YOUR BETH HILLEL Synagogue weekly E-Shul ...Beshallah

Rabbi's Ramblings......

Shalom Congregants and Friends.....

Trust that you have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather! Unless you own a ski resort or a plowing service, you're probably pretty happy! Just read that they had a record rainfall in Israsel for the month of January -- hopefully they aren't minding too much being wet in exchange for the much needed precipitation and the resulting help for the aquifers and lakes.

Friday night I will share again the Saga of the four chaplains, which commemorates a tragic event that happened in February of 1943.... and connects this year with the Torah portion, which contains the "Song of the Sea." Shabbat morning we will chant that majestic poem with its special melody and Michael Wagner will chant the special haftorah and help to sponsor to the kiddush. Friday evening is also Simcha Shabbat, so that will be a special service as well. You don't need to have a February birthday or anniversary to attend!

Beth Hillel will be joining synagogues throughout America in remembering Debbie Friedman by singing a beautiful melody that she wrote for Shalom Aleychem. Read the article below and follow the link if you to practice this beautiful melody.... which we will do Friday evening. Saturday morning we will do another one of her many contributions to Jewish music, "Miriam's Song."

"About two weeks before she died, Debbie Friedman stood with Rabbi Joy Levitt at the piano in Levitt's Manhattan apartment, and she shared with her friend a melody that the legendary singer and composer would never have the chance to record. It was a new version of "Shalom Aleichem," the hymn traditionally sung Friday evenings to welcome the Sabbath angels.

Friedman, who was in New York en route to the Limmud Festival in England, had sung the very same tune the previous night to Levitt's cousin, who was dying of breast cancer. "I think this is going to be my legacy. This is going to be bigger than Mi Sheberach," Friedman told Levitt, referring to her melody of the prayer for healing, which is widely used as part of the liturgy in liberal synagogues....

Sick with the flu that would end her life, Friedman returned from England to her home in Southern California, where she died in a hospital on January 9, 2011. She was 59. Since then, her "Shalom Aleichem" has been shared from one person and small group to the next, in an informal effort to weave the melody into the American Jewish canon. It is becoming increasingly popular at Friday night dinners and at Havdalah services, which mark the Sabbath's end.

In the coming days, Levitt and Cantor Angela Buchdahl, of Manhattan's Central Synagogue, are planning to reach out to every clergy member in the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements - urging them to sing Friedman's version of "Shalom Aleichem" on February 3 and 4, which are Shabbat Shira, or the Sabbath of Song.

Shabbat Shalom u'm'vorach......

...... Rabbi Gary and Iris Atkins

Why belong to a synagogue?........ to help you

"To Learn, Live, and Love Jewishly...."

The B eth Hillel Synagogue Mission Statement.....

Beth Hillel Synagogue takes its mission statement very seriously:

"Beth Hillel is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue rooted in the ancient traditions of the Torah while growing to meet the changes and challenges of our world. Its core are the many people of different ages and backgrounds who have chosen to make it their spiritual home, joining together for prayer, learning, and celebration. The many branches of Beth Hillel's community provide support to its congregants, reaching out to each other and welcoming our neighbors as together we learn from the past and teach for the future."

Services & Candle Lighting Times

Friday, February 3, 8:00P.M. (CLT 4:48 EST)

Saturday, February 4, 9:30 A.M.; Mincha, Maariv 4:45 P.M

Humor for the Week

A man went to a friend's costume party with nothing but a girl on his back. "What have you come as?" asked his friend.

"A snail."

"How can you be a snail when all you've got is a girl on your back?"

"That's Michelle."

Halacha for our time.....

Conservative Jewish scholars nix Internet minyan,

but OK some Web, phone prayer

NEW YORK (AP) -- A panel of Conservative Jewish scholars has ruled that a person participating in prayers with other Jews over the phone or Internet cannot be counted toward the quorum needed for communal prayer.

But individual Jews can fulfill some personal religious duties over the phone or Web by linking to a quorum that is already formed, according to the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.

The ruling, published in the fall issue of the magazine of the Jewish Theological Seminary, examines the definition of the quorum, called a minyan, in light of technological advances.

The scholars based their decision on laws they say oblige Jews to be in the same physical space to form a minyan, which requires a minimum of 10 participants.

In allowing the individual to join the minyan by an audio link, the scholars looked to laws that state once a minyan is formed, someone who is not part of the group, but overhears and responds, can fulfill many prayer obligations.

Chat rooms and e-mail communications do not qualify, according to the ruling.

''To allow accessing a minyan from remote locations is to reduce the need of individuals to go out of their way to attend the minyan,'' the scholars wrote. ''But to rule against it would also be a hardship with regard to shut-ins and nursing home patients.''

Torah Commentary of the Week

by Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz of the Jewish Theological Seminary

The Israelite march to freedom is marked with anxiety, trepidation, and hopefulness. Journeying away from their house of enslavement (which bound them for 430 years), the Israelites are pursued by the Egyptians as Pharaoh has a predictable change of heart. Panicked as they reach the intimidating shores of the Reed Sea, the Israelites allege that Moses has led them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness: "Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the desert? What have you done to us taking us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying 'Let us be and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than die in the wilderness!'" (Exod. 14:11-12). Moses learns quickly that you can take the Israelites out of Egypt, but not necessarily the Egypt out of the Israelites. Tension rises as Moses calls out and raises his arms to part the Reed Sea, and the Israelites miraculously pass on to dry land as the sea closes in on the pursuing Egyptians. Upon successfully crossing, the Israelites burst out into song, and declare, zeh eli v'anvehu (This is my God and I will glorify [or enshrine] Him; Exod. 15:2). How may we understand the complex meaning of v'anvehu-is it glorify or enshrine, or something deeper?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains,

"Henceforth this One will be my God. As here in this moment I see and understand that my fate and my inner life has been directed by this God alone and so I will place the whole of my internal and external life at God's disposal and allow my whole life to be directed by the Divine. This God will be mine, eli, literally "The Director of my movements." V'anvehu, And so I will offer myself to be a Divine home. My whole existence and life will be a Temple of God's glorification, the home of Divine revelation; this is the natural consequence of declaring zeh eli, this is my God. Neveh designates a place which offers a refuge. Hence, neveh is a place that herds or flocks are supplied all that they require-where they can remain permanently without having to seek pasture elsewhere. Thus, v'anvehu literally means, "I will be a place for God" or "by my whole life I will prepare a place for God of which God will proudly declare, 'I now dwell amongst you.'" (Hirsch, Commentary on the Torah: Exodus, 189)

While our particular verse has often been understood as the basis for the concept of hiddur mitzvah (lit. beautifying a mitzvah, often through the use of aesthetically striking Judaica), Hirsch offers a very different reading. Far from "buying in" to the notion of anvehu meaning "I will glorify Him," Hirsch latches on to the root of the word-connecting it to nun-vav-hey, meaning a resting place, oasis, or home. For Hirsch, the Israelites declare that they are dedicating their whole selves to becoming refuges of the Divine. At the moment that God provides tangible salvation for these recently freed slaves, each Israelite declares in his or her own personal voice that every individual will become a shrine to God. How different would our lives be if we could live in the spirit of Hirsch's exegesis of this verse! If we could aim to devote and build our lives according to the Divine blueprint-to create, as a response to the greatness of God's presence in the world, both a refuge for humanity and a true home for God.

Social Action Updates

Donate to an AREA FOOD BANK. THE NEED IS GREAT!

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!

Beth Hillel Synagogue Library

Lots of new books and videos......

Read contemporary newspapers and magazines!!

Upcoming Synagogue Events

* Sunday, February 5 - World Wide Wrap and

Brotherhood meeting / Breakfast 9am - David Baram speaking

* Thursday, February 9, TuBishevat Seder - together with BTS --

Here at Beth Hillel -- 7pm ......... make your reservation now

* February 11 Bar Mitzvah of Joe Howell

* March 3 Bat Mitzvah of Jamie Waldo

Community Events...

Tuesday, March 6, Vashti's Banquet... A Celebration of Women.....Emanuel Synagogue, 5:30-9pm. Flyer available in synagogue

Wednesday, March 7, Purim Services at Emanuel Synagogue

News from Israel....The latest "problem" re the chief Rabbinate

From: FailedMessiah.com January 17, 2012

Why Did Israel's Chief Rabbis Ban Häagen Dazs?

Israel's Chief Rabbinate has banned Häagen Dazs ice cream, claiming the product is not kosher, even though the product sold today is the same as the product sold one year ago or two years ago when the Rabbinate approved it as kosher. Here's the story behind the story.......

Senior Chief Rabbinate officials have sent a letter to local rabbis, claiming that Häagen-Dazs ice cream is not kosher and therefore must not be marketed in Israel. Following an inquiry by Ynet's local portal Mynet, the Supersol supermarket chain announced that it would pull the ice cream from its shelves.

"The ice cream, which is sold in other stores as well, is based on pagan liquid milk (milk produced without Jewish supervision)," the letter explained, "and so it is sold in serious violations of kashrut procedures." The letter added, "We will also the permit providers not to allow the sale of this product in supervised places. As long as the chain's management insists on selling them, the kashrut certificate may be revoked by law."

Rafi Yochai of the Rabbinate's kashrut division told Ynet that the two leading supermarket chains were violating procedures. "Their stores have a kosher certificate, so every person observing kashrut is inclined to believe that all of the products sold in the store are kosher, when in fact that is not true because of the ice cream. "We have already warned them three times on this matter, and this is the last time. As of the next time, we will start collecting fines of NIS 2,000 ($521) for each ice cream caught in their stores."

General Mills Israel, which markets Häagen-Dazs ice cream in the Jewish state, said in response that "the ice cream adheres to the strict and global OU kashrut supervision and is consumed by the religious and secular public in Israel and abroad. "The Chief Rabbinate's announcement is nothing new. The super-premium ice cream is produced with liquid milk, which allows exceptional quality in product's texture and final taste."

That was Ynet's report. Now, here's mine:

I asked the CEO of OU Kosher Rabbi Menachem Genack where Israel's Häagen Dazs is made and where the milk used in it comes from. He told me the product is made in France. No changes were made in its processing over the past year. Ben and Jerry's and many other ice creams use powdered milk to create the ice cream base. Häagen Dazs uses regular liquid milk.

There are two heterim, leniencies, commonly used today which allow the consumption of milk whose milking was not done under kosher supervision, and two older and much less accepted heterim for it that are used in tandem with one of the first two heterim to permit a form of unsupervised milk:

1. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (the leading American haredi rabbi from about 1960 until his death in 1986) and many, many other rabbis including Aharon Kotler held that because governments like the US require that all milk sold as cow's milk be actual cow's milk, and because the government spot checks dairies, and because non-kosher animals are not found in dairies or in the milking areas of farms, all commercially produced milk produced in the US (and Canada, Great Britain, Australia, etc.) has the status of halav yisrael, Jewish supervised milk. This milk is commonly referred to as halav stam or halav companies to distinguish it from halav yisrael milk produced with actual Jewish supervision.

2. Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank (Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in the mid-1900s, was also on the Eidah Charedis beit din for 60 years and was for a time its head) and fewer rabbis - many, many fewer rabbis - than is the case with Rabbi Feinstein's heter, held that powdered milk made from milk that was not milked under Jewish supervision could be used, because the rabbinic prohibition against consuming otherwise kosher milk that was milked by a non-Jew without Jewish oversight does not apply to powdered milk because powdered milk did not exist almost 2000 years ago when this rabbinic prohibition was added. (Yes, children, King David, Moses, the Prophets and your ancestors all probably consumed unsupervised milk products. And the Maccabees and Hillel probably did, as well. But I digress.) Additionally, Rabbi Frank said, heter #3 (found immediately below) also could apply to powdered milk, making powdered milk kosher. But he also held that heter #3 did not make liquid milk kosher - even though heter #3 was proposed long before powdered milk existed.

3. Rabbi Hezekiah da Silva (1659, Italy - 1698, Jerusalem), known after his work the Pri Hadash, argued that one only needs to be concerned about non-supervised but otherwise kosher milk when the milk from non-kosher animals like horses or pigs is less expensive than the milk from kosher animals like cows, goats and sheep, or when milk from non-kosher animals is commonly milked and sold, but is difficult to sell because customers much prefer cow's milk or goat milk or other milk from kosher species. When milk from kosher animals is less expensive than milk from non-kosher animals, he argues that we do not need to be concerned that non-Jews would add the more expensive milk from non-kosher animals into milk from kosher animals. In other words, if mare's milk sells for $5 per 1/2 gallon, we don't have to worry that the cow's milk we buy for $2 per 1/2 gallon is adulterated with mare's milk. (But if the cow's milk sold for $5 per 1/2 gallon and mare's milk sold for $2 per 1/2 gallon, we would have to worry that the unsupervised cow's milk we want to buy is adulterated with non-kosher mare's milk - and that would make halav yisrael, supervised kosher milk, mandatory. But this is not the case in the US or in any Western country - or in Israel.)

4. Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran (Spain, 1300s), known as the Tashbetz after the title of one of his books. The Tashbetz held that in places where there are no camels, no supervision of milk is necessary. Camel milk is the only commonly consumed non-kosher milk in the world, and it is consumed almost exclusively in Arab countries. Camels are the only non-kosher animals which can be "easily" milked. Pigs are almost impossible to milk. Mares are easier but not as easy as camels (and certainly not as easy as cows). In other words, in places where non-kosher animals are not usually milked, and where such animals are not usuallly found, no kosher supervision of milking was necessary - unless the non-kosher animal in question is a camel, in which case, supervision of all milking would be necessary to make sure camel's milk is not added into the cow's (or goat's or sheep's) milk.

Israel's Chief Rabbinate follows heter #2.

Häagen Dazs is produced following heter #1.

Somehow the Chief Rabbinate did not know this. It relied on the OU and other Diaspora kosher supervisions, thinking the milk used was either actual liquid halav yisrael milk or that the milk used was in powdered form - until it recently discovered that Häagen Dazs uses liquid milk not powdered milk, and that it is produced relying on heter #1.

Or perhaps the Chief Rabbinate did know it but allowed Häagen Dazs to be sold anyway. Then, after years passed, someone unaware of the original exception to the Rabbinate's general rule forbidding products made with liquid unsupervised cow's milk discovered how Häagen Dazs is made and made a stink. Or perhaps this is mostly political, involving a fight between importers or brand owners or between rabbis. What we do know is that the Häagen Dazs sold in Israel today is produced the same way in the same place as the Häagen Dazs sold in Israel last year or the year before.

The really odd thing is that milk from non-kosher animals is much lower in fat than milk from kosher animals, and any ice cream made with it would not be premium and certainly could not be sold as the super premium high in fat Häagen Dazs.

In other words, camels are not commerically raised or milked in France (at least on the type of scale necessary to impact this situation). Pigs are not commerically milked. And the milk from camels, pigs and mares all make terribly bad ice cream. On top of that, France has labeling laws that prohibit adulterating food, and dairies are supervised for compliance, cleanliness and health issues. And the cost of mare's milk or camel's milk is higher than cow's milk.

Rabbi Frank's heter has the least halakhic support. Ample reasons exist to rely on Rabbi Feinstein, the Pri Hadash and the Tashbetz - not the least of which is that it is very possible that Rabbi Frank would have allowed unsupervised liquid milk to used in ice cream (which was not commercially available in Israel on any wide scale when he was alive) because non-kosher milk makes horrible ice cream that has no commercial value, which means there is no financial incentive to adulterate the ice cream with milk from non-kosher animals in the first place. And any adulteration would ruin the ice cream and would be easily noticed by consumers.

That means there are three very good reasons to rule that Häagen Dazs is kosher and one extremely weak reason to rule that it is not.

So why did Israel's haredi-controlled chief rabbinate opt to keep following that one extremely weak reason? I don't know. Perhaps one day, we'll find out.