Parashat D’Varim

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parashat-devarimJFK quoteFriday Night Shabbat Services 
Friday 7/28, at the regular time of 7:00 PM. We’ll light shabbat candles together just before services and enjoy a glass of iced tea. We are having lay led services this week and thank Bam for leading services.

Shabbat morning services are Saturday August 12 and 26
as per our schedule.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 8:09 PM and
Havdallah is Saturday at 9:38 PM Motzei shabbat.

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message

This week we begin Sefer D’varim, the Book of Deuteronomy, with the parshah of the same name. Shabbat D’varim is also Shabbat Hazon, the Shabbat before Tish’ah B’Av. This Shabbat we allow a note of mourning to enter Shabbat-we customarily sing L’cha Dodi to the tune of the dirge “Eli Tzion”, and the haftarah is chanted to the cantillation of Megillath Eichah, the Book of Lamentations. We even chant one verse of the Torah to that tune-the verse “Eichah esa’ l’vadi…”-Moses saying “How can I bear this burden….”. That word, “eichah”, “how”, is the plaintive cry that begins the Book of Lamentations, the cry of the prophet who cannot understand how his people came to this state, the cry of God Himself. Next week we will observe the Fast of Tish’ah B’Av, from sundown Monday to sundown Tuesday, to commemorate the destruction of both Temples. As we read the Book of Lamentations, let us concentrate on the second-to-last verse, which we repeat at the end. “Hashivenu Adonai elecha v’nashuva, hadesh yameinu k’kedem”-“Return us to you, o Lord, and we will return, renew our days as of old”. As we begin the seven-week countdown to Rosh Hashanah, let us look at how we may have left the proper path-“eichah”-and how we can return to God. Shabbat Shalom, and may we and all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem be comforted.

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 to all the Beth El helpers. We have some new paving stones on the front lawn that were kindly donated by Tam as well as new swings in the playground, graciously donated by Hebrew school parents in appreciation of the wonderful education received at the school. The organic gardens are looking and tasting great and the yard over all is looking well loved (thank you Yoaquin et al)! Kudos also to the lovely congregants who helped cook meals recently for a family in need.

To quote JFK rather badly, “ask not what your shul can do for you, but what you can do for your shul?” Seriously, we have a community with truly amazing folks who ask that very question and help in so many ways. There are many more ways to help the shul and all of them are truly appreciated!

In the following inspiring podcast, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks discusses what role spirituality should play in an increasingly secular West.

http://rabbisacks.org/cultural-climate-change-rabbi-sacks-…/

Parashat Matot- Masei

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maseyFriday 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
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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!

Parashat Pinhas – Love and consideration

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pinchas-parsha-daughters-of-zelophehad-_by-iris-wexlerNo summer doldrums at Beth El! Friday Night Shabbat Services are Tonight 7/14, at the regular time of 7:00 PM and we would LOVE to see you!

Shabbat morning services are a week away 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 8:17 PM

***Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message

This week in Parshat Pinhas, we read of the daughters of Tzlof’had-Mahlah, No’a, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirtzah-who, as their father’s only children (they have no brothers) demand that they be considered his heirs, instead of more distant male relatives. They bring their case before Moshe and the elders, and Moshe, interestingly, asks Hashem how to decide the case. Obviously, this was not revealed to him at Sinai. This illustrates an important fact about Jewish Tradition-it is not static. Torah adapts to new challenges and to new realities. Over the course of the summer, between Pesah and Rosh Hashanah, we study Pirkei Avot, the ethical teachings of the Mishnah. Tractate Avot begins by stating “Moshe received Torah at Sinai, and passed it to Yehoshu’a, and Yehoshu’a to the Elders, and the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets passed it to the Men of the Great Assembly (the forerunners of the Rabbis)”. This refers not to the Five Books of the Written Torah, but to the Oral Torah-the system of interpretation which allows us to discern what Torah means for us in our time. Our beliefs and observances are not identical to those of our ancestors, but we trace them to the same source-the encounter with the Divine at Sinai, where we were blessed with a Torah that is flexible enough to guide us after more than three millennia. We are truly blessed with a Tradition of love and consideration for humanity. Shabbat Shalom. Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Beth El Hebrew school starting in the fall. 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!

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

Our next Shabbat Shefs is Thursday July 20th at 7 PM at Beth El. Bring your smile and an hour to spare and we’ll have you whipping up a feast for shabbat lunch at Beth El.

Parashat Balak

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Come enjoy our Friendly Friday Kabbalat shabbat!
TONIGHT FRIDAY July 7 at 7PM.

Shabbat morning services this shabbat, July 8 at 9 AM. Torah service at 9:45 with a children’s service at 10:30 and sit down kidish meal immediately following services.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 8:18 PM

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week we read in Parshat Balak about the non-Jewish prophet, Bil’am, who attempts to curse the People of Israel but blesses them instead. His words, “Mah tovu ohaleikha Ya’akov, mishk’noteikha Yisrael”-“How good are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel “-are recited upon entering a synagogue. We often think of these words as referring to our synagogues, or in ancient times to the Temple, but the plain meaning is a reference to our homes. In truth, the Jewish home is the primary stage of Jewish spiritual life. It is in the home that we light candles for Shabbat and holidays, we have our festive meals including the Passover Seder, and where we learn he basic lessons of morality which are at the core of our Torah. Let us always remember that our literal dwellings are just as holy as our synagogues, and act accordingly, treating our families with the same respect as our fellow congregants. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Enrolling now for our one of a kind school BERS. We will have a Hebrew immersion class as well as our Sunday Funday.
Contact us at bethelaustin@yahoo.com
to save your spot.

COMMUNITY NEWS:

Join us at the JCC Pool on July 16 & August 13 from 12 – 2 PM for a pool party, live music, a bounce house and food and sno-cones for purchase. Free for the entire community.

Do you have an upcoming birthday, anniversary, or any other reason to celebrate?
Sponsor a Kiddush for your special occasion.

Rabbi Tarlow’s Weekly Parasha:
Because last week we did not study Parashat Chukat this week we will examine both that parashah and the one for this week, Parashat Balak. You will find Parashat Chukat in the book of Numbers 19:1-22:1 and parashat Balak in the Book of Numbers 22:2-25:9.
Chukat deals with issues of water, for purification, for drinking, and as the essential resource for life. The second Parashah, the one read this coming Shabbat Balak, deals with blessings and curses, and tells the famous story of Balaam and his famous talking donkey.
When we read the text in a foreign language such as English we do not see the connection between these two sections. Viewing the text in the original Hebrew, however, provides a very different perspective. The Hebrew text revolves around four words: water, a pool of water, life, and blessing. These four words are not related in English but in Hebrew the reader sees a very clear relationship between them. Water in Hebrew is “mayim;” life is “chayim.” Both words are plural verbal-nouns that indicate motion and consistent change. In a like manner, the Hebrew word for blessing “brachah” is related to the Hebrew word for “pool of water” (brechah). Thus, the Hebrew reader connects the constant flow of water to that of a stream of life and understands that without the physical pool of water (brechah) the spiritual blessings of life (brachah) cannot exist.
In a sense these two sections read together teach us that life has both a material and spiritual side. Both sections deal with the “stated” and the “hidden”, the apparent and the less apparent. Life contains both the tangible and the intangible elements that distinguish it from other forms of existence. These sections remind us that to be successful in life we need to deal with all its aspects, and that life, like water, is an ever-moving stream.
In Hebrew there is no such thing as “a water”. Rather water is composite of many drops. In a like manner no one has a single life, we all have many sides to our lives, each with its own unique set of circumstances. A lesson that these sections teach us then is that what was in our lives is not what will be in our lives, that that successful living comes from the recognition that we all change and must learn how to adapt to these changes.
What is true of people is also true of societies. Societies that do not change, that are stand still, soon die. The way we combine these elements of life helps to determine if we drink from the well of bitter waters or of living waters, waters filled curses or with blessings. Let us hope that we choose to seek the physical blessings of water and the spiritual blessings of life.

Please consider a donation/Tzedakah to your shul!

Prashat Hukat

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Friday Kabbalat shabbat!   TONIGHT FRIDAY June 30 at 7PM.

Shabbat morning services next shabbat, July 8

Candle lighting in Austin is at 8:19 PM

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week we read Parshat Hukkath, which begins with the laws of the red heifer, which was sacrificed in order to overcome the impurity of contact with the dead. Impure of course does not mean “dirty”-after all, one of the highest precepts in our Tradition is caring for and burying the dead-but in so doing, we step into the realm of death, and must make a clean break in order to return fully to life. We are meant to fully live, rather than to dwell perpetually in an in-between state. Really, this is basic mindfulness. When we deal with death, as we inevitably must, we should give our full attention to tending to our dead and then to mourning them. And then, we return fully to life. We rise from Shiv’ah and walk around the block. We continue to remember our departed, but we focus on what is. May we always be mindful of our lives, and those who are currently in them, and live life fully. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY to the USA!

Happy June birthdays
Joakin M, Kevin K, Hal J, Rinat L, Moshe S, Rachel B, Anat I, Terri R, Tam T and Michael K, Efrat R, Rita C and Brett C. Until 120 in good health and happiness!

Enrolling now for our one of a kind school BERS. We will have a Hebrew immersion class as well as our Sunday Funday.
Contact us at bethelaustin@yahoo.com
to save your spot.

For your reading pleasure – 65 Ways Israel is saving our planet:
http://www.aish.com/…/65-Ways-Israel-is-Saving-Our-Planet.h…

We are looking forward to welcoming Sandy Kress to come give a Friday night talk in the summer. Sandy is a phenomenal Jewish educator. His blogs appear on the website:
https://sandykress.wordpress.com

We Don’t Always Get a George Washington
Posted on June 30, 2017
Why in the world would the rabbis have chosen the odd story of Jephthah to accompany our super, action-packed portion from the Torah this week? Moses strikes the rock after being told by God to speak to it. Miriam dies. Aaron dies. There’s the mysterious discussion of the red heifer. Surely, there are passages in Prophets that would have been better companions to any of these fantastic strands of our narrative.
But, to the contrary, at least on the surface, the rabbis seem more interested in picking up on the story in which Moses conquers the Amorites and takes the land. A long time later, as we read in Judges, the Ammonites, who had much earlier been dispossessed of this land by the Amorites, made war on Israel to retrieve it.
(I know. I know. The battles in the Hebrew Bible can appear a turnoff. But, stay with me.)
When the Ammonites began to threaten Israel, the people turned to a fellow named Jephthah to lead them.
Get a load of Jephthah. He was the son of a prostitute and Gilead. Gilead’s wife’s sons harassed Jephthah, saying he would never inherit with them as a member of the family. So, he fled to the outskirts of town, joining up with outlaws to engage in a life of raiding.
As Ammon approached, the elders realized that Jephthah was likely the most powerful, effective person to direct them in battle. After making peace over the previous slights, they agreed that he would command the troops, and, if victorious, lead Gilead. As the story goes, Jephthah conducted a “diplomatic” exchange with Ammon, which failed, and then he, with God’s spirit, led the Israelites to victory.
What are we to take away from this?
First, let’s focus on the fact that in this week’s Torah text the people had lost much of their leadership. The great figures of Aaron and Miriam had died. Further, we begin just now to see the initial signs of weakness in Moses’ leadership, in his wayward decision to strike the rock for water instead of speaking to it.
The Jephthah tale teaches us fundamentally that when, as here, we’re bereft of ideal leaders there can appear imperfect people who lead quite successfully.
We know Jephthah’s flaws – the son of a prostitute, he was banished by his family and took up a life of banditry with boorish men. And, though we won’t discuss it here, he was also a man who made a foolish vow with tragic consequences. (Can you imagine the backlash from all the interested parties who couldn’t believe this bad dude was being elevated to the top?!)
He was, however, also a “mighty man of valor.” “The spirit of the Eternal settled on him.” He was capable of, and, in fact, showed incredibly strong and effective leadership at a crucial time for the people and the nation.
In the Talmud, the great Samuel mentions in the same breath as Moses, Aaron, and himself the names of Gideon, Samson, and Jephthah.
We don’t always get a George Washington. We won’t always get a Moses, a Miriam or an Aaron as leaders. As King Solomon said, “Do not say, ‘How was it that the former days were better than these.’”
I am not saying that we should seek or be satisfied with bad or ineffective leaders. What I am saying is that we should be open to the lesson: Whatever their flaws, leaders who can achieve Torah-true results and success for the community are worthy for doing so. And we ought to be more patient and supportive of them, at least until we know whether or not our often-imperfect leaders are actually helping fulfill the community’s most important goals.

Do you have an upcoming birthday, anniversary, or any other reason to celebrate? Sponsor a Kiddush for your special occasion.