Shalom Congregants and Friends.....
 
Rabbi's Ramblings...... 
     
How goes your Passover holiday? I hope your sederim were fulfilling, both religiously and gastronomically. Certainly we will have a wonderful Spring weekend for the intermediate days of Passover, and the end holiday days won't be that bad, either!!
 
We have a tendency to make all kinds of jokes about matzah, but this often maligned food is getting a new respectability. I share the thoughts below for your consideration......
 
We Americans have begun to show great interest in eating healthy foods. The food author Michael Pollan recently suggested seven rules for good eating. How many apply to matzah? Consider what I understand to be his rules:
 
1. Do not eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Matzah certainly satisfies this.
 
2. Do not eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce. Again matzah fits this rule.
 
3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
 
4. We should not eat anything that won't eventually rot. "... as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says. Again matzah is good food.
 
5. This one, I will admit, does not apply, "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full..." Well I can't say I am not full at the end of a seder. Overfull would be more accurate.......
 
6. Eat together with family. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks. Again eating at the Seder means we are with family and the television is off.
 
7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car. I don't think you can find matzah at the local Shell station in Bloomfield, so this one also applies.
 
So matzah satisfies six of his seven rules. (You are welcome to disagree!) A good enough percentage! 
Maybe the Rabbis were not just telling us about freedom from slavery, but freedom from bad food habits as well.
 
Check out the times for services the last two days of Passover -- with Yizkor on Tuesday morning. Remember that the office will be closed Monday and Tuesday.
 
 
 Shabbat Shalom and a joyous Pesach ....look forward to 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..."
 Shabbat Services & Candle Lighting
 CANDLE LIGHTING   
 
FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 2, 6:57 pm
SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, NO LATER THAN 7:02
MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 5, NO EARLIER THAN 8:00
 
 
SHABBAT  SERVICE TIMES:                               
Friday, April 2 - 8:00pm - Shabbat Evening Services
Saturday, April 3 - Shaharit 9:30am, Mincha/Maariv/Havdalah 7:00pm
 
Come enjoy the beautiful Havdalah ceremony that ends Shabbat! 
 
END OF PASSOVER HOLIDAY SERVICE TIMES:
 

SEVENTH DAY MAARIV -- SUNDAY APR 4 -- 7:30PM

SEVENTH DAY SHAHARIT MONDAY APR 5  -- 9:30AM

 

EIGHTH DAY MAARIV SERVICE MONDAY APR 5  -- 7:30PM

EIGHTH DAY SHAHARIT TUESDAY APR 6 -- 9:30AM

          YIZKOR APPROXIMATELY 11:30AM

 

END OF PESACH MAARIV SERVICE TUESDAY APR 6 -- 7:30PM

PASSOVER OVER 8:00PM

UNLESS YOU FOLLOW ISRAEL MINHAG, 
DON'T EAT HAMETZ UNTIL THEN!!!
Library Reminders
Lots of good new books in the Library - and interesting periodicals like Consumer Reports, The Jewish Week, and The Forward!  Music and videos, too!
 
 Come and use your Synagogue Library!!
Looking Ahead
 
April 9 - Ruach Shabbat with Dr. Ethan Nash -- ALSO Simcha Shabbat!
 
April 16 - Joint Shabbat Service with Tikvoh Chadoshah at Tikvoh.
Services at 6pm, followed by Shabbat Dinner.
 
Make your reservations now through the Tikvoh office, 243-3576!!
 
Rabbi Lazowski will be also be teachng Pirkei Avot as the synagogue Spring Adult Education program starting Monday evenings, April  19!!
 Upcoming  Special Events   - For more info see the Chai-lites!!   
 
THURSDAY, APR. 8 - COMMUNITY-WIDE ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM
 
FRIDAY, APRIL 9 - RUACH SERVICE WITH ETHAN NASH
 
THURSDAY, APR 15 - SHMOOZE - SPEAKERS NANCY WYMAN AND DAVID BARAM
 
APRIL 16, JOINT SHABBAT SERVICE AND DINNER AT TIKVOH CHADOSHAH - MAKE YOUR DINNER RESERVATIONS NOW
 
THURSDAY, APR 29 - SHMOOZE - SPEAKER ANN LEABMAN
 
APR 30 - MAY 1 - CANTOR SHABBAT - CANTOR MICHELLE TEPLITZ
 
SAVE THE DATES
SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 24 -- SYNAGOGUE ANNUAL FUNDRAISER --- SEND IN YOUR AD AND DINNER RSVP NOW!!
 
WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 5 -- SISTERHOOD ANNUAL FASHION SHOW
 
MAY 7-8 ADULT EDUCATION SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE SHABBAT -- RABBI JONATHAN PORATH
Social Action Projects     - Being A Caring Community 
 
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. 
 
*  Support Relief Efforts for Darfur!! The need is great.......
 * Make a special donation for earthquake relief for victims of  Chile and /or Haiti
* Make donations to Mazon either directly or via the rabbi's Maot Hittim fund to help others observe Passover.
* Bring in donations of toiletries, towels, and/or sheets fror the Open Hearth Men's Shelter
 
*    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.....
  
Read the April "Chai-lites" for other venues for Social Action mitzvah-work!
Israel News........ 
 
From the Jerusalem Post column written by Rabbi Reuven Hammer....
 I agree with his words 100%!!!
 
I always hesitate to write anything on ravnet about the Israel-Palestine dilemma because the tone of the discussion here is so heated. Rabbis seem no better than anyone else at conducting civilized discussion. Nevertheless let me offer a few points for contemplation..........
 
1. The strain in American-Israeli relationships is nothing new. From the beginning there have been ups and downs with Presidents making demands and Israel either resisting or giving in, sometimes even for the better.
2. Bibi's statement that his government is following what has been the stance of every Israeli government up until now is simply not true. The two state solution, for example, which he adopted only under pressure, had been the stance of previous governments. Furthermore his statement that all of Jerusalem would remain under Israeli control was not the position of either Olmert or Barak. Both had offered to cede parts of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians. Everyone knows that no peace treaty is possible unless something of that sort happens.
3. As for building in East Jerusalem, it is only recently that there has been such an aggressive attempt supported by the government and by the new mayor of Jerusalem to displace Arabs and bring in Jews to some of these sensitive areas. One should also be cautious about claims that certain homes belonged to Jews before '48. Remember that large sections of West Jerusalem belonged to Arabs before the war as well. Jews would have to vacate much of Talbia, Katamon etc. if homes there were to be returned to their original owners.
4. Many of Obama's demands are similar to if not identical to the positions of important sections of the Israeli political scene - Labor, Kadima and many independents.
5. What Biden and Clinton said - that the present situation is not sustainable - is true. How many decades can Israel rule over Palestinians without granting them civil rights? There is a price to pay for that and we would be so much better off if we could bring this to an end. There seem to be only two possible options - one state for the whole area or two states. What really bothers me is that more and more Palestinians are giving up on the two state solution and opting for one state. In one state they will have the votes and that will bring an end to the Jewish State.
 
This is not an easy time and the solutions to these problems will not be easily reached, but the alternative to a solution is too terrible to contemplate.
Weekly Torah  Commentary...  
written by Rabbi Michael Gold of Tamarac, Florida 
 
"According to his knowledge his father teaches him."
                                (traditional haggadah)

           There is a wonderful story about a traditional rabbi and his students.  A woman comes to him with a chicken.  "Rabbi, look, is this chicken kosher?"  The rabbi looks carefully and replies, "I am sorry, the chicken is not kosher.  You will have to get another one."  Shortly afterwards a second woman comes with a chicken.  "Is this chicken kosher?"  The rabbi looks carefully and replies, "Yes, this chicken is kosher.  Feel free to use it."
           The students challenge their rabbi.  "There was absolutely no difference between those two chickens."  The rabbi says, "I know that.  The difference was between the two women.  The first is a wealthy woman; she can afford another chicken.  The second woman is poor.  If I tell her the chicken is not kosher, she will have nothing to eat."
           The new age Jewish Renewal Movement has made the claim that whether or not something is kosher is dependent on who is asking the question. I would not go this far.  But there is a touch of truth to this idea.  Before we can answer any question, we have to see who is asking.  The answer for the scholar of Jewish law may be different from the answer for someone unschooled.  The answer for the rich may be slightly different than the answer for the poor.  We must meet people "where they are at."  (Genesis 21:17 )
           Nowhere is this more true than the Passover seder.  Four times the Torah teaches us that we must tell the story to our children.  In fact, the word haggadah, the booklet we use around the seder table, literally means "telling."  Why does the Torah repeat the exact same law four times?
           The answer given by our sages and built into the haggadah, is that there are four different types of children.  There is the wise, the one who is full of questions and really wants to know.  There is the rebellious, the one who does not even want to be there.  There is the simple, who can only ask the most basic questions.  And finally, there is the child who cannot ask at all.  For this one, the parent must open up and take the initiative.  Sometimes they are four different children, and sometimes they can be one child at four stages of life.
           The key idea follows the description of these four children.  Using male language the haggadah teaches, "According to his knowledge his father teaches him."  The way we run the Passover seder depends on the kind of children who are there.  And if there are no children, it depends on the adults that are there.  For as the haggadah also teaches, even if every one is a great scholar of Judaism, we still need to tell the story.  In fact, five rabbis stayed up all night teaching it.  (A problem in Jewish law, since you must eat the afikoman by midnight.)
       We learn that there is no generic way to run a Passover seder.  We run it in accordance with the people there, and more important, we run it in accordance with the children who are there.  To broaden this idea, there is no generic way to teach children.  Every child is unique, with his or her own soul and own mission in life.  Any attempt to fit children, even siblings, into a single mold is a mistake.  The Bible tells us we should, "teach a son according to his way, even when he grows he will not depart from it."  (Proverbs 22:6)  It does not say "the way" but "his way;" parents must carefully look at each child to understand the way they are to parent that child.
       I have learned this lesson as a rabbi.  When I was newly ordained, I believed that "the law is the law and I need to teach it."  Now with a few years of experience, I have come to realize I cannot teach the law until I know to whom I am teaching.  When someone comes to me with a question, I must first see where they are coming from.  Only then do I have the ability to answer.