Lag Ba'omer was celebrated with our community joining for an outdoor bbq dinner, games and inflatables, music, and marshmallow roasting around the fire. The children recited Torah passages, while learning about the importance of this special holiday!
Thank you to all for joining, and thank you to our incredible teen volunteers for making it an awesome celebration!
We are continuing our commitment to armed security, you can help by making a donation today.
Shabbos Times
Friday, May 24
Candle Lighting 7:58pm
Evening Service Mincha 7:30pm
Saturday, May 25
Morning Service 9:30am
Torah Reading and Sermon: 10:30am Kiddush Brunch: 12:00pm
Evening Service 8:00pm Shabbos ends: 9:05pm
Schedule of Synagogue Services May 26- May 30
Morning Service Shacharis
Sun-Fri 8:15am
Followed by breakfast
Evening Service Mincha & Maariv
Sun-Thu 8:10pm
Fair Lawn Jewish Day Camp Enroll today for the full summer and save big! Enroll your child now!
You want a paid and impacting internship this summer for your high school and college age kids? Because of the dedicated staff that join our team each summer, our camp has been one of the fastest growing Jewish camps in North Jersey since 2008. Together, we serve over 400 campers each summer, and growing!
Saturdays 11am-12pm Give your child an opportunity to explore, learn and discover with songs, story time with Russian language, and kiddie play area! Bond with your little one while connecting with other moms in our area.
Shavuos Women's Night Out
Wednesday, June 5, at 8pm
Join for a women's night out, enjoy a great evening with friends and community, creating your own beautiful flower arrangement, wine and cheese desserts, and insights about the holiday!
By Reservation only.
Hear the Ten Commandments, and enjoy a buffet of ice cream and dozens of toppings.
Fun for the entire Family!
Free admission! Come and bring your friends!
A Biselleh Humor....
Yankel replaced all the windows in his house in Chelm. He had expensive, double-insulated energy efficient windows installed.
Twelve months later Chaim Yankel gets a call from the contractor, complaining that the work has been done for a year but he hasn’t paid yet.
Chaim Yankel replies, "Now don't try to pull a fast one on me. The salesman who sold me those told me that in one year they would pay for themselves"
Weekly E- Torah
Behar begins: “G‑d spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai . . .”
There is a well-known Midrash that explains that Mount Sinai was the lowest of all the mountains, and so G‑d chose it to teach us a lesson in humility: If you want to be a vessel for the Torah, you must feel yourself to be lowly and humble.
This, however, leads to the question: If G‑d wanted to teach us a lesson in humility, why give the Torah on a mountain in the first place? Wouldn’t a valley be a better representation of humility?
The answer is that we need both: the greatness of a mountain, but the humility of Sinai.
This dichotomy is expressed beautifully in the Parshah itself.
One of the main mitzvahs featured in the Parshah is the Yovel (Jubilee). Every 50 years, the figurative reset button is pressed. All Jewish slaves are set free, and all land that was sold since the previous Yovel is automatically returned to its original owners.
What is the point behind this reset? Why did the Torah institute such a mechanism, where all transactions become undone and everything reverts back to its original status?
There are two very different and profound answers found in the works of the Rishonim(early commentators).
The Lesson in Humility
According to the Chinuch (an anonymous 13th-century commentary on the mitzvahs), G‑d wants us to remember that everything belongs to Him and is controlled by Him. As a person goes about conducting his business and acquiring wealth, he can begin to develop a sense of self-importance. He can start to feel like he controls his own destiny and that he alone is responsible for his great successes. So every 50 years, G‑d reminds him that He is in control. Whatever this person may have acquired is returned to its original owner, and he realizes that only G‑d can control who ends up with what.
The Yovel, then, is a lesson in humility. It reminds the person of how small he is and how little power and influence he has over destiny. It’s G‑d who runs the world, and only He will decide who gets what.
The Lesson in Pride
Ralbag (Rabbi Levi ben Gershon) approaches the Yovel from another angle. A person who needs to sell himself as a slave or sell his property is generally from the ranks of the poor and destitute. Such a person can easily lose all hope of ever becoming successful again, and his life can spiral downward until he feels like he has nothing left to live for. To prevent this from happening, G‑d instituted the Yovel. Even if a man becomes so desperate as to have to sell himself as a slave and sell his home, he need not despair. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and hope for a better future. Come the Yovel, he will automatically regain his freedom and have his home and property returned to him. This knowledge keeps his spirits up even while he is in his difficult state, and gives him a reason to keep persevering for a better future.
The Yovel, then, is a lesson in pride. It reminds a person to remain strong and hopeful even when things are looking down. It tells him that he will never be truly defeated, and that he always has the ability to turn things around again.
The Paradox
The Yovel speaks of strength, pride and perseverance, and at the same time of humility and human fragility. It is thus the mitzvah which best captures the paradox of Mount Sinai, the mountain of humility.
The lesson is clear: In life, a person must assume both attitudes. He must constantly juggle his humility and pride. There is great danger in exaggerating one attitude at the expense of the other.
A person who focuses too much on his frailty and smallness can become stagnant and unmotivated. Why work hard and persevere, when he has so little say regarding his success in life? One needs self-belief and strength of character to stay motivated and keep persevering.
On the other hand, if a person gets too caught up in himself, it could lead to a false sense of power and invincibility. Strength of character can easily turn into arrogance, and he could forget about G‑d. One needs humility as well. He needs to keep in mind that ultimately G‑d runs the world, and we must therefore submit ourselves to His will.
We must aspire to be like Mount Sinai—the quintessential humble mountain.
