The Mitzvah of a Minyan

Come to services tonight and end your week in a warm and comforting setting, with friends old and new, songs from the heart and a whole lot of spirit. TONIGHT Friday March 17 , at the regular time of 7:00 PM. You can even wear Green!

Shabbat morning services are next Saturday March 25 at 9 AM.

Inaugural Men’s Club event – Saturday night March 25! A night at the rodeo! Get your cowboy boots on and join the men of Beth El for an exciting night at the Austin Rodeo. This event is open to all the guys at Beth El and their friends and anyone else who wants to come. See below for more details.

No Sunday school due to Spring break.
Sunday school resumes March 26.

We are ordering some plaques for our yahrzeit board. Please let us know ASAP if you would like to have your beloved departed family member included. The suggested donation is still only $100, but reply to this email to send us the information.

And Passover is around the corner. We are yet again hosting a second night seder at Beth El Tuesday April 11. With a delicious kosher for Passover meal and Hazzan Ben-Moshe leading, you surely can’t miss this event. Please send us your RSVP as soon as you can as we get full and we’ll save a spot for you. Please also consider a donation to help us sponsor the event.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 7:23 PM

Friday January 6, Rabbi Daniel Septimus CEO of the Austin JCC will likewise be our guest speaker at Beth El.

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week we read Parshat Ki Tissa as well as the special maftir for Shabbat Parah. There is much to say about these two readings, but what often gets overlooked is the end of the parshah, which contains the first of three iterations of the commandment “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.” This is of course the basis of our practice not to eat meat and milk together, and in fact to strictly separate them. Most scholars believe the commandment to original refer to some sort of Canaanite fertility sacrifice. In any case, we can look at this commandment today as a way to be mindful of cruelty to animals-to eat an animal along with the milk that nourished it when it was young can betray a callousness that our Tradition seeks to have us avoid. Let us always be mindful in all that we do, including our eating and drinking. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

HOLD THE DATES: Guest speakers at Beth El.

On the last Friday of March, Friday March 31, we welcome Rabbi/Cantor Marie Betcher who will talk about the great work she does as a Police Chaplain. This event was rescheduled from last month.

Ami Pedhazur, professor at UT Austin, will also be giving a special talk about the six day war in the Spring.

HAPPY MARCH MADNESS BIRTHDAYS:

Jared B, Richard E, Allene N, Morah Lital, Mike and Morris S, Eden B, Barbara S. We love you guys! Mazal tov and until 120!

Beth El’s Newly formed Men’s club:
Please join the guys at Beth El and friends for the first official event of the Beth El Men’s Club!
On Saturday evening, March 25, the guys will saddle up and go to the Austin Rodeo. for the PRO RODEO FINALS & KEVIN FOWLER concert. Please reply to kevin_koeller@yahoo.com to sign up and let’s make this a night to remember. The men’s club is open to all Jewish men in Austin and like the sisterhood at Beth El, is truly a welcoming place. Invite all your friends.

Please come if you can help with preparing the shabbat kidish and general setting up for shabbat. A mitzvah worth doing.

We want to wholeheartedly thank all the amazing folks who helped us prepare for the Purim party last week! From the shabbat shefs of Doris, Herschel, Claudia, Shereen and Michelle, to Anat and Rotem Nahum who did an amazing job with the karaoke and photo booth, to Shiry and Shay Turjeman who sponsored the food at Purim, Lilia Stan from Happy Tots Facepainting (https//www.facebook.com/happytotsfacepainting/) for the incredible facepainting and all who came on a very rainy night to make for one crazy action packed Purim.

Grandpa Abe:
“The Mitzvah of a Minyan”
It is said to be a great mitzvah to be the tenth man for a minyon. I don’t look at it that way. It should not be any more important to be the tenth man or the third man. It’s equally as important to see that our synagogue has a minyon. It’s most important that as a Jewish person you attend services. You need to worship and there’s no better place to do it that at our synagogue. We have been extremely grateful for all the people who show up for a minyon. I can’t remember when we were unable to make a minyon. At one time, I thought, Aw! We don’t have a minyon! I can go home early! Then it dawned on me. Why am I here? I’m here to worship, not to go home early. I come when the weather is inclement, when I have other things that I could do such as watching sports on television or visiting my friends. I had a long talk with myself one day and the outcome of the talk was worshiping at the synagogue comes first, way ahead of whatever is in second place. When I leave the synagogue, I never regret my time spent in such a wonderful house of worship. There is an old saying. Is it better to be on the golf course thinking about being in synagogue or being in synagogue thinking about being on the golf course? Well, many of you might have different answers for this. There really is only one answer. You need to be in synagogue. The rabbi once told me because there might be something you might learn or pick up while you’re in synagogue. He was so right. I’ve never gone to synagogue that I didn’t learn something. Next time you’re at home and it’s time to leave to go to synagogue and you have a dilemma, should I go play tennis or watch television or be part of the congregation in my synagogue? I hope that I will see you at Beth-El worshiping.
Dor’ l dor,
Grandpa Abe