Shabbat Shalom
And have a wonderful summer
June 20, 2008 – Sivan 17
5768
This
is the final Shabbat-O-Gram before the summer.
It will resume in September.
We’ll
continue to send e-mail announcements regularly
And I’ll also be updating my blog, at
http://joshuahammerman.blogspot.com/
Thank
you and Mazal Tov to Harvey and Barbara Cohen,
for sponsoring this week’s Shabbat-O-Gram in honor of Ian
becoming Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat!
Special
Occasion? Sponsor a Shabbat Bulletin, (sent every
Friday morning via e-mail),
the Shabbat
Announcements (Distributed each Shabbat at the
& the
Shabbat-O-Gram. Sponsor all three publications for only
$72
All sponsors will be
acknowledged at the beginning of each of these announcements
and also
listed in our Bi-monthly Bulletin. Call Mindy in the office at 322-6901
Send your friends and relatives the gift of Jewish awareness -- a
Shabbat-O-Gram each week, by signing them up at www.tbe.org.
To be removed from this mailing list, sent
e-mail request to office@tbe.org. If you have signed
up and are not receiving our e-mails, check your spam filter to make sure that
TBE is not being “spammed out.”
Prior Shabbat-O-Grams are archived at http://www.tbe.org/sog/index.php.
Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram:
(Click
to scroll down)
The (Occasionally) Ranting Rabbi
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah
Opportunities
The Beth El Bar/Bat
Mitzvah Commentary
Masechet Cyberspace (NEW)
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
TBE Family
Album (NEW)
Some of our 7th Graders at their recent “Aliyah”
service
Thank you to David Satz for the photography
See our
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU4AoaqNy18
Quote for the Week
“No exercise is better for the human heart
than reaching down to
lift up another person.”
Tim Russert, who died of a heart attack last week,
recalling that the best
commencement speech he ever heard
was all of 16 words
Candle lighting: 8:11 pm on Friday, June 20,
2008. For Havdalah times, other Jewish
calendar information, and to download a Jewish calendar to your PDA, click on http://www.hebcal.com/. To see the festivals of other faiths as well,
go to http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/. The United Synagogue has updated its candlelighting information. To learn more, click here.
Mazal tov to Hazzan and
Sandy Rabinowitz, who are sponsoring tonight’s Oneg Shabbat in honor of their
50th wedding anniversary.
THE FULL SERVICE SCHEDULE NOW APPEARS ON THE
SEPARATE TBE ANNOUNCEMENTS E-MAIL
Friday Night Shabbat Services: 6:30
Shabbat Morning at 9:30
Tot Shabbat morning with Nurit at 10:30
Mazal Tov to Ian
Cohen, son of Barbara
and Harvey Cohen and brother of Emma,
on his becoming Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat morning!
Parashat Shelach Lecha
(The
incident of the spies – plus the origins of tzitzit)
1: 13:1-3
2: 13:4-16
3: 13:17-20
4: 13:21-24
5: 13:25-30
6: 13:31-33
7: 14:1-7
maf: 14:5-7
Haftarah: Joshua
2:1 - 2:24
Text Studies and Commentaries
Click here
for a summary of Shlah.
Text Studies
Reputation
Is Everything by Rabbi Andrea Lerner Provided by Hillel’s
Seeing
Beneath The Surface by Rabbi Neal Joseph Loevinger Provided by KOLEL--The Adult Centre for
Liberal Jewish Learning, which is affiliated with
The
Eyes Have It by Rabbi Randy E. Sheinberg Provided
by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the central body of Reform
Judaism in
Commentaries
Very, Very Good by Miriam and John Schlackman Provided by Canfei Nesharim, providing Torah wisdom about the importance of protecting our environment.
Slowly Healing the World by James Jacobson-Maisels Provided by American Jewish World Service, pursuing global justice through grassroots change.
The Blue of the Ocean, the Sky, and the Tzitzit by Elizabeth Richman Provided by American Jewish World Service, pursuing global justice through grassroots change.
A Focus on the Here and Now by Rabbi Kerry Olitzky Provided by the Jewish Outreach Institute, an organization dedicated to creating a more open and welcoming Judaism.
Scouting For Self-Confidence by Steven Greenberg Provided by CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a multi-denominational think tank and resource center.
The Power Of Perception by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the University of Judaism.
Fringe Story, by Rabbi Lisa Gelber Provided by the Jewish Theological Seminary, a Conservative rabbinical seminary and university of Jewish studies.
Sticks
And Stoned by Rabbi Avraham Fischer Provided
by the Orthodox
How Do Activists Remain Active? by Nina Wouk Provided by SocialAction.com, an on-line Jewish magazine dedicated to pursuing justice, building community, and repairing the world.
Fringed
With Faith by Melanie Kohler Levav Provided by the UJA-Federation of
Morning Minyan: 7:30
Weekdays, 9:30 Sundays
PLEASE COME TO MINYAN!
TO ENSURE A “GUARANTEED MINYAN” FOR THE DAY OF YOUR YAHRZEIT –
GO TO THE ROSNER MINYAN MAKER AT WWW.TBE.ORG
AND THEN NOTIFY OUR OFFICE.
Now you can become more comfortable
with the prayers of our morning service by heading to…
http://www.tbe.org/site/sog/minyanmastery.htm
Tisha B’Av
The reading of Lamentations will take place here on Saturday
night, August 9, in the lobby at 8:30 PM, accompanied by magnificent vistas of
A Message to the Graduates
(and that means all of us)
THIS IS ADAPTED FROM A CHARGE GIVEN
LAST NIGHT TO THE GRADUATES OF THE COMMUNITY’S MELTON ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM
This week's portion, Shelach Lecha, contains within it the worst
commencement address ever given. This
being that commencement-time-of-year, you probably know the basic formula
for the typical graduation speech:
"Go get 'em. You can
overcome all odds, no matter how great.
Believe in yourself and the future is yours."
Twelve
spies were sent out by Moses to scout out the
Land. Ten of the twelve returned with a
message that would have sent any school superintendent's head spinning. "Don't even bother to try to succeed out
there," they reported. "These
people are men of great size. We
saw...we saw...Nefilim
there! Anakim! And
we looked like grasshoppers to them."
Who
were these Nefilim
and Anakim
that terrorized the spies? Were they
some mythical race of giants? Were they
real people? Did Michael Strahan exist at that time?
Or was it merely a matter of hyperbole: the spies saw no chance of
victory, so they concocted an exaggerated tale to back
strengthen their case. Whether or
not these obstacles were real or perceived, the sin of the spies led to the
Israelites' having to wander in the Wilderness for 40 years, and the sin had
less to do with overestimating the size of the opponent as in underestimating
their own abilities.
Rabbi
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk commented, "It is all
right in the presence of giants to say that you feel like a grasshopper. But it is terribly mistaken, even a sin, to presume
that you look like a grasshopper to them."
We
all discount ourselves at times, but the real problem occurs when that
subjective observation is allowed to become objective
truth. Growth became impossible for the
Children of
Paralyzed
is how we all feel when the child in each of us is thrown
into very adult situations. We feel
unprepared, unfit, small. And there is no scarier time than when your
name is called and you rise to grab hold of the
diploma, that paper sword with which you're expected to slay all the Nefilim wandering about in your path.
My
ordination from rabbinical school is case in point. That afternoon 25 years ago last month (notice I said 25 years, NOT a quarter of a
century!), I sat in a pew at the Park Avenue Synagogue next to a score of
classmates, listening to the obligatory charges, some of which were Talmudic in
both in content and length. There was
plenty of time to think. Too much. I looked
down the row at my classmates. Were they
feeling, as I was, the awesome weight of the moment? Were they questioning, as I was, the
five-year investment that had been made and the life-long investment that was
about to be made? Were they also
beginning to sense the awakening of that demon of the deep that rises from the
pit of the stomach at times like these, then proceeds to make mincemeat of the
esophagus -- that feeling of utter incompetence?
This
feeling was exacerbated by the prevailing notion
fostered at the Seminary that the last generation of teachers was always more
revered than the current one. The
classical Jewish view teaches “the decline of the generations” — since Sinai we have grown further from revelation and stand, as a
result, on a lower level of holiness. My
teachers were the giants; theirs all the greater - and
we were grasshoppers, in their eyes and our own.
As I rose to heed my calling,
I took comfort in the knowledge that I was not alone. All over the city that day, people were
rising to the call of their names: doctors pledging the oath of Hippocrates,
psychologists joining the ranks of Freud and Jung. And we all were grasshoppers on this day, afraid of
giant obstacles, unsure where fate would take us. But not afraid to hop.
We need to contest this
“decline of the generations” theory. And
by extension, we need to make sure that those who aren’t rabbis feel confident
that they can study
our sources, that every door is open to them – anyone can do it! That is the great thing about Melton and why this program is so important to our community.
Sure enough, when
So now I speak to you, the
class of 2008 -- and all of us are graduating from something this month; if not, create a milestone for yourself and
leap beyond it. Never fear
freedom. Never stop growing. Never turn back. Slay those dark Nefilim of childhood. Dare them to make your day. Because, when all is said
and done, you might be the true giant after all.
“We are SO Ten!”
Bidding Farewell to Peter the Greeter
A few weeks ago
Terry Hazen spontaneously coined a slogan that is quickly becoming our minyan’s catchphrase:
“We are SO ten!” I can see the
marketing machine working on this.
Buttons, posters, bumper stickers…and T-shirts cannot be far
behind.
Fortunately, we’ve been able to say it a lot
lately. Unfortunately, that’s largely
due to several recent tragedies.
Fortunately, we’ve had a steady stream of minyans
because people care. YOU care. And it
shows.
This coming Wednesday, we’ll be saying goodbye to Peter
Weissman, who has been that friendly face welcoming minyan goers for the past
ten years. Peter began
attending the morning minyan just after the tragic death of his inspirational
son Adam – his tenth yahrzeit was this morning, in fact.
It’s appropriate that we mark all those tenth
anniversaries in discussing this master of the minyan.
Peter turned that tragedy into a mission of mercy, and we are forever grateful. We wish him the best in his new life in
Now, with Peter leaving us, only weeks after the passing
of his mentor Frank Rosner, we are in need of greeter – and bodies – to replace
him. It’s really very
easy to greet, and we’ll be happy to do the training. All you need to do is care. I’ve already had someone step forward who
will be our new greeter on Wednesdays. One down, five days to go!
This week’s portion actually contains the textual basis
for needing the specific number ten for a minyan, based on the number of the
spies who brought back a negative report.
It’s interesting that the number is based on
people who were sinners who led the community to a great sin. Not great role models at all. The message is that one need not be a great
sage to make a minyan. Nine great rabbis
will not. But, as the adage goes, ten
shoemakers will.
SO come on Wednesday to help us pay tribute to
Peter. And then come as often as you
can, so that each and every morning we’ll be able to proclaim,
We are SOOOOOO ten!”
“TO
DO” LIST FOR THE SUMMER
·
How
about learning some Hebrew prayers? Here’s a developing site that will help you
do just that: http://www.learnhebrewprayers.com/
- and speak to the cantor if you wish to become part of a Torah reading class.
·
Or maybe read
a Jewish book or listen to Jewish podcasts.
·
Or maybe
learn how to give a d’var Torah. See me
if you are interested.
·
And of
course, “to do” is to be here – we are open 365 days a year. Join us for morning minyan, Shabbat services
or whatever!
HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!
Beth El Cares:
Inreach and
Outreach
The
and even had some
generous male donors who made “double donations”!
Every pint will help 3 people.
Thank you to everyone who came down to donate,
including those who waited a
very long time to donate and those who were ineligible for various
reasons.
Thanks for your patience!
Special thanks to Alison Wolff for chairing this event,
and to her “helpers”
Cheryl Wolff,
Locks of Love and Pantene Beautiful
Lengths::
Todah Raba to Mindy Hausman,
who donated her hair (for the third time), to Locks of Love.
Todah Raba to Hannah Katz
(10), who donated her hair again, this time to Pantene Beautiful Lengths! This was Hannah’s 2nd donation!
60 for 60:
Congratulations to the
and to all who donated
to Federation as part of this fundraising event!
If you are currently involved in a Mitzvah Project at TBE, let me
know so I can publicize your project.
If you are interested in volunteering for Mitzvah projects at TBE,
contact me.
Cathy Satz
968-9191; csscounsel@yahoo.com
A special thank you to Peter Weissman, who
has been our minyan greeter for the past ten years. Peter will be
moving to
HELP WANTED – ONE MINYAN GREETER!
Mitzvah Suggestions for the Week
From Mark Plotzky
Hello everybody,
Every hour of every day, someone is
diagnosed with MS. That's why I have registered for the MS Bike Tour for
the last 4 years, and why I'm asking you to support my fund raising efforts this
year with a tax-deductible donation.
This year’s MS Bike Tour will continue the tradition
that my daughter Jenna and I have started last year. We ride together the 12
Mile Route and we are both excited to be able to help others, especially
when we continue to meet many friends that have relatives and loved ones who
have also been afflicted with MS. Jenna always hears about her mom’s
friend, Diane in Boston, who has MS and wants to help her so much.
Any donation that you can provide would
be greatly appreciated. Any questions, please feel free to contact me at
203-359-2290. Simply click on the links at the bottom of this message to
sponsor me or Jenna.
P.S. If you would like more information about the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from the MS Bike Tour are
used, or the other ways you can get involved in the fight against MS, please
visit nationalmssociety.org.
Click
here to visit Jenna's personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web
address:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/CTNBikeEvents?px=3861201&pg=personal&fr_id=8699&s_tafId=71667
Click
here to visit Mark's personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web
address:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/CTNBikeEvents?px=2150852&pg=personal&fr_id=8699&s_tafId=71667
BAR/BAT
MITZVAH PROJECTS
---------
I love
baseball and many other sports, like basketball, lacrosse, football and soccer.
For my mitzvah project, I would like to gather new or used sports equipment to
donate to organizations in
Thank you.
Adam Satz