Welcome to the DAT Minyan! Shabbat Beshalach January 27, Shevat 5778 Joseph Friedman, Rabbi David Fishman, President

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1 Welcome to the DAT Minyan! Shabbat Beshalach January 27, Shevat 5778 Joseph Friedman, Rabbi David Fishman, President Candle Lighting Havdalah 4:54 pm 5:56 pm Shabbat Schedule Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. FRIDAY 4:55 pm: Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv, (Shema should be recited after 5:55 pm) SHABBAT Parasha: Page 366 / Haftarah: Page :30 am: Hashkama Minyan 8:25 am: Daf Yomi Tefillah Warm-up with Ellyn Hutt will not meet this week but will return next week 9:00 am: Shacharit Kiddush this Shabbat honors the memory of Rabbi Israel Rosenfeld on his yahrzeit, and is sponsored through the generosity of many wonderful community members who are listed on Page 3 3:30 pm: HS Boys Gemara w/ Nathan Rabinovitch at the Rabinovitch home 4:45 pm: Mincha, followed by Seudah Shlisheet Seudah Shlisheet is sponsored by the shul 5:05 pm: Shabbat Mishna w/ Howie Shapiro 5:56 pm: Maariv / Havdalah 6:40 pm: Mish Mosh Weekday Schedule SHACHARIT Sunday: 8:00 am Monday Friday: 6:35 am MINCHA/MAARIV Sunday Thursday 5:00 pm Friday 5:05 pm D var Torah with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks At the end of his new book, Tribe of Mentors, Timothy Ferris cites the following poem by Portia Nelson. It s called Autobiography in Five Short Chapters : Chapter 1: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost I am helpless. It isn t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. Chapter 2: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don t see it. I fall in again. I can t believe I am in this same place. But it isn t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out. Chapter 3: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in It s a habit But, my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately. Chapter 4: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. Chapter 5: I walk down another street. That is probably how life is like for many of us. It certainly was for me. We set off, confident that we know where we are going, only to find that it is rarely that simple. Life, said John Lennon, is what happens while we are making other plans. We fall into holes. We make mistakes. Then we make them again. Eventually we avoid them, but by then we may have the growing suspicion that we took the wrong turning to begin with. If we are lucky, we find another road. Hence the opening of this week s parsha: When Pharaoh let the people leave, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby, for God said, Lest the people change their minds when they encounter war and return to Egypt. So God brought the people by a roundabout route by way of the desert to the Red Sea (Ex. 13:17-18). This is actually quite a difficult text to understand. In and of itself it makes eminent sense. God did not want the people immediately to face battle with the seven nations in the land of Canaan since, as newly liberated slaves, they were psychologically unprepared for war. We now know also that there was an additional factor. There were Egyptian forts at various points along the sea route to Canaan, so the Israelites Learning the DAT Minyan Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: Daily, after Shacharit Daf Yomi Shiur: Sun Fri after Shacharit for 30 minutes and 8:25 am on Shabbat Halacha Chaburah: Sun, 10:00 am 11:00 am, and Thu, 8:00 pm 9:00 pm Mishnayot: Daily, between Mincha and Maariv Wednesday Evening Jewish History Class: 7:30 pm, next class topic, The Pale of Settlement (Continued on Page 5) (Continued on page 5) DAT Minyan is a dynamic and friendly Modern Orthodox synagogue for all ages and dedicated to meaningful personal spiritual development, community growth, youth involvement, Torah education, and Religious Zionism. DAT Minyan E. Alameda Ave. Denver, CO

2 DAT MINYAN NEWS, EVENTS AND LEARNING Welcome to new members Moira Saltz and her children Ava and Jonah Siegel! We are so glad to have you with us! Our thanks to Alex and Hanah Polotsky for their generous sponsorship of today s NCSY and DAT Teen Minyan kiddush. Join us each Wednesday evening, 7:30 pm at DAT for Jewish History with Rabbi Friedman. And, you can always catch any class you miss by visiting the audio page section on the homepage of our website, or going directly to This coming week s topic, The Pale of Settlement. Starting this Thursday night, Thursday Night Halacha Chaburah from 8-9 pm (this is a REPEAT of what is offered on Sunday morning, not a continuation). For more information, please speak to either Rabbi Friedman or Dr. Rachel Rabinovich. The Denver Academy of Torah marks its 25th Anniversary with the Annual Dinner, Sunday, January 28th, 6:15 pm at BMH-BJ, 560 S. Monaco Pkwy. Please join with the DAT Minyan in attending this milestone event and supporting the DAT School with a donation. Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, the DAT Minyan will match donations up to $10,000. Registration at The Women's Book Club returns! We will be reading Ilana Kurshan's Memoir "If All the Seas Were Ink." This book creatively intertwines the author's passion for Daf Yomi study with insights into her daily life. Come join us on Shabbat afternoon, February 24th, 4:15 pm at DAT, for a lively discussion. AIPAC 2018 takes place in Washington, D.C. March 4th through 6th. The DAT Minyan has a block of 20 reserved spots at the AIPAC discounted rate of $ per person and we are now accepting registrations. To register online, please go to or contact the shul office for additional information. Make plans now to attend the DAT Minyan/BMH-BJ Purim Seduah at BMH-BJ, Thursday, March 1st, 4:30 pm. Register online at Table sponsorships are available. And, Monday, March 19th, it s our Annual Event honoring Rachel and Nathan Rabinovitch at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Join us for a fabulous evening, featuring a delicious dinner reception and amazing private tour of the Dead Sea Scrolls, with special tributes to our honorees throughout the night. Look for your invitations to arrive soon. All able Torah leiners are encouraged to sign-up to lein one or more aliyot for any upcoming Shabbos. The sign-up website, lists all the open slots through Purim in need of your ability to help us carry out this central segment of the Shabbos morning service. Sign-up takes about 15 seconds, and can be done weeks in advance, giving you plenty of time to prepare. We have also made advance sign-up easy (via the same website) for those interested in participating by chanting a Haftorah, again allowing plenty of time for those who'd like time to brush-up on a Haftorah previously chanted, or to learn one they've not done yet. Please contact Steve Hutt with questions or for more information. Please check the lost and found every month to see if any of your lost belongings are there. It is located right near the main entrance doors. The school donates all remaining items at the end of each month. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS The Women s Division of the Denver Community Kollel presents an inspiring video for women featuring Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi. The video, Planting the Seeds, will take place at the Halpern home, 210 S. Oneida St., on Tuesday, January 30th. Doors open at 7:45 pm, program at 8:00. Sponsored by Kathy Kaufman in honor of the birth of her first granddaughter, Devorah Kaufman, to the proud parents Adam and Shaindy. $5 suggested donation to help cover costs of future presentations. Merkaz presents Shovavim Class for men by Rabbi Tzvi Steinberg on January 30th, at 9:15 pm, at Merkaz. Join Merkaz on Sunday, February 4th for a Day at the Slopes at WINTER PARK RESORT. Ages 7-17: $49, ages 18 and up: $89. Cost includes Skis, Helmet, lift ticket, transportation, and lunch. Previous skiing experience required. RSVP no later than Monday, January 22nd at Questions: info@merkaztorah.org. The Jewish Experience invites the community to its annual Wine & Cheese Gala, An Evening in Black & White 2, celebrating Rabbi Ahron Y. Wasserman's 18th year of visionary leadership. Saturday evening, February 3 at 8:00 pm at The Studios at Overland Crossing. RSVP at TheJE.com/WC2018 or call Merkaz proudly presents a four-part series for women titled, Taking Your Marriage From Good to Great, by Mrs. Rochel Goldbaum. Tuesdays, Feb. 6,13,20 &27. Classes takes place at Merkaz, at 7:30 PM. Preregistration required. $25 for the series. Register by ing info@merkaztorah.org. EDOS will hold its 55th Annual Event on Sunday Evening, February 11th, at 7:00 pm. The theme is An Evening Of Celebration & Honoring Of Those Who Disseminate Torah. The event includes a concert by musical sensation Yehuda Green, and delicious, Torah-themed food! As a special bonus, EDOS hosts a Shabbaton preceding the event on February 9th & 10th, Shabbos Shekalim & Shabbos Mevarchim for Chodesh Adar, with Davening throughout Shabbos, an Oneg, and Havdalah led by Yehuda Green. For more information, please visit The Women s Division of the Denver Community Kollel will be holding its 6th annual Winter Gardens Women s Night Out-Women s Wellness Workshop on Monday, February 12th, 6:30 pm at Cableland, 4150 Shangri-La Drive. Noted speaker Esther Wein will deliver the keynote address. Discover, taste & learn! Cost is $54. To reserve or for more info, visit denverkollel.org, info@denverkollel.org, visit or call Tomchei Shabbat is once again providing Purim letters to honor your friends and family. Beautiful full color 2018 Mishloach Manot Purim letters are available. 25 cards with envelopes are only $ An electronic version of the Purim Card is also available. 25 e-cards for $ Tomchei Shabbat will provide you with a beautiful PDF Purim Card, personalized with your own custom greeting and name that you will be able to to your friends and family! To order either version online, visit purimcards.org. Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service.

3 DAT MINYAN NEWS, EVENTS AND LEARNING Meet our Newest DAT Minyan Family We are delighted to welcome Moira Saltz and her children Ava and Jonah Siegel as members of the DAT Minyan. A native of Monsey, New York, Moira has been in Denver since 1998, and has been living in the Tech Center area since then. Her children, 14-year-old Ava, and soon-to-be a Bar Mitzvah Jonah, attended DAT from Kindergarten through the 6 th grade, still practicing and remembering many lessons and meaningful experiences they had there. Currently, they attend Campus Middle School and Cherry Creek HS. Ava is on the Tennis team, active in BBYO, and volunteers with Chabad s Friendship Circle. Jonah also volunteers with the Friendship Circle, and his favorite hobby is sports; watching them, playing them, analyzing them, and talking about them every chance he gets! Moira had been in advertising for many years before she began writing children s books. The family is appreciative for the warm welcome to the DAT Minyan, and looking forward to meeting and getting know more of the community. And, we are looking forward to celebrating Jonah s Bar Mitzvah with them on March 24th! Our thanks to the following persons who have generously sponsored the kiddush this Shabbat in memory of Rabbi Israel Rosenfeld: Rob Allen Marc and Melanie Avner Marc and Claudia Braunstein Mark Brooks and Terry Samuel David and Shira Fishman Dorit and Aryeh Fischer Phillip and Iris Freedman Rabbi Joseph and Melissa Friedman Scott and Devorah Friedman Rivka Gross Steve and Ellyn Hutt Rabbi Aver and Chava Jacobs Andrew and Rana Kark Marvin and Vera Kark George and Oksana Khavasov Naomi and Dovid Lev Julie Lieber and Eric Shafran Mervyn and Ann Lifschitz Philip and Janet Lightstone Bara and Chaim Loewenthal Evan and Evi Makovsky Noah and Arinn Makovsky Joseph & Naomi Miriam Miller Seth and Chaya Parkoff Hadassa and Elan Penn Lisa and Jonathan Perlmutter Keith Pritchard and Laura Abramson-Pritchard Rachel and Nathan Rabinovitch David and Erica Rosenfeld Craig and Karen Schottenstein Aaron Segall and Cheryl Miller Mor and Howie Shapiro Susie and Joshua Sharf Mikey and Ariella Sunshine Dov Thorner and Rachel Boim-Thorner Matt Winne Joe Wolf Leib and Yona Zalesch Glenn and Corina Zazulia Our apologies for the omission of the names any sponsors whose donations we may have received after the Newsletter was printed. Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service.

4 DAT MINYAN MEMBER MILESTONES The DAT Minyan wishes to acknowledge the following milestones* of our members in the coming week: Batya Estreicher, Ethyn Feldman, Aria Fine, Ilan Fine, Sarah Geiger, Tuvia Gordon-Bennett, Ayelet Lev, Jennifer Lewiston, Evan Makovsky Brent and Jolie Eisen 16 years Nathan Lustig Sun., 1/28/18 (12 Shevat) Felix Freiheiter Sat., 2/3/18 (18 Shevat) Mel Cohen Fri., 2/2/18 (17 Shevat) *These details were obtained from the DAT Minyan database, which contains information provided by the members when they joined. We apologize for any omissions or mistakes. For corrections or additions, please log on to your account and update the information, or contact the synagogue office at This Day In Jewish History - Jan 27 / 11 Shevat 11 Shevat, 1510 With only two Jewish families permitted there, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian 1 grants the request of the Swiss Confederates to expel all Jews from Colmar in the Alsace region of northern France. Despite efforts by the community to repeal the decree, it was eventually put into action in 1512, and no Jew ever set foot there until The Jewish community there eventually returned, and it is estimated there are some 17-thousand Jews living in Alsace now. 11 Shevat, 1838 Rabbi Israel Meir HaCohen Kagan, commonly known as the Chafetz Chaim, is born in Zhetel, Poland. he was taught untill age 10 by his parents and then moved to Vilna to further his Jewish studies. Refusing the pulpit rabbinate, the Chafetz Chaim settled in Radin (Poland) and spent his days learning Torah and disseminating his knowledge to the common people. As his reputation grew, students from all over Europe flocked to him and by 1869 his house became known as the Radin Yeshiva. In addition to his Yeshiva, the Chafetz Chaim was very active in Jewish causes. He died in 1933 at the age of 94. January 27, 1945 Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in Poland, freeing about 7-thousand ill and dying prisoners. To commemorate this event, the United Nations declared January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January 27, 1969 Iraqi authorities hang 9 alleged Jewish spies in a public execution in Baghdad. Refuah Shelayma Please include the following names in your prayers. May each be granted a Refuah Shelayma. Names are kept on the list until the next Rosh Chodesh. Help us keep the list accurate by verifying the necessary details each month on the Cholim Document at Baruch Getzel ha Cohen ben Esther Leah bat Sarah Borukh ben Eydya Lyudmila bat Roza Chaim Shmuel ben Miriam Moshe Hersh ben Pearl Chaya Talia bat Shayna Leah Reuven Yehoshua ben Nechama Doniel ben Chana Sara bat Yocheved Eliyahu Chaim ha Cohen ben Sara Rifka Yael Meira bas Yisraela Eliyahu Dovid ben Ita Sheiva Yisroel ben Chana Pesel Eunice bat Sarah Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service.

5 YOUTH ANNOUNCEMENTS Join us for Shabbat Mishna Class Geared for parent and child learning- 5th grade and up. Open to all who'd like to attend. Where: DAT Kindergarten room. When: Shabbat afternoon between Mincha and Maariv. Details: We will explore how to dissect a Mishna and explore the text analytically. Ideal for pre-gemarah prep. No previous background required. English and Hebrew text will be provided. Junior Congregation starts this Shabbat, January 27th for grades 1 3, and 4 6. Join us for davening, friends, a raffle, prizes and fun! NCSY and DAT Teen Minyan Shabbat, today (1/27) at 9:30 am Kiddush following davening SAVE-THE-DATE Join us February 10th for Family Shacharit! More information to follow soon Rabbi Sacks (Continued from page 1) would come up against them even before reaching the land. Three facts, though, still need to be reckoned with. First, the Torah itself says that God hardened Pharaoh s heart (Ex. 14:4), leading him to pursue the Israelites with a force of six hundred chariots. This so demoralised the Israelites that they cried, Were there not there are enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? It would have been better to be slaves in Egypt than to die in the desert (Ex. 14:11-12). Why did God cause Pharaoh to pursue the Israelites if He did not want them to think of going back? He should surely have made the first stage of their journey as undemanding as possible. Second, the people did face war long before they came anywhere near the land of Canaan. They did so almost immediately after crossing the Red Sea, when they were attacked by the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8). The strange fact is that when they had to fight a battle on their own, without any miraculous intervention from God, they expressed no fear. Inspired by Moses upraised arms, they fought and won (Ex. 17:10-13). Third, the roundabout route failed to prevent the people s response to the report of the spies. Terrified by their account of the strength of the native population and the well-fortified nature of their cities, they said, Let us appoint a (new) leader and return to Egypt (Num. 14:4). It seems, therefore, that the circuitous route by which God led the Israelites was not to prevent their wanting to return, but rather, to prevent their being able to return. Leading them miraculously through the Red Sea was like Caesar crossing the Rubicon, or Cortes burning his boats before his conquest of the Aztecs. It made retreat impossible. Whatever their doubts and fears, the Israelites had no real choice. They had to continue onward, even if in the end it took forty years and a new generation to reach their destination. What this meant was that almost from the dawn of their history as a nation, Jews were forced to learn that lasting achievement takes time. You can never get there by the shortest road. Thanks to the work of Anders Ericsson, popularised by Malcolm Gladwell, we know that greatness in many fields takes 10,000 hours of practice.[1] The history of all too many nations born after the Second World War and the end of empire, shows that you can t create a democracy by United Nations decree, or freedom by a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. People who try to get rich fast often discover that their wealth is like Jonah s gourd: it appears overnight and disappears the next day. When you try to take a shortcut, you find yourself, like the poet, falling into a hole. The Talmud tells the story of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hanania who asked a young man sitting at a crossroad, Which is the way to the town? The young man pointed to one of the paths and said, This way is short but long. The other way is long but short. Yehoshua ben Hanania set out on the first path, quickly arrived at the town, but found his way blocked by gardens and orchards. He then returned to the young man and said, Didn t you tell me that this path was short? I did, said the young man, but I also warned you that it was long. [2] Better to take the long road that eventually gets you to your destination than the short one that doesn t even though it looks as if it does. Today s world is full of books, videos and programmes promising a fast-track to almost anything from weight loss to riches to success and fame. The life-changing idea symbolised by the route God led the Israelites on when they left Egypt is that there are no fast tracks. The long way is short; the short way is long. Better by far to know at the outset that the road is long, the work is hard, and there will be many setbacks and false turnings. You will need grit, resilience, stamina and persistence. In place of a pillar of cloud leading the way, you will need the advice of mentors and the encouragement of friends. But the journey is exhilarating, and there is no other way. The harder it gets, the stronger you become. Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service.

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