Weekend services and a hearty Mazal Tov

/in , , /by

Congregants and Friends,

We look forward to seeing you for our regular Friday night services tonight, November 8th, at 7pm.
On Saturday November 9 at 9 am we will have our Shabbat morning services in which we will also celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of Noy Lohr.  We would like to wish her parents Gil and Michelle and her sister Eden a hearty Mazal Tov and thank the Lohr family for sponsoring the kidish in honor of their daughter.
Other exciting events at Beth El include the following:
Davening for Dummies
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 second Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 pm at Congregation Beth El. Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 pm 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 NOVEMBER 24 at 5pm.  Huge thank you to the sisterhood and Elaine and Hal Jacobs for sponsoring this annual Beth El tradition. 

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Message:
This week we read in Parshat Vayetze the famous story of Sulam Ya’akov, Jacob’s Ladder.  This takes place in a field outside the town of Luz, later renamed Beit (Beth) El, “The House of God”.  Ya’akov of course has no idea that he is in a sacred place when he stops for the night-in fact, he says “Indeed God is in this place and I didn’t know it!”.  We know, actually that God is in every place-if we can perceive the Divine Presence.  Perhaps we don’t have prophetic dreams, but we can be alert to the subtle signs that we are indeed in the House of God at all times, whether we are at Beth El or in any other place.  Shabbat Shalom.  Community News:
Haddasah’s monthly Brunch Bunch meeting will be on Friday, November 15 at 10:00 a.m. held at 3418 N. Lamar in the private room of Cafe Express. We will feature our local expert in cold caps therapy. Patsy Morgenstern Graham, a cancer survivor, started the non-profit, Cold Caps Assistance Projects, to assist chemotherapy patients with cold caps to minimize hair loss due to chemotherapy.  RSVP to Rochelle Kraus at (512)294-0006 or rochelle_kraus@yahoo.com.

Attend the Friends of Jewish Family Service 2013 Benefit on November 19 and enjoy Merlin Works Improv Comedy!  Help honor JFS Friend of the Year Barbara Barron as you support critical mental health and social services in Austin and Central Texas. Register at www.shalomaustin.org/jfs.

Friday night services at Beth El and upcoming events – Parashat Toldot

/in , , /by

Congregants and Friends,

Please join us for our regular Friday night services , November 1st, at 7pm in which we will usher in Shabbat with our beautiful song filled services.

Upcoming events at Beth El – HOLD THE DATE:

Davening for Dummies
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 second Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 pm at Congregation Beth El.
Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 pm 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.
Wednesday, December 11 at 7:00 pm This class will cover and discuss the tallit, t’fellin, and the basis and reasons for a minyan.    Wanting to share his knowledge and help inform and educate the community, Bam Rubenstein is a lively speaker whose classes are sure to be educational and entertaining.  Bam, a native of New York, grew up in Queens, graduated from Hebrew High School at Forest Hills Jewish Center, and attended both extension courses and Torah Leadership Seminars at Yeshiva University.  Bam will share his knowledge and education in this ongoing series. 
Crypto Judaism Lecture – November 16 at 6:30 pm  Rabbi Peter Tarlow of A&M Hillel will continue his ongoing series of lectures on Crypto Judaism, Saturday night November 16, at Congregation Beth El.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Message: This week’s parshah, Toldot Yitzhak, deals extensively with the conflict between Esav and Ya’akov, the twin sons of Yitzhak and Rivkah.  The conflict begins in the womb, and as the brothers grow older they take on two distinct personalities. Esav is a hunter, a man of action, but his courage and strength are offset by his impulsiveness and tendency towards violence.  Ya’akov, the younger, is more thoughtful and introspective, but is afraid of direct confrontation, often resorting to trickery and deceit to get his way.  Neither brother is complete-each has good qualities which the other lacks.  It is not until two weeks from now that we will see Ya’akov face his brother head-on, when he earns the name Yisrael and becomes worthy of being the ancestor of the People of Israel.  At that point, the Torah also describes him as ‘shalem’, ‘whole’.  May we, the descendants of Ya’akov/Yisrael, combine intelligence and thoughtfulness with courage, so that we can be shlemim, wholehearted in our devotion to doing God’s work.  Shabbat Shalom.

Live From New York – Parasha Lech Lecha 10/11 and 10/12

/in , , /by
As you may have heard, our congregants Dani Kadosh and Juliette Meinstein will be getting married in Florida on Sunday, October 13.  The Cantor will be out of town that weekend officiating at the wedding so we have arranged for a friend of a friend to come in and lead services.  We were fortunate to find Rabbi Joshua Frankel to help lead services.
 
Because we have a guest in town, we will have some activities both Friday night and Saturday morning.  On Friday night, we will have our regular Kabbalat Shabbat services at 7:00 pm, followed by a community dinner.  As dinner is finishing, Rabbi Frankel will lead a discussion of the weekly Parasha, Lech Lecha.  Desserts and benching will follow this discussion.
 
On Saturday, October 12, we will have the baby naming of David and Katherine Lippa’s daughter.  We will have a lovely kiddush lunch following the services which is sponsored by David and Katherine Lippa in honor of their daughter’s baby naming.  We hope you can join us for this simcha.
 
Our guest rabbi is Rabbi Joshua Frankel, an Orthodox activist and educator dedicated to helping Judaism grow as a relevant, compelling, and inclusive force in contemporary life. Rabbi Frankel is an IDF combat veteran, and is an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut. He received his rabbinical ordination from YCT Rabbinical school with the support of a Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Joshua holds a BA in Economics from Hebrew University and is currently a pursuing an MBA at the City University of New York.
 
We hope to see you at these events.

Yom Kippur 5774

/in , , , /by

Congregants and Friends,
We look forward to ushering in Yom Kippur 5774 tonight at 7:15 with the beautiful Kol Nidrei service.  The following morning, starting at 9 am, with Mincha at 5:40 and Neilah at 7pm, with a light break the fast at the conclusion of services.  Please visit our website  schedule at www.bethelaustin.org.
We look forward to seeing everyone and wish you all a meaningful Yom Kippur.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Message:

This Shabbat is of course also the Sabbath of Sabbaths, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  Yom Kippur is the only fast day which is not deferred for Shabbat, as it is itself the Ultimate Shabbat, a day to refrain from all worldly matters to concentrate exclusively on the spiritual.  Although Yom Kippur is a fast day, and a very serious time for introspection, it is far from being sad.  In fact, the Talmud states that there was no day in Israel more joyful than Yom Kippur, when the Jewish People were assured that their contrition was accepted by God.  The afternoon of Yom Kippur was even considered a propitious time for matchmaking in ancient times.   Yom Kippur should move us to a deep spiritual joy, based upon our resolve to improve our characters in the year to come.
 On a more practical note-once again I’d like to remind everyone whose health would be damaged by fasting-please do not fast.  If you are diabetic or hypoglycemic, if you need to take medicine which must be accompanied by food or drink, if you are subject to fainting, or if you have any other medical condition of the sort, Jewish Tradition actually forbids fasting.  Eat or drink enough to preserve your health, so that you can observe, God willing, many Days of Atonement to come.  The fast of Yom Kippur comes second to your health.
 May we all be sealed for good things in the coming year.  Shabbat Shalom and G’mar Hatimah Tovah.
Cantor Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Friday night Services – August updates

/in , /by

Services tonight are at 7pm, in which we will welcome the Shabbat with our special guest and Gabbai, Arthur Gurney who will lead services while Cantor Ben-Moshe is on vacation.   Services the rest of the month are as follows:
Every Friday night at 7pm for Kabbalat Shabbat. 
Saturday August 17:  Eli Cone will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah and the congregation is invited to attend.  Services will be led by Cantor Ben-Moshe at Holiday Inn Arboretum (only ¼ mile from Beth El), on 8901 Business Center Drive, 78759.  We wish the Cone family a hearty Mazal Tov.
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly Message: Parshat Re’eh deals extensively with the laws that B’nei Yisrael were to follow once they entered the Promised Land.  Moses here continues his last instructions to his People.  In this parshah, he first commands them to perform an elaborate ceremony of blessings and curses on Mt. G’rizim and Mt. ‘Eival, outside the city of Sh’chem.  Mt. G’rizim is in fact the oldest Israelite sanctuary, and is still used to this day by the Samaritans.  Moses continues by warning against the dangers of falling into the idolatrous practices of the Canaanites, and of following false prophets.  Interestingly, the test of a false prophet is not whether his prophecies come true, but rather if he attempts to convince others to follow other gods.  The Torah actually admits of spiritual powers being divorced from worship of God-that it is not the spiritual power itself that is important, but rather the intention behind it.   Parshat Re’eh also contains laws about supporting the poor, the Sabbatical Year, the laws of kashrut and a listing of the holidays.  While there isn’t any narrative here, there is much worth studying, and many spiritual lessons to be learned.  I look forward to returning to Austin next week and resuming worship and learning with you all.  Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Tarlow’s Weekly Parasha: This week’s parashah is called “Re’eh”.  You will find it in the Book of Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17. This parashah presents us with a host of challenges.  It challenges us to thinking about if we are making the right decisions. It challenges us to develop a sense of group.  It challenges us to observe G’d’s festivals and it challenges us to be wise enough to distinguish between ‘false prophets’ (those leaders who give the impression that they cannot be wrong; that they are almost Messiahs) and real prophets (people who place the national good before their own and do not ask of others what they do not ask of themselves).  This week’s section revolves around two major themes: (1) Seeing is not necessarily believing.  In fact we often see only what we choose to see/believe and (2) we must balance personal freedom with group responsibility.  Both of these themes run through the Biblical text and serve as a warning that we must think for ourselves and be wise enough to question what we read.  The text asks us to examine our leadership by the results of their actions and not by the superficial show which they create.   Throughout this week’s parashah we learn that false leadership can make us believe (Re’eh = See) that good is evil and evil is good.  For example, the media’s often poor (and all too often dishonest) coverage of the Middle East is an example of how the media pretend to be fair while in reality creating false impressions and illusions.  At other times we are mislead not by what we see but rather by what is not see.  How often do the media  simply chose not to cover a news stories that might hurt its favorite candidate? How often do major news stories not get reported, but “soft news” is given headline treatment?  Such disappearances ought to make us question if the media have placed their own agendum ahead of truth or taken facts out of context.  What we see/read must be carefully scrutinized. How often has Israel suffered due to the media’s creation of illusions that simply are not true? How often have the media throughout the world manipulated statistics to present a different story than what is true?   Re’eh is all about consequences.   It teaches us that when we dare not allow ourselves to be deceived, that  we must question everything that we read or are shown on television. Moses warned us concerning the consequences not only of our singular actions but also of our collective actions when he states at the beginning of the parashah Deut:11:26 and 11:32): “Behold I place before you a blessing and a curse ….therefore, take care to observe all of the laws and rules which I have set before you this day”.  How we act then touches not only our singular life, but also the lives of all with whom we live.  Do you consider the group results of your personal decisions?  Should you?  What do you think?