NO SUEDAH SHLISHIT IN SHUL. PLAN ACCORDINGLY FOR THE FAST!

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1 בס ד NO SUEDAH SHLISHIT IN SHUL. PLAN ACCORDINGLY FOR THE FAST! שבת פרשת דברים/שבת חזון SHABBAT PARSHAT DEVORIM /CHAZON 9 AV/JULY 25 Haftorah is Isaiah 1:1-27. Many hold that one should learn only Tisha B'Av permissible topics after 1:03 PM. Don t say One may drink wine and eat.צדקתך צדק meat even at Seudah Shlishit. No food may be consumed after 8:16 PM. FRIDAY NIGHT MINCHA - 7:00 PM CANDLE LIGHTING - 8:04 PM TZAIT - 9:12 PM SATURDAY SHACHARIT YOUTH - 8:20 AM SHACHARIT MAIN - 8:45 AM LAST KRIAT SHEMA - 9:22 AM GEMARA SHIUR - N/A MINCHA - 6:30 PM SHKIA/FAST BEGINS - 8:21 PM SHABBAT ENDS - 9:06 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. CONGREGATION AHAVAT ACHIM SADDLE RIVER ROAD FAIR LAWN, NJ תשעה באב נדחה TISHA B'AV (Postponed) 10 AV/JULY 26 SATURDAY NIGHT MAARIV - 9:25 PM SUNDAY SHACHARIT - 8:00 AM MINCHA/MAARIV - 7:45 PM FAST ENDS - 9:05 Rabbi Uri Goldstein נא לא לדבר בשעת התפילה PLEASE NO CONVERSATION DURING SERVICES WEEKDAY DAVENING INFORMATION Sunday (7/26) Monday (7/27) Tuesday (7/28) Wednesday (7/29) Thursday (7/30) Friday (7/31) Earliest Talit 4:43 AM 4:44 AM 4:45 AM 4:47 AM 4:48 AM 4:49 AM Shacharit 8:00 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM 6:25 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM Gedolah 1:40 PM 1:40 PM 1:40 PM 1:40 PM 1:39 PM 1:39 PM Mincha- Maariv 7:45 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM 8:00 PM 7:00 PM Shkia 8:20 PM 8:19 PM 8:18 PM 8:17 PM 8:16 PM Tzait 9:05 PM 9:04 PM 9:03 PM 9:02 PM 9:01 PM Kiddush is sponsored by the Greenbaum/ Goldman family in honor of Benjamin's Bar Mitzvah. A special welcome to grandparents Alan & Bette Goldman and all friends and family. Mazel tov to all! Tisha B av: During Shacharit Rabbi Goldstein will explain selected Kinnot, and in the afternoon, we will have a number of video presentations: 4:15 PM - Shiurim from YU/OU featuring Rabbi JJ Schacter and Rabbi Shalom Rosner & 5:45 PM - Chafetz Chaim Heritage Foundation Video. Halachot: Although Shabbat is the Ninth of Av, the fast and its observances are moved to Saturday night and Sunday. One may conduct themselves as on a normal Shabbat- all meals are eaten, including Seudah Shlishit. No preparations for the fast may be made [i.e., changing shoes, bringing kinnot books to shul] until Shabbat is completely over. [CONTINUED ON PAGE 2] Refuah Shelayma to Burt Banner who is recovering from surgery. Ahavat Achim Tisha B Av Tuna Tower Challenge! Sunday, 7:15 PM, "Rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash, Can by Can. We will build a tower with all the donated cans, and IY H we will then bring all the cans to the Fair Lawn food bank (who are in desperate need of canned foods like tuna). President Stephen Agress "1

2 Kiddush Information Kiddush cleanup for the month of July is Kwestel, Lang, Latkin, Levine, Levine, Lewis, Lewissohn, Oppenheim, Oster, Plotnick, Racenstein, Reichardt Kiddush setup for this Shabbat is Brenenson, Riskin, Wolfson Kiddush setup for next Shabbat is Dubin, Finkelstein, Freund Adult Education GEMARAH SHIUR - Rabbi's Shabbat afternoon gemarah shiur takes place one hour before Mincha. Numbers & Info ERUV UPDATE MIKVAH At Shomrei Torah, weekdays 9:00 PM 10:30 PM, Motzei Shabbat from 11/4 hours after Shabbat ends for 1.5 hours. Kaylim Mikvah: Sunday 10 AM-3 PM FACEBOOK: facebook.com/ groups/ahavat.achim/ Upcoming Events July 28 - Shul Board Meeting Aug. 1 - Kiddush in honor of Andrew Wigod s Aufruf, and upcoming wedding to Kira Batist Aug. 3 - Sisterhood Meeting, 8:00 PM. at Lori Garfunkel s home Aug Suedah Shlishit sponsored by Seymour Wigod for Andrew & Kira s Sheva Brachot. Sept. 5 - Siyum Mesechet Nidarim at Suedah Shlishit Oct. 3 - Hadassah & Hadar Schachter B'Not Mitzvah Feb Ben Wechsler Bar Mitzvah Feb Yachad Shabbaton HALACHOT REGARDING TISHA B AV FROM THE RABBI (Cont. from Page 1) The fast begins at sunset (8:21 pm), even though Shabbat is not yet over at that time. The End of Shabbat/Havdalah: Havdalah is not recited over wine on Saturday night, and the Bracha over Besamim is not recited. Therefore when Shabbat ends at 9:06 you must recite "Baruch Hamavdil Bein Kodesh Lechol" before driving to Shul, doing any work, or changing for Tisha B Av. We will recite the Bracha over the candle in Shul. If you cannot make it to Shul, please recite the Bracha "Borei Meorei HaEish" as you would during Havdalah. After the fast: Before breaking your fast, recite Havdalah over wine/grape juice as you ordinarily would. The Brachot over Besamim and the candle are not recited at this time. Note: Generally, the restrictions of the 9 Days extend until midday of the day after Tisha B'Av, but because Tisha B'Av is delayed this year, most of the restrictions end immediately after the fast. It is permissible shower, shave and do laundry immediately after the fast. However the restriction on meat and wine [other than Havdalah] remains for the night. Important note for those who must eat on Tisha B'Av: You must recite Havdalah before you eat. It is preferable that this be done over some drink other than wine/grape juice [i.e. fruit juice, beer, or sweetened tea]. The Brachot over the Besamim and candle are not recited. TISHA B AV We are prohibited to eat and drink, to wash ourselves (even in cold water), to apply oils to ourselves for pleasurable purposes, to have marital relations, and to wear leather shoes. Anyone who eats or drinks on Tisha B'Av will not participate in the rejoicing over the rebuilt Jerusalem. And all who mourn for Jerusalem will earn the right to take part in the rejoicing over the rebuilt Jerusalem. Even women who are pregnant or nursing, or people of weak constitution, for whom fasting is very difficult must fast on Tisha B'Av (this does not apply to someone who is truly ill), for the destruction of the תBei HaMikdash is worth suffering for at least one day a year. At Maariv we remove the curtain from the Aron HaKodesh, dim the lights, and sit on the floor or on a low stool. We do not sit on regular chairs or benches until after midday on Sunday [1:03 PM]. We have a public recitation of Eichah, followed by several Kinot for the night of Tisha B'Av. Sunday, on awakening, we wash our fingers only until the knuckles (as one is drying his fingers while still moist he may rub them across his eyes to remove the sediment). We do not wear our Tallit or Tefillin until midday, but do wear Tallit Koton, but without making a Bracha over it. At Shacharit three Aliyahs from Parshat Vaeschanan (Deut. 4:25-40) תוליד בנים" ;"כי The Haftorah is read in the melody of Eichah from Jeremiah 8:13-9:23: אסיפם"."אסוף We say the lengthy collection of Kinot until their completion (preferably around noon). At Mincha we put on Tallit and Tefillin, making the appropriate Brachot. From the Sefer Torah we have אקבץ" Isaiah 55:6 56:8 (until "דרשו" the third Aliyah is the Maftir. The Haftorah is ;"ויחל" three Aliyahs in If one."שומע תפלה" in "עננו" and בונה ירושלים" in "נחם" In Shemonah Esrei include.("עליו לנקבציו ברוך" omitting the ending blessing "ותחזינה עינינו" he may say it before "בונה ירושלים" in "נחם" forgot The essence of a Fast Day is Teshuva - Repentance. This is."ותחזינה" concluding only with,"מנחם ציון particularly so for those sins that were responsible for the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, and yet, which we remain guilty of today, such as: 1) profaning Shabbat, 2) not providing for the Torah education of one s small children, 3) not recite the Shema morning and night, 4) showing contempt for Torah scholars, 5) unwarranted hatred for each other, and 6) hardening their hearts to any fear of Divine retribution (see Gittin 55b). It is a great Mitzvah to study on a daily basis the Sefer Chofetz Chaim which discusses the laws of Lashon Harah and Rechilus (talebearing). The major reason for the destruction of the Holy Temples was senseless hatred and Lashon Harah. Shirley Vann has dedicated this week s Covenant & Conversation (used with permission of. ע ה the Office of Rabbi Sacks) in memory of her beloved mother Necha bat Yitzchok "2

3 Why are there so many Jewish lawyers? Devarim - 25 July 2015 / 9 Av 5775 At the beginning of Devarim, Moses reviews the history of the Israelites experience in the wilderness, beginning with the appointment of leaders throughout the people, heads of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. He continues: And I charged your judges at that time, Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you. Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. (Deut. 1: 16-17) Thus at the outset of the book in which he summarized the entire history of Israel and its destiny as a holy people, he already gave priority to the administration of justice: something he would memorably summarize in a later chapter (16: 20) in the words, Justice, justice, shall you pursue. The words for justice, tzedek and mishpat, are repeated, recurring themes of the book. The root tz-d-k appears eighteen times in Devarim; the root sh-f-t, forty-eight times. Justice has seemed, throughout the generations, to lie at the beating heart of Jewish faith. Albert Einstein memorably spoke of the pursuit of knowledge for its own

4 sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my lucky stars that I belong to it. In the course of a television programme I made for the BBC I asked Hazel Cosgrove, the first woman to be appointed as a judge in Scotland, and an active member of the Edinburgh Jewish community, what had led her to choose law as a career. She replied as if it was self-evident, Because Judaism teaches: Justice, justice shall you pursue. One of the great Jewish lawyers of our time, Alan Dershowitz, is about to bring out a book about Abraham, 1 whom he sees as the first Jewish lawyer, the patriarch of the legal profession: a defense lawyer for the damned who is willing to risk everything, even the wrath of God, in defense of his clients, the founder not just of monotheism but of a long line of Jewish lawyers. Dershowitz gives a vivid description of Abraham s prayer on behalf of the people of Sodom ( Shall the Judge of all the Earth not do justice? ) as a courtroom drama, with Abraham acting as lawyer for the citizens of the town, and God, as it were, as the accused. This was the forerunner of a great many such episodes in Torah and Tanakh, in which the prophets argued the cause of justice with God and with the people. In modern times, Jews reached prominence as judges in America: among them Brandeis, Cardozo, and Felix Frankfurter. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court. In Britain, between 1996 and 2008, two of Britain s three Lord Chief Justices were Jewish: Peter Taylor and Harry Woolf. In Germany in the early 1930s, though Jews were 0.7 per cent of the population, they represented 16.6 per cent of lawyers and judges. One feature of Tanakh is noteworthy in this context. Throughout the Hebrew Throughout the Hebrew Bible some of the most intense Bible some of the most encounters between the prophets and God are represented as intense encounters between the prophets courtroom dramas. Sometimes, as in the case of Moses, Jeremiah and God are represented and Habakkuk, the plaintiff is humanity or the Jewish people. In as courtroom dramas. the case of Job it is an individual who has suffered unfairly. The accused is God himself. The story is told by Elie Wiesel of how a case was brought against God by the Jewish prisoners in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. 2 At other times, it is God who brings a case against the children of Israel. 1 Alan Dershowitz, Abraham: the world s first (but certainly not the last) Jewish lawyer, New York, Schocken, Elie Wiesel, The Trial of God, Schocken, The story is believed to be fictional, though on one occasion Wiesel said that it happened and that he was there.

5 The word the Hebrew Bible uses for these unique dialogues between heaven and earth 3 is riv, which means a law-suit, and it derives from the idea that at the heart of the relationship between God and humanity both in general, and specifically in relation to the Jewish people is covenant, that is, a binding agreement, a mutual pledge, based on obedience to God s law on the part of humans, and on God s promise of loyalty and love on the part of heaven. Thus either side can, as it were, bring the other to court on grounds of failure to fulfill their undertakings. Three features mark Judaism as a distinctive faith. First is the radical idea that when God reveals himself to humans He does so in the form of law. In the ancient world, God was power. In Judaism, God is order, and order presupposes law. In the natural world of cause and effect, order takes the form of scientific law. But in the human world, where we have freewill, order takes the form of moral law. Hence the name of the Mosaic books: Torah, which means direction, guidance, teaching, but above all law. The most basic meaning 4 of the most fundamental principle of Judaism, Torah min ha-shamayim, Torah from Heaven, is that God, not humans, is the source of binding law. Second, we are charged with being interpreters of the law. That is our responsibility as heirs and guardians of the Torah she-be-al peh, the Oral Tradition. The phrase in which Moses describes the voice the people heard at the revelation at Sinai, kol gadol velo yasaf, is understood by the commentators in two seemingly contradictory ways. On the one hand it means the voice that was never heard again ; on the other, it means the voice that did not cease, that is, the voice that was ever heard again. 5 There is, though, no contradiction. The voice that was never heard again is the one that represents the Written Torah. The voice that is ever heard again is that of the Oral Torah. Judaism is a continuing conversation between the Giver of the law in Heaven and the interpreters of the law on Earth. The Written Torah is min ha-shamayim, from Heaven, but about the Oral Torah the Talmud insists Lo ba-shamayim hi, It is not in Heaven. 6 Hence Judaism is a continuing conversation between the Giver of the law in Heaven and the interpreters of the law on Earth. That is part of what the Talmud means when it says that Every judge who delivers a true judgment becomes a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the work of creation. 7 3 On the subject in general, see Anson Laytner, Arguing with God: A Jewish Tradition, Jason Aronson, Not the only meaning, to be sure. See Rambam, Hilkhot Teshuvah 3: 5. 5 Deut. 5: 19, and see Rashi ad loc., who gives both interpretations. 6 Baba Metzia 59b. 7 Shabbat 10a.

6 Third, fundamental to Judaism is education, and fundamental to Jewish education is instruction in Torah, that is, the law. That is what Isaiah meant when he said, Listen to Me, you who know justice, the people in whose heart is My law; do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults (Is. 51: 7). It is what Jeremiah meant when he said, This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jer. 31: 33). It is what Josephus meant when he said, nineteen hundred years ago, Should any one of our nation be asked about our laws, he will repeat them as readily as his own name. The result of our thorough education in our laws from the very dawn of intelligence is that they are, as it were, engraved on our souls. To be a Jewish child is to be, in the British phrase, learned in the law. We are a nation of constitutional lawyers. Why? Because Judaism is not just about spirituality. It is not simply a code for the salvation of the soul. It is a set of instructions for the creation of what the late Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein z l called societal beatitude. It is about bringing God into the shared spaces of our collective life. That needs law: law that represents justice, honouring all humans alike regardless of colour or class, that judges impartially between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, even in extremis between humanity and God, the law that links God, its Giver, to us, its interpreters, the law that alone allows freedom to coexist with order, so that my freedom is not bought at the cost of yours. Small wonder, then, that there are so many Jewish lawyers. Judaism is not just about spirituality. It is not simply a code for the salvation of the soul. It is about bringing God into the shared spaces of our collective life.