The Book Club, which is open to all Jewish women regardless of affiliation, is held the third Wednesday of each month at Beth Shalom. At the annual planning meeting, held in August, the following list of books was selected for 5768.
September 19, 2007: The World to Come, by Dara Horn
October 17, 2007: Sex Wars by Marge Piercy
November 21, 2007: Rashi's Daughters, Book II, Miriam by Maggi Anton
December 19, 2007: Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky
January 16, 2008: The Angel of Forgetfulness, by Steve Stern
February 20, 2008: (Double Selection): The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees, and Because They Hate, by Brigitte Gabriel
March 19, 2008: A Day of Small Beginnings, by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum
April 16, 2008: The Book of Splendor, by Francis Sherwood
May 21, 2008: Golden Country, by Jennifer Gilmore
June 18, 2008: Accidents, by Yael Hedaya
July 16, 2008: The Ministry of Special Cases, by Nathan Englander
August 20, 2008: Messenger, by Daniel Silva
Friday, August 17, 2007
Shabbat Rocks
Come and join us
at Beth Shalom Synagogue!
“Shabbat Rocks”
Friday, August 17
6:30 p.m.
Come and join us for a musical service
Followed by a fancy dessert Oneg Shabbat
Followed by a fancy dessert Oneg Shabbat
Gently Used Women & Children's Designer Clothing Sale
W A N T E D
Round up your nearly new clothing for:
Gently Used Women & Children’s
Designer Clothing Sale
Women’s clothing, purses & shoes and
children sizes up to 4T
Sunday-Wednesday, October 7-10
Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Beth Shalom Synagogue
Open to the public
Accepting clothes
August 26 - September 9
Sundays: 10 a.m. - noon
Wednesdays: 4 - 6 p.m.
Clothing must be clean, less than 5 years old and on hangars.
Donations are tax deductible.
Call the synagogue if you have any
questions or would like to volunteer.
Round up your nearly new clothing for:
Gently Used Women & Children’s
Designer Clothing Sale
Women’s clothing, purses & shoes and
children sizes up to 4T
Sunday-Wednesday, October 7-10
Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Beth Shalom Synagogue
Open to the public
Accepting clothes
August 26 - September 9
Sundays: 10 a.m. - noon
Wednesdays: 4 - 6 p.m.
Clothing must be clean, less than 5 years old and on hangars.
Donations are tax deductible.
Call the synagogue if you have any
questions or would like to volunteer.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Weekly Announcements, Aug. 3
Upcoming Events:
Friday, August 3–6:30 p.m. SB Bat Mitzvah
Saturday, August 4–9:45 a.m. SB Bat Mitzvah
Saturday, August 11–9:45 a.m. Shabbat morning services followed by a sponsored kiddush luncheon in honor of Daryl G’s 65th birthday.
Tuesday, August 14–6:30 p.m. High Holiday singing: Beth Shalom Meshorerim. Call Michal Rubin for more information.
Wednesday, August 15:
7 p.m. Jewish Women’s Book Club Meeting in the social hall. This will also be the annual planning meeting. In addition to choosing titles for the next year, we will be discussing a possible change in venue. Plan to join us and bring your suggestions for next year’s reading list.
7:30 p.m. Board of Directors Meeting in the library.
Friday, August 17–6:30 p.m. “Rocking Shabbat” - Come and join us for a musical service followed by a fancy dessert Oneg Shabbat.
Thursday, August 23–5 p.m. Harvest Hope Food Bank project - volunteers will staff the emergency food pantry from 5-8 pm.
Sunday, August 26:
10 a.m. Unveiling of the stone for Matthew Nankin at Whaley Street Cemetery.
10 a.m. Accepting clothes for Beth Shalom’s Gently Used Women & Children’s Designer Clothing Sale. Women’s clothing, purses & shoes and children sizes up to 4T.
10:15 a.m. Hesed Outreach Meeting⁄Training in the social hall. Dr. David Greenhouse will be our guest speaker and will do a presentation and engage in a question and answer.
Wednesday, August 29–6:30 p.m. Hebrew School Faculty Workshop.
Tikkun olam:
The leaders of MAIN (Midlands Area Interfaith Network) are promoting a food drive for Harvest Hope Food Bank, through August 15. There is a Harvest Hope food barrel in the lobby at Beth Shalom Synagogue. Harvest Hope will pick up the donations August 15th and deliver the food to Harvest Hope. Please bring your donations of non-perishable food items and put them in the barrel during the four weeks of the drive. Harvest Hope, as you know from news reports, had the misfortune of losing a substantial amount of food because of a water line break earlier this summer. They are still trying to recover and this effort will be of enormous benefit to them and the hungry in our community. Thank you for helping us fight hunger in Columbia!
Friday, August 3–6:30 p.m. SB Bat Mitzvah
Saturday, August 4–9:45 a.m. SB Bat Mitzvah
Saturday, August 11–9:45 a.m. Shabbat morning services followed by a sponsored kiddush luncheon in honor of Daryl G’s 65th birthday.
Tuesday, August 14–6:30 p.m. High Holiday singing: Beth Shalom Meshorerim. Call Michal Rubin for more information.
Wednesday, August 15:
7 p.m. Jewish Women’s Book Club Meeting in the social hall. This will also be the annual planning meeting. In addition to choosing titles for the next year, we will be discussing a possible change in venue. Plan to join us and bring your suggestions for next year’s reading list.
7:30 p.m. Board of Directors Meeting in the library.
Friday, August 17–6:30 p.m. “Rocking Shabbat” - Come and join us for a musical service followed by a fancy dessert Oneg Shabbat.
Thursday, August 23–5 p.m. Harvest Hope Food Bank project - volunteers will staff the emergency food pantry from 5-8 pm.
Sunday, August 26:
10 a.m. Unveiling of the stone for Matthew Nankin at Whaley Street Cemetery.
10 a.m. Accepting clothes for Beth Shalom’s Gently Used Women & Children’s Designer Clothing Sale. Women’s clothing, purses & shoes and children sizes up to 4T.
10:15 a.m. Hesed Outreach Meeting⁄Training in the social hall. Dr. David Greenhouse will be our guest speaker and will do a presentation and engage in a question and answer.
Wednesday, August 29–6:30 p.m. Hebrew School Faculty Workshop.
Tikkun olam:
The leaders of MAIN (Midlands Area Interfaith Network) are promoting a food drive for Harvest Hope Food Bank, through August 15. There is a Harvest Hope food barrel in the lobby at Beth Shalom Synagogue. Harvest Hope will pick up the donations August 15th and deliver the food to Harvest Hope. Please bring your donations of non-perishable food items and put them in the barrel during the four weeks of the drive. Harvest Hope, as you know from news reports, had the misfortune of losing a substantial amount of food because of a water line break earlier this summer. They are still trying to recover and this effort will be of enormous benefit to them and the hungry in our community. Thank you for helping us fight hunger in Columbia!
Parshat Ekev
Parshat Ekev
(Isaiah 49:14-51:3)
August 4, 2007
20 Av 5767
This haftarah is the second of a series of haftarot which follow Tisha B'Av known as the "shiva d'nehamta – the seven of consolation". After the opening section, where Jerusalem is comforted with the prophecy that the return from exile will leave the nation repopulated, the prophet moves on to other issues, among them, God's despair over the failure of the people to respond to His call: "Why when I came was no one there? Why when I called, would none respond? (Isaiah 50:2) This verse indicates that God found it disconcerting that no one seemed to pay attention to His ability to redeem them from amongst the nations. It disturbed Him that they did not pay attention to His redemptive feats of the past and failed to apply examples from the past to their current situation. It bothered Him that no one called for Divine redemption. (A. Hakham, Isaiah, Daat Mikra, p⁄538-9) Rabbi David Kimche (Provance, 12th century) asserts that God is troubled that no one wants to return to Him, to do teshuva, to mend the relationship between God and the nation.
Rabbi Yochanan uses this verse as a proof text to illustrate God's great despair when synagogues fail to have a minyan or prayer quorum of ten: R. Yochanan says: Whenever the Holy One, blessed be He, comes into a Synagogue and does not find ten persons (the number of people required for a minyan or prayer quorum) there, He becomes angry at once. For it is said: "Why when I came was no one there? Why when I called, would none respond? (Isaiah 50:2) (Berachot 6b) Rashi points out the significance of Rabbi Yochanan's use of this verse. He notes that God is disappointed at the community's inability to 'answer', namely, recite those passages of the prayer service like the kedusha which require a minyan.
Rav Abraham Yitzhak Kook, the first chief rabbi of Eretz Yisrael in modern times (early 20th century), wrote a very interesting commentary to the aggadic (non legal) sections of a number of tractates of the Talmud, while he was still in his early 20's in Lithuania. In this commentary, known as Ein Ayah, Rav Kook gives this passage a sociological-theological twist: "The essence of the service to God, as understood in the Torah, is that all of the activities of life should be rooted in the service of the will of God. Anyone who thinks that the service of God is strictly a private experience, that one can set aside a discrete time for God but otherwise not have God in one's heart, such a person destroys the very essence of the Torah. For example, the building of a synagogue is an act of service to God; however, the purpose of the synagogue is that the community prayer in it, always, every day. This shows that the people who built it really intended to serve God by making God's service a way of life. However, if the people simply built a synagogue, this would not be indicated. This would show that they assume that service to God was a discrete thing but not a way of life. Such service does not even meet the goal for that particular thing or moment. So when God comes to a synagogue and does not find a minyan of ten, it is not the building that constitutes satisfactory service to God, for the essence of serving God is through how one leads one's life according to His will, blessed be He. (Ein Ayah Berachot 6b. pp. 24-25)
Rav Kook warns us that God is disturbed by disembodied participation. Judaism is a religion where one lives one's service to God not vicariously, not just in a moment of generosity, not with the expectation that one can just "pass the baton" to others, but as a constant life experience as a part of a living community. This is why, according to Rav Kook, that God is so sad when a shul cannot make a minyan.
This study piece is offered as a service of the United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva. It is prepared by Rabbi Mordechai (Mitchell) Silverstein, senior lecturer in Talmud and Midrash at the Conservative Yeshiva. He is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
With the permission of The United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Edward S. Romm - Director of Education
© 2007
Shabbat Shalom,
Henry Ray Wengrow
Ritual Chair
Beth Shalom
(Isaiah 49:14-51:3)
August 4, 2007
20 Av 5767
This haftarah is the second of a series of haftarot which follow Tisha B'Av known as the "shiva d'nehamta – the seven of consolation". After the opening section, where Jerusalem is comforted with the prophecy that the return from exile will leave the nation repopulated, the prophet moves on to other issues, among them, God's despair over the failure of the people to respond to His call: "Why when I came was no one there? Why when I called, would none respond? (Isaiah 50:2) This verse indicates that God found it disconcerting that no one seemed to pay attention to His ability to redeem them from amongst the nations. It disturbed Him that they did not pay attention to His redemptive feats of the past and failed to apply examples from the past to their current situation. It bothered Him that no one called for Divine redemption. (A. Hakham, Isaiah, Daat Mikra, p⁄538-9) Rabbi David Kimche (Provance, 12th century) asserts that God is troubled that no one wants to return to Him, to do teshuva, to mend the relationship between God and the nation.
Rabbi Yochanan uses this verse as a proof text to illustrate God's great despair when synagogues fail to have a minyan or prayer quorum of ten: R. Yochanan says: Whenever the Holy One, blessed be He, comes into a Synagogue and does not find ten persons (the number of people required for a minyan or prayer quorum) there, He becomes angry at once. For it is said: "Why when I came was no one there? Why when I called, would none respond? (Isaiah 50:2) (Berachot 6b) Rashi points out the significance of Rabbi Yochanan's use of this verse. He notes that God is disappointed at the community's inability to 'answer', namely, recite those passages of the prayer service like the kedusha which require a minyan.
Rav Abraham Yitzhak Kook, the first chief rabbi of Eretz Yisrael in modern times (early 20th century), wrote a very interesting commentary to the aggadic (non legal) sections of a number of tractates of the Talmud, while he was still in his early 20's in Lithuania. In this commentary, known as Ein Ayah, Rav Kook gives this passage a sociological-theological twist: "The essence of the service to God, as understood in the Torah, is that all of the activities of life should be rooted in the service of the will of God. Anyone who thinks that the service of God is strictly a private experience, that one can set aside a discrete time for God but otherwise not have God in one's heart, such a person destroys the very essence of the Torah. For example, the building of a synagogue is an act of service to God; however, the purpose of the synagogue is that the community prayer in it, always, every day. This shows that the people who built it really intended to serve God by making God's service a way of life. However, if the people simply built a synagogue, this would not be indicated. This would show that they assume that service to God was a discrete thing but not a way of life. Such service does not even meet the goal for that particular thing or moment. So when God comes to a synagogue and does not find a minyan of ten, it is not the building that constitutes satisfactory service to God, for the essence of serving God is through how one leads one's life according to His will, blessed be He. (Ein Ayah Berachot 6b. pp. 24-25)
Rav Kook warns us that God is disturbed by disembodied participation. Judaism is a religion where one lives one's service to God not vicariously, not just in a moment of generosity, not with the expectation that one can just "pass the baton" to others, but as a constant life experience as a part of a living community. This is why, according to Rav Kook, that God is so sad when a shul cannot make a minyan.
This study piece is offered as a service of the United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva. It is prepared by Rabbi Mordechai (Mitchell) Silverstein, senior lecturer in Talmud and Midrash at the Conservative Yeshiva. He is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
With the permission of The United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Edward S. Romm - Director of Education
© 2007
Shabbat Shalom,
Henry Ray Wengrow
Ritual Chair
Beth Shalom
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