כי תשא - פ פרה KI TISSA - PARSHAT PARAH THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK SOCIAL & PERSONAL MAZEL TOV 18 TH MARCH TH ADAR Dayan Ivan Binstock

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1 SOCIAL & PERSONAL MAZEL TOV Mazel tov to Or and Jamie Diner on the birth of a baby boy. Mazel tov to big brother Benno, grandparents Anthony and Marion Diner and Smadar Grossman and great grandmother Esme Diner Mazel tov to Henry Goldsmith on the occasion of his Barmitzvah in the Saatchi Synagogue. Mazel tov to parents Hanna and Philip Goldsmith, brothers William, Jonah and Seth, grandparents David and Judy Goldsmith, Donna Hirsh and Stan Freedman and Mark Geller Mazel tov to Mrs Joan Freedman on the birth of a great-grandson, grandson to Jeremy and Gill Freedman Mazel tov to Mike and Jess Egerton on the birth of a baby girl. Mazel tov to grandparents Barry and Rita Tucker and great-grandmother Shirley Tucker CONSECRATIONS 19/03/2017 Late Neil Ivor Angel am Bushey Cemetery 23/03/2017 Late Elena Lederman noon Bushey Cemetery 02/04/2017 Late Carol Beagelman noon Bushey Cemetery 02/04/2017 Late Martha Clayton 1.00 pm Bushey Cemetery 03/04/2017 Late Jeremy Barnett am Bushey Cemetery 23/04/2017 Late Pauline Osoff 5.00 pm Bushey Cemetery THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK HEAVY LIFTING Some years ago, I arrived at an apartment building in Israel to visit a friend. At the same time, a van arrived and the driver proceeded to unload a fridge which was to be delivered to a resident on the third floor. I stood, aghast, wondering how the driver, a middle-aged Russian oleh, who was not much more than five feet tall, was going to get the fridge up all those stairs in an apartment block without a lift! Could I offer to help? Should I? I would probably do my back in! Before I had a chance to say anything the driver had removed a harness from his cab, and expertly tied it around the fridge and then hauled it on to his back and proceeded to climb the stairs with the fridge on his back! In his comment on the phrase ol hamitzvot the yoke of the commandments Rav Hirsch (19th century Germany) explains that we tend to think of a yoke as a heavy burden on our shoulders. In fact, it is a light length of wood which helps us carry heavy burdens, much heavier in fact than we could carry without it. Understood in this way, we can see that our heritage, our Jewish tradition, far from being a heavy burden to bear, in fact helps us to bear much larger burdens. For example, many people have said that the process of a shiva has helped them cope with a bereavement in a way that would have been unthinkable otherwise. The source of this idea is a Midrash on this week s portion. When Moses came down the mountain carrying the two tablets of stone he saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. As Moses approached the camp, the letters miraculously flew off the stones leaving Moses carrying blank hunks that suddenly became too heavy to bear and he smashed them to the ground. (Midrash Tanchuma) The Midrash is teaching us that it was the words of the commandments, engraved on the stone, that made it possible for Moses to carry the much heavier weight of the tablets. The ongoing existence of the Jewish people, despite the centuries of persecution bears out the truth of this message. Shabbat shalom. Dayan Ivan Binstock 18 TH MARCH TH ADAR 5777 כי תשא - פ פרה KI TISSA - PARSHAT PARAH HERTZ 352/652/999 STONE 484/838/1216 Cantor Avraham Kirshenbaum will lead the services together with the Neimah Singers under the direction of Jonathan Weissbart Jeremy Davidson will lein Daniel Goldwater will read the haftarah Rabbi Yoni Golker will deliver the sermon Alex Toledano will sing anim zemirot Dayan Binstock will speak over seudah shlishit Dayan Binstock will speak over seudat shlishit on the subject: Why Charoset? This week Shabbat begins 5.54 pm. Mincha & Kabbalat Shabbat 6.00 pm. Shabbat ends 6.57 pm. Next Shabbat begins 6.06 pm. Service Times Shacharit Mincha Ma ariv Shabbat 9.00 am 5.45 pm 6.57 pm Sunday 8.30 am 5.45 pm Follows Mincha Monday 7.15 am 1.30 pm 7.30 pm Tuesday 7.25 am 1.30 pm 7.30 pm Wednesday 7.25 am 1.30 pm 7.30 pm Thursday 7.15 am 1.30 pm 7.30 pm Friday 7.25 am 6.15 pm Follows Mincha Next Shabbat 9.15 am 6.00 pm 7.09 pm Philip and Hanna Goldsmith invite the St John s Wood and Saatchi congregations to Kiddush in the Moritz Gertler Hall after the service to celebrate Henry s Barmitzvah PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS LEAFLET FROM THE SHUL ON SHABBAT AS THERE IS NOT YET AN ERUV! For information on our eruv planning application please contact info@sjweruv.com

2 ST JOHN S WOOD SYNAGOGUE LADIES GUILD 37/41 Grove End Road, NW8 9NG IMPROVE YOUR BRIDGE A series of 4 lessons on Monday mornings 10.15am to 12.15pm The course covers: Week Two s Defence Slams Doubles and Redoubles Dates: Mondays, 8 th, 15 th and 22 nd May and 5 th June 2017 DONATION: 55 for Synagogue members 60 for non-members There are only 16 places available, therefore if you are interested please send your donation as soon as possible to Gillian Burr REGULAR EVENTS THEATRE CLUB Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Garrick Theatre. Tues 7 Nov. 7.30pm Details from Richard Mernane or richard.mernane@icloud.com BRIDGE CLUB Duplicate Bridge, Mondays from 1.00 to 4.00pm. Donation 8 a session including tea. Director: Mike Eden. Contact: Gillian Burr on BOOK CLUB. Thursday 23 rd March The Dark Circle by Linda Grant Home of Martin & Gwen Levison at 8.30pm For details contact Valerie Garston on KEEP FIT FOR WOMEN - WEEKDAYS with Stevie Sillers on LADIES GUILD 29 th March - Visit to Amazon Fulfilment Centre SOLD OUT 4 th April - Visit to Stories in Stitch at the Royal School of Needlework at am. Private Talk. Members 22, guests th April - Visit to The Goldsmith s Company at the London Assay Office at am. Private Talk. Members 25, guests th May - Visit to Boughton House in Kettering, Northamptonshire. A coach will be leaving from the Synagogue at 9.30am to arrive at am. Private Talk. Members 48, guests th May - Visit to Diana: Her Fashion Story at the Kensington Palace at 2.00pm. Members 15.50, guests 18 7 th June - Visit to Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion at the V&A Museum at 2.00pm. Private Talk. Members 28, guests th June - Visit to The Fan Museum in Greenwich at 11.30am. Private Talk. Members 22.50, guests 25 Gentlemen welcome to all events Contact Gillian Burr on HEBREW CLASSES St John s Wood Synagogue Cheder Sundays 9.45am 12.45pm Contact Rabbi Ronen Broder or cheder@shulinthewood.com KINDERGARTEN St John s Wood Synagogue Kindergarten Daily, from 2 years old. Monday to Thursday 8.45am-12.15pm Friday 8.45am-12noon Contact Estelle Brown or kindergarten@shulinthewood.com BABES IN THE WOOD Every Friday at 10.00am Join us for play, coffee & our fun Shabbat table! High-energy Israeli songs with Einav, on alternative weeks. Contact Katya Dunitz at Katya.dunitz@gmail.com WEEKLY SHIURIM Talmud Shiur with Alex Grunfeld Shabbat Afternoon, one hour before mincha Tuesday Talmud Shiur with Rabbi Fine at 10.30am Wednesday Ladies Shiur with Maureen Kendler at 11.00am on 22 nd March only All welcome Contact annegodfrey75@gmail.com COMMUNAL LUNCH Tuesday 28 th March Drinks 12.30pm. Home cooked lunch 1.00pm for Synagogue members, 8.00 nonmembers. Please RSVP to Gillian Burr on or Melody Salem on HELP AVAILABLE If you are housebound and would like a visitor or a regular phone call, if you need advice or information on local services and activities or if you would like a lift to the Shul's Communal Lunches, please get in touch. Please contact Gillian or Melody.

3 PARSHA PUZZLE A Hebrew word in a key episode in the parsha is given a very different translation in Hertz and Artscroll. In one it is a cloth and the other, a graving tool. What is the word? Last week s Puzzle: Can you find any parallel between the garments of the High Priest and items we use in the synagogue today? Answer: Apart from the Ark and the Menorah, the adornments on the Sefer Torah are given names that parallel the garments of the High Proest, such as Breastplate and Rimonim. Winners: Andrew Mainz, Andrew Loftus, Lionel Kopelowitz SUPER SIDDUR SLEUTH Can you find a reference to פרה or cow (singular) in the siddur other than in the leining section? Last week s puzzle: Miracles ) (נסים are referred to in our extra prayers ( הנסים (על on Purim and on Chanukah. Can you find a daily and a monthly reference to נסים as well? העושה Answer: Daily: in Maariv after Shema NS 280; Monthly: In Rosh Chodesh לנו נסים benching, מי שעשה נסים לאבותינו NS.424 Winner: Lionel Kopelowitz QUOTATION I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. [Bible, Ezekiel, 36:26, from today s haftarah for Parashat Parah.] ON THIS DAY According to the work, Niflaot Maharal (the Wonders of the Maharal, p.14) on 20 Adar 1580, the Maharal created a Golem in order to protect the Jews of Prague from their enemies. In fact, this work is a literary hoax, authored by R Yudl Rosenberg, ( ), though the Golem has become the stuff of legends, films, and of enormous tourist interest in Prague! PARTICIPATE IN YOUR SHUL SERVICES Would you like to learn to read a Sidra or Haftarah? Please speak to Dayan Binstock or the Honorary Officers for more information. LEAVING A LEGACY TO ST JOHN S WOOD SHUL Leaving a gift in your Will to the Shul will give you profound satisfaction in knowing that your support will live on in the future. A Legacy can be a fixed sum or can be expressed as a percentage of your Estate after making provisions for your Family. Making a Legacy can be done by adding a Codicil to your existing Will and we will be happy to prepare the appropriate Codicil at no cost. If you have not made a Will we can arrange for a solicitor to assist you with the drafting. For more information please contact M a l c o l m C o l e m a n ( F i n a n c i a l Representative) or Sidney Symons. IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY Please follow the instructions of the security officer in charge. Stewards should wear yellow vests. Unless otherwise advised, the evacuation point is at the American School (entrance opposite 3-5 Loudoun Road). Children should be under the supervision of a responsible adult at all times in the building. Our defibrillator can now be found adjacent to the Shul noticeboard in the Foyer. BEREAVEMENT SERVICES Contact Susan Kosky ssperber@hotmail.co.uk or THANK YOU to the Security Team for this Shabbat.

4 FORTHCOMING EVENTS 25TH MARCH Batmitzvah Ilona Sitbon 1 APRIL Youth Takeover Shabbat Service 8TH APRIL Shabbat Hagadol 24 APRIL Barmitzvah Chase Calvert ST TH Ever wondered how to make Kiddush, Bless your children, say Kaddish, Bench etc., etc? Check out the Jewish Online Guides videos

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