Happy July 4th!

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Friday Night Services, 7/03, at 7:00 pm

The next Saturday morning services will be next week, July 11 at 9am

Morah Shiry’s spoken Hebrew class, followed by Gabbai Bam’s davening class will resume Thursday July 23 at 7pm

Grandpa Abe’s Column: I miss my Friends
I got a call the other day from the Jewish War Veterans of which I am a proud member. They asked me if I could identify some of the people in the photographs as I might have remembered them. They are taking these photographs and are going to compile them and start the archives of Post 757. There was one picture I came to that contained approximately thirty-five people. I remember this picture very distinctly. We had an extremely well-attended meeting and thought it might be a good idea to get everyone in a group picture. Like everything that is done, that was not an easy task. We had five chiefs telling us where to stand and how to stand. Everyone talking at once, but by the grace of god it was completed. What was really sad about this picture that I was looking at today, over half the people are no longer with us. No, they didn’t move away. They’re all passed away and I miss them. These were all good people. They all believed in serving their country and the great Almighty. They are not the only people that I miss. There are people who I worked with. There are people who are acquaintances. And, of course, the greatest pain in my heart is obviously my beloved parents. Well, I need to extend that one more step and include my grandparents. As you all know, grandparents are very special. In my life, I was taught a lot by my Grandpa and Grandma. They taught me most of all to have values. You have to have values today if you want to be worth anything. It would be a mistake if I didn’t remember our four-legged friends. They always supplied us with unconditional love and lots and lots of kisses. My wife would say don’t forget all the work such as poop picking up. For some reason, it always seemed like it was worth it. It seems like I miss my neighbors who are no longer with us and people in the clubs that I belong to. In a lot of the clubs I hold a position or office. This was through attrition. It was just the other day, I lost a dear friend on a board I serve on. I remember years ago in a lot of these organizations I was the youngster. Now I’m now the senior participant. Oh, I miss my friends and family. Remember to enjoy your loved ones while they are here.
Dor ‘L Dor
Grandpa Abe

The Weekly Parashah from The Center for Latino-Jewish Relations
Rabbi Peter Tarlow
This week we read the section of the Torah called Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9). It is one of the more famous sections, and it is hard to think of a more appropriate section for the Fourth of July, The US Independence Day. In this parashah we find not only the tale of Balaam’s talking donkey but also Balaam’s curse that becomes a blessing. Both tales at first seem a bit odd. Yet when we read them with an open eye, it becomes clear that a common theme runs throughout them. Just as in this week’s parashah, many of us live lives of entitlement where we often choose not to see the blessings in our lives. We live in a land filled with blessings. Indeed, Jews throughout the world are safer and better off, not only because of the State of Israel, but also because of the lessons and examples given to the world by the US forefathers and mothers. No matter what its flaws, the US stands as a beacon of light symbolized by the Statue of Liberty for people throughout the world.
Like many of us, Balaam was in such a hurry that he failed to see both the opportunities and dangers that confronted him. It took a donkey to teach him that life is composed not only of actions but also of “appreciative reactions”. Balaam was so sure that he was in charge, that he became blind to the reality that surrounded him. In a like manner, the Children of Israel were so intent on leaving the desert that they squandered Balaam’s blessings by failing hear them. How often are we in a rush to get somewhere? How often are we so wrapped up in ourselves that we become blind to the blessings that life offers us? For those of us who live in the US, July Fourth should be more than merely a day of fireworks, hotdogs and watermelon. It is also a day to appreciate all that this nation represents, the idea of human equality, the concept that we judge a person not by his/her race, religion or nationality but by his/her abilities. Although as seen by the murders in Charlestown, not all of us live up to these ideas, the nation’s reaction proves that most Americans cherish these ideals.
This week’s section teaches us not to be so caught up in our own daily “problems” that we fail to appreciate the blessings that we have. On July Fourth we need to take the time to celebrate not only our independence from British tyranny, but also the fact that we have left the fears and prejudices of Europe behind, both physically and spiritually,
Balaam’s tale reminds us that we need each other; that we can learn from everyone, and that perhaps the greatest curse is to squander the many blessings that G’d gives us. These are important concepts to remember and to consider on this national Independence Day. A Glorious Fourth of July!

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week’s parshah, Balak, contains the verse מה טובו אהליך יעקב משכנתיך ישראל “How good are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling-places O Israel”. We say this upon entering our synagogues in the morning, in appreciation of the sanctuary in which we worship. Like us, our African-American brothers and sisters appreciate their churches, their sanctuaries from a world that is all too often hostile. A week and a half ago, the sanctuary of Emanuel AME Church was violated by a young man with hatred in his heart and a gun in his hand. Since then, seven African-American churches have burned. While some of those fires may have been due to natural phenomena, “acts of God”, it strains credulity that all seven were accidents. I repeat the prayer which I have been saying since the terrorist attack on Emanuel AME-may their sanctuaries as well as ours be places of peace, not violence. If you are able, please consider helping one or all of these seven churches to rebuild from the ashes. And let us all continue to hold all of our brothers and sisters in our hearts and prayers. Shabbat Shalom and Happy July 4!.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Wishing our whole kehilah a wonderful and meaningful July 4

Special Mincha Shabbat service

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Friday Night Services, 6/26, at 7:00 pm

No Shabbat morning services tomorrow, but there is a special mincha service at 7:30 p.m.

We will be celebrating the bar mitzvah of Nadav Rosenberg. We would like to wish the Rosenberg family a hearty mazal tov on their simcha and thank them for sponsoring the seuda shlishit meal following the Mincha service.

Rabbi Tarlow’s weekly Parasha:
This week, we read the Torah section called “Chukkat” (Numbers 19:1-22:2). Lay readers and Biblical students alike will note that this section is not an easy section to read. The Parasha’s wilderness experience acts as a counter-point to the tale found in the Garden of Eden. If Eden represents life’s ideal dream, now the Desert of Tzin presents us with the other side of life, that of the harshness of life’s reality. Tzin is a barren place, a place to go through rather than to.
In this section everything seems to go wrong for the People of Israel and for their leader Moses. Now the People of Israel begin to realize that freedom is not an ideal dream, but rather it is a harsh reality composed of the battles for daily life. To be free means to accept life’s challenges and find a way to face and overcome them. In this week’s parashah we read about how Moses loses patience with the people, how Miriam dies, and how the nation’s naïve idealism is confronted and then transformed into the reality that life is an ongoing struggle for survival.
Parashaht Chukat is not meant to depress us. Rather it is a lesson in life’s challenges. This section teaches us that there is no life without crises; that problems are not obstacles placed in front of us by G’d but rather challenges which G’d gives us. In other words, it is we who must define the events of our lives and how we chose to view them.
To live is to overcome obstacles, it is to learn from them and to become stronger because of them. Midbar Tzin, the Wilderness of Zin as it is called in English, represents the adult side of life. It is alone in the wilderness that we, as a people, learn that even there, G’d is with us. It is in the wilderness that we also learn that paradise is not a gift from G’d but rather the results of what we accomplish by ourselves. In Parashat Chukkat we learn that no one gets to a promised land without a willingness to struggle, to accept hardships and the many detours on life’s path.
Although life is never easy, it is a challenge that forces us to seek a better world by using the talents and gifts that G’d gives us every day. We call that process in Hebrew: “tikkun olam” meaning” the repairing of the world”. The way that you answer the question: “How will I handle my journey through the Wilderness of Zin?” greatly speaks to who you are and how you choose to determine your path through life. What is your path? How do you deal with life’s obstacles, by complaining or by doing?

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly Message:
This week’s parshah, Hukkath, deals extensively with death-the sacrifice of the Red Heifer for purification after contact with death, and then the deaths of Aharon and of Miriam. The descriptions of the deaths of Moshe’s siblings and partners in leadership illustrate what the rite of the Red Heifer comes to teach-when we encounter death, we experience it fully, we mourn, and then we return to the land of the living. Bodily death is an inevitable part of life, and must be faced and not avoided. The People of Israel stop their journeying and mourn for Miriam and Aharon, and then they move on. When one comes into direct contact with death, one sits for seven days, then purifies and returns to life. The Torah teaches us a balanced way of dealing with death, which many non-Jews admire. May we all enjoy s’machot, happy occasions-but when we inevitably face death, let us face it squarely, inhabit our grief-and then return to the life which is our gift from God. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Shabbat shalom and Grandpa Abe

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Friday Night Services, 6/19, at 7:00 pm

Rabbi Gisser’s Conversion class Sunday June 21 at 9 am, with shacharit at 8:20 am.

Summer spoken Hebrew class and davening shiur Thursday evenings.
Congregation Beth El just started a summer spoken Hebrew class for adults and interested teens on Thursday June 18 at 7pm. This will be an eight week course and it’s not too late to join. The classes will also include a short, but highly informative davening portion from Gabbai Bam Rubenstein immediately following. RSVP or questions to info@bethelaustin.org

Our sisterhood sewing class. We will have beading in July and cake decorating in August – please stay tuned. Join our Facebook group BethElAustin to see more great pictures!

randpa Abe:
Here is the follow-up on May’s article about the Ketubah. In speaking with one of my sisters, I told her about the Ketubah. She felt that she knew just who the Ketubah belonged to, although she was not alive at the time that it was made. She said she would like to take it upon herself to get it repaired and preserved. She had planned to get it framed and put it in a very special spot in her home. So the Ketubah is going to live on a lot longer than the marriage. That seems to be like a lot of things in our lives today.
Dor ‘L Dor
Grandpa Abe

Grandpa Abe’s June Column:
OH, WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HAVE A VERY SPECIAL HOME
Well, I’m gonna try to get my thoughts together on this article because I have so much to say in a little bit of space and not very much time. This synagogue is the best kept secret in Austin. It has the greatest people attending it and being a part of it. I’m about to tell you of another instance I witnessed. I guess it was about two weeks or so ago, maybe even three (you know how time gets away from you), I was sitting in synagogue and a gentleman was called up to the front. His name is Barry. He was called up for a prayer of thanks for his healing. I turned to the gentleman next to me. I said “what happened to him?” He said he got bitten by a brown recluse spider. “Oh” I said, not knowing very much about these kind of spiders. I assumed it wasn’t anything good. He explained to me that Barry was in the hospital for nearly a week. I said, “For a spider bite?” He said, “Oh yes!” He informed me that Barry lives out in the country and that’s one of the hazards of country living. And, of course, I informed him, “I’m glad I live right in the middle of the city.” I thought the rest of the day about the special prayer of thanksgiving that was offered for Barry’s recovery. It made me, as a congregant, so overjoyed that we, as the congregation that we are, have so much compassion for our members. I’m sure that this touched Barry as much it touched me to witness it happening. To be part of this fine congregation is an honor and not something that’s is taken for granted. The moral of this story is keep away from spiders especially those brown ones. May our congregation always remain the loving and caring family that it is.
Dor ‘L Dor
Grandpa Abe

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week’s parshah, Korah, tells the tale of a rebellion against Moshe and Aharon led by Korah the Levite, and Dathan and Aviram and On of the tribe of Reuven. Korah, Dathan and Aviram meet an untimely end-but On is only mentioned at the beginning of the tale, and then disappears. Why was he not punished along with the other ringleaders? The Midrash relates that at the onset of the rebellion, On’s wife counseled him to withdraw, saying (likely correctly) that the other conspirators had no intention of sharing power with him, and that he would be better off by staying out of the conspiracy. On heeded her wise words and was spared. In Pirkei Avoth, which we study during the summer months, we find the statement (Avoth 2:9)”Who is wise? One who sees possible consequences.” On’s wife was wise, and passed her wisdom to her husband. May we all be wise enough to consider the consequences of our decisions, and to act accordingly. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Shabbat shalom and new flags

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Friday Night Services, 6/12, at 7:00 pm

Shabbat morning services, June 13 at 9am, Torah service at 9:45 followed by a delicious kiddush sponsored by Gregg and Michelle Philipson in honor of Sharon and Lior Sternfeld.

Rabbi Gisser’s Conversion class Sunday June 14 at 9 am, with shacharit at 8:20 am.

Sisterhood Event, this Sunday June 14th at 2pm at Beth El. It’ll be Sew Much Fun! We will sew challah covers! Open to all. There will also be a kid friendly sewing activity.

Summer spoken Hebrew class this coming Thursday.
Congregation Beth El will be starting a summer spoken Hebrew class for adults and interested teens this Thursday June 18 at 7pm. Please let us know ASAP if you are interested. The class will be taught by our own Morah Shiry and will be for beginners. It will also include a short, but highly informative davening portion from Gabbai Bam Rubenstein immediately following. RSVP or questions

Thank you to Hal and Elaine Jacobs for replacing our shul flags with brand new ones!

A hearty thank you to our “Kiddush Crew” for preparing a terrific shabbat kidush: Barbara, Michelle, Claudia, Iris and Mary. Ask us how you join this merry band of cooks! Everyone welcome!

Rabbi Peter Tarlow, Center for Crypto Judaism, Weekly Parasha:
This week’s Torah section is: “Sh’lach L’chah meaning: Send forth”. You will find it in the Book of Numbers 13:1-15:41. Reading this week’s parashah we cannot help but connect its name to an earlier section found in Genesis: “Lech L’chah meaning Go forth”. In Lech l’chah G’d tells Abraham to change the place where he lives and to change his life. In this week’s parashah, it is not G’d commanding Abraham to move but Moses who commands the Israelites to send forth twelve spies to scout out the land that generations back G’d had given to the people of Israel. In the case of Lech l’chah, Abraham obeys the command, successfully moves from Ur to Canaan and from moral darkness to spiritual light. In this week’s case, the twelve spies will fail. It is fear and lack of faith in themselves and in G’d that will turn success into failure.
Are not these two Torah portions different sides of the same coin? Both leaving Ur and Sinai required acts of courage and the need to leave the familiar and accept risk. Both Bible portions share a common theme: that without an optimistic sense of faith, we lack the courage to dream and thus become eternal slaves of fear.
In this week’s section the text teaches us that ten of the spies brought back a highly negative
and pessimistic report stating: the enemy is too strong, the land cannot be conquered. From their perspective Jewish history would die before it was born. As in the case of most pessimists they were excellent in presenting the problem, but offered no alternative solution. Pessimists, despite what they may claim, tend to become frozen in their fear of success.
Realistic optimists take a very different approach to life. Thus, two of the twelve spies take state: “Im chafetz banu ha’Shem v’hevi otanu el ha’aretz ha’zot utnah lanu eretz asher hi zavat chalav udvash/if the Lord so desires it, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, for it is a land flowing with milk and honey.” (14:8). The two positive spikes knew the task would not be easy but with strength of faith and a sense of dedication G’d would not abandon them and they would succeed. These two spies, Caleb and Joshua, teach us an important lesson: Pessimism accomplishes nothing. Indeed, pessimists not only hold themselves back, but also destroy the spirit of those with whom they associate. Pessimists are not realists. Realists offer solutions, pessimists offer only fear but never alternative solutions.
Judaism is not a religion for pessimists. We Jews are commanded to be persons of faith; not to be deniers of faith. Judaism insists that we have faith in oneself and in G’d. Is not our history a 5,000 year journey of faith and optimism? Ours is the story of a small people refusing to give into “the reality of the pessimist.” It was only with faith that even as we faced the horrors of Nazi Europe, we were willing to rebuild a modern nation from the ashes of Europe’s bigotry.
To be an optimist is to sanctify the past and to embrace the future. As a people of faith we have no other choice then to remember the words of Joshua and Caleb “be strong and to be of good courage” for like our ancestors in Sinai we have no alternative. Are you a person of optimistic faith or negative pessimism?

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week’s parshah, Sh’lah L’kha, is to me one of the saddest stories in the Torah. Reacting to the spies’ negative report about the Promised Land, the People of Israel refuse to go there. When they are told that they are therefore doomed to die in the desert, they have a change of heart and attempt to conquer the Land – only to face defeat and death. Isn’t this so very human? So often we decide to do something only to find that it is too late, and our efforts are in vain – if only we had acted sooner. It is a difficult lesson to learn, as many spiritual lessons are. In such situations, we need to recognize our failure, and attempt to apply the lesson to the future. Not an easy task, but that is the only way to grow. Shabbat Shalom.

Austin Jewish Unity Day

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Friday Night Services, 6/05, at 7:00 pm

Rabbi Gisser’s Conversion class Sunday June 7 at 9 am, with shachrit at 8:20 am.

Sisterhood Event, Sunday June 14th at 2pm at Beth El. It’ll be Sew Much Fun! We will have another in the popular sewing classes and make our own challah covers! Open to all. There will also be a kid friendly sewing activity.

Austin Jewish Unity Day Message.
This year, a group of Israeli leaders and citizens provided the Jewish people with a new communal observance, a new reason to come together as Klal Yisrael. On June 3rd, 2015 the families of Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-ad Shaer and Eyal Ifrach, the three Israeli boys who were kidnapped and murdered by terrorists last summer, asked the Jewish people to come together for what they are calling Jewish Unity Day. Last summer, these families felt supported and cared for by a united worldwide Jewish community. This summer, they are asking the global Jewish community to help them honor their son’s lives, by celebrating the many aspects of Jewish life that unite Jews from around the world, rather than divide us. Through study, activism and prayer, they are asking each one of us to explore what unity without uniformity truly means for the Jewish community. In the words of Rachelli Fraenkel, the mother of Naftali, “We went out searching for the boys and we discovered ourselves. We saw that we are part of something huge, a people, a true family.” For more information about Jewish Unity Day 2015 and the recipients of this year’s Jewish Unity Prize, please go to http://www.unityprize.org/en. Also, plans are being made to hold a community-wide Jewish Unity event in Austin this Fall.

We, the combined leadership of the Austin Jewish Community declare our dedication to maintaining a strong and vibrant sense of Klal Yisrael in our community. May we ban forever sinat chinam, baseless hatred, from among our people and may all of us take this time to reach a deeper understanding of what it means to be a part of a larger Jewish family; a family that might be in conflict at times but a family nonetheless that holds a shared vision of peace and justice close to our hearts.”

JCC Austin
Countdown to Splash Bash this Sunday! Dive into Summer and have some free family fun–inflatables, sno-cones, live music 10 AM-2 PM. Bring a guest to the J. The BERS (Beth El Religious School) are going. Please join us!

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
In this week’s parshah, B’haalotcha, we find two familiar verses which bracket our Torah service-“Vay’hi binso’a ha’aron….” and “U’vnucho yomar….”. These verses detail the prayers of Moses when the Ark of the Covenant was taken up at the beginning of a day’s march and set down at the end. We say them now while taking the Torah out and setting it back in its place. While the Ark of the Covenant has been lost to us for nearly 2600 years (and we presume that it isn’t in a buried city in Egypt or in a Defense Department warehouse in Washington)-but we remember it in our prayers today, and adapt the words of Torah to our own circumstances. We thus make our Torah live far beyond the original context of its words. Shabbat Shalom.

Congregation Beth El will be starting a summer (conversational) spoken Hebrew class for adults and interested teens. Please let us know ASAP if you are interested. The class will be taught by our own Morah Shiry and will meet THURSDAY evenings at approximately 7 PM and will be for beginners. It will also include a short, but highly informative davening portion from Gabbai Bam Rubenstein immediately following.