Parashat Vayyeshev

AIPAC 1Please note that we have our lovely Friday night services at 7:00 P.M.

Shabbat morning services this Saturday December 9th at 9 AM. We will have the Torah service at around 9:45 A.M., children’s services with the wonderful Morah Shereen and a lovely kidush lunch immediately following services. Anita’s hearty soup, bagels, lox and cream cheese as well as salads are on the menu and we would love to have you join us!

Sunday school for the BERS this Sunday at 10 A.M. Special guest Ms. Carol will sing Hanukkah songs with the children and guest artist Coco de Ordonez-Barros will create Hanukkah art work with our children. Chai Mitzvah Teens will meet at 11:30 and go to the Bob Bullock Museum.

HOLD THE DATE : ONLY ONE WEEK AWAY Sunday December 17 at 5 pm The Hanukkah Party of the year. Klezmer music with Los Klezmeros, Latkes (traditional and our famous hippy latkes), hot dog dinner, Israeli sufganiot and fun activities for the children! Bring a menorah and candles so we can light the candles together. Please don’t miss. Consider a tax deductible donation in any amount to help sponsor this event! www.bethelaustin.org/donate

Please come to Eli Levin’s Bar Mitzvah December 14!
Arthur and Rinat Levin are delighted to inform you of a special service to celebrate Eli Levin’s Bar Mitzvah. It will take place on Thursday morning, December 14 at 8:00 am at Beth El, 8902 Mesa Drive. Please join us for prayer, to be followed by brunch and menorah lighting. We anticipate to finish by 10 A.M. Eli would love to share this special simcha with his congregation.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly Message:

This week’s parshah, Vayyeshev, is taken up mostly by the story of Yoseph and his brothers, who sell him into slavery in Egypt because of their jealousy of him. Yoseph is, of course, his father’s favorite-the elder son of his favorite wife, Rahel, who had passed away. Ya’akov’s favoritism was obvious to all, and included the gift of a striped robe, symbolic of clan leadership. Yoseph’s older brothers act perhaps predictably, and plot against him.

It is natural perhaps to prefer some people over others, even our own children at times-one child or another may be closer in spirit to a parent, or remind that parent of someone else. However we may feel, though, as parents or as anyone in any position of authority, we must try not to show that favoritism. Obvious bias creates resentment-and that resentment can turn deadly, as nearly happened to Yoseph. The story ultimately turns out for good, of course, but still offers a cautionary tale to all about the dangers of taking sides where impartiality is called for. Shabbat Shalom.

Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Candle lighting in Austin is at 5:13 p.m.

Community News:
THE AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO THE

AIPAC Austin Annual Event

FEATURING AMBASSADOR RON PROSOR
FORMER ISRAELI PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2017
HYATT REGENCY – 208 BARTON SPRINGS RD

7:00 PM LIGHT BITES & PROGRAM

To purchase an individual ticket, please visit: www.aipac.org/AustinAnnualEvent

To confirm a previously reserved table or a reservation at a specific table, please contact:
Hayley Rosenberg at 832-380-7710 or hrosenberg@aipac.org

DIETARY LAWS OBSERVED

AMBASSADOR RON PROSOR

FORMER ISRAELI PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Ambassador Ron Prosor Served as Israel’s 16th Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations. Prior to the United Nations, Mr. Prosor served as the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israel’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He played an instrumental role in establishing diplomatic relations behind the Iron Curtain following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Amb. Prosor holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Ha’aretz, and The Jerusalem Post.

FROM RABBI SEPTIMUS OF SHALOM AUSTIN!

I would like to extend a special invitation to you during the Hanukkah season to experience a national touring exhibit that sheds light on the prevalence of hunger in Central Texas. Shalom Austin will be hosting “This is Hunger” project as it visits our community at the Dell Jewish Community Campus on December 9-14.

MAZON’s “This Is Hunger” project is a high-impact, experiential installation on wheels that has been designed to be a powerful community engagement tool. It will tour the nation for 10 months, making stops in and around major cities. When the 53-foot-long double expandable trailer is parked on our campus and open on both sides, it provides almost 1,000 square feet of interior space to take participants on a voyage of awareness and activism: to help them understand the stark reality of hunger in America and to spark their commitment to taking action that will help end hunger once and for all.

Participants enter the truck and are invited to sit at a communal table to virtually “meet” real people struggling with hunger. Portraits are projected at each end of the table as they share their stories in their own voices and in their own words.

Participants are then invited to engage in activities and experiences to deepen their awareness about the complexities of being hungry and about educating the rest of our nation and advocating for change.

To see a schedule of tour times and reserve your free tickets, visit:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/this-is-hunger-tx-shalom-austi…

Rabbi Tarlow of the Center for Jewish Hispanic Relations and
Rabbi Emeritus Texas A&M :

On Tuesday night December 12 we begin the holiday of Chanukah and continue celebrating it until the final candle that will be lit on the night of December 20. Chanukah is a holiday of miracles shrouded in mystery and mistakenly often viewed as a holiday for children. Chanukah is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, occurring many years after its canonization. We often classify it as a “minor holiday”. Despite this fact, over the centuries, Chanukah’s stirring political message has won a major role in the Jewish heart.
Chanukah means many things to many people. For some it is the holiday foods, for others it is a time of gift giving, others note that Chanukah is the first war fought expressly on principle (The Jewish people gave the world the two great principles: that of freedom of worship and of freedom of speech.) For others this is a time when the light of freedom pierces the darkness of tyranny. Many modern historians compare the rising up of the ancient Jewish masses against members of the Jewish elite as symbolic of not only the French revolution but also of what is now occurring in much of the modern world.

The fall of tyrants has much to do with the Chanukah festival. This holiday represents a political revolutionary; it is the first recorded attempt to create a world in which human dignity would take precedence over materialism and political tyranny. Chanukah is also the Western world’s first war for religious freedom and has set the stage for popular uprisings ever since.
Chanukah’s history is based on war, but its psychological power comes from the miracle that occurred followed the Macabean liberation of Jerusalem. According to traditions that surround Chanukah, after the liberation, the Temple’s Menorah (national candelabrum) had only enough oil to burn for one day yet somehow the oil lasted the 8 days necessary to produce more oil.
The meaning of Chanukah, however, goes a great deal deeper than that of a mere story. In many ways Chanukah marks the beginning of what we might like to see as the birth of modernity, a world in which each person is free to be who he or she is. Chanukah teaches us that although people may not be the same, we all have the same right to live in peace and freedom.
As we continue to struggle against the darkness of terrorism, prejudice, and injustice we garner hope from the Chanukah’s lights representing truth and human dignity. Let us realize the message of the festival’s most famous song Maoz Tzur/Rock of Ages. “…Yours the message cheering/ that the time is nearing/ which will see/ all men free/ tyrants disappearing.”

May the holiday of Chanukah bring its message of peace and justice to all peoples. May our Christian friends have a beautiful holiday. All of us at the Center for Latino – Jewish relations wish you and yours a season of joy filled with happiness and a sense of spirituality.

Parashat Veyetze

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! Please note that we have our lovely Friday night services at 7 p.m. tonight as every Friday night of the year. We’ll be there to greet you with a smile!
Shabbat morning services are tomorrow, Saturday November 25 at 9 a.m., with children’s story time at around 10 a.m. Kidish lunch immediately follows, this week featuring Shereen’s lovely soup and salad. Services and soup sure to warm your soul.
No Sunday school for the BERS this Sunday, but it resumes Sunday December 3
HOLD THE DATE : Sunday December 17 at 5 pm The Hanukkah Party of the year. Klezmer music with Los Klezmeros, Latkes (traditional and our famous hippy latkes), hot dog dinner, Israeli sufganiot, menorah lighting, and fun activities for the children and the whole family!
Inaugural Men’s Club event at Beth El. Sunday December 3 at 5p.m. at Beth El. Please join the guys for the first Men’s Club meeting. Camaraderie, a couple of beers, and so much more! Please plan to join.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly Message:
This week we read Parshat Vayyetze, which details the life in exile of the Patriarch Ya’akov. His twenty years of in Haran are some of the most significant of his life-he marries there, and all of his children but one are born there. One may be sure that neither he nor his parents, Yitzhak and Rivkah, expected such a turn in his fortunes. We are often presented with changes to our plans-as the Yiddish proverb goes, “A human plans and God laughs”. Sometimes events are out of our control-but we can always control how we react to events and deal with them. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Chaye Sara and Anniversary Dinner

dinnercake
Arie speech

Please note that we have our regular and inspiring Friday night services at 7 p.m. tonight, Friday November 10.
Our lovely Shabbat morning services are this Shabbat, Saturday November 11 at 9 a.m. We will have the Torah service at around 9:45 a.m. and a special Veteran’s Day Dvar Torah given by Mike London of the Jewish War Veterans. We deeply honor and appreciate all our Veterans, many of whom are in our congregation. We will have a delicious kidish lunch immediately following services.
Sunday school for the BERS is at the regular time of 10 a.m.
Cantor Yitzhak Ben-Moshe Weekly Message:
This week’s parshah, Hayyei Sarah, begins with a detailing of the lifespan of our ancestress Sarah-“one hundred years, and twenty years and seven years”. The Sages notes this unusual phrasing and assigned meaning to it-“Sarah was as beautiful at one hundred years of age as at twenty, and as pure of spirit at twenty as at seven”. Sarah of course is the archetypal ancestress of our People-an example to emulate. While she was not perfect-as all humans are imperfect, no matter how great-we should certainly attempt to live up to the ideal which she set for us. Of course we cannot control our physical beauty, one way or another, but we can attempt to preserve the innocence and purity of youth. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote about preserving “radical amazement”-that quality of mind which is childlike (but not childish) in refusing to take what we experience for granted. May we, like Sarah, preserve our childlike innocence and sense of wonder. Shabbat Shalom.
Thank you – Toda Raba to all the wonderful folks who supported Beth El’s 36th Anniversary Celebration. We are deeply grateful to all who came, donated of their time and money, and helped make the evening so special. Here are just a few of the photos of this amazing evening, but more to follow. We are so grateful to our original founders who attended including Elaine Shapiro, Bobby and Phyllis Shapiro and the entire Shapiro family, Min Rice and family and Sol and Ruth Stavchansky and family. We were all deeply touched and inspired by the speeches given by Arie and Sol Stavchansky, Kevin Koeller, our current president Yosef Aguilar, Elaine Jacobs (and the gorgeous flowers and gift she presented) and our delightful m.c. Barry Mann. The Koellers especially would like to thank those generous and kind folks who also gave towards the sweet and deeply appreciated gift! They were touched beyond words. The decorating committee was unbelievable and made the place look spectacular. Thank you to Moshe Kass of Moshe K catering who provided a kosher dinner and Sara Kaye for her musical talents. The Silent auction was delightful and most importantly, the evening was an ongoing testament to the vision and commitment of the founders of Beth El. May our shul go from strength to strength and please continue to support Austin’s neighborhood shul, a place where people truly do chesed each and every day. Last but not least the Cantor and Shereen Russo Canadyfor their spiritual leadership of our congregation!
Check out the article in this month’s Jewish Outlook:
http://www.thejewishoutlook.com/…/congregation-beth-el-cele…

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Parashat Vayera and silent auction thank yous!

Vayera 1gift basketsLight your candles by 6:23 and welcome in shabbat with Congregation Beth El, a place where everyone knows your name and greets you with smile!
Friday November 3- Friday Night Services will be at the regular time of 7:00 PM! We look forward to greeting you with a smile and a song.
Sunday school is at 10 AM this Sunday. We look forward to seeing the children.

This weekend! Beth El’s Double Chai Anniversary is THIS Sunday, November 5 at 6:15 PM. We have such a lovely celebration planned to honor our Beth El community and founders.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly message:

Rabbi Hamma the son of Rabbi Hanina said: “What is the meaning of the verse ‘You shall follow Hashem your God’?Is it possible for a human to follow the Divine Presence? Is it not written: ‘For Hashem your God is a devouring fire’? Rather, this means to follow the attributes of the Holy Blessed One….The Holy Blessed One visited the sick as it is written: ‘And (God) appeared to (Avraham) at Elonei Mamre’-so too should you visit the sick.”
Rabbi Hamma teaches us that it is a mitzvah, a commandment, to visit the sick and derives the mitzvah from this week’s parshah, Vayyera. The Midrash deduces that one of the purposes of the visit of three angels to Avraham was to comfort him after his circumcision, which is discussed immediately prior. The Sages teach that visiting the sick reduces their suffering by 1/60, especially if the visit is from a friend or family member. Numerous opportunities exist to fulfill this mitzvah in our community-please let me know if you are willing and able. And if you or a loved one is ill, please inform me or a board member so that we may visit you. May all who are ill find healing of body and spirit. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe
Congregation Beth El’s 36th Double Chai Anniversary is THIS Sunday November 5th 2017 at 6:15 PM. We will have an elegant kosher dinner by Moshe K catering, awesome silent auction and entertainment. Thank you to the many amazing people who have given countless hours and love to help make this event possible!

Thank you to our generous silent auction sponsors:
HEB Far West
Congregation Agudas Achim Sisterhood Judaica Shop (please note that CAA gift store will donate 10% of any purchase made at the gift store to Congregation Beth El if you designate us as the recipient).
Alamo Draft House
Amy’s Ice Cream
Austin Yoga Tree – Jonathan and Edith Troen
Congregation Beth Israel Sisterhood Judaica Shop
Biderman’s Deli
Black Walnut Cafe
Blue Baker
Cap City Comedy Club
Chuy’s
Doubletree Hotel Northwest Arboretum
Esther’s Follies
Galaxy Cafe
Glow Spa & Wax House
JCC Fitness Center
Jorge Eduardo Salon
Koren Talmud set
Kriser’s Natural Pet Store
Massage Harmony
Mother’s Cafe
Nelo’s Cycle
P. Terry’s
Petticoat Fair
Phydeaux & Friends
Ready to Run
Rocket Electric Bikes
Smudge Studio
Starbuck’s
Sushi Zushi
The Moviehouse & Eatery
Trader Joe’s
YCN Media Group – Yifat Cohen Media Group
Noa Noa Design Solutions
Anita Lavie therapy
Amos Therapy
Jacob Gilboa – King Solomon glassware
Crafts by Sandy Massman
Yeti cooler valued at $300
Framed Beatles poster from 1964 US Tour
Beth El Men’s Club Inaugural meeting is Sunday December 3 at 5 PM! Several exciting events are planned.
PLEASE don’t miss.
Texas Liberator Project Ceremony
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Texas State Capitol
Senate Chamber
Austin, Texas
Time: 1:30 PM-3:30 PM*
*A private lunch for liberators will take place earlier.
Please join us as we honor the Texas Liberators of Nazi Concentration & Death Camps of the Second World War.
Please RSVP at the following link:
http://thgc.texas.gov/about/thgc-liberator-ceremony

Parashat Lech Lecha

crop-gb-lechlecha
Sisterhood movie night

Friday 27th of October – Friday Night Services will be at the regular time of 7:00 PM! We look forward to greeting you with a smile and a song.
Shabbat morning services are THIS Saturday October 28 at 9 AM, with the Torah service at 9:45 AM.
Children’s services are at 10:30 AM.
The kidish lunch is generously sponsored by Gabbai Bam Rubinstein in memory of his beloved late mother.
Sunday school is at 10 AM this Sunday. We look forward to seeing the children.
Only one week away! Beth El’s Double Chai Anniversary is Sunday November 5th at 6:15 PM. We have such a lovely celebration planned to honor our Beth El community and founders.
Shabbat candle lighting times in Austin are 6:30 PM and havdallah on Saturday night is 7:23 PM.
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly message:
This Shabbat, Shabbat Lekh L’kha, is a special Shabbat in Israel. On this day, new immigrants to Israel are honored as we remember the first immigrants to the Land of Israel, Avram and Sarai (Avraham and Sarah). Ever since they were given the charge to leave Haran and go to the Land then called Canaan, we have always looked to there as our home, both physically and spiritually. Even though we may make good lives for ourselves in some of the lands of our Dispersion, especially this one, Israel is always home. May the day soon come when all the Exiles are gathered, and when all of our People who wish to live in the Land first settled by Avraham and Sarah may do so in peace. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe
Sunday school this week is at 10 AM. We look forward to seeing our BERS.
This time a huge Toda Raba to Mashgiach Reuben from the kosher HEB who as well as a mashgiach is a Biologist by training and made the class on Kashrut so interesting and relevant.
Congregation Beth El’s 36th Double Chai Anniversary is Sunday November 5th 2017 at 6:15 PM. We will have an elegant kosher dinner, silent auction and entertainment. Send in your RSVP as soon as you can as now we only have a couple of spots left.
HUGE THANK YOU Shiry Turjeman FOR OPENING HER HOME AND HEART TO US ALL AT THE SISTERHOOD. We had such an amazing evening watching The Women’s Balcony last week. Have you started your book yet for the next sisterhood meeting?
Beth El Men’s Club Inaugural meeting is Sunday December 3 at 5 PM! Several exciting events are planned.
PLEASE don’t miss.
BETH EL – WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NAME!
Beth El is a completely DIY Shul. All events — from services and celebrations to learnings and lunches — happen because this incredible community steps up and contributes skills, time, ideas, and funds. Thank you to those who are involved – there’s something for everyone at your special shul, so please be involved.
Do you have a special Occasion? Kiddush sponsorships are available.