For more information and details on how to sign-up for our limited outdoor in-person services, please visit ostns.org/reopening.
Mazal tov to Elley and Bob Kott on the bar mitzvah of their grandson, Seth Kott (Abraham Yaakov Ayal HaKohen) and on the birth of a grandson, Leo Emmitt (Aryeh Leib) Kott-Turner, to Jeri Kott and Gavin Turner.
Today's virtual learning is sponsored in honor of Jill Sacks for her birthday, by the Stixrud, Lachman, Ellen and David Epstein, and Weisman families.
Tot Shabbat this Week: Join Yoni Friedman this Shabbat, January 9 at 10:30 am, social distancing, and registration required; register here.
Copies of Never Alone by Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy are still available for purchase through Ohev at https://www.ohevdc.org/form/sharansky-book The link to the recorded lecture can be found below.
Building Community Meeting Please join the combined Building & Facilities Committee this Tuesday night January 12 at 8:00 PM via Zoom for a presentation regarding the status of plans to make our building more accessible and usable. We expect to have a representative from the selected contractor firm join the meeting. Zoom information: https://zoom.us/j/89680969540 Passcode: 590741
Thank you to our virtual learning sponsors for this past week: Nancy Switkes and Thera Swersky. If you are interested in sponsoring a day of virtual learning for $54, please email Alejandra at alejandra@ostns.org.
Spotlight On....
Thank you to Ohev Sholom for the Suppport to U.S. Army Soldiers
OSTNS on YouTube!
The shul has two YouTube accounts which have recordings of past classes, shiurim, and events. They can be accessed here:
On Tuesday, Jan. 5, Ohev Sholom and the Beltway Vaad hosted a discussion with Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy titled "Natan Sharansky's Experience with the Washington, DC Community," and about the debut of their new book "Never Alone." A recording is available here.
Words on the Weekly Parsha and Haftorah Contributed by Rabbi Ben Mintz
This Shabbos we begin the second book of the Torah: Shmos. The first parsha, also entitled Shmos, tells of the enslavement of the Children of Israel, and the selection of Moshe as their leader.
The parsha begins with a new king ascending the throne in Egypt who does not recognize the good things that Yosef did for the country. The king enslaves the descendents of Yaakov (Israel), fearing that they will become enemies of the Egyptians. He also decrees that all their newborn males are to be killed. In one family, a male son is born and, after a few months, can no longer be hidden. His parents place him in a small ark and float him at the river's edge. Miryam, his older sister, waits nearby to see what happens to him. The rabbis say that because Miryam waited for her brother, years later when she was smitten with skin disease, the Jews in the wilderness, being led to the Promised Land by that brother, Moshe, waited for seven days for her. (Bamidbar 12:15)
The king's daughter comes to bathe in the river, sees the ark, and takes the baby to the palace to raise him as her son. The scene is referred to in the song "It Ain't Necessarily So," in the Gershwin brothers' opera, "Porgy and Bess." The words: "Oh Moses was found in a stream / Moses was found in a stream / He floated on water, till old Pharaoh's daughter / She fished him -- she says -- from that stream."
Moshe is nursed by his mother and taught of his heritage before he is weaned. Years later, as a young man, he is walking outside the palace and sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave. In anger, he kills the Egyptian. The most obvious explanation is that Moshe wanted to save the slave's life. The rabbis add to this that Moshe had no hesitation in carrying out the killing, because he saw that in the future, the Egyptian involved would have no worthy descendants.
After another incident, Moshe flees Egypt and eventually,God speaks to him from the Burning Bush, informing him that he, Moshe, is to return to Egypt and lead the slaves out. When Moshe asks God who he should say spoke to him that day, God responds that he should say, "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh," ("I will be what I will be"), meaning, "I shall be with them in future difficulties just as I am with them in this difficulty." Moshe says, "It is enough to mention the present difficulty. Why talk about difficulties in the future?" God then says, tell them that "Ehyeh" sent me. In other words: Yes, do not talk about troubles that will occur in the future.
The Egyptian king reacts to Moshe's demand that the slaves be released by ordering that they work harder. The parsha ends with God telling Moshe that He will bring freedom to the slaves "b'yad chazaka," that is "with a mighty hand."
The haftorah is from Yeshiah, Isaiah. "In days to come, Yaakov will take root, Israel will sprout and blossom, and the face of the world will be covered with fruit." Significantly, the haftorah contains the phrase, "yoreh dei'ah," meaning "will teach and transmit knowledge." (28:9) This phrase is central in the certificate of ordination which is awarded to rabbis.
Sunday, January 10 (Tevet 26) 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 9:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 11:00a Exploring Judaism: The Richness of our Tradition with Rabbi Mintz via Zoom 4:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Monday, January 11 (Tevet 27) 7:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 12:30p Class with Rabbi Herzfeld on the Parsha via Zoom 4:00p Book of Shmuel with Maharat Friedman via Zoom 4:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Tuesday, January 12 (Tevet 28) 7:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 4:00p Parshah Storytime with Rabbi Herzfeld (recommended ages 4-6) 4:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom) 7:00p Class with Baruch Roth via Zoom 8:00p Winter Speaker Series: Talk with Dr. Leon Kass
Wednesday, January 13 (Tevet 29) 7:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 12:30p Class with Rabbi Herzfeld on the Parsha via Zoom 4:00p Book of Shmuel with Maharat Friedman via Zoom 4:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Thursday, January 14: Rosh Chodesh Shevat (Shevat 1) 7:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 4:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Erev Shabbat, January 15 (Shevat 2) 7:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 4:45p Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat (Registration required; Mincha available via Zoom) 4:52p Candle Lighting
Shabbat, January 16: Vaera (Shevat 3) 8:45a Shacharit (In person, registration required) 4:05p Daf Yomi 4:55p Mincha/Maariv 5:54p Havdalah
Sunday, January 17 (Shevat 4) 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 9:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 11:00a Exploring Judaism: The Richness of our Tradition with Rabbi Mintz via Zoom 5:05p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Lifecycles
Support our community and its members by making a donation dedicated in honor of (IHO) or in memory of (IMO) a loved one.
Jill Sacks Sarah Shapiro Cynthia Weintraub Neshama Wolf Raanan Hileman Shmuel Shoham Avigayil Jaffa Ben Yehuda Sol Glasner Alan Hyman Ann Wimpfheimer Batya Sperling-Milner Dorothy Marder Edward Snyder Ethan Pressberg Carol Teitelbaum Zachary Gruber
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Members Observing Yahrzeits
Thursday Benjamin Mintz for daughter Rachel Mintz Harriet Mintz for daughter Rachel Mintz Joseph Bonnett for father Harry Bonnett
Friday Thera Swersky for father Irving Ehrenthal
Sunday Dorothy Marder for Husband Stanley Marder Julie (Julius) Levine for grandmother Sarah Freed Sidney Rosenheim for wife Ida Rosenheim
Monday Ronald Viener for uncle Eli Viener
Tuesday Ralph Block for uncle Hyman Block
Wednesday Barbara Zakheim for mother Sarah Portnoi
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Annual Giving Plans for 2021 Ronald & Anne Abramson Anthony & Leone Abroms Yoni & Emily Appelbaum David & Naomi Balto Naomi Brodsky Eric Brown & Aliza Levine Jeffrey & Sandra Burt Belle Davis Kira Epstein Begal & William Begal Ellen & David Epstein Sarah & David Feith Sarah Fertig Trauben & Steven Trauben Yoni & Ruth Friedman Harold & Diana Furchtgott-Roth Carl & Laurie Gershman Shmuel & Rhanni Herzfeld Amos Hochstein & Rae Ringel James & Deborah Karesh David & Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen Wendy & Desmond Lachman Steven & Chani Laufer Nathan Lesser & Chani Bloom Steven & Sharon Lieberman James & Rachel Loeffler Joseph & Carol Low Jeffrey & Lea Mendelsohn Shaanan Meyerstein & Rachel Engelhart Michael Morse & Miriam Achtenberg Robert Parker & Mona Charen Matthew & Rebecca Price Baruch & Rachel Roth Yaakov & Arielle Roth Franklin Rubinstein & Nicole Goldstein Thomas & Jill Sacks Joseph & Claudia Saka Joshua Schenker & Julie Rapoport Schenker Susan Schutz Joshua Segal & Jennifer Geetter Starr & William Stixrud Samuel & Thera Swersky Nina & Peter Tarley Daniel & Cheryl Troy Michael & Avril Weisman Ann Werner Ben & Rachel Wildavsky Ariel & Andrea Wolf Reuven & Tamar Zakheim
Day of Virtual Learning (Zoom) Naomi Brodsky Jeffrey & Lea Mendelsohn Brian Miretzky Daniel & Alisa Schwartz Samuel & Thera Swersky Nancy Switkes & Jeffrey Fienberg Elena Tscherny Michael & Avril Weisman
DC Kosher Robert & Sara Gerstl
Hospital Donations Eitan Levisohn & Dina Epstein Nina & Peter Tarley Michael & Avril Weisman Samuel & Thera Swersky
General Gifts and Donations Abraham Cherrick & Debra Sunshine Udi and Tali Davidson Sarah & David Feith Katharine Floyd Seth Goldman & Julie Farkas David & Gayle Greene William Karlson Mariyan Kolev Jeffrey & Lea Mendelsohn Gary Miller Claire Mosenthal Eva Wildavsky
"In Honor of" Donations by: Shaw & Thomas Fodor Howard Gumnitzky, hospital donuts Kira Plagge & Adam Messinger. For Ohev's support of Micah Messinger's Bar Mitzvah. Helene Reisler in honor of the Ohev Sholom clergy, Rabbi Herzfeld and Maharat Friedman. Helene Reisler in honor of Sophie Schwartz Bat mitzvah Helene Reisler in honor of Liana Lesser Bat Mitzvah Annie Elizabeth (Chana) RyanMembership renew in honor of Neyde Freyesleben Michael & Avril Weisman. Mazel tov to Starr and Bill Stixrud on birth of their grandson Harrison
"In Memory of" Donations made by: Asher Breatross Max Chaikin in memory of my father, Samuel Chaikin Wendy Fanaroff in memory of my beloved mother, Helyn Steppa Fanaroff Raymond & Nina Foe. Benjamin Foer Yahrzeit Beverly Gendleman in memory of my mother, Rose Stoller Alan GordonFannie Gordon Yahrzeit Herbert & Sheila Grossman in memory of my father, Morris Neustadt Michael and Taube Import in memory of my sister Michael and Taube Import. Kate Goldman and Abraham Import Yahrzeits Betty Jordan Yahrzeit 12/17 & 12/18 Samuel and Esther Zaritsky Kenneth Josovitz & Sindy Udell Herman Flo Josovitz Yahrzeit Noam Katz & Karen Hauptman in memory of my father, Jack Katz Alan & Agnes Leshner in memory of my fahter, Saul Leshner Judith Levine IMO father Arnold Garfinkel Julie (Julius) Levine in memory of our beloved cousin William Dash. David & Giliah Litwack Arleen Meyers in memory of my mother, Mildred Levine Douglas & Mirna Pinsky Pesha Rubinstein David & Michelle Schwartz Esther Sherman in memory of my mother-in-law, Annie Sherman Esther Sherman in memory of my aun-in-law, Dora Datnowitz Henry Sherr, mother and father Yahrzeit Leslie Silverstone in memory of my father, Philip Silverstone Ann Sterling in memory of my father, Louis Luck Goldberg Ann Sterling in memory of my husband, Stanley Sterling Sidney & Elaine Waldstreicher. Yahrzeit Morris H. Neustadt Michael & Avril Weisman in Memory of Bradley Fields from Avril and Michael Weisman Ann Werner in memory of my husband, Stephan Werner and my father, Jack Kober
