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Shalom Congregants and Friends.....
Weekly Message from your Rabbi......
Hopefully you have received the February congregational bulletin in your homes. Read "Chai-lites" and learn about all the exciting programs and services happening at Beth Hillel Synagogue this month!!
Last Friday evening over 60 people enjoyed our annual congregational TuBishevat Seder with its theme of environmental awareness. Stu Kopel added some great insights on "Green Shuls" and Myrna Kahan and her "crew" of dedicated volunteers provided enjoyable fruits and nuts as well as a light meal. Hopefully all of us came away with an increased awareness of our connection to the environment and the Jewish mitzvah to preserve it!
A very busy Shabbat/weekend is coming up at BHS. On Friday night our Religious School will be heelping to lead services after a family style dinner. Shabbat morning we read the Ten Commandments as part of our Torah reading... always an essential area for study and learning. Shabbat afternoon we will be having our next "Hav-deli and Havdalah...." Come enjoy both some nice deli food and the beautiful havdalah service.
Then Sunday morning, is World Wide Wrap 'X' -- emphasizing the mitzvah of tefillin -- followed by a breakfast and a guest speaker, Rachel Isaacs, who is both a rabbinical student at JTS and a dedicated staffer for American Jewish World Services!
Dr. Joe Olzacki, the Bloomfield High School Music Director who pioneered the "Identity Project," recently returned from his travel to Rwanda and participation in a UN Conference on preventing genocide. You may have read excepts of his experiences in the Bloomfield Journal. He will be speaking here at Beth Hillel on Friday evening, February 12. That's a date to put for sure on your calendars!
Saturday night, February 13, the ENTIRE HARTFORD JEWISH community will get together for a community-wide Havdalah celebration. I and many of the other rabbis will share songs and stories in a delightful evening program. MAKE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND NOW!!!!
Shabbat Shalom....looking forward to your coming to shul and being with your "synagogue family" here at Beth Hillel Synagogue!
Rabbi Gary and Iris Atkins
"No one should leave services unmoved or unchanged..." |
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Shabbat Services & Candle Lighting
CANDLE LIGHTING
FRIDAY EVENING, FEB. 5, 4:51 pm
FRIDAY EVENING, FEB. 12, 5:00 pm
FRIDAY EVENING, FEB. 19, 5:09 pm
Note: You may see a few minutes difference between different times given in different sources. It all depends how many minutes before actual sunset the source feels candles should be lit. You may use any source you choose!
UPCOMING SHABBAT SERVICE TIMES:
Friday, Feb. 12 - 7:30pm - "Dr. O" speaking
Saturday, Feb.13 - 9:30am Shaharit/ Jr Cong, Tot Shabbat, Learning Service
5:00pm.... Mincha COMMUNITY HAVDELI 7pm
Friday, Feb. 19 - 7:30pm - Ruach Shabbat/ Simcha Shabbat
Saturday, Feb 20 - Shaharit 9:30am, Mincha/ Ma'ariv/ Havdalah 5:15pm....
Friday, Feb. 26 - 7:30PM - Erev Purim Services 7:30pm
Saturday, Feb. 27 - Shaharit 9:30am / Mincha 5:15pm
6:00 Megillah Reading / Havdalah
7:30 pm Karoake and Dinner
Come enjoy the beautiful Havdalah ceremony that ends Shabbat! |
Some Upcoming Special Events
WORLD WIDE WRAP -- SUNDAY MORNING, FEB 7,
9:00am MINYAN AND BREAKFAST FOLLOWING... SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
RACHEL ISAACS FROM AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE
NEXT SHMOOZE AND LUNCH, THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11, 11AM
JUDGE HARRY COHN SPEAKING ON THE HARTFORD CIRCUS FIRE.....
FEBRUARY 12,
DR. JOSEPH OLZACKI, speaking at FRIDAY EVENING SERVICES, 7:30pm
COMMUNITY WIDE HAVDALAH/ SOCIAL EVENING.... FEB. 13, 7pm
AT CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL
PURIM WEEKEND - FRIDAY FEB. 26, MEGILLAH READING AND KAROAKE SATURDAY EVENING FEB. 27
MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, PASSOVER BEGINS
TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, CONGREGATIONAL SECOND SEDER
SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 24, SYNAGOGUE ANNUAL FUNDRAISER |
Social Actions Projects
FOOD AND COAT DRIVE
Februarry continues to be "Tikkun Olam" month at Beth Hillel.
Every time you are at synagogue, consider bringing a donation of food for the kosher or general food bank, or appropriate-to-wear clothes and coats to help the needy.
We received a very nice letter of thanks from Shari Cantor, Food Bank Director, thanking us for our ongoing donations. She writes, "we are told in Midrash Psalms 118:17, "When you are asked in the world to come, "What was your work," and you answer, 'I fed the hungry,' you will be told, 'this is the gate of the Lord, enter into it, you who have fed the hungry.'"
Thank you for thinking of the people we serve." |
Important Community Event
The Jewish Community Relations Council in collaboration with several community agencies and the Greater Hartford Rabbinic Association will be sponsoring a screening of
The Case for Israel: Democracy's Outpost
A feature-length documentary film with Alan Dershowitz
February 25, 7:00 pm
Mandell JCC
Gloria Greenfield, one of the film's producers, will be leading a discussion after the screening
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Being a Caring Community......
If you know someone who is hospitalized, ill, or in need of a call from the rabbi ... or a visit from our Hesed committee, please let Rabbi Atkins or the office know.....
Many people are travelling this time of year. Rabbi Atkins' favorite mitzvah is "shaliach kesef,"..... giving those travelling the prayer for a safe journey and "mitzvah money." Let him know if you are traveling....
If you have not made a donation to assist the vicxtims of the Haiti Earthquake, please do so now!!
If you have a coat in good condition, donate it to the needy via the synagogue drop-off boxes!
Every time you come to synagogue, bring a donation for the food bank boxes (except for Shabbat). |
Israel News......
Some interesting news items from the daily Jewish Telegraphic Agency web site......
Snow falls on Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Snow piled up on the Golan Heights and in the Galilee, and dusted Jerusalem as rain, hail and strong winds swept the rest of Israel.
Schools in the Golan Heights were canceled and roads were closed to traffic. Six inches to a foot of snow fell on Israel's only skiing site, Mount Hermon, which was closed Thursday.
The Jerusalem municipality was prepared in advance with snow plows, bulldozers and salt.
The rain and unseasonably cold weather are expected to continue through Saturday.
Netanyahu's teen son wins Bible Quiz
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's youngest child won the Jerusalem district's Bible Quiz.
Avner Netanyahu, 15, with Wednesday's victory will represent the Jerusalem public school district in the national Bible Quiz to be held later this year.
Avner scored 98 out of 100 to defeat 50 opponents, Israel National News reported.
His mother, Sara, has three older brothers who have won the national Bible Quiz and her father is an expert in Bible study, the news service reported.
Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu have two sons; the prime minister also has a daughter from a previous marriage. |
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Sonny-Gram program begins at Hebrew Health Care....
If you go to the home page of Hebrew Health Care, in the lower left corner you will see an invitation to send a "SonnyGram."
The SonnyGram is named after Sonya Rodin, who was a resident at Hebrew Health Care in West Hartford for 3 years. Sonya Rodin was known by all who knew her as Sonny, a name that personified her energy, passion and character. In loving memory of her life and her spirit, the Rodin family has developed the SonnyGram, which will allow anyone to send a greeting to a friend or loved one who is currently a patient or a resident at Hebrew Health Care.
Select a card and personalize it with a message for your loved one. Hebrew Heaklth Care will deliver your SonnyGram to them, and they'll have a reminder of how you're thinking of them.
THANKS, JACK and SONS!!!!!! |
Weekly Torah Commentary...
written by Rabbi Michael Gold of Tamarac, Florida
In the middle of the Ten Commandments, squeezed between murder and adultery, is the law against stealing. This surprised the Rabbis who formulated classical Judaism. Murder and adultery are fundamental transgressions against other humans; both are capital crimes in Jewish tradition. Stealing is a crime against property. It lacks the level of harm of the other two laws. Besides, laws against stealing appear in numerous other places in the Torah.
Based on this, the Rabbis claim that the Ten Commandments is not speaking about stealing money. Rather it is a prohibition against stealing a soul. It is a law against kidnapping, holding another human being against their will. The great commentator Rashi writes, "Scripture here is speaking about a case of one who steals human beings, while the command `thou shall not steal' (Lev. 19:11) speaks about a case of one who steals money."
The idea of stealing a soul deserves further exploration. The Rabbis speak at length of the idea of genevat daat - stealing someone's mind. Any act that leads a person astray is called genevat daat. The classic example in Jewish law is bargaining with a shopkeeper when one has no intention of buying the item. Deliberately leading someone on with the hope of making a sale is forbidden by our tradition. Similarly, inviting someone you do not like to a meal in your home when you know they cannot attend is an example of leading someone astray. The Rabbis bring numerous other examples of stealing one's mind.
What about stealing one's soul? Most of us are not kidnappers. But many of us do act in ways that steal someone else's soul. We are controlling. We try to force people to behave in ways that are not in their best interest. We are more concerned about our welfare than their welfare. We make demands of people that they cannot fairly meet. We get angry with people for things beyond their control. All of these are examples of trying to steal someone's soul.
It is a standard Jewish joke that Jewish parents use guilt to control their children. (I heard a new version of this recently. Why is it so difficult for Jews who become Buddhists? Now their parents can make them feel guilty in multiple lifetimes.) We laugh at our own foibles. But like all stereotypic humor, there is a touch of truth. Some parents are so controlling of their children that they steal their children's souls. Some parents have not learned to let go and let their children be who God meant them to be.
God gave each of us free will, the ability to control our own soul. No one has the right to try to control our soul. No one can force us to be who we are not. I have often spoken that a key aspect of love is the art of letting go. Allowing our children, our spouse, our friends, our co-workers, even our employees, to control their own souls is vital to healthy relationships.
The modern lesson of the Ten Commandments is that there are many ways we can steal from our fellow human being. We can steal their money or their property. We can steal their mind, leading them astray. Or we can steal their souls, trying to control them. Perhaps the Ten Commandments is a reminder that every person has the right of ownership to his or her own soul.
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