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They tell the joke of a Jewish woman hosting Rosh Hashanah for the first time. Of course, she tries her hand at her mother’s brisket recipe, cutting off the ends of the roast the way her mother always did. Her husband, who had wandered into the kitchen, wonders, “Why do you cut off the ends? That’s the best part!” She answers, “That’s the way my mother always made it, and that’s how her mother does it as well.” The next week, for the pre–Yom Kippur feast, they’re invited to Grandma’s house. Grandma prepares the famous brisket recipe, cutting off the ends as usual. The young woman is sure she must be missing some vital information, so she asks her grandma why she cuts off the ends. Grandma says, “Darling, that’s the only way it will fit in the pan!” When you sit in shul this Rosh Hashanah, will you be “cutting off the ends because your grandma did,” or will it be a meaningful, enriching experience that you personally relate to? If you prefer not to respond to this question, that’s fine. Just start learning a bit more than you do already, and you’ll surprise yourself one day by the amount you’ve learned. Here’s to a year of Torah study and discovery! |
It’s here! By now many of us have probably finished our Rosh Hashanah shopping, and may already be well into the final stages of cooking as well.| Weekly Update Volume 16 Number 48, 27th of Elul 5775, September 11, '15 | |
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Chabad Weekly Update - High Holiday Edition
Shabbat – Erev Rosh Hashanah – Happy New Year!
SPECIAL Kiddush THIS Shabbos This week’s Kiddush is being sponsored by the Eilfort Family in honor of Rebbetzin Nechama’s birthday! We are also honor the memory of our beloved Cohen, Len Weksler. Everyone is invited to join us for this beautiful weekly gathering! If you have not sponsored a Kiddush for a while and/or if you have a birthday, anniversary, or perhaps a Yarzeit you wish to mark, please respond to this message. Kiddush sponsorship begins at $180. Parking Restrictions on the High Holidays We are asking all of our ‘regulars’ (you know who you are) to please park across the street and walk to shul this weekend and on the High Holidays. We are expecting numerous guests in honor of the special Kiddush who either cannot walk or do not know this area. Unless you physically cannot walk from a remote lot please allow our guests to use the shul lot. Thank you for your consideration! A Thought from the Rabbi Originally I had planned to use this space to share a thought about the importance of this Shabbat and the impending Rosh Hashanah Holiday. However, something of such importance to us and our children, and indeed to the entire civilized world, needs to take precedence. The administration has done an end run around the Congress breaking both the letter of and spirit of the agreement regarding the nightmare-ish Iranian Nuclear Deal. What I have done is include the official Chabad Statement regarding the deal in general, and a deeply insightful article by Alan Dershowitz, well-known Harvard Law Professor and avowed liberal Democrat (so no one can be accused of being biased). I am sharing these articles with you for two reasons; 1. This deal is an unmitigated disaster that is being foisted upon us using legislative chicanery and withholding from the American Public AND the American legislature all of the details of the deal that will necessarily lead to war. 2. I believe that the methodology being used in foisting this deal upon an unwilling public endangers our entire republic. The methods being used undermines our very democracy and endangers the freedoms of every one of us. We need to resist the tyranny being displayed with all of our might. Our very future depends upon this. If you disagree please feel free to reply to me to discuss.
A Better World for Our Children? Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky on the Iran Deal Rabbi Elazar said: One who becomes compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate. (Midrash Tanhuma, Parshat Metzora, 1) Reb Mendel Futerfas, a legendary Lubavitch Chasid (1906-1995), was imprisoned for 14 years, and exiled to Siberian gulags because he ran clandestine chadorim (religious schools for young Jewish children) in Soviet Russia. After 18 years, he was finally released* and allowed to reunite with his family in London. Reb Mendel was a treasure trove of insightful stories, and I was especially fond of him. I am reminded of a story that he shared with me when he came to the United States: During one of his many incarcerations, he was thrown into a room where a group of thugs were playing cards. They greeted him with smiles and told him that they are playing for a prize: the winner will receive a pair of leather boots. Reb Mendel looked around and remarked that he didn’t see any boots in the room. “We are playing for the boots you are wearing,” they informed him. As a state that has been forced to exist on constant high alert without any reprieve during its 67 years, Israel knows the danger its enemies present. It has learned through hard experience to anticipate and prevent threats that lurk at every border and beyond. Better positioned than anyone else in the region—certainly better than those on other continents—to discern danger to itself, Israel knows well which threats may be ignored and which must be taken seriously. It also understands that when others dismiss the explicitly stated intentions of a state as ruthless and treacherous as Iran, they do so at their own peril. One doesn’t need to be a seer to know that Israel is the prize in the game of cards that Iran is playing. Understandably then, should Israel not be part of any deliberations with other democratic nations negotiating a deal that concerns Iran’s destructive capacities? And yet, like Reb Mendel who was not even a player in a game that was being played for his boots, Israel has had no say in the negotiations over its destiny. The deal is done, and this should make it hard for anyone, especially those who’ve supported it, to get a good night’s sleep. But that does not absolve us from speaking out against it, from raising awareness and alarm bells to the dangers it augurs. On this matter, Israelis—who have more diverse opinions than they have people—are united, a rare and telling fact about the danger and vulnerability otherwise hardy Israelis feel in the face of this deal. As a matter of policy, Chabad is apolitical. The Iran deal is not a political issue. It is a threat to life, a matter of pikuach nefesh and when life is at stake, and in this case I am convinced that it is, we have no right be silent; we are morally, ethically and halakhically obligated to do everything within our power to prevent danger to our people, even if that means taking a position that is politically or socially inexpedient. Iran has made it clear that Israel is its primary target, but it has been just as emphatic in insisting that it is not its only one; thus, none of us, Jewish or not, can afford to bury our heads in the sand wishing the impending evil will go away. One of the recurring refrains we hear from candidates on the stump seeking the support of the American people, concerns the kind of world we will leave to our children and grandchildren. It behooves us then, to ask our elected officials who have pledged “to make this world a better place for our children,” whether a deal that promises Iran an arsenal of nuclear weapons within, at best, 10/15 years, not to mention other destructive weaponry that the deal grants them much sooner, will deliver on that promise. We need to speak out wherever we will be heard. We need to act in the interests of peace and stability in this world that we inhabit. We need to remind those in a position to change the course of events that reasoning with evil is not a path to peace. We need to pull our weight and invest our energy for the sake of humanity, if not for civilization as we know it. May “G-d give strength to His people; May “He bless them with peace.”(Psalms 29:11) *Reb Mendel Futerfas was released as a result of a meeting in Moscow between Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Great Britain and Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union in 1964.
Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky is the chairman of the Chabad-Lubavitch educational and social services arms. From the September/October 2015 issue of Lubavitch International
A rigged vote, no real debate
September 11, 2015 When I was growing up, "filibuster" was a dirty word. It was a tactic used by bigoted southern Senators to prevent the enactment of any civil rights legislation. I recall Senator Strom Thurman babbling on for 24 hours in an effort to keep the south racially segregated. We regarded the filibuster as the enemy of democracy and the weapon of choice against civil rights. Yet, President Obama and his followers in the senate deployed this undemocratic weapon in order to stifle real debate about the nuclear deal with Iran and to prevent the up or down vote promised by the Corker bill. A President, who was more confident of the deal, would have welcomed the Lincoln-Douglas type debates that I and others had called for regarding the most important foreign policy decision of the 21st century. But instead of arguments on the merits and demerits of the deal, what we mostly got was ad hominems. Proponents of the deal trotted out famous names of those who supported the deal, without detailed arguments about why they took that position. No wonder so few Americans support the deal. According to a recent Pew poll approximately one in five Americans think the deal is a good one. The President had an obligation to use his bully pulpit to try to obtain majority support among voters. Not only did he fail to do that, he also failed to persuade a majority of senator and house members. So this minority deal will go into operation over the objection of majority of our legislators and voters. One of the low points of this debate was a variation on the ad hominem fallacy. It was the argument by religious or ethnic identity. Supporters of the deal tried to get as many prominent Jews as they could to sign ads and petitions in favor of the deal. The implicit argument was, "See, even Jews support this deal, so it must be good for Israel," despite the reality that the vast majority of Israelis and almost all of its political leaders believe the deal is bad for Israel. The absolute low point in the non-debate was a New York Times chart, identifying opponents of the deal by whether they were Jewish or Gentile. The implication was that Jews who opposed the deal must be more loyal to their Jewish constituents or to Israel than Americans who supported the deal. But the chart itself made little sense. It turns out that the vast majority of democratic Congressmen who voted against the deal were not Jewish, and several of them represented districts in which less than 1% of the voters were Jewish. It is true that two out of the four democratic senators who voted against the deal were identified as Jews, but one of the non-Jewish Senators represents West Virginia where Jewish voters constituted less than one tenth of one percent of the voting population. Moreover, opposition to this deal is considerably greater among evangelical Christians than among Jews. Identifying by their religion members of congress who voted against a deal that the Times strongly supported is, as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (Camera) aptly put it, more than a dog whistle; it is a bull horn. It plays squarely into anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews having dual loyalty. Will the Times next identify bankers, media moguls, journalists and professors by their religious identity? Would the Times have done that for other ethnic, religious or gender groups? This has been a bad month for democracy, for serious debate and for the treatment of all Americans as equally capable of deciding important issue on their merits and demerits. Whether it also turns out to have been a bad month for peace and nuclear non-proliferation remains to be seen. But even those who support the deal should be ashamed of some of the undemocratic tactics and bigoted arguments employed to avoid a real debate and a majority vote.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Emeritus Professor at Harvard Law School and the author of his new book: "The Case Again the Iran Deal: How Can We Now Stop Iran from Getting Nukes? " now available on Kindle and other ebook sites. High Holiday Schedule ‘15 Rosh Hashanah Sunday, 9/13 Evening Services: 6:30pm Sunday, 9/13 Holiday Dinner ( Reservation Required): 7:30pm Monday, 9/14 Morning Services w/ Shofar: 9am Monday, 9/14 Children w/ Jr. Cong.: 9am Monday, 9/14 Holiday Lunch ( Reservation Required): 2pm Monday, 9/14 Tashlich/Afternoon Services: 6pm Monday, 9/14 Evening Services: 7:30pm Monday, 9/14 Holiday Dinner: 8pm Tuesday, 9/15 Morning Services with Shofar: 9am Tuesday, 9/15 Children w/ Jr. Cong.: 9am Tuesday, 9/15 Holiday Lunch ( Reservation Required): 2pm
Fast of Gedaliah Wednesday, 9/15 5:15am – 7:19pm
Yom Kippur Tuesday, 9/22 Mincha / Afternoon Service: 5pm Tuesday, 9/22 Pre-Fast Meal ( Reservation Required): 5:30pm Tuesday, 9/22 Kol Nidrei / Evening Services: 7pm Wednesday, 9/23 Morning Services: 9am Wednesday, 9/23 Children w/ Jr. Congregation: 9am Wednesday, 9/23 Yizkor Memorial Service: 12pm Wednesday, 9/26 Afternoon Services: 4:30pm Wednesday, 9/26 Ne’ilah / Closing Services: 6pm Wednesday, 9/26 End of Fast: 7:21pm Wednesday, 9/26 Gourmet Break the Fast: 7:30pm Please note that we are offering community meals for the dinners and lunches on Rosh Hashanah and the Pre-Fast meal on Yom Kippur, however,reservations are mandatory to attend. As there is very limited seating please use the following link to use our online form for your reservation: www.chabadatlacosta.com.
High Holiday Retreat High Holiday Retreat Chabad at La Costa, in conjunction with the fabulous Omni La Costa Resort, is offering a High Holiday retreat. Features of the Retreat include deeply discounted room rates at the resort, reserved seats at our uplifting and meaningful services, three gourmet holiday meals each day, a tea room, children’s programming, all in the comfort and beauty of our beautiful new building. Due to space limitations we are limiting participation to the first 50 respondents, so immediate reservations are highly recommended.
Everyone should have received a complete High Holiday Reservations Packet in the mail. If not, please contact the office and one will be sent out immediately. Complete details, including pricing and the hotel booking code may be found on www.ChabadatLaCosta.com/retreat. Please note that everyone who wishes to join us for the High Holidays must reserve a place. Community Holiday Meals Offered on Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur but RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED
This year community holiday meals will be offered throughout Rosh Hashanah, including dinner both evenings and lunch both days. A beautiful menu has been prepared by our caterer Sheila Lebovitz. An additional meal is being offered on Erev Yom Kippur. Due to space restrictions we are only accepting a limited number of reservations. The cost to participate in the meals is $45 per meal (adults 13+) and $20 per child (3-12). Reservations and pre-payment are a must. Please visit our website for further details. Sukkot @ Chabad
Sukkot is known as the “Time of Our Joy!” Join us and find out why. A full schedule of services, found on our website, is being offered. In addition we are again offering community meals and a Sukkot Under the Stars Celebration (October 1st at 6pm). Sukkot is all about Jewish Unity. Please help us achieve that lofty goal by bringing your friends and family! New Membership Year: Time to Sign Up Also, please note that the Chabad at La Costa Membership year began on July 1st. We are asking that all of our friends and supporters fill out and return the enclosed Membership Application Form as soon as possible. We rely on Membership as the single most important source of revenue for our Jewish Center. If our shul has helped you or if you believe in what we are doing, please “make it official,” and become a Member. Remember, “Membership has its privileges!” Those who are already Members please accept are most sincere appreciation, and please send in your forms. NO Hebrew School THIS Sunday Give your children the Jewish education that they deserve! Our Sunday Hebrew School offers lots of hands-on activities and positive reinforcement. Students learn Hebrew language skills, Jewish living and observance, Jewish history, and so much more! We include arts & crafts, field trips, and holiday programming to make their experience even more enjoyable. Your child will have fun as he or she gains an appreciation for the ‘why’s and ‘how’s of Judaism. Our students want to be here! Weekly Class Schedule Daily: Code of Jewish Law with Rabbi E – Following Minyan Shabbat: During Mincha – Ethics of Our Fathers with the Rebbetzin Cancelled - Tuesday: Chasidic Philosophy with Rabbi Eilfort – 7:30pm. Wednesday: Chasidic Philosophy & Torah Portion of the Week – 7:30pm. Special Wishes HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes go out to Jeff Gibson, Tammy Horowitz, Yaakov Shapiro, Melanie Zinman, Ed Estrin, Gabe Fogel, and Alexandra Kadosch! May Steve Rivkin, Roz Mintz and Mel Bridge be blessed with a full and complete recovery! We remember Beverly Gordon and Dorothy Sacks on their Yarzeit. ### Building Dedication to be Held December 13th (Last light of Chanukah) Dinner Committee Announced We are pleased to announce the members of the Dedication Dinner Committee. Rabbi Eilfort and Brenda Joseph are co-chairs. Others on the committee are Rebbetzin Eilfort, Naomi Alter, Arlene Fogel, Beverly Galperin, Channah Hale, Sheila Lebovitz, Edon Moyal, Lerut Moyal, Yehuda Moyal, Marianne Rack, Rusty Rack, and Jon Rozansky. The Dedication Dinner will be serving three purposes; 1. To formally dedicate the new building. 2. To honor those who made the new building possible. 3. To raise funds so that the new building can be fully utilized. During the first meeting the group formed sub committees including Advertising, Auction, Catering, Décor, Entertainment, Invitation, and Utility. The group also discussed looking for valuable new gifts for the auction, and has already started making inquiries. Everyone’s help is needed in this regard so if you have or can sponsor hotel/time-share getaways, tickets to sporting events or entertainment events, beauty/health products or experiences, jewelry, or electronics please respond to this message. It will be a great Mitzvah and deeply appreciated! Next French Gourmet Kosher Cooking Class Scheduled We are excited to announce that Franck Riffaud, Executive Pastry Chef at the Park Hyatt Aviara, a five-star resort hotel, will be offering another class to our community. The next class, titled “Everything Chocolate,” will take place at 7:30pm on Monday, October 12th in Chabad at La Costa. Each participant will receive the recipes as well as learn, in a step-by-step manner how to make the scrumptious creations. Participants will get to not only sample some of the delicious recipes but take some delicacies home! In order to insure maximum benefit to the students we are limiting enrollment to the first 12 people to respond. Please bear in mind that the last two classes were completely full and had to be closed. The cost of this class is $54. Only paid reservations will be considered confirmed. To reserve a place send an email to[email protected]. Several places have already been reserved! “There are two kinds of pastry chefs; the artist who creates elaborate dishes that are almost like sculptures and the passionate,” said Riffaud. “I fall into the latter category.” Reservations to participate will be handled on a first-come-first-served basis as there is very limited space. To reserve a place send an email to[email protected]. Need a Minyan? If you need a Minyan to say Kaddish please give the office at least a few days notice. We are happy to provide this important service, but it takes time to arrange enough participants to assure the quorum is present. Please email [email protected] your request. Learn the Code of Jewish Law with Rabbi Eilfort A daily class in practical Jewish Law is held immediately following the Minyan taught by Rabbi Eilfort. Using the Code of Jewish Law, known in Hebrew as the Shulchan Aruch, participants are able to discuss the laws while learning about the ongoing opportunities one has to serve the Almighty on a moment-by-moment basis. The class begins at about 8:50am and lasts for about 20 minutes. There is no charge to attend. Memorial Plaques & Tree of Life Plaques Available Our beautiful Memorial Boards have been installed. We specifically designed our custom-built bookcases to ‘frame’ each of the boards. The first Memorial Board was dedicated by the Brunelle Family and the new Board was dedicated by the Alter Family. We are currently offering Memorial Plaques to those who wish to perpetually honor the memory of a loved one in a most dignified and permanent manner. Those who dedicate Memorial Plaques will also receive yearly reminders of the Yarzeit and the light on the Board will be illuminated each year on the Yarzeit. We also have a gorgeous Tree of Life dedicated by the Lieberman Family that will shortly be going up. The purpose of the plaques on the Tree of Life is to commemorate joyous occasions (like Bar/Bat Mitzvah, anniversaries, special birthdays, weddings etc.). The donation is only $360 per plaque for either the Memorial Board or the Tree of Life. Those who wish to participate should send an email to[email protected], or call Rabbi Eilfort at 760-943-8891. Cell Phones & Chatting During Services Needless to say the sanctuary on Shabbat or holidays is a place that must be conducive to reflective prayers and serenity. To help keep it this way, please refrain from engaging in any conversations during services and please do not bring in your cell phone. Thank you for your cooperation. Shul Etiquette Those who join us regularly for Shabbat services will agree that we have something very special going. The family-friendly atmosphere is unique and most inviting. We welcome everyone as though he/she is a long time member of the family. At the same time it is important to remember that we are a synagogue. Our sanctuary is meant to be a place where it is conducive to finding inner peace and tranquility. That is why the Rabbis have many laws concerning the decorum of a shul. It is appropriate to dress modestly and to dress somewhat formally in shul. Men should wear button down shirts, slacks (no jeans or shorts), with jackets and even ties when possible. Of course the head is to be kept covered at all times. Women should wear skirts that go past the knees and blouses with high neck lines and sleeves that cover the elbows. Married women should wear hats and the like. Children must be supervised at all times by the parents except during Junior Congregation (11:30am). While we want the children to have a great time together it is also important that they do not become so wild and/or boisterous that they disturb those of us who are participating in the services. We must remember that we should walk to shul and never park in the parking lot if there already eight cars parked. Finally, and we fully realize this goes against Jewish DNA, it is appropriate to come to shul ON TIME. While we know everyone is vying to be counted as the 10th, we are equally sure Hashem will give extra credit to those who come ON TIME at 10am (not to be confused with 11:30). We look forward to seeing you here! Please Patronize Our Sponsors Your Chabad Real Estate Agent & Mortgage Broker Jonathan Rozansky is a licensed realtor and mortgage professional. Whether you are Selling, Buying or Refinancing your home, do not proceed without calling Jonathan Rozansky first. Jonathan will look out for your best interest and can answer all your real estate and financing questions. Call for a free market analysis report today. Jonathan Rozansky Direct (619) 392-1234 DRE. # 01754457 NMLS ID : 315987 Ron Lewis Insurance Services 760.525.5769 / [email protected] Specializing in Medicare Supplements, Long-term care (LTC) plans, Individual health plans, Dental, and Term life insurance. Need health or life insurance or know someone who does? If so, please visithttp://InsuranceProductQuotes.com and get plan and rate comparisons INSTANTLY from the major insurance carriers in California and Washington. Apply directly online or call for more information. There is no charge for this service! Interested in having long-term care insurance WITHOUT purchasing an expensive LTC insurance plan? Watch this 10 minute video: http://www.westlandinc.com/downloads/10MinMG/player.html Neal Sperling Business Development Highly talented, highly experienced business development/marketing consultant to wide range of businesses and non-profits can help you to find innovative new ways to raise money, launch, brand, market, sell, merchandise, and promote your products, services, and organization. Has written and improved wide variety of business plans, marketing plans, obtained major grants/new funding for a wide variety of ventures. Has unique ability to study most any business, quickly and creatively identify new sources of potential revenue, reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and drive more sales in the quickest time frames. Recognized expert on how to drive new sales via the internet. Acclaimed speaker to Southern California business groups, and particularly known for being a great “connector” with ability to introduce you to a wide variety of hard-to-reach decision-makers in various fields. Strong background in consumer products, medical products, high tech, "clean tech," "green" products, non-profits, much more. Call for details: cell: 818-219-9585. Dream Home Cinema *Family Room Surround *Wholesale House Audio *Home Automation Joseph Markowitz: 760-415-8742 Energy, Health, Weight Loss I help people get resultswith having more energy, losing weightand improving their health with safe, natural, guaranteed kosher products along with free coaching. Leah/Linda Buckner 760-63+5-3405. For free samples, including Power Breakfast, call me or fill out contact info atwww.FeelGreatSamples.com. For Skin Care samples,www.MySkinCareSurvey.com. Your referrals are appreciated. Cost Effective Advertising Available HERE Hundreds of people see Chabad at La Costa's Weekly Email Update. Those who are looking to effectively promote their business and at the same time support this important community resource are invited to become sponsors for only $50 per month (that's per MONTH, not per week). Call Rabbi Eilfort at 760-943-8891 to get your message out there. |
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Please note that our membership year ended on June 30th. If you made the commitment to be a member in the past year but have not yet paid your membership dues please come current immediately. You may contact the office to find out the status of your account or write to