Shabbat Announcements

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1 January 3, Tevet, 5775 Shabbat Candle Lighting: 4:24PM Friday Night Mincha: 4:20 PM Morning Services: 9:00 AM Shabbat Mincha After Kiddush Shabbat Ends: 5:25 PM Shabbat Announcements Vayechi Page 268 (Torah) Page 1145 (Haftarah) Shabbat Chazak! Last Parsha of the book of Genesis! January Birthdays & Anniversaries January Birthdays: Nava Gutkin (1 st ), Ayala East (2 nd ), Rachel Rehaut Mynhier (2 nd ), Tamara Charm (3 rd ), Amy Cohen (4 th, Jessica Moss (4 th ), Lisa Gutkin (5 th ), Yair Bendory (6 th ), Barry Levine (6 th ), Ed Mosberg (6 th ), Danielle Podell (8 th ), Jack Yacker (8 th ), Lonnie Moss (11 th ), Daniel Moritz (12 th ), Sarah Silverberg (12 th ), Orli Sweifach (12 th ), Robert Gaynor (13 th ), Molly Cohen (14 th ), Sheryl Hillman (14 th ), Skylay Podell (14 th ), David Ptalis (16 th ), Ilana Chirnomas (17 th ), David Tammam (17 th ), Aliza Bendory (18 th ), Bernard Elbaum (18 th ), Jonathan Ramsfelder (18 th ), Jacob Stein (18 th ), Ilana Brafman (19 th ), Jayne Karten (19 th ), Fred Silverberg (19 th ), Casey Krosser (20 th ), Paul Marshall (22 nd ), Gary Fishbein (23 rd ), Gabrielle Gelbert (23 rd ), Maurice Korish (23 rd ), Gabriela Dabah (25 th ), Ellen Goldberg (26 th ), Gary Levat (26 th ), Keri Lieberman (27 th ), Rochelle Zeiger (27 th ), Robin Roffman (28 th ), Raphael Turitz- Sweifach (28 th ), Anne Bushell (30 th ), Adam Hollander (30 th ), Rita Singer (30 th ), Jason Strulowitz (30 th ), Bernard Brothman (31 st ). January Anniversaries: Yair & Aliza Bendory (2 nd ), Stephen & Shelly Winters (9 th ), Ron & Lillie Brandt (24 th ). MFJC INFO ~ Address: 1209 Sussex Tpk., Randolph Phone Numbers: Office: Rabbi: ; Rabbi s Cell: Rabbi s Office Hours: Mornings: Tues - Fri, 9-1PM; afternoons/evenings: 3-6PM; or anytime by appt Menashe East rabbi@mtfjc.org Office Hours: M-Th, 10-5PM; F, 10-4PM David Paris office@mtfjc.org This Week: Jan 3: Shabbat Chazak end of the book of Bereishit Jan 4: Talmud Study, 9AM Jan 8: Mishlei Seminar Resumes, 10AM Jan 9-10: Partnership Minyanim in honor of Edden Chirnomas Bat Mitzvah Upcoming Events: Jan 13: Board Meeting, 8PM Jan 15: I-Torah for Va era, 830PM. Sign up and join. Jan 17: Shabbat Mevarchim for Shevat & Shared Kiddush Jan 17: Shared Kiddush for January Events. Sponsor &/or Cook Jan 21: Rosh Chodesh Shevat Jan 21: Traditional Minyan, GRTWA, 820AM Jan 22: MFJC Co-Sponsor of World Rise in Anti-Semetism Morristown Jewish Center, 7:30PM Jan 30-31: Partnership Minyanim in honor of Noa Russo s Bat Mitzvah Feb 4-5: Tu B Shevat the New Year for the Trees Feb 6: Youth Kabbalat Shabbat and Oneg, 6PM Feb 7: Musical Melavah Malka, 630PM, details TBA Feb 28: Shared Kiddush for February Events. Sponsor &/or cook March 7: MFJC Purim Shpiel & Dinner MFJC SERVICE TIMES: Weekday 6:45AM Weeknight Upon Request (Yahrzeit) Sunday & National Holidays 8:00AM

2 How To Connect With Us Mt. Freedom Jewish Center - on the Web! - YES we have a NEW LIVE website!!! Please visit and give us feedback as we are still adding new features and content! Facebook Please Like our page Mt. Freedom Jewish Center Not on Facebook? Visit to enter your and create an account! Instagram Follow us, tag us, like us! Mtfreedomjewishcenter Not on Instagram? Download the app for iphone or android and get started and enter your address or link your facebook to get started! Twitter Chat with us on the To join download the Twitter app for your smartphone or visit to get started! Having Trouble? Please Gabrielle.r.auerbach@gmail.com for help getting connected.

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7 Shabbat Shalom Vayechi 5775 (Genesis 47:28 50:26) Efrat, Israel Gather together and I shall tell you what is to happen at the end of the days (Genesis 49:1) The portion of Vayechi, and the entire Book of Genesis, concludes with Jacob s deathbed scene in which he reveals to his sons what will befall them at the end of the days, expressing the various strengths and weaknesses of each of his heirs and foretelling what each tribe will contribute to the great collage of future Jewish history. He is both Jacob the father of a family as well as Israel the father of a nation and he leaves the world in the fullness of his success as a parent who has finally united his family and as a patriarch who has established the guidelines for an emerging nation with a mission to unite the world. Jacob is indeed called by our Sages the chosen one of the Patriarchs. What made him deserve this very special accolade? What is the unique contribution which he made to the legacies of Abraham and Isaac? Our Sages compare Abraham to a mountain, Isaac to a field and Jacob to a house (or household) (Pesahim 88a) Apparently, the secret to a successful family as well to a successful nation, which is after all, a family writ large is to be found within the persona of Jacob, perhaps even within the very blessings he bequeaths to his sons. What is it? The major challenge to each of the Patriarchs was that of succession. Each needed to identify which of the children in the next generation would be the bearer of the Abrahamic legacy. The major struggle within Jacob s life was the deception he perpetrated upon his father, albeit at the behest of his mother, to wrest away the blessings Isaac had meant to bestow upon his older brother, Esau. This act of deception, no matter how justified it may have been in the light of the characteristics of each of the brothers, was to haunt Jacob for the rest of his life: He is deceived by Laban, who argues that in his place the younger sister does not receive a prize before the elder; he is deceived by his sons who tell him that a wild beast tore apart his beloved Joseph; and he is even deceived by Joseph who, while dressed up as the Grand Vizier, requests that Jacob send Rachel s only remaining son, Benjamin, to Egypt. His punishment goes even further: His beloved Rachel dies before her time because she deceives her father Laban by stealing his household gods (in the Mari and Nuzu documents from that time, the one who got the household gods also received the parental inheritance). And Jacob seems to be so resentful of his loving mother s role in suggesting and facilitating his deception that the Bible mentions his weeping over and providing the burial for his nurse Deborah with ne er a mention of Rebekah s death and Jacob s mourning over her. Now, at the end of his life, the time has come for Jacob to bless his own sons. In previous commentaries, I have maintained that Isaac wanted to give the material blessings to Esau and the spiritual messianic blessings to Jacob, whereas Rebekah had insisted that both areas of leadership must go to the same son, to Jacob. And indeed, Joseph s dreams expressed his mastery in both the realm of the material (the 11 sheaves of grain bowing down to his sheaf) as well as of the spiritual (the 11 stars bowing down to him). Logic would indicate that Joseph would receive both of these blessings from Jacob. But this is not to be the case. You will remember that, in the past, the rejected son was ousted from the family: Ishmael was actually banished from Abraham s household and Esau left the ancestral homeland for Seir-Edom. Jacob has learned that different strengths may warrant different blessings, that in a true family one victor need not be the recipient of all with the loser going into exile. A family much like an orchestra provides the possibility for different individuals (or tribes) each playing the instrument they can play best for the ultimate achievement of a harmonious symphony. Hence Judah receives the spiritual blessing of the scepter of messianic leadership, the ingathering of all of the nations to Jerusalem when the world will be at peace (Gen. 49:10). And Joseph receives the blessing of material fruitfulness (the ten tribes, especially Ephraim and Manasseh) and the physical ability to overcome the arrows of our enemies (ibid ). Jacob succeeded in uniting his family and in giving a charge to the tribes for a united nation. The latter has yet to be achieved and therein lies the prescription for the true coming of our redemption. Shabbat Shalom

8 A New Family Since early Fall this year, we ve studied the book of Genesis and its many familycentered narratives. Mostly, the text zeroes in on one family the Abrahamic family, trying to survive as it moves into the book of Exodus and its birth into nationhood. The recurrent message in Genesis was over chosenness: which of the family will carry the dreams through the next generation. That decision is never simple. On the contrary, the choice of one over another who s in and who s out is always conflict-ridden. When leafing through Genesis, we find G-d setting the tone of this theme of choice as early as Cain and Able, (ch 4) and yet again with Noah. (ch 6) Finally, G-d chooses a particular family to be His ambassadors of covenant and destiny with Abraham and Sarah. (ch 12) But after that point, the focus on who is choosing shifts from G-d, in G-d s endless wisdom, to humankind, in our limited intellect. Abraham, not G-d, must make the difficult choice which of his two sons will carry his and G-d s message: Isaac or Yishmael. (ch 21) Then Isaac must bestow the blessing of covenantal continuity onto one of his two sons: Jacob or Esau. (ch 27) Ultimately, these stories bear out a similar message of pain, confrontation and severing of family. Jacob, our final patriarch, loves Joseph most of all and chooses him for the role of prominence. But Joseph s sudden disappearance stunted the realization of Jacob s hopes. The family must then realign itself in the wake of tragedy. To which of his surviving children will Jacob impart his final blessing of covenant? Thankfully, that question does not need resolution. In this week s portion, Parshat Vayichi, the final Shabbat reading from Genesis, the family is reunited. In the closing moments of Jacob s life, his twelve sons are huddled around his bead, leaning over his bedside, straining to hear their father s last words. To our surprise, Jacob keeps in step with his fathers, blessing each of his sons, favoring some, criticizing others. (ch 49) And we want to scream from the sidelines: No! Not again! Why does Jacob seem to fall into the same trap that his fathers fell? But a closer look shows how this event differs from Abraham and Isaac s choices. Unlike his father and grandfather, Jacob blesses each of his sons at the same time. All the brothers are present while receiving their blessings. The Midrash picks up on this novelty and expands upon it, suggesting that the brothers actually share each other s blessings. (49:28) These final verses of Genesis give us insight into family, equality and communication. For the family to progress there must be transparency, there cannot be secrets; secrets suggest preference. With his honest words, Jacob teaches his family the distinct and essential quality of each member. On this Shabbat, may we remind ourselves of the uniqueness that defines and the likeness that unites us. Shabbat Shalom Umevorach, Rabbi Menashe East