SHABBAT PARSHAT SHEMINI 26 NISAN/APRIL 22 Haftorah is Samuel II 6:1-7:17. We bless the month of Iyar. Do not say either א ל מלא or

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1 בס ד שבת פרשת שמיני SHABBAT PARSHAT SHEMINI 26 NISAN/APRIL 22 Haftorah is Samuel II 6:1-7:17. We bless the month of Iyar. Do not say either א ל מלא or composed for the אב הרחמים Say.צדקתך צדק martyrs of the Crusade period most of whom were slain during the period of Sefirat HaOmer. Pirkei Avot Chapter 1. FRIDAY NIGHT MINCHA - 7:00 PM CANDLE LIGHTING - 7:24 PM TZAIT - 8:28 PM SATURDAY HASHKAMA/YOUTH - 8:20 AM SHACHARIT MAIN - 9:00 AM LAST KRIAT SHEMA - 9:31 AM MINCHA - 7:10 PM SHKIA - 7:44 PM MAARIV/HAVDALAH - 8:29 PM BULLETIN INFORMATION TO REQUEST A BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT (BY 7:00 PM WEDNESDAY) OR DEDICATE A BULLETIN FOR $36 ($54 W/PHOTO), SEPLOTNICK@GMAIL.COM. נא לא לדבר בשעת התפילה PLEASE NO CONVERSATION DURING SERVICES WEEKDAY DAVENING INFORMATION Sunday (4/23) Monday (4/24) Tuesday (4/25) Wednesday (4/26) Thursday (4/27) Friday (4/28) Earliest Talit 5:05 AM 5:03 AM 5:02 AM 5:00 AM 4:59 AM 4:57 AM Shacharit 8:15 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM 6:00 AM 6:00 AM 6:25 AM Gedolah 1:29 PM 1:29 PM 1:29 PM 1:29 PM 1:29 PM 1:29 PM Mincha (Sun/Fri) - Maariv 7:30 PM 7:30 PM 7:30 PM 7:30 PM 7:30 PM 7:00 PM Shkia 7:45 PM 7:46 PM 7:47 PM 7:48 PM 7:49 PM Tzait 8:30 PM 8:31 PM 8:32 PM 8:33 PM 8:34 PM Welcome to our Spring Scholar-In-Residence Rav Jesse Horn, Yeshivat Hakotel and MMY teacher. Friday night: Tisch after dinner at shul (all welcome to attend); Shabbat morning: Learning with the teenagers at the Youth/ Hashkama minyan, and then delivering the drasha at the main minyan; After Kiddush: Fundamentals of Jewish Thought lecture will be "How to understand Korbanot - Is It Really What We Want; and Shababt afternoon: Gemara Shiur 45 minutes before Mincha, and at Seudah Shlishit The Torah and Times of the Vilna Gaon." CONGREGATION AHAVAT ACHIM SADDLE RIVER ROAD FAIR LAWN, NJ Molad for Iyar is Wednesday, April 26, 7:48 AM 7 11 Chalokim. Mazal Tov to Gloria & Robert Lewissohn who are this year's Ahavat Achim Journal Dinner Honorees. The dinner will be held on Sunday, May 21, 5:00 PM, at Rinat in Teaneck. Please ahavatachimdinner@gmail.com with your ads or to RSVP to the dinner. Rabbi Ely Shestack "1 President Aryeh Brenenson

2 Fair Lawn Shul Events Jewish National Fund Yom Haatzmaut Mega Event, April 30, 12:15 PM, taking place at Fair Lawn Jewish Center. Guest speaker Avnet Kleiner at 1:30 PM (from Aleh Negev, a rehabilitation village in Israel s Negev providing severely disabled children and adults a comprehensive framework for life). Celebrate Israel's Birthday in unity and solidarity. The event is cosponsored by Anshei Lubavitch, Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation Bnai Israel, Congregation Ahavat Achim, Shomrei Torah and Young Israel Fair Lawn. Registration is FREE. Sign up here: events/2017/yom-haatzmaut-family-funday.html. Kiddush Information If you are in attendance when the Rabbi says המחיה, על your assistance in clean up would be appreciated. Kiddush setup for this Shabbat: Kempin, Kor, Lewissohn Kiddush setup for next Shabbat: Farajan, Kirschenbaum, Levine To sponsor a Kiddush ($1000/$613/$318 plus scotch) send an to gplotnick@aol.com. ע ה Gita Cooperwasser Youth Program Groups for children ages 3-12 begin at 10:15 AM, meeting in the Beit Midrash. Youth leaders this Shabbat are Matthew Levine & Serena Freund. Children under 13 are welcome at Youth Group. Parents, please ensure that your children are in groups or with you at all times. Adult Education CHUMASH CLASS - Shabbat morning before Shacharit. RETIREES SHIUR - Mondays, at 1:00 PM. GEMARA SHIUR - With Avi Sonnenblick, Tuesdays after Maariv. FUNDAMENTALS OF JEWISH THOUGHT - After Kiddush. Ahavat Achim Future Events Apr JFNNJ Yom Hashoah Event Apr Board Meeting (tentative) May 20 - Kiddush sponsored by Joyce Heller May 21 - Journal Dinner, 5:00 PM, at Rinat in Teaneck May 23 - Board Meeting (tentative) May 27 - Suedah Shlishit is sponsored by שלמה בן אליהו Eli Zezon in memory of זזון נלב"ע ז סיון תשס"ד Jun 17 - Suedah Shlishit is sponsored by ברוך מפציר בן Eli Zezon in memory of שמואל נלב"ע כ"ד סיון תשנ"ט June 20 - Membership Meeting (TBD) Cheryl Wigod ע ה Tzedakah Committee We are pleased to report that we distributed $2,400 for Maot Chittim. The following organizations received your donations: Yad Eliezer, Yad Ezrah, Tomchei Shabbos of Bergen County, Keren Hatzadik, Project Ezrah, Mesamche Lev, Rabbi's Discretionary Fund, Ezras Torah & Jewish Braille Institute. Friday Evening, April Saturday Evening, April Sunday Evening, April Monday Evening, April Tuesday Evening, April Wednesday Evening, April Thursday Evening, April Shirley Vann has dedicated this week s Covenant & Conversation (used with permission. ע ה of the Office of Rabbi Sacks) in memory of her beloved mother Necha bat Yitzchok "2

3 IN IYAR WE REMEMBER... NAME HEBREW DATE CANDLE EVENING OF DEDICATOR RELATIONSHIP Jack Schwartz 2 April 27 Kenny Levine Naomi Levine Grandfather Father Harry Latkin 2 April 27 Richard Latkin Father Zimel Wigod 3 April 28 Seymour Wigod Grandfather Harry Abraham Rapoport 4 April 29 Sara Levine Father Augusta S. Banner 10 May 5 Burton Banner Mother Shulamit Michal Kustanowitz 10 May 5 Al Kustanowitz Wife Rosalind Dorshay 16 May 11 Seymour Wigod Aunt Gabriel Pinchas 23 May 18 Naomi Graber Father Gital Klein 26 May 21 David Garfunkel Grandmother SUPPORT YOUR SHUL Donate a Sefer, etc. The shul has Siddurim & Machzorim ($36) and Chumashim ($54) available to be donated. Please contact Jeff Safier at robynsafier@gmail.com for details. Yahrzeit Plaques Memorialize a loved one and receive written notice of upcoming yahrzeit every year. In addition, your loved one s name will be mentioned during the public Yizkor we recite on Yom Kippur and in the Bulletin. Plaques are $300 for members and $350 for non-members. For more information, contact Sophie Infield at Scrip Scrip is available from Men s Club. David at dmgarfunkel@gmail.com. Pay using Paypal (treasurer@ahavatachim.org) or use Discover, MasterCard or Visa - treasurer@ahavatachim.org for details. Mishebayrach If you ve made a Mishebayrach you ve pledged to give Tzedakah on behalf of those for whom you asked Hashem's blessing. Contributions to the shul are appropriate and can be made via Paypal to treasurer@ahavatachim.org, or via MasterCard, Visa or Discover by sending info to Steve Winchester (contact him at treasurer@ahavatachim.org). If by check indicate on its face Aliyah Donation. David Schwitzer ע ה Social Hall Please contact Ben Lang at bmmnpl@aol.com to book the David Schwitzer ע ה Social Hall for an event or special occasion. $250 per simcha (members) / $500 paid in advance for nonmembers, plus the cost of any additional clean up (plus a $150 security deposit refunded when the social hall is returned in the condition it started in). Private caterers must be approved in advance by the Rabbi. Sisterhood & Men s Club Please contact Elliot Greene at egreene@acm.org to join the Men s Club. To join Sisterhood, please contact Shelly at sewinchester58@gmail.com or Renee at reneeafreund@yahoo.com. Honoraria Contributions to acquire honoraria in memory or honor of a loved one are welcome. The available Honoraria list will be provided upon request by contacting Steven Plotnick at seplotnick@gmail.com. Mitzvah Cards Want mitzvah cards, contact Eita Latkin at or parentsof3@aol.com. Cost is $3 per card. Also can be ordered in bulk - ten cards for $25, which you send out yourself privately. SUPPORT YOUR SHUL "3

4 MISCELLANEOUS Ahavat Achim Membership/ Hospitality Please contact Arnie at for details on membership. For Shabbat hospitality contact Melanie at Bikkur Cholim/Chesed Committee If someone needs a visit/assistance, contact Sara Levine at saralevine06@gmail.com or Mary Lisa Katter at kenkatter541@gmail.com. Personal Announcements Various life cycle events related to members are announced in the bulletin (e.g., births, bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and deaths, as well as travel to/from Israel to study). We also welcome new members. Other personal announcements are not appropriate for inclusion, except as part of the bulletin s dedication (a $36 cost - $54 with photo). Thank you for your cooperation. Numbers & Info ERUV UPDATE By Only. To subscribe, fairlawneruvsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or check the status at MIKVAH At Shomrei Torah, weekdays 9:00 PM 10:30 PM, Motzei Shabbat from 1 ¼ hours after Shabbat ends for 1½ hours. Kaylim Mikvah: Sunday 10 AM-3 PM TWITTER: AhavatAchimFL FACEBOOK: facebook.com/groups/ ahavat.achim/ INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/ahavatachimfl/? hl=en FLICKR: flickr.com/photos/ahavatachim/albums Shul Calendar To add events to the shul calendar Larry at lardavbern@gmail.com Shirley Vann has dedicated this week s Covenant & Conversation (used with permission of the. ע ה Office of Rabbi Sacks) in memory of her beloved mother Necha bat Yitzchok "4

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8 The Light We Make Shemini 2017 / 5777 The great moment has come. For seven days beginning on the 23rd Adar Moses had consecrated Aaron and the priests. Now, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the time has arrived for Aaron to begin his service, ministering to the people on behalf of God: It came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called to Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel, and he said to Aaron, take a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. What is the significance of the eighth day, the phrase that gives our sedra its name? To understand the profound symbolism of the number eight, we have to go back to creation itself. In the beginning, when all was waste and void, God created the universe. Day by day, the world unfolded. First, there were the domains: light and dark, the upper and lower waters, sea and dry land. Then there were the objects that filled the domains: the sun, moon and stars, then the fish and birds, and finally the land animals, culminating in mankind. Then came Shabbat, the seventh day, the day of limits and of holiness, on which first God, then His Holiness consists in covenantal people, rested in order to show that there are boundaries to respecting boundaries creation. There is an integrity to nature. Everything has its proper place, its and honouring the ecological niche, its function and dignity in the totality of being. Holiness natural order. consists in respecting boundaries and honouring the natural order. Thus, the seven days. But what of the eighth day the day after creation? For this, we have to turn to Torah she-be al peh, the oral tradition. The Light of Holiness 1! Shemini 5777

9 On the sixth day, God made His most fateful decision: to create a being who, like Himself, had the capacity to create. Admittedly, there is a fundamental distinction between human creativity ( something from something ) and Divine creativity ( something from nothing ). That is why human beings are the image of God but not as Nietzsche argued gods themselves. Yet the ability to create goes hand in hand with the ability to destroy. There cannot be one without the other. Every new technology can be used to heal or harm. Every power can be turned to good or evil. Every new technology can be used to heal or harm. Every power can be turned to good or evil. The danger immediately becomes clear. God tells the first man not to eat of the fruit of one tree. What kind of tree it was is irrelevant; what mattered was its symbolic function. It represents the fact that creation has boundaries the most important being the boundary between the permitted and forbidden. That is why there had to be, even in paradise, something that was forbidden. When the first two human beings ate of the forbidden fruit, the essential harmony between man and nature was broken. Humanity lost its innocence. For the first time, nature (the world we find) and culture (the world we make) came into conflict. The result was paradise lost. According to the sages, this entire drama took place on the sixth day. On that day, they were made, they were commanded about the tree, they transgressed the command and were sentenced to exile. But in compassion, God allowed them a stay of sentence. They were given an extra day in Eden namely Shabbat. For the whole of that day, the sun did not set. As it too came to a close, God showed the first human beings how to make light: With the going out of the Sabbath, the celestial light began to fade. Adam was afraid that the serpent would attack him in the dark. Therefore God illuminated his understanding, and he learned to rub two stones against each other and produce light for his needs. This, according to the sages, is the reason we light a havdalah candle at the end of Shabbat to inaugurate the new week. There is, in other words, a fundamental difference between the light of the first day ( And God said, Let there be light... ) and that of the eighth day. The light of the first day was created by God. The light of the eighth day is what God taught us to create. It symbolizes our partnership with God in the work of creation. There is no more beautiful image than this of how God empowers us to join Him in bringing light to the world. On Shabbat we remember God s creation. On the eighth day (motsei Shabbat) we celebrate our creativity as the image and partner of God. To understand the full significance of this story, we have to go back to one of the great myths of the ancient world: the myth of Prometheus. To the Greeks, the gods were essentially hostile to mankind. Zeus wanted to keep the art of making fire secret, but Prometheus stole a spark and taught men how to make it. Once the theft was discovered, Zeus punished him by having him chained to a rock, with an eagle pecking at his liver. The Light of Holiness 2! Shemini 5777

10 Against this background can we see the revolutionary character We believe that God wants of Jewish faith. We believe that God wants human beings to human beings to exercise exercise power: responsibly, creatively, and within limits set by power: responsibly, the integrity of nature. The rabbinic account of how God taught creatively, and within limits Adam and Eve the secret of making fire is the precise opposite set by the integrity of nature. of the story of Prometheus. God seeks to confer dignity on the beings He made in His image as an act of love. He does not hide the secrets of the universe from us. He does not seek to keep mankind in a state of ignorance or dependence. The creative God empowers us to be creative and begins by teaching us how. He wants us to be guardians of the world He has entrusted to our care. That is the significance of the eighth day. It is the human counterpart of the first day of creation. We now understand the symbolic significance of the eighth day in relation to the Tabernacle. As we have noted elsewhere, the linguistic parallels in the Torah show that the construction of the mishkan in the wilderness mirrors the Divine creation of the world. The Tabernacle was intended to be a miniature universe, a symbolic microcosmos, constructed by human beings. Just as God made the earth as a home for mankind, so the Israelites in the wilderness built the Tabernacle as a symbolic home for God. It was their act of creation. So it had to begin on the eighth day, just as Adam and Eve began their creative endeavour on the eighth day. Just as God showed them how to make light so, many centuries later, He taught the Israelites how to make a space for the Divine presence so that they too would be accompanied by light God s light, in the form of the fire that consumed the sacrifices, and the light of the menorah. If the first day represents Divine creation, the eighth day signifies human creation under the tutelage and sovereignty of God. We now see the extraordinary and intimate connection between four themes: (1) the creation of the universe; (2) the building of the sanctuary; (3) the Havdalah ceremony at the end of Shabbat; and (4) the number eight. The story of creation tells us that nature is not a blind struggle between contending forces, in which the strongest wins and power is the most important gift. To the contrary: the universe is fundamentally good. It is a place of ordered harmony, the intelligible design of a single creator. That harmony is constantly threatened by humankind. In the covenant with Noah, God establishes a minimum threshold for human civilisation. In the covenant with Israel, he establishes a higher code of holiness. Just as the universe is the home God makes for us, so the holy is the home we make for God, symbolized first by the mishkan, the Tabernacle, then the Temple, and now the synagogue. And it begins by the creation of light. Just as God began by making light on the first day, so in the ceremony of havdalah we make light on the To be holy is to be a eighth day, the start of human creativity, and in so doing we become God s guardian of that partners in the work of creation. Like Him, we begin by creating light and order, a task delegated proceed to make distinctions ( Blessed are you... who makes a distinction to us by God. between sacred and profane, light and darkness... ). The eighth day thus becomes the great moment at which God entrusts His creative work to the people He has taken as His covenantal partners. So it was with the Tabernacle, and so it is with us. The Light of Holiness 3! Shemini 5777

11 This is a vision of great beauty. It sees the world as a place of order in which everything has its place and dignity within the richly differentiated tapestry of creation. To be holy is to be a guardian of that order, a task delegated to us by God. That is both an intellectual and ethical challenge: intellectually to recognise the boundaries and limits of nature, ethically to have the humility to preserve and conserve the world for the sake of generations yet to come. In the midst of what can sometimes seem to be the dark and chaos of the human world, our task is to create order and light. WATCH RABBI SACKS NEW WHITEBOARD ANIMATION VIDEO ON THE MUTATION OF ANTISEMITISM Yom HaShoah - the day in the Jewish calendar set aside for Holocaust remembrance - takes place on 27th Nisan which this year corresponds to the evening of Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th April But how has antisemitism mutated over time? And why does its return today present a danger not just for Jews, but for all who care about our common humanity? Please watch and share my new whiteboard animation and this important message. The Light of Holiness 4! Shemini 5777