Come celebrate Sukkot at Beth El

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Come celebrate Sukkot at Beth El with a special Sukkot service at 7pm Wednesday October 12 , immediately followed by snacks in the awesome Sukkah.
Special kudos to Kevin Koeller, Alan Alhades and Cantor Ben-Moshe for building it, the children of the Beth El Religious School (BERS) for decorating it and Bam Rubinstein and Barry Mann for putting up the schach.
We will be having Friday night services at 7pm this coming Friday and again, hope you all can join us then.
Please note that you can use the sukkah during the whole week of sukkot, just come in through the side gate on the main side of the building. There should be a lulav and etrog in the sukkah for your use too.
Chag sameach,
Congregation Beth El
8902 Mesa Drive
Austin, TX 78759

Kol Nidre

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Kol Nidre services will begin this Friday at 6:45 sharp!  The calendar for Yom Kippur (and the next few months) is here, and you can learn more about Kol Nidre and the customs of Yom Kippur here. Customs and blessings for the meal before Yom Kippur are here, and there are notes about the liturgy here.

Yom Kippur Calendar:

Friday: Kol Nidre 6:45 SHARP!
Saturday: morning services at 9 am
Torah service at 10:30 am
children’s service 1t 10:30
Mincha at 5:30 pm
Neilah at 6:45 pm

Special notes:

  • Yertzheit candles are lit after the meal at home, but before the holiday candles.
  • It is customary to give tzedakah before the holiday.  In addition to your usual tzedakah donations, please consider giving specifically to organizations that help the homeless and hungry.  Our morning haftarah teaches (Isaiah 58):

5 Is such the fast I desire,
A day for men to starve their bodies?
Is it bowing the head like a bulrush
And lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call that a fast,
A day when the Lord is favorable?
6 No, this is the fast I desire:
To unlock the fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of the yoke
To let the oppressed go free;
To break off every yoke.
7 It is to share your bread with the hungry,
And to take the wretched poor into your home;
When you see the naked, to clothe him,
And not to ignore your own kin.

  • If you are accustomed to wearing a tallit, please bring one for Kol Nidre.  It is the only evening service of the year when congregants wear a tallit.
  • Please plan to park at the office park across the street or a few blocks away at Grace Church.  The driveway is reserved for disabled visitors and the residents of Dominion Cove have asked that we NOT use the north side of their street for parking.  The south side is available but limited.
  • Come early!

Did you know ???

This is the only Shabbat of the entire year that does not include a kiddush?  Come anyway!

A Very Special Shabbat

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Dear Congregants and Friends,

Please join us this Friday night, September 23 at 7 pm as we welcome back Colonel and Elinor Pusin who are visiting from San Antonio for Friday night services.

As many of you know, Colonel Pusin, who is 93 and a founding member at Beth El, recently moved to San Antonio after many years in Austin and at Beth El.  He will be coming to Beth El to see old friends and the new sanctuary in his beloved shul.  His friends from the Jewish War Veterans will be joining us too and we will have a kiddish and kibbitz after services.
Tomorrow night, September 24 at 8 pm, we will be having a havdallah, followed by slichot services.  Again, please join us for this “kick-off” to the High Holidays.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s weekly message:

This Shabbat, the last before Rosh Hashanah, is the double parshah of Nitzavim-VaYelech.  Moses’ final oration to the People of Israel is drawing to a close, and he says “You are present here, today, all of you.”  All of B’nai Yisrael were listening to Moses, from the highest to the lowest.  These words were not just for those who were standing on the border of the Land of Israel, though.  They are addressed to us as well.  We must be present, here, today.  Jewish tradition bids us to practice mindfulness through the practice of mitzvot.  At this time of year, when the shofar wakes us up from our stale routine, we must remember to be present.  Here.  Today.
Shabbat Shalom and G’mar hatimah tovah.

Congregation Beth El

8902 Mesa Drive

Austin TX 78759

High Holiday Cards!

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Still need Rosh Hashanah cards?  Shabbat cards to bring with your wine bottle or flowers when you’re invited to a Shabbat meal?  A Sukkot card to thank the friends who invite you to eat in their Sukkah?  How about Sukkot cards to use as invitations when you invite others to your sukkah?  We have even added Bar/Bat Mitzvah and thank-you cards to our collection.

Get your cards from Beth El and help our children raise money for child-size tallitot, story books, and costumes for Shabbat and holiday Junior Congregation programming.

click to enlarge

The kids have been busy, and so have I.  Here are 55 of the designs we have created, and there are samples available at shul entrance.  No cards will be sold on Shabbat, but if you order by email, I will leave your cards in the shul in an envelope for you. Remember also that we can custom paint, draw, or create a collage.   Children’s Services Fundraiser PO 2 page, or just email me.

The kids have assembled a wish list for Shabbat/holiday children’s services:

WISH LIST:

  • child-size ark & Torah scroll (We are already dancing with and reading from our scroll!  Thanks Mr. Arthur!)
  • child-size tallitot
  • costumes for kids & puppets
  • materials for holiday crafts
  • Torah books & stories

For more info, contact  MorahBetsy@gmail.com.

Elul and Shabbat Shoftim

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This week we read the Parsha Shoftim, which contains one of the most famous phrases in all of Torah, the sentence that tells us pursue justice.  This is such an important commandment that the word justice (tzedek צֶדֶק) is repeated twice.  Justice, JUSTICE shall you pursue.   –Betsy

Rabbi Ben Greenberg explains the importance of this repetition:

There is another way to read this phrase though and that is the interpretation of Ibn Ezra. He reads the double usage of the word tzedek to emphasize the importance of pursuing righteousness. No matter whether the righteousness “benefits you or harms you”. The work of justice is not meant to be a money making scheme or a path to getting rich quickly. On the contrary, it could harm chances for moving up the employment ladder, could distance a person from others and could seriously harm a person’s chance for material success. If, on the other hand, it does contribute to the financial success of a person that is fine and not to be looked down upon but that is not the goal of working towards justice.

A reminder of our regular Friday night and Saturday morning services this weekend, September 2 and 3.  Friday night services start at 7:00 pm and Saturday morning start at 9:00 am.

 

From Cantor Ben Moshe:
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, this I request-to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life….”. We are now in the month of Elul, approaching the Days of Awe, and we read these words from Psalm 27 morning and evening. At this time of year, we become more aware that we do live in the Presence of the Holy One, and that we should conduct ourselves accordingly. The shofar sounds in the morning, reminding us to wake up and take heed of our actions.
May this month of Elul be truly a time of heshbon nefesh, accounting of the soul, for us and for the entire House of Israel.

Shabbat Shalom.