Yom Kippur begins Tonight with Kol Nidrei at 7 PM sharp.
This email includes all of the details and information for Yom Kippur. Of course, if you have any questions, please let us know. We look forward to seeing you!
Schedule: Yom Kippur
September 29 – Friday Evening – Kol Nidrei at 7:00 PM
September 30 – Saturday Day – Yom Kippur Shachrit Service at 9 AM
Yom Kippur Torah Service around 10:15 AM
Children’s services at 11 AM
Mincha at 5:15 PM, Neilah around 6:30 PM
Shofar – Tekiah Gdolah 7:45 PM followed by Break the Fast
Seating: We anticipate a large crowd and if requested are reserving places for our members. If you have a particular seat preference or would like seats reserved, please let us know ASAP.
Parking: Similar to years past, please reserve the places in the front of the building for the elderly and please note that parking should be only on the south side of Dominion Cove. Since it is an evening and shabbat, we may also park across the street in the office parking lot.
Participating: We need people to help with English readings, be ushers, and more. If you would like to help, please let us know.
Costs: As always, there is not a specific charge for the High Holidays and we are not taking tickets, but please be sure to send in your dues. If you did not receive a dues statement or have any questions about your dues, please let us know. You can go to www.bethelaustin.org/donate to donate or pay dues.
Kiddush: We gratefully thank Dani Kadosh and Juliette Meinstein for sponsoring a beautiful Break the Fast.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Elaine Shapiro for sponsoring the beautiful High Holiday flower arrangements.
We wish everyone a Shabbat Shalom and Gmar Hatima Tova.
גמר חתימה טובה
Other important Dates:
Sukkot
October 6 – Friday Evening – Friday Night Services at 6:30 PM with Dinner in the sukkah following services
Simchat Torah
October 12 – Thursday Evening – Simchat Torah Evening Services at 7:15 PM
Beth El’s 36 Anniversdary Dinner
Sunday November 5 at 6:15 PM at Beth El
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Weekly message:
This Shabbat is of course Yom Kippur, the “Shabbat Shabbaton”-the Sabbath of Sabbaths. This is the holiest day of the year, when we fast and spend the day in prayer in order to make atonement for our misdeeds. The day can seem overwhelming-rather like a marathon, and like a marathon, we can feel exhilaration at the end. It is important to remember, though, that the fasting and prayer are a means to an end-to repentance, to improving our souls. Even if we cannot fast for medical reasons, we can still do the inner work of self-examination and repentance. This year, and every year, may the spirit of Yom Kippur carry into the days that follow, so that we can be wholehearted in our faith and in our practice, and may we all find atonement for our human frailties. Shabbat Shalom, and my we all be sealed for goodness and life in the coming year.
I am attaching a prayer for those who are unable to fast, and wish to dedicate themselves to repentance on this holiest of days.
https://reformjudaism.org/…/meditation-yom-kippur-one-who-c…
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe
Pictured below is our beloved Morris Shapiro (z’l) of blessed memory last year when the Cantor went and blew the shofar for him and sweet Elaine.

No Sunday school this week, but please note that we need help to build the sukkah at 10 a.m. We invite our Chai Mitzvah Teens, and anyone else in the school and their parents to please help us build and decorate the sukkah.
Congregation Beth El’s 36th Double Chai Anniversary is Sunday November 5th 2017 at 6:15 PM. We will have an elegant kosher dinner, silent auction and entertainment. Save the date!
Rabbi Peter Tarlow’s Parashat Hashavua:
Rosh Ha’Shanah provided us with an opportunity to take an inventory of our own lives and our relationships with others. Tomorrow night as the sun sets Yom Kippur enters into our lives. Yom Kippur demands of us that we to turn to G-d, that we realize that each of us is a mere mortal, and asks us to seek G-d’s forgiveness for our failures and sins. Below is a list of actions about which each of us needs to contemplate and consider. As you think about your past year we hope that your fast be not only be easy but also meaningful and filled with a sense of spirituality and humility.
On Yom Kippur it is traditional to think about our failures. During the day think about these failures. Try to be totally honest with yourselves. Here are some things to consider:
Answer these questions in the privacy of your thoughts.
Have I lied this year?
Did I distort facts or manipulate my words and those of other people?
Did I pass judgment without knowing the facts?
Did I deceive others and yourself with half-truths?
Did I use other people’s failings to justify my own faults?
Did I do what I wanted to do without regard to others?
Did I use other people as mere instruments to satisfy my own needs?
How have I been selfish and/or self-serving?
Have I committed malicious gossip?
In any aspect of life have I been gluttonous?
Did we act in an arrogant or superior manner?
Do I demand one form of behavior for others and another form for myself?
Have I failed my family and friends?
How do I heal the hurts that I have committed?
What do I hope to do differently in this new year?
How have I lied to myself when I answered these questions?
During your fast, try to take the time to think about each of these questions and how G’d might judge your answers. May 5778 be a good year for each of you!
Our Best Wishes for an Easy and Meaningful Fast
“On Tzedakah” – By Gabbai Bam Rubenstein
On Sunday, 24 September, 2017, I had the opportunity to do a mitzvah, in the place of a different mitzvah. I joined a group of friends, and we went to an area that was devastated by Hurricane Harvey, to do “Tzedaka.” Allen has a huge smoke pit on a trailer. David also knows his way around a grill. Thom, Jeffrey, Holly and I were more like window dressing, but we did get the chance to do our part.
We started with about 250 or so pounds of meat. We also had enough buns for all the meat. We had at least 5 or 6 cans of beans, that I saw. And we had enough bags of cabbage, and carrots, and bins full of dressing, to make enough slaw to go around. We also had cases and cases of water, which we continuously added to an iced cooler.
People came up and asked, “How much?” and we got to tell them, “It’s free. How many would you like?”
One lady offered me a monetary donation. I got to tell her that her money was no good; but if she felt that she needed to donate, she should try a charity that her church likes.
However, the thing that made me stop in my tracks, have to turn away from the crowd and catch my breath, was when a woman came over and asked how much the water was. When she was told that it was free, you could feel the weight in her words, with what she said next. She looked at one of the guys helping her to her car and said, “The water is free? You’re giving it away? We haven’t had water for days.”
I’m pretty sure that the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are meant for doing things like this. And it felt good. Let’s strive for more Tzedakah in our community, and the world at large, as we enter 5778.