October 2012 - Congregation Beth El Austin ק״ק בית אל

Parshat Lekh L’kha

October 26, 2012/in Junior Congregation /by betheladmin11

Our regular Friday night and Saturday morning services will be held this weekend, October 26th and 27th. Friday night services start at 7:00 pm and Saturday morning start at 9:00 am with the Torah reading around 10:00 am. There will be a tot shabbat for pre-schoolers at 10:30am.

Cantor Ben Moshe Message: This Shabbat is a special one in synagogues in Israel-the reading of Parshat Lekh L’kha, which begins with God’s command to Avram (not yet Abraham) to leave “…your land, your birthplace and your father’s house” to go to “…the land which I will show you.” Our patriarch Avram was the first ‘oleh hadash, new immigrant to Israel, and it is the custom there to honor those who immigrated in the preceding year. The Sages considered the Land of Israel to be one of God’s greatest gifts to us, after the Torah. For more than three thousand years, Israel has been our home-“our land, our birthplace and our fathers’ house”. Even as we have moved from one exile to another, we’ve always looked towards our own country. May God continue to protect the Land and the State of Israel.
Shabbat Shalom.

Hebrew School K-3rd Congregation Beth El

October 15, 2012/in School /by betheladmin11

This week, we Started work on our own Torah scroll, learning the story of Creation (Breishit) from the book of Genesis. We each made one or two pages showing the order of creation. We also began to study the prayer “Yotzer Or” in which we thank God for creating light, darkness, peace and everything. It is a morning prayer and comes in the shma section, directly after barchu.

Some of the kids got to work with the attached vocabulary cards, but some did not. They can be cut up as flash cards, sounded out, or used for other games that I will teach as we move on.

Friday Night Services and Potluck Dinner

October 15, 2012/in Junior Congregation, Shabbat /by betheladmin11

On Friday night, October 19, please join us for our wonderful song filled Friday night services at the slightly earlier time of 6:30 pm this week, followed immediately by a dairy/parev potluck dinner.

What a great way to end the week and welcome in shabbat.

Please email bethelaustin@yahoo.com if you have any questions or what dish you would like to bring.

Parasha B’reshit

October 11, 2012/in Junior Congregation, Shabbat /by betheladmin11

Congregation Beth El we will be having services both Friday night, 10/12, and services this Saturday morning, 10/13. Friday night services start at 7:00 pm and Saturday morning services start at 9:00 am with the Torah reading around 10:00 am.

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message This Shabbat we begin again the yearly reading of the Torah with Parshat B’reshit. We will read of the Creation of the Universe, and especially of humanity. Our Parshah also speaks of the creation of the Shabbat, the Queen of Days. Perhaps the most important creation was that of rest-the idea that we were not created to labor unceasingly, but to rest and just *be*. This is the gift of Torah to us, and from us to the entire world.

Kindergarden and Third Grade Class

October 3, 2012/in School /by betheladmin11

The kindergarten to third grade class learned about mezuzot after learning to sing the sh’ma. They looked at a real scroll, which has the sh’ma and a few other paragraphs, including v’ahavta. Everyone copied or traced the sh’ma onto their own “scrolls” and decorated the plastic bottles.