February 1, 2008 – Shevat 25,
5768
Thank you and Mazal Tov to Terry and Asa
Hazen,
who are sponsoring
this week’s Shabbat-O-Gram in honor of Leah’s Bat Mitzvah
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THIS WEEKEND!!!!
Click
HERE to see the complete Auction Catalog
Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram:
(Click
to scroll down)
The (Occasionally) Ranting Rabbi
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah
Opportunities
The Beth El Bar/Bat
Mitzvah Commentary
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
Quote for the Week
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every
experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Candle lighting: 4:44 pm on Friday, February
1, 2008. For 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.
THE FULL SERVICE SCHEDULE NOW APPEARS ON THE
SEPARATE TBE ANNOUNCEMENTS E-MAIL
Shabbat Services: 6:30 Friday night in the
sanctuary
Tot Shabbat Friday at 6:45 pm. in the chapel
Shabbat morning @ 9:30, Children’s services at
10:30
Mazal Tov to
Leah Hazen, daughter of Terry and Asa Hazen, who becomes Bat Mitzvah this
Shabbat morning
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 THEN NOTIFY OUR OFFICE.
Reminder
of our “No School No Shul” policy: On days when Stamford
Torah
Reading For Shabbat Morning
Torah Portion: Mishpatim
(assorted laws
comprising the “Book of the Covenant”)
Exodus
21:1 - 24:18
1: 21:1-6
2: 21:7-11
3: 21:12-19
4: 21:20-27
5: 21:28-32
6: 21:33-36
7: 21:37-22:3
maf: 24:15-18
Haftarah Jeremiah 34:8 - 34:22; 33:25 - 33:26
- myjewishlearning.com
- Torah
from JTS
- JTS Podcasts
- American Jewish University
- Academy for Jewish Religion
ANNUAL
SUPERBOWL PREDICTION
Pats vs.G-Men
I’ve always given my Super Bowl prediction, based on Jewish
sources, and I’ve almost always been right, last
year’s pick of the Bears notwithstanding.
Because this year’s game hits so close to home, I thought it would be a
good idea to open up this process to our fearless and wise Judaic experts and
pigskin prognosticators.
Here are assorted comments, followed by my own.
Superbowl LXII Biblical and
Jewish Perspective Analysis
by the Robinov Family
The whole Robinov family
gladly accepted the Rabbi’s invitation to predict the outcome of Superbowl LXII
based upon Jewish sources. Although our
hearts are with the Giants, we predict that the Patriots will win in a close
game. Here’s why:
In the Giants’ favor:
1. Eli Manning is #10, an auspicious
number in the Bible. Most importantly,
it represents the 10 Commandments – Aseret H’divrot, in Hebrew.
If you remove the taf and the vav taf from the Hebrew, you get Eser H’dvar – “10’s the
thing.” In other words, Eli’s the
Using Gematria, the taf vav taf
that we removed from Aseret H’divrot
equals 806. Drop the zero and you have
’86, another very good year for the Giants!
2. Eli can be a nickname for
Elijah. Elijah’s appearance is said to usher in the messianic age. Another brilliant performance by our Eli
might just do that. It is also said that Elijah comforts the poor and the suffering
and appears miraculously when the need is the greatest. Certainly the Giants
fans have suffered far more this season and over the past several years than
the Patriots fans. The Giants’ need is
great.
3. The Giants have a plethora of Jewish
Biblical names among their playing and coaching staffs: David (Diehl), Reuben (Droughns),
Adam (Koets), Sam (
By contrast, although full ownership
of the Patriots lies with the Jewish Kraft family, they have far fewer Jewish
Biblical names among their ranks: Dan (Koppen), Sammy (Morris), (
4. We have a Tom, too, Tom
Coughlin. Like Tom Brady, Tom Coughlin
makes his job look “simple.” This one’s
(at best) a wash.
In the
Patriots’ favor:
1. Tom Brady is number 12, also an
important number in the Bible. The
Hebrews sent 12 Patriotic spies (oh, did we say “SPIES”? Is that a coincidence,
too?) to check out the
2. The most famous
Giant in the Bible, Goliath, was slain by David, a Patriot fighting for his
people. As you know, David launched a rock right on
target, just like Brady’s passes.
3. The Israelites
were always surrounded by Giants – Anakim,
Philistines, etc. Eventually, they were all conquered or driven
out.
4. Eli the priest had a big
problem. His sons did some terrible
things in the temple. Because of their
behavior, God put a curse on Eli’s family forever. (Is this why Peyton also lost this year and
until last year had such a difficult time winning the big game?)
5. The most famous Jewish Patriot in this
country was George Washington’s financial advisor, Haym
Solomon. During the cold winter months
at Valley Forge when American soldiers were freezing and running out of food, it was Haym who marshaled all the
Jews in
By contrast, the story of the most
famous contemporary Jewish Giant, Eddie Carmel, is sad and tragic.
Taking all
of the above into consideration, we reluctantly foresee the Patriots winning in
a close game over the Giants.
From
Rhonna Rogol
The Giants will win
because they have Eli (“God is on my side”) –just as the biblical Eli had God
on his side against that other formidable foe that began with a P (the Plishtim). Obviously I’m totally
ignoring that horrible fall and neck injury at Eben
Ezer – and Eli’s resulting death – and
you’re probably thinking that’s because I am a Giants fan. Not so. Clearly, those unfortunate events that befell
Eli were due to the bad behaviour of those embarrassing
kids of his, Hofni and Pinchas,
and their indiscretions at
By the way, despite his
injury, did I hear that Jeremiah (Shockey) has been prophesying from the sideline about the
downfall of the enemy?
Ok...being a relatively
new football fan, that’s about all I know about the Giants, so I’ll end now.
FROM JOEL SCHOENFELD
I
am afraid that according to the Bible, the Patriots will not have their season
end in perfection:
Ps
119:96 - "I have seen a limit to all perfection"
From Carl Shapiro, TBE’s distraught Cowboy’s fan (who brought us
“The First Basket” last week)
If the score is 61-3, in which 613 is the total number of Mitzvot
AND the total number of victories Red Holtzman led
the Knicks
to, the team that wins by this score will not only have won everything, but
will also be sending a clear message to Jerry Jones to HURRY UP WITH THE NEW
STADIUM!!!!
And finally, from
Matthew Katz…
DEAR RABBI HAMMEREMAN
MY PREDICTION FOR THE SUPER BOWL IS THE GIANTS WILL UPSET THE PATRIOTS.
MY BIBLICAL REFERENCE IS THE STORY ABOUT DAVID AND GOLIATH.
IN THE STORY THE UNDERDOG (THE GIANTS) BEATS THE OPPONENT AGAINST ALL ODDS WITH JUST A SLINGSHOT AND STONE TO HELP HIM. I THINK THIS MEANS THE GIANTS WILL GO AGAINST ALL ODDS WITH JUST THERE SMALL PASSING AND RUNNING GAME TO UPSET THE GIANT FAVORITE THE PATRIOTS.
FROM,
MATT KATZ
P.S. LETS GO GIANTS
Now, for
the Rabbi’s Response…
That all sounds very reasonable.
But for me, the most apropos biblical reference has
got to be the incident of the spies, as indicated by the Robinovs. In the story in Numbers, the spies did not get fined $500,000 and have to forfeit a draft pick,
but their fear of the giants that they encountered caused them to wander for 40
years in the Wilderness. Coincidentally,
when the spies saw the Giants, they reported back that
they felt “like grasshoppers.” Anyone
who has ever been to Boston knows that high above that home of the original
Patriots, Faneuil Hall, there sits a weathervane in the shape of, you guessed
it, a grasshopper!
Also, it is noteworthy that the Patriots wandered for just over 40
years before winning the first championship, in 2002. So they’ve already served their time for the
sin of the spies. They’ve weathered
their grasshopper-ness. Prior to then, they
were never able to stand up to the Giants…or the Raiders or Steelers or
Dolphins, for that matter. But no more. First they sacrificed the Rams, pillaged the Panthers and
flew on wings of Eagles. Now, just as
the former Giant now coaches them, so have they become giants - in their own
eyes, and the eyes of the other teams in the league.
Giants are called both Nefilim
and Anakim in the Torah. The Nefilim were mythic humanoids that filled the earth before
the flood, much like the Titans of Greek mythology (a Giant-Titan Super Bowl
would have been a doozy), while the Anakim were the ones who petrified the Israelite
spies. There is one other giant of note in the Bible’ as has been mentioned: Goliath. But it isn't just Goliath who bit the dust, folks. When Rashi
tried to explain the term Nifilim, he related it to
the Hebrew word "nafal," "to
fall." As Rashi (he was so good at
predicting games that they called him “Rashi the
Greek”) understood it, the Giants fell.
And so they will.
------------
COMING NEXT WEDNESDAY!
Directions at http://jcpdowntown.org/
For those who can’t make it, stay tuned for info on a live webcast!
Check out the latest from
The Jewish Communal Landscape
Each
month the journal Sh'ma
posts three or four essays from the print publication online. This month our
essays focus on the Jewish communal landscape and how it's
changing. As Deborah Dash Moore writes:
"Increasingly American Jews are ignoring struggles over who controls the
center of Jewish life. Relegated to the periphery of Jewish life because of
their spouses, their associates, their minimal religious practices, their
sexual orientation, their marital status, their lack of wealth, or their
politics, they have discovered that things are pretty exciting out there."
In addition to essays, Sh’ma has posted a very rich Roundtable
discussion on
Nurit and Melanie’s Holiday Songs
Now available in our gift shop, a new
CD compilation of children’s holiday songs from our own Nurit Avigdor, assisted
by Melanie Roloff, daughter of TBE teacher Galit Roloff. Nurit has entertained and taught children
here for generations, and her music continues to
enchant children here every week on Shabbat morning and three times a month at
Tot Shabbat on Friday. This CD contains
some of our all-time Nurit favorites.
Check it out at our gift shop!
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunties
Beth El Cares:
Inreach and
Outreach
LETTER FROM NETANYA: THE JAN GAINES REPORT
Dear Friends,
If you stand at
the 1948 Memorial to the fighters of Kibbutz NirAm,
you can see
And in 8 years, no one has been killed. This secular kibbutz considers that a
miracle.
On the other hand, in Sderot, a city of about 25,000, there
have been 10 deaths in the last 8 years, some of them from heart attacks
as well as shrapnel. Again, this is something of a miracle. Here's the
statistics: In 2007 there were 1500 rockets which hit
the city; since 2001 there have been 6,000! From January 18 -26
alone there were 178 Kassams and they only stopped the end of January because
of bad weather and the breaking of the Egyptian barriers which kept Hamas busy.
Only ten deaths, but
there's no way to measure the psychological trauma suffered by the children.
They shake in fear when they hear the sirens. They can't play outside;
they can't study peacefully at home. Hamas usually shoots Kassams between
7:30 and 8:30 when the kids are heading to school, again at 1:00 when they are
coming home for lunch or for the day, and again in the evening when everyone is
trying to get some sleep.Some days there are Kassams
coming at the rate of 25 a day!
It is amazing that only 3,000 people
have left the city, but the others don't necessarily stay out of patriotism.
Most can't leave for economic reasons, and others have no place else to go.
Besides the kids, it is also very hard on the elderly, many of whom live in the
original housing built 60 years ago. The Olmert
govt isn't reinforcing the roofs of these old houses
because they claim it sets a bad precedent! They would have to do it for
all the border communities.
We felt the terrible
frustration and anger of both Sderot and Nir Am residents, who have protested, gone to court,
brought in observers from all over- - but until now, nothing has been done for
them. And of course the big media story is always
Forty of us from
Netanya chartered a bus and went down to the border to both show solidarity and
to go shopping. No one has calculated the economic losses of this
situation, but they are considerable. A large mattress factory in Sderot just moved out. Nir
Am used to house students from nearby
So why doesn't the army
or the government do something, you ask? I think you know the answer. It
is a replay of Islamic terrorist tactics everywhere. The Kassams are fired from neighborhoods and schools. The IDF know
exactly where they are coming from, but- - - you know that ethical
The sad thing about all of
this is that people in both Sderot and Nir Am used to trade and meet with Gazans
all the time, forming good friendships. Until they were
asked to stop coming, not just because of risk to the Israelis, but risk to the
GAZANS. If they were seen with the enemy
their lives would be in danger. People on both sides still manage to speak to
each other on cell phones but that's it. Our Nir Am
contact told us that he was getting to the point where he wished the IDF would
immediately retaliate, as they always did in the past.
"I prefer it would be their kids
in danger instead of ours," he
said. "
The Arabs used to know that if
they hit us, they would be hit back even harder.
Now they know differently."
There is much
more that the government could be doing, especially in the area of media coverage.
But
The Israeli response lasted about 2
days until the world condemned us once again.
We've had terrible storms
this week so we didn't encounter any Kassam
firings. The wind was too strong. But I'm sure that once Gazans return from
Jan Gaines, January 31,
2008
Mitzvah Suggestions for the
Week
The Survivor Mitzvah Project
http://www.survivormitzvah.org/
The Survivor Mitzvah Project is 100%
dedicated to providing direct financial aid through donations to those elderly
and forgotten Jewish Holocaust
survivors scattered throughout
The Survivor
Mitzvah Project considers all Jewish Men, Women and Children who experienced
the Holocaust, "Survivors," whether they were in ghettos,
concentration camps, partisan groups, the Russian Army, the Gulag, slave labor
camps, or whether they were hidden or fled to
Chevra Kadisha of
We at TBE benefit
greatly from this community-wide service.
Our members have always been among the volunteers, but the Chevra is
always looking for more people from our congregation to become involved. The Chevra (Burial Society) performs the
sacred act of tahara, washing and preparing the
deceased for burial. It is done in a loving, traditional manner that is profoundly
meaningful to all who participate. Since
I ran this in last week’s Shabbat-O-Gram, at least four people have decided to
become involved. Let me know if you
might be interested in helping out. Meanwhile, here is the announcement
regarding their annual dinner, always timed for the date traditionally known as
Moses’ Yahrzeit, a date when burial societies have
customarily been honored throughout the Jewish world.
ANNUAL DINNER
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at
Congregation Agudath Sholom
Honorees: Bernard L. Shapiro, President of the Chevra Kadisha, and his son,
Benjamin Shapiro
Community Service Award: Michelle Balazano of Leo P.
Gallagher and Sons Funeral Home
Guest Speaker: RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is the Executive Vice
President of the Orthodox
Donation - $36 person
Sponsorship available at $180 (entitles one to
two reservations at the dinner)
Please join us as the community honors the
many volunteers who selflessly perform the mitzvah of preparing the dead for
burial according to Jewish tradition.
For further information, please call Phyllis
Shapiro at 327-6711.
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Projects:
Keep watching
for projects to appear in this space….
Why do we cover the Hallah?
Last Sunday I
had a delightful time with one of our religious school’s younger grades,
discussing some of the customs of Shabbat.
One of the more amusing moments occurred when, while we were discussing
the Friday night dinner, I mentioned that the Hallah reminds us of the mannah that was eaten by the Israelites in the wilderness,
a food that, according to tradition, tasted like each individual’s favorite
food. So if someone liked ice cream
best, it tasted like ice cream. I also
mentioned that the Friday night dinner, in general, should be the most special
of the week, and that there is no rule that any specific food has to be
served. So if you like pizza better than
chicken, by all means, then, it is OK to have the Shabbat dinner include pizza
(though, of course, not pizza AND chicken).
So I went around the room and asked the kids what favorite food they
would want served for Shabbat dinner.
One child gleefully jumped up and replied “lobster.”
A “Kosher Pig” moment,
if there ever was one.
Then one child
asked why we cover the Hallah – a timely question, since they were about to
make Hallah covers as part of this family program. This answer is adapted from “A Day Apart:
Shabbat at Home” by Noam Zion and Shawn Fields Mayer.