Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh – Your Small Local Shul in Portland, Maine
Shaarey Tphiloh Prayers, by Caryl Herzfeld
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh
Welcome to Shabbat Services
Hukkat
July 16, 2016 – 10 Tammuz 5776
Numbers 16:1-18:32
Haftarah: Judges 11:1-33
Candle lighting 8:01 p.m.
Shabbat Services
Saturday, July 16, 2016 9:30 a.m.
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh, 76 Noyes St. Portland, ME 04103
President: Dr. Natan Kahn
Administrative Director: Susan C. Lawrence
www.mainesynagogue.org/wp 207-773-0693
maineshul@nullgmail.com cstexec@nullgmail.com
Shaarey Tphiloh Office Hours: T, Th, F 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Ner Lamaore
Janice Carpenter in memory of Ida Pachowsky
Parshat Hukkat
Water Consciousness
This week’s Torah portion, Chukat, can be viewed as a narrative about the Jewish people and water. Mayim (water in Hebrew) is mentioned twenty-two times. The portion begins with G-d’s command to mix water with the ashes of a red cow for purification. Next, Miriam dies, and the well which provided the Israelites with water (based on Miriam’s merit) disappears.[1] The Jewish people quarrel with Moses, kvetching, “There is no water to drink!” [2] Moses and Aaron then strike the rock and G-d brings forth water. Next, Moses asks the Edomites to pass through their land, with a promise not to drink their water, [3] or alternately, to buy it from them. [4] Then the Jewish people travel by way of the Sea of Reeds (where G-d had split the sea for them) and on their desert journey complain again about lacking water. They arrive in modern-day Jordan and sing an exultant song about their appreciation to G-d for water. Finally, the Torah portion ends with them encamped on the eastern bank of the Jordan River.
What is G-d teaching us through the Torah’s water narrative? The Jews’ experiences with water in the desert can be understood as a spiritual training to cultivate appreciation for G-d’s goodness. G-d takes the essential tangible resource of water (without which we cannot live for more than a few days) and gives it to us in an environment where we do not have it. We learn to appreciate water and to know who really provides it through the process described here of taking water for granted, losing it and then being given it by G-d. In an ultimate sense, water does not nourish us. G-d does. Water is one of the chief means by which G-d provides life to us every day. The see-saw experience of having water and then losing it is the means to develop the spiritual muscles of appreciating G-d.
Yet, always being on the positive side of having water leads a person to take it for granted. Today, piped water is incredibly convenient; it relieves us from shlepping our water from streams and cisterns to our homes. Today, people in the West tend to lack an appreciation of where water comes from, and they end up wasting and polluting it. Where appreciation ends, misuse begins.
Rabbi Yonatan Neril – Canfei Nesharim
Israel as a Case Study for Immigrant Integration
St. Pius X Church, 492 Ocean Ave, Portland, ME 04103
Thursday, July 14, 2016
5:45 PM – 8:30 PM
6:00 PM Blessing & Vegetarian Mediterranean Dinner
6:45 PM Guest speaker, Yehuda Yaakov, Consul General of Israel to New England.
Portland has roughly 10,000 immigrants. How does a small community face the challenge of absorbing these immigrants into the city? Since Israel’s establishment in 1948, Israel has welcomed millions of people from dozens of countries into its borders during three major waves of immigration in its 68-year history. Each wave of immigration imposed challenges for Israel, including housing and employment shortages, and integration into Israeli society. Hear how Israel was able to overcome some immigration issues, and the challenges they face today. Discuss beliefs, thoughts and feelings about immigration.
Suggested $10 donation at the door. Reservations required
To RSVP email Rev. Lori Whittemore lori@nullabbeyofhope.com or call (207) 699-899
Josh Pernick
Rabbinic Intern from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
More About Josh
Josh Pernick is currently a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in NY. A graduate of Brandeis University, he worked in the field of Jewish education for a number of years before beginning his rabbinic training at YCT, obtaining a Master of Arts in Teaching in Jewish Day School Elementary Education through the DeLeT program at Brandeis University as well as completing a post-graduate fellowship in Jewish education through the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators in Jerusalem.
He spent the past few years teaching Judaic studies at Jewish day schools in Charleston, SC, Watertown, MA and Atlanta GA, and currently teaches in a community education program at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in NY. Josh also serves on the Judaic Studies teaching staff during the summer at Camp Yavneh in Northwood, NH. The son of a pulpit rabbi, Josh is looking forward to beginning his rabbinic career at Shaarey Tphiloh, learning from all of you who have been part of this community for so many years about all of the unique qualities that make Shaarey Tphiloh such a warm and special place
Fall Community Festival
Center Day Camp, 74 Hackett Road, Windham, ME 04062
Sunday, September 18, 2016
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
1:15 pm – 2:00 pm
- Maine Attorney General Janet Mills and other speakers
- There will be guided activities for children during this time.
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
- Community organizations share information about themselves to the public
- We will have tables setup in the Schwartz building for organizations to display materials and invite community members to ask questions.
- Each organization that participates must have a representative from the organization present during this time to talk to community members.
- Face painting and food will be available during this time
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Adult and Family Enrichment such as Yoga.
How to participate:
Please mail us the name of your organization, the organizational representative who will attend and a description of what materials you will display. Along with contact information.
Deadline for participation: August 1st
Email to: Alexandra Sax
Jewish Community Alliance
asax@nullmainejewish.org
Kosher Food at Back Cove Hannaford
Hannaford at Back Cove is now carrying more items in its Kosher food freezer located at back of store. Ask an employee for more information.
FALLEN HEROES: Maine’s Jewish Sailors and Soldier Boys
by Susan Cummings-Lawrence
Thirty-four young Maine Jewish men died in the service of their country in the two World Wars. This project is meant to say a little something about some of them. More than just names on a public memorial marker or grave stone, these men were getting started in adult life. They had newly acquired high school and college diplomas. They had friends, families and communities who loved and valued them. They had goals and dreams. (SC-L)
Go to the online museum of Maine Historical Society― Maine Memory Network.
www.mainememory.net
Find four exhibits and two audio interviews with WWII veterans Mel Stone and Jim Friedlander. Also learn about the origins of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA, the founding of the Jacob Cousins Post #99 and the anti-Semitism and other social forces that made their development necessary and productive.
– Find former Shaarey Tphiloh members who were Fallen Heroes –
DONATIONS NEEDED FOR JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES ALL YEAR ROUND
Wish List:
Diapers and wipes
RICE!!
Baked Beans
Pasta Sauce & Pasta
Kid Friendly Snacks-granola bars, etc.
Cereal
Juice Boxes
Learning Opportunity at Chabad House
On Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Shimon Simons will teach Maimonides’ Hilchot Deot, “laws of character development,” at Chabad House, 11 Pomeroy Street, Portland. The next class meeting is Tuesday, January 19. Texts will be provided. Call Chabad House at 871-8947 for more details or check the December issue of the Jewish Journal.
GREAT JEWISH BOOKS AT THE YIDDISH BOOK CENTER THIS SUMMER
Every year, the Yiddish Book Center welcomes a group of enthusiastic, engaged high school students for our Great Jewish Books Summer Program. Applications for the 2016 program are due April 1.
Now in its fifth year, Great Jewish Books brings together a diverse group of rising high school juniors and seniors to spend a week reading important works of modern Jewish literature and discussing them in seminar-style classes led by college professors. Outside of class, they meet renowned visiting authors, enjoy group recreational activities in the Amherst area, and get a taste of college life while staying (with staff RAs) in dorms on the Hampshire College campus, adjacent to the Yiddish Book Center.
All students admitted to the program receive scholarships covering the full cost of tuition, room and board, books, and special events.
Because the program has proven so popular in the past, this year we’re offering two sessions of Great Jewish Books: July 24-29 and July 31-August 7.
You can learn more about the program at yiddishbookcenter.org/great-jewish-books or by calling or e-mailing us at 413-256-4900, ext. 143, orgreatjewishbooks@nullyiddishbookcenter.org. I’m also including a flyer about the program that can be downloaded here, which I hope you will post and share with others.
As we look forward to another exciting summer of Great Jewish Books, we appreciate your sharing this information with any prospective applicants you know.
No electronic devices are permitted. No electronic children’s toys or cell phones or cameras are permitted in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Please consider making a gift to one of our many funds. Call the office at 773-0693 for details. Thank you for your support of Shaarey Tphiloh. Contributions are tax-deductible.
Yahrzeits This Week
11 Tammuz Saul Shulman, Esther Sulkowitch
12 Tammuz Herman Greenstein, William Slade, Rose White
13 Tammuz Lillian Dansky, Anna Freedman, Arthur Hale
14 Tammuz Annie Greenberg, Reuben Greenberg, Pauline Robinson, Abraham Rodman, Abraham Tietz
15 Tammuz Maurice Cohen, Sophie Forman, Lena Modes, Celia Shapiro, Samuel Shatz
16 Tammuz Julius Comeras
17 Tammuz Isaac Ber, Hyman Erlick, Paul Gerber, Abraham Grushkin, Doris Hugo, Donald Shulman
Shaarey Tphiloh is now celebrating 112 years as a traditional Jewish spiritual home in Maine!
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