Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh – Your Small Local Shul in Portland, Maine
Shaarey Tphiloh Prayers, by Caryl Herzfeld
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh
Please join us in our new location
Saturday morning services
9:30 a.m. Room 4A
400 Deering Avenue
Portland, Maine
December 10, 2016 – 10 Kislev 5777
Shabbat Vayetze
Genesis 28:10-32:3
Haftarah: Hosea 12:13-14:10
Candle lighting 3:46
Shabbat Service Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Ner Lamaore
Lorraine and Jonas Smith, in memory of Lorraine’s brother, Eli Cohen
Martin and Linda Brenerman, in memory of Saul Brenerman
Irving Grunes, in memory of Regina Grunes
Joel and Suzanne Krane, in memory of Louis Krane
Parashat Vayetze
A ladder stood on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven (28:12)
This is prayer.
(Zohar)
Jacob went out from Be’er Sheva, and he went to Charan
(Genesis 28:10)
The story of Jacob’s journey to Charan is the story of every soul’s descent to the physical world.
The soul, too, leaves behind the spiritual idyll of Be’er Sheva (literally, “Well of the Seven”—a reference to the supernal source of the seven divine attributes, or sefirot, from which the soul derives) and journeys to Charan (literally, “Wrath”): a place of lies, deceptions, struggle and hardship; a place in which material concerns consume one’s days and nights, sapping one’s energy, confusing one’s priorities, and all but obscuring the purpose for which one has come there in the first place.”
“…The soul, too, achieves its enduring significance only upon its descent into “Charan.” Only as a physical being, invested within a physical body and inhabiting a physical environment, can it fulfill the purpose of its creation, which is to build “adwelling for G‑d in the physical world.”
Chabad.org (From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)
Where Will I Find You
“Where, Lord, will I find you:
your place is high and obscure
And where
won’t I find you:
your glory fills the world….”
–Yehudah Halevi
Tr. Peter Cole
To read more, go to www.poetryfoundation.org
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh Board Meeting
The next meeting of the Shaarey Tphiloh Board of Directors will take place on Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 400 Deering Avenue. Call 773-0693 for details.
Shaarey Tphiloh Members and Friends:
Join Temple Beth El and Levey Day School, Wednesday, December 21, 5-8 p.m., 400 Deering Avenue for a Chanukah Party.
CHILDREN’S SHABBAT SERVICES
Led by volunteers Jeff & Abby Halpern
Temple Beth El Youth Lounge/Library (off of the Social Hall)
Joint Temple Beth El and Shaarey Tphiloh children’s Shabbat services will be held on the first and third Saturday every month through June.
– Tefillat Yeladim (K – 5th grade): Starting around 10:30 am. Kids will be collected from each minyan or the halls. We will finish around 11:30 am.
– Tot Shabbat (Toddler – Pre K): Starting at 11:15 am, parents, please drop off your kids at the Youth Lounge (off of the Social Hall). Kids will be returned in time for Adon Olam at the parents’ minyan.
In all programs, children within the age range are welcome to attend while parents are at either shul. Kids older than the age range are welcome to attend as special helpers. Kids younger than the age range are welcome to attend with parent’s company.
We welcome special guests (including parents or grandparents). Please email Jeff at jmh12@nullcase.edu if you want to be listed as a special guest.
Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine
Judaica Advisory Committee
The Sampson Center’s Judaica Advisory Committee at USM is seeking new members. Those who are interested in discussing membership on the committee should care about Maine Jewish history, preservation or collecting. If you are a creative thinker and value the preservation of the record of Maine Jewish life, call Committee Chairperson Susan Cummings-Lawrence at 799-9257 or e-mail at slawrence1@nullmyfairpoint.net for more details.
Learn how the committee works, about future activities and the group’s connections with the Sampson GLBT Advisory Committee and the African-American Advisory Committe
Grades 11-12 Community High School Program
Avis Smith
A community monthly class for students in grades 11 and 12 will be offered on Sundays from 5:00-6:30 PM. Registration is now under way.
Everything You Never Knew about Judaism!
(All the things you would not have learned in Religious School…)
We are excited to offer once again a Jewish studies program that is open to all high school juniors and seniors in Southern Maine. Our hope is that this program will provide an opportunity to get to know other Jewish high school students from the region, and to study and learn in an informal but stimulating environment. Teacher: Avis Smith
The classes will meet once a month, for a total of nine sessions, on Sundays, from 5:00 – 6:30 PM (no dinner, only snacks). This year’s dates are: September 25, October 30, November 20, December 18, January 22, February 12, March 25, April 30, and May 14.
The cost is $100. for the year. Classes will meet at Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland. For more information and to register call Louise at 879-0028.
Holocaust Studies with Anna Wrobel
~ Holocaust Cinema: rare and esoteric films, some from the direct postwar period, most of European origin.
Classes will meet from 6:00 to 9:00 pm on Wednesdays – 10/26; 11/30; 12/21; 1/25; 3/1. Films are listed at the JCA link below
$100.
~ Primo Levi ‘book club’: one book per month (not provided). Books and ordering information are listed at the JCA link below.
Classes will meet from 6:00-8:00pm on Wednesdays – 11/2; 12/7; 1/4; 2/1; 3/8 $100.
All classes held will be at JCA – 57 Ashmont Street, Portland, Maine
Yahrzeits This Week
1 Kislev Joseph Nelson
12 Kislev Hyman Finn, Joseph Wolf
13 Kislev Sarah Shepard
14 Kislev Eli Cohen, Harry Freedman, Yisrael Jacobson, Jacob Woolf
15 Kislev Bertina Arlock, Ida Cohen, Sarah Finsie, Harriet Goldfinger, Joseph Sheriff, Mr. Toochin
16 Kislev George Cohen, Fannie Meltzer, Maurice Waterman, Rae Wolf, Robert Woolf
17 Kislev Sarah Bernstein, Harlan Feuerstein, Helen Freedman, Bessie Kalin, William Needleman, Harold Punsky, William Singer, David Zolov
Shaarey Tphiloh is now celebrating 112 years as a traditional Jewish spiritual home in Maine!
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