Friday

6:15 PM

Shabbat Evening Services

In person and live-streamed

Saturday

9:30 AM

Shabbat Morning Services

followed by Kiddush Luncheon

sponsored by Eileen Wallen

in honor of her special birthday

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

COVID-19 UPDATE

Our Health Committee update as of December 7, 2022 is as follows:



'Tis the season for respiratory viruses . . . A "tridemic" of COVID, influenza, and RSV is currently upon us. As a result, we strongly encourage you to stay up to date with your COVID and flu vaccines. Bivalent COVID boosters are available for those ages 5 years and older. Flu vaccine is available for those ages 6 months and older.  Please visit vaccines.gov to find a location near you.  We also encourage frequent handwashing and wearing a mask in crowded indoor spaces. And if you are feeling sick, please stay home to help reduce the transmission of virus to others. Zay gezunt! Be well!

Please click HERE to read our guidelines in full.

Perhaps you remember the old days, when a man would return home from a hard day’s work and be met with a pipe, a martini, a newspaper and house slippers. The reality was less glamorous than that, but the idea was that when a man returned home from work, he was now entitled to relax. 

This image fails on many levels today, first because women are as likely to work outside the home today as men are. And because smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer. And because most of us drink less frequently. But one essential point remains – work does come to an end, and relaxation can then begin.

In this week’s portion, Shemot, which opens with the Israelites enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt, the rigorous character of the work is highlighted. Thus, all the tasks the Egyptians imposed were considered rigorous (Exodus 1:14) or they included all sorts of work in the fields (ibid.). But what makes slave labor more difficult, or more unpleasant, than other sorts of labor? 

In the ninth century CE Midrash Tanchuma (Vayetze 9), two answers are provided. One answer is that – if you will again excuse the outdated stereotypes involved – women were tasked with “men’s” work and men with “women’s” work. The other is that, even after the labor mandated by Pharaoh was completed, individual Egyptians took advantage of our ancestors and demanded that they work “overtime.” No pipe, martini, newspaper or slippers. To quote the midrash:



• What is meant by in all manner of service in the field? It means that after they had worked all day long with mortar and bricks, and returned home to rest in the evening, the Egyptians would come and say: “Go, gather some herbs from the field for me, chop down this tree for me, fill this barrel with water.” Hence, Scripture says: in all manner of service in the field.

• What is meant by in all manner of service? It means that the men were compelled to do women’s work, and the women, men’s work. An Egyptian would say to the man: “Get up! Knead the dough and bake the bread”; and to the woman, he would say: “Fill this barrel with water, chop down this tree, go out to the garden to bring me some herbs.”

In contrast to other forms of labor, slavery is meant not only to break a person’s back but also his or her spirit. With the slow but steady erosion of a sense of self-worth, slaves come to see themselves as their masters do.

Only our freedom, and Pharoah’s defeat, could reverse that damage. 

- Rabbi Scott Hoffman

Parashat Shemot

Torah: Exodus 1:1 - 2:25

Maftir: Exodus 2:23-25

Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13; 29:22-23

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.