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What can we do to bring some healing from last week's horrible tragic murder of 9 year old Leiby? We're not moving on so quickly from this one. People are asking what they can do.
Send condolences to the family by emailing [email protected].
Join the family's campaign "Learn for Leiby" by clicking here and adding in your Torah study in his memory.
Do outrageous acts of goodness.
That's right. This tragedy hurt us deeply partially because of the insanity of it all; it makes no sense... Its a fellow Jew, there seems to be absolutely no motive, and such unthinkable brutality. The whole thing is just shocking, there are no words, just tears...
Our response should be to fill our lives and our community with outrageous, unthinkable acts of goodness. Do something so good, for no reason, no motive, just because its good. Move people to tears with your random acts of kindness.
Which is consistent with the theme of the Three Weeks, a time of mourning to be transformed into great joy through our collective good deeds.
What we do counts. Our every positive thought, speech and deed have real impact on the real world. Let's make them count!
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Shalom M Paltiel
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Please join us for some of our classes.
Weekly Torah Portion
Sundays | 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Coffee & Parsha Class
Monday - Friday | 7:45 - 8:00 AM
Tanya Class
With Rabbi Paltiel
Saturdays | 8:45-9:30 AM
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G‑d's Chosen Home
When Maimonides discusses the biblical commandment to build a Sanctuary for G‑d, he quotes the verse: "Build for me a Holy Temple."
Click here to watch a 7 minute clip.
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Camp Gan Israel Photos
Click here to see photo album of all the summer fun at CGI.
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Golf and Tennis Celebration |
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The Jewish Children's Museum cordially invites you to participate in our 5th annual Golf and Tennis Celebration.
Monday, July 25, 2011 | 8:30 AM | The Village Club at Lake Success, NY
THE OUTING WILL BE CHAIRED BY MR & MRS MARK ENGEL OF PORT WASHINGTON.
Click here for more info.
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Conflict Resolution Over Challah
By: Rabbi Aron Moss
Sydney, Australia
Question:
I noticed on Friday night at the meal that before you blessed the Challah, you made a small cut in one of the loaves. What is the meaning of this custom?
Answer:
There are two reasons for making a cut in the Challah before the blessing. One reason is technical, the other mystical.
The technical reason is that we are supposed to minimise the time gap between making a blessing on food and eating it. So really when eating bread, we should start cutting the slice before we make the blessing. But on Shabbos we can't do that, because on Shabbos the bread we bless must be whole, not cut. Shabbos is the day that brought wholeness and completion to creation, and so we honour it by blessing on complete loaves.
So we have a conflict. On the one hand we are supposed to cut the bread before the blessing so as not to delay between blessing and eating, but on the other hand we can't cut the bread before the blessing, because then it won't be whole. So we compromise. We don't actually slice the bread, but we make a small mark so as to quicken the slicing but still leave the loaf whole. This is the ideal way to deal with two conflicting forces. Come up with a third option that satisfies both.
That's the technical reason. Here's the mystical one. By making a small cut on the bread, we are actually placing G‑d's name onto the Challah and inviting the divine presence to join our meal.
There are many names of G‑d in Hebrew. The holiest of divine names is spelt Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh. It is this name that we form on the Challah. The little cut is in the shape of a Yud, a small line. The five fingers on each of our two hands that hold the Challah are the two Hehs, which is the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And the Challah itself is in the shape of a Vav, a straight line between the two Hehs. So as we grasp the Challah and make the blessing, we literally invoke G‑d's name onto our bread.
These two explanations for slivering the Challah - compromising between two conflicting demands, and stamping G‑d's name on our food - represent the two most important elements to a Jewish home, harmony and holiness. Harmony means creating balance in our relationships with our fellow, holiness means enhancing our relationship with G‑d. The Shabbos meal is the perfect scene to work on both - finding harmony among conflicting viewpoints around the table, and creating holiness by bringing more G‑dliness into the conversation.
This is the symbolism behind the slicing of the Challah. That little slice is in fact pretty big.
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| B"H |
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Board of Directors
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Adam Katz, Esq., President
Frank Arnold
Bert Brodsky
Martin H. Brownstein, M.D.
Howard Fensterman, Esq.
M. Allan Hyman, Esq.
Sara E. Paltiel
Rabbi Shalom M. Paltiel
Alan Rosenzweig
Alan Salzbank
Michael Samuel
Felix Sater
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Shabbat Times
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| Shabbat Candle Lighting: |
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Friday, Jul 22
8:03 pm
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| Shabbat Ends: |
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Shabbat, Jul 23
9:08 pm
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Daily Thought
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Revolution
If you were there and the Romans or the Babylonians were about to destroy Jerusalem and you had the power to do something about it, would you sit and mourn and cry?
Or would you turn the world upside down to change history?
So what is stopping you? Overturn the world today!
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MAZEL TOV
Mazel tov to Sam and Sally Glasser on the engagement of their son Ira!
Glasser Family, Ira is to the left
BIRTHDAYSNeil Mordechai Fernanadez
Cheryl Podolsky 7/22
Lea Beatus 7/23
Eve Harari 7/24
Mr. Zelik Sander 7/24
Aimee Howard 7/26
Alex Rahmanan 7/27
Adam Savran 7/27
ANNIVERSARIES
Mr. & Mrs. Evan Friedberg 7/26
Robert & Carol Brenner 7/28
YARTZEITS
Josef Karp (Yosef Shlomo Mordechai Ben Dovid), observed by Ronald & Lea Beatus, Tammuz 21 - 7/23
Joseph Yamner (Pinchas Yosef), observed by Jeffrey & Cheryl Podolsky,
Tammuz 22 - 7/24
David Perl, observed by Leonard & Susan Lebovitch, Tammuz 24 - 7/26
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* PATRONIZE OUR SPONSORS *
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the parshah in a nutshell |
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Parshat Matot
 Moses conveys the laws governing the annulment of vows to the heads of the tribes of Israel.
War is waged against Midian for their role in plotting the moral destruction of Israel, and the Torah gives a detailed account of the war spoils and how they were allocated amongst the people, the warriors, the Levites and the high priest.
The tribes of Reuben and Gad (later joined by half of the tribe of Menasseh) ask for the lands east of the Jordan as their portion in the Promised Land, these being prime pastureland for their cattle. Moses is initially angered by the request, but subsequently agrees on the condition that they first join, and lead, in Israel's conquest of the lands west of the Jordan.
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