Pessach 2012
S.T.A.R. News & Events
Here are S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
April 22, 2012
SAVE THE DATE
S.T.A.R. Community Lag B’Omer Extravaganza at the Santa Monica Pier May 9th, 2012.
Come and join thousands of Jews from all kinds of background on the happiest time of the year.
Pessach/Shabbat
1st Day Candle Lighting: 7:00pm
2nd Day Candle Lighting: 7:57pm
Yom Tov Ends Sunday @ 7:58pm
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April 12, 7th Day Candle Lighting: 7:05pm
April 13th, 8th day Candle Lighting: 7:06pm
Shabbat Ends: 8:03 pm
Torah Message
First Things First
Kadesh
The Pesach Seder begins with Kiddush, which is the first of the four cups of wine that we are required to drink. Rashi writes (Pesachim 99b) that these four cups correspond to the four expressions of redemption mentioned in the Torah (Shemos 6:6-7). However, this begs the question: even we want to commemorate these four different expressions of freedom at the Seder, why must we specifically do so by drinking four cups of wine as opposed to any other food item, such as eating four apples?
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach explains that the four expressions of redemption aren’t four different phrases connoting freedom, but four different levels of freedom, with each one being higher than the one below it. Therefore, our Sages specifically instituted a requirement to drink four cups of wine because wine is unique in that each additional glass isn’t simply more of what we’ve already had, but rather it qualitatively brings additional joy and happiness.
With apples or any other food, this isn’t the case, as each additional fruit is essentially the same as those which preceded it, and by the third and fourth serving one is already accustomed to it and it adds little additional value. Because we are commemorating the four expressions of redemption and the fact that each represents a higher level of freedom and joy, wine is the appropriate means for doing so.
Alternatively, wine is unique in that it is made from grapes. In their state as grapes, there is nothing particularly special about them, and the blessing recited when eating them is the same as for any other fruit. Only after they have been crushed with the proper amount of pressure does their juice come out, at which point it must be left to ferment in the right environment so that it becomes wine and not vinegar.
In this sense, grapes are a perfect metaphor for the experience of the Jewish people in Mitzrayim. The Egyptians constantly pressed and squeezed the Jewish slaves, but their doing so was part of Hashem’s master plan to subject the Jewish people to a כור הבזרל – iron furnace – in order to purify them and bring out their true greatness.
In fact, the very name Mitzrayim refers to constricting borders, which describes the experience of the Jewish slaves in Egypt. However, just like the liquid secreted by the grapes, the Jews had a choice to succumb to the tests and trials and become vinegar, or to rise and overcome them to maximize their potentials by becoming wine. Because wine is unique in this regard and contains this symbolic message, Chazal specifically commanded us to use it to represent the four expressions of redemption.
Rabbi M. Weiss Rabbi Y. Sakhai
Community News
Em Habanim Congregation
Weekly Parashat Hashavua class with Rabbi Joshua Bittan on Wednesdays at 8:30pm for more info. visit www.emhabanim.com
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Get Well Soon
We urge the whole community and all the jews around the world to pray for two 16 year old boys that were in a tragic accident. May hashem grant them a full Refuah Shelema and may he grant their families patience and nachat, Amen.
Ariel Menachem Chayim ben Miryam & Daniel ben Sara
We wish a speedy recovery for all the Jews that may need it where ever they may be and especially for:
Em Habanim:
Max Barchichat From Sephardic Temple: Al Azus,Buena Angel,
Elaine Leon,Itzchak Rachmanony
From S.T.A.R.:
Mordechai Chaim Ben Chana, Chaim Ben Buena,
Meshulam Dov Ben Chana Sarah
Bracha Eliza Bat Ehteram, Bracha Sara Chaya Bat Ronit,
Donna Devora bat Sara
March 23, 2012 Vayikra
S.T.A.R. News & Events
Here are S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
April 22, 2012
SAVE THE DATE
S.T.A.R. Community Lag B’Omer Extravaganza at the Santa Monica Pier May 9th, 2012.
Come and join thousands of Jews from all kinds of background on the happiest time of the year.
This Shabbat
Shabbat Parashat: Vayikra
Candle Lighting: 6:51pm
Shabbat Ends: 7:46pm
Torah Message
Why Can’t I Hear G-d Talking To Me?
"And He called…"(1:1)
The London Symphony Orchestra takes its place on the podium of the Royal Albert Hall. The large double basses mournfully tune up. The piccolos prance from one octave to another. The dull dooming thud of a muted timpani is heard. Two swift taps of the baton on the lectern. The cacophony ceases, replaced by a mighty chord played by eighty instruments. The chord grows longer and longer and louder and louder. The entire audience is enthralled in rapt attention. The entire audience, that is, except a rather eccentric gentleman leaning over the balcony. He seems somewhat distracted. He keeps looking this way and that. His concentration is anywhere except on the music. It’s not surprising, however, for covering his ears are a large pair of canary yellow plastic sound-excluders. The sort that you see ground crews use when they refuel airplanes.
After a couple of minutes the next-door neighbor to this fellow cannot contain himself any longer. He leans over the balcony and starts gesturing to the fellow, pointing at the sound-excluders and miming "Your ears are blocked! You can’t hear anything because your ears are blocked!" The other fellow scrunches up his brow, cocks his head to one side as if to say, "What are you saying?" So once again the other points to the sound excluders and mimes even more loudly than before, "You can’t hear anything because your ears are blocked!"
The other fellow finally realizes that someone is trying to communicate with him and so he takes off his canary yellow sound-excluders and says blithely to the other, "I’m sorry. I can’t hear you. You see, my ears are blocked."
Look at the world. It’s not a pretty picture. I don’t want to spoil your Shabbat, but I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that world-wide poverty is on the increase, that our natural resources are dwindling at an alarming rate and that selfishness, greed and intolerance are as popular as ever.
Where is G-d? Is this a G-dly world?
No. This is not the world that G-d wants. It’s the world that man wants. G-d has created man as the being that chooses. This is man’s unique privilege – and his responsibility. There can be no choice without the potential to choose incorrectly. A world where choice has no consequences is, effectively, a world without choice. The world looks like it does because man chooses it to be this way, and most of the time man’s choices are dominated by his own selfishness.
The spiritual Masters teach that when G-d spoke to Moshe He spoke in voice that was overpoweringly loud, a voice that was vast enough to pulverize mighty trees. Nevertheless, the only one person who heard the voice was our Teacher, Moshe. And when Moshe heard that voice it sounded to him like a loving and gentle summons: "Moshe, Moshe…"
G-d’s voice is the loudest thing in this world. If we can’t hear it that’s because our ears are plugged with the wax of our own selfishness and egos, the detritus of ignoring the Designer and His design for this world.
- Sources: Rashi; Sifra
Rabbi M. Weiss Rabbi Y. Sakhai
Community News
Em Habanim Congregation
Weekly Parashat Hashavua class with Rabbi Joshua Bittan on Wednesdays at 8:30pm for more info. visit www.emhabanim.com
****
Get Well Soon
We urge the whole community and all the jews around the world to pray for two 16 year old boys that were in a tragic accident. May hashem grant them a full Refuah Shelema and may he grant their families patience and nachat, Amen.
Ariel Menachem Chayim ben Miryam & Daniel ben Sara
We wish a speedy recovery for all the Jews that may need it where ever they may be and especially for:
Em Habanim:
Max Barchichat From Sephardic Temple: Al Azus,Buena Angel,
Elaine Leon,Itzchak Rachmanony
From S.T.A.R.:
Mordechai Chaim Ben Chana, Chaim Ben Buena,
Meshulam Dov Ben Chana Sarah
Bracha Eliza Bat Ehteram, Bracha Sara Chaya Bat Ronit,
Donna Devora bat Sara
Sky High
Sunday Mar. 18, 2012
Tikvah & Aviv (ages 7-12)
Paintball EXTREME
Mar. 11, 2012
Ages 13-18 (Mitzvah & Haverim)
March 9, 2012 Ki Tisa
S.T.A.R. News & Events
Here are S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
April 22, 2012
March 18, 2012
STAR kids leave your wings at home, we are going to the ultimate trampoline arena; SKY HIGH!!
SAVE THE DATE
S.T.A.R. Community Lag B’Omer Extravaganza at the Santa Monica Pier May 9th, 2012.
Come and join thousands of Jews from all kinds of background on the happiest time of the year.
This Shabbat
Shabbat Parashat: Ki Tisa
Candle Lighting: 5:39pm
Shabbat Ends: 6:35pm
Torah Message
One Step Beyond
"…he will give Teruma of G-d." (30:14)
The entire Oral Torah begins with the question, "When do we read the Shema prayer in the evening?" The Mishna answers, "When the kohanim go in to eat their Teruma (the priestly gifts)."
What is the connection between saying the Shema and the mitzvah of Teruma? Why didn’t the Mishna just say, "The time to say Shema in the evening is when it gets dark"?
The Torah obligation to give Teruma is as little as a single grain. The Rabbinic obligation, however mandates between one-sixtieth, which is considered miserly, and one-fortieth, which is generous. The median amount is one-fiftieth. The word "Teruma" is an allusion to this median amount, forTeruma stands for trei mi-me’ah, two out of one hundred – one-fiftieth.
If the Torah was hinting through the word Teruma to the median gift of one-fiftieth, why did it express that fraction as two parts out of a hundred? Why didn’t it coin instead a word that used the words for ‘one’ and ‘fifty – Chad and Chamishim? Why wasn’t Teruma called "Chadshim" or something like that? And why specifically the proportion of two out of a hundred? Why not four parts out of two hundred, or eight out of four hundred?
The Vilna Gaon explains that the core of Shema lies in the first verse, Shema Yisrael, and in the next phraseBaruch Shem Kevod Malchuto le’olam va’ed, "Blessed is Hashem’s name of the Honor of His Kingdom for ever and ever," which we say immediately afterward. The essence of Shema is to affirm our belief that everything in existence is One and the smallest aspect of creation ultimately leads to Him alone.
The Gaon of Vilna observed that the twenty-five letters in the first verseof Shema and the twenty-four letters in Baruch Shem together equal forty-nine.
The number fifty connotes something beyond this world. We count forty-nine days of the Omer from Pesach till Shavuot, but we do not count the final day, the day of Shavuot itself, because Shavuot represents something beyond this world – the supernal moment of the closest encounter between G-d and man.
In this world, we can approach fifty, but we cannot count it; we cannot define or delineate it.
When I say the Shema I surrender the ineffable, indisputable knowledge of my own existence and proclaim that there is only One Existence, and that I am no more than just one expression of that Ultimate Existence. That is the ‘one’ that I give to make the fifty complete.
My recitation of the Shema – my own closest encounter with G-d – represents the "one" that raises the forty-nine to fifty. And as I say the Shema twice daily, it represents the trei mi-me’ah – the two out of a hundred.
Trei mi me’ah– twice a day, the Teruma that I give is the forty-nine letters that make up my declaration of G-d’s total and absolute Unity, together with the ‘one’ – the surrender and elevation of my own existence that joins me to ‘fifty’ – the Ultimate Existence.
Rabbi M. Weiss Rabbi Y. Sakhai
Community News
Em Habanim Congregation
Weekly Parashat Hashavua class with Rabbi Joshua Bittan on Wednesdays at 8:30pm for more info. visit www.emhabanim.com
****
Get Well Soon
We urge the whole community and all the jews around the world to pray for two 16 year old boys that were in a tragic accident. May hashem grant them a full Refuah Shelema and may he grant their families patience and nachat, Amen.
Ariel Menachem Chayim ben Miryam & Daniel ben Sara
We wish a speedy recovery for all the Jews that may need it where ever they may be and especially for:
Em Habanim:
Max Barchichat From Sephardic Temple: Al Azus,Buena Angel,
Elaine Leon,Itzchak Rachmanony
From S.T.A.R.:
Mordechai Chaim Ben Chana, Chaim Ben Buena,
Meshulam Dov Ben Chana Sarah
Bracha Eliza Bat Ehteram, Bracha Sara Chaya Bat Ronit,
Donna Devora bat Sara
S.T.A.R. News & Events
Here are S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
March 11, 2012
March 18, 2012
STAR kids leave your wings at home, we are going to the ultimate trampoline arena; SKY HIGH!!
SAVE THE DATE
S.T.A.R. Community Lag B’Omer Extravaganza at the Santa Monica Pier May 9th, 2012.
Come and join thousands of Jews from all kinds of background on the happiest time of the year.
This Shabbat
Shabbat Parashat: Tetzaveh
Candle Lighting: 5:337pm
Shabbat Ends: 6:29pm
Torah Message
Fancy Dress
“…for glory and for splendor” (28:2)
In light of the critical economic situation here in Israel, the government has been cutting back drastically on renewing visas for foreign workers and summarily deporting those who are here illegally.
A few years ago we had a cleaning lady from Romania called Valerica. Her mode of dress was the standard Romanian generic stonewashed Levis topped with a T-shirt that proclaimed the megatour of some Heavy Metal Band like Blind Widow or some other denizen of the musical illiterati.
A couple of days ago my wife happened to be walking down Shmuel Hanavi Street when she saw a lady who bore a striking resemblance to Valerica. However, this lady was dressed in a long skirt, a modest blouse and her hair was covered with a beret. My wife looked again and said “Valerica? Is it you?” “Yes, it’s me” she replied. My wife’s curiosity was piqued, “But what? What happened? Did you become Jewish?” With a malignant snort she replied, “Of course not! It’s only for show. If I dont dress up like this, the police will spot me and kick me out of the country!”
I couldn’t help but be struck by the irony: Some sixty years ago Jews were afraid to walk the streets of Bucharest unless they were dressed as conspicuous Romanians, and some sixty years later this Romanian was afraid to walk the streets of Jerusalem (obviously with far more benign consequences) unless she was dressed like a Jew.
Clothes conceal, but they also reveal.
This week’s Torah portion starts with a description of the clothes of the kohanim. The Torah uses two abstract nouns to define the purpose of these garments: “for glory and for splendor.”
The Malbim says that the “glory” of the garments of the kohanim was that they revealed the innate holiness that G-d had given to the kohanim. However, these clothes were also for the “splendor” that would come from the efforts of the kohanim.
“Glory” refers to the gifts G-d gives man. “Splendor” refers to what we can achieve by ourselves.
The reading of this week’s Torah portion comes just before Purim. On Purim there is a widespread custom to dress up in masquerade costumes. What is the connection between Purim and costume?
In Tractate Megilla (12a), the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai ask him why the Jews of Persia at the time of Purim were judged to be worthy of destruction. He said to them “You tell me.”They said, “Because they had pleasure from the feast of that evil man (Achashverosh).""However, if that were true, only the Jews of Shushan who participated in the feast should have been culpable, not every Jew in Persia." So they said back to Rabbi Shimon, “You tell us.” He said,“Because they bowed to the idol of Nevuchadnetzar.”
"But they only did that for show.” They only bowed out of fear of being put to death, not because they were really worshipping idols
“They only did it for show, so G-d only did it for show. As it says in the passage, He did not answer from his heart.” G-d only allowed Haman’s genocide plan to proceed as far as it did to frighten the Jews into repenting and mending their ways.
Our dressing up on Purim is to remind us that this whole world is a type of show. That this whole world is a mask that hides the existence of G-d. The word for “world” in Hebrew, olam, has the same root as ne’elam, which means “vanished” or “hidden.”
What we see is not necessarily what is. It is our job to pry the mask from the face of the world and reveal Who is behind it.
Rabbi M. Weiss Rabbi Y. Sakhai
Community News
Em Habanim Congregation
Join Em Habanim congregation for an uplifting evening with the Bakashot Choir. March 3rd, Saturday night at 8pm
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Weekly Parashat Hashavua class with Rabbi Joshua Bittan on Wednesdays at 8:30pm for more info. visit www.emhabanim.com
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Purim Monte Carlo Night March 7th at 8pm at Emhabanim. For more Info. visit www.emhabanim.com
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Rabbi Mizrahi will be speaking at Em Habanim on March 4th 2012. Lecture topic: “The right relationship between the Jew and Hashem”
Get Well Soon
We urge the whole community and all the jews around the world to pray for two 16 year old boys that were in a tragic accident. May hashem grant them a full Refuah Shelema and may he grant their families patience and nachat, Amen.
Ariel Menachem Chayim ben Miryam & Daniel ben Sara
We wish a speedy recovery for all the Jews that may need it where ever they may be and especially for:
Em Habanim:
Max Barchichat From Sephardic Temple: Al Azus,Buena Angel,
Elaine Leon,Itzchak Rachmanony
From S.T.A.R.:
Mordechai Chaim Ben Chana, Chaim Ben Buena,
Meshulam Dov Ben Chana Sarah
Bracha Eliza Bat Ehteram, Bracha Sara Chaya Bat Ronit,
Donna Devora bat Sara
February 24, 2012 Terumah
S.T.A.R. News & Events
Here are S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
March 11, 2012
March 18, 2012
STAR kids leave your wings at home, we are going to the ultimate trampoline arena; SKY HIGH!!
This Shabbat
Shabbat Parashat: Mishpatim
Candle Lighting: 5:27pm
Shabbat Ends: 6:23pm
Torah Message
Guilding The Lily
"Its knobs and its blossoms will be (hammered) from it… " (25:31)
In English, when we speak of "gilding the lily", we mean that something has been unnecessarily adorned. How can the lily be made more beautiful? If you paint it gold will it be more radiant? When you paint a lily it detracts from its true beauty. It’s "overdone".
There’s a common misconception that the Torah is like a lily and the Rabbis were a bunch of lily painters.
There is not a single Rabbinical dictum or law, not a extrapolation nor an embellishment that is not hinted to in the Torah itself. Everything stems ultimately from the Torah.
We can see this idea in this week’s Torah portion: "You shall make a Menorah of pure gold, hammered out shall the Menorah be made, its base, its shaft, its cups, its knobs and its blossoms will be (hammered) from it."
The Menorah was extruded from one solid block of gold. Nothing was grafted on to it. Just as its base and its shaft and its cups were integral, drawn from the same block of gold, so too were its knobs and its blossoms integral and drawn from the same block of gold.
The same is true with every law that the Rabbis promulgated. Nothing is grafted on. Nothing is unrelated embellishment. Just as the Torah laws – the "shaft" and the "cups" of the Torah – stem from an indivisible unity, so does every last Rabbinical dictum and decree. It’s "knobs" and its "blossoms" derive from that same ‘block of gold’.
The lily is ungilded.
- Source: Chafetz Chaim
Rabbi M. Weiss Rabbi Y. Sakhai
Community News
Em Habanim Congregation
Weekly Parashat Hashavua class with Rabbi Joshua Bittan on Wednesdays at 8:30pm for more info. visit www.emhabanim.com
****
Purim Monte Carlo Night March 7th at 8pm at Emhabanim. For more Info. visit www.emhabanim.com
****
Rabbi Mizrahi will be speaking at Em Habanim on March 4th 2012. Lecture topic: “The right relationship between the Jew and Hashem”
Sephardic Temple:
Talmud Torah and Youth Havadalah and Movie Nite will return in January after the completion of the remodel of the new Alcana Youth Lounge. Watch for upcoming dates and info!
Get Well Soon
We urge the whole community and all the jews around the world to pray for two 16 year old boys that were in a tragic accident. May hashem grant them a full Refuah Shelema and may he grant their families patience and nachat, Amen.
Ariel Menachem Chayim ben Miryam & Daniel ben Sara
We wish a speedy recovery for all the Jews that may need it where ever they may be and especially for:
Em Habanim:
Max Barchichat From Sephardic Temple: Al Azus,Buena Angel,
Elaine Leon,Itzchak Rachmanony
From S.T.A.R.:
Mordechai Chaim Ben Chana, Chaim Ben Buena,
Meshulam Dov Ben Chana Sarah
Bracha Eliza Bat Ehteram, Bracha Sara Chaya Bat Ronit,
Donna Devora bat Sara
SNOW DAY
Monday Feb. 20th, 2012
Tikvah & Aviv (Ages 7-12)
February 17, 2012 Mishpatim
S.T.A.R. News & Events
Here are S.T.A.R.’s upcoming exciting events:
March 11, 2012
This Shabbat
Shabbat Parashat: Mishpatim
Candle Lighting: 5:21pm
Shabbat Ends: 6:17pm
Torah Message
So Close And Yet So Far Away
"…and you will bow down from a distance." (24:1)
We perceive G-d in two ways. We believe that He is pre-existent, the Cause, the Creator and the Sustainer of all reality. He is far beyond and above. Ultimately distant. He precedes all beginning and transcends all ending. No creature can fathom Him, for what can the painting know of the Painter? He created thought so no thought can think of Him. He is utterly separate and distant beyond all concept of space and time.
And yet He is very, very near. He fills the world. There is no place or time where He is not. For if He were not there, that place could not be, that second would never take place. He fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds.
G-d is both transcendent and immanent.
It is the unique privilege of the Jewish People to proclaim these two seemingly opposite aspects of our perception of G-d. Many religions have a concept of G-d being supremely elevated above all. But they falter in their recognition of His imminence. They fail to understand that He is here right now. He sees all, knows the secrets of every living thing, and is interested in their every move.
When the Jewish People rise during their prayers and proclaim like the angels the Kedusha, this is how they praise the Creator:
"Holy, Holy, Holy, G-d, Master of Legions. The whole world is filled with His Glory."
"Blessed is the glory of G-d from His place."
The first statement depicts our relationship with G-d as immanent – the universe is "filled with His Glory." No place or time can be devoid of Him. The second statement implies G-d’s transcendence, His utter separation and elevation from this world – "from His place."
This is also the deeper meaning when the prophet Isaiah says "‘Peace to afar and to close at hand’ says G-d." To the righteous who are faithful to these two beliefs, G-d radiates a constant stream of heavenly influence.
These two aspects also express themselves in the awe of Heaven on the one hand and the love of G-d on the other. A person is only awed by that which is above and beyond him. That which is near at hand doesn’t strike fear into his heart. It’s too close. On the other hand, love only flourishes in closeness. It’s difficult to love when there is no contact.
"…and you will bow down from a distance."
The hidden meaning of this verse in this week’s parsha is that bowing – fear and awe are the natural partners of distance – G-d’s transcendence.
Another understanding of this verse is that bowing implies the drawing down of Heavenly energy into all the worlds. It is for this reason that we bow in the prayer Aleinu when we say "And we bend our knees and bow." Our physical actions give substance to a spiritual reality, the drawing down of holiness. Thus Moshe is telling Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and seventy of the elders of Yisrael that they will bring down the lofty spiritual influences into all the worlds by their bowing.
- Sources: Kedushas Levi, Arizal
Rabbi M. Weiss Rabbi Y. Sakhai
Community News
Em Habanim Congregation
Weekly Parashat Hashavua class with Rabbi Joshua Bittan on Wednesdays at 8:30pm for more info. visit www.emhabanim.com
****
Purim Monte Carlo Night March 7th at 8pm at Emhabanim. For more Info. visit www.emhabanim.com
Sephardic Temple:
Talmud Torah and Youth Havadalah and Movie Nite will return in January after the completion of the remodel of the new Alcana Youth Lounge. Watch for upcoming dates and info!
Get Well Soon
We urge the whole community and all the jews around the world to pray for two 16 year old boys that were in a tragic accident. May hashem grant them a full Refuah Shelema and may he grant their families patience and nachat, Amen.
Ariel Menachem Chayim ben Miryam & Daniel ben Sara
We wish a speedy recovery for all the Jews that may need it where ever they may be and especially for:
Em Habanim:
Max Barchichat From Sephardic Temple: Al Azus,Buena Angel,
Elaine Leon,Itzchak Rachmanony
From S.T.A.R.:
Mordechai Chaim Ben Chana, Chaim Ben Buena,
Meshulam Dov Ben Chana Sarah
Bracha Eliza Bat Ehteram, Bracha Sara Chaya Bat Ronit,
Donna Devora bat Sara
LASER TAG ALL NIGHT
Feb. 11th, 2012
Mitvah & Haverim (ages 13-18)