Shannah Tova 5775

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Shanna Tova to all our Congregants and friends,
We look forward to seeing you these High Holidays. Please remember to check out the schedule of services at www.bethelaustin.org/highholidays
Lots of announcements this week!  Please read below. Also, please let Kevin Koeller or Cantor Ben-Moshe know if you would like to help with English readings throughout the High Holiday services.
Thursday afternoon, September 25 at 4pm we will have taschlich at Bull Creek. This year, there will definitely be water there thanks to the recent wonderful rains.
Sunday morning, September 28 we will have Sunday school at Beth El at 10 am.
Concurrently, Sunday at 10 am please plan to join us as we go as a congregation to Austin Memorial Park on Hancock Lane to honor our departed congregants. Please consider attending this beautiful service which is so integral to the High Holidays.
Intro to Judaism class this Sunday afternoon at 3:30 pm. This is a great class given by our very own Cantor Ben-Moshe and all are welcome to join.
Wednesday evenings at 7pm, we have mid-week evening services which we invite you to participate in. They are short and sweet and a meaningful way to break up the week.
Please also let us know if you could help with the Break the Fast for Yom Kippur. We would appreciate any help with this. Contact us at bethelaustin@yahoo.com.
Wednesday October 8th we will have a sukkot service and pot luck dinner in the sukkah!
Saturday evening at 6:30 pm on October 11, we welcome back Rabbi Tarlow to give a fascinating talk. Rabbi Dr. Peter Tarlow of Texas A&M has given some fascinating talks at Beth El on the topic of Crypto Judasim and the classes are very popular!
October 22 at 7:30pm, we start for the first time ever at Beth El a national program called Read Hebrew across America. This crash course in Hebrew reading will be offered free of charge and we welcome you all to attend this amazing five week program.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe weekly message:
As the weather finally turns cooler, a welcome time of year in Texas, we usher in another welcome time of year-the High Holiday Season.  Our synagogues are decked out in their beautiful holiday white, we eat apples and honey and honey cake to wish ourselves and each other a Sweet New Year, and we hear once again the lovely and majestic music of the High Holiday liturgy.  As we celebrate this season of renewal, let us remember that there are some in our congregation for whom all this is literally new-they may be new to Beth El, or indeed new to the Jewish People and to the celebration of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  Let’s take the time this holiday season to look for new faces, faces that perhaps look a bit uncomfortable or lost, and extend a hand, a wish of “Shanah Tovah”, an invitation to sit with us, and help in finding the elusive correct page in the mahzor.  Let’s renew ourselves by welcoming those who are new in our midst.

Ilan and Eden join me in wishing a Shanah Tovah U’m’tukah, a Good and Sweet Year to the entire Beth El family.

Friday services and special slichot services

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Dear congregants and Friends,
We would like to wish you all a Shabbat shalom. We hope to see you tonight at 7pm as we welcome in Shabbat.
Tomorrow, Saturday 20th, at 7:00 pm,please join us for a High Holiday class presented by Rabbi Gisser of Fort Hood Texas about the high Holidays which are fast approaching. This will be followed by wonderful evening services and Slichot, Havdallah and even a little nosh!  Absolutely a wonderful evening, so we very much hope to see you!

Sunday at 10 am, we continue our Sunday school.  Thechildren will be learning, baking, singing, letting blue and white helium balloons fly off into the sky and having a very meaningful learning experience with our lovely Morot.
There will be no Sunday afternoon Intro to Judaism class this Sunday, September 21. It will resume the following week.
Shabbat shalom!

Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe Weekly Message:
This week we read a double parshah-Nitzavim/Vayelech.  We are now coming to the end of Moses’ great oration at the end of the Torah, his farewell address to the People of Israel.  One of the interesting quotes from Parshat Nitzavim comes near the beginning-“the hidden things belong to the Lord our God, and the revealed things belong to us and our children forever….”(Deut. 29:28). The most obvious reading of this verse is of course that there are things which only God, the omniscient Creator, can know, while there are other levels of understanding available to humanity.  However, another interpretation is topical for this time of year, before the High Holidays.  There are things that we have done, or failed to do, that are “hidden” from us-we are either unaware that we did something, having overlooked it, or we have honestly forgotten.  God, however, is aware of all our deeds even when we are not.  The things of which we aware, of course, are ours-our responsibility.  In our prayers of penitence, we asked forgiveness for all of our misdeeds, whether committed knowingly or unknowingly. May we in this season of self-reflection be mindful as much as possible of our actions, and may we be mindful of the fact that our mindfulness is limited.  And may we all be granted a clean slate for a good and sweet New Year.  Shabbat Shalom.

Rosh

Weekend services and work day

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Congregants and friends,
We hope you had a great week. Come end it on the right note with wonderful Kaballat Shabbat services tonight, September 12 at 7pm.
Tomorrow morning, September 13 we will have our Shabbat morning services, starting at 9am.  We hope you can join us. We would like to gratefully acknowledge Arthur Gurney for sponsoring a delicious Kiddush lunch following services in memory of his beloved mother’s yahrzeit.
Sunday morning at 10 am we will have our terrific Sunday school classes. The children had so much fun last week and are all looking forward to what surprises the teachers have for this week.
Sunday at 1 – 3 pm please JOIN US FOR A WORK DAY as we clean up and get the shul ready for the high Holidays.  We’ll bring the tools, just bring yourselves.
Talking of which, check out the High Holiday schedule of services at :
If you’re on facebook, check out our Beth El Austin Facebook Group for announcements and photos.  Please invite your family and friends to join our group!
**Wednesday evenings we continue our Mincha and Maariv midweek service at 7pm.  All are welcome!
Saturday September 20 th at 7pm, we will have a very special Selichot service. We will have a 30 minute class given by Rabbi Michael Gisser of Fort hood Texas, followed by Mincha and Maariv services, a little nosh and schmooze, havdallah and slichot services.
Cantor Ben- Moshe’s Weekly message:
This week’s parshah, Ki Tavo, begins with the ritual for bringing the first fruits to the Sanctuary on the Festival of Shavu’oth.  A farmer would bring his produce in a basket to the altar in the courtyard, and a cohen, a priest, would help the farmer make the ritual declaration which accompanied the offering.  The cohen would feed the lines to the farmer, so that no one was embarrassed by not knowing them, in the same way that a groom is fed the appropriate line for placing the ring on the bride’s finger.  The declaration begins with a familiar line-“My father was a wandering Aramean, who went down to Egypt….”  We of course know this from the Haggadah of Passover, when we recount the events leading up to the Exodus from Egypt.  The idea behind this declaration is to recognize where we came from, and to inculcate in us a sense of gratitude for the blessings which we enjoy now-blessings of freedom, of prosperity and of a spiritual purpose.  May we like our ancestors recognize all of the good things with which the Holy one has blessed us.  Shabbat Shalom.

Friday night services and so much more

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Shalom Congregants and friends,
We are getting ready for our lovely weekly Kabbalat Shabbat service tonight at 7pm. Same time, same place, we’ll save a seat for you.  Rabbi Gisser will be giving the Dvar Torah.
Sunday morning at 10am we are restarting the Hebrew school with both our old students, some new ones and three wonderful teachers We welcome back Morah Michelle and welcome/ bruchot habaot to Morah Shiry and Morah Anat.
Of course, Sunday afternoon sees the weekly Intro to Judaism class at 3:30 pm, and again, this class is free and open to all levels. Just bring a love and thirst for knowledge.
As you may have noticed, we have started a mid week Mincha/Maariv evening service at 7pm.  Every Wednesday we will be there for this inspiring service available to you all.  Come check it out!
Work Day – Sunday September 14 from 1-3 pm we will have a work day at Beth El.  We will bring the tools, please come and help us
Dues statements were sent out last week.  Please help support our congregation by sending in the dues and if you are not a member, please consider becoming one this year or sending in a donation. We are truly the most affordable congregation and make great efforts to remain affordable to everyone. If the full dues are  hardship, please contact us directly (bethelaustin@yahoo.com).
We look forward to seeing you all soon and wish you and your families a Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Ben-Moshe’s weekly Message:
This week’s parshah, Ki Tetzeh, contains a large number of laws and regulations, both ritual and civil, dealing with issues such as inheritance, ritual cleanliness, divorce and many others.  Of especial interest is the rule towards the end of the parshah-“You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small.  You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small.  You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”(Deut. 25:13-15). Our Sages teach that when we die and come to our final judgement, the first question asked of us is not did we pray every day, nor is it about our observance of Shabbat and kashrut, but rather, “Did you conduct your business affairs honestly and fairly?”  Before anything else, we must treat each other in an ethical manner-only then do we worry about our “religious” practice.  “Mitzvot bein adam l’havero”, commandments concerning relations with other people, actually take precedence over “mitzvot bein adam la-Maqom”, commandments concerning relations with God, or ritual commandments.  Just as we are taught to seek forgiveness first from our fellow human beings and only then from God, even at the end our relationships with each other are prioritized-a good thing to remember in this season of reflection and repentance.  Shabbat Shalom.

Shabbat Evening Services

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Shalom Congregants and friends,
We are getting ready for our lovely weekly Kabbalat Shabbat service tonight at 7pm. Same time, same place, we’ll save a seat for you.  Rabbi Gisser will be giving the Dvar Torah.
Sunday morning at 10am we are restarting the Hebrew school with both our old students, some new ones and three wonderful teachers We welcome back Morah Michelle and welcome/ bruchot habaot to Morah Shiry and Morah Anat.
Of course, Sunday afternoon sees the weekly Intro to Judaism class at 3:30 pm, and again, this class is free and open to all levels. Just bring a love and thirst for knowledge.
As you may have noticed, we have started a mid week Mincha/Maariv evening service at 7pm.  Every Wednesday we will be there for this inspiring service available to you all.  Come check it out!
Work Day – Sunday September 14 from 1-3 pm we will have a work day at Beth El.  We will bring the tools, please come and help us
Dues statements were sent out last week.  Please help support our congregation by sending in the dues and if you are not a member, please consider becoming one this year or sending in a donation. We are truly the most affordable congregation and make great efforts to remain affordable to everyone. If the full dues are  hardship, please contact us directly (bethelaustin@yahoo.com).
We look forward to seeing you all soon and wish you and your families a Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Ben-Moshe’s weekly Message:
This week’s parshah, Ki Tetzeh, contains a large number of laws and regulations, both ritual and civil, dealing with issues such as inheritance, ritual cleanliness, divorce and many others.  Of especial interest is the rule towards the end of the parshah-“You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small.  You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small.  You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”(Deut. 25:13-15). Our Sages teach that when we die and come to our final judgement, the first question asked of us is not did we pray every day, nor is it about our observance of Shabbat and kashrut, but rather, “Did you conduct your business affairs honestly and fairly?”  Before anything else, we must treat each other in an ethical manner-only then do we worry about our “religious” practice.  “Mitzvot bein adam l’havero”, commandments concerning relations with other people, actually take precedence over “mitzvot bein adam la-Maqom”, commandments concerning relations with God, or ritual commandments.  Just as we are taught to seek forgiveness first from our fellow human beings and only then from God, even at the end our relationships with each other are prioritized-a good thing to remember in this season of reflection and repentance.  Shabbat Shalom.