We celebrated the joyous holiday of Purim with two great community celebrations!
The joy and community spirit was felt throughout as adults joined for a festive Purim Gala on the Roof, "Fiddler on the Roof style" with a gourmet dinner, Megillah reading, live music and dancing.
The Family Purim under the Sea Celebration was an ocean themed Purim party including Megillah reading, Mishloach Manot, Tzedakah, live music and costume masquerade and delicious Purim dinner!
Thank you all for joining, participating and celebrating this joyous holiday together! Pictures coming soon!
SYNAGOGUE SERVICES
While our synagogue remains open to our community for daily and Shabbos services, we remind you to please stay home if your not well, have any kind of cold or flu symptoms, or are elderly.
In addition, there will be no Shabbos childrens program, please keep children home.
Please also understand that while we are usually open and welcoming to all, we are now only open to our regular community, not to all who wish to come. If your synagogue is closed, please follow the guidlines set forth by your community leaders. Click here for previous email on Covid-19.
SHABBOS TIMES
Friday, March 13 Candle Lighting 6:44pm
Evening Service Mincha 6:45pm
Saturday, March 14
Morning Service 9:30am
Kiddush Brunch 12:00pm
Evening Service Mincha 6:45pm
Shabbos Ends 7:43pm
Kiddush Sponsor: This week's Kiddush is sponsored by
Mr. Leonid Khaytman
in honor of the yahrtzeit of
Binyamin ben David
May his memory be a blessing Kiddush will be served in individual portions, this will allow people to keep the needed physical distance from each other.
Due to the current health situation and recommendations to restrict large gatherings, we have postponed the Jteen Shabbat 100 event for the meantime.
Hopefully things improve soon and we will then determine a follow up date for this great event!
ONGOING PROGRAMS
WEEKLY TEEN TALKS
Thursday evenings 7:30pm-8:30pm Suspended until further notice
A warm environment for our community of teens.
Hang out, and get connected with other Jewish teens in the area for casual, social meet and discussions.
MITZVAH VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
Fridays from 4pm-5pm
Geared for boys and girls ages 11-13, MVP is for volunteering and Mitzvah madness!
MVP's meet at the Maple Glen Center in Fair Lawn, for a Pre-Shabbat program with the senior residents. Canceled for the meantime, Center does not allow outside visitors due to fear of virus.
MOMS AND TOTS SHABBAT
Saturday mornings 11am-12pm Suspended until further notice
Discover, learn and explore with Shabbat songs, drama and kiddie play area. Bond with your little one, while connecting with other Moms in the area!
A BISSELE HUMOR
It was David Rothenstein’s first day as a medical resident in the labour and delivery clinic at Mount Sinai hospital. As was their practice for first day residents, Rothenstein got the honor of making the happy announcement to loved ones in the waiting room.
First, Rothenstein walked up to a man in the waiting room and said, "Congratulations sir, you're the new father of twins!" The man replied, "How about that! I used to work for the Minnesota Twins baseball team."
About an hour later, Rothenstein entered the waiting room and announced that Mrs. Smith had just had triplets. Mr. Smith stood up and said, "Well, how do ya like that, I work for 3M!"
When Rothenstein appeared next, he told the third man that his wife had given birth to quadruplets. "That's amazing! I work for the Four Seasons Hotel!"
At this point the gentleman sitting in the corner fainted. Rothenstein attended to him and when he came to he said, “Sir, are you OK? What happened?”
“I’m an animator for Disney,” said the man.
“So?” asked Rothenstein.
“We’re working on a remake of 101 Dalmatians."
WEEKLY eTORAH
It's too late. I'm too far gone. It'll never be the same. How many times have we heard those words? Or, worse still, said them?
This week's Parshah tells the story of the Golden Calf, the worst national sin in the history of the Jewish people. Frankly, if I were the editor of the Bible I'd have left that part out. How humiliating to the Jews! Just weeks after the greatest revelation of all time, when they saw and heard G‑d up front and personal, they go and bow down to a cow?! How fickle can you get? But the Torah is unflinchingly honest and records this most unflattering moment of ours in all its gory detail.
Why?
Perhaps the very important lessons we need to draw from this embarrassing episode are, firstly, that people do sin, human beings do make mistakes, and even inspired Jews who saw the divine with their own eyes can mess up — badly. And, secondly, that even afterwards there is still hope, no matter what.
In the very same Parshah we read how G‑d tells Moses to carve a second set of tablets, to replace the first set he smashed when he came down the mountain and was shocked by what the Jews were up to. The Torah does not intend to diminish our respect for that generation, but rather to help us understand human frailty, our moral weakness and the reality of relationships, spiritual or otherwise.
G‑d gave us a perfect Torah. The tablets were hand-made by G‑d, pure and sacred, and then we messed up. So is it all over? Is there really no hope now? Are we beyond redemption? After all, what could possibly be worse than idolatry? We broke the first two commandments and the tablets were shattered into smithereens because we were no longer worthy to have them. It was the ultimate infidelity.
So Torah teaches that all is not lost. As bad as it was — and it was bad — it is possible for man to repair the damage. Moses will make new tablets. They won't be quite the same as G‑d's, but there will be Tablets nonetheless. We can pick up the pieces.
I once heard a colleague speak about the significance of breaking the glass under the chupah (wedding canopy). Besides never forgetting Jerusalem and praying for her full restoration, this ceremony teaches a very important lesson about life to a bride and groom who are about to embark on their own new path in life. What happens immediately after the groom breaks the glass? Everyone shouts "Mazel Tov!" The message is clear. Something broke? Nu, it's not the end of the world. We can even laugh about it and still be happy. Nisht geferlich. Lo nora. This too shall pass. A very practical, peace-keeping tip for the new couple.
There are most definitely second chances in life. It is possible to pick up the pieces in life. Whether it's our relationships with G‑d, our marriage partners, our kids or our colleagues, we can make amends and repair the damage.
If the Jews could recover from the Golden Calf, our own challenges are small indeed.
