All Zoom links have migrated to our webpage! Click here to get there!
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Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, 6:15 PM
ON ZOOM ONLY
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Shabbat Morning Services followed by Kiddush lunch
Saturday, 9:30 AM
In-person and live-streamed
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Minyan with
Men's Club
Sunday, 9:15 AM
In person in the Chapel,
followed by breakfast.
Also available on Zoom.
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COVID-19 UPDATE - New Information |
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Our Health Committee update as of August 12, 2022 is as follows:
In the last 2-3 weeks, we have seen a precipitous drop in the rate of positive tests in the New Orleans area, and we are starting to see a drop in the hospitalization rate as well. In addition, our community threat level has been reduced from "High" to "Medium." All very encouraging news!
Unfortunately, we have also learned that with the recent highly contagious variants, vaccination does not prevent infection nor the ability to transmit the virus to others. However, it does continue to help protect against serious illness, hospitalization, and death. Therefore, vaccination remains important for one's personal protection but is less essential to the community's health at large.
As a result, the Health Committee has recommended that we lift our vaccine requirement for shul entry, and the recommendation was approved by the Board on Monday, August 8th. This decision is also in keeping with current local guidelines for schools and businesses.
We do continue to encourage everyone to be vaccinated, if eligible. The CDC recommends COVID-19 primary series vaccines for everyone ages 6 months and older, a booster for everyone ages 5 years and older, and a second booster for everyone ages 50 and older. Please note that special rules apply to those who are immunocompromised. Please visit the CDC website to learn more about staying up to date with vaccination.
Please click HERE to read our guidelines in full.
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Our Sages Speak:
Rabbinic Reflections on the Torah Portion
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This week’s portion, Vaetchanan, is one of two places in which the giving of the Ten Commandments is described. The other place is in portion Yitro in the book of Exodus, with slight differences in both wording and cantillation. One question which has always surrounded the revelation is what the Israelites actually heard. This gets to the heart of what we mean when we speak of the experience of revelation.
One approach, really the simplest, is that the Israelites heard the Ten Commandments, and then decided that this was as much of a revelation as they could manage. After the giving of the Decalogue, Moses would serve as the conduit of communication between G-d and the Jewish people. This is a reasonable approach, but in true Jewish fashion, it’s not the only one.
The Babylonian Talmud suggests in Makkot 23b-24a that the Israelites actually heard only the first two commandments. This is based on the switch between G-d’s use of the first person singular in commandments one and two and third person singular in the remaining commandments. Presumably the Israelites were, in this reading, only able to experience two commandments’ worth of divine revelation before needing to have Moses serve as intermediary.
But a Chasidic interpretation is really the most fascinating of all. It suggests that the Israelites heard only the first letter, of the first commandment, directly from G-d. And what is the first letter? An aleph, which of course is silent. In other words, in “hearing” G-d they really didn’t “hear” anything in the usual sense of the word.
I never understood this passage until one day in Israel in 1986. I had just graduated from college and was learning full-time in Jerusalem in preparation for rabbinical school. During the several months I was there, long-time refusenik Natan Sharansky arrived in Israel and made his first public appearance at the Jerusalem Theater. I recall the electricity of that evening, the palpable excitement which coursed through the thousands of young people like myself sitting in the audience that night.
People often ask me what Sharansky spoke about. And the answer is – I don’t recall. In fact, I don’t even recall if the address was given in English or Hebrew!
Like revelation itself, it’s not always the words that matter. It’s the experience of being in G-d’s presence – directly for the ancient Israelites, and, for me at least, indirectly on that extraordinarily moving night more than thirty five years ago.
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
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May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease,
when a great peace will embrace the whole world.
Then nation will not threaten nation,
and the human family will not again know war.
For all who live on earth shall realize
we have not come into being to hate or destroy.
We have come into being to praise, to labor, and to love.
Compassionate God, bless the leaders of all nations
With the power of compassion.
Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture:
I will bring peace to the land,
and you shall lie down and no one shall terrify you.
I will rid the land of vicious beasts
and it shall not be ravaged by war.
Let justice and righteousness flow like a mighty stream.
Let God’s peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea.
And let us say: Amen.
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Our God and God of our ancestors, with mercy accept our prayer on behalf of our country and its government. Pour out Your blessing upon this land, upon its inhabitants, upon its leaders, its judges, officers, and officials, who faithfully devote themselves to the needs of the public. Help them understand the rules of justice You have decreed, so that peace and security, happiness and freedom, will never depart from our land.
Adonai, God whose spirit is in all creatures, we pray that Your spirit be awakened within all the inhabitants of our land. Uproot from our hearts hatred and malice, jealousy and strife. Plant love and companionship, peace and friendship, among the many peoples and faiths who dwell in our nation. Grant us the knowledge to judge justly, the wisdom to act with compassion, and the understanding and courage to root out poverty from our land.
May it be Your will that our land be a blessing to all who dwell on earth, and may You cause all peoples to dwell in friendship and freedom. Speedily fulfill the vision of Your prophets: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” “For all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall know Me.” And let us say: Amen.
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Parashat Vaetchanan
Shabbat Nachamu
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Torah: Deuteronomy 5:1 - 7:11
Maftir: Deuteronomy 7:9-11
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1-26
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 3, but you might like to read the full portion (“Full Kriyah”).
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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.
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Thank you to all those listed below who performed the mitzvah of supporting our community this past week. |
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Bernard Berins Cemetery Fund
To: Ralph Seelig
In memory of Shirley Seelig
From: Ellen Levy
Caring Committee Fund
To: Ralph Seelig
In memory of our very dear friend, Shirley Seelig, who we will miss greatly.
From: Ken & Sue Rae Bishop
To: Lis Kahn
Our deepest condolences on the loss of your dear brother, Kenneth Lynderup
From: Ken & Sue Rae Bishop
Emanuel Steinberg Education Fund
To: Lis Kahn
In memory of Kenneth Lynderup
From: Judy Steinberg
To: Ralph Seelig
In memory of Shirley Seelig
From: Judy Steinberg
Fred Bronfin Torah Preservation Fund
To: Ralph Seelig
In memory of Shirley Seelig
From: Ellen Levy
General Fund
To: Ralph Seelig
In memory of Shirley Seelig
From: N'Ann & Jan Glade
To: Lis Kahn
In memory of your brother
From: N'Ann & Jan Glade
Kitchen Fund
To: The Seelig Family
In memory of Shirley Seelig
From: Robin & Nathan Lew
To: Lis Kahn
In memory of Lis Kahn's brother
From: Robin & Nathan Lew
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Rabbi's Discretionary Fund
To: Lis & Hugo Kahn & Family
In memory of Kenneth Lynderup. The Kaplinskys extend our condolences to his sister Lis Kahn (Hugo), and to the entire family
From: The Kaplinsky Family
To: Ralph Seelig & Family
In memory of the wonderful Shirley Seelig. May her memory be a blessing.
From: Mark & Barbara Kaplinsky
Will Samuels Memorial Fund
In memory of Ellen's parents, Vivian & Gilbert Levy
From: Ellen & Stan Kessler
In memory of Stan's parents, Sylvia & Milton Kessler
From: Ellen & Stan Kessler
To: Jan & N'Ann Glade
In honor of Jan & N'Ann Glade's 50th wedding anniversary
From: Ellen & Stan Kessler
Yahrzeit Fund
In memory of Reni Haftel Bloch
From: Betty Moore
In memory of Eugene Trachtman
From: Louis Trachtman
In memory of Jacob Joseph
From: Marc Goldman
In memory of David Rodman
From: Sara R. Gaethe
To: Lis & Hugo Kahn
Our deepest sympathy on the loss of Lis' brother, Kenneth Lynderup.
From: Gregory & Renee Rich
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Scott Hoffman
Rabbi
Executive Director
execdir@shirchadash.org
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Chaviva Sands
Director of Education & Programming
Sarah Lustig
Office Manager
shirchadash@shirchadash.org
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