Congregants and Friends,
Don’t miss our lovely Friday night or kaballat Shabbat services tonight, Friday January 17 at 7pm.  We would love to see you all!
This Sunday, January 19th, at 2pm, we will have our sisterhood meeting at the home of Juliette Meinstein.  All ladies in the congregation and their friends are welcome. We will be having a class on how to make Tamales at Juliette’s home on Sunday. Please RSVP to Elaine Jacobs to let her know if you will be attending.  You can email her at (jaqel@yahoo.com). Please bring a healthy dairy or parev desert, or little nosh (like cut up fruit, veggie plate, etc.) to share.

Torah Trope Tuesdays continues this coming Tuesday and even if you missed the first class, do join us and learn this useful synagogue skill. Open to everyone.
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly message:
This week’s parshah, Yithro, has as its central theme the Revelation on Mt. Sinai and the Ten Commandments.  This is actually the first of two times that the Ten Commandments are found in the Torah-they are recapitulated in the Book of Deuteronomy.  In both versions, the wording is very similar.  The most striking difference is in the Commandment of Shabbat-our parshah says “Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it”, while Deuteronomy renders “Observe the Sabbath day….”  The Midrash teaches that both words, “remember” and “observe” were spoken at the same time, but written separately.  Of course, both are necessary parts-we need to remember Shabbat, to be aware that this is a special day and not merely a weekday, a workday.  On the other hand, remembrance is not enough.  We must observe Shabbat, take concrete action to make it a special day, by refraining from ordinary activities, eating Shabbat dinner, coming to synagogue for worship and for fellowship with our community.  We must remember and observe the Shabbat in order to fulfill the mitzvah.  May we all do so, on this and on every Shabbat.  Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Tarlow of Texas A&M Center for Crypto Judaism:

This week’s parashah is perhaps central to our understanding text until the final chapter of Deuteronomy. Named after Moses’ father-in-law, the section is called “Yitro”. You can find the parashah in Exodus 18:1-20:23. This week’s parashah is divided into two main parts: (1) Yitro’s advice to Moses in establishing Israel’s legal system, and (2) the giving of the Aseret Ha’Dibbrot, or as they are mistranslated into English, the Ten Commandments.

Although in Hebrew tradition the parashah usually takes the name of the first important word in the text, it may still seem odd that this week’s parashah, containing the Ten Commandments, takes the name of Moses’ non-Jewish father-in-law. Yet if we study Yitro’s life we will soon note that his life encompasses the universal concepts of justice and integrity that form the underlying basis of these commandments. Perhaps Yitro represents the concept of bi-culturalism. He is a non-Jew who is the father-in-law of Moses, high priest, politician, and philosopher. Does Yitro represent humanity’s universality and the fact that we have more in common with our fellow humans than we have differences?

Yitro, (also called by a number of other names) the non-Jew, teaches us that Israel’s leaders must be “anshei-chayal, yirei-elokim, anshei-emet sonei batzah/capable men who fear G’d, who are trustworthy and spurn ill-gotten gain (18:21)”. It was Yitro who forced Moses to cease being a micro-manager and to permit others to take responsibility. It was also Yitro who showed Moses how to create a functioning bureaucracy. As such, we may call Yitro the founder not only of our legal system, but also as a symbol of good leadership.

Yitro argued that for a political and legal system to have credibility, it must have people in charge who are wise, posses discernment, and are incorruptible. From Yitro’s life we also learn that when a nation looses confidence in the integrity of its national leadership, then failure is assured. Yitro taught us, through his comments to Moses, that leaders must not be afraid to admit they have erred. Leaders are human and, unlike Pharaoh, ought not to consider themselves to be gods. Are these principles not only the basis of the covenant between G’d and Israel and symbolized by the Ten Commandments, but also the basis for inter-human relationships?

This need for inter-personal relationships is seen by Yitro’s presence in the same section as the Ten Commandments. Throughout history scholars have argued that the “people” are good, but that the leadership is corrupt or evil. Judaism takes a different position. Was it Yitro who taught us that leadership is a reflection of a national ethos, that it is all too easy to blame leaders when often a nation’s leaders are nothing more than a mere reflection of a people’s morals? Is this section teaching us that leadership is a reflection of the quality of whom we are; that what we do affects how we are governed? Do we tend to blame others for what we lack in ourselves?

In this week’s parashah, the Torah establishes one of the underpinnings of Jewish life: that a people in a covenant relationship is not free to do whatever it pleases. Instead, what we do and how we act should serve to turn us into a “segualah” or “treasured possession” within the family of nations.

It is that sense of “brit” or “covenant” that has governed Jewish life ever since Moses ascended Mount Sinai well over 3,000 years ago. What do you think? Do your actions impact national policy? Should we each take responsibility for the leadership that collective we choose?