From Drinking Ouzo to Obeying God

Dear Haverim:

*TOMORROW, August 15, 6:30 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat (6 p.m. Happy Hour).  SHABBAT IN GREECE.  Over kosher stuffed grape leaves and Ouzo 12, I will explore the Jewish history of Greece, with some amazing facts about Santorini, as we continue to explore where I went this summer, with a Jewish twist.

*SATURDAY, August 16, 9:30 a.m. Shabbat services.  D’var Torah topic: How Do Post-Modern Jews Cope with Divine Obedience?

Please consider attending our earlier 9 a.m. Lay Led Torah Study.  Questions: What is the nature of the relationship between us and God? Is there something more to offer in this week’s Haftarah? Is there a relationship between faith and unconditional love?

Shabbat shalom!

Rabbi Michael

From Shabbat in Paris 2 to Shema & Listening Better

Dear Haverim:

*TODAY, Friday, August 8, 8 p.m., SHABBAT IN PARIS 2.

 Come join us as we continue our soiree celebrating French Jewish history, beginning in 1806, with Napoleon’s establishment of the Second Sanhedrin, through Alfred Dreyfus, and France’s first Jewish Prime Minister, Leon Blum, who served both before and after WW2, and was interned in a Concentration Camp between terms. Meet Chagall, Soutine, and Modigliani, all were important Jewish artists in France in the early 20^th century, plus the famous French Jewish actress Sarah Bernhardt. I will share photos from our most recent family trip, including a lovely afternoon in Le Marais, Paris’ Jewish neighborhood. Enjoy kosher French cuisine and wine during the oneg.  Also meet our two Noa’s, serving as shelichot for the JCC over the summer, and learn how YOU can become a host family for JCC’s Israeli shelichim next year.

*TOMORROW, Saturday, August 9, 9:30 a.m. SHABBAT SERVICES. Parshat V’etchanan, features TWO giants in Jewish liturgy: The Ten Commandments  and The Shema.  This week’s sermon is titled, Shema! What Does it Take to REALLY Listen?

Please plan on spending this Shabbat with us at Congregation Beth Shalom.

Merci !

Rabbi Michael

TISHA B'AV 9:30 pm TONIGHT & 9 AM TOMORROW @ CBS

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9:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Monday, August 4^th, please join us in the Congregation Beth Shalom Chapel for TISHA B’AV.

You will be greeted by candlelight, an empty ark, as we set the tone with the hauntingly beautiful elegiac trope from The Book of Lamentations, Eicha, – the Prophet Jeremiah’s eye-witness account of the Destruction of Jerusalem, in 586 BCE.

In keeping with the tradition of other tragedies which have befallen the Jewish people throughout history on the Ninth of Av, I will share my most recent visit to Clifford’s Tower – The Masada of the North – in York, which was the prelude to the Jews’ Expulsion from England on Tisha B’Av 1290.

9:00 a.m., TOMORROW, Tuesday, August 5^th, TISHA B’AV services continue during Morning Minyan, scheduled for this special later time.

IF YOU ARE IN TOWN, PLEASE JOIN FOR THESE TWO SERVICES

and have a tsom kal – an easy fast

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Shabbat in Paris, Shiva and Tisha B'Av

Dear Haverim:

*TOMORROW, Friday, August 1, 7:30 a.m. Community Minyan @ AKSE or 9 a.m. Shiva for Michal, 1220 Cheyney Rd., West Chester.

*TOMORROW, Friday, August 1, 6:30 p.m., Shabbat in Paris (6 p.m. Happy Hour).  We will be serving kosher French Camembert cheese and a kosher French Bordeaux wine, set Adon Olam to Le Marseille,  as we explore French Jewish History, all in a salute to places our family visited over the past few weeks.  Wear your favorite beret and prepare to speak in your best French accent. We will also be celebrating August birthdays, so come for the blessing and a chance to lead a reading.

*Saturday, August 2, 9:30 a.m., Shabbat services. Parashat Ha Shevuah: Devarim – The Stories That Guide Us.  Please bring a long a formative  story that helped shaped your family’s values.

*Saturday night, 9 p.m., Shiva for Michal, 1220 Cheyney Rd., West Chester.

*Sunday, August 3, 9 a.m. CBS Morning Minyan or Shiva for Michal, 1220 Cheyney Rd. and Orthodox minyan at 8 p.m.

*Monday, August 4, 7:30 a.m. Morning Minyan @ CBS or 7 a.m.concluding Shiva minyan for Michal @ Chabad.

**9 PM MONDAY NIGHT AUGUST 4 – TISHA B’AV SERVICES @ CBS

Let us join together as we strengthen ourselves as a community, as we lovingly remember Michal Cherrin, Head of School, Albert Einstein Academy, as we remember our national loss of the Temple in Jerusalem, and as we remember the terrible losses of both Israelis and Palestinians in this current conflict.  May ALL their memories be for a blessing, and may peace soon reign supreme.

 

With love,

Rabbi Michael

Michal Cherrin, of blessed memory

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Congregation Beth Shalom is very sad to announce the death of our congregant, Michal Cherrin, 66, our beloved former Head of School of the Albert Einstein Academy, who passed away earlier this morning in New York City.  She is survived by her husband, Tom, two sons, Gili and Daniel, and a very large extended family.  Funeral services will be held this Tuesday, July 29, at 11 a.m., at Congregation Beth Shalom, followed by interment at the Jewish Community Cemetery on Foulk Road.  Shiva will be held July 29-31,Tuesday - Thursday evenings, 8 p.m., August 2, Saturday night at 9:30 p.m., and an Orthodox minyan on August 3, Sunday, at 8 p.m., at the home of Michal Cherrin and Tom Tolin, 1220 Cheyney Road, West Chester, PA 19382, and every weekday morning at the CBS Minyan, at 7:30 a.m. (please made a point of attending CBS Morning Minyan next week to ensure the family has a minyan every day to recite Kaddish.  Note our AKSE-CBS Community Minyan will be meeting at AKSE on Friday, August 1, and our CBS Morning Minyan meets at 9 a.m. on Sunday, August 3.  May God comfort Michal's family along with all the other mourners in Zion and Jerusalem.

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Scottish Shabbat and Come Traveling w/Me

Dear Haverim:

     *TONIGHT, July 25^th, 6:30 p.m., Kabbalat Shabbat (6 p.m. Happy Hour).  SCOTTISH SHABBAT. Having just got back from our family vacation, I will be dedicating the next three or four Friday night services to the Jewish history of each country we visited, serve food, set the music appropriately, and when appropriate, wear the native dress. So tonight, I will be sporting, and invite you to sport, your best Royal Stuart Tartan – I’ve got a matching kippah and tie.  I will serving kosher Scottish shortbread, and I will have a wee bonnie surprise to serve up here and there.  Prepare to vicariously visit France, Greece, England, and or course, Israel in the weeks ahead.  TONIGHT IS ALSO ANNIVERSARY SHABBAT! I would like to bless our July couples, and give them reading parts in the service.

     *TOMORROW, July 26^th, 9:30 a.m., SHABBAT SERVICES.  This week’s portion is called Mas’ei, and deals with the wanderings of the Jewish people.  I will talk about our recently completed Beth Shalom-ASKE-Beth Emeth trip to Israel, and with a little show and tell, go over some of the highlights of our visit, as well as the political situation, on the ground, as we experienced in “real-time.”  I hope, in the Torah portion’s spirit to recount key moments along our desert wandering, and do the same with this trip.  I am still processing our experiences, so this will be but a glimpse, which I hope to expand upon during Rosh Hashana.

      I am glad to be home.  I missed you all very much and when some of you contacted me during my time away, I hope I dealt lovingly and effectively with the concerns that you brought to my attention.

       Shabbat shalom !

        Rabbi Michael

Shavuot and Faith Journeys

Dear Haverim,

*TONIGHT, Tuesday, June 3, 8 p.m., SHAVUOT Services and Program.  Featured speakers:

        -Ross Cooper

      -Kim Ginsberg

      -Anna Scholl & Joey Zahn

TOPIC: My Faith Journey: A Modern Riff on the Book of Ruth.

These presentations will move you, fill your tank with much-needed spirituality, make you laugh, and maybe even cry (in a good way). We will be featuring imported David’s Cheese Cake (thank you Sarah Andrus). Please attend and show your support for our speakers. After our program we will journey to AKSE to help them make it to midnight in enlightening Talmudic study, led by Rabbi Steven Saks.

*Wednesday, June 4, 9 a.m., Shavuot Services Day I

*Thursday, June 5, 9 a.m., Shavuot Services Day II (incl. Yizkor).

*Friday, June 6 – 7:30 a.m. – Community Minyan at AKSE.

                     6:30 p.m. – Kabbalat Shabbat = June birthday celebrations (preceded by 6 pm. Happy Hour).

*Saturday, June 7 – 9:30 a.m. – Shabbat Services.

Come join us to Celebrate the Receiving of the Torah @ Mt. Sinai.

Rabbi Michael