Parashat Vayehi, Weekend services Friday and Saturday

Congregants and Friends,
Wondering what to do on Friday the 13th?  Come to Beth El tonight, December 13 at 7pm.
Also, Shabbat morning services will be tomorrow morning, December 14.  We start at 9 am with the Torah service around 10am.  Again, we look forward to seeing you all.  We would like to thank Bob Halperin in advance for making a very special and delicious cholent, using an old Hungarian recipe from Israel.  If you haven’t been to services for a while, stop on by and get your spiritual boost.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly message: On Shabbat and Festival eves, parents traditionally bless their sons with words from this week’s parshah, Vayehi-“May God make you like Ephraim and Menashe”.  This is taken from the patriarch Ya’akov’s blessing of his grandsons, the sons of Yoseph, predicting that one day all sons in the People of Israel would be blessed in their names.  The Sages tell us that Ephraim and Menashe merited this honor, as well as the honor of having tribes named after them, because they were the first brothers in the Torah between whom there was no contention over inheritance. May we indeed all be blessed like these two brothers-may there be no contention or enmity between us, and none among all the House of Israel.  Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Tarlow’s Weekly Parashah is brought to you by: The Center of Hispanic-Jewish Relations at Texas A&M Hillel

This week, we bring our reading of the book of Genesis to its conclusion.  Parashat Vayechi  (Genesis 47:28 – 50:24 /and meaning: “and he lived/will live”) acts as a summary of the Joseph stories.  In these final tales we learn that Jacob comes to realize that Israel’s fate would not rest in Joseph’s hands but in Judah’s. These final chapters also serve as a summary of the entire book.
This week’s parashah deals with Jacob’s death and Jacob’s refusal to name Joseph as the head of the clan. The political message is carried through Jacob’s final blessings of his (Jacob’s) sons and and grandson’s (Joseph’s sons). We read about the mourning period for Jacob, the reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers, and finally we read about Joseph’s death with the words “Vayachantu oto vayesem ba’aron b’Mitzrayim/they embalmed him (Joseph) and placed him in a coffin in Egypt,”  
This pharse raises a number of questions:  Is it important because it hints at the true character of Joseph?   Does it show the reader that Joseph lived more as an Egyptian than as an Israelite?  Is the word “b’Mitzrayim” a mere question of geography or an indication that Jacob knew that Joseph had been lost to Israel (or in reality was never part of Israel)?  Was it always Joseph’s intention to live as an Egyptian?  Does this phrase a foreshadow the cultural battles that Israel would have in order to maintain its culture in a strange land;  a place where it would reside for another four centuries?
Genesis ends as it began with more questions than answers, more doubts than certainties, and with wanderings of the mind and body.  From Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden through our patriarchs’ and matriarchs’ journeys, to an assimilated Joseph who would die in a foreign land and  seems to have striven to be more Egyptian than Israelite, the theme of seeking wisdom to find oneself and to find order in a chaotic world remains a constant leitmotif.  This, the first book of Hebrew Scripture teaches us that all actions (or non actions) provoke reactions; that there are desired or not desired consequences to our actions.  Is Genesis warning us about seeking chance without a plan?
 In Genesis to be alive is not to be to be comfortable.  Rather this book teaches us that to live is to struggle and grow.  Genesis is a realistic book, it does not deny death nor does it portray any of its characters as models of perfection or as gods.  The characters in Genesis are human.  We see that they are flawed, fail and begin again.  These were people who had flaws and learned to overcome these flaws or suffer the consequences.
Genesis argues that creation and creativity come from the depths of “tohu va’vohu” (total chaos): both within us and within the physical world.  The book suggests that one way to understand the force that is G’d is by understanding G’d to be “the reverse of entropy.”  Genesis hypothesizes that G’d is the force in the universe that makes sense of a world designed in a stochastic fashion.  In a like manner, we who are created in the Divine image (shadow) must find a way to bring order to the chaos in our lives; to our own private universes.
This book then is a realistic book open to a myriad of interpretations.  Is it teaching us that to live creatively we must first realize that we will never have everything?  Is this book’s message that we are but fragmented streams of creativity flowing into oceans of eternity?  Would do you think?

Community News:   The Austin Jewish Business Network (AJBN) is hosting a Winter Happy Hour next Tuesday at Blackfinn Ameripub in the Domain. Attached is a link to the Meetup Group as well as a Press Release with all the details.http://www.meetup.com/Austin-Jewish-Business-Network/
Austin Chapter of Hadassah
Installation of Board Officers for 2014-  Join us at the home of Paz Goldberg on Sunday, December 15 at 10:00 a.m. as we install our future leaders for the upcoming year.  Contact Rachel O’brien for rsvp and directions: rkr888_2000@yahoo.com / 512.775.8585 Please join us–Friday Brunch Bunch meets the 3rd Friday of each month.   Time:  10:00 am – 12 noon

Shucheling, mumbling, clapping and bowing – find out more…

Congregants and Friends,
What a wonderful Hanukah party we had last week.  A huge thank you to all who came and helped make it such a wonderful success.  Please note that we have our regular Friday night services tonight at 7pm.
I know that was a strange heading: Shucheling, mumbling, clapping and bowing, but become a regular at Bam Rubenstein’s monthly Davening classes and all will be revealed.
Davening for all levels! Next week WEDNESDAY December 11 at 7pm.
Interested in sharpening your synagogue skills and learning more about the service?  Gabbai Bam Rubenstein will be teaching an ongoing and extremely informative and entertaining Davening  class on the second Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 pm at Congregation Beth El. This coming Wednesday evening, Bam will be focusing on all aspects of the minyan, reasons, background, different kinds and more.  Next month, that’ll be the shuchelling one!
Sisterhood Get Together next week 12/11/13 at 12 noon

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 12 noon.  We would love to have a little sisterhood get together at La Madeline’s on 183.  Ladies, you can come for lunch, coffee, dessert or just to say hello.
 Sunday, January 19, 2014 2–4 pm.  Please hold that date.  It is at Juliette Meinstein’s home .  Please let Elaine Jacobs know if you can make one or both.  Email her at (jaqel@yahoo.com) or phone her at 512-261-0112.  Please bring a healthy dairy or parev desert, or little nosh (like cut up fruit, veggie plate, etc.) to share.  We really hope you can make it.  Please bring a friend and enjoy a warm and friendly get together.  Mom’s with young uns are welcome.
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s weekly message:
This week’s parshah, Vayigash, contains one of the most dramatic scenes of true repentance, t’shuvah g’murah, in the entire Bible.  Judah, who years before had advised selling Joseph into slavery, is now faced with a similar situation.  Benjamin, now his father’s favorite in Joseph’s absence, is falsely accused of theft and condemned to slavery.  Judah has the opportunity to leave his brother in Egypt, but instead offers himself in Benjamin’s place.  In so doing, of course, he passes Joseph’s test.  He proves that he is no longer the person  that he once was.  Judah’s t’shuvah is an example for all of us-we are all able to repent and do the right thing, no matter what our past transgressions.  Shabbat Shalom.

Happy Thanksgiving and Channukah Party Sunday at 5pm

Congregants and Friends,
We would like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving today.  Please note that we have our Friday night services at 7pm and our Hanukah party Sunday at 5pm.


Beth El Hanukah Party:
This Sunday December 1st at 5pm is the Beth El Hanukah Party.  We will be serving kosher chicken and hot dogs (as well as a vegetarian option), latkes and sides.  We would love to see you all!  Please bring your family and friends.  Again, with appreciation to Hal and Elaine Jacobs for sponsoring this.  Please contact Elaine Jacobs at jaqel@yahoo.com to RSVP or for any other things we may need.
Hannukah Blessings for tonight, the second night of Hanukah:
http://www.jewfaq.org/prayer/chanukah.htm
Enjoy the following Hannukah song by the awesome Maccabeats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbec3WSPanw

President Obama’s Hanukah Message to the Jewish Community:

Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating Hanukkah around the world. This Hanukkah season we remember the powerful story of a band of believers who rose up and freed their people, only to discover that the oil left in their desecrated temple – which should have been enough for only one night – ended up lasting for eight. It’s a timeless story of right over might and faith over doubt – one that has given hope to Jewish people everywhere for over 2,000 years.  And tonight, as families and friends come together to light the menorah, it is a story that reminds us to count our blessings, to honor the sacrifices of our ancestors, and to believe that through faith and determination, we can work together to build a brighter, better world for generations to come.From our family to the Jewish Community around the world, Chag Sameach.

Davening for Dummies: December 11 at 7pm!
Come to the second instalment of Bam Rubenstein’s extremely informative and entertaining classes.  The first class was wonderful and if you missed it, please come this month for Bam’s discussion on Tefillah and minyan. 
Community News: The Jewish Family Service Addiction Task Group will host a panel discussion on “Austin Community Resources to Support Addiction Recovery.” This informative panel discussion will bring together new information about the science of addiction recovery and affordable resources those in our community can access to get help for themselves and their loved ones. The event will take place at Congregation Agudas Achim on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 from 6:30 – 8 p.m. There is no cost to attend.

Cold outside? Come warm your spiritual fire

Congregants and Friends,
Despite the plunging temperatures, please note that we will have our regular Friday night services tonight, Friday November 22 at 7pm.
Tomorrow, Saturday morning, starting at 9am, we will have our Shabbat morning services in which we will read the parasha of Veyeshev.  This will be followed by a lovely meat and vegetarian cholent lunch.
Cantor Ben Moshe Message:

This week’s parshah, Vayeshev, deals with Ya’akov and his sons, in particular Joseph and Yehudah.  These two of course are the ancestors of the two dominant Tribes of Israel-Ephraim and Judah, respectively.  Interestingly, our parshah chronicles the personal growth of these two men.  Joseph matures from a spoiled adolescent braggart to a responsible manager and a serious spiritual leader (in his interpretation of the dreams of his fellow prisoners in Egypt).  At the same time, Judah transforms from an insanely jealous older brother who is willing to sell his kin into slavery and send his own father into paroxysms of grief in order to protect himself, into a sober leader who is willing to take responsibility for his own wrongdoing in his dealings with his daughter-in-law, Tamar.  Both of these characters embody the Torah’s fundamental message that no person is perfect, but all people are capable of improvement.  May we all profit from their example.  Shabbat Shalom, and a Happy Thanksgivukkah to all.

The confluence of Thanksgiving and Chanukkah by Gerald L. Zelizer,rabbi of Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen, N.J.

American Jews shouldn’t fret too much at this year’s awkward overlap of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. Sure, it may require some culinary dexterity at Thanksgiving dinner. But thematically, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving are an even more perfect fit than Hanukkah and Christmas.

This year’s confluence is a once-in-about-2,000-lifetimes experience. Hanukkah and Thanksgiving on the same day last happened in 1861, except that Thanksgiving wasn’t established until 1868! And the next time the first day of Hanukkah will happen on Thanksgiving – Thursday, November 28 – will be in the year 79,811. Who can plan that far in advance? So let’s enjoy this solar and lunar overlap and celebrate all that Hanukkah and Thanksgiving have in common. Religiously, there is a direct line connecting Thanksgiving, Sukkot and Hanukkah. Here’s how it works.
American Thanksgiving had a close affinity to biblical Sukkot. Both holidays included the theme of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest. It’s likely that the pilgrims who linked their migration and experience with the ancient Israelites learned to thank God for their harvest from the stories they read in what they called the “Old Testament”.
And Sukkot, in turn, was very much linked to Hanukkah. In fact, Hanukkah may have actually been Sukkot. The Second Book of Maccabees records that after the Maccabees cleansed and rededicated the Temple, “the sanctuary was purified on the twenty-fifth of Kislev (Hanukkah). The joyful celebration lasted for eight days. It was like Sukkot, for they recalled how only a short time before they had kept the festival while living like animals in the mountains, they observed the joyful celebration, which lasted for eight days. And so they carried lulavim and etrogim and they chanted hymns to God, who had so triumphantly led them to the purification of the Temple.”

So Hanukkah was probably a delayed Sukkot, with its theme of Thanksgiving spilling over from the harvest into the cleansed and rededicated Temple. The overlap of American Thanksgiving with the Sukkot/Hanukkah Thanksgiving, then, is not a calender oddity, but a calender tour de force.
We are accustomed to Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas and to the influence of that holiday on some of the cultural celebrations of Hanukkah. In reality, Christmas and Hanukkah are thematically opposite. Hanukkah celebrates the affirmation of Torah through both a war against the Syrians and a civil war. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, whom Paul and the early church fathers understood as replacing the authority of the Torah. On the other hand, Thanksgiving, Sukkot and Hanukkah all share a theme of giving thanks: in the first two, for the harvest; in the last, for the rededication of the Temple.
So here’s to giving thanks for this unusual but perfect confluence. It’s not just the culinary ease of substituting latkes for sweet potatoes with the turkey. There is a core message that links them together beautifully.

Don’t miss fabulous classes tonight and Saturday night

Congregants and Friends,
Don’t miss the  wonderful classes on offer at Beth El this week, starting with the highly entertaining and informative Davening for Dummies tonight at 7pm. Our next services are this Friday evening at 7pm.  Saturday evening, the highly popular Crypto Judaism class is back with Rabbi Tarlow.
Davening for Dummies: TONIGHT!
Interested in sharpening your synagogue skills and learning more about the service?  Gabbai Bam Rubenstein will be teaching an ongoing Davening for Dummies class on the second Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 pm at Congregation Beth El.
Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 pm (Tonight).  This class will cover the reasons and meaning for saying Kaddish, including sitting Shiva and the mourning period.  The class will also briefly provide an overview of Jewish burial practices. Great for all levels.
Crypto Judaism Lecture – November 16 at 6:30 pm Rabbi Tarlow will continue his fascinating series of lectures on Crypto Judaism.  We will have havdallah led by Cantor Ben-Moshe.
HOLD THE DATE:  Channukah is early this year.  Hold the date for our annual Channukah party on Sunday DECEMBER 1 at 5pm.  Huge thank you to the sisterhood and Elaine and Hal Jacobs for sponsoring this annual Beth El tradition.  More details to follow.