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Shalom Congregants and Friends.....
Weekly Message from your Rabbi......
Purim is this weekend-- Saturday night and Sunday!!! I hope even adults will enjoy the Purim spirit and get out and come in costume! Leading by example, I will enjoy leading services as ????? Come and find out!!! At Shabbat services, I will be talking about some serious messages of the holiday Friday night and sharing some more Purim spooofs Saturday morning.
Stop by the synagogue NOW; Iris and I have mishloach manot (packets of goodies) for you to enjoy! This is one of the special mitzvot of Purim that your picking up enables us to carry out!
See the times for Purim services below. Note that we are starting Sunday morning minyan early, at 8:30am, to finish the megillah reading and service in time for the Religious School Purim Carnival, which will be a joint activity with the students of Congregation Beth Ahm!
Despite the dreary weather this past week, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Hebrew High of New England Tuesday. I was glad to be at the ceremony and see that Jewish Education, at least in some areas, is flourishing in our community.
We are a caring community! I feel the saying of a "mee shebayerach" prayer for healing is one of the most important things a synagogie can do. We post the names in the office for those who would like to do the mitzvah of a call or visit. We also send out a letter telling those included that a prayer is being said on their behalf. And we respect anyone's wish for privacy if we are so informed.
And, if Purim is coming, can Passover be far away? March will be a busy month at Beth Hillel Synagogue! The upcoming "Chai-lites" will included my revised and liberalized Passover preparation guide. We will be having a Congregational Second night Seder again this year -- do consider coming!!
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
FRIDAY EVENING, FEB. 26 5:17 pm
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 5, 5:26 pm
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 12, 5:34 pm
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 5, 6:42 pm (DST!!)
UPCOMING SHABBAT SERVICE TIMES:
Friday, Feb. 26 - 7:30PM - Erev Purim Services 7:30pm
Saturday, Feb. 27 - Shaharit 9:30am / Mincha 5:15pm
6:00pm Megillah Reading / Havdalah (7:15pm)
7:30 pm Karoake Party and Dinner start......
Sunday, Feb. 28.... Morning Services and Megillah Reading start at 8:30am
Friday, March 5 - 7:30pm -Israel Emissaries Speak at Shabbat Evening Services
Saturday, March 6 - Shaharit 9:30am, Mincha/Maariv/Havdalah 5:30pm
Come enjoy the beautiful Havdalah ceremony that ends Shabbat! |
Upcoming Special Events
PURIM WEEKEND - FRIDAY FEB. 26,
MEGILLAH READING AND KAROAKE SATURDAY EVENING FEB. 27
PURIM CONTINUES SUNDAY MORNING - RELIGIOUS SCHOOL PURIM CARNIVAL WITH CONGREGATION BETH AHM
NEXT SHMOOZE AND LUNCH, THURSDAY MARCH 4, 11AM
MOVIE "THE JEWISH PEOPLE - A STORY OF SURVIVAL
MARCH 5 - ISRAEL EMISSARIES SHABBAT, COME MEET THE HARTFORD "YOUNG EMISSARIES,"
OR SHAHAR and SARAI BARZEL, at SHABBAT SERVICES.
SERVICES CONDUCTED BY OUR RELIGIOUS SCHOOL STUDENTS
MARCH 12-13 - CANTOR WEEKEND WITH HAZZAN ARIEL ROTHSCHILD
SHMOOZE AND LUNCH, THURSDAY MARCH 18, 11AM
RABBI GARY -- speaking on "PREPARING FOR PASSOVER - NEW WINE IN OLD BOTTLES"
MARCH 19 - CONGREGATIONAL SHABBAT DINNER - SIMCHA SHABBAT
MARCH 26 - SHABBAT HAGADOL - ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS SHABBAT -
RABBI ANDREA COHEN-KEINER GUEST SPEAKER
MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, PASSOVER BEGINS
TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, CONGREGATIONAL SECOND SEDER
SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 24, SYNAGOGUE ANNUAL FUNDRAISER |
Social Actions Projects
February continues to be "Tikkun Olam" month at Beth Hillel Synagogue. 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.
On March 10, the Social Action Committee will again provide a dinner and program at the Charter Oak CommunityCenter. Interested in volunteering??
Considering signing up for the optional Rice and Beans "Snap" dinner at the upcoming March 19 Congregational Shabbat Dinner...... |
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 victims 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......
"II wish I were in Gaza now, I would put on an army uniform and join Israel's special forces in order to liberate Gilad Shalit. If I were there, I could help. We wasted so many years with investigations and arrests to capture the very terrorists that they now want to release in return for Shalit. That must not be done."
Mosab Hassan Yousef, in a telephone interview from California, exposing his role with the Shin Bet supplying intelligence to Israel on a number of terrorist cells, and preventing dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts. Mosab, the son of Hamas founder and West Bank leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, famously converted to Christianity in 2007. His memoir Son of Hamas will be released next week, with Arab media already ssuggesting that Israel sources pushed for its release to distract from the Dubai assassination. (Ha'aretz, Feb. 24) |
Weekly Torah Commentary...
written by Rabbi Michael Gold of Tamarac, Florida
This February would be a wonderful time to live in New Orleans, particularly in light of the fact that the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina less than five years ago. First, on one of our most celebrated secular holidays, Superbowl Sunday, the New Orleans Saints won an exciting game. And bit more than a week later was the annual celebration of Mardi Gras. And then if you are Jewish and live in New Orleans, you can celebrate Purim this Saturday night. (Yes, there are Jews in New Orleans. Last time I was there I even ate in a kosher restaurant.)
Does anything link these three celebrations together? Purim is our most carnival-like festival. Jews love to celebrate with costumes (the one time a year Judaism tolerates cross dressing), carnivals, and of course, a little too much drinking. According to Jewish tradition, one ought to imbibe enough so that they cannot tell the difference between "blessed be Mordecai" and "cursed be Haman." Passover, our festival of redemption is a month away. It is as if we need the party-like atmosphere of Purim before the serious business of preparing for Pesach. Indeed, we must eat all the hamentaschen before changing dishes and removing all leavened products from our homes.
Mardi Gras, or Carnival as it is know in Rio, is part of the Christian liturgical calendar. Mardi Gras means "fat Tuesday," and it is the day before Ash Wednesday. Following Ash Wednesday is the serious forty days of self-reflection known as Lent, leading up to Easter. And of course, for Christians, Easter is their holiest day of the year, their festival of redemption.
So we see a theme emerging, the need for a big celebration before beginning the serious business of preparing for redemption. The fact that these Jewish and Christian celebrations fall at the end of winter (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), with hope of spring on the way, adds to their celebration. It appears that we humans need an end-of-winter day of total celebration before we begin the serious move towards the redemption holidays that fall around the spring equinox. Again the liturgical calendars of very different faiths seem to match some deep human spiritual desire.
This brings me to the Superbowl. I am amazed how a football championship game has gone from a mere sporting event to a major occasion. Restaurants are closed but bars do a booming business. Stores that sell large televisions make a killing. People plan their day around their Superbowl parties. And someone who is not invited to someone's party, or at least a home with a large screen television goes into a depression. When our oldest son was a year away from his bar mitzvah, we had to switch the date. The Superbowl was coming to Miami the weekend of our original date. We learned that flights into town and hotel rooms would be at a premium. It was easier to move a week later.
Of course, there is a danger with all of these celebrations. We all recall Superbowl half times shows where the line was crossed regarding inappropriate sexual behavior. Carnival as celebrated in Rio can often move beyond Samba lines to erotic behavior. And although drinking is encouraged on Purim, the Rabbis warn about what can happen if alcohol is out of control. Much of these warnings hearken to this week's portion that warns the Priests to keep themselves covered. Even wild celebrations have their limits.
Obviously Superbowl Sunday is a recently addition to the yearly calendar of celebrations. It is a secular, particularly American occasion. But it certainly fits the human need for a late winter chance to party before the spring begins. Happy Purim! | |
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