Shabbat Shalom: Schedule for Shabbat Ki Tetz, the whole week, and a great article

 

Dear Friends, Shabbat Shalom!  Please contact Rabbi Yaffe for access to all Zoom events Shabbat Times for Shabbat Shoftim  8/28 - 8/29, 2020: Candle Lighting  7:11 PM Evening Shema should be Recited (again) no earlier than 8:08 PM Morning Shema on Shabbat 7/18 no later than 9:28 AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services. This Shabbat we study the 1st and 2nd  Chapter of Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our fathers Shabbat ends and Havdalah is recited after  8:11 PM Remember Kiddush Levanah (Blessing on New Moon) it can be done any Night through all of Tuesday night On Wednesday Night you can recite it between 7:49 and 8:16 PM, then that's it.  The following applies to Both Friday Night and Shabbat morning Services: Please observe all the directives  found in this document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UXGyYWX5nyIto7Plj6P0iS7xiGk9eQhg/view?usp=sharing Please consult with your physician before attending if you have any health concerns! Please let us know if you are coming (You can still come if you forgot) Please follow all directions of the Rabbis and appointed ushers.  Please Stop by and come earlier if you can to have your temperature taken using our  Tzomet Institute Shabbat Compliant thermometer. Please sit in the same place you sat last week Public prayer is a contingent - although important, Rabbinic obligation. Guarding one’s health is a Biblical obligation of the greatest strictness. Please remember these priorities! Schedule of Shabbat Services Friday Evening  8/21 @7PM -  Services in Social Hall: Shabbat Morning 8/22@ 9 AM - Service in Main Sanctuary Important:   Morning Shema on no later than 9:22AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services. Recite all prayers (except Baruch She'amar)  before Mizmor Shir l'yom Hashabbat before arriving at Synagogue .We begin with Baruch She'amar and Mizmor Shir  Rabbis Office Hours: I'm here in the Synagogue taking and making calls from /to our members. Since the synagogue line is tied up at times, please call on my cell phone: 617.595.6437. In addition, you can email me on rabbi@bnaitorahma.org to set up a phone appointment. In the coming week those hours are: Thursday 8/13     9AM -11AM Friday 8/14          9AM -10AM  I look forward to seeing you on  Zoom and talking to you on the phone. Your calls and emails are a true pleasure.   If you don't join our classes and services on the computer with Zoom, I am now providing a dial-in number  for each class and service, so you can use any phone to call in and participate in the class or service   Sunday Zoom Shacharit service  @ 8AM Zoom Shacharit Service : Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday@ 7AM  Zoom Service Mincha: Only Thursday 9/03  this week  @ 7PM Mastering Talmud Class Sunday 8/30  9:30 AM Buying, Selling and Price Gouging  - in  Tractate Bava Batra Also on Facebook Live https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 Shaarei Teshuvah "Gates of Repentance"  Daily -This week NOT Monday 8/31, YES Tuesday 9/01 but NOT Wednesday 9/02  and YES on Thursday 9/03  and YES Friday 9/04   Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 Torah -in Depth Weekly Torah Portion Tuesday  9/02 NO CLASS Midrash Class Thursday 9/03/20   1PM   Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 The Big Idea  Thursday 9/03 @ 07:30 PM EDT This Week: Changing and Unchanging: The Growth of Jewish Law and Practice Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 An Article by Rabbi Sacks from six years ago that  speaks to our time: Ki Tetzei contains more laws than any other parsha in the Torah, and it is possible to be overwhelmed by this embarrass de richesse of detail. One verse, however, stands out by its sheer counter-intuitiveness: Do not despise an Edomite, because he is your brother. Do not despise the Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land. (Deut. 23: 8) These are very unexpected commands. Understanding them will teach us an important lesson about leadership. First, a general point. Jews have been subjected to racism more and longer than any other nation on earth. Therefore we should be doubly careful never to be guilty of it ourselves. We believe that God created each of us, regardless of colour, class, culture or creed, in His image. If we look down on other people because of their race, then we are demeaning God’s image and failing to respect kavod ha-briyot, human dignity. If we think less of a person because of the colour of his or her skin, we are repeating the sin of Aaron and Miriam – “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman” (Num. 12: 1). There are midrashic interpretations that read this passage differently but the plain sense is that they looked down on Moses’ wife because, like Cushite women generally, she had dark skin, making this one of the first recorded instances of colour prejudice. For this sin Miriam was struck with leprosy. Instead we should remember the lovely line from The Song of Songs: “I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me” (Song 1: 5). Jews cannot complain that others have racist attitudes toward them if they hold racist attitudes toward others. “First correct yourself then [seek to] correct others,” says the Talmud.[1] Tanakh contains negative evaluations of some other nations, but always and only because of their moral failures, never because of ethnicity or skin colour. Now to Moses’ two commands against hate,[2] both of which are surprising. “Do not despise the Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land.” This is extraordinary. The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, planned a programme against them of slow genocide, and then refused to let them go despite the plagues that were devastating the land. Are these reasons not to hate? True: but the Egyptians had initially provided a refuge for the Israelites at a time of famine. They had honoured Joseph and made him second-in-command. The evils they committed against them under “a new king who did not know of Joseph” (Ex. 1: 8) were at the instigation of Pharaoh himself, not the people as a whole. Besides which it was the daughter of that Pharaoh who had rescued Moses and adopted him. The Torah makes a clear distinction between the Egyptians and the Amalekites. The latter were destined to be perennial enemies of Israel, but not the former. In a later age Isaiah would make a remarkable prophecy, that a day would come when the Egyptians would suffer their own oppression. They would cry out to God, who would rescue them just as he had rescued the Israelites: When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a saviour and defender, and he will rescue them. So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. (Isaiah 19: 20-21) The wisdom of Moses’ command not to despise Egyptians still shines through today. If the people continued to hate their erstwhile oppressors, Moses would have taken the Israelites out of Egypt but would have failed to take Egypt out of the Israelites. They would still be slaves, not physically but psychologically. They would be slaves to the past, held captive by the chains of resentment, unable to build the future. To be free, you have to let go of hate. That is a difficult truth but a necessary one. No less surprising is Moses’ insistence: “Do not despise an Edomite, because he is your brother.” Edom was, of course, the other name of Esau. There was a time when Esau hated Jacob and vowed to kill him. Besides which, before the twins were born, Rebecca received an oracle telling her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the elder will serve the younger” (Gen. 25: 23). Whatever these words mean, they seem to imply that there will be eternal conflict between the two brothers and their descendants. At a much later age, during the Second Temple period, the prophet Malachi said: “’Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated …” (Malachi 1: 2-3). Centuries later still, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, “It is a halakhah [rule, law, inescapable truth] that Esau hates Jacob.”[3] Why then does Moses tell us not to despise Esau’s descendants? The answer is simple. Esau may hate Jacob. It does not follow that Jacob should hate Esau. To answer hate with hate is to be dragged down to the level of your opponent. When, in the course of a television programme, I asked Judea Pearl, father of the murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, why he was working for reconciliation between Jews and Muslims, he replied with heartbreaking lucidity, “Hate killed my son. Therefore I am determined to fight hate.” As Martin Luther King said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Or as Kohelet said, there is “a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Eccl. 3: 8). It was none other than Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai who said that when Esau met Jacob for the last time, he kissed and embraced him “with a full heart.”[4] Hate, especially between brothers, is not eternal and inexorable. Always be ready, Moses seems to have implied, for reconciliation between enemies. Contemporary Games Theory suggests the same. Martin Nowak’s programme “Generous Tit-for-Tat” is a winning strategy in the scenario known as the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma. Tit-for-tat says: start by being nice to your opponent, then do to him what he does to you (in Hebrew, middah kneged middah). Generous Tit-for-Tat says, don’t always do to him what he does to you or you may found yourself locked into a mutually destructive cycle of retaliation. Every so often ignore (i.e. forgive) your opponent’s last harmful move. That, roughly speaking, is what the sages meant when they said that God originally created the world under the attribute of strict justice but saw that it could not survive. Therefore He built into it the principle of compassion.[5] Moses’ two commands against hate are testimony to his greatness as a leader. It is the easiest thing in the world to become a leader by mobilising the forces of hate. That is what Radovan Karadzic and Slobodan Milosevic did in the former Yugoslavia and it less to mass murder and ethnic cleansing. It is what the state controlled media did – describing Tutsis as inyenzi, “cockroaches” – before the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It is what dozens of preachers of hate are doing today, often using the Internet to communicate paranoia and incite acts of terror. This was the technique mastered by Hitler as a prelude to the worst-ever crime of man against man. The language of hate is capable of creating enmity between people of different faiths and ethnicities who have lived peaceably together for centuries. It has consistently been the most destructive force in history, and even knowledge of the Holocaust has not put an end to it, even in Europe. It is the unmistakable mark of toxic leadership. In his classic work, Leadership, James MacGregor Burns distinguishes between transactional and transformational leaders. The former address people’s interests. The latter attempt to raise their sights. “Transforming leadership is elevating. It is moral but not moralistic. Leaders engage with followers, but from higher levels of morality; in the enmeshing of goals and values both leaders and followers are raised to more principled levels of judgement.”[6] Leadership at its highest transforms those who exercise it and those who are influenced by it. The great leaders make people better, kinder, nobler than they would otherwise be. That was the achievement of Washington, Lincoln, Churchill, Gandhi and Mandela. The paradigm case was Moses, the man who had more lasting influence than any other leader in history. He did it by teaching the Israelites not to hate. Hate the sin but not the sinner. Do not forget the past but do not be held captive by it. Be willing to fight your enemies but never allow yourself to be defined by them or become like them. Learn to love and forgive. Acknowledge the evil men do, but stay focused on the good that is in our power to do. Only thus do we raise the moral sights of humankind and help redeem the world we share. [1] Baba Metsia 107b. [2] Whenever I refer, here and elsewhere, to “Moses’ commands,” I mean, of course, to imply that these were given by Divine instruction and revelation. This, in a deep sense, is why God chose Moses, a man who said repeatedly of himself that he was not a man of words. The words he spoke were those of God. That, and that alone, is what gives them timeless authority for the people of the covenant. [3] Sifri, Bamidbar, Behaalotecha, 69. [4] Sifri ad loc. [5] See Rashi to Genesis 1: 1, s.v. bara. [6] James MacGregor Burns, Leadership, Harper Perennial, 2010, 455.   Follow our website and Blog at https://www.bnaitorahma.org/

Don’t Let The Pandemic Get In the Way of Your Child’s Jewish Education! A Bespoke Hebrew School Tutoring Program for Your Child at Bnai Torah - Open to All

 Don’t Let The Pandemic Get In the Way of Your Child’s Jewish Education!

A Bespoke Hebrew School Tutoring Program for Your Child at Bnai Torah  - Open to All

We offer Hebrew reading and Language, Judaism, Holidays and Judaic Ethics

We will study with your children individually and develop a curriculum for each of them tailored to each child.

We abide by all necessary COVID-19 Precautions

We will be meeting outdoors, weather permitting - with masks.

As it gets colder, or in inclement weather, we will begin socially distanced indoor study with each family separately -in appropriate spaces in the Bnai Torah building. Our building is sanitized regularly.

We meet one-on-one once or twice a week for 30-minute sessions

Fees: Members of Bnai Torah:  Weekly: $15 for one session a week, $25 for two sessions a week
                             Non-Members: Weekly: $25 for one session a week $40 for two sessions a week

Please contact Chana Yaffe via email  at chanieyaffe@gmail.com or call /text on 857.230.8826 for more information and to register

Schedule and thoughts for Shabbat and the coming week

 Dear Friends,

Shabbat Shalom!
This shabbat is the 2nd day of Elul -Remember to say "Ledovid" -  Psalm 27 in Shacharit and Maariv all month -see next section 

The High Holiday Anthem -by SDY

Nations, states, provinces and even some Japanese corporations have anthems.

An anthem is a piece of music that expresses the essence of the entity it celebrates, a common theme which unites all of the diverse people and variegated activities of life in that place.

For example, there are a lot of different types of gatherings at which the “Star-Spangled Banner” is played in the United States. Some are happy and some sad. Some are deeply serious and some are frivolous. Some are large and some quite small. The common theme the anthem gives voice to is: we are proud to be Americans, and are grateful for the opportunities this country has given us; we know that our felicity and security has been bought with sacrifice and blood, and we know that only absolute steadfastness in protecting our liberties will retain them. We are cognizant of these truths both when swearing in a new president and when enjoying ourselves at a baseball game, as they are equally crucial to both.

The High Holiday season also has an “anthem.”

We are now entering a season of profound, powerful and experientially diverse days on the Jewish calendar. The festivals and special dates of this season pluck every string of our being, and sound virtually every note our soul can sing.

During the month of Elul, we engage in introspection and self-evaluation.

On Rosh Hashanah, we explore our personal and communal connection to G‑d and renew our belief that we can make a difference in our world.

During the Ten Days of Return which climax on Yom Kippur, we confront the negativity in our past. We then connect ourselves to our ultimate Source at a level deeper than our shortcomings can reach, and with the power of that bond transform the bitterness of the past into the sweetness of a better future.

With this newfound closeness to the transcendent, we then enter the festival of Sukkot, where every aspect of our lives is embraced and suffused with the presence of G‑d’s love for us and our reciprocal love of G‑d—an experience that engenders the great happiness which culminates in the consummate joy of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

These experiences are very varied, yet are part of a single continuum. They have an anthem that expresses that continuity.

The “anthem” of the High Holiday season, which spans the Jewish months of Elul and Tishrei, is Psalm 27, “G‑d is my light.”

For fifty days—from Rosh Chodesh (“the head of the month”) of Elul to the seventh day of Sukkot (“Hoshana Rabbah”)—we recite this psalm twice a day, morning and evening. Its opening line is the key to all of the aforementioned experiences: “G‑d is my light . . .”

The purpose of light is to reveal. It enables us to see clearly that which it shines upon. This anthem gives voice to our sense that during this time of year G‑d is uniquely accessible, and we therefore can open the doors of our consciousness to G‑d and allow His light to reveal all that we possess, but have somehow missed in the dimmed corridors of everyday life.

This light is the overarching theme of this season:

The light reveals our flaws.

It reveals our potential to transcend those flaws.

It reveals that our negativity runs no deeper than a bad dream from which we can awake with a surge of willed consciousness.

It reveals that our dream of perfection is a vision we are empowered to attain.

It reveals that we are not as far from G‑dliness as we thought we were.

It reveals that we are not a separate entity from G‑d, but an extension of G‑d’s essence.

It reveals our ability to see this divine quality in everyone else as well.

It reveals our capacity to rise above the pain of the transient and ephemeral.

It reveals our capacity to rejoice in the real and eternal.

As we say these magnificent words each day during this crucial period, let us open ourselves up to the G‑dly light within us, and transform ourselves and our world—for good.
Psalm 27 Follows below

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כ״ז
לְדָוִ֨ד ׀ יְהוָ֤ה ׀ אוֹרִ֣י וְ֭יִשְׁעִי מִמִּ֣י אִירָ֑א יְהוָ֥ה מָֽעוֹז־חַ֝יַּ֗י מִמִּ֥י אֶפְחָֽד׃

בִּקְרֹ֤ב עָלַ֨י ׀ מְרֵעִים֮ לֶאֱכֹ֪ל אֶת־בְּשָׂ֫רִ֥י צָרַ֣י וְאֹיְבַ֣י לִ֑י הֵ֖מָּה כָשְׁל֣וּ וְנָפָֽלוּ׃

אִם־תַּחֲנֶ֬ה עָלַ֨י ׀ מַחֲנֶה֮ לֹֽא־יִירָ֪א לִ֫בִּ֥י אִם־תָּק֣וּם עָ֭לַי מִלְחָמָ֑ה בְּ֝זֹ֗את אֲנִ֣י בוֹטֵֽחַ׃

אַחַ֤ת ׀ שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־יְהוָה֮ אוֹתָ֪הּ אֲבַ֫קֵּ֥שׁ שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵית־יְ֭הוָה כָּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י לַחֲז֥וֹת בְּנֹֽעַם־יְ֝הוָ֗ה וּלְבַקֵּ֥ר בְּהֵיכָלֽוֹ׃

כִּ֤י יִצְפְּנֵ֨נִי ׀ בְּסֻכֹּה֮ בְּי֪וֹם רָ֫עָ֥ה יַ֭סְתִּרֵנִי בְּסֵ֣תֶר אָהֳל֑וֹ בְּ֝צ֗וּר יְרוֹמְמֵֽנִי׃

וְעַתָּ֨ה יָר֪וּם רֹאשִׁ֡י עַ֤ל אֹֽיְבַ֬י סְֽבִיבוֹתַ֗י וְאֶזְבְּחָ֣ה בְ֭אָהֳלוֹ זִבְחֵ֣י תְרוּעָ֑ה אָשִׁ֥ירָה וַ֝אֲזַמְּרָ֗ה לַיהוָֽה׃

שְׁמַע־יְהוָ֖ה קוֹלִ֥י אֶקְרָ֗א וְחָנֵּ֥נִי וַעֲנֵֽנִי׃

לְךָ֤ ׀ אָמַ֣ר לִ֭בִּי בַּקְּשׁ֣וּ פָנָ֑י אֶת־פָּנֶ֖יךָ יְהוָ֣ה אֲבַקֵּֽשׁ׃

אַל־תַּסְתֵּ֬ר פָּנֶ֨יךָ ׀ מִמֶּנִּי֮ אַֽל־תַּט־בְּאַ֗ף עַ֫בְדֶּ֥ךָ עֶזְרָתִ֥י הָיִ֑יתָ אַֽל־תִּטְּשֵׁ֥נִי וְאַל־תַּֽ֝עַזְבֵ֗נִי אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׁעִֽי׃

כִּי־אָבִ֣י וְאִמִּ֣י עֲזָב֑וּנִי וַֽיהוָ֣ה יַֽאַסְפֵֽנִי׃

ה֤וֹרֵ֥נִי יְהוָ֗ה דַּ֫רְכֶּ֥ךָ וּ֭נְחֵנִי בְּאֹ֣רַח מִישׁ֑וֹר לְ֝מַ֗עַן שׁוֹרְרָֽי׃

אַֽל־תִּ֭תְּנֵנִי בְּנֶ֣פֶשׁ צָרָ֑י כִּ֥י קָֽמוּ־בִ֥י עֵֽדֵי־שֶׁ֝֗קֶר וִיפֵ֥חַ חָמָֽס׃

לׅׄוּלֵׅׄ֗אׅׄ הֶ֭אֱמַנְתִּי לִרְא֥וֹת בְּֽטוּב־יְהוָ֗ה בְּאֶ֣רֶץ חַיִּֽים׃

קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־יְה֫וָ֥ה חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל־יְהוָֽה׃

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27:

Of David. The LORD is my light and my help; whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life, whom should I dread?

When evil men assail me to devour my flesh— it is they, my foes and my enemies, who stumble and fall.

Should an army besiege me, my heart would have no fear; should war beset me, still would I be confident.

One thing I ask of the LORD, only that do I seek: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD, to frequent His temple.

He will shelter me in His pavilion on an evil day, grant me the protection of His tent, raise me high upon a rock.

Now is my head high over my enemies roundabout; I sacrifice in His tent with shouts of joy, singing and chanting a hymn to the LORD.

Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; have mercy on me, answer me.

In Your behalf my heart says: “Seek My face!” O LORD, I seek Your face.

Do not hide Your face from me; do not thrust aside Your servant in anger; You have ever been my help. Do not forsake me, do not abandon me, O God, my deliverer.

Though my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will take me in.

Show me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my watchful foes.

Do not subject me to the will of my foes, for false witnesses and unjust accusers have appeared against me.

Had I not the assurance that I would enjoy the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living…

Look to the LORD; be strong and of good courage! O look to the LORD!

Shabbat Times for Shabbat Shoftim 8/21 - 8/22, 2020:

Candle Lighting 7:22 PM Evening Shema should be Recited (again) no earlier than 8:19 PM Morning Shema on Shabbat 7/18 no later than 9:22A AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services. This Shabbat we study the 6th Chapter of Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our fathers Shabbat ends and Havdalah is recited after 8:23 PM Schedule The following applies to Both Friday Night and Shabbat morning Services: Please observe all the directives found in this document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UXGyYWX5nyIto7Plj6P0iS7xiGk9eQhg/view?usp=sharing Please consult with your physician before attending if you have any health concerns! Please let us know if you are coming (You can still come if you forgot) Please follow all directions of the Rabbis and appointed ushers. Please Stop by and come earlier if you can to have your temperature taken using our Tzomet Institute Shabbat Compliant thermometer. Please sit in the same place you sat last week Public prayer is a contingent - although important, Rabbinic obligation. Guarding one’s health is a Biblical obligation of the greatest strictness. Please remember these priorities!

Shabbat Services Friday Evening 8/21 @7PM - Services in Social Hall: Shabbat Morning 8/22@ 9 AM - Service in Main Sanctuary Important: Morning Shema on no later than 9:22AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services. Recite all prayers (except Baruch She'amar) before Mizmor Shir l'yom Hashabbat before arriving at Synagogue .We begin with Baruch She'amar and Mizmor Shir Rabbis Office Hours: I'm here in the Synagogue taking and making calls from /to our members. Since the synagogue line is tied up at times, please call on my cell phone: 617.595.6437. In addition, you can email me on rabbi@bnaitorahma.org to set up a phone appointment. In the coming week those hours are: Tuesday 8/11 9AM to 10 AM and 4PM - 6 PM Thursday 8/13 9AM -11AM Friday 8/14 9AM -10AM I look forward to seeing you on Zoom and talking to you on the phone. Your calls and emails are a true pleasure. If you don't join our classes and services on the computer with Zoom, I am now providing a dial-in number for each class and service, so you can use any phone to call in and participate in the class or service Sunday Zoom Shacharit service 8/23 @ 8AM Zoom Shacharit Service : Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday@ 7AM 8/24 -8/28 Zoom Service Mincha all Tuesdays and Thursdays @ 7PM Mastering Talmud Class Sunday 8/23 9:30 AM Buying, Selling and Price Gouging - in Tractate Bava Batra Also on Facebook Live https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

Shaarei Teshuvah "Gates of Repentance" Daily -This week NOT Monday 8/24, YES Tuesday 8/25 but NOT Wednesday 8/26 and YES on Thursday 8/28 and Friday 8/29 Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 Torah -in Depth Weekly Torah Portion Tuesday 8/25 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 Midrash Class Thursday 8/27/20 1PM Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

The Big Idea Thursday 8/27 @ 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) This Week: Changing and Unchanging: The Growth of Jewish Law and Practice Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 Follow our website and Blog at https://www.bnaitorahma.org/

Shabbat Shalom: Schedule for Shabbat Re-eh and the whole week

Dear Friends,

Shabbat Shalom!

This Week is Shabbat Mevarchim - we bless the new month of Elul -the preparation month for the High Holidays.

Rosh Chodesh Elul is Thursday and Friday - we begin sounding the Shofar on Friday  -Rember the special Rosh Chodesh prayers 

 

Shabbat Times for Shabbat Re-eh  8/14 - 8/15, 2020:

Candle Lighting  7:33 PM

Evening Shema should be Recited (again) no earlier than 8:29 PM

Morning Shema on Shabbat 7/18 no later than 9:22A AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services.

This Shabbat we study the 5th Chapter of Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our fathers

Shabbat ends and Havdalah is recited after  8:35 PM

Schedule

The following applies to Both Friday Night and Shabbat morning Services:

Please observe all the directives  found in this document:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UXGyYWX5nyIto7Plj6P0iS7xiGk9eQhg/view?usp=sharing

Please consult with your physician before attending if you have any health concerns!

Please let us know if you are coming (You can still come if you forgot)

Please follow all directions of the Rabbis and appointed ushers. 

Please Stop by and come earlier if you can to have your temperature taken using our  Tzomet Institute Shabbat Compliant thermometer.

Please sit in the same place you sat last week

Public prayer is a contingent - although important, Rabbinic obligation. Guarding one’s health is a Biblical obligation of the greatest strictness. Please remember these priorities!

Shabbat Services

Friday Evening  8/14 @7PM -  Services in Social Hall:

Shabbat Morning 8/15@ 9 AM - Service in Main Sanctuary

Important:   Morning Shema on no later than 9:22AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services. Recite all prayers (except Baruch She'amar)  before Mizmor Shir l'yom Hashabbat before arriving at Synagogue .We begin with Baruch She'amar and Mizmor Shir 

Rabbis Office Hours: I'm here in the Synagogue taking and making calls from /to our members.

Since the synagogue line is tied up at times, please call on my cell phone: 617.595.6437. In addition, you can email me on rabbi@bnaitorahma.org to set up a phone appointment.

In the coming week those hours are:

Tuesday 8/11        9AM to 10 AM and 4PM - 6 PM

Thursday 8/13     9AM -11AM

Friday 8/14          9AM -10AM 

I look forward to seeing you on  Zoom and talking to you on the phone. Your calls and emails are a true pleasure.

     If you don't join our classes and services on the computer with Zoom, I am now providing a dial-in number  for each class and service, so you can use any phone to call in and participate in the class or service  

Sunday Zoom Shacharit service 8/16 @ 8AM

Zoom Shacharit Service : Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday@ 7AM 8/17 -8/21

Zoom Service Mincha all  Tuesdays and Thursdays  @ 7PM

Mastering Talmud Class Sunday 8/16  9:30 AM Buying, Selling and Price Gouging  - in  Tractate Bava Batra

Also on Facebook Live https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

Shaarei Teshuvah "Gates of Repentance" 

Daily -This week NOT Monday 8/10, YES Tuesday 8/11 but NOT Wednesday 8/12  and YES on Thursday 8/13  and Friday 8/14  

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

Torah -in Depth Weekly Torah Portion Tuesday  8/18 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

Midrash Class Thursday 8/20/20   1PM  

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

The Big Idea  Thursday 8/20 @ 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

This Week: Changing and Unchanging: The Growth of Jewish Law and Practice

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

Follow our website and Blog at https://www.bnaitorahma.org/

Shabbat Shalom: Schedule for Shabbat Ekev and the whole week

Dear Friends,
We have lost a giant of Torah and Ahavat Yisrael
See this article please: ‘His works will last for generations’: Leaders mourn Rabbi Adin Steinsalt

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Shabbat Times for Shabbat Ekev  8/07 - 8/08, 2020:
Candle Lighting  7:43 PM
Evening Shema should be Recited (again) no earlier than 8:39 PM
Morning Shema on Shabbat 7/18 no later than 9:21A AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services.
This Shabbat we study the 4th Chapter of Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our fathers
Shabbat ends and Havdalah is recited after  8:46 PM

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Schedule

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The following applies to Both Friday Night and Shabbat morning Services:
Please observe all the directives  found in this document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UXGyYWX5nyIto7Plj6P0iS7xiGk9eQhg/view?usp=sharing

• Please consult with your physician before attending if you have any health concerns!
• Please let us know if you are coming (You can still come if you forgot)
• Please follow all directions of the Rabbis and appointed ushers. 
• Please Stop by and come earlier if you can to have your temperature taken using our  Tzomet Institute Shabbat Compliant thermometer.
• Please sit in the same place you sat last week

Public prayer is a contingent - although important, Rabbinic obligation. Guarding one’s health is a Biblical obligation of the greatest strictness. Please remember these priorities!

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Shabbat Services
Friday Evening  8/07 @7PM -  Services in Social Hall:
Shabbat Morning 8/08@ AM - Service in Main Sanctuary

Important:   Morning Shema on no later than 9:21AM -Recite three paragraphs of Shema before Synagogue services. Recite all prayers (except Baruch She'amar)  before Mizmor Shir l'yom Hashabbat before arriving at Synagogue .We begin with Baruch She'amar and Mizmor Shir 

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Rabbis Office Hours: I'm here in the Synagogue taking and making calls from /to our members.
Since the synagogue line is tied up at times, please call on my cell phone: 617.595.6437. In addition, you can email me on rabbi@bnaitorahma.org to set up a phone appointment.

In the coming week those hours are:
Monday  8/10       9AM to 10AM and 4PM - 6 PM
Tuesday 8/11        9AM to 10 AM and 4PM - 6 PM
Thursday 8/13     9AM -11AM
Friday 8/14          9AM -10AM 
I look forward to seeing you on  Zoom and talking to you on the phone. Your calls and emails are a true pleasure.

---

     If you don't join our classes and services on the computer with Zoom, I am now providing a dial-in number  for each class and service, so you can use any phone to call in and participate in the class or service  

Please Contact Rabbi Yaffe For Zoom Login Information 

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Sunday Zoom Shacharit service 8/09 @ 8AM

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Zoom Shacharit Service : Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday@ 7AM 8/10 -8/14

Zoom Service Mincha all  Tuesdays and Thursdays  @ 7PM

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Mastering Talmud Class Sunday 8/02  9:30 AM Buying, Selling and Price Gouging  - in  Tractate Bava Batra

Also on Facebook Live https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

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Shaarei Teshuvah "Gates of Repentance" 
Daily -This week yes Monday 8/10, Tuesday 8/11 but not Wednesday 8/12  and yes on Thursday 8/13  and Friday 8/14  

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

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Torah -in Depth Weekly Torah Portion Tuesday  8/11 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

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Midrash Class Thursday 8/13/20   1PM  

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

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The Big Idea  Thursday  @ 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
This Week: Changing and Unchanging: The Growth of Jewish Law and Practice

Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

Follow our website and Blog at https://www.bnaitorahma.org/

Tonight and Tomorrow / Power Outages help / Eruv

 

As you know, some of us are still without power due to the storm. If there is any practical assistance of  any sort needed please contact Rabbi Yaffe at 617.595.6437. If you are unable to prepare food for Shabbat let me know. We can help.  Also if anyone needs fridge space the Synagogue has plenty at 2 Eunice Drive. Anything closed up and clearly marked with your name (or in a bag with your name) can be brought in. Please contact Rabbi Yaffe to arrange this. The Eruv is Up Please contact Rabbi Yaffe for Zoom login information  Thursday: Zoom Service Mincha Thursdays  @ 7PM The Big Idea  Thursday  @ 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) This Week: Maimonides on the Messiah and All That Part II Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1 Friday Zoom Shacharit Service Friday  7AM 8/3 -8/7 Ethics of Judaism Tuesday 8:30 PM Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

Important Message and Tuesday's Happenings at CBT

Dear Friends,

Tonight is the final night for Kiddush Levanah -the Blessing on the New Moon.

It can be recited  all night tonight.

If you couldn't do it tonight there is a way to do it tomorrow night (with certain changes) if necessary,  -please contact Rabbi Yaffe.

Here's an online text for Kiddush Levanah with English Translation: https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz%2C_Weekday%2C_Maariv%2C_Bircat_Levana?lang=bi 
 

Contact Rabbi Yaffe for  Zoom  info 

Shacharit Service :  Tuesday 7AM

On Zoom
Zoom Service Mincha  Tuesday@ 7PM

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Avot Derav Natan (Ethics of Judaism -expanded ) Tuesday 8:30 PM
On Zoom
Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

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Torah -in Depth Weekly Torah Portion Tuesday  8/04 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) on Zoom 
Also on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1

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A Thought from Rashi on this week's Parsha: 

Deuteronomy Chapter 7

Devarim 7: 12 And it will be, because you will heed these ordinances and keep them and perform, that the Lord, your God, will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers.		יבוְהָיָ֣ה | עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֥ם וַֽעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם וְשָׁמַר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לְךָ֗ אֶת־הַבְּרִית֙ וְאֶת־הַחֶ֔סֶד אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖ע לַֽאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ:
Rashi: And it will be, because you will heed: Heb. עֵקֶב, lit. heel. If you will heed the minor commandments which one [usually] tramples with his heels [i.e., which a person treats as being of minor importance].		והיה עקב תשמעון: אם המצות הקלות שאדם דש בעקביו תשמעון (תנחומא א(:
That the Lord, your God, will keep: He will keep His promise to you.		ושמר ה' אלוהיך לך את הברית וגו': ישמור לך הבטחתו: