SHABBAT PARSHAT BAMIDBAR EREV SHAVUOT 5 SIVAN/JUNE 11 SHAVUOT/ שבועות 6/7 SIVAN/JUNE 12/13 PLEASE NO CONVERSATION DURING SERVICES

Transcription

1 בס ד BULLETIN IS DEDICATED BY KIRA & ANDREW WIGOD IN HONOR OF THE RABBI, REBETZIN AND FAMILY ערב שבועות / שבת פרשת במדבר SHABBAT PARSHAT BAMIDBAR EREV SHAVUOT 5 SIVAN/JUNE 11 נא לא לדבר בשעת התפילה PLEASE NO CONVERSATION DURING SERVICES Haftorah is Hosea 2:1-22. Say אב הרחמים. Don t say ל מלא - א or צדקתך צדק. Pirkei Avot Chap. 6. FRIDAY NIGHT EARLIEST CANDLES - 6:54 PM MINCHA - 7:00 PM CANDLE LIGHTING - 8:10 PM TZAIT - 9:13 PM SATURDAY CHUMASH SHIUR - 8:00 AM SHACHARIT MAIN - 8:45 AM LAST KRIAT SHEMA - 9:10 AM MINCHA - 8:00 PM WEEKDAY DAVENING INFORMATION Sunday (6/12) SATURDAY NIGHT MAARIV/CANDLES - 9:13 PM TIKKUN LEIL SHAVUOT - 11:45 PM SUNDAY SHACHARIT HASHKAMA - 4:55 AM SHACHARIT MAIN - 8:45 AM LAST KRIAT SHEMA - 9:10 AM MINCHA - 8:05 PM MAARIV/CANDLES - 9:14 PM MONDAY SHACHARIT YOUTH - 8:20 AM SHACHARIT MAIN - 8:45 AM LAST KRIAT SHEMA - 9:11 AM YIZKOR - 10:30 AM MINCHA - 8:05 PM MAARIV/HAVDALAH - 9:14 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. Tuesday (6/14) Wednesday Thursday (6/15) (6/16) Friday (6/17) Earliest Talit 4:16 AM 4:16 AM 4:16 AM 4:16 AM Shacharit 6:25 AM 6:25 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM Gedolah 1:35 PM 1:35 PM 1:35 PM 1:35 PM Mincha - Maariv 8:10 PM 8:10 PM 8:10 PM 7:00 PM Shkia 8:29 PM 8:30 PM 8:30 PM Tzait 9:11 PM 9:12 PM 9:12 PM Come enjoy our young men lead the service this Shabbat at our annual Youth Shabbat! SHAVUOT/ שבועות 6/7 SIVAN/JUNE 12/13 Monday (6/13) Tikkun Leil Shavuot collations are sponsored לעלוי נשמה של שלמה בין אליהו by Eli Zezon. Tikkun Leil Shavuot lectures by Rabbi & Julie Goldstein will be on Minhagim and Magic, Segulot and Superstitions: When is a Custom Legitimate and When is it Illegitimate? Specific topics will include: Wishing someone "Mazal Tov": Are you admitting to a belief in astrology?, Red Strings - Protection or Paganism?, Omens and Symbols- Are they real? and Some Aspects of Medieval Jewish Magic. Kiddush on the 2nd day of Shavuot is sponsored by the Schwitzer family in honor of the shul s new beginnings this year, Jason & Alicia's First Anniversary, and Erica & Chaim s Upcoming Wedding. Mazel tov! Kids ice cream party (Shavuot 1st Day), at 4:00 PM, Tanis Pl., is sponsored by the Bernstein family in memory of Sara's father, Richard Silberman, & Larry's grandfather, Harry Swichar (Yoseph Aron ben Yitzchak). Rabbi Uri Goldstein President Stephen Agress "1

2 Kiddush Information Kiddush cleanup for the month of June is Plotnick, Racenstein, Rein, Riskin, Safier, Schachter, Schwed, Schwitzer, Shanblatt/Heda, Smedresman, Sokoloff, Solomon Kiddush setup for this Shabbat is Kwestel, Borsuk, Smedresman Kiddush setup for next Shabbat is Lang, Lewis, Racenstein No Kiddush Cleanup on Shavuot To sponsor a Kiddush ($1000/$613/$318 plus scotch) send an to gplotnick@aol.com. Adult Education GEMARAH SHIUR - Rabbi's Shabbat afternoon gemarah shiur takes place one hour before Mincha. CHUMASH CLASS - Gerry Halpern s Class - Shabbat morning before Shacharit. ע ה Gita Cooperwasser Youth Program No Youth Groups this Shabbat. Sisterhood Book Club Next Sisterhood Book Club will be July 23, 4:00 PM, at the home of Shelly Winchester (19-18 Angelo Ter.), discussing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Want to read ahead, the book thereafter is Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand Friday Evening, June Upcoming Events June 20 - Sisterhood planning meeting June 22 - Shul Membership Meeting June 25 - Suedah Shlishit sponsored by ברוך מפציר בן שמואל נלב"ע Eli Zezon in memory of כ"ד סיון תשנ ט Aug. 6 - Kiddush sponsored by the Weinraubs in honor of Leron s Auf Ruf and upcoming wedding to Allison Montal Sept New Rebetzin Tea Feb Yachad Shabbaton March 11 - Mike Riskin Bar Mitzvah Numbers & Info ERUV UPDATE By Only. To subscribe, fairlawneruvsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. 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/ Mah Jong No Mah Jong this Shabbat. Welcome to our newest members Esther & Chaim Felberbaum! Graduation Kiddush is Shabbat, June 25. Sponsorship is just $36 per graduate. To sponsor just seplotnick@gmail.com with each graduate s name, school, and her or his degree and major if graduating from college. [Note that bulletin sponsorship announcing a graduation is only available if this Kiddush is also sponsored in honor of the graduate.] Graduates so far are: Max Agress (Lander College for Men, B.A. Psychology), Anna Brooks (Binghamton University, B.A. Environmental Studies/English), Seth Brooks (Westchester Hebrew High School), Daniel Eisman (Cooper Medical School, MD), Sahar Farajun (Frisch), Lielle Goldstein (Noam Kindergarten), Shimshon Goldstein (Noam), Ben Greenbaum (Yavneh), Madeline Plotnick (Ma ayanot), Elie Sonnenblick (Yeshiva University, B.A. Potions/Muggle Studies, Cum Laude), Dena Winchester (Ma ayanot) and Giselle Zimmerman (Yavneh). 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 SHABBAT/EREV SHAVUOT Crucial Halachic Notes for Shavuot. Because Erev Yom Tov is Shabbat, it is important to remember that no preparations for Shavuot may be made while it is still Shabbat, including cooking or heating of food, and candles may not be lit until after Tzait HaKochavim. After shabbat, say "Baruch Hamavdil Bein Kodesh L Kodesh, and then candles and other fires may be taken from an existing flame, as on any Yom Tov. Other preparations such as setting the table [even though they may not be strictly defined as "work"] may also not be done on Shabbat. To make sure one does not go into the Shavuot meal satiated, Suedah Shlishit will not be hosted by the shul Shabbat afternoon. Everyone remains obligated to eat a third meal on Shabbat, but it should be eaten on one s own as a light meal closer to the afternoon meal. FIRST /א' DAY SHAVUOT דשבועות We wait until tzait to count seven complete weeks. Candles brachot are נר של יום טוב" "להדליק and."שהחיינו" Many study Torah all night, say the Tikun Shavuot, and/or read listings of the 613 Commandments. In Shacharit we say,"אקדמות" the long Aramaic poem praising G-D, before the Torah reading. The first Sefer Torah is Exodus 19:1-20:23. Maftir is Numbers 28: Haftorah is Ezekiel 1:1-28 and 3:12. Many have varying customs regarding partaking of dairy food on Shavuot. SECOND /ב' DAY SHAVUOT דשבועות We read Megillat Rut (the Book of Ruth) followed by Mourner's Kaddish. The first Sefer Torah is Deut. 15:19-16:17. Maftir is Numbers 28: Haftorah is Habakkuk 2:20-3:19, but after the second verse of the Haftorah the Maftir recites the Piyut departed. During Yizkor we pledge Tzedakah to elevate the souls of the."יציב פתגם" 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 rjsafier@optonline.net 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 Elliot Greene (contact him at treasurer@ahavatachim.org). If by check indicate on its face Aliyah Donation. David Schwitzer ע ה Social Hall Please contact Jonathan Schachter at jschachter2@bloomberg.net 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. "3 Sisterhood & Men s Club Please contact Eli Greenbaum at eligreenbaum@yahoo.com to join the Men s Club. To join Sisterhood, please contact Lori Garfunkel at garfmom@gmail.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

4 NOTICE: The Annual General Membership Meeting Will Be Held on June 22, 2016 at 8:40 PM. The agenda for the General Meeting is as follows: (1) Proposed Budget (7/1/16-6/30/17), including the 7/1/15-6/30/16 projected financial statements and expenditures. (2) Proposed slate of Officers and Trustees: Officers President Vice President Treasurer Gabbai Corresponding Secretary Financial Secretary Recording Secretary Board of Trustees: Aryeh Brenenson Ben Lang Steven Winchester Marty Sonnenblick Larry Bernstein Lori Garfunkel Andrea Riskin 2017 Expirations 2018 Expirations 2019 Expirations* Sara Levine Ron Dworkis Natasha Borsuk Betsy Sonnenblick Elfie Eisman Aaron Lewis Michael Stock Yehuda Goldgur Jeffrey Safier Avi Vann Robert Lewissohn Deborah Solomon * Nominated by the Nominating Committee. As provided in the Constitution, those physically unable to attend the meeting may be allowed to vote by proxy in the discretion of the President. Absentee ballots shall be permitted only for those members who notify the President in writing, at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting that they will be unable to attend the meeting in person: 1) because they will be outside of the New York Metropolitan area; or 2) due to an unavoidable work-related conflict. You can help Ahavat Achim's finances and it won't cost you a cent! Just make your regular Amazon purchases via this link: After a onetime set up designating Congregation Ahavat Achim of Fair Lawn as your preferred charity, nothing more for you to do except make your regular Amazon purchases. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Ahavat Achim. AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. MISCELLANEOUS Rabbi Goldstein s Hours Rabbi Goldstein is available to the membership by contacting him at UriG77@aol.com or by phone at He is available during office hours at the shul Wednesday evenings after Ma ariv until approximately 10:00 pm. Note that the Rabbi's s are forwarded to his home PC and to his mobile phone. Become a Member of Ahavat Achim If you are not yet a member; please contact Aryeh Brenenson abrenenson@gmail.com for details on membership. Bikkur Cholim/Chesed If anyone could use a visit/assistance from the Bikkur Cholim/Chesed Committee, contact the Rabbi at UriG77@aol.com or Sara Levine at saralevine06@gmail.com or (201) Contact Sara to join the committee and offer assistance in the manner that s most conducive to your schedule. Personal Announcements Various life cycle events related to members are announced in the shul s weekly bulletin (e.g., births, bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and deaths), and the bulletin acknowledges travel to/from Israel for study. We also welcome new members and those who ve moved into the community and express interest in our shul. Other personal announcements generally are not appropriate for inclusion in the bulletin, except as part of the bulletin s dedication (a $36 cost - $54 with photo). Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. 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

5 The Sound of Silence Bamidbar - 11 June 2016 / 4 Sivan 5776 Bamidbar is usually read on the Shabbat before Shavuot. So the sages connected the two. Shavuot is the time of the giving of the Torah. Bamibar means, In the desert. What then is the connection between the desert and the Torah, the wilderness and God s word? The sages gave several interpretations. According to the Mekhilta the Torah was given publicly, openly and in a place no one owns because had it been given in the land of Israel, Jews would have said to the nations of the world, You have no share in it. Instead, whoever wants to come and accept it, let them come and accept it. 1 Another explanation: Had the Torah been given in Israel the nations of the world would have had an excuse for not accepting it. This follows the rabbinic tradition that before God gave the Torah to 2 the Israelites he offered it to all the other nations and each found a reason to decline. Yet another: Just as the wilderness is free it costs nothing to enter so the Torah is free. It is God s gift to us. 3 But there is another, more spiritual reason. The desert is a place of silence. There is nothing visually to distract you, and there is no ambient noise to muffle sound. To be sure, when the Israelites received the Torah, there was thunder and lightening and the sound of a shofar. The earth felt as if it were shaking at its foundations. But in a later age, when the prophet Elijah stood at the same mountain after his confrontation with the prophets of Baal, he encountered God not in the whirlwind or the fire or 1 Mekhilta, Yitro, Bachodesh, 1. 2 Ibid., 5. 3 Ibid. The Sound of Silence 1! Bamidbar 5776

6 the earthquake but in the kol demamah dakah, the still, small voice, literally the sound of a slender silence. 4 I define this as the sound you can only hear if you are listening. In the silence of the midbar, the desert, you can hear the Medaber, the Speaker, and the medubar, that which is spoken. To hear the voice of God you need a listening silence in the soul. Many years ago British television produced a documentary series, The Long Search, on the world s great religions. 5 When it came to Judaism, the presenter Ronald Eyre seemed surprised by its blooming, buzzing confusion, especially the loud, argumentative voices in the Bet Midrash, the house of study. Remarking on this to Elie Wiesel, he asked, Is there such a thing as a silence in Judaism? Wiesel replied: Judaism is full of silences but we don t talk about them. Judaism is a very verbal culture, a religion of holy words. Through words, God created the universe: And God said, Let there be and there was. According to the Targum, it is our ability to speak that makes us human. It translates the phrase, and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7) as and man became a speaking soul. Words create. Words communicate. Our relationships are shaped, for good or bad, by language. Much of Judaism is about the power of words to make or break worlds. So silence in Tanakh often has a negative connotation. Aaron was silent, says the Torah, after the death of his two sons Nadav and Avihu (Lev. 10:3). The dead do not praise you, says Psalm 115, nor do those who go down to the silence [of the grave]. When Job s friends came to comfort him after the loss of his children and other afflictions, Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great. (Job 2:13). But not all silence is sad. Psalms tells us that to You, silence is praise (Ps. 65:2). If we are truly in awe at the greatness of God, the vastness of the universe and the almost infinite extent of time, our deepest emotions will indeed lie too deep for words. We will experience silent communion. 6 The sages valued silence. They called it a fence to wisdom. If words are worth a coin, silence is worth two. 7 R. Shimon ben Gamliel said, All my days I have grown up among the wise, and I have 8 found nothing better than silence. The service of the priests in the Temple was accompanied by silence. The Levites sang in the courtyard, but the priests unlike their counterparts in other ancient religions -- neither sang nor spoke while offering the sacrifices. One scholar 9 has accordingly spoken of the silence of the sanctuary. The Zohar (2a) speaks of silence as the medium in which both the Sanctuary above and the Sanctuary below are made. There were Jews who cultivated silence as a spiritual discipline. Bratslav Hassidim meditate in the fields. There are Jews who practise taanit dibbur, a fast of words. Our most profound prayer, the private saying of the Amidah, is called tefillah be-lachash, the silent prayer. It is based on the 4 1 Kings 19: BBC television, first shown Avot 3:13. 7 Megillah 18a. Words create. Words communicate. Our relationships are shaped, for good or bad, by language. 8 Avot 1:17. 9 Israel Knohl. The Sound of Silence 2! Bamidbar 5776

7 precedent of Hannah, praying for a child. She spoke in her heart. Her lips moved but her voice was not heard (1 Sam. 1:13). God hears our silent cry. In the agonising tale of how Sarah told Abraham to send Hagar and her son away, the Torah tells us that when their water ran out and the young Ishmael was at the point of dying, Hagar cried, yet God heard the voice of the child (Gen. 21:16-17). Earlier when the angels came to visit Abraham and told him that Sarah would have a child, Sarah laughed inwardly, that is, silently, yet she was heard by God (Gen. 18:12-13). God hears our thoughts even when they are not expressed in speech. The silence that counts, in Judaism, is thus a listening silence and listening is the supreme religious art. Listening means making space for others to speak and be heard. As I point out in my commentary to the Siddur, there is no English word that remotely equals the Hebrew verb sh-m-a in its wide range of senses: to listen, to hear, to pay attention, to understand, to internalise and to respond in deed. This was one of the key elements in the Sinai covenant, when the Israelites, having already said twice, All that God says, we will do, then said, All that God says, we will do and we will hear [venishma] (Ex. 24:7). It is the nishma listening, hearing, heeding, responding that is the key religious act. Thus Judaism is not only a religion of doing-and-speaking; it is also a religion of listening. Faith is the ability to hear the music beneath the noise. There is the silent music of the spheres, about which Psalm 19 speaks: The heavens declare the glory of God The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day to day they pour forth speech, Night to night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech, there are no words, Their voice is not heard. Yet their music carries throughout the earth. There is the voice of history that was heard by the prophets. And there is the commanding voice of Sinai, that continues to speak to us across the abyss of time. I sometimes think that people in the modern age have found the concept of Torah from heaven problematic, not because of some new archaeological discovery but because we have lost the habit of listening to the sound of transcendence, a voice beyond the merely human. Judaism is not only a religion of doing-and-speaking; it is also a religion of listening. Faith is the ability to hear the music beneath the noise. It is fascinating that despite his often fractured relationship with Judaism, Sigmund Freud created in psychoanalysis a deeply Jewish form of healing. He himself called it the speaking cure, but it is in fact a listening cure. Almost all effective forms of psychotherapy involve deep listening. Is there enough listening in the Jewish world today? Do we, in marriage, really listen to our spouses? Do we as parents truly listen to our children? Do we, as leaders, hear the unspoken fears of those we seek to lead? Do we internalise the sense of hurt of the people who feel excluded from the The Sound of Silence 3! Bamidbar 5776

8 community? Can we really claim to be listening to the voice of God if we fail to listen to the voices of our fellow humans? In his poem, In memory of W B Yeats, W H Auden wrote: In the deserts of the heart Let the healing fountain start. From time to time we need to step back from the noise and hubbub of the social world and create in our hearts the stillness of the desert where, within the silence, we can hear the kol demamah dakah, the still, Within the silence, we can hear small voice of God, telling us we are loved, we are heard, the still, small voice of God, telling we are embraced by God s everlasting arms, we are not us we are loved, we are heard, we alone. are embraced by God s everlasting arms, we are not alone. Our greatest gift was the Torah, our constitution of liberty under the sovereignty of God, our marriage contract with Heaven itself, written in letters of black fire on white fire, joining the infinity of God and the finitude of humankind in an unbreakable bond of law and love, the scroll Jews carried wherever they went, and that carried them. This is the Torah: the voice of heaven as it is heard on earth, the word that lights the world. Chag sameach! The Sound of Silence 4! Bamidbar 5776