Our daily and Shabbat services at Synagogue continue successfully Thank G-d.
A outdoor Kiddush brunch was enjoyed by all last Shabbos. We have a Kiddush sponsored as well this Shabbos, which we will enjoy outdoors. If you are comfortable enough, please join us!
We are preparing to open our Shabbat kids program again shortly and welcome back families that have not been to synagogue since March.
Of course doing all this safely and with proper indoor guidelines of wearing masks when not able to social distance.
The community calendar for the Jewish new year is undergoing final preparations for print, and we are publishing a High Holiday English and Russian edition of Exodus magazine. Both the calendar and the magazine will be mailed free to every home in our community.
We hope the calendar and the magazine will enhance your experience of the Holidays and Jewish life.
With so many new families moving into the area we are happy to announce a brand new project that will welcome new families to our community.
Please spread the word to your friends and new neighbors!
As in person Synagogue services continue safely and successfully, with more people beginning to join, we will continue to offer our online services for those who are still not able join in person.
Supporting our community
As we open Synagogue, we continue to provide online resources for you, and for those who are not ready to join Synagogue just yet.
Hebrew School registration is now open for the 2020-2021 year! Options are available for full in-person classes or virtual online classes which will have a dedicated fully present teacher fully engaging children just like in persson classes.
Our Hebrew school offers engaging and interactive lessons, dedicated and energetic teachers, and individualized learning where children grow and flourish in Jewish life!
Join us for a delightful Mother and Daughter outdoor evening making your own traditional round challahs in honor of the High Holidays.
Reserve your table with family and friends. All supplies will be individually packed and ready for you.
This year's Challah bake will be outdoors under our huge tent.
Three Jewish mothers are sitting on a bench, arguing over which one’s son loves her the most. The first one says, “You know, my son sends me flowers every Shabbos.”
“You call that love?” says the second mother. “My son calls me every day!”
“That’s nothing,” says the third woman. “My son is in therapy five days a week. And the whole time, he talks about me!”
WEEKLY eTORAH
What makes a hero?
In this week’s Parshah, the Torah discusses the laws of war and some of the moral imperatives that apply even under fire. Specifically, we read of the exemptions that entitled a soldier to leave the battlefront. One of these was “the man who is fearful and fainthearted.” The Torah rules that “he should go and return to his home” and join the civil service, lest his cowardice “melt the hearts” of his comrades in arms and demoralize them (Deuteronomy 20:8).
Interestingly, Maimonides rules that this exemption applied only to wars which were optional for political or territorial reasons (milchemet ha-reshut), but not to obligatory wars where the Torah itself mandates that we go to battle (milchemet mitzvah), such as a war of self-defense or the wars to conquer the Promised Land.
But what is the logic here? Why the distinction? If the problem is that the coward’s fear will have a negative effect on his fellow combatants, then that is a psychological fact of life. What difference does it make if the war is mandated by G‑d or by the Jewish leadership of the day? Surely a coward is a coward, whatever the war!
But Maimonides is sharing with us a striking analysis of human nature. Fear and anxiety are magnified when there is more than one option open to us. When we have the choice of fighting or not, when war is not strictly commanded by G‑d and it’s a government decision, then I may very well choose to retreat. But when there is no choice, when it is a non-negotiable mitzvah from G‑d that this war be fought, then even cowards become heroes.
I am fond of quoting that famous American philosopher John Wayne, who once said, “True courage is not the absence of fear. True courage is being scared like hell and saddling up anyway.” Now that’s a wise cowboy. The fearless few who heedlessly plunge into every offered challenge are indeed strange exceptions to our race. Most normal people experience fear in scary situations. Those of good courage face up to the fear and confront it.
I can tell you many stories of ordinary people who became heroes. How? By overcoming their fears and doing whatever deed had to be done.
It applies to life, to marriage, to business, to everything. If something is so important to us that to lose it would be unthinkable, we discover that we really can find a way after all. In our Jewish lives, too, when we accept that a particular mitzvah is a sacred principle and inviolate, we will observe it no matter what the challenge.
So, cowards of the world, unite! Let us do what we know must be done. That’s how ordinary people become heroes.
