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Rabbi's Ramblings......
Shalom Congregants and Friends.....
On the door of my office is a photo of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, my revered teacher, marching in Selma with Dr. Martin Lurther King, Jr. It is an amazing coincidence that these two individuals are linked by memorial services a week apart. Our country recognizes the importance of Dr. King by having established a national holiday in his honor, and here in Bloomfield we will be recognizing his memory with an Interfaith service of remembrance this coming Monday evening... this year being held at our synagogue. The Interfaith Association has put together a meaningful service, and we are including a number of the non-profit organizations that make Bloomfield such a special commuinity. We will also be recognizing the dozens of volunteers who helped operate the Community Shelter during the days of the power outage in early November.
On Shabbat I will be sharing thoughts of Dr. King and his relationship to the Jewish community. I think you will find them to be meaningful. Friday evening will be our monthly Simcha Shabbat! Special cake awaits you! Shabbat afternoon I invite you to consider coming to services and enjoying some ice cream (or sorbet) even in the middle of winter.... plus help me out as I have yahrzeit for my mother. (If you are planning on coming, please call the office so I will know that we have a minyan... special thanks!!)
We are continuing our "baby steps" towards becoming connected on Facebook. We now have a Facebook site. Go to the synagogue website and "friend" us. Thanks again to our intern, Alexis Levy (Madalyn's niece) who is helping us with this, along with updating our website!
Again, hope to see you Monday evening at 7pm.... and at other activities as well!
Shabbat Shalom u'm'vorach
...... Rabbi Gary and Iris Atkins
Why belong to a synagogue?........ to help you
"To Learn, Live, and Love Jewishly...." |
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Services & Candle Lighting Times
Friday, January 13, 8:00P.M.. (CLT 4:22 EST) SIMCHA SHABBAT
Saturday, January 14, 9:30 A.M.; Mincha, Maariv 4:15 P.M - Saturday Sundaes!!! |
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Humor for of the Week
Rather than a joke, I share a most humorous parody for your reading enjoyment......
Subject: Fwd: FDA approves new drug for the annoyingly religious
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - The first ever prescription heretic drug hit the shelves today. Approved by the FDA last month, Apikorex is intended as a treatment for the approximately one million Jews who are insufferably religious.
Tests prove that the drug is effective at reducing a range of symptoms, from having a heart attack when discovering a woman within a five mile radius is wearing stockings whose thickness is insufficient and shouting "You'll burn in Gehenom for that," to excessive demands of glatt kosher meals after being imprisoned for molesting children.
Dr. Yeruchem Genukshoyn calls the drug a huge step forward in the battle against uber-religiousness. "If you're in a religious mood every so often," he says, "that's good, that's normal. This is for those who have a persistent makpid-checking outlook on life."
Chava Frumstein of Kiryas Joel began participating in a clinical trial of Apikorex six weeks ago. "I was always telling people to cover their ankles," she says, "Telling them their wrists were exposed. And that was just the men."
Chava says she never knew how her annoyingly religious attitude was affecting those around her. "Over and over I'd ask my husband to check and check, recheck, and rerecheck the vegetables for bugs, no matter how many times he said no," says Chava.
"She was always going on about those damn bugs," says her henpecked husband, Molech, "I didn't know if there was anything I could do to help her."
"I used to think," Chava prattles on, "why am I the only one who cares how far away the water was that was used to bake matzah? Now I realize I was sick, I needed treatment."
Chava says the drug may have saved her marriage. "Now," whines Chava, "Molech and I can sit on the couch and not talk to each other, just because it's wonderful to be able to do that."
Dr. Genukshoyn adds, "We have to erase the stigma attached with getting help to psychotically religious Jews. Real medical help. You know what it's like to be around these people? It's pretty [expletive] annoying."
Doctors estimate that Apikorex could reduce by about 40% the amount of money funneled from fathers-in-law to children who refuse to work because Moshiach is coming and we need to be prepared with as much Torah as possible. |
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Social Action Updates
Donate to an AREA FOOD BANK. THE NEED IS GREAT!
Loaves and Fishes
Our next day to volunteer / serve will be February 2.... call the office to let us know you're willing to help!
Be aware of those less fortunate than we are!!
Carry out the mitzvah of tikkun olam!
A mitzvah we can ALL DO: Visit a friend in a nursing home or assisted living center or who otherwise can't get out!
Or bring someone to a service here who couldn't get here on their own! |
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Weekly Torah Portion Commentary.....
This week's commentary was written by Rabbi Marc Wolf, vice chancellor and chief development officer of the Jewish Theological Seminary
Dan Shonka was a professional football recruiter for over 30 years, during which he evaluated thousands of potential NFL stars. The number of games, hours of recording, and extensive evaluations he did made him one of the best in the game. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, profiles him and his method of choosing players:
"I like to see that the quarterback can hit a receiver in stride so he doesn't have to slow for the ball," Shonka began. He had a stack of evaluation forms next to him, and as he watched the game, he was charting and grading every throw . . . " Then judgment. Hey, if it's not there, throw it away and play another day. Will he stand in there and take a hit, with a guy breathing down his face? Will he be able to step right in there, throw, and still take that hit?"
But with all his charting, observing, intelligence tracking, and countless hours of experience, when it comes down to it, Shonka admits that you just don't know how a quarterback will perform in the National Football League. Gladwell writes, "This is the quarterback problem. There are certain jobs where almost nothing you can learn about candidates before they start predicts how they'll do once they're hired."
The Children of Israel have a quarterback problem. Having concluded the saga of the matriarchs and patriarchs, we encounter a pharaoh who does not know Joseph-or chooses not to remember the good things he did for Egypt. The tide quickly turns, and the Children of Israel face a harsh new reality. As if enslavement were not enough to break the spirits of the descendants of Jacob, the pharaoh codifies cruelty into law and seeks to exterminate the Israelite population. The harsh decrees of the pharaoh actually end up setting the scene for the birth of Moses. As the narrative unfolds, a picture is painted of Moses, who casts aside royal privilege in an act of empathy and anger and flees the palace to live a life of anonymity. God sees something in the character of Moses-so we are led to believe-that singles him out and makes him the obvious choice for redeemer of Israel. Surely his name is an indication, as the Bible itself hints, and scholars have written on the prophetic nature of the name. My rabbi and teacher Professor Stephen Garfinkel, in his exegesis "Moses: Man of Israel, Man of God" in the Etz Hayim Humash, writes:
Exodus interprets the name "Moses" to mean that he is "drawn out" of the water (2:10); but a more precise grammatical analysis of the Hebrew term mosheh confers a richer, predictive message. Moses is destined to be the one who draws out the people of Israel.
It is not only his prophetic naming and early life experience that identify Moses as the redeemer; his entire personal narrative defines his unique role. Professor Garfinkel sees the greater parallel and writes, "The life of the Israelite people from national birth to possession of a permanent territory is coterminous with the life of Moses. He is in effect the national alter ego."
But Moses himself is not as convinced of his destiny. Seemingly unwilling to take the position of quarterback for the Children of Israel, Moses questions his worthiness for the role of redeemer. In an enigmatic passage in the book of Exodus, Moses responds to God's call to free the People of Israel:
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?" And He said, "I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain." (Ex. 3:11-12)
Nahum Sarna's JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus wrestles with these two verses and how to understand not only Moses's question, but God's answer as well. This difficult verse has occasioned much exegesis. The first clause is clear enough. God's "being with" someone is an assurance of protection. This is usually given at critical moments of human fear and indecision . . .
The next clause is unclear. Hebrew 'ot, "a sign," is largely something that functions to corroborate either a promise or an appointment to office. But to what does the Hebrew demonstrative zeh, "this, that," refer? Sarna suggests a few possible options. Identifying the burning bush as zeh, Sarna proposes that the miracle itself should have been enough to convince Moses that his calling was divine-and that God would be there with him to help him accomplish his task. Alternatively, his unique experience with and relationship with God could be identified as the zeh, and that should be enough to know that he would be successful. Both interpretations leave the last phrase ("And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain") as dangling and independent, as Sarna admits. He suggests an interpretation to include the phrase in God's reasoning, but reassuring Moses that his eventual success will be proof of his worthiness isn't the most compelling way to motivate a timid leader.
The interpretation that resonated for me this year (and incorporates the dangling phrase) is from the Mei ha'Shiloah by Rabbi Mordecai Yosef Leiner, the Izbitzer Rebbe. In reading Moses's challenge to God, he sees not one, but two questions. The first he identifies is "Who am I?" What is Moses's worthiness to this task? We can read it as humility or hesitancy, but the Izbitzer hears Moses's humility as almost surprise: "Why me, and not any other person from the Children of Israel?"
The second question is a more direct challenge to God. Moses is asking: "There is no doubt that they are worthy to be redeemed from slavery, but why would You take them out now? There is no guarantee that there will be sanctuary for them when they are taken out of Egypt."
The Izbitzer Rebbe's answers put not only Moses, but the entire Exodus narrative into a new context. First, God's answer and promise of "being with" Moses becomes more of a statement about God than Moses. For the Mei ha'Shiloah, Moses is not the catalyst for redemption, but rather God is (although the Izbitzer Rebbe would agree with Professor Garfinkel's designation of Moses as the alter ego). In Sarna's reading, the people will be redeemed by Moses because God is "with" Moses. For the Mei ha'Shiloah, the people will be redeemed because God is redeeming them through Moses.
To answer Moses's second question of "Why now," the Izbitzer responds that God is interested not only in the present situation of the Children of Israel, but in their future as well. "I will bring you under the yolk of my Torah, and I will be engaged with your life and existence forever." The people are being redeemed to secure their future relationship with God. The exodus from Egypt is an investment in Israel, not only a direct response to their current condition.
The opening narratives of the book of Exodus seem to be setting the scene and describing the training of the perfect quarterback for the burgeoning nation of Israel. Moses steps onto the field of Jewish history, and everything about him seems to indicate that he will be leading the people out of slavery into freedom. His question of his ability is ours today. How can we be sure that he will be successful in his task? As the Mei ha'Shiloah teaches us, Moses is not taking the ball alone. It is God's promise and, more importantly, presence that enables him to lead the people to freedom for generations to come.
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Beth Hillel Synagogue Library
Lots of new books and videos......
Read contemporary newspapers and magazines!!
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Upcoming Synagogue Events
* Sunday, January 15 - Brotherhood meeting, after 9am minyan
* Monday, Jan. 16, Beth Hillel Synagogue hosts the
Bloomfield Interfaith Association annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Remembrance Service 7pm at BHS
* Shmooze and Lunch: January 19 11am
* Lunch and Learn: January 26, 11am
* Sunday, February 5 - World Wide Wrap and
Brotherhood meeting 9am
* Thursday, February 9, TuBishevat Seder - together with BTS --
assistance in planning needed 7pm |
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Community Events...
2nd Annual International Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust program.
January 29, 11:30am Emanuel Synagogue
Beit Midrash Institute of Adult Jewish Studies
New term starting January 30 - Good community Adult Education! |
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News from Israel... away from the political....
Treasure Trove: Ancient Jewish Documents Unearthed in Afghanistan May Be Most Significant Find Since the Dead Sea Scrolls
Amidst the endless crises of the Middle East, the most significant events for the Jewish people are sometimes overlooked, their full importance only realized months or years later.
This was the case with the initial unearthing of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and may well prove to be the case with a recent archeological discovery in Afghanistan: an ancient genizah of reportedly immense significance.
A genizah is a repository for documents which, according to Jewish law, cannot be disposed of except by burial, usually because they contain the name of God, which is considered too sacred to be burned. They are of enormous importance to the study of Jewish history, since they often preserve documents of great importance. In addition, because a community often used the same site as a genizah over a long period of time, the documents contained therein will be from many different time periods, providing insight into different historical periods in a single find, which is often unusual in archeology.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the find has already aroused a firestorm of interest in the academic world. "We know today about a couple of findings," Haggai Ben-Shammai, Professor Emeritus of Arabic Language and Literature at Hebrew University was quoted as saying. "In all, in my opinion, there are about 150 fragments. It may be the tip of the iceberg."
The scrolls... date from around 1,000 years ago and are in Arabic, Judeo-Arabic and ancient Persian. Texts said to be found include an unknown history of the ancient kingdom of Judea, passages from the book of Isaiah and some of the works of Rabbi Saadia Gaon, a medieval sage.
The first of these finds has the potential to be a truly epochal discovery. Outside of the Bible, we have no extensive histories of the Judean kingdom, and for the Hellenistic era we have only one: that of Josephus, which has long been regarded as problematic by scholars.
The other reported finds are hardly of less importance. Fragments of Isaiah from a thousand years ago could shed new light on the history of the Tanach and its transmission, and many of the works of Saadia Gaon - the founder of Jewish philosophy - have been lost. Should these newly found works contain be previously unknown, they could completely revolutionize the study of Jewish history and theology.
This proved to be the case after the discovery of the Cairo Geniza, which contained documents that permanently changed our understanding of Jewish history. Most famously, Maimonides' " Epistle to Yemen," which gave new insight into the great theologian's views on messianism and into the previously obscure history of the Jews of Yemen. Peres praises Masorti movement, condemns extremists January 10, 2012 (the first time the President of Israel has addressed the Masorti movement) JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres praised the Masorti movement's contributions to Israel and condemned extremists in Israel. "I came here this evening to hear women singing," Peres said Jan. 5 after a performance of the Masorti youth movement's coed singing troupe at a dinner to mark the movement's founding 35 years ago. Peres said the controversies "created by fringe extremist groups" facing Israeli society today are not new, but that it has become more difficult to overcome the extremists' rhetoric and find common ground. "I am aware that they are the extreme margin, and believe that the majority of haredi, Dati-Leumi and secular communities seek to live together in a spirit of mutual respect, tolerance and brotherhood. And to each their way of life, for democracy in our time is not only the right to be equal, but also the equal right to be different," Peres said. "The problem is that this marginal minority breaches the law. They are a law unto themselves, and slander the country. They disgrace the state." Peres praised the Masorti movement for establishing itself in Israel, "building a large number of communities and synagogues throughout the country, and winning hearts." "Different streams exist in Judaism, which has room for conservative and liberal viewpoints, for those who abide by the 613 commandments and those who say 'Sh'ma Israel,' " Peres said. "To be a Jew is not a matter of public relations but to be historically part of a great collective spirit that crossed oceans of hardships, deserts of suffering. And which never stopped yearning for the Promised Land, nor abandoned the aspiration to be the chosen people. A light unto nations." Peres praised the movement's NOAM youth movement and its bar/bat mitzvah program for children with special needs. |
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