Friday Night Shabbat Services
Friday 7/21, at the regular time of 7:00 PM. We’ll light shabbat candles together just before services.
Shabbat morning services THIS WEEKEND 7/22 and are being sponsored by Bam Rubenstein
in loving memory of his late dad, Ralph “Ralphie” Rubenstein z’l. Everyone in the old neighborhood loved him, and they all called him, “Ralphie.” Even his kids! He was bigger than life, and ALWAYS helped anyone in trouble.
Candle lighting in Austin is at 8:14 PM
Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
Towards the end of Parshat Mas’ei, the second of the two parshot that we read this Shabbat, we encounter the rule of the Sanctuary City, where someone who killed another person accidentally could take refuge (this did not apply to negligent homicide or to murder). Outside the Sanctuary City, a designated relative of the deceased was allowed to avenge the death. This was a progression from the practice of blood feud, where families would avenge deaths themselves. Although emotionally satisfying, blood vengeance can tear down a society, whereas putting these matters into the hands of a court of law stabilizes society. Ultimately, our Tradition decreed that no one could be put to death except by a court decree, and then only under very narrow conditions. Jewish Tradition abhors the taking of life, and allows it only as a last resort. Nearly two thousand years ago, internecine violence within the Jewish People led to the destruction of the Second Temple and our long exile from our homeland. May we, their descendants, always relate to each other, and to all people, with “causeless love” rather than causeless hate. May the scourge of violence be gone forever, from us, the Land of Israel, and all people everywhere. Shabbat Shalom. Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe
Beth El Hebrew school starting in the fall. First day BACK September 10th!
For our Hebrew speakers: a Hebrew Immersion class is starting up. We also continue our one of a kind school, Sundays at 10 to 12. Come check us out!
We also have a teen program starting up! This will be a once a month program for children post Bar and Bat Mitzvah and will be focused on volunteer work and group projects.
בית הכנסת ״בית-אל״ מזמין את המשפחות הישראליות/ אמריקאיות, להירשם לשנת הלימודים הקרובה 2017-2018.
כמו כן, בפעם הראשונה ולאור הביקוש הרב תיפתח כיתה לילדים דוברי עברית.
הילדים ימצאו חממה חינוכית וערכית עם אוירה מיוחדת ואישית.
מורות ישראליות עם נסיון רב בלימוד מבתי הכנסת השונים עד לאוניברסיטה.
בית הספר שם דגש רב על חברות ועזרה הדדית ושימור הזיקה היהודית למסורת.
התכנים מועברים בצורה חוויתית אינטראקטיבית כמו בישול, אפייה, אומנות, שירה עם מיס קרול נטיעת גינה בבית הכנסת וטיפול בה והזמנת מרצים אורחים לשיחה בנושאים שונים (כמו ישראל) והשתתפות בפרוייקט ״תיקון עולם״.
בשנה שעברה הילדים בחרו לאסוף שמיכות ולתרום אותן למקלט לבעלי חיים .
כולם מתקבלים בברכה.
גילאים: 5-13
שעות פעילות : ימי ראשון :10:00-12:00
PLEASE HELP SPONSOR A KIDUSH MEAL! Send us an email to info@bethelaustin.org
Thank you Shabbat Shefs who lovingly prepare the food for kidishes and make the shul sparkle!!! Yesenia, Diana, Iris, Genesis, Natalie and Jaia and the lovely folks who help in the kitchen on Saturday morning. Next Shabbat Shefs Thursday August 10th at 7PM.
Rabbi Peter Tarlow’s Weekly Parasha: From the Center of Jewish Latino Relations:
This week we read a double Torah portion: Matot and Ma’asey (Numbers 30:2-36:13). They bring the Bible’s fourth book, the Book of Numbers (in Hebrew, Sefer BaMidbar or the Book in the Desert) to its conclusion. In a sense these two sections may be called “travel-sections”. They not only act as a review of the Israelites’ travels through the desert but also through time. The Book of Number’s two final sections take us on a physical journey, a spiritual journey, and an ethical journey through both space and time.
It might be appropriate to argue that the entire Book of Numbers is a book about different types of journeys. These journeys revolve around the Hebrew verbal root d.b.r. Hebrew is different from many other languages in that it derives Hebrew nouns from verbal roots that connect words through a consistent, but not always apparent, commonality. Thus, the word for desert /wilderness (midbar) is linguistically connected to the word for speech (midabber). Is the text teaching us that the desert can be an empty place filled only with intangible words or it can be a place filled with actions that become concrete deeds?
We can also call Sefer B’Midabar (Numbers) a book about speech. These two sections begin with the words: “lo yachel dvaro b’chol ha’yotze mipiv/he shall not desecrate his word/actions; but shall do as he promised” (30:3). The Hebrew reader will immediately connect the phrase with the concept of the desert. The verb used to break a promise; (ch.l.l.) is related to the word chol meaning: sand and hollowness. Thus, the leader who breaks his/her promise leads his people into an empty desert of mere words.
Judaism a religion that worries less about what one says but rather more about what one does. The Hebrew Bible constantly warns us not to place style over substance. In fact, Moses was a terrible orator and he would never have won a US television political debate. Thus, the Hebrew Bible tends to only take words that lead to actions seriously. For example, Adam became “human” due to his words becoming actions. The Torah exists by means of words that are to inspire us to concrete actions. It is for this reason that the Torah argues for truthful facts. It reminds us that a society based on lies is an empty society; one that in end is blown away by the sands of time.
Is this week’s section teaching us that the Hebrew Bible insists that news agencies and politicians provide their citizens not with spin but with reality? This is a text NOT based on mere sounds but on real ideas expressed in words that are then turned into actions. Again the Hebrew reader will note the play on words between results and merely words. We are then to create dvarim “ angible results” rather than merely words, “dibbur” or words of hollowness, mere sounds that fill the air but in the end mean nothing.
The Book of Numbers teaches us that it is up to us to decide if we wish to live in a midbar (desert) where we do not trust our leaders or our media or in a place where there are dvarim, words leading to actions. How we choose will determine the quality of our society. What do you think?
Please consider a donation/Tzedakah to your amazing little shul! Where literally “everyone knows your name” and truly cares about you!
