Weekend and Passover
Friday Night Services, 3/27, at 7:00 pm
Shabbat Morning Services, 3/28, at 9:00 am
Rabbi Gisser’s Kashrut Class Sunday, 3/29, 10:30 am followed by community cleaning of the Beth El Building. Rabbi Gisser’s Class continues on April 19, May 10, & May 17.
Beth El’s Annual Second Night Seder Saturday Night, April 4, 2015 at 8:00 PM. Join us for our lively participatory second night seder. An annual tradition, we’ll celebrate the second night, singing and learning while eating a delicious kosher meal. We will begin reading the haggadah with Cantor Ben Moshe around 8:00 pm and this year Rabbi Gisser will join us and help lead us in special programming. This seder is open to the community with a suggested donation of $18 for adults and $7 for children. Please RSVP so we have an accurate head count.
Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This Shabbat, on which we read Parshat Tzav, is the Shabbat before Passover, known as HaShabbat Hagadol, the Great Shabbat. Originally, there was a “Great Shabbat” before each Festival, on which the traditions of the holiday would be explained. In our day, the one before Pesah remains, most likely because Pesah has more rules than other Festivals. One of these rules is that we may not possess any hametz, any leavened products during the week of Pesah. In the agrarian society in which our ancestors lived this wasn’t a problem, but now we are accustomed to keeping quantities of food which doesn’t spoil, and disposing of it all could be a considerable hardship. It is therefore permissible to sell our hametz to a non-Jew, thereby removing it from our possession, and then buy it back after the conclusion of the holiday. Those who wish can appoint me as their agent to sell their hametz-the sale would take effect on Friday, April 3, midmorning, and the buyback would be Saturday evening, April 11 at the conclusion of Shabbat. A sign-up sheet will be in the entrance lobby of Beth El before services Friday night, and then after Shabbat until next Friday morning. May we all approach this Festival of Freedom lighthearted and thankful for our liberty. Shabbat Shalom.