Friday services via Zoom, Sunday School Rocks on via Zoom

Dear Congregants,

We hope you had a great week all things considered. We want to remind each and every one of you that even though we may need to be “physically distant”, there is no way we are being “socially distant” from our beloved congregants. Please reach out to us if you need anything at all – from meals on the go, to just a phone call to say hello. We want to hear from you!

Please check every Friday evening at 6:45 PM for a link to be able to live stream our beautiful Kaballat Shabbat services. We will also post it on our Facebook page. Let’s make this homeshuling experience awesome!

If you would like a PDF version of our Friday night services, please email us ASAP at bethelaustin@yahoo.com and we will happily send you a copy for free. Those lovely Friday night transliterate books were dedicated to the late Morris and Elaine Shapiro, who will be beaming down at us knowing that we are using and sharing them with the congregation that they helped found.

Sunday school BERS, we will be keeping to our regular Sunday schedules and meeting “virtually” with our amazing morot starting THIS Sunday March 29. PLEASE be on the lookout for a Zoom invitation from your class teachers. Contact Iris at bethelaustin@yahoo.com for any questions please.

This Saturday night at 8:30 PM join the whole Austin Jewish community, including our very own Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe, in a community wide Havdallah. www.shalomaustin.org/kulanu
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly Parashah:

This Shabbat we begin the reading of Sefer Vayyikra, the Book of Leviticus. The Latin name stems from the fact that this book deals largely with the duties of the Kohanim, who were of the Tribe of Levi. Actually, an alternate name in Hebrew is Torath Hakohanim. The parshah begins with the laws of offering an ‘olah, a sacrifice which was entirely burned on the altar for God. We read how to sacrifice a bull, or a sheep, or a goat, and we are told that the smoke of these sacrifices is a “reiah nikhoah”-“a sweet savor” to God. And then, the Torah describes the ‘olah of two doves-which was offered by someone who couldn’t afford a bull, a sheep, or a goat. The Torah states that the entire bird was burned on the altar, including the feathers. No human would say that the smell of burning feathers is savory or pleasant-but this sacrifice is also called a “sweet savor”. Why is this? Because the offering of a poor person was just as pleasing to God as a bull offered by a wealthy person. In God’s view, we are all equal, whatever means we have. We do not believe in the so-called “Prosperity Gospel”-that the rich are more favored by God. We are all, down to the “hewer of wood and the drawer of water” precious to our Creator. Shabbat Shalom, and Hodesh Tov-a good and blessed New Month of Nissan.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

Shabbat candle lighting time in Austin 7:29 PM