Shabbat shalom and Grandpa Abe

Friday Night Services, 6/19, at 7:00 pm

Rabbi Gisser’s Conversion class Sunday June 21 at 9 am, with shacharit at 8:20 am.

Summer spoken Hebrew class and davening shiur Thursday evenings.
Congregation Beth El just started a summer spoken Hebrew class for adults and interested teens on Thursday June 18 at 7pm. This will be an eight week course and it’s not too late to join. The classes will also include a short, but highly informative davening portion from Gabbai Bam Rubenstein immediately following. RSVP or questions to info@bethelaustin.org

Our sisterhood sewing class. We will have beading in July and cake decorating in August – please stay tuned. Join our Facebook group BethElAustin to see more great pictures!

randpa Abe:
Here is the follow-up on May’s article about the Ketubah. In speaking with one of my sisters, I told her about the Ketubah. She felt that she knew just who the Ketubah belonged to, although she was not alive at the time that it was made. She said she would like to take it upon herself to get it repaired and preserved. She had planned to get it framed and put it in a very special spot in her home. So the Ketubah is going to live on a lot longer than the marriage. That seems to be like a lot of things in our lives today.
Dor ‘L Dor
Grandpa Abe

Grandpa Abe’s June Column:
OH, WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HAVE A VERY SPECIAL HOME
Well, I’m gonna try to get my thoughts together on this article because I have so much to say in a little bit of space and not very much time. This synagogue is the best kept secret in Austin. It has the greatest people attending it and being a part of it. I’m about to tell you of another instance I witnessed. I guess it was about two weeks or so ago, maybe even three (you know how time gets away from you), I was sitting in synagogue and a gentleman was called up to the front. His name is Barry. He was called up for a prayer of thanks for his healing. I turned to the gentleman next to me. I said “what happened to him?” He said he got bitten by a brown recluse spider. “Oh” I said, not knowing very much about these kind of spiders. I assumed it wasn’t anything good. He explained to me that Barry was in the hospital for nearly a week. I said, “For a spider bite?” He said, “Oh yes!” He informed me that Barry lives out in the country and that’s one of the hazards of country living. And, of course, I informed him, “I’m glad I live right in the middle of the city.” I thought the rest of the day about the special prayer of thanksgiving that was offered for Barry’s recovery. It made me, as a congregant, so overjoyed that we, as the congregation that we are, have so much compassion for our members. I’m sure that this touched Barry as much it touched me to witness it happening. To be part of this fine congregation is an honor and not something that’s is taken for granted. The moral of this story is keep away from spiders especially those brown ones. May our congregation always remain the loving and caring family that it is.
Dor ‘L Dor
Grandpa Abe

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week’s parshah, Korah, tells the tale of a rebellion against Moshe and Aharon led by Korah the Levite, and Dathan and Aviram and On of the tribe of Reuven. Korah, Dathan and Aviram meet an untimely end-but On is only mentioned at the beginning of the tale, and then disappears. Why was he not punished along with the other ringleaders? The Midrash relates that at the onset of the rebellion, On’s wife counseled him to withdraw, saying (likely correctly) that the other conspirators had no intention of sharing power with him, and that he would be better off by staying out of the conspiracy. On heeded her wise words and was spared. In Pirkei Avoth, which we study during the summer months, we find the statement (Avoth 2:9)”Who is wise? One who sees possible consequences.” On’s wife was wise, and passed her wisdom to her husband. May we all be wise enough to consider the consequences of our decisions, and to act accordingly. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe