Parashat Lech Lecha

Friday Night Shabbat Services
Tonight 11/11, at the regular time of 7:00 PM. Mitzvah of the month is collecting canned goods for the Food Bank. Please bring your non perishable food and drop it off at Beth El. We salute our Veterans today and give a big shout out to the wonderful veterans from Beth El!

Shabbat morning services are this shabbat Saturday November 12 (shhh – it’s the birthday of a very special person in the shul who also goes by the name, Chazzan, Cantor or Tzahi ) so please come and celebrate!

Sunday school November 13 we continue our special guest line up with Arielle Levy of the Jewish National Fund who will come and talk to the children and parents about the amazing work that JNF does.

See the article in the Jewish Outlook by Shereen Ben-Moshe about the Sunday school.

https://www.etypeservices.com/…/Magazine14…/Full/index.aspx…

Sunday November 13 at 1 PM, also at Beth El please join us for a great cooking class hosted by the sisterhood. See below for details.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 5:18 PM

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week in Parshat Lekh L’kha we read of the first ‘olim to the Land of Israel (then called Canaan). Avram and Sarai set out on the journey when they were already advanced in years, and the Torah teaches that they had no clear idea of their final destination. The philosopher Kierkegaard called Avram/Avraham the “perfect knight of faith” for his willingness to do as God asked willingly, even not knowing the outcome. May we always aspire to the faith of our ancestors Avraham and Sarah, and always willingly do that which is right, even if we don’t know exactly what will come of it. 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.

We would love to see you and greatly look forward to hearing these dynamic speakers.

Happy November birthdays! Claudia Aguilar, Diana Jurist, Sarah Butler, Bob Miller, Hannah Cramer, Cayla Canady, Claire Warech (Michelle’s Mom), and of course, Cantor Ben-Moshe!

Please send us your birthday so we can give you a shout out.

The sisterhood cooking class THIS Sunday!

** THIS SUNDAY November 13 at Beth El at 1 PM we will be having a cooking class with chef Mirit Solomon-Shimoni, chef and caterer, yoga instructor and Mom extraordinaire. Mirit will be making a three layered parev Israeli cake as well as a parev side dish to accompany your Thanksgiving meal! All sisterhood members, friends and older kiddos are welcome. Bring a side dish to share.

**Hold the date for Sunday December 4th at 1 PM for Hannukah themed art project with artist Sharon Yam-Sananes.

Cool happenings at Sunday School!

Sundays at Beth El are the place to be! By Shereen Ben-Moshe

Today was packed with learning, creativity, and fun!
So, what did the kids at the BERS do?
*Special Visitors: Michelle & Gregg Philipson shared their knowledge, artifacts and interest in Jewish athletes. We learned about Mark Spitz, Michael Philips, Hank Greenberg, Fanny (Bobbie) Rosenfeld, Abe Saperstein, Daniel Mendoza, Mo Berg and more.
Gregg shared that there are, “Jewish athletes all over the world and that many overcame great adversity to attain greatness.”
He and Michelle shared the benefits of being active and healthy. The kids had great comments to add.
The chat ended with a Q & A and a brief talk about the Maccabi Games. Did you know you can get your kids involved in the Jr. Maccabi games? Check out the listings at the JCC.
A big thank you to Gregg and Michelle!
This was just part of the morning.
The parshah shared was Lech Lecha. Morah Anat’s group had a very insightful discussion about how it feels to move, and to be new in a place. They also spoke about Abraham and Lot and how they fought. They talked about what it is like when siblings argue and where to ask for help. They spoke about when adults fight and finally about when countries fight and the role of the United Nations.
Meanwhile in the other classes, Morah Lital’s class is really coming along nicely on reading and writing in Hebrew. It is so beautiful to hear her Israeli accent and the Hebrew she infuses into her teaching. Sweet music was coming from Morah Bev’s class. They are practicing with both Morah Bev and Cantor Ben-Moshe, Shabbat prayers. This group will soon begin to prepare for their B’Nei Mitzvah. Sweet Marina, is coming along nicely with her practice.
We also began a project that will take the collaborative efforts of all the kids and teachers at BERS. They started to create their own version of a Torah. Today Vania, Marina and a few little helpers cut the fabric upon which we will glue each parshah. Several students took part in creating pictures to represent B’reishit, Noah, and Lech Lecha. Stay tuned for pictures as our project continues. This will be a year long project that will be revealed and given to Congregation Beth El on Simchat Torah 5778!
Next week we will welcome another special guest, Arielle Levy who works for the Jewish National Fund in Austin. Parents are welcome to join us at 11:30 as well to learn about all the wonderful work JNF is doing in Israel. Please send in tzedakah with your children next Sunday. We hope to have enough to buy a JNF tree in Israel ($18).
Also, please remember that our family mitzvah project in November is to collect food to donate to the food pantry. Let’s try to fill up the box in our lobby several times. A BIG thank you to the anonymous donor of a large bag of food that was dropped off at the BE doorstep this past week. xoxo
Have a super week!
L’Shalom,
Shereen Ben-Moshe
P.S. Did you see the great article about our school in the Outlook? Check it out!!

COMMUNITY NEWS:

The annual Jewish Film is currently running. For a full list of films, please see the link below. Congregation Beth El is a proud co sponsor of the Austin Jewish Film Society. Please support the community by seeing some of these wonderful movies.

http://austinjff.org/wordpress/

Check out the wonderful article about Gregg and Michelle Philipson’s collection on exhibit at the Bob Bullock Museum.

http://www.mystatesman.com/…/collecting-family-artif…/ns2JD/

Mazal Tov to Bob Miller on the opening of his new store in Houston! Miller Uniforms and Emblems, which has proudly served the Austin community for 30 years, is now also in Houston at the following location.
11707 South Sam Houston Pkwy West Suite R Houston Texas 77031. We are so proud of you Bob!

Please donate to your lovely shul!

http://bethelaustin.wpengine.com/donate/

Please consider a tax deductible donation to help us
http://bethelaustin.wpengine.com/donate/
Other ways to help include, sponsoring a kidush for a special event or in memory of a loved one, or bringing needed supplies. Ask us how you can help.

Community News:

Snout by Snoutwest at the JCC. This Sunday come and enjoy a fun afternoon with dogs galore at the J. From 12- 4 PM.

11707 South Sam Houston Pkwy West Suite R
Houston Texas 77031