Please Contact Rabbi Yaffe for Zoom log-in information:
rabbi@bnaitorahma.org
413.567.0036
Shabbat Breishit /Shabbat Mevarchim Cheshvan
Dear All,
We know enter the test of how reral we can make the inspiration of these holidays we have just ended. See below:
After the article, I will be listing all events, services, and classes day by day in this weeks email, so just scroll down to find anything you need for a given day
Question: Which is the most important week of this year?
Answer: This week, the week after all the Holidays
Before you run to choose in which of the 86 Jewish calendars you have received from various worthy charities you want to look this day up, relax — I'll tell you which holiday falls on week . None. This week - the week after a packed, 23-day flood of special days is also the most important week of this year
Picture the launch of a space vehicle being sent to explore some distant reach of the universe on a journey never before attempted. The countdown is over, a button is pressed, and — hopefully — away it goes, to where silicon has never gone before. Countless thousands of top-quality man-hours have been invested in this project by people who are, indeed, rocket scientists. Yet, if when the button is pressed, the rocket explodes or otherwise malfunctions, all that genius is for naught.
The button does not require an engineer to press it — it is such a simple task even a politician can do it. Yet, that very pressing of the button is the purpose of all those expert hours. If that single event does not occur as it should, then something has gone very wrong in all those preparations, and the mission is a failure.
Spiritually speaking, during the Tishrei festivals we are in the position of the "rocket scientist"; a savant of Jewish life. We focus on our soul-life more than any other time of year. We find ourselves praying more intensely and more often. We are more careful in the way we treat others and more generous in our charitable donations. The Shofar inspires us, Yom Kippur uplifts us, and we find meaningful joy in our families and communities on Sukkot. We are on a high level and doing great things.
However, after the holidays are over, we go back to our ordinary workaday world. When we get up that morning, is the spirit of closeness to G‑d we experienced during the High Holidays in our prayers? Do we rise to a high standard of integrity, a standard easily imagined in the synagogue but challenged by the prevailing norms as we get back to our careers? When we leave the "laboratory" of the Holy Days, do our resolutions work on the "launch pad" — in the real world where our commitments are challenged at every turn?
If we did our equations properly in this laboratory, they will work in the real world. But if we do not live our workaday lives differently, then all the drama of the holidays is impressive, but they miss their entire goal: that we lead our everyday lives as a journey to G‑dliness and integrity that takes us this year to places we have never been before.
In the Haftarah (reading from the Prophets) for the morning of Yom Kippur the Prophet Isaiah challenges us to do precisely this — that we "launch" our holy days into the real world:
Is such the fast that I have chosen? The day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to G‑d?
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the fetters of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When you see the naked, that you cover him, and that thou hide not yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of G‑d shall be your rearward.
Then your shall call, and G‑d will answer; you shall cry, and He will say: 'Here I am.' If you take away from your midst the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedness.
And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your gloom be as the noon-day;
And G‑d will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make strong your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah 58:5-11)
By Shlomo Yaffe
Schedule for Week of 10/16 - /10/23
Friday 10/16
1. Morning Services in main sanctuary @ 7AM by Zoom
2. Candle Lighting for Shabbat Breishit /Shabbat Mevarchim Cheshvan . No later than 5:48 PM
Mincha / Kabbalat Shabbat in Social Hall 5:45 PM
Shabbat Breishit /Shabbat Mevarchim Cheshvan 10/17
1. Morning Services 9 AM
Please 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
Torah Reading: Bereishit - Genesis 1:1 - 6:8 (Hertz pg. 2 / Artscroll pg. 2)
Special Haftara for the Eve of Rosh Chodesh: "Machar Chodesh" Samuel 1 20:18-42 (Hertz pg 948 /Artscroll pg 1207)
2. Mincha 5:35 PM
3. Motzei Shabbat- Shabbat ends 6:48PM
Sunday 10/18/20 Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan Day 1 1. Sunday Zoom Shacharit service @ 8AM
SUNDAY TALMUD CLASS Mastering Talmud Class 9:30 AM zoom
Also on Facebook Live https://www.facebook.com/bnai.torah.1
Monday 10/19 Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan Day 2
Morning services @ 7AM by Zoom:
No Morning Aggadah Class due to Rosh Chodesh
Tuesday 10/20 - We Resume Tachanun
Morning services by Zoom:
New Jewish Ethics and Thought Class: Amazing Aggadah - The Non-Legends of the Talmud zoom
Wednesday 10/21
Morning services by Zoom:
Thursday 10/22
Morning services by Zoom:
New Jewish Ethics and Thought Class: Amazing Aggadah - The Non-Legends of the Talmud
Friday 10/23
Morning services by Zoom:
New Jewish Ethics and Thought Class: Amazing Aggadah - The Non-Legends of the Talmud
8:30 - 9AM Zoom
Shabbat Noach Eve:
Candle Lighting: 5:35PM
Mincha & Kabbalat Shabbat : 5:45 PM
A Tutorial -based Supplemental School for Jewish Children.
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
Follow our website and Blog at https://www.bnaitorahma.org/
