Parashat Tazria-Metzora – Patience, empathy and care

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Professor Pedhazur tazria-metzora-torah-readingHope you had a fantastic week! Friday April 28, at the regular time of 7:00 PM we’ll have our song filled and inspiring Kabalat Shabbat.

Shabbat morning services as per our schedule of second and fourth shabbats are on the following dates – May 13, May 27, June 10, June 24, July 8 and 22, August 12 and August 26.

Sunday Funday this Sunday April 30 at 10 AM. NOW enrolling for next year! Tell your friends about our one of a kind school, where children learn in a natural and holistic way and always with yidishkeit ! Our team of teachers and clergy is unbelievable and the children truly develop a love of Judaism.

We would also like to sincerely acknowledge Tam for her amazing gardening class with the kids last week and Joakin and Yesenia on the stellar job they did beautifying the front yard.
We are having a class on leading Mussaf, the additional prayers following the morning shabbat and festival services. The first class will start on Wednesday May 3 at Beth El at 7:00 PM and be taught by Cantor Ben-Moshe. The class is open to all so please let us know if you are interested and let your friends know.

Our Annual Meeting is Sunday May 21 at 4 PM. Come be a part of this beautiful congregation and find out all the latest happenings. See why people view this shul as a family and community of caring people. Everyone makes a difference!

Professor Ami Pedahzur Special shabbat speaker Friday May 5!

Come and hear Professor Pedahzur who will give a fascinating talk about his latest research into the Six Day War in Israel on it’s 50th anniversary. You will be sure to hear some amazing and little known facts and definitely be inspired. Professor
Pedhazur is the Arnold S. Chaplik professor in Israel and Diaspora Studies and
Professor in Government at the University of Texas.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 7:49 PM

Friday January 6, Rabbi Daniel Septimus CEO of the Austin JCC will likewise be our guest speaker at Beth El.

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message

This week we read the double parshot of Tazri’ah/M’tzora’ which talks about the disease of Tzara’at, usually translated as leprosy. Our Sages interpreted this disease as a punishment for lashon hara’, speaking ill of someone. This disease was actually regarded as somewhat of a blessing-it was an immediate outward sign of one’s wrongdoing, which could then be atoned for and corrected. Too often, we are unaware that we ourselves are engaging in lashon hara’, and blind to the damage that our words can cause. Let us rather engage in lashon hatov-good speech. May our words only promote love and harmony among people. Shabbat Shalom and Hag Ha’atzmaut Sameah, Happy Israel Independence Day.

Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

We certainly had a meaningful Earth Day last weekend at Sunday school. The children learnt how to rehabilitate plants with Ms. Tam and each child was given one to take home. They re potted, trimmed, planted herbs and really learnt a great deal. Huge Toda Raba to Ms. Tam for her time, donation of plants and amazing enthusiasm.

Parshat Tazria-Metzora: The burden and gift of empathy
BY RABBI NOAH ZVI FARKAS | APR 26, 2017 |

For the past eight years, I have led a study group for physicians. Every few months, we get together for good food, some wine (OK, lots of wine) and to discuss issues like medical ethics.
About three years ago, several of the sessions clustered on the idea of whether doctors could have empathy toward their patients. As one of the doctors wrote to me: “Can you (should you) act empathic when you don’t feel it? Is it okay not to feel it? How can you feel it in every encounter when you see 25 patients, one after the next, day after day?”
This week’s double portion, Parashat Tazria-Metzora, very subtly raises these same questions. Of all the weekly readings, these two in the book of Leviticus are by far the most medical, dealing with topics like afterbirth, seminal discharges, skin eruptions, burns and sores. How do we make sense of these conditions? How do the rabbis understand them?

To begin, it is necessary to make an apology. For hundreds of years, religious scholars and rabbis have associated the theology of sin and guilt with that of disease. Often, in order to make a moral point about gossip or some other social ill, rabbis link this section in Leviticus with the text in Deuteronomy where Miriam criticizes Moses and then is struck by a skin eruption. Their conclusion tells us that to be declared tameh (literally unclean) is the same as being unfit ethically. To be sick is to be wrong, and to be debilitated makes you an abomination to both your fellow human beings and to God.
When we graft morality too heavily onto purity and wellness, we cause more suffering while ignoring the sanctity of the sick. To be unclean is not to be immoral.
One does not have to go far to see the danger in this thinking. How many would-be mothers are made to feel that something is morally wrong with them if they cannot bear children? How many people who have cancer feel that it’s a punishment for some unknowable crime?
When we graft morality too heavily onto purity and wellness, we cause more suffering while ignoring the sanctity of the sick.
Learning with my congregation’s doctors made it clear to me that they share much with the ancient priests of Israel, actually. The priests of our far-reaching past were twice burdened, first by God to be the caretaker of the Divine-human connection through the rituals of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), and again by the people themselves, who presented to the priest all manner of physical ailment. The same is true for the doctor who embodies the knowledge of science and then takes that knowledge and encounters real people.
Where they intersect the most is in the realm of human connection, the critical role of empathy. The parallels between doctoring and priestly work, the heady stuff of bearing witness to the most profound moments of human suffering, find their greatest expression in the empathic need for mutual recognition.
The word “patient” comes from the Latin meaning “to suffer.” The patient suffers and wants to be seen as a validated person in the eyes of the sacred authority. The priest/doctor can give validation through empathy, while feeling that they have been given a gift by being cum pati, with those who suffer, for their own life has been validated as consequential. Such is the dual gift-giving of being in service to one another and why the rabbis caution us to treat the sick with dignity and honor, for it is at the foot of their bed when we visit with care and love that God’s presence resides (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 335).
Lastly, we know from Leviticus itself what role empathy plays out in the act of holiness. The central theme of the Holiness Code, found a few chapters later, is that empathy itself leads to holiness. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) is one of the great cornerstones of Western morality.
This plays out nicely with those who have been healed from their sickness. After the priest sees them and welcomes them back to the community, a sacrificial rite is performed. The patient is brought to the literal center of the community and anointed in the same manner with the same rituals that anoint the High Priest over the people. Both priest and patient are bound together in this ritual of mutuality.
The ethical stance on sickness found in our Torah is not to see how the ill are immoral, but how those who suffer illness provoke us to become more moral by responding to their suffering in the same manner as the priest — with empathy, patience and care.

Bringing on the Light of Shabbat

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Let’s bring on the light of shabbat with your friendly neighborhood shul! TONIGHT Friday April 21, at the regular time of 7:00 PM  we’ll have Kabalat Shabbat. Shh – a couple of birthdays may also be celebrated.

   
Shabbat morning services this Saturday April 22 at 9 AM, with the Torah service at 9:45 AM. There will be an exciting and interactive children’s story time at 10:30 AM with Shereen Ben-Moshe and a kidish lunch immediately following services which will include Bob’s famous Hungarian cholent.  Thank you to Jared and Gracie for generously sponsoring the kidish.
 
Sunday Funday this Sunday April 23 at  10 AM. We will be doing planting activities in honor of earth day!
 
We are having a class on leading Mussaf. The first class will start on Wednesday May 3 at Beth El at 7:00 PM and be taught by Cantor Ben-Moshe. The class is open to all so please let us know if you are interested and let your friends know.  
 
Professor Ami Pedahzur Special shabbat speaker Friday May 19! 
 

Come and hear Professor Pedahzur who will give an fascinating talk about his latest research into the Six Day War in Israel. You will be sure to hear some amazing and little known facts and definitely be inspired. Professor

Pedhazur is the Arnold S. Chaplik professor in Israel and Diaspora Studies and

Professor in Government at the University of Texas.
Special Community Events:
Community Yom Hazikaron Commemoration:
Sunday April 30 at the JCC from 7- 8 PM. There will be a moving commemoration of Israel’s fallen soldiers and defenders. Our very own Chazzan Ben-Moshe who served in the Israeli Defense Forces will be participating. Please join us.
 
COMMUNITY YOM HA’ATZMAUT FAMILY CELEBRATION:
Tuesday May 2, 5-7 pm JCC Community Hall.
Please join the Austin Community for a huge celebration of Israel Independence day. Tons of activities, food for sale, and much much more.
28 Israeli-themed activities like: Agam-inspired art, mud face painting, play-inspired shuk shopping, vegetable harvesting, dancing with Israeli lags and music, and MUCH more.
An authentic dinner: Falafel, Shakshukah, Israeli salad, Tehini and Humus, pitas and chocolate balls for desert.To purchase tickets go to: www.shalomaustin.org/israelindependence
 Professor Pedhazur
Candle lighting in Austin is at 7:45 PM
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ Weekly Parasha:
The Light We Make.
The great moment has come. For seven days – beginning on the 23rd Adar – Moses had consecrated Aaron and the priests. Now, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the time has arrived for Aaron to begin his service, ministering to the people on behalf of God:
It came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called to Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel, and he said to Aaron, take a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord.
What is the significance of the “eighth day,” the phrase that gives our sedra its name?  To understand the profound symbolism of the number eight, we have to go back to creation itself.
In the beginning, when all was “waste and void,” God created the universe. Day by day, the world unfolded. First, there were the domains: light and dark, the upper and lower waters, sea and dry land. Then there were the objects that filled the domains: the sun, moon and stars, then the fish and birds, and finally the land animals, culminating in mankind. Then came Shabbat, the seventh day, the day of limits and of holiness, on which first God, then His covenantal people, rested in order to show that there are boundaries to creation. There is an integrity to nature. Everything has its proper place, its ecological niche, its function and dignity in the totality of being. Holiness consists in respecting boundaries and honouring the natural order.
Thus, the seven days. But what of the eighth day – the day after creation? For this, we have to turn to Torah she-be’al peh, the oral tradition.
On the sixth day, God made His most fateful decision: to create a being who, like Himself, had the capacity to create. Admittedly, there is a fundamental distinction between human creativity (“something from something”) and Divine creativity (“something from nothing”). That is why human beings are “the image of God” but not – as Nietzsche argued – gods themselves.
Yet the ability to create goes hand in hand with the ability to destroy. There cannot be one without the other. Every new technology can be used to heal or harm. Every power can be turned to good or evil.
The danger immediately becomes clear. God tells the first man not to eat of the fruit of one tree. What kind of tree it was is irrelevant; what mattered was its symbolic function. It represents the fact that creation has boundaries – the most important being the boundary between the permitted and forbidden. That is why there had to be, even in paradise, something that was forbidden.  When the first two human beings ate of the forbidden fruit, the essential harmony between man and nature was broken. Humanity lost its innocence. For the first time, nature (the world we find) and culture (the world we make) came into conflict. The result was paradise lost.
According to the sages, this entire drama took place on the sixth day.  On that day, they were made, they were commanded about the tree, they transgressed the command and were sentenced to exile.
But in compassion, God allowed them a stay of sentence.  They were given an extra day in Eden – namely Shabbat. For the whole of that day, the sun did not set. As it too came to a close, God showed the first human beings how to make light:
With the going out of the Sabbath, the celestial light began to fade.  Adam was afraid that the serpent would attack him in the dark.  Therefore God illuminated his understanding, and he learned to rub two stones against each other and produce light for his needs.
This, according to the sages, is the reason we light a havdalah candle at the end of Shabbat to inaugurate the new week.
There is, in other words, a fundamental difference between the light of the first day (“And God said, Let there be light . . .”) and that of the eighth day. The light of the first day was created by God. The light of the eighth day is what God taught us to create. It symbolizes our “partnership with God in the work of creation.” There is no more beautiful image than this of how God empowers us to join Him in bringing light to the world. On Shabbat we remember God’s creation. On the eighth day (motsei Shabbat) we celebrate our creativity as the image and partner of God.
To understand the full significance of this story, we have to go back to one of the great myths of the ancient world: the myth of Prometheus. To the Greeks, the gods were essentially hostile to mankind. Zeus wanted to keep the art of making fire secret, but Prometheus stole a spark and taught men how to make it. Once the theft was discovered, Zeus punished him by having him chained to a rock, with an eagle pecking at his liver.
Against this background can we see the revolutionary character of Jewish faith. We believe that God wants human beings to exercise power: responsibly, creatively, and within limits set by the integrity of nature. The rabbinic account of how God taught Adam and Eve the secret of making fire is the precise opposite of the story of Prometheus. God seeks to confer dignity on the beings He made in His image as an act of love. He does not hide the secrets of the universe from us. He does not seek to keep mankind in a state of ignorance or dependence. The creative God empowers us to be creative and begins by teaching us how. He wants us to be guardians of the world He has entrusted to our care. That is the significance of the eighth day. It is the human counterpart of the first day of creation.
We now understand the symbolic significance of the eighth day in relation to the Tabernacle. As we have noted elsewhere, the linguistic parallels in the Torah show that the construction of the mishkan in the wilderness mirrors the Divine creation of the world. The Tabernacle was intended to be a miniature universe, a symbolic microcosmos, constructed by human beings. Just as God made the earth as a home for mankind, so the Israelites in the wilderness built the Tabernacle as a symbolic home for God. It was their act of creation.
So it had to begin on the eighth day, just as Adam and Eve began their creative endeavour on the eighth day. Just as God showed them how to make light so, many centuries later, He taught the Israelites how to make a space for the Divine presence so that they too would be accompanied by light – God’s light, in the form of the fire that consumed the sacrifices, and the light of the menorah.  If the first day represents Divine creation, the eighth day signifies human creation under the tutelage and sovereignty of God.
We now see the extraordinary and intimate connection between four themes: (1) the creation of the universe; (2) the building of the sanctuary; (3) the Havdalah ceremony at the end of Shabbat; and (4) the number eight.
The story of creation tells us that nature is not a blind struggle between contending forces, in which the strongest wins and power is the most important gift.  To the contrary: the universe is fundamentally good.  It is a place of ordered harmony, the intelligible design of a single creator.
That harmony is constantly threatened by humankind.  In the covenant with Noah, God establishes a minimum threshold for human civilisation.  In the covenant with Israel, he establishes a higher code of holiness.  Just as the universe is the home God makes for us, so the holy is the home we make for God, symbolized first by the mishkan, the Tabernacle, then the Temple, and now the synagogue.
And it begins by the creation of light. Just as God began by making light on the first day, so in the ceremony of havdalah we make light on the eighth day, the start of human creativity, and in so doing we become God’s partners in the work of creation. Like Him, we begin by creating light and proceed to make distinctions (“Blessed are you . . . who makes a distinction between sacred and profane, light and darkness . . .”). The eighth day thus becomes the great moment at which God entrusts His creative work to the people He has taken as His covenantal partners. So it was with the Tabernacle, and so it is with us.
This is a vision of great beauty.  It sees the world as a place of order in which everything has its place and dignity within the richly differentiated tapestry of creation. To be holy is to be a guardian of that order, a task delegated to us by God. That is both an intellectual and ethical challenge: intellectually to recognise the boundaries and limits of nature, ethically to have the humility to preserve and conserve the world for the sake of generations yet to come.
In the midst of what can sometimes seem to be the dark and chaos of the human world, our task is to create order and light.
Special Community Events:
Community Yom Hazikaron Commemoration:
Sunday April 30 at the JCC from 7- 8 PM. There will be a moving commemoration of Israel’s fallen soldiers and defenders. Our very own Chazzan Ben-Moshe who served in the Israeli Defense Forces will be participating. Please join us.
 
COMMUNITY YOM HA’ATZMAUT FAMILY CELEBRATION:
Tuesday May 2, 5-7 pm JCC Community Hall.
Please join the Austin Community for a huge celebration of Israel Independence day. Tons of activities, food for sale, and much much more.
28 Israeli-themed activities like: Agam-inspired art, mud face painting, play-inspired shuk shopping, vegetable harvesting, dancing with Israeli lags and music, and MUCH more.
An authentic dinner: Falafel, Shakshukah, Israeli salad, Tehini and Humus, pitas and chocolate balls for desert.To purchase tickets go to: www.shalomaustin.org/israelindependence

Passover Intermediate Days

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We hope you all are having a truly meaningful Pesach and will join us TONIGHT Friday April 14, at the regular time of 7:00 PM for Kabalat Shabbat. Come a tiny bit early and we can light shabbat candles together.

No Sunday school this week due to the Yom Tov of Passover. Please see the lovely photos of the Sunday school children’s posters from last week’s inspiring class.

CLASS ON LEADING MUSSAF:
The first class will start on Wednesday May 3 at Beth El at 7:00 PM and be taught by Cantor Ben-Moshe. The class is free and open to all so please join us and tell your friends.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 7:40 PM

Friday January 6, Rabbi Daniel Septimus CEO of the Austin JCC will likewise be our guest speaker at Beth El.

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week is of course Passover, and the Torah reading for this Shabbat is the same as that read for the Intermediate Shabbat of Sukkoth, detailing the list of Festivals. Monday, though, is the Seventh Day of Passover, and on that day we read about the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and the Song of the Sea. The Festival comes to a close as the Exodus came to a close. In the text, Moshe tells the People not to fear-and the Midrash teaches that the Sea did not split until Nahshon Ben Amminadav stepped into the water. The main lesson at the Sea of Reeds was courage. The former slaves needed to learn this lesson-and we, their descendants, need it as well. May we always find the courage do do what we need, no matter what is before or behind us. Shabbat Shalom u’Mo’adim L’simhah.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

HAPPY APRIL BIRTHDAYS:
Jakob U and Andy, Jaia Sara M, Bam R, Betsy M, Iris K, Sasi A, Larry B, Yosef and Sofia A, David H, David W, You all are fabulous! Mazal tov and until 120!
Mazal Tov to Morah Lital on the birth of her baby boy on Passover.

Photos of last week’s Sunday Funday. The children worked in groups of mixed ages and abilities and were each given a Passover theme. They were tasked with researching all aspects of the topic, using books, I pads, laptops or even their phones. The students were so engrossed in the learning that they didn’t even want to go on their break! Each group chose a student to present their finished boards to the rest of the Sunday school. We had such polite and eloquent speakers. Yesher Koach to the students and their unbelievable teachers. We parents were blown away as were all our guests at the Passover Seder when the boards were displayed for the congregation and community.

Huge Passover prep thank yous to Lori and Dave, Michelle, Claudia, Jared and Gracie, Kevin, Yesenia and Joakin, Elaine, Iris, Sara, Shereen and her lovely Mom Debbie, Irene, Tam and Javis. And to all those who helped serve the delicious meal on Passover including Diana, Deborah, Elaine, Anat, Orli, Natalie and others, thank you so much. What a lovely shul where folks see what needs to be done, roll up their sleeves and dive right in. You all make it a very special place!
What an honor to have such wonderful folks attend. We loved having having you all and you helped us fulfill the special passover mitzvah of :”Let all who are hungry come and eat; let all who are in need come share our Passover”. Many helped, many donated and many enjoyed. Le Shana Haba’ah be Yerushalaim or at Beth El.

Community Yom Hazikaron Commemoration:
Sunday April 30 at the JCC from 7-8PM. There will be a moving commemoration of Israel’s fallen soldiers and defenders. Our very own Chazzan Ben-Moshe will be participating. Please join us.

COMMUNITY YOM HAATZMAUT FAMILY CELEBRATION:
Tuesday May 2, 5-7 pm JCC Community Hall.
Please join the Austin Community for a huge celebration of Israel Independence day. Tons of activities, food for sale, and much much more.

28 Israeli-themed activities like: Agam-inspired art, mud face painting, play-inspired shuk shopping, vegetable harvesting, dancing with Israeli lags and music, and MUCH more.

An authentic dinner: Falafel, Shakshukah, Israeli salad, Tehini and Humus, pitas and chocolate balls for desert.To purchase tickets go to:www.shalomaustin.org/israelindependence

Passover Interactive Learning with mixed age groups

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Passover Learning and Preparation at Beth El’s Religious School

This coming Sunday we will continue what we started last Sunday with our BERS kids. We will take a deeper look into Pesach and it’s traditions. The children will be divided into mixed-aged groups and each team will research an aspect of Passover, create a project, and then present it. These projects will be on display for our Annual Congregational Seder.

We hope all our BERS families will join other BE families and friends for an interactive, meaningful, and fun seder led by Cantor Ben-Moshe on the evening of April 11.

passover posters 1passover posters 2

Shabbat shalom and Herb Kadish z’l Obituary

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Hope you all had a great week and will join us TONIGHT Friday April 7, at the regular time of 7:00 PM for Kabalat Shabbat.

Shabbat morning services this Saturday April 8th at 9 AM, with the Torah service at 9:45 AM. There is always a lovely and interactive children’s story time at 10:30 AM with Shereen Ben-Moshe and a kidish lunch immediately following services.

Sunday Funday this Sunday April 9 at 10 AM. Lots of learning and research in collaborative groups this week. Their work will be on display during Passover.

Only a few days till Passover! We would like to wish you all a Chag Sameach and Kasher. As you know, we are hosting a second night seder at Beth El Tuesday April 11 at 6:30 PM. Not too late to reserve your spot. It’s truly a beautiful and momentous event.

Please join us Wednesday April 12 at 8:15 PM at shul to mark the yahrtzeit of Cantor Ben-Moshe’s late father, Milton Mann of blessed memory.

We are doing a class on leading Mussaf. The first class will start on Wednesday May 3 at Beth El at 7:00 PM and be taught by Cantor Ben-Moshe. The class is open to all so please let us know if you are interested.

And on a very sad note, this week we mourn the loss of our beloved friend and long time congregant Herb Kadish of blessed memory. Herb passed away last shabbas in Chicago at the age of 94 surrounded by his loving family. Please see below for Herb’s (z’l) obituary.

Candle lighting in Austin is at 7:36 PM

Friday January 6, Rabbi Daniel Septimus CEO of the Austin JCC will likewise be our guest speaker at Beth El.

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week we read Parshat Tzav, continuing the description of how sacrifices were to be offered in the Mishkan, and following with the ordination ceremony for Aharon and his sons as priests. The rituals seem foreign to us-we are perhaps taken aback by the descriptions of blood being thrown on the altar or smeared on the bodies of the Kohanim. Similarly, we today might balk at the idea of personally overseeing the slaughter, flaying and evisceration of a lamb or a kid as essential preparation for Passover. What we need to look at though is the spirit behind these rituals-the desire to draw close to God and to express gratitude for our freedom from bondage. We are not our ancestors. We do things very differently than they did millennia ago. However, we should pray that our rituals and practices enhance our own relationship with the Divine. May our Passover Seders this year, and every year, express our own gratitude for liberty, just as the original Paschal Sacrifice expressed the gratitude of slave who were about to be liberated. Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameah.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe

HAPPY APRIL BIRTHDAYS:

Jakob U and Andy, Jaia Sara M, Bam, Betsy M, Iris K, Sasi A, Larry B, Yosef and Sofia A, David H, David W, You all are fabulous! Mazal tov and until 120!

Thank you to Rabbi Cantor Marie Betcher who came to Beth El last week and gave such a deeply moving and inspiring talk about the critical work she does as a Police Chaplain for Cedar Park and Austin. We were deeply moved by the stories she shared and inspired by the chesed she does. We hope to share more such beautiful shabbats with Rabbi Betcher.

Passover Learning and Preparation at Beth El’s Religious School this Sunday April 9.

This coming Sunday we will continue what we started last Sunday with our BERS kids. We will take a deeper look into Pesach and its traditions. The children will be divided into mixed-aged groups and each team will research an aspect of Passover, create a project, and then present it. These projects will be on display for our Annual Congregational Seder.
We hope all our BERS families will join other BE families and friends for an interactive, meaningful, and fun seder led by Cantor Ben-Moshe on the evening of April 11.

Passover cleaning at Beth El this Sunday April 9 right after Hebrew school. Every pair of hands will be put to good use!

** Huge thank yous so far to Lori and Dave, Michelle, Claudia, Yesenia and Joakin, Doris and Herschel, Elaine, Iris, Javis.

In Loving memory of Herb Kadish z’l:
It is with a heavy heart that we let you know of the passing of our beloved friend and congregant Herb Kadish this past shabbas in Chicago. Herb (may his memory be for a blessing) was a long time and treasured congregant of Beth El, attending every Friday service with his late wife and our dear friend Phyllis (of blessed memory). Herb had just celebrated his 94th birthday.

Below is the obituary for Herb, but we wanted to let you all know that even up till a couple of months ago we were in regular contact with Herb. Herb would always ask about the shul, our Cantor and our congregants and then tell lovely stories of his family. Herb (z’l) was surrounded by family and for the past few years has had the blessing of being with several of his children and grandchildren in Chicago. We will always remember Herb as a true mentsch, who had a kind and generous heart, a deep love for Israel and his family, a good word and a hug for all of us。 Herb loved to study throughout his life and we even have two handmade bookshelves dedicated to his and Phyllis’s honor, filled with Jewish books. He was truly a fascinating man and Beth El will always treasure the time we had with him and Phyllis.

May Herb’s family be comforted among all the mourner’s of Zion and Jerusalem.

Herbert Kadish, age 94. Beloved husband of the late Phyllis, nee Noskin. He had four sons, Sanford (Susan) of Phoenix, AZ, Glenn (Jenny) of Everett, WA, Barry (Kathyrn) of Chicago and Benjamin (Julie) of Chicago. Devoted grandfather of Michael, Sharona (Ben Hassan), Samuel (Malka), Max and Ella Kadish. Proud great-grandfather of great grandchildren, Cohava Esther, Gabriella Rivka, Ruth Leah, and Tova Sarah Hassan, Yoseph Chaim and Mayer Simcha Kadish. Service Sunday, 12 noon, Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd (at Niles Center Road), Skokie. Interment Zion Gardens. Dad grew up on the North Side of Chicago, graduated from Crane Tech, attended Wright Junior College, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, graduated from the University of Chicago, where he met Phyllis, our mother, moved to Dallas, Texas in 1948 with Mom, had four sons, and they then moved back to Chicago in 1960. Our family lived and grew up in Evanston. In 1983 they moved to Austin, Texas, and he earned two masters degrees in Vocational Rehabilitation and Jewish Studies at the age of 63 from the University of Texas and, after retiring for a second time, audited classes for 25 years. In his later years, Dad was a very active member of the Jewish War Veterans. Dad was most proud of his family, which included his grandchildren and great grandchildren in Chicago, Seattle and Israel. He was a good guy. Donations should be made to your favorite Hillel at the college of your choice or the American Macular Degeneration Foundation (www.macular.org). Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com.

Published in a Chicago Tribune Media Group Publication on Apr. 2, 2017

 herb kadish z'l