Weekend services and work day
Congregants and friends,
We hope you had a great week. Come end it on the right note with wonderful Kaballat Shabbat services tonight, September 12 at 7pm.
Tomorrow morning, September 13 we will have our Shabbat morning services, starting at 9am. We hope you can join us. We would like to gratefully acknowledge Arthur Gurney for sponsoring a delicious Kiddush lunch following services in memory of his beloved mother’s yahrzeit.
Sunday morning at 10 am we will have our terrific Sunday school classes. The children had so much fun last week and are all looking forward to what surprises the teachers have for this week.
Sunday at 1 – 3 pm please JOIN US FOR A WORK DAY as we clean up and get the shul ready for the high Holidays. We’ll bring the tools, just bring yourselves.
Talking of which, check out the High Holiday schedule of services at :
If you’re on facebook, check out our Beth El Austin Facebook Group for announcements and photos. Please invite your family and friends to join our group!
**Wednesday evenings we continue our Mincha and Maariv midweek service at 7pm. All are welcome!
Saturday September 20 th at 7pm, we will have a very special Selichot service. We will have a 30 minute class given by Rabbi Michael Gisser of Fort hood Texas, followed by Mincha and Maariv services, a little nosh and schmooze, havdallah and slichot services.
Cantor Ben- Moshe’s Weekly message:
This week’s parshah, Ki Tavo, begins with the ritual for bringing the first fruits to the Sanctuary on the Festival of Shavu’oth. A farmer would bring his produce in a basket to the altar in the courtyard, and a cohen, a priest, would help the farmer make the ritual declaration which accompanied the offering. The cohen would feed the lines to the farmer, so that no one was embarrassed by not knowing them, in the same way that a groom is fed the appropriate line for placing the ring on the bride’s finger. The declaration begins with a familiar line-“My father was a wandering Aramean, who went down to Egypt….” We of course know this from the Haggadah of Passover, when we recount the events leading up to the Exodus from Egypt. The idea behind this declaration is to recognize where we came from, and to inculcate in us a sense of gratitude for the blessings which we enjoy now-blessings of freedom, of prosperity and of a spiritual purpose. May we like our ancestors recognize all of the good things with which the Holy one has blessed us. Shabbat Shalom.