Please join us for Friday Night Shabbat Services
December 9, at the regular time of 7:00 PM.

Shabbat morning services are THIS Saturday December 10 at 9 AM. Children’s service at 10:30 led by Morah Shereen with a lovely kidush lunch following. This week the kidish is kindly sponsored by Doris and Herschel Hochman in honor of their late, beloved mothers,
Helen (Hochman) Cohen (Herschel’s Mother) and
Celia Hochman (Doris’ Mother) and in a lovely coincidence, Doris ended up keeping her maiden name of Hochman, even though the two Hochman families were not related! Thank you also to Doris and Herschel for being part of the “Shabbat shefs” and helping prepare the lunch!

Sunday school THIS Sunday December 11.

Also this Sunday December 11, at 3 PM we are having a personal tour of the Bob Bullock Museum’s Nazi Propaganda exhibit, graciously led by Gregg Philipson whose memorabilia is on exhibit at the museum. This will indeed be a special and personal guide. Please let us know if you can come, purchase tickets at the box office there and meet us at the star in the lobby at 3 PM.

HOLD THE DATE : THE HANNUKAH PARTY OF THE YEAR! Only a couple of weeks away, plan to join us on Sunday December 25 at 5 PM at Beth El for one cool Hannukah party. Live music with Los Klezmeros, food including Guy’s famous Israeli sufganiot and candle lighting! Free and open to the community.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 5:13 PM

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week we read in Parshat Vayyetze how our ancestors Ya’akov and Rahel met at the well used by the shepherds of Haran. Finding a wife at a well is a recurring theme in the Torah-Avraham’s servant finds Rivkah, who would become the wife of Yitzhak, at a well, and Moshe and Tzipporah meet at a well in Midian. Water of course symbolizes life itself. Without water, humans die within a couple of days, especially in the hot arid climate of our homeland. May we always respect and protect the wonderful gifts that God has given us and continue protecting the land we share. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

HOLD THE DATES: First Friday speakers at Beth El.

Friday January 6, Rabbi Daniel Septimus CEO of the Austin JCC will likewise be our guest speaker at Beth El.

On the first Friday of February, we welcome Rabbi/Cantor Marie Betcher who will talk about the great work she does as a Police Chaplain.

And the third Friday (OK, just to change it up a bit), Jay Rubin, former CEO of Shalom Austin and avid historian will come to speak!

Photo of the sisterhood painting class last Sunday afternoon. It was indeed a fun and meaningful afternoon. All the paintings are displayed at Beth El currently. We are immensely grateful to Sharon Yam-Sananes for not only teaching, but sponsoring the event. It was so good that we are planning another one in the coming months.

Sisterhood Book Club Event!
**On January 24th at 7:00 p.m. we will be having another book club event, The event will be at the home of Yael Shacham, who has graciously volunteered hosting our evening get together. The name of the book and its author, that we will be discussing, is “A Pigeon and A Boy” by Meir Shalev.

Rabbi Peter Tarlow, Rabbi Emeritus Texas A&M and the Center for Jewish Hispanic Relations
This week’s section, (Va’Yetze: Gen: 25:10-32:3) deals with Jacob’s famous dream scene. Jacob is now fleeing Canaan and the wrath of his brother Esau. During his journey he dreams of ladder on which angles both ascend and descend on it. The dream ends with the famous verse and difficult verse to translate: “VaYomer: achen, yesh Adoshem baMakom ha’zeh v’Anochi lo yadati/He then stated: thus, G’d is in this place and I did not know it” (25:16)
Many a Biblical commentator has noted the reverse order of the dream, that is to say that instead of the angles descending and ascending the dream reverse the order. Others have focused on Jacob’s statement about G’d’s presence, presented in a Hebrew syntax filled with a myriad of nuances. Dreams often tell us a lot about ourselves. From the Talmud to Freud and beyond we have wondered if dreams express our unconscious hopes and fears, predict the future, or merely state in their special way the obvious
The Bible, in some of its verses, takes dreams seriously. For example, Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams is his key not only to getting out of jail, but also to his upward climb to success. Yet,in other verses (see Deuteronomy) the text speaks against dream interpretations. Thus, we see that the text, like dreams themselves, vacillates between seeing dreams as the “door to the unconscious” and simply the left-over feelings of our daily lives.
Perhaps we may never know the inner reason for dreams. Like Jacob we may exclaim that G’d was there and we did not know it. What may be clearer is that how we chose to see our dreams tells us a great deal about ourselves. Are we dreamers who base our lives on fictional hopes rather than on hard data? On the other hand, can anyone truly claim to be “alive” without a dream? To have no dreams is to leave the realm of the human and become merely a machine. Most of us, like the Biblical text, vacillate between wanting our dreams to be our entrance into the world of the subconscious continuum connecting past and future and fearing that dreams may be merely wishful thinking.
Perhaps the real issue is not what we dream, or what appears in our dreams, but if we use these dreams as exercises in positive or negative thinking. Are we smart enough to know when G’d is in our world and we know it?

Please consider a generous donation to our shul.

Friday Night Shabbat Services
Tonight 11/25, at the regular time of 7:00 PM. Mitzvah of the month is collecting items for the animal shelter. Please see below.

Shabbat morning services are THIS Saturday November 26 at 9 AM. Children’s story time at 10:30 and a lovely kidush lunch generously sponsored by Javis Howeth in gratitude for the bountiful goodness of Hashem.

Sunday school resumes December 4.

HOLD THE DATE : THE HANNUKAH PARTY OF THE YEAR! Only a month away, plan to join us on Sunday December 25 at 5 PM at Beth El for one cool Hannukah party. Live music, food and candle lighting! Free and open to the community.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 5:13 PM

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week in Parshat Hayyei Sarah, we read of the death of our Mother Sarah, and of our Father Avraham’s purchase of a burial plot for her. Significantly, this burial ground, the Cave of Machpelah, is the first land purchase made by our people in the Land of Israel. From this our Sages determined that the first purchase of land made by a Jewish community is a cemetery, even before a synagogue or a school. The cemetery is called a Beit ‘Almin, a House of Eternity. Prayers can be said and Torah may be studied anywhere, but we are to lay our dead to rest only in a proper place. Caring for the dead, who cannot even return the favor, is an important precept of Jewish Tradition. May we always strive to act out of true kindness, to our departed and to all others. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

HOLD THE DATES: First Friday speakers at Beth El.

We look forward to welcoming Gil Levy, head of Jewish Family Services who will come and give a talk/Dvar Torah on Friday December 2.

Friday January 6, Rabbi Daniel Septimus CEO of the Austin JCC will likewise be our guest speaker at Beth El.

On the first Friday of February, we welcome Rabbi/Cantor Marie Betcher who will talk about the great work she does as a Police Chaplain. And the third Friday (OK, just to change it up a bit), Jay Rubin, former CEO of Shalom Austin will come to speak!

**Hold the date for Sunday December 4th at 1 PM for a Hannukah themed art project with artist Sharon Yam-Sananes. Please also plan to bring items for a clothes exchange that afternoon – adult and children’s clothes, small household items, chachkes, shoes, and other items that we can swap with each other and donate the leftovers to charity.

Did you know that any purchases from the Agudas Achim Gift Store at the J can be designated to give 10% to Beth El. Please consider shopping there and let them know that you would like your 10% to go to Beth El. We are so very grateful to them!

And finally, please consider a generous donation to our shul:
http://bethelaustin.wpengine.com/donate/

And please try and have good wishes for the people of Israel. Fires have been raging for four days. 6 Nations have sent fire teams to assist. The Israeli firefighters, first responders, and even the Israeli Air Force are stretched thin. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.