOCOLATE SEDER FOR THE KIDS!
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!
Shabbat Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal Tov to KIRA SMITH, WHO
BECOMES bAT MITZVAH THIS SHABBAT MORNING
Children’s
Services: 10:30 AM
Our Torah Portion
for Shabbat Morning
Parashat Ki Tissa – Shabbat Parah
Exodus
30:11 - 34:35
1: 33:12-16
2: 33:17-23
3: 34:1-9
4: 34:10-17
5: 34:18-21
6: 34:22-26
7: 34:27-35
Maftir: Numbers 19:1 - 19:22 (special
maftir)
Haftarah (Shabbat Parah): Ezekiel 36:16 - 36:38
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 Sparks
can be found at: http://www.uscj.org/Torah_Sparks5689.html
UAHC Shabbat Table Talk discussions are at http://urj.org/torah/index.cfm Other divrei Torah via the Torahnet
home page: http://uahcweb.org/torahnet/.
Test your Parasha I.Q.: http://www.ou.org/jewishiq/parsha/default.htm.
CLAL’s Torah commentary archive: http://click.topica.com/maaaiRtaaRvQhbV2AtLb/. World Zionist Organization Education
page, including Nehama Liebowitz archives of parsha
commentaries: http://www.moreshet.net/web/index.asp?f=1
For a more Kabbalistic/Zionist/Orthodox perspective
from Rav Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, go to http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/index.html.
For some probing questions and meditations on key verses of the portion, with a
liberal kabbalistic bent, go to http://www.jewishealing.com/learning.html or, for Kabbalistic
commentaries from the Zohar itself, go to http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar/weekly/intro. Also, try http://home.utah.edu/~rfs4/jkmfc.htm. To see the weekly commentary from
Hillel, geared to college students and others, go to http://www.hillel.org/hillel/NewHille.nsf/FCB8259CA861AE57852567D30043BA26/DF7D129F15B3DF0885256AB80058E9C3?OpenDocument.
For a Jewish Renewal and feminist approach go to http://rabbishefagold.hypermart.net/Torah1.html . For a comprehensive Orthodox viewpoint
from the Israeli rabbi, Yaakov Fogelman, go to the
Torah Outreach Program at http://israelvisit.co.il/top/previous.shtml. Guided meditations for
each portion by Judith Abrams at http://www.maqom.com/kavannah.pdf 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 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.
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 Stamford public schools are cancelled OR
delayed. On Sunday, minyan is
cancelled if our Religious
School sessions are
cancelled. Friday evening and Shabbat morning’s main service is
never officially cancelled, but use your best judgment in deciding whether to
come. We will endeavor to get proper
notification to WSTC radio regarding cancellations, but that may not always be
possible for children’s services held on Shabbat.
The
(occasionally)
Ranting Rabbi
Below is my column from this week’s
Jewish Week, focusing on this weekend’s early shift to daylight savings
time
http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=5786
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Saving Daylight
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By Joshua Hammerman
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On Sunday, March 11, Hebrew school
students nationwide will file into class, either more
cantankerous and exhausted than ever — or an hour late.
That’s because this year, for the first time, daylight savings time
will begin on the second Sunday of March.
Since 1986, we’ve sprung forward an hour on the first Sunday of April,
but two years ago the federal government decided that we needed one month
more of DST. Even normally impetuous Israelis will be waiting until March 29
to spring forward. This year we’re the ones jumping the gun, much to
the chagrin of airline pilots, computer programmers, parish ministers and
Hebrew school teachers, all of whom stand to suffer from this sudden
clock-shock, this mini Y2K.
Advocates claim that we’ll save up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day by
being less reliant on light bulbs during working hours. But really,
when’s the last time we had a 9-to-5 workday? That’s so 20th
century! In an era of 24/7, with filled pre-dawn commuter trains and midnight
teleconferences to Hong Kong, are we really
saving anything? The shift was, I suspect, a bone thrown to
environmentalists, buried in a 2005 energy bill granting tax breaks to Big
Oil. Little did they know how this little, obscure add-on would wreak havoc
on bar mitzvah schedules nationwide.
Didn’t Congress realize that these cherished dates are
often assigned sometime around the time of baby’s first step?
Don’t they understand how difficult it is to determine that precise
moment when Shabbat ends, that instant when both the Havdalah candle and
Bunsen burner can be lit, filling the air with the mixed aroma of sweet
spices and bite-size cocktail franks? With receptions thrown off schedule,
how many Shabbat-observant relatives will now be forced
to wait an ungodly extra hour for the sun to set in Syosset before making
that mouthwatering pilgrimage to Leonards of Great Neck?
While I’ve never been a big fan of Shabbat afternoon bar mitzvahs, we
do them occasionally to alleviate the morning glut. It just so happens that
my congregation has three planned for this March. It’s not easy to
explain to exasperated parents how it is beyond my
rabbinic power to make the sky darken on demand. The biblical Joshua could
make the sun stand still, but this one can’t even perform the cheap
trick of making three stars appear an hour early.
Joe Lieberman, where were you when we needed you to explain to your
colleagues the complexity of Jewish time?
Did Congress realize that my brief window to enjoy a Saturday night dinner
and a movie has now been narrowed considerably? Do
they understand that, with 7 o’clock Friday night candle lighting times
in mid-March, my internal biorhythmic clock will now
expect summer to begin before Mothers Day?
I yearn for the good old days, pre-1986 (except for the mid ‘70s energy
crisis years), when DST began at the end of April. The Passovers of my
childhood usually ended early enough for us to be able to go out for the
traditional P.P.P. (Post Pesach Pizza) after it got dark. Even post
’86, there were years when Passover would begin in March and therefore
before the clocks change. No longer. Instead, we are
condemned to begin the holiday at an hour when the youngest child is more
likely to be counting sheep than cups, plagues and questions.
The extension of daylight time may even have cosmic implications, throwing
off Elijah’s timing; he may begin to question his ability to handle
that sip of wine from every seder table. The prophet Malachi assures us that
Elijah will “turn the hearts of parents to their children and children
to their parents.” Well, Elijah now has his hands full, what with
parents trying to placate hungry children while waiting for the sun to set so
the seder can begin.
Were you thinking about that, Congress?
I am writing this on the day that I turn 50. At no time in my life have I had
a keener awareness of my growing need for daylight. I recently marked that
peculiar rite of passage where I strategically placed a pair of reading
glasses in every room of the house. Last fall, for the first time ever, I
didn’t grimace when a wedding videographer asked my permission to set
up extra lighting for the ceremony. Not only did I give the OK to those
intrusive, obnoxious beams, I positioned one over my right shoulder so I
could read the fine print on the Ketubah. So I should be exulting that now
there will be one more hour of light.
But my birthday triggered this reflection: Perhaps this premature daylight
savings has little to do with preserving energy and everything to do with
saving daylight. I’ve always been a baby boom baby, born at the tail
end of the postwar population explosion. While I am beginning to sense my
mortality big-time, millions of older boomers must really be getting worried
about their own darkening shadows. And these are precisely the people who now
sit in Congress, the ones who voted to move up DST two years ago. They voted
to delay that moment each day when they have to reach for their glasses.
Dylan Thomas’ classic poem now rings true for more people than ever
before.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Our instinctive rage against the dying light is being
played out on an economic and political stage, with grave consequences
to caterers and 13-year-olds. Maybe it is time to stop raging for a moment.
We can’t cheat Father Time by delaying night for one hour. If we would
choose rather to convert our waning physical light into regenerative
spiritual luminosity, we just might save much more than a few barrels of oil.
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A Shabbat-O-Gram Exclusive
Just Back
from Israel…
Our Beth El BCDS 8th Graders recently returned from a
three week stay in Israel.
Here is one more report, exclusively written for the Shabbat-O-Gram.
I just returned from the best trip ever! I have
returned from across the ocean from Israel. I have learned a lot in the
past few weeks, especially, that friends are everywhere, waiting to be found. It was the best trip I have been on, in my nine
years at BCDS. The Kotel was amazing as was its tunnels. We walked the entire
Western Wall and left notes for family and friends in the Wall. The food was
unique! My favorite food was the fantastic, delicious, chocolate, ice cream and
yogurt. The Ruth Rimonim Hotel in Tzfat
was amazing; the neighborhood was very religious but it had a very special
atmosphere. It was Shabbat when we were in Tzfat and
there it was a calm and peaceful setting – people danced in the Shul in Tzfat. I am very tired now that I am home
, (jet lag), but I will always treasure the people and places I have
seen. I want to learn to speak fluent Hebrew. I felt safer in Israel than in the United States. I loved Israel!
Mollie Steinmetz
Iran on the Mind
You can’t blame
Israelis for being fixated on the Iranian nuclear threat. I see it constantly on Israeli TV and in
the press. It also comes through in
the popular culture – a typically Israeli – and Jewish attempt –
to combat despair with humor, defiance and chutzpah. It was probably the
Purim experience that spawned the expression, “gallows humor.”
You may have seen the New
York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/world/middleeast/02cnd-israel.html?_r=3D1&hp&oref=3Dslogin)
about Israel’s
controversial newest entry into the upcoming Eurovision song festival. Here's a link to the song by Teapacks: “Push the Button” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DwpWYFoSrmRA. Read the song’s lyrics.
Let me know what you think.
Do You Jewish-Stamford
Yahoo?
The following article about Jewish Stamford appeared in last week's Jewish
Ledger. http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/news13.txt
There are close to 800 members in this group, but we
have many friends in the area who are not yet signed up for the group, but
who could benefit from being part of Jewish Stamford. The more
people that sign up for the group, the more useful it will be to
everyone.
You can click on to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JewishStamford/, and follow instructions for signing
up. Do it today!
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
Click
here to tell your Member of Congress to maintain the current economic and
diplomatic sanctions against Iran!
Free Them Now
Ehud Goldwasser
Eldad Regev Gilad Schalit
Kidnapped Israeli Soldiers
• Click for more
information