Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh – Your Small Local Shul in Portland, Maine
SHAAREY TPHILOH
Shabbat Shalom
שבת שלום
February 3-4, 2017
7-8 Shevat 5777
Please join us in our new location
400 Deering Avenue
Portland, Maine
Room 4A
Shabbat Bo
Exodus 10:1-13:16
Haftarah: Jer. 46:13-28
Candle lighting 4:37 pm
Havdalah 5:47 pm
Dear Shaarey Tphiloh Community
We hope that everyone is having a wonderful week. We would like to update you all as we welcome Daniel Heinrich to the Shaarey Tphiloh community as our new Administrative Assistant. Daniel will be taking over a number of responsibilities including the yahrzeit mailings, the Shaarey Tphiloh newsletter and weekly printed announcements. During this transition we ask for your patience and encourage your communication, if you have any questions feel free to call 773-0693 or send an email.
Best,
Natan
Rabbinic Intern Josh Pernick
February 10-12
Our Rabbinic Intern Josh Pernick will be joining us for Tu B’Shvat! We have a wonderful weekend planned!
Joint Kabbalat Shabbat led by Rebecca Blady
Tu B’shevat seder and discussion, led by Jeremy Borovitz and Rebecca
Etz Chaim services, featuring a guest speaker from Cultivating Community
Oneg with a tisch led by Jeremy and Rebecca
Join us for services on Shabbat followed by an extra special kiddush co-sponsored by Stan and Doris Pollack and Temple Beth El.
Jeremy Borovitz
Shtetl Dweller, Talmudic Storyteller, Beard Connoisseur.
Jeremy Borovitz was raised in Paramus, NJ. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2009, and joined the Peace Corps. Jeremy served in the village of Boyarka, Ukraine as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2010-2012, and then moved to Kiev, Ukraine, to work with the JDC as a Jewish Service Corps fellow. Jeremy then moved to Jerusalem and spent two years studying study at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. He also worked for Moishe House as the European Director of Jewish Education. Jeremy is currently in his second year as a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.
Rebecca Blady
Yogi, Phish Head, Navigator of the Holy.
Rebecca is studying for rabbinic ordination at Yeshivat Maharat. Prior to Yeshivat Maharat, Rebecca worked in film production and freelanced as a digital media specialist. Together with her husband Jeremy, she co-founded Base Berlin, a home-based, pluralistic Jewish community for young Jews in Berlin, Germany. Rebecca teaches and writes on topics related to Jewish identity and spirituality and is a certified yoga teacher. As a member of the inaugural ImmerseNYC fellowship, Rebecca is training to create and support deep ritual experiences. She is the Congregational Intern at the Prospect Heights Shul. Rebecca lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn with her husband Jeremy Borovitz. She holds a B.A. cum laude from Brandeis University.
TBE is Hosting a Tu B’Shvat Seder
Join TBE and Shaarey Tphiloh for a Tu B’Shvat seder for the community on February 10th at 6:30 pm after Kabbalat Shabbat Services in honor of Cantor Bex.
The meal will be kosher and catered by Daniel Heinrich and Hagai Bernstein of Humble Table Kosher Catering.
Space is limited, RSVPs are required.
Follow this link to RSVP by February 7
TBE’s Pop-Up Challah Shop
Benefiting the Kiddush Fund
Large: $5.00
Small: $3.00
Place your first order for fresh challah by Feb.2
Frozen challah will be available starting Feb. 5.
Here’s how it works:
Option 1: Ready-to-bake Frozen Dough
Pre-braided frozen Kosher challah dough will be available for immediate purchase during regular office hours and during KBE, 9a-12p.
Option 2: Made-to-order Fresh Baked Challah
To buy our fresh baked challah, simply email or call Daniel Heinrich at 774-2649 by on Thursday to place your order for the coming Shabbat. Orders will be ready for pick-up between 1pm and 3pm on Friday’s, or during weekend services if pre-paid by check or credit card.
Education Opportunities:
Art and Resolution: 1900 to Today
“Art and Resolution: 1900 to Today” includes work by Israeli photographer Adi Nes, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick. Call 725-3275 for more information.
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 – 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 – 2/1; 3/8 $100.
All classes held will be at JCA – 57 Ashmont Street, Portland, Maine
Yahrzeits
8 Shevat
Etta Dansky
Nehama Fleischer
David Millman
Zishi Rispler
9 Shevat
Ethel Cohen
Rose Erlick
Bertha Passman
Serita Shulman
10 Shevat
Isaac Golding
Sidney Levine
Max Stern
Mollie Stern
11 Shevat
Max Levine
Vigdor Lustig
Aaron Matluck
Irving Pinansky
Jesse Rosenberg
12 Shevat
Sarah Comeras
Joseph Golding
Harris Jacobs
Arthur Nemon
Marcia Rosenbloom
13 Shevat
Ida Bartfield
Fannie Cinamon
Miriam Nemon
Joseph Oransky
William Punsky
Bessie Schriro
Thomas Shapiro
Miriam Smith
14 Shevat
Jennie Polakewich
Perle Pollack
Samuel Shible
The Power is in Your Hands
Josh Pernick
In some sense, the end of the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz” is depressing. Dorothy is fooled into believing that the “Wizard of Oz” was a miraculous man, only to find out that he had been deceiving everyone the entire time. She then encounters the good witch Glinda, and hope is restored for a miraculous rescue. In response to Dorothy’s request for help, however, Glinda gives an unexpected response. “You don’t need to be helped any longer,” Glinda retorts. “You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.” The Scarecrow heatedly inquires why this information wasn’t made known earlier. Glinda asserts, “She wouldn’t have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.”
In some sense there is a sadness to this conclusion; the miraculous rescue that Dorothy was expecting was not to be. A far more empowering message, however, is taught; the power to be saved was located within her. Dorothy, just like Moshe in our parshah, needed to grow in her leadership before she was ready to hear this message. In Parshat Bo we encounter the plague of darkness, which on the surface seems like any other plague. Once again, the specifics of each interaction are recorded, now for the ninth time. A very subtle signal is sent by Moshe this time, though, an almost unnoticeable shift which convinced God that Moshe was ready. God tells Moshe (Exodus 10:21) “Stretch forth your hand towards the heavens, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt”. Moshe lifts his hand toward the heavens, and darkness descended. That’s it. Did you catch the signal?
We were introduced to Moshe in Parshat Shemot as a hesitant shepherd, fiercely opposed to the idea that he was capable of being a leader due to his lack of qualifications. God responded to Moshe’s concern (4:17), “Take this stick in your hand, with which you will perform all of the signs”. I imagine the sense of security that Moshe felt bringing this “magic wand” with him when confronting the most powerful man on the planet. Magic, after all, had been a part of Moshe’s life for the past eighty years. From the team of magicians employed by his adoptive father to the magical rites and rituals practiced by his “priestly” father-in-law, Moshe has been surrounded by magic his entire life. God conceded in allowing him to bring a “magical stick”, an object which gave him the requisite initial confidence which would allow him to grow into the recognition that the power to redeem actually rested within himself.
Moshe is hesitant to recognize the power that he possesses. Multiple times in plagues one through nine, God asks Moshe to bring about a plague himself, with his own hands. Each time, Moshe raises his wand in response. Moshe is not yet ready to accept that the power to effect change is in his own hands, and God will not let the people go until he does. Finally, on plague nine, Moshe comes to accept what is actually going on. The power was in him all along, but he had to learn it for himself.
This past week I attended a rally with a group of Orthodox rabbis. As we were leaving, one said to another, “Do you really feel like you’re making a difference coming to an event like this given the magnitude of the task?” The response? “The Messiah is brought into the world bit by bit”. As Rabbi Tarfon teaches in Pirkei Avot (2:15-16) “The day is short, the work is much, the workers are lazy, the reward is great, and the Master is pressing. It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it”. May we all come to recognize the power in our hands and get to work creating the world that God expects of us.
Shabbat Shalom!
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