Potluck Dinner 11/16

Tonight, November 16, we will be having a pot luck dinner.  Services are at our special time of 6:30 pm with our pot luck dinner immediately following services around 7:30 pm.  Please plan to bring a dairy or parve dish and join us for good food, friendship, and conversation.

Food Drive:  Our Sunday school is currently collecting food for the Austin Food Bank.  Please bring non-preishable food to the pot luck dinner.

Cantor Ben Moshe Message: This week in Parshat Toldot Yitzhak, we read about the Patriarch Yitzhak, but the parshah begins by saying that Avraham fathered Yitzhak, and ends with the conflict between Yitzhak’s sons, ‘Esav and Ya’kov. Yitzhak is overshadowed by his father and his sons. His main accomplishment seems to be re-opening the wells which his father had dug before him. It would be easy to dismiss him as a mere placekeeper, but let’s take a closer look. Remember, this is someone who’s father nearly killed him at God’s command. Later, Ya’kov refers to God as “Pahad Yitzhak“, the “Fear of Isaac”. Yitzhak was not merely in awe of God-he was actually afraid. And yet, he continued to walk in God’s ways and transmitted them to the next generation. In so doing, our ancestor can provide us with a powerful example. Many in our time are angry with God over the Shoah, the destruction of European Jewry in WWII. Rightly so-we wonder how God could let such a thing happen to our People. Yitzhak too had every right to be angry with the God who commanded Avraham to bind him to the altar and raise a knife against him. Nonetheless, he overcomes his anger and fear to continue God’s work. May the memory of our Patriarch always be for blessing, for us and for all of Israel. And may peace soon come to the South of the Land of Israel.