ki tavo / 18 elul 5777 | september 9, 2017 ari perl murray voroba rabbi saul haimoff charles...
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Rabbi Ari Perl Murray Voroba Jayne Luger Mark Ramer Rabbi Saul Haimoff Charles Muhlbauer
Rabbi Ritual Director Executive Director President Youth Director Chazzan
www.jcabonline.org (516) 371- 0972 [email protected]
Ki Tavo / 18 Elul 5777 | September 9, 2017
Shabbat Times Shabbat Classes & Lectures
Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat 6:45 PM
Candle Lighting 6:58 PM
Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat - Sefardic 7:00 PM
Hashkama Minyan 7:40 AM
Shacharit 9:00 AM
Sefardic Minyan 9:30 AM
Mincha (Main Sanc.) & Seudah Shlishit 6:45 PM
Shabbat Ends Maariv begins~8-10 minutes earlier 7:56 PM
K I D D U S H
Thank you to all of this week’s sponsors:
Shabbat Kiddush Lunch Co-sponsors Elisa & Alan Pines and Carol & Seymour Pinewski in memory of their father Hillel l
Pinewski,, ob”m, and Jane & Will Senders in honor of JCAB.
ORNER
Hashkama Shiur Rabbi Simcha Willig
~9:20 AM Social Hall
Parshat Hashavua Rabbi Baruch Freedman
8:30 AM Main Sanctuary
Exploring the Weekly Parsha Rick Magder & Eddie Karan
10:30 AM Classroom
Afternoon Lecture Rabbi Baruch Freedman
5:45 PM Beit Midrash
High Holiday Seating Forms Please return your HH Seating forms . A link to the form is
available on the JCAB website. Please note that in order
for your seats to be assigned your JCAB account must be
current.
New Sefardic Minyan at JCAB We are excited to announce that beginning this
Shabbat (9/9), we will be having a Sefardic Minyan on
both Fri. Night (7:00pm in the Main Sanctuary) & Shabbat
morning (9:30am in the Irwin Peyser Beit Midrash).
Sefardic treats to follow!
Security at JCAB Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our
Emergency Evacuation Plan printed on orange cards
throughout the sanctuary.
8:00 PM Weekday Maariv Begins This Week Beginning this week, our daily evening minyan switched
from Mincha/Maariv (at sunset) to late Maariv at 8:00pm
(Mon-Thu). Please help keep our daily 8:00pm Maariv
minyan strong; members who saying kaddish are
counting on your assistance. We aim to begin promptly
at 8:00pm every night; out of respect for our members’
time, we will not wait more than 10 minutes for a
minyan. As a result, we will NEVER finish later
than 8:18pm. Surely, you can spare 18 (chai) minutes in
the evening to help keep our minyan strong!
We are dedicating this year’s Maariv minyan to the
memory of our dear friend, Jesse York, ob”m, who
worked so hard to keep our evening minyan strong
through the winter months. Please help us honor his
memory and perpetuate his legacy.
Rabbi Perl in Israel Rabbi Perl will be in Israel for a family simcha thru Sun.
(9/10). Contact the JCAB office or R’ Simcha Willig (914)
874-1171 for assistance while R’ Perl is away.
Year-Round Rabbinical Position & Candidate We welcome Linda & Rabbi Baruch Freedman (& 3 mo.
old Sarit!) back to JCAB this Shabbat. R’ Freedman is a
candidate for our year-round rabbinical position that
combines the many rabbinic roles previously filled by
Rabbis Block & Willig (who just purchased a home in
Bergenfield, NJ– Mazal Tov!), Torah Reading
responsibilities and leading services on shabbatot when
our Chazzan, Chuck Muhlbauer, is not at JCAB. R’
Freedman's many talents and experience make him well-
suited for this unique position and the many skill-sets it
demands. R’ Freedman will lead Kabbalat Shabbat and
share a Dvar Torah at services this Friday Night. On
Shabbat morning he will teach the Parsha Class and give
the drasha (sermon) in the main sanctuary. On Shabbat
afternoon, Rabbi Freedman will be teaching the
afternoon class (5:45pm) and sharing a dvar torah at
Seudah Shlishit. We encourage you to attend his various
talks and classes over shabbat, to interact with him
personally at Kiddush Lunch, and then share your
feedback with the officers.
Daily Tefilla Times
Shacharit (Sunday) 8:00 AM
Shacharit (Mon. & Thurs.) 6:50 AM
Shacharit (Tues., Wed. & Fri.) 7:00 AM
Latest Time for Shema 9:38 AM
Mincha/Maariv (Sunday) 7:00 PM
Maariv (Mon.-Thu) 8:00 PM
Shabbat Morning Youth/Teen Programming Programming runs from 10:00 until the end of Tefilla
Nursery-Kindergarten (Youth Room, Miss Merri). Children <2 yrs. old welcome when accompanied by an adult.
Grades 1-3 (Back of Youth Room)
Jr. Congregation (4th-6th graders, outside with Rabbi Saul)
Rabbi Saul is on vacation this
Shabbat.Youth Programming will
continue next week!
Burt Fried
Isaac Freilich
Judith Guedalia
Danya Jacobs
Susan Junger
Brenda Levine
Brett Ringelheim
Avi Shaul
Deena Shiff
YAHRZEITS Shabbat Joseph Fried (Mother, Roysa Fried, ob”m)
Monday David Sharin (Mother, Miriam Sharin, ob”m)
Tuesday Toby Nussbaum (Father, Jack Maziar, ob”m)
Tuesday Shoshana Offir (Father, Chaim Bass, ob”m)
Wednesday Dasha Gelbtuch (Mother, Mindel Konstam, ob”m)
Wednesday Jerald Levine (Father, Albert Levine, ob”m)
Wednesday Armand Lindenbaum (Father, Nathan Lindenbaum,
ob”m)
Thursday Raphael Amoona (Son, Daniel Amoona, ob”m)
Thursday Marcel Junger (Father, Sam Junger, ob”m)
Thursday Ilana Milstein (Brother, Yehuda Bayme, ob”m)
Thursday Diedra Sehr, Corey Steinbock (Mother, Ruby Steinbock,
ob”m)
REFUAH SHELEIMA Please include the following individuals in your
Tefilla as we wish them a speedy recovery:
Ann Frenkel Chana Chaya bat Golda Malka
Judi Guedalia Chaya Sarah Tzipora bat Rivka
Miriam Gruenfeld Mirel Maryam bat Liba Malka
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MAZAL TOV To Sonya & Nathan Begelman on the Bat Mitzvah of their granddaughter, Mikaela Sosland, this Sun. in Pearl River, N.Y.
To Monique & Andrew Rechtschaffen on the Bar Mitzvah of their son Jordan in NYC.
To Howard Schulder upon the Bat Mitzvah of his granddaughter Sophie Leah Barkan.
To Barbara & Mark Silber on the marriage of their son Alex to Aliza Chesir.
CONDOLENCES To our dear friend Yael Zar on the passing of her father, The funeral took place in Israel, where Yael is sitting shiva y thru
Sunday, when she will be returning home to Cedarhurst for the remainder of shiva.
To Elliot Freilich (Helen) upon the loss of his father Dr. Dennis Freilich. Shiva is being observed through Wednesday
morning, 9/13 at 120 East 81st Street , PH H, NYC 10028. Visiting hours are until 9:30 pm (1 :00 pm Friday, 10:45 pm
Saturday night) with breaks for lunch from 12-1 pm and dinner 5:30-6:30 pm. Morning minyans are 7:15 am (Sunday at
8:30 am) and evening minyans are at 6:45 pm .
Paula & Miles Garnett
Judith & Harris Guedalia
Monique & Andrew
Rechtschaffen
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
NEW NEIGHBOR? LET US KNOW! JCAB has recently formed a Welcoming
Committee that reaches out to new families in
our neighborhood. If you notice a new
neighbor or know of a family that has recently
moved to AB (homeowner or renter), please
send us their name & contact info.
Help us extend a warm greeting to our
newest neighbors!
HOUSTON HURRICANE RELIEF At this point, the most effective ways to get funds to families in need are to make a donation through one of the major
organizations that has access to the disaster region, such as UJA/Federation, Hebrew Free Loan Society and The
Orthodox Union. Make a donation to a specific relief project being undertaken at JCAB (see below for details.
JCAB to Co-sponsor Kosher Food Relief Efforts in Houston
The Orthodox synagogues of Dallas have mobilized a food relief effort designed to provide Houston with kosher food,
the supply of which has dwindled over the past week. Food is being prepared in Dallas by local kosher caterers, then
driven to houston in refrigerated trucks, and heated in mobile catering stations that have been set up at the Beren
Academy and the Meyerland Minyan. ~20% of the operation is being subsidized by the Dallas Jewish Federation; the
balance has to be raised privately and the organizers are looking for community partners in order to keep the
operation going for a few weeks. JCAB has committed funds to co-sponsor the project this week. In addition to food,
the operation will expand to provide emergency cash, clothing and other needs as yom tov approaches, both on
the ground in Houston and for families who will be relocating, temporarily, to Dallas for Shabbat and Yom Tov.
Donations to this project can be made by check to the JCAB Benevolent Fund (’Houston Relief’ in the memo).
As the specific needs on the ground in Houston continue to become clearer, we will continue to seek
opportunities to provide direct and meaningful assistance to that community over the coming weeks.
PARSHAT KI TEITZEI Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel — “Do not withhold the wages due to your
hired hand…that very day shall you give him his
payment” [Deut. 24:14–15].
This Shabbat, the Eleventh of Elul, marks 47 years to the
day of one of the most transformative moments in my
life, in the most unlikely of places and circumstances. It
was on this date in September 1970 that I was in the
synagogue of Riga, Latvia, in the former Soviet Union,
carrying out a mission personally requested of me by
the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, to
establish four underground yeshivas.
These yeshivas were to be established under the radar
of a regime that had made every aspect of Jewish life
forbidden. Owning a Hebrew primer was punishable
by exile to Siberia. Thank God, I had succeeded in
Moscow and Leningrad, but when I left my hotel in
Riga that Shabbat morning I noticed that I was being
followed by four very tall and burly individuals who
barely gave me breathing space.
These KGB agents literally surrounded me in the
sanctuary where I was seated in splendid isolation in
the extreme corner of the right side. The other twenty-
eight congregants, each clearly over the age of sixty-
five, were sitting together on the extreme left side of a
large sanctuary built for six-hundred.
The cantor and choir chanted the service as if they
were performing before thousands. The gabbai, a
short man with white, wispy hair, whispered to me in
Yiddish, “We are thirsty for Torah. We have a Kiddush
after the service downstairs. We expect you to teach
us. Please come down after the davening – but
without your friends.”
The interminable service ended at exactly Noon. The
four goons miraculously disappeared, and I went
down into a pitch black room where fifteen people
were seated around a table. The table was set with
many bottles of clear white liquid and slices of honey
cake. A chair of honor was set for me with a large
Kiddush cup.
The gabbai repeated, “We are thirsty for Torah,” as he
poured me a full glass of liquid, which he told me was
vodka. I chanted the Kiddush, gave a D’var Torah,
they sang a niggun, they did a dance, and then
poured me another vodka. Another D’var Torah, a
niggun, a dance, and again more vodka – nine times!
At that point, I asked the Torah reader from the
synagogue, Yisrael Friedman, a Chabadnik, to give a
D’var Torah, and his words literally changed my life.
He related that Elisha ben Avuya was a great rabbi of
the Mishna who became a heretic upon witnessing
the tragedy of a boy who had climbed a tree to bring
down a pigeon for his father after sending away the
mother bird. In doing so, the child had performed two
commandments that promise the reward of long life,
yet he had fallen from the tree and died. “There is no
judge and no judgment!” was Rabbi Elisha’s defiant
reaction [Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 39b].
Elisha’s grandson, Rabbi Yaakov, noted that had his
grandfather understood a major axiom of Jewish
thought he would never have left the Jewish fold:
“There is no reward for the commandments in this
world” [ibid.].
Yisrael looked out at the basement assemblage with
blazing eyes and then looked Heavenward. “But God,
that’s not fair! How can You expect Your Jewish
servants to pay the day laborer on that very day when
you withhold our reward for the commandments till
after our lifetime, in the world to come?!”
He answered his own question: The Talmud [Bava
Metzia] differentiates between a day laborer and a
contractor. Yes, a day laborer must be paid at the
end of the day, but a contractor is to be paid only at
the end of the project. We, vis-à-vis God, are not day
laborers; we are contractors. Each of us, given his/her
unique gift and the time and place in which he/she
lives, must do his share in helping to complete the
world with the Kingship of God.
Whether we have fulfilled most of our mission or just a
little of it can only be determined at the end of our
lifetimes. For us contractors, there is no reward for
commandments in this world.
I was moved to tears. After witnessing first-hand the
persecution of Soviet Jewry, I was overwhelmed by
thinking of God’s great gift of a newborn State of
Israel, and felt deeply in my heart that I could not
possibly have been born in a free country in these
most momentous times in order to fulfill my mission in
New York.
And so in the basement of Riga I made an oath: I will
bring my family to the State of Israel and hopefully
there realize my true calling. And when I get to Israel I
will make Kiddush on vodka every Shabbat day in
memory of this experience. I am thankful to God to
report that I indeed arrived with my family in Israel,
and to this day, 47 years later, I still make the Shabbat
day Kiddush using vodka, forever reminding me of that
moment, and the lesson I learned from a refusenik in
Riga.