Shalom Congregants and Friends.....
 
Rabbi's Ramblings...... 
     
      A busy Shabbat coming up once again at Beth Hillel. Hope you will be participating! It's our annual Scholar-in-Residence Shabbat, put together by our hard-working Adult Education Committee. Rabbi Jonathan Porath is a wonderful speaker and teacher, as well as a personal friend. I hope you will come and enjoy his teachings,. Especially on Friday night..... when he is speaking about his experiences with Jews from the former Soviet Union. We have invited the larger Hartford Russian Jewish community to attend - hopefully they will! For any Russian speakers, I have an article in that language about his "more than a generation" of work there for you to peruse!
         All present had an inspirational time at the synagogue last Shabbat as we heard Cantor Michelle Teplitz lead services. She has a beautuiful voice and we wish her well in her new career. Yesterday evening was the annual Sisterhood Fashion program; from all accounts it was a most successful evening, with over 200 women present!! Thanks to everyone who volunteered their time and resources to make both of these programs a success.
        Last Sunday several Beth Hillel congregants participated in the Foodshare Annual Walk against Hunger. I am glad to report that there was almost $1000 in pledges and donations.
       Next Tuesday evening, after minyan, is the Congregation's Annual Meeting. I will give my report and so will our President. There is a lot of business to conduct and there will be the opportunity to ask questions.  Do try to attend!
      And the Shabbat after this one will be equally busy - we have our next Congregational Shabbat dinner on Friday evening, May 14! Am looking forward to that tasty chicken already -- Stephen Miller and Tammi Kraushaar and crew - thanks in advance! Make your reservations now -- and put the Abe Morrison Annual Dinner on your calendar for June 11!!
       Let me also ask you to plan now to attend our 4th annual Tikkun L'ayl Shavuot on Tuesday, May 18. Services at 7pm; followed by a dairy dinner and then study sessions lead by Rabbis Landau, Lefkowitz and myself. Details are in the May Chai-lites!
      Speaking of "Chai-lites," the synagogue bulletin was a little late being mailed because of technical problems at the printer's end. If you haven't received it yet, you can download a copy from the synagogue website!!
 
 Shabbat Shalom....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...
 This Week  Shabbat Services & Candle Lighting
 CANDLE LIGHTING   
 
FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 7, 7:35 pm
 
SHABBAT  SERVICE TIMES:                               
Friday, May 7 - 8:00pm
Saturday, May 8 - Shaharit 9:30am, Mincha/ Maariv/Havdalah 6:45pm 
(Note early time because of special Rabbi Porath program)
 
Come enjoy the beautiful Havdalah ceremony that ends Shabbat! 
 Synagogue Bulletin Board  
There is a new bulletin board by the door to the rabbi's office. Take a look when you're in the building to read notices of community events and contemporary news articles!
There are also good handouts on the racks by both the chapel and sanctuary.....
 
 Traveling in the weeks ahead?????
Ask Rabbi Atkins for "shaliach kesef" - messenger money - along with a prayer for a safe journey, it will "guarantee" you a safe trip.  It's one of my favorite  mitzvot!! 
 
Library Reminders
Tuesday, May 11, 11am Library Committee Meeting.... Please come and help us plan upcoming events and give suggesrtions for purchases of new books.
 
Lots of good new books in the Library - and interesting periodicals like Consumer Reports, The Jewish Week, and The Forward
 Music and videos, too!  
 
Also .... a copy of the book Rabbi Atkins cited on his talk on Domestic Abuse..... Sins of Omission....The Jewish Community's Reaction  to Domestic Violence by Carol Goodman Kaufman!
 
Beautify The Synagogue Grounds 
Call Tobie Neuwirth at 242-7084 to volunteer
 
The Tag Sale Is Coming...... 
This important fundraiser starts in July. Bring items to the shul or call Myrna Kahan if you have items that need to be picked up!
The Ongoing Agriprocessors Scandal 
 
Agriprocessors child-labor trial starts this week
a recent news article from the Des Moines register 

Immigrants who were allegedly exposed to poisonous chemicals and dangerous machinery as minors will testify against their former bosses at Agriprocessors Inc. in a state child-labor trial that begins this week in Waterloo. The trial is the latest chapter in the two-year saga of Sholom Rubashkin and his former eastern Iowa kosher slaughterhouse. Prosecutors allege that Rubashkin, 50, and other top managers allowed underage workers to perform risky jobs and work excessive hours at the plant in violation of state law

Also on trial are Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, the family patriarch who founded the Postville slaughterhouse; former human resources director Elizabeth Billmeyer; Jeffrey Heasley, a supervisor in the beef department; and human resources employees Karina Freund and Laura Althouse. All have pleaded not guilty. Jury selection for the scheduled three-week trial begins Tuesday in Black Hawk County District Court.

Advocates for the workers hope the trial exposes the scope of alleged child-labor abuses and sheds new light on Sholom Rubashkin, who drew hundreds of fellow Chabad-Lubavitch Jews to his federal court hearings on financial fraud charges. Defense attorneys cast the former meatpacking mogul as a deeply religious family man who was trying to keep his father's business afloat.

"Sholom has put a considerable amount of money and energy lately into having people defend his character," said the Rev. Paul Ouderkirk, retired pastor at St. Bridget's Catholic Church in Postville. "But when you hear what really went on at the plant, you lose sympathy." Ouderkirk said most of the underage workers have since turned 18 but are frightened that they have to testify. Most are native Guatemalans who were detained and deported in the May 2008 immigration raid at Agriprocessors, which now operates under new ownership as Agri Star.

"We're expecting a very vigorous attack on these kids," Ouderkirk said. "We're praying hard for them, because they're scared out of their wits." The workers were summoned back to Iowa by state prosecutors, with help from a Guatemalan filmmaker who has followed the case, Ouderkirk said. Ouderkirk said prosecutors have arranged transportation for the workers from Postville and Decorah. Billmeyer, Althouse, Freund and the Rubashkins each face 9,201 misdemeanor child-labor charges, court records show. Heasley is charged with 844 violations. Each count carries a maximum 30-day jail sentence and a fine as large as $625.

Prosecutors with the Iowa attorney general's office say the underage workers were exposed to chlorine solutions, dry ice and other potentially dangerous substances. Some were employed to operate power-driven machinery such as conveyor belts, meat grinders, circular saws, power washers and power shears.

Some workers who were younger than 16 staffed shifts that started before 7 a.m. and ended after 7 p.m., according to court records. All of the underage workers claimed they were not paid for every hour of overtime.

A 15-year-old girl told authorities that a supervisor sexually harassed her in a part of the plant where chickens are cut up, then gave her extra work when she refused to submit to his advances. Ouderkirk said one former underage employee worked with chemicals so toxic that he vomited every day into a coffee can.  "Every day he went to work, he knew this was going to happen," Ouderkirk said. Another underage worker, Ana Cecilia Arugello, told The Des Moines Register in August 2008 that she often cut her hands in the organic-chicken department and worked 12-hour shifts six days a week. Her training, she said, amounted to a 20-minute video the day she was hired.

Arugello is among the 48 potential prosecution witnesses on a list that includes former line workers, supervisors and federal immigration agent Mike Fischels, a lead investigator from the raid. Defense attorneys signaled in court papers that they might cast blame on the state labor agents who launched their investigation in January 2008.

Sholom Rubashkin was convicted of 86 financial fraud charges in a separate federal trial in November. He was moved to the Linn County Jail for a sentencing hearing last week in Cedar Rapids, and now heads to Black Hawk County for his state trial.
 
His attorney, F. Montgomery Brown, alleged in court papers that state labor investigators identified the underage workers in April 2008 - one month before the immigration raid - but refused to share their names with plant managers. Brown said many of the underage workers applied for jobs with fake birth certificates, which created a "legal Catch-22" for Agriprocessors: Plant managers could not have known which workers were underage, Brown argued. At the same time, he said, the managers had no legal right "to guess at ages or fire employees en masse on mere suspicion."

Prosecutors disputed the claim. State investigators did not know which workers were minors until September 2008 and were stonewalled by plant managers, two assistant attorneys general, Laura Roan and Thomas H. Miller, argued in court documents. A line supervisor helped hide at least one underage worker when investigators visited on April 3, 2008, the prosecutors alleged. Freund, the human resources employee, allegedly told two other minors that they didn't have to cooperate and encouraged them to lie about their ages.

"Particularly in light of what is now known of defendants' efforts to obstruct the investigation, it would have been irresponsible for (state investigators) to have made such a disclosure," Roan and Miller wrote. Black Hawk County District Associate Judge Nathan Callahan ruled for the prosecution in February and refused to dismiss the charges.

 Upcoming  Special Events   - For more info see the Chai-lites!!   
 
 MONDAYS, MAY 10, 17, 24 - RABBI LAZOWSKI EVENING ADULT ED CLASS CONTINUES
 
TUESDAY, MAY 11, CONGREGATIONAL ANNUAL MEETING
 
THURSDAY, MAY 13 - SHMOOZE AND LUNCH - SHLOMO KESSEL FROM THE EMUNAH CHILDREN'S HOME IN AFULA, ISRAEL
 
FRIDAY, MAY 14 - SHABBAT DINNER AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOL GRADUATION /SIMCHA SHABBAT
 
SUNDAY,  MAY 16, AFTER MORNING MINYAN - BROTHERHOOD MEETING
 
TUESDAY, MAY 18 - START OF SHAVUOT / TIKKUN L'AYL SHAVUOT IN EVENING...  WITH  BETH AHM AND TIKVOH CHADOSHAH JOINING US AT BHS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, SHAVUOT DAY 1 - SERVICES 9:30AM / 7:30PM
THURSDAY, MAY 20, SHAVUOT DAY 2 - SERVICES 9:30AM / 7:30PM. YIZKOR ~11:30
 
FRIDAY, MAY 21 - SISTERHOOD SHABBAT
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. 
 
Israel Background Information........ 
 
Beth Hillel has obtained, through the JCRC, a quantity of informative booklets called "Israel 101" as a primer for your knowledge of the geography, culture, politics, and people of Israel. Pick up your copy today!!  
 
Relations between America and Israel.....
a direct report from Rabbi Jack Moline in Washington..... 
 
"I spent some time last night with Ambassador Oren at an evening organized by the Embassy to honor former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for his devotion to Israel.  In the course of the evening, one of the guests asked the Ambassador very pointedly about relationships with President Obama, and he made the following statement, which I asked him if I could quote and attribute.  (Obviously, he said I could.):
 
"Relationships are as good or better between the US and Israel than under any other President, including Clinton."
 
He went on to list some specifics, ranging from cooperation on intellectual property laws to Quality Military Edge, an "inside baseball" measure of military preparedness.  Barriers that have existed in law, trade and other areas that impact Israel's quality of life and security (his emphasis) have fallen thanks to the efforts of Pres. Obama.  He was quite passionate about expressing these thoughts and presenting the evidence of it.
 
He expressed his frustration with stories that circulate that are simply made up, but are retold as if they were not only true, but emblematic.  At the top of the list was the "snub" (his word) of PM Netanyahu at the White House.  After emphasizing that the President has spent more time with Bibi than with any other world leader, he told the story of that series of meetings (which I have heard identically from other sources).  He was actually there, so no hearsay is involved.
 
They went in through the front door for a working meeting that began at 8:00.  Protocol is that there are no pictures at these meetings.  They worked through to 10:00.  At that point, the meeting ended.  Bibi asked for some time to meet alone with his staff (including the Ambassador), so the President bid them good night and went to the residence, where he got ready for bed.  At midnight, Bibi sent word that some new ideas came up and asked if the President would join them.  He left his residence (nobody said it, but I'll be he was in bed already) and came down for another 45 minutes of meetings.  Everyone parted on very friendly terms.
 
BTW, he also said the reports of the US siding with the Palestinians at the UN were not true and that the report that Israel's weaponry assistance from the US has been held up are completely false.
Weekly Torah  Commentary...  
by Rabbi Brad Artson, Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies

At its outset, today's Torah portion states that "The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai" and then commences a detailed exposition of the laws of the Shemittah--the seventh year, in which the land must lie fallow as testimony to God's exclusive ownership of all.

Since this is the conclusion of all the priestly rules for the conduct of Jewish worship in the biblical period, we would expect something a little more ethereal, a little grander and loftier as a summary to all that came before. After all, this is God's timeless message to the Jewish people. Is the most important part of that message really to leave our fields alone once in a while? That same question occurred to the rabbis of antiquity.

In the Midrash Sifra, an ancient commentary to the Book of Leviticus, the rabbis open by asking "what is the connection between Sinai and Shemittah?" After all, weren't all the commandments given at Sinai, not just this one. So why does Shemittah merit the honor of first mention? What's so special about Shemittah?

The Sifra responds to its own question by asserting that the juxtaposition of Shemittah here teaches that "all commandments originated at Sinai." Rashi and Ramban both concur with that judgment. But it is possible to go beyond that reading, to see something more essential in Shemittah that singles it out for this place of honor. After all, any other commandment could have demonstrated the same point, that all mitzvot originate in the meeting of God and the Jewish people, in the sacred dialogue that unfolded in the Torah and the Talmud and our own day as well.

So if any mitzvah could have demonstrated that point, what is so special about Shemittah? What is the unique link between Shemittah and Sinai, between a vacant field and a mountain? To respond to that question, we must first look at the function of the sabbatical year.

The Israelite farmer planted and worked the field in accordance with the practices of Judaism (for example, by leaving the corners of the field for the poor to glean, bringing tithes to Jerusalem). As idyllic as a people at home in their land might be, there was a danger as well.

Jews living freely on their own homeland could well begin to think of the land as theirs by right. It would be a small step to assert that since the land responds to human labor, it is ultimately a tool for humans to use as they see fit.

Once every seven years, the mitzvah of Shemittah, presents a reminder that we merely use the earth, but that ultimately the land is not ours, nor any other human's property. As individuals, we are able to borrow land, utensils, and material things, but must ultimately return them to the cycles of nature.

As a species, we are a part of that recurrent cycle, and thus are permanently linked to the limitations and rules imposed on the world. The Torah, through the institution of Shemittah, records God's sacred truth that "the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me.

Ramban clarifies that verse by paraphrasing it as "don't think that you are so essential." The world is not a play-thing for human beings, and the vast array of organic and living things serve a purpose higher that human whim. Together with humanity, the rest of the cosmos is a living, interlocking symphony to our Creator. We are the tenants, but God is the only baal ha-bayit.

Distracted by the brilliance of human achievement, and deafened by the clatter of our own insolent self-absorption, we can too easily forget that we are part of an order we neither made nor sustain. A little lower than the angels, yes, but still a long way from being masters of the universe. Human beings are trapped in an illusion that we hold ourselves or our species to be the measure of all things. Only by linking our own destiny to something transcendent, by joining our future to an eternal living force, by molding our deeds into a song of praise and gratitude, can human beings escape the despair of our own mortality and fallibility.

Focusing on our own needs and desires, we will always be disappointed in ourselves and the world. But if we lift our eyes to a higher vision, if we set our feet on a more tested path, then we can soar above our plight, as on eagles' wings.

In the words of the Sifra, it is enough for the servant to be like the Master." By making ourselves godly, we partake of God's fullness: "When it is God's, then it is ours."