Friday Night Shabbat Services are at 7 PM.
Candle lighting in Austin is at 7:50 PM

Shabbat morning services are THIS SATURDAY morning – Pesach VIII, Saturday, April 30, at 9 AM. Please join us for this lay led shabbat service. The kosher for Passover kidish has been generously sponsored by Javis Howeth in memory of her beloved mother, Ruby Lee Campbell Howeth, a.k.a. “Judy” of blessed memory. There will be a Yizkor service.

Meimuna, THIS SUNDAY, May 1st, at 4 PM – a joyful celebration to mark the end of Passover.
Bring yourselves, your friends and community. Shiry, Claudia, Mary, Genevieve, Idit, and others, have been working tirelessly to make the delicious pastries and mufleta. Come and enjoy. You may bring dried fruits and nuts, cold drinks (kosher please), fresh fruit or paper goods if you like.

The Passover seder was truly one incredible evening. We had a full house of over a hundred people and I know people enjoyed it immensely. We will also always treasure the memories of that special evening with the Chazzan and his lovely family, including his father Milton, z’l.
Here is just one quote from Herschel that pretty much sums it up:
“We really enjoyed the Seder. It was one of the best we have ever attended. You did a fantastic job. You and the Cantor, should put this on a road show. We also feel lucky to have all of you as part of our family.”

WE HAVE SUNDAY SCHOOL THIS SUNDAY, MAY 1ST, 10 AM!

Thank you to all our Passover helpers!!! Many many folks helped us. Jared, Gracie, Mary, Sarah, Genevieve, Rachel, Larry, Elaine, Doris, Yosef, Kevin, Iris, Sara, Bob, Yesenia, Carmen, Scott, Art, Rinat, Claudia, Javis, Tamar, Anat, Lori and David. Many others helped on the night and please forgive if your name is not on the list – everyone really did lend a hand.

Dvar Torah from Rabbi Peter Tarlow of the Center for Jewish Hispanice relations:
This weekend marks the end of the Passover holiday and the return to eating chametz. During the last week, we were to think about the meaning of freedom and when we lacked both national freedom and also personal freedom. One of this holiday’s aspects that makes Passover so unique is that it is a time when we are “chametz-free”.
The term chametz is not easy to translate. We often translate it as “leavening”, or something that makes food rise. Thus, Jews around the world refrain from eating most bread products and beers throughout the holiday. Can we see Passover as the first “gluten-free holiday”?
In reality, as almost every Jewish person knows, translating the word chametz for someone outside of Jewish culture is not an easy. The word conveys a sense of “puffed-up” and of “self-importance”. Thus, it has booth a food-science meaning and a spiritual and national meaning. Chametz reminds us that we are free but only within the confines of society. The term also reminds us that each of us is just one small dot in the scheme of history, that to rid oneself of self-importance is another way to rid oneself of perpetual slavery.
The word “chametz” is not only used, however, with the holiday of Passover. Thus, in chapter 2 of Leviticus we read: “No meal offering that you offer to the Lord shall be with leaven (chametz), for you shall burn no leaven (se’or) or honey in any fire offering to the Lord.” (2:11)
And again in chapter 6 of Leviticus we read: “… its remainder (of the meal offering) shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons; it shall be eaten as unleavened cake (matzot) in the sacred precinct … It shall not be baked with leaven …” (6:9-10). Does being chametz-free here symbolize the unfinished, the work that has yet to be done to complete a task?
As we finish the holiday of Passover we remember that the search for freedom and human dignity is also an unfinished business. To be chametz free then represents the beginning of a yet-unfulfilled process. Now that we are about to end the Passover holidays and enter the comforts of the chametz world, it is our responsibility to remember that our journey to collective and personal freedom is not yet complete, that all too many of us have become spoiled and at times selfish. How do each of us remember the lessons of Passover and the meaning of freedom throughout the rest of the year? What do you think?

No Friday Night Shabbat Services tonight as it is the first seder. This is the only time of the year we don’t have Friday night services.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 7:45 PM

Shabbat morning services are TOMORROW morning
Saturday April 23 at 9 AM. Please join us for this special and beautiful service in which we sing Hallel.

Saturday April 23 at 7:00 PM is our wonderful 2nd night at Beth El.

This month, we are adding a special shabbat morning service on the fifth shabbat, Saturday April 30, with a special Yizkor service.

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Message
This Shabbat is of course Pesah, Passover. We celebrate the liberation of our ancestors from slavery in Egypt with the ritual of the Seder-the most observed of all Jewish rites. It is notable that the main character of the Exodus story does not appear in our Haggadah-the name of Moses is never mentioned in the entire Seder. Our Tradition thus teaches us not to idolize any human, great though he may have been. Our reliance is on God alone-the real hero and worker of our deliverance. Leaders may come and go, but God’s lovingkindness is everlasting, as we sing in the Hallel. May we all feel truly free, may all of humanity be free, and all of us feel God’s kindness in our lives. Shabbat Shalom and Hag Kasher v’Sameah.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

From Rabbi Peter Tarlow of the Center for Jewish Latino Relations:
Passover Prohibited Foods/Alimentos prohibidos durante Pésaj
A number of people have asked for a definition of “Chametz” and which foods belong to the “chametz” category” To help here is a good partial list.
Varias personas han pedido que les demos una lista de los alimentos que se clasifican como “Jametz”. Para ayudarlos, aqu’ hay una lista.
“Chametz” is classified as: Se clasifica “jametz” como:
1) all foods made with leavening/todo hecho con levadura;
2) cereals/cereales;
3) The following grans/los granos que siguen:
a) wheat/trigo
b) oats/avena
c) barley/cebada
d) smelt/centeno
e) corn/maiz (precise definition unclear/no hay ninguna definición precisa)
4) For some: What is called Kiniyot/Lo que se llama kiniyot.
These include/Incluyen
Legumes, green beans, lentils, chickpeas, beans, peas soya,
Legumbres, porotos, lentejas, garbanzas, habas, arvejas (guisantes), soya
Things derived from the above: pasta, beer, wisky
Todo lo que se deriva de los alimentos de arriba: masas, cerveza, whisky
Sephardic Jews reject the idea of the kiniyot and tend to eat:
Los sefarditas rechazan el concepto de los kiniyot y comen:
Green beans/porotos
Peas /arveja (guisantes)
Lentils/lentejas
Rice/arroz
Sesame seeds/semillas de sesamo
Sunflower seeds/semillas de girasoles
Peanuts/maní (cacahuete)
Most US Jews eat peanuts/ La mayor parte de los jud’os norteamericanos consumen cacahuete.
Quinoa is kosher for Passover/Quinoa es kasher l’Pesaj
Passover’s laws go into effect around midday April 22 until the sighting of
three stars on April 30tth.
Las leyes de Pesaj se empiezan alrededor de mediod’a 22 de abril hasta la
vista de tres estrellas por la noche de 30 de abril.

Thank you to all our helpers!!! Many many folks helped us get ready – whether you climbed the roof to clean gutters, cleaned, cooked, changed balasts and more, we are extremely grateful: Jared, Gracie, Mary, Sarah, Genevieve, Rachel, Larry, Elaine, Doris, Yosef, Kevin, Iris, Sara, Bob, Yesenia, Scott, Art, Rinat, Claudia and Javis.

We have a first for Beth El at the end of Passover! We are going to have a traditional Moroccan Meimuna. This promises to be a great new and meaningful and extremely delicious event, one that is enjoyed by Jews in Israel and soon, by us here. Sunday evening, May 1. Yesher Koach to Shiry for organizing. Let us know if you want to help cook.

Happy birthday this week to Gabbai Bam, Yosef Aguilar, David Henderson and Larry Butler!
Let us know your special occasion and we’ll give you a Mazal Tov!

From Phil and Keren who recently moved to Israel:
“Shalom to our dear friends at Beth El,
We wish you all a Chag Pesach Samech! All is well here in Ariel. Our container arrived last Sunday so we have spent the last week unpacking some boxes and moving others to our upstairs attic for storage until we do our renovations. Today was a good day and we got a lot done. I got to finally set up my kitchen! Yeah! I now have more than 2 pots to cook with and I have all my spices! Tomorrow we will be up early for a final clean up of the floors and entry way and a quick trip to the market before Pesach. We are looking forward to a day of rest! Baruch Hashem Phil has been feeling great and has been strong with all this moving of boxes. It truly is a land blessed by God and being here we feel very blessed too. We have not started Ulpan yet so we have been using Google translate to help us communicate. We live in an apartment building with 4 units. Two of the units are Russian families so we will eventually learn Hebrew and perhaps a little Russian too! They are all very nice people and have been very kind to us. And we are getting along OK without a car. Learning the bus system was a little challenging at first but we have learned and are doing fine now. Doing a lot of walking too which is good for us! Our dog, Ruby has adjusted pretty well and is very fascinated by the native turtle that lives in the yard below us! She also enjoys watching the cats and occasionally has to bark and harass them! But there is a lovely park nearby to take her to play frisbee when there is no one else around so she still gets her exercise.
The streets of Ariel are lined with banners for Pesach and the kids get a 3 week vacation this year! Pesach is a big deal in Israel!
Chag Sameach,
Keren and Phil”