W E E K O F N O V E M B E R 1 8 - 2 4 I V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 7

2 9 C H E S H V A N - 6 K I S L E , 5 7 7 8

Greetings, from the Holy City of Jerusalem. I traveled to Israel to participate in a learning

program for alumni of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. It is a great privilege for me to spend a

week in the Land of Israel studying some of our sacred texts and teachings.

In this week's parsha, we are reintroduced to Yaakov. The Torah describes him as the

“dweller in the tents”. This seems to be a rather odd way to describe one of the patriarchs of

the Jewish People. The rabbis teach us that this is referring to the diligent Torah study that

Yaakov was engaged with at all hours of the day and night. He wanted to have a special

relationship with G-d and he realized that studying Torah was the ideal way of achieving this

objective.

At this point in time and history, there have never been more opportunities available for

Torah education. From local rabbis and teachers to online offerings, there is something for

everyone to further advance their knowledge of Torah and Judaism. Let us never lose sight

of what it means to be a “dweller in the tent”.

Have a Great Shabbos,

MESSAGE

CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17

Candle Lighting 5:10PM

Mincha 5:11PM

SHABBOS MORNING

Daf Yomi Class 7:45AM

Shacharis 8:30AM

Sephardic Minyan 8:30AM

Latest Shema 9:33AM

Following services everyone is

invited to kiddush in the social hall.

SHABBOS AFTERNOON

Class with Rabbi Feigenbaum 4:10PM

Mincha 4:55PM

Followed by Seuda Shlishis

Maariv and Havdallah 6:12PM

SERVICES THIS WEEK:

SHACHARIS Sunday 8:15AM

Monday-Wednesday 6:45AM

Thursday-Friday 8:15AM

(Thanksgiving Holiday)

MINCHA Sunday - Thursday 5:15PM

ADDITIONAL MAARIV

Monday-Thursday 8:30PM

Yitzchak and Rivka endure twenty childless years until their prayers are answered and Rivka

conceives. She experiences a difficult pregnancy as the “children struggle inside her”; G-d

tells her that “there are two nations in your womb,” and that the younger will prevail over

the elder.

Esav emerges first; Yaakov is born clutching Esav’s heel. Esav grows up to be “a cunning

hunter, a man of the field”; Yaakov is “a wholesome man,” a dweller in the tents of learning.

Yitzchak favors Esav; Rivka loves Yaakov. Returning exhausted and hungry from the hunt

one day, Esav sells his birthright (his rights as the firstborn) to Yaakov for a pot of red lentil

stew.

In Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, Isaac presents Rivka as his sister, out of fear that he

will be killed by someone coveting her beauty. He farms the land, reopens the wells dug by

his father Avraham, and digs a series of his own wells: over the first two there is strife with

the Philistines, but the waters of the third well are enjoyed in tranquility.

Esav marries two Hittite women. Yitzchak grows old and blind and expresses his desire to

bless Esav before he dies. While Esav goes off to hunt for his father’s favorite food, Rivka

dresses Yaakov in Esav’s clothes, covers his arms and neck with goatskins to simulate the

feel of his hairier brother, prepares a similar dish, and sends Yaakov to his father. Yaakov

receives his father’s blessings for “the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land” and mastery

over his brother. When Esav returns and the deception is revealed, all Yitzchak can do for

his weeping son is to predict that he will live by his sword and that when Yaakov falters, the

younger brother will forfeit his supremacy over the elder.

Yaakov leaves home for Charan to flee Esav’s wrath and to find a wife in the family of his

mother’s brother, Laban. Esav marries a third wife—Machalath, the daughter of Ishmael.

SYNOPSIS

TORAH READINGS Parasha Toldos Page: 124

Haftorah Erev Rosh Chodesh Page: 1207

A D U LT E D U C ATI O N E VE N TSThursday Night Mishmar- November 16 at 7:30 pm with Rabbi Weiss

Thursday Night Mishmar program takes place on a monthly basis on the Thursday prior to Shabbos

Mevorchim. The participants engage in a Halachic discussion that has practical application. Enjoying a

variety of delicious meals, including hot cholent, wings, chili and of course cold beer!

Sponsored by David & Louise Levine in memory of David’s mother Rose Levine’s yahrzeit.

The Chaburah-Sunday, November 19 after Shacharis

The Chaburah is a text-based Talmud study learning program with an emphasis on practical Halacha. After

preparing the source materials with a learning partner, a brief synopsis and discussion are led by one of

the participants.

Breakfast Speaker Series with Hazel M. Mack on Sunday, November 19 at 10:00 am

Jewish Jacksonville Then and Now

Exploring the heritage of Jacksonville Jewish community, its Synagogues, and people.

Join Archivist/Historian Hazel M. Mack on a journey through time.

Hazel is a Canadian by birth, and an American by choice. A mother of four daughters, Hazel is a

grandmother of three, and great-grandmother of five. After retiring from a career in the Broadcasting

Industry, she began volunteering at the Temple and in the community. She Served on the Board of the

Speech and Hearing Center and retired as President, and she served on the Board of Directors of the

Jacksonville Historical Society for over 8 years. Hazel currently serves on the President’s Council of the

Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU.

Mini-Series: Counting Your Blessings: An Insight into Common and Uncommon Blessings

Monday, November 20 at 7:30 pm with Rabbi Brown

How often do we take the time to think about all the good in our lives? Do we pay attention to unusual and

special things that occur around us? Our sages established brachos for each of these situations.

Come explore what these brachos teach us about everything in our lives, from a simple snack to major life

cycle events.

Talmud Class -Tuesday, November 21 at 7:30 pm with Rabbi Rabinowitz

Come join Etz Chaim’s exciting Talmud class back for the 4th year! This class is led by Rabbi Mayer

Rabinowitz every Tuesday. Learn the Talmud as you never have before! The class will slowly and

methodically study the 5th chapter of Tractate Brachos and delve into its many intricacies. Learn the laws

of bentching, davening from the Mishna and Talmud. Understand how Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch

came to codify these laws. The class offers an analytical approach to the text, with emphasis placed on the

Halachic process.

NJOP: Read Hebrew America- Tuesday, November 21 at 7:30 pm

Every November, tens of thousands of Jewish adults gather in hundreds of locations across North America

to learn Hebrew the language of our people. READ HEBREW AMERICA is the ideal way to learn how to follow

synagogue services, to be more involved in your children's Jewish education, or simply to enhance your own

ties to Judaism. This course is designed for Jews with little or no background in Hebrew. It concentrates on

teaching the Hebrew alphabet and reading skills.

Java for the Soul -Wednesday, November 22 at 8:45 am with Rabbi Feigenbaum

Please join us every Wednesday morning for a cup of Java for your body and soul. In our weekly class on

The Ethics of our Father, you will discover how these messages are relevant. This is an informal class that

offers a unique blend of inspirational insight and practical tools for our daily lives.

The Morning Club Weekly Study-Thursday, November 23 from

11:30 am-12:15 pm with Rabbi Schochet

Join us for a weekly dose of every day Halacha. We will be studying the laws of Krias HaTorah

(Reading the Torah). This is an interactive class and no textual knowledge required, If you have a Kitzur,

please bring it along.

Parent and Child Learning season is back! Pizza, prizes, raffles and so much more!! Parent and Child

Learning will be Motzai Shabbos, November 18 at 7:30 pm. Sponsored by The Gould Family in honor of

Barbara & Ed Feldman and Beth & Jeff Beyer. To sponsor a future Parent & Child please contact

Rabbi A.Y.

Yom Rishon Enrichment Program: Sunday, November 19 from 9:15 am-10:15 am

Fun and friendly enrichment class on Sunday morning. Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz will be teaching this

class. The class is open to boys and girls of the entire Jewish community in grades K-2. Students will

learn about the weekly Torah portion, Prayer, Basic Mitzvos, Middos, and Jewish Holidays. To register,

please contact the Etz Chaim office at 904-262-3565 x7.

Torah and Pizza: Monday, November 20 from 7:30pm-8:30 pm

Grades 8-12 Join Rabbi A.Y. on Monday evenings as we debate how Torah knowledge relates to

contemporary issues. This brand new class is open to boys and girls in grades 8-12. Piping hot pizza

and drinks will be served!! To register, please contact the Etz Chaim office at 904-262-3565 x7.

B'nei Mitzvah Enrichment Program- Tuesday, November 21 from 4:15pm-5:15pm

All parents are strongly encouraged to register your children for this class. Rabbi A.Y. teaches the class

and focuses on building a strong Jewish knowledge on various topics such as the weekly Torah Portion,

Mitzvos, and the Holidays. This class is open to boys and girls in grades 5-7. Snacks and drinks are

served. To register, please contact the Etz Chaim office at 904-262-3565 x7.

NCSY Juniors Shabbaton December 1-3: This amazing home hospitality Shabbaton is being held in

Hollywood, Florida in conjunction with Emtza NCSY (The equivalent of NCSY Juniors) The Shabbaton is

for boys and girls in grades 6-8. Limited spots available so register now at www.southern.ncsy.org.

Babysitting is a supervised free play program for boys and girls ages infant through 3 years old and is

staffed by professional sitters.

Gan Shabbat is for boys and girls in nursery and Pre-K and is led by Sara Brown. The children are

entertained with stories, games, songs, and organized activities.

Tot Shabbat is for boys and girls in 'K' and 1st grade. The children are entertained with stories and

songs; they pray together and play together with organized activities led by our teenage group leaders

Nechama Finkelstein & Carlie Rosenthal.

Junior Congregation now meets with distinct groups for boys and girls. The boy's group is led by

Rabbi A.Y. Cohen and is for grades 2-3, and the girl's group is led by Rachel Shyken and is for grades

2 through B'nei Mitzvah. The children begin their morning with group morning prayers and continue

with questions on the parsha, stories, and other activities.

Emtza is our newest group and is for boys in grades 4 through B'nei Mitzvah. The group is led by Joey

Hamaoui. The boys begin their morning with group morning prayers and continue with discussions

about the parsha and other activities.

NCSY Tefillah Workshop is a discussion based group dedicated to giving deeper insight into the

Parsha and general hashkafa and is for boys and girls b'nei mitzvah through 12th grade. This group is

currently studying Ethics of Our Fathers and is led by Joey Hamaoui. This group meets from

11:15am-12:00pm.

DAILY CLASSES SPOTLIGHT ON A SHUL PROGRAM

Parent and Child Learning brings

families together on select

Motzei Shabbosim in the winter months

for father-son, mother-daughter or

family group learning. Each week

someone presents a story followed by

awesome prizes and a delicious pizza

Melava Malka. (sponsorship

opportunities available)

Daf Yomi Weekdays 6:00AM Shabbos 7;45AM Sundays & legal holiday 7:30AM Please join us each morning before services in the Mirkis Chapel. Hot coffee is served. Halacha Yomi Rabbi Fisch will teach a brief Halacha following Minyan every morning. Mishna Yomi Rabbi Fisch will teach a brief Mishna between Mincha & Maariv every evening. We are studying Tractate Gittin.

NCSY JSU HAHN SHABBATON This past Motzei Shabbos, NCSY'ers enjoyed a casino night and a melava

malka at the NCSY JSU Hahn Shabbaton in North Miami Beach.

I’ve lived in Jacksonville all my life, with the exception of a

short period away for college.

Baptist Medical Center (back when there was only one)

I was born into an Etz Chaim family, so I have been a

member in one form or another all my life.

I’ve had so many memories at Etz Chaim, it is hard to

choose, but my wedding to my wonderful wife Deborah, and

my first child, Zev’s Bris were both unforgettable. Outside of

family simchas, the first time I got up to do Anim Zemiros at

the old shul is a fond childhood memory - My Dad bribed me

with wrestling tickets that he got from one of our longtime

members Sam Lipman. More recently, sharing the Pey Dalid

musical Havdalah with my kids was very special.

I doubt this will come as a surprise to anyone, but I’m a

ridiculously rabid sports fan (Go Jaguars! Go Dawgs! Come

on Chelsea!).

Kathy Osterer

Yisroel Weiss

Aidan Kempner

Simma Rabinowitz

Eden Wajsman

Gail Halpert

Sara Brown

Susan Goldman

Mark Shorstein

Dina Mirsky

Ariella Hamaoui

Naum & Sofya Lipovrovski

Elizabeth Hamaoui

Louis Shapiro

Martin Schwartz

Jay Lipper

Abe Goldenthal

Phyllis Sprecher

Susan Goldman

Ragen Shapiro

Bertica Hubsch

Charles Kupfer

Hendi Moshovitz

Yosef Cohen

Rose Levine

Fayk Makhtin

Gerald Deitsch

Please contact the shul office if you would like to

be featured in a future edition

of our member spotlight.

Please be aware that during times

when there is no supervision from the

Etz Chaim care staff, all children play

outside at their own risk.

Please be aware that there is no

eating permitted in the lobby.

Thank you for your cooperation

CORNER

Are cottage and cream cheese considered

hard cheeses? What if the hard cheese is

cooked?

Hard cheese is cheese that has been aged so

that it no longer can be sliced. Parmesian

cheese is considered hard if it has been aged

for six months. Romano may also be a hard

cheese (but is not readily available as kosher).

Swiss, Cheddar, Muenster, and Mozzarella are

not hard cheeses. Cottage and cream cheese

are certainly not hard cheeses either. If a hard

cheese is cooked, it does not lose its status as

a hard cheese.

Source: Star K Kosher

Using Israeli technology, three power plants under the auspices of the New York Power

Authority (NYPA) will now be able to prevent power outages before they begin, as reported in

AIPAC’s News Hub. The technology will be expanded to 50 plants statewide in the coming

months. NYPA turned to Israeli start-up mPrest—which developed the command-and-control

software behind the Iron Dome missile defense system—following failures of two of its

largest transformers in 2012 and 2014, costing upward of $5 million in repairs. Using

mPrest’s Asset Health Management application, New York can now examine the “health” of

a transformer utilizing data derived from the transformer itself, sensors, complex algorithms,

historical performance data and lab reports. According to Alan Ettlinger, NYPA’s director for

research, technology, development and innovation, “the system automatically shuts down

and reroutes power if a problem is detected. That means the lights stay on, field workers are

protected from the dangers of an explosion, and NYPA can save money.” “If you prevent an

unplanned outage, then there is no outage to speak of,” said Doron Gover, a retired Israel

Air Force pilot now in charge of corporate development for mPrest. “In my personal history

as a pilot, I am proud of all the cases where I prevented hazardous events long before they

might occur and risk life or damage expensive equipment.”

Source: AIPACNews

Shabbaton with Rabbi Zale Newman

Friday, December 8 and Shabbos, December 9

Rabbi Zale Newman was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He studied in Kerem B'Yavneh

(KBY) in Israel, and Yeshiva University in New York, where he studied Talmud, Judaic Studies

and completed a BA in economics. He received his Rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Reuven

Silver of Bais Medrash N'siv Olam with whom he studied for thirty-eight years. He completed his

MBA studies at McGill University in Montreal and York University in Toronto. Rabbi Zale's musical talents

allow him to contribute to the field of Jewish music as a musician, songwriter, and record producer. He

serves as an advisor, teacher, and consultant to a number of Jewish Outreach organizations around the

world.

Chanukah Party -Saturday, December 16 at 7:30pm

Sponsored by Jim & Deena Richman

in honor of Rabbi Feigenbaum, Rabbi Fisch, and their families.

Yom Limmud A Day of Exploring

Sunday, January 14

If You Were G-d, I Know G-d Exists But Is He in My Life

with World Famous Lecturer Charlie Harary

Etz Chaim is proud to present its annual Yom Limmud – A day of studying & exploring. The

Yom Limmud is designed to offer you the opportunity to develop a deeper connection to the fundamental

concepts of Judaism, in an intellectually challenging atmosphere.

Special thanks to the Kanter family for sponsoring this event!

The Sisterhood Ladies Night Out on Monday, November 20 at Main Event (10370 Phillips Highway)

Play unlimited bowling, laser tag, billiards & shuffleboard.

Cost is $15 per person (pay directly to them) or $11 if you don’t want to bowl. Drinks not included.

We will meet at Main Event at 8:30pm. Hope to see you there!

For more infomation, contact Emily 524-4336.

Sunday, November 19 and Sunday, November 26 with Sara Brown

Learn some Torah sources, visit a colony of wild honeybees, learn about the life of bees, and make

beeswax candles. Contact Sara Brown 904-235-7067.

Our father Avraham was, according to the Mishna in Avot, tested ten times and overcame all of them. It is interesting

that most of the commentators that describe and enumerate these ten tests do not identify Avraham as being the son

of Terach as one of these tests. One can easily think that this perhaps would have been one of the major tests in his

lifetime. But the Torah takes into account a fact of human nature that, in one way or another, every generation strives

to be different than the one that precedes it. Sometimes this is for good and sometimes not.

Avraham differed from Terach in a good way. Eisav differed from Yitzchak in a negative fashion. The greater

challenge seems to be to emulate and builds upon the positive attributes and accomplishments of one’s forbearers.

The challenge to Yitzchak is to emulate his father Avraham, to spread the idea of monotheism in a pagan and violent

world, to dig once again all of the wells that his father had dug, from which the life giving waters of Torah would again

flow.

It is easier to rebel and discard than to continue and replenish. The world is always unenthusiastic about revisiting

old wells even if they have been proven to be bountiful and eternal. The prophet Yirmiyahu complained about new

wells that do not really contain water and abandoning old wells that are yet bountiful and blessed with water. This

would be the great test for Yitzchak and later for his own son Yaakov, in transmitting the legacy of Avraham and

creating the Jewish people.

The challenge of continuity in the generations and their relationship one to another has been the internal challenge in

Jewish life throughout the ages of our history. We have always longed to be fresh, new and different than our

ancestors. Any new idea or ideal in world civilization always had Jewish adherents, even when it was obvious that it

was against their own self-interest to advocate that new fad or ideal.

And, we have paid very dearly for those monumental errors of judgment and policy. Jewish history is littered with the

wreckage created by these empty wells. And the non-Jewish world is complicit in this debacle. Avimelech, the king of

the Philistines repeats the grievous moral error made with the wife of Avraham, and then with the wife of Yitzchak.

When it comes to the Jewish people the attitude of much of society is not to learn from the past. One would think that

by now the world would have absorbed the lessons of self-destruction that anti-Semitism brought and continues to

bring to its proponents. But, alas, such is not the case.

For centuries on end, the Philistines and others would continually make new peace treaties with the Jews only to

revive fresh hatred and violence as a “new” tactic in their enmity towards the Jewish people. We have our challenges

but so does the non-Jewish world. Ours is to retain continuity, theirs is to discard it.

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

PARSHAS TOLDOS

Scot Ackerman, M.D. President 904.571.9000

Rabbi Yaakov Fisch Senior Rabbi

262.3565 ext. 8 I 904.616.8955 cell

rabbifisch@etzchaim.org

Rabbi Avi Feigenbaum Education Director

262.3565 ext. 5 I 913.230.6448 cell

rabbifeigenbaum@etzchaim.org

Rabbi A.Y. Cohen Youth Director

262.3565 ext. 12 I 908.922.0268 cell

rabbicohen@etzchaim.org

Terri Velazquez Office Manager

ecoffice@etzchaim.org

Jeannie Wright Administrative Assistant

Jeannie@etzchaim.org

10167 San Jose Blvd Jacksonville, FL 32257 I Office 904.262.3565 I Fax: 904.292.0524 I www.etzchaim.org