Parashat Ve’era – Special Friday services

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Dear Congregants and Friends,

We would like to invite you all to our Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service, tonight at 7pm. We will have our regular service, but invite the children of the congregation to come and join us in singing Lecha Dodi and getting a special blessing. We will have coffee, juice and cake at the end.
NEW E-MAIL: – PLEASE READ. We are transitioning to a new e-mail in order to better serve you. It is news@bethelaustin.org. Please subscribe to this email when you receive it as it is the only way that you will be able to get the e-mail. As always, we don’t send many, so you will never receive too many, but this is a very important way of communication. Please also bear with us as we transition.
On Sunday morning, we will have Sunday school at 10am.
PLEASE NOTE that there will not be an Intro to Judaism class this week though.
HOLD THE DATE : We will have another work day on Sunday January 25 and could use as many people as possible.
Wednesday evening davening will be at 7pm and the very popular class on Jewish concepts of Death and the afterlife will immediately follow.
Movies in the shul – remember our next one is motzei Shabbat, January 31, at about 6:30pm when we will be screening The Pawn Broker.
We are forming a Hebrew conversation class on Thursday evenings – please let us know if you are interested ASAP so we can get an idea of numbers and interest.
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly message:   This week’s parshah, Va’era, begins the narrative of the Ten Plagues, which came down on Egypt as a consequence of the continued enslavement of B’nei Yisrael.  The plagues begin as annoyances-water turning to blood, frogs, lice-and progress to dangerous and at the end deadly.  They come in three sets of three, and they are all natural phenomena, except the last Plague of the First-Born.  In this way, God proves the futility of worshipping the forces of nature.  None of the gods of Egypt, from the river-god of the Nile to the frog-goddess of fertility, to Ra, the sun-god, chief of the Egyptian pantheon, had any power.  Only the Creator of the Universe has that sort of power.  As Jews, we are called on to witness that there is only One Supreme Power, Who alone is worthy of worship.  As for Nature, we may see God’s presence there, but Nature is not God, and while we recognize that we are part of Creation, we look beyond the material world to the Spirit which is beyond.  Shabbat Shalom.

Parashat Shemot and a host of New Year classes!

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Dear Congregants and friends,
Please join us tonight, Friday January 9th at 7pm for our weekly Kabalat Shabbat services – filled with song and meaningful prayer as well as some wonderful folks.
Tomorrow morning at 9am, we continue our weekend services with Shabbat morning services, followed by the Torah service, Dvar Torah by Rabbi Gisser, children’s story time and a lovely kidush at the end.
Sunday morning we are excited to restart our Sunday school classes at 10am.
Wednesday evenings we continue our evening services and classes:

Please join us tonight at 7:30 pm for the start of Rabbi Gisser’s six week course on the Jewish concepts of Death and Afterlife.   The class is free and open to the community.
There is no greater question in life than that of death.  This course will explore some of the Jewish concepts of death and the Olam HaBa, the world to come, and will be sure to change the way you look at life. Please plan to come at 7:00 pm for Maariv services before the class.
Sisterhood events for January include:
Let’s Welcome the New Year with the upcoming events for January 2015 with a bang!
REMINDER: Sunday, January 11, 2015 – It has been requested that we have another Mahjong Class.  12:30 – 3:00 pm – we will be having an informal get together and have a “Mahjong 101” Class as well as play other games.  No children this time.
We will be meeting at Juliette Meinstein’s home.  E-mail us for address.
Please RSVP to Elaine Jacobs at (jaqel@yahoo.com) or 512-261-0112 by Friday, January 9, 2015.  Please bring a healthy dairy, parev desert or little nosh (like cut up fruit, veggie plate, cheese platter, etc.) if you can.
Sunday, January 25, 2015 – after Hebrew/Sunday School, a sewing arts and crafts class will be held, at Beth El, where we will learn how to make Matza covers for Pescah.  This class will start at 12:00 noon.
Please RSVP to Elaine Jacobs at (jaqel@yahoo.com) or 512-261-0112 by Wednesday, January 21, 2015.  Please bring a healthy dairy, parev desert or little nosh (like cut up fruit, veggie plate, cheese platter, etc.) if you can.
Rabbi Tarlow’s weekly parasha:
This week we begin the Bible’s second book. In English the book is known as Exodus, named after the fact that to a great extend the book deals with Israel’s liberation from slavery and its return home to the land of Israel.  In Hebrew the book has a different name: shmot, meaning “names”.  Some have argued that what distinguishes a slave from a free man or woman is the fact that slaves, almost as pets, are given names. To be a slave is to be nameless, to live at the will of one’s master. Slaves have no past or future. To be a slave is to live in an eternal present, each day is the same and when the slave stops producing then the master may discard his (her) slave at will.  Perhaps this is the reason that the Ten Commandments place such emphasis on the concept of Sabbath.  To celebrate a Sabbath is to celebrate one’s control of time, to realize that life is more than mere labor, to create a crossroads between dignity and eternity.

Shmot begins then with names, but is there an irony in the book?  Despite the fact that the second book of the Bible begins with names, we note that there are no women’s names present.  Is it that the names mentioned are names from the past and thus in a subtle way the text is indicating that a new beginning is to take place, that women will now not only have a role in history but will enter into its pages?  Although women played significant roles in Genesis, does Exodus indicate a shift, that women would now play a significant role in the liberation story?  Is their absence then one of oversight or intentional, does it act as the bridge to freedom not only for men but also for women?

Throughout the Exodus tales, however, women play either primary roles or secondary roles in the liberation story.   Some of the leading women in the Exodus story are Shifrah and Puah, the nurses who stand up to Pharaoh’s planned genocide, Miriam, Moses’ sister who hides him from Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s daughter who raises Moses, and Tziporah who saves her husband Moses from a near fatal encounter with G’d.

Without these women’s deeds Israel never would have won its freedom from Egypt.  The text does not tell us why women’s names are not included in the first chapter.  Is it that until Sinai women were not only mere slaves, but also second class slaves? Is it that those who do are often left out of history, or is the text teaching us that there are always people behind the scenes who permit the principal actors of history to perform? Is the text teaching us that when we study history we need to look at not only who is named but also who is not named?


Why do you think?  What does the absence of these women’s names teach us about how we understand our past and shape our future?
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s weekly message – Last week we read in Parshat Vayiggash of Joseph and his family, of their reunification after many years.      Joseph of course shows the moral courage that sustained him through the long years of being cut off from his family-he refuses to avenge himself on the brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt.  His brother Judah also shows strength of character, as he repents fully for selling Joseph and offers himself in order to save his brother Benjamin from a similar fate.  These two, Joseph and Judah, became the progenitors of the two most important tribes of Israel.  May the moral strength of our ancestors continue to inspire our deeds in our own days.  Shabbat Shalom

Joseph’s dream, a movie night, Channukah party and more…

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Congregants and Friends:
We hope you can join us Friday night, December 12 at 7pm for Kabbalat Shabbat services.
We will also be having our Shabbat morning services at 9 am this Saturday morning, with the Torah service at about 9:45 and Rabbi Gisser delivering a Dvar Torah. We hope you can join us. We will have a kidush in honor of Matt  Rubin who is a soldier at Fort Hood and will be deploying soon. We thank him and all our military for their service and sacrifice.
Saturday evening, December 13, at 6:20 p.m. we will be having the second in our “movie in the shul” nights. We will start with a maariv service and screen the fascinating movie, O Jerusalem, at 6:40pm.  Be sure to come early to get your seat. There will be a children’s movie showing concurrently. O Jerusalem (released in 2006) is tale of friendship between two men, one Jewish and the other Arab, as the state of Israel is being created.
Sunday morning we will have our Sunday school at 10 am and Intro to Judaism with Cantor Ben-Moshe at 10:30 am.
We would like to wish Jonathan and Edith Troen a hearty Mazal Tov on the birth last week of their baby boy Mateo!
ONLY ONE WEEK TILL OUR ANNUAL CHANNUKAH PARTY!
Please join us Sunday December 21 at 5pm for the wonderful Beth El Hannukah party. We will have latkes, a kosher BBQ, songs led by Lior and Rotem and fun for you and the whole family.
New Year – New exciting Programs:
Please watch this space for a host of exciting programs starting in 2015!  There will be great classes on offer by Rabbi Gisser as well as a Hebrew conversational class with Morah Shiry, our movies in the shul and so much more.
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly Message:
This week’s parshah, Vayeshev, is mostly concerned with the story of Joseph, his dreams, and his being sold into slavery in Egypt.  Reading the story now, year after year, we know how it ends-Joseph becomes Prime Minister of Egypt and saves his family from starvation.  The outcome is not obvious to Joseph or his brothers at the time, of course, but the Torah presents this as the unfolding of God’s plan.  From our limited perspective, we can only guess what will come of events in our lives as they are happening, but it is only in hindsight that we can piece together meanings.  May we all be blessed with the patience to wait for understanding, and the wisdom to arrive at it.  Shabbat Shalom.
 Rabbi Peter Tarlow’s Weekly Parasha:
This Tuesday night (December 16) begins the holiday of Chanukah. Chanukah is based around the Apocrypha books of Maccabees and also on a number of Talmudic commentaries.  In reality, the modern holiday is the merging of the Maccabean (Ancient Jewish armies) victory over the Assyrians (the world’s first war for religious liberty) with the Talmudic tale of the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days rather than one.
Chanukah is a tale of courage.  It is also a cautionary tale, reminding us of how easy it is to take advantage of minorities and how humans are capable of not respecting those who may be different.  Is it a warning against modern terrorism and the horrors of groups such as ISIS?
The Maccabean wars were less about economics than principles, less about politics than about the right of human beings to be free.  Unfortunately, seeing the modern Middle East and the acts of terrorism that come from it, we realize that these struggles did not cease with the Macabean victories.  They continue until to this day on both collective and individual levels.  How many nations stand by idly despite acts of terrorism against innocent civilians? How many refuse to get involved when we see someone being bullied at school or at work?  How many people simply state, the other person’s problem is not my problem?
The Chanukah story teaches us that the ancient Maccabees were fearless, defied incredible odds and were willing to risk their lives for principle. How many nations have demonstrated such courage? It also teaches us the importance of what modern academics call “the political narrative”.  In other words, what we believe does matter, and when we translate beliefs into actions these beliefs become powerful political tools.  My family joins me in wishing each of you a very Happy Chanukah.

December – Hold the Date

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Dear Friends/Chaverim:

We truly hope you can all join us for Friday night services tonight, December 5 at 7pm.

Our next Shabbat morning services are the second Saturday of the month, Saturday December 13.

We will have Sunday school this Sunday morning at 10am as well as our Sunday morning Intro to Judaism class at 10:30 am.


Mah-Jong  and games: Sunday, December 14 – 12:30–2:00pm – We will be having an informal get together and  a “Mahjong 101” Class, as well as play other games.  No children this time.   Please RSVP to Elaine Jacobs at (jaqel@yahoo.com) or 512-261-0112 by Wednesday, December 10, 2014.  Please bring a healthy dairy, parev desert or little nosh (like cut up fruit, veggie plate, cheese platter, etc.) if you can.

Sunday, December 21, 2014 – HOLD THE DATE:  We are celebrating our Annual Beth El Chanukah Latke Party at 5:00 p.m.  Please join us in the fun.
There will be a delicious kosher meat BBQ:
Here is what we need volunteers to bring:  please let us know if you can help with these items
**Drinks – Lemonade and orange juice   **Fruit salad – just fruit   **Green Salad – no dressing   **Parev kosher  deserts  **Non-dairy Chanukah gelt   **Paper plates, cutlery and napkins 
To help celebrate the holiday, please bring your own Menorah and candles to light when we say the prayers!
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s weekly message:
This week’s parshah, Vayishlah, describes the return of Ya’akov to his homeland.  He receives his new name, Yisrael, the name by which he is now known as the ancestor of our people, and the Torah teaches that he was “shalem”, whole.  Interestingly, we also know that Ya’akov/Yisrael was crippled from his struggle with the mysterious “person״ as he was crossing into Canaan.  Perhaps the Torah is teaching us that wholeness is not a physical thing, and that we can be spiritually whole even if something in our lives is broken.  Maybe one of our spiritual goals is to look for wholeness in our lives not only when things are going well, but especially when they are not.  Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Peter Tarlow’s Parashat Hashavua:
The parashah to be read on the Sabbath of December 6 is called Va’yYishlach, You will find it in Genesis 31:4-36:43. When we read the text for the first time, it may appear to us that this week’s section merely tells the story of how Jacob and Esau reunite. Yet even a superficial reading teaches us something about the psychology of Jacob.  The reader learns of his high state of anxiety. Jacob finds himself in a (self) struggle with the mysterious “ish” by the banks of the River Yabok. The result will be not only a change or name but also a change of heart.
An alternative reading of the parashah takes us to deeper and perhaps more hidden themes. For example,  the parashah revolves around the concept of “ger.”  We may loosely translate the the Biblical term “ger” as a “legal alien” or someone who is in a society of which he/she is not a part.
Jacob’s describes himself as a ger “Im Laban garti/I have been a ger in Laban’s home” (Gen. 31:5). In other words no matter how successful Jacob was in a foreign land, he was never at home.
We do not have to be abroad to be a ger.  How many of us are “gerim” (plural of ger) even in the land of our birth?  Jacob’s battle then is to go from being a “ger” to a ‘toshav” (the opposite of ger: the person who is at home with him/herself). To become a “toshav”, to be at peace, with himself, Jacob would have to cross the River Yabok. He would have to fight a battle with the ish (perhaps himself); he would have to go through a process of struggle, and he would have to learn the meaning of contentment and self appreciation.
We saw an arrogant young mane when Jacob left Canaan. Now in this week’s portion with his return, we see a mature adult.  He has come to count his blessings, and even more importantly, he has come to realize that we are all “gerim” resident aliens on earth. While living with his father-in-law Laban, Jacob has learned a series of important lessons. He has learned to appreciate what he has and not to take anything for granted.  He has learned that it is easier to demand of others than it is to fulfill his own commitments. Perhaps most importantly, Jacob has learned that as gerim (guests on earth), a successful life means learning to be thankful for what we have rather than being envious of what others have.
Like Jacob each of us needs to realize that we are all gerim, that no one is really at home, that all of us are guests on G’d’s earth.  Do we take time out to appreciate our blessings and seek, with a sense of humility, to be thankful for all we have or do we live with the twin curses of jealousy and envy of what others may have?  Have we learned to confront our anxieties and to face fear with hope and determination?  Have you crossed your own River Yabuk, are you ger or finding your way to becoming a toshav?
Community News from Austin Jewish Business Network:
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Dinner and a movie – we have you covered

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Chaverim/Dear friends,

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. After all that cooking, come relax at Beth El tonight at 6:30 p.m. with lovely kaballat Shabbat services, followed by a kosher dinner. Cantor Ben-Moshe will be leading services and Rabbi Gisser will be giving a Dvar Torah tonight. We would like to thank the Jacobs family for sponsoring dinner in honor of their daughter and son in law’s visit. We would also like to welcome back another special guest who is joining us tonight, past Beth El president, David Friedman and his family who are also visiting Austin.
Movies in the Shul    
Tomorrow evening, Saturday November 29th at 6:30 p.m. we will have a lovely Havdallah service followed by Movie Night!  We will be showing “A Serious Man” which will be facilitated by Rabbi Gisser with a discussion of the movie afterwords. Snacks and camaraderie provided!
No work day Sunday.   The work day previously scheduled for Sunday, 11/30, will be rescheduled at a later date.
HOLD THE DATE – Our Annual Channukah Party is December 21 at 4:30 pm.
Shabbat shalom to you all!
Community News: From the J’s Jewish Family Services.
Winter can be an especially difficult time for those who have experienced a loss.  The days get shorter, the darkness longer.   The holiday season can bring about painful reminders of the loss.  Please join Rabbi Amy Cohen from Temple Beth Shalom, Rabbi Daniel Millner from Congregation Tiferet Israel and social worker Carlye Levine of Jewish Family Service for “A Light in the Darkness”.  Join others in our community who have experienced a loss as we explore ways to find comfort during this season while honoring the light of our loved ones.   Wednesday, December 17th at 7:00 pm in the ECP Multipurpose Room.  Please bring with you a picture or symbolic item related to the person you have lost or a personal menorah.  Refreshments will be served.  RSVP’s appreciated (512) 250-1043 or by email carlye.levine@shalomaustin.org
Dec. 7th — Supporting siblings of children with special needs
Join the Jewish Family Service Parents of Children with Special Needs Discussion Group for a conversation about supporting siblings who have a brother or sister with special needs. The group meets monthly and offers an opportunity for parents to connect, share resources, learn and problem-solve together and foster inclusion in the Jewish community.  The next meeting date is December 7th 2014 at 9:30 AM and will feature a brief presentation by Shalyn Bravens, LMSW, Parent Support and Training Program Manager with Easter Seals Central Texas.  The meeting will take place at the JCC in the Conference Room in the Federation Trailer in the back parking lot at the Dell Jewish Community Center campus.  If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact mike.hurewitz@shalomaustin.org, (512) 250-1043