On this anniversary of 9/11 let us not forget. Let us increase the light and goodness in the world, overcome the dark and evil and merit the coming of Moshiach now!
Shabbat candle lighting tonight at: 6:53pm
Yesterday was our first MVP for our pre-teens, they made honey cakes and prepared Rosh Hashanah packages to give out to seniors living at home.
This Sunday we begin in person and online Hebrew School, as well as the new Bar and Bat Mitzvah clubs. Register for the clubs now to join for this Sunday.
We hope you already received your community calendar in the mail, if not, you should receive it early next week.
Your High Holiday edition of Exodus Magazine is also in the mail and you will receive it in time for entertaining and educational Holiday reading.
We are looking forward to seeing you soon for Rosh Hashanah at outdoor services in the tent we have rented especially for your safety and comfort. See more information and reserve a seat below.
It will be extra special to see each other this year, when we join together as a community for the New Year, safely, happily and in good health.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman
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 person 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.
We are excited to annouce some awesome new programs for kids and preteens!
Click below for more details.
Kids Holiday Library
Wednesday, September 16 4pm-5pm
Join for a live puppet show, book reading and craft learning about Rosh Hashanah in an exciting and interactive way.
Spend quality time with your child, as they have fun experiencing the holiday, while meeting and interacting with other moms.
Geared for children ages 2-5
Old Morris Weisenstein had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed old Morris to hear 100%.
Morris went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, "Mr. Weisenstein, your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again."
To which Morris said, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. So far I've changed my will three times!"
WEEKLY eTORAH
Our lives as individuals often display two quite different features. One is dynamism, movement, progress, discovery and change. The second feature, seemingly the opposite, yet also very important, is the attempt to strengthen one's position, to consolidate, to attempt to be secure and firm, immoveable. The combination of these two contrasting qualities creates a healthy dynamic. One moves forward and grows - but not at the expense of what one has already gained. There is the thrust towards expansion and also a concern for consolidation.
These two qualities are expressed by the names of the double Torah portion which is read this Shabbat, the Shabbat before the New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The first Torah portion is called Nitzavim, which means in Hebrew "standing firm." In its opening words, Moses tells the Jewish people "you are all standing firm here today." The second Torah portion is called Vayelech, which means "he went," referring to Moses: "Moses went and said these words to the Jewish people."
While there are many fascinating ideas and teachings within these two Torah portions, something important is transmitted just by their very names: standing firm and moving forward. This provides guidance as to how we should live our lives, and has particular relevance on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.
While the double theme of consolidation and advance can be applied to the business world and many other aspects of human endeavor, it also has special relevance for the spiritual life of a Jewish man or woman. Let us consider this in terms of the three general realms of Jewish expression: Torah study, Prayer and good deeds:
Torah study combines both a fixed, firm dimension, and also an inner dynamic. There is the fixed text of the Torah Scroll and the other books of the Bible, the Written Torah. Yet this is discussed and explored by seemingly endless books of teachings and commentaries by great Sages, who in every epoch provide guidance relevant to the challenges of that particular time. So, on the one hand Torah is constant, on the other it is growing.
Prayer, too, has a "fixed" quality and also a personal dynamic. The fixed prayer is the text in the prayerbook. Many parts of it are exactly the same every day of the year, whether an ordinary weekday or Yom Kippur. Then come special prayers, unique to certain days. Even more so, there is the individual and personal way in which a man or woman may approach the printed text, with their own unique feeling.
Finally in the realm of the precepts of Judaism (the Mitzvot), there is the fixed structure of the ideal Jewish lifestyle. And there is also the personal way in which any individual approaches this, taking certain points on board in their daily lives, emphasizing some details more than others, gradually increasing in observance and at the same time consolidating what one has already achieved.
