Friday night Services 8/30 – Selichot service 8/31 9pm
Congregants and Friends,
We look forward to seeing you for our regular Friday night services tonight, August 30, at 7pm in which we will welcome in Shabbat with our beautiful song filled services.
Tomorrow night after Shabbat, starting at 9pm, we will have a special selichot service to usher in the High Holidays. These special penitential poems and prayers of forgiveness are a meaningful way to usher in the Jewish New Year, starting Wednesday evening.
For a full list of the upcoming High Holidays, please go to www.bethelaustin.org
Shabbat shalom to you and your families.
Congregation Beth El
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Message:
On this Shabbat, the last of the year 5773, we read the combined parshot of Nitzavim and Vayelech. Nitzavim begins with the the words “Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei HaShem Eloheichem” “You are present today, all of you, before HaShem your God.” The teaching that Moses gives is for all of the People of Israel, not merely for an elite of priests and scholars, but for all of society, even to the “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” This democratization of study and knowledge has set us apart throughout history, and has been instrumental in our survival as a people during the long exile from our home, the Land of Israel.
Moses goes on to express a great truth about our Torah, and about Jewish spiritual life-“Lo bashamayim hi“, “it is not in Heaven”. The Torah is accessible to us at all times. It is not some nigh-impossible standard to which normal humans can never attain, but is eminently doable. To be sure, the Jewish spiritual path requires effort, but it is not out of our reach. I might add that mitzvot, commandments, are not an all-or-nothing proposition. Any mitzvah which we do is to our credit, even if we don’t fulfill all 613 (and in fact, no one can fulfill all of them). Parshat Vayelech goes on to detail Moses’ transfer of leadership to Joshua, and his preparation for his own imminent death. Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our Master Teacher, sets us a wonderful example by willingly giving over the leadership of the People of Israel to his disciple. The natural impulse of those in power is to retain it by any means possible. Moses shows us a different way, which has been the model used by representative democracies-the orderly transfer of power. The parshah concludes with an introduction to Parshat Haazinu, Moses’ swan song before his death. On behalf of Ilan, Eden and myself, I wish all of the Beth El family Shabbat Shalom and a Shanah Tovah Um’tukah, A Good and Sweet New Year.
