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Friday

6:15 PM

Shabbat Evening Services

In-person and live-streamed

Saturday

9:30 AM

Shabbat Morning Services

WITH SPECIAL TORAH COVER DEDICATION CEREMONY

followed by Kiddush Luncheon

In-person and live-streamed

Saturday

10 AM

Babysitting

Sunday

9:15 AM

Minyan with Men's Club

followed by breakfast

In person and available on Zoom

NEW TORAH COVER DEDICATION CEREMONY

TOMORROW, August 26th

Thank you to all of our generous donors who made the purchase of our new, beautiful Torah covers possible by contributing to the Fred Bronfin Torah Preservation Fund:

Diane Africk

Jane Berins

Melanie and Daniel Bronfin

Elliot and Lisa Finkelstein

Robert Force

Reuben and Marlene Friedman

Ellen and Stan Kessler

Sandy Lassen and Elliott Lew

Ellen Levy

Robin and Nathan Lew

Henry and Jan Miller

Lisa and Michael Sackett

Rochelle Sackett

Diane and Mark Schleifstein

Sharon Ivker Sernik

Judy Steinberg

Peter and Sheryl Title

Ricardo and Marcela Totah

Eileen and Dana Wallen

Lorraine Williams 

Join us this Saturday as we dedicate our all new Torah covers and acknowledge and thank all of our wonderful congregants and community members who made it possible. Donations of any amount are still being accepted for those who wish to contribute. One blue cover and 8 white High Holiday covers are still available for inscription, for a donation of $2000 per cover.

In matters of style, I’m biased in favor of the traditional way of dressing. My wardrobe includes navy and gray pinstripe suits, a navy blue blazer and many crisp white button downs. 

My style has been limited, from another point of view, by the Torah. This week’s Torah portion, Key Taytze, includes the law which states, “You shall not wear clothing combining linen and wool.” (Deuteronomy 22:11). Mixed garments of linen and wool are termed shatnez, and while I do not send my suits to the shatnez lab for testing, I do read labels and avoid buying suits made from a combination of these two fibers. Given that I have spent nearly my entire life in the northeast, I always have gone with one hundred percent wool. Only recently did I purchase my first linen jacket, but given the high temperatures this week, it won’t be my last.

But what about cotton and cashmere together? Or, for that matter, wool and cashmere together? These are common combinations for sweaters. Cashmere is in fact a type of wool, derived not from a sheep but from an alpaca. A bit of research reveals that L.L. Bean’s “Wicked Cashmere Quarter Zip” sweater contains both cashmere and cotton and Brooks Brothers’ online catalog offers sweaters of wool and cashmere together. You’re probably wondering if shopping for clothes involves as much label reading as shopping for groceries, where you scan labels for the ingredients.

Our sages anticipated these questions and addressed them in the Jerusalem Talmud, or Yerushalmi. Edited in about 400 CE, and written in a different Aramaic than its Babylonian counterpart, we read in the tractate Kilayim 1:1-2:

• “And shatnez should not be worn by you.” I could think, even two kinds of wool or two kinds of linen. It was stated explicitly about garments, (Deut. 22:11) “do not wear shatnez, wool and linen together.” Just as for garments where I forbade you two kinds, neither one is of the subcategory of the other, so shatnez that I forbade you at any place, neither one is a subcategory of the other. Moreover, I would say, “wool” includes even sea flax, even hemp; the verse says “wool and linen”; just as wool cannot have an epithet so nothing else can have an epithet.

In other words, the “wool” which cannot be mixed with linen refers exclusively to the wool of sheep. Wool of other animals, like an alpaca, is not included in the prohibition. Likewise, alpaca wool and lamb’s wool are both wool, and therefore the prohibition doesn’t apply to them either. When it comes to sweaters, in other words, it’s not generally necessary to read labels.

Oh yes, and did I mention that my wardrobe actually does include a few cashmere sweaters. Though in New Orleans, you might just get by without one.



- Rabbi Scott Hoffman

Parashat Ki Teitzei

Torah: Deuteronomy 21:10 - 23:7

Maftir: Deuteronomy 23:4-7

Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10

The Torah reading for this week is in the panel above. If you do not have a Chumash at home, you can find it on the link below. We are reading Triennial Year 1, but you might like to read the full portion (“Full Kriyah”).

Our Shabbat brochure with yahrzeits and simchas for this week is attached. You might wish to take special notice of those who are sick, and take a moment to direct your thoughts towards them.

Thank you to all those listed below who performed the mitzvah of supporting our community this past week.

Shir Chadash Website

Online Giving

Great Non Profits Reviewed

USCJ

Crescent City Jewish News

Southern Jewish Life

Jewish Community Day School

PJ Library

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