Singing with Ms. Carol
Students in Kita aleph and Bet enjoying Channukah songs with Ms. Carol Rubin.
Happy Thanksgiving and Channukah Party Sunday at 5pm
Congregants and Friends,
We would like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving today. Please note that we have our Friday night services at 7pm and our Hanukah party Sunday at 5pm.
Beth El Hanukah Party:
This Sunday December 1st at 5pm is the Beth El Hanukah Party. We will be serving kosher chicken and hot dogs (as well as a vegetarian option), latkes and sides. We would love to see you all! Please bring your family and friends. Again, with appreciation to Hal and Elaine Jacobs for sponsoring this. Please contact Elaine Jacobs at jaqel@yahoo.com to RSVP or for any other things we may need.
Hannukah Blessings for tonight, the second night of Hanukah:
http://www.jewfaq.org/prayer/chanukah.htm
Enjoy the following Hannukah song by the awesome Maccabeats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbec3WSPanw
President Obama’s Hanukah Message to the Jewish Community:
Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those celebrating Hanukkah around the world. This Hanukkah season we remember the powerful story of a band of believers who rose up and freed their people, only to discover that the oil left in their desecrated temple – which should have been enough for only one night – ended up lasting for eight. It’s a timeless story of right over might and faith over doubt – one that has given hope to Jewish people everywhere for over 2,000 years. And tonight, as families and friends come together to light the menorah, it is a story that reminds us to count our blessings, to honor the sacrifices of our ancestors, and to believe that through faith and determination, we can work together to build a brighter, better world for generations to come.From our family to the Jewish Community around the world, Chag Sameach.
Davening for Dummies: December 11 at 7pm!
Come to the second instalment of Bam Rubenstein’s extremely informative and entertaining classes. The first class was wonderful and if you missed it, please come this month for Bam’s discussion on Tefillah and minyan.
Community News: The Jewish Family Service Addiction Task Group will host a panel discussion on “Austin Community Resources to Support Addiction Recovery.” This informative panel discussion will bring together new information about the science of addiction recovery and affordable resources those in our community can access to get help for themselves and their loved ones. The event will take place at Congregation Agudas Achim on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 from 6:30 – 8 p.m. There is no cost to attend.
Cold outside? Come warm your spiritual fire
Congregants and Friends,
Despite the plunging temperatures, please note that we will have our regular Friday night services tonight, Friday November 22 at 7pm.
Tomorrow, Saturday morning, starting at 9am, we will have our Shabbat morning services in which we will read the parasha of Veyeshev. This will be followed by a lovely meat and vegetarian cholent lunch.
Cantor Ben Moshe Message:
This week’s parshah, Vayeshev, deals with Ya’akov and his sons, in particular Joseph and Yehudah. These two of course are the ancestors of the two dominant Tribes of Israel-Ephraim and Judah, respectively. Interestingly, our parshah chronicles the personal growth of these two men. Joseph matures from a spoiled adolescent braggart to a responsible manager and a serious spiritual leader (in his interpretation of the dreams of his fellow prisoners in Egypt). At the same time, Judah transforms from an insanely jealous older brother who is willing to sell his kin into slavery and send his own father into paroxysms of grief in order to protect himself, into a sober leader who is willing to take responsibility for his own wrongdoing in his dealings with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Both of these characters embody the Torah’s fundamental message that no person is perfect, but all people are capable of improvement. May we all profit from their example. Shabbat Shalom, and a Happy Thanksgivukkah to all.
The confluence of Thanksgiving and Chanukkah by Gerald L. Zelizer，rabbi of Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen, N.J.
American Jews shouldn’t fret too much at this year’s awkward overlap of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. Sure, it may require some culinary dexterity at Thanksgiving dinner. But thematically, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving are an even more perfect fit than Hanukkah and Christmas.
This year’s confluence is a once-in-about-2,000-lifetimes experience. Hanukkah and Thanksgiving on the same day last happened in 1861, except that Thanksgiving wasn’t established until 1868! And the next time the first day of Hanukkah will happen on Thanksgiving – Thursday, November 28 – will be in the year 79,811. Who can plan that far in advance? So let’s enjoy this solar and lunar overlap and celebrate all that Hanukkah and Thanksgiving have in common. Religiously, there is a direct line connecting Thanksgiving, Sukkot and Hanukkah. Here’s how it works.
American Thanksgiving had a close affinity to biblical Sukkot. Both holidays included the theme of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest. It’s likely that the pilgrims who linked their migration and experience with the ancient Israelites learned to thank God for their harvest from the stories they read in what they called the “Old Testament”.
And Sukkot, in turn, was very much linked to Hanukkah. In fact, Hanukkah may have actually been Sukkot. The Second Book of Maccabees records that after the Maccabees cleansed and rededicated the Temple, “the sanctuary was purified on the twenty-fifth of Kislev (Hanukkah). The joyful celebration lasted for eight days. It was like Sukkot, for they recalled how only a short time before they had kept the festival while living like animals in the mountains, they observed the joyful celebration, which lasted for eight days. And so they carried lulavim and etrogim and they chanted hymns to God, who had so triumphantly led them to the purification of the Temple.”
So Hanukkah was probably a delayed Sukkot, with its theme of Thanksgiving spilling over from the harvest into the cleansed and rededicated Temple. The overlap of American Thanksgiving with the Sukkot/Hanukkah Thanksgiving, then, is not a calender oddity, but a calender tour de force.
We are accustomed to Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas and to the influence of that holiday on some of the cultural celebrations of Hanukkah. In reality, Christmas and Hanukkah are thematically opposite. Hanukkah celebrates the affirmation of Torah through both a war against the Syrians and a civil war. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, whom Paul and the early church fathers understood as replacing the authority of the Torah. On the other hand, Thanksgiving, Sukkot and Hanukkah all share a theme of giving thanks: in the first two, for the harvest; in the last, for the rededication of the Temple.
So here’s to giving thanks for this unusual but perfect confluence. It’s not just the culinary ease of substituting latkes for sweet potatoes with the turkey. There is a core message that links them together beautifully.
Don’t miss fabulous classes tonight and Saturday night
Congregants and Friends,
Don’t miss the wonderful classes on offer at Beth El this week, starting with the highly entertaining and informative Davening for Dummies tonight at 7pm. Our next services are this Friday evening at 7pm. Saturday evening, the highly popular Crypto Judaism class is back with Rabbi Tarlow.
Davening for Dummies: TONIGHT!
Interested in sharpening your synagogue skills and learning more about the service? Gabbai Bam Rubenstein will be teaching an ongoing Davening for Dummies class on the second Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 pm at Congregation Beth El.
Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 pm (Tonight). This class will cover the reasons and meaning for saying Kaddish, including sitting Shiva and the mourning period. The class will also briefly provide an overview of Jewish burial practices. Great for all levels.
Crypto Judaism Lecture – November 16 at 6:30 pm Rabbi Tarlow will continue his fascinating series of lectures on Crypto Judaism. We will have havdallah led by Cantor Ben-Moshe.
HOLD THE DATE: Channukah is early this year. Hold the date for our annual Channukah party on Sunday DECEMBER 1 at 5pm. Huge thank you to the sisterhood and Elaine and Hal Jacobs for sponsoring this annual Beth El tradition. More details to follow.