For more information and details on how to sign-up for our limited outdoor in-person services, please visit ostns.org/reopening.
Mazel tov to Karen Hauptman, Noam Katz, and big sister Leah on the birth of a baby girl!
Virtual learning for today is sponsored by Sindy Udell in memory of her grandfather Robert Udell (Reuven Ben Moshe v. Taube). Tot Shabbat: Join Yoni Friedman this Shabbat, March 6 at 10:30 AM. Masks, social distancing, and registration required; register here.
OSTNS Youth Director/Youth Clergy Opening:Click here to see the job description and please pass along to anyone who may be interested!
Thank you to all those who donated food to Ohev's winter food drive for Yad Yehuda! We collected 3 bins worth of soups, lentils, and other cold weather foods.
Ohev Website Reminder: When making a payment, donation, or registering for an event, please remember to login to your member account. Doing so will avoid duplicate charges or payments missing from your account. If you need any assistance accessing your account, please email Alejandra@ostns.org. Thank you!
Thank you to our virtual learning sponsors for this past week: Grayce Warren-Boulton, Howard Marks, and Hanna Klapper. If you are interested in sponsoring a day of virtual learning for $54, please visit https://www.ohevdc.org/form/virtual-learning-sponsor.html
Spotlight on....
Please visit ostns.org/Pesach for information on:
Shmurah Matza Ordering (Deadline March 10)
Sale of Chametz Form
Matza Baking with Rabbi Herzfeld
Erev Pesach Seder Program
And more!
This Sunday: Maharat Friedman Speaking at Virtual Conference
Soupergirl Pesach Menu and Orders
Passover is just around the corner and Soupergirl is here to help! Many of us will, once again, be celebrating in a *different way.” Soupergirl is here to help! We will, once again be offering a healthy, hand-crafted, all natural, absolutely delicious Passover meal delivery program.
The Soupergirl menu includes some classics (charoset, tsimmes, and more), along with a full list of delicious soups and desserts. Everything is 100% plant-based (parve). Soupergirl is now accepting orders at www.soupergirlpassover.com
Delivery is available for orders over $50 ($13 delivery fee). Contactless curbside pick-up at the Soupergirl Takoma location is also available. This year, Soupergirl is offering a special 5% discount for Ohev members. Enter the code OHEV when checking out.
On Tuesday, March 2, George Johnson gave a talk titled "When One's Duty and the Right Thing are not the same, a Vietnam Memoir." A link to the recording can be found here.
OSTNS on YouTube!
The shul has two YouTube accounts which have recordings of past classes, shiurim, and events. They can be accessed here:
Comments on this Week's Parsha, Haftorah, and Special Additional Readings, Submitted by Rabbi Ben Mintz
In this week's parsha, Ki Tisa, we read of the golden calf, of Moshe shattering the two tablets in anger, and of God giving the Jewish people a new set of tablets. This Shabbos is also Shabbos Para, the third of the special Shabbosos before Pesach. In addition to reading haparshas hashavua, we read the part of the Torah that deals with the red heifer, hapara aduma.
In Ki Tisa, Moshe returns from Har Sinai carrying the two Tablets with God's words engraved on them. The Hebrew is "choroos al haluchos." The rabbis read the word "choroos" as "chairoos", which means "freedom". From this the rabbis learn that there cannot be a "free" person except one who observes the words of the commandments.
On seeing the golden calf, Moshe shatters the two tablets that he had just received. That scene has been preserved memorably by the Dutch artist Rembrandt, who painted Moshe smashing the tablets. Moshe then confronts his brother Aharon, asking him why he cooperated in fashioning the sinful golden calf. Aharon seeks to justify himself by saying that he took the gold objects given to him by the Jewish people and threw them into the fire. The golden calf, he explains, emerged from the fire. The rabbis comment that Aharon should have been more careful in his word choice. The word he chose -- "emerged" -- implies that the golden calf was a living creature.
The law of the "para aduma," the red heifer, is set forth in the Torah in parshas Chukas (Bamidbar,19:1), which is read in its entirety later in the year. The purpose of the ritual of the bringing of the red heifer is to remove an individual's uncleanness, "tum'a." What is remarkable is that the priests who process the red heifer become "unclean." In other words, the red heifer makes the unclean clean and the clean unclean. But perhaps this is not so surprising. We know from our experience that some whose function it is to make society better end up being corrupted themselves. Officials charged with enforcing the law end up breaking the law. This is the lesson of the para aduma.
The haftora is special for Shabbos Para, and contains memorable words from the book of Yechezkel (36:16-26): "And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit into you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh."
Haftorah Video, by Hal Brodsky z"l
Will return soon....
Upcoming Events and Weekly Schedule
To view and register for upcoming events and view the weekly schedule, visit our website's online calendar. Sign up for in-person services here.
Sunday, March 7 (Adar 23) 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 9:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 12:00p Exploring Judaism: The Richness of our Tradition with Rabbi Mintz via Zoom 5:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Monday, March 8 (Adar 24) Day of virtual learning sponsored by Grayce Warren-Boulton for the yartzeit of her grandmother, Grace Goldstein 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 5:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Tuesday, March 9 (Adar 25) 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) 5:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom) 7:00p Class with Baruch Roth via Zoom 8:15p Class with Rabbi Herzfeld: The Laws of Pesach
Wednesday, March 10 (Adar 26)
Day of virtual learning sponsored by Michael & Avril Weisman in memory of Michael's mother, Adella Errera Weisman 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 4:30p Book of Kings with Maharat Friedman via Zoom 5:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom) 8:00p Talk by Hannah Tsimmerman (Ends at 9:00p)
Thursday, March 11 (Adar 27) 7:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 4:00p Teen Torah Class on Parashat Hashavua by Rabbi Herzfeld 5:55p Mincha/Maariv (in person or via Zoom)
Erev Shabbat, March 12 (Adar 28) 7:00a Daf Yomi with Rabbi Herzfeld 8:00a Shacharit (in person or via Zoom) 5:50p Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat (Registration required; Mincha available via Zoom) 5:54p Candle Lighting
Lauren Landau Bear Herzfeld Mark Katkov Michael Kott Theodore Furchtgott Zachary Klugman Ari Evans David Jackson Shari Kleiner Ami Epstein Barry Klein Caryn Wexler Shira Glassman Shoshi Walder Victor Stone Nina Glasner
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Members Observing Yahrzeits
Thursday Moshe Horowitz for father Elliot Horowitz
Friday Harris Cohen for Grandmother Evelyn Cohen Norma Burdett for grandfather-in-law Isadore Mallinoff Ronald Viener for grandfather Hyman Viener
Shabbat Stuart Leven for mother Sari Leven Camras
Sunday Julie (Julius) Levine for mother Matilda Levine
Monday Edward Snyder for father-in-law Leon Kronish Yocheved Heiligman for mother Renee Woolf
Wednesday Jill Sacks for father Herman Kravitz
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