Shabboom! Weekly Announcements

Energize your week with Ohev Sholom                                      December 13, 2018

Shabbat Times and Announcements

Erev Shabbat, December 14 (Tevet 6)
6:30a Shacharit
4:28p Candle Lighting
4:30p Kabbalat Shabbat

Shabbat, December 15: Vayigash (Tevet 7)
9:15a Shacharit, with a Dvar Torah from Rabbi Herzfeld
10:30a Shabbat Youth Groups
10:30a Pickle Minyan
11:45a Kiddush Luncheon
3:05p Daf Yomi
3:35p Chaim Fruchter's Shiur
4:05p Mincha (in the Sanctuary) and Women's Tefillah Mincha (in the Chapel), followed by Seudah Shlishit with a Shiur from Aviva Krauss
5:29p Havdalah

Upcoming Kiddush Schedule
12/22: Kiddush
12/29: No food served
1/5: Kiddush Luncheon sponsored by the Bloom/Lesser family in honor of Aliza's bat mitzvah

Acoustics Presentation with Dan Clayton
Sunday, December 16, 2018, 3:30-4:30pm
Hosted by the Ohev Sholom Building Committee 

Join us for interactive presentation from Dan Clayton of Clayton Acoustics, who will be in town as he undertakes a preliminary acoustics study of Ohev Sholom. His goals are identifying the challenges of sound projection, noise, and other issues that we face. He will be discussing several projects that he has completed at other Orthodox synagogues across the country, followed by an opportunity for Q&A.

Read more about Clayton Acoustics here.

Comments on the Portion & Haftorah , Contributed by Rabbi Ben Mintz

In this week's Parsha, Vayigash, Joseph, second in command to the Pharaoh in Egypt, makes himself known to his brothers. The reunion is tearful and the Parsha says that Joseph embraced his younger brother, Benjamin, and cried on his "necks" (Tzavarav). The Midrash wonders why the word "necks" is in the plural, and explains that Joseph was crying over the destruction of the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem, which were to be in the territory of Benjamin. The first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE, and the second by the Romans in 70 CE. We remember these tragic events through the observance of a number of Fast Days. (See discussion below, under Fast Days).

Jacob then travels to Egypt to join his children. When the Parsha states that he traveled to greet his father, it says, "Vaye’esor  Yosef  mercavto," Joseph hooked up his chariot for the journey. The Rabbis are puzzled; did not Joseph, in his high position, have staff to take care of the details of preparing his chariot? 

The answer is memorable: "Ahava mekalkelet hashura"  Translation: "Love upsets the normal order of actions." Because of Joseph's love for his father and his eagerness to see him, he engaged in activity that ordinarily would be done by others. (Similarly, the Torah states that Abraham awoke "early in the morning" to embark on his journey to sacrifice his son in fulfillment of God's command. Bereshit Ch. 22:3)

The Rabbis state that the opposite is also true. When, later, the non-Jewish prophet Balaam sets out to curse the Jews, the Torah there, too, says that Balaam "saddled his ass" himself. (Bamidbar, 22:21), because "Hatred upsets the normal order of actions."  

The Haftorah is from the Book of Ezekiel, the last of the major prophets (the other two being Jeremiah and Isaiah). Ezekiel was exiled from Jerusalem by the Babylonians shortly before the destruction of the First Temple, and his prophetic career took place in exile. He prophesied that the Jewish Nation would be restored to its Land of Israel and that the Northern Kingdom and the Kingdom of Judah, which were separated after the death of King Solomon, would be reunited. Ezekiel represented this symbolically, taking two sticks, one called Efraim (the Northern Kingdom) and one called Judah, and predicted that the two sticks would be united, becoming a single stick. This is reflected in the Parsha, where the brothers, Judah and Joseph, symbolizing Judah and the Northern Kingdom, were finally united.

FAST DAYS
December 18, this Tuesday, is Asarah B’Teves, the Fast of the Tenth of Teves. This is one of the so-called "minor fasts" and recalls the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, initiating the events that would climax in the destruction of the First Temple, which is commemorated  by the Fast of Tisha B'Av during the summer.

The Haftorah on "minor" fast days is from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 55:6–56:8). In this Haftorah, God promises those who fear that they will not be accepted into the Jewish community (foreigners, eunuchs), that if they hold fast to God's covenant, God will give them, in His House and within his walls, "Yad Vashem", a "Name and a Monument," which "will not perish".

Yad Vashem, of course, is the name of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Israel, named with that same intent in mind – to give “a name and a monument” to the six million Jews murdered, and to the many communities destroyed, during the Holocaust. It also honors the Jews who fought against those Nazi efforts and the Gentiles who risked their own lives and well-being by helping Jews during that time. 

Haftorah Video, Contributed by Hal Brodsky Z"L

...will return next week!

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Contact Us

Synagogue Office
info@ostns.org
(202) 882-7225
Sarah Shapiro, Executive Director
Sarah.Shapiro@ostns.org
(202) 882-7225, ext. 103
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
RabbiShmuel@ostns.org
(202) 812-8900 
Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman
MaharatRuth@ostns.org
(202) 882-7225, ext. 107
Stacey Watson, Director of Engagement
Stacey.Watson@ostns.org
(202) 882-7225, ext. 102
Lisa Redisch, Director of Youth & Family Programs
youth@ostns.org
(202) 882-7225, ext. 105
Board of Directors
board@ostns.org
Hospitality & Welcome Committee
BeOurGuest@ostns.org
Mikvah Chaim
mikvahchaim.org
attendant@mikvahchaim.org
Cemetery Information
cemetery@ostns.org
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