Weekend services – Chag sameach
Friday Night Services, 4/10, at 7:00 pm
Shabbat Morning Services, Saturday, 4/11, at 9:00 am
Upcoming Events:
Community Wide Yom HaShoah Event at JCC* Wed Apr 15, at 7pm…
Mincha & Rabbi Gisser’s Advanced Text Class Sat, 4/18, at 6:30pm
Rabbi Gisser’s Kashrut Class Sun, 4/19, at 10:30am
Rabbi Gisser’s Conversion Class Starts Sun, 4/19, 12:30pm
Community Wide Yom HaZikaron Event at JCC* Wed Apr 22, at 7pm
The events marked with an asterisk (*) & JCC will be held at the Jewish Community Center, 7300 Hart Ln, Austin, TX 78731
Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message:
As we come to the end of the Festival of Pesah, we may consider the fact that as they were leaving, the Israelites asked for things of value from their Egyptian neighbors-gold, silver, cloth and others. Presumably, the Mishkan was built from these materials, thereby lending a holiness to the act of taking these things. Yet curiously, the Torah says “vayenatzlu, and they despoiled (or took advantage of) Egypt.” A Hassidic rebbe suggested that we read not “vayenatzlu” but rather “vayatzilu”, and they saved Egypt. By allowing Egypt to pay reparations for hundreds of years of slavery, the Israelites broke a toxic legacy of bitterness between our peoples. This allowed the mitzvah of “Do not hate Egyptians” – our acceptance of reparations and our forgiveness allowed healing to take place. It is worth considering that all the descendants of King Solomon were also descendants of his wife, a princess of Egypt. This includes the Messiah-who will be born in part because of our forgiveness of those who had oppressed us. Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameah.
