NO Services - Coronavirus is Spiking so We are Paused
No Services this Week
Coronavirus is Spiking so We are Pausing Until Safe
The shul IS NOT open for services this Shabbos due to the spike in coronavirus cases. We will, G-d willing, reopen as soon as it is deemed safe.
Condolences
Our most sincere condolences are extended to the Perez family upon the passing of Simon Perez. Simon’s fervent wish was to be buried in the Holy Land near his parents in Ashdod. Further information is forthcoming about conducting a Minyan here so his sons may say Kaddish.
HaMakom yinachem es’chom bisoch shaar availay Tzion vi’Yerushalayim! May the Almighty comfort the mourners among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem!
Weekly Sermon Friday @ 5pm on Facebook Live
Join Rabbi Eilfort this afternoon at 5pm as he gives his weekly sermon as a Facebook Live event. If you have not already done so, please send Rabbi Eilfort (Yeruchem Eilfort) a Friend Request on Facebook!
Working Car Needed
We are currently seeking a car in good mechanical condition. If you, or someone you know, has a car that you can donate please respond to this message. This request is time sensitive. Thank you in advance!
New Memorial Board Dedicated
We are excited to announce that Miriam Reisman has dedicated a new memorial board in loving memory of Harold Reisman, the longtime Gabbay of Chabad at La Costa. For years Harold would share his scholarly insights into the weekly Haftarah (reading from the Prophets) both verbally and in written form. We just observed Harold’s first Yarzeit and now we have a memorial board in his memory.
Those who would like to honor their departed loved ones are urged to contact the shul to find out the details.
We sincerely thank Miriam and her family for this generous gift and meaningful legacy!
Membership – Will You Commit?
Dear Friends,
So far the year 2020 has been filled with opportunities. We have been presented with the opportunity to test ourselves as our country and our world has faced the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic. I know that I never thought that I would live in such times, and bet many of you feel the same. The health and wellbeing of each and every one of us has been severely threatened, the economy has undergone a tremendous shock, and a massive strain has been placed on our relationships and this community.
I learned in Yeshiva that tests are indeed opportunities, strange as that may sound. In Hebrew the same word for test, “Nisayon” is the root of the word for miracle, “Nes.” A Nes/miracle is when G-d suspends the rules of nature so as to reveal Himself in a supernatural way. Its root is to raise up. Therefore a test is an opportunity to raise ourselves up to a level otherwise inaccessible to us.
Our community, our beloved Chabad at La Costa, has not been immune to these opportunities. We have striven to rise to the occasion, and because of YOU we have risen to the occasion!
G-d bless all of you who have been instrumental in keeping us going. G-d bless those of you who despite (or perhaps because of) the coronavirus have stepped forward, dug deep, and made meaningful and ongoing contributions to our community.
What have your donations accomplished?
Your donations have fed many people spiritually and physically. Our lights are still on, spiritually and physically. We continue to be here for our community spiritually and physically. Our expenses have not decreased because of the pause in services. In fact, they have increased. Not only have many of our streams of income ceased (like catering and our barbecues, and Aliyah donations, and Hebrew school tuitions) but our expenses have increased as we continue to help people who face financial and spiritual crises. We are teaching more Torah, making more phone calls, counseling more people, and touching the lives of people in meaningful ways.
We therefore turn to you with the following requests: if you need help, let us know! We will do our utmost to help. If you can help others, let us know! If you can find your way to make a monthly contribution to our joint endeavor please demonstrate your commitment by becoming a member now.
We are asking all of those who can – please make a monthly financial commitment to us, to the Jewish community of this area, so that we can continue to serve the Jewish community of this area. We have always been and must always be self-supportive. That means we need you to step forward at this time of great opportunity!
Despite our increased budget we are not increasing our membership rates. Please note that our membership rates are lower than other communities’. It is not that we offer less. In fact, we offer more than we ever have. Those who can afford it and want to give more than the minimum are our heroes!
Please get back to me at your earliest convenience. I will send you this year’s membership form. You can also securely donate immediately by following the link found below. You can choose to make your gift monthly, which is deeply appreciated!
G-d bless you and thank you so much for your friendship and support!
Rabbi Eilfort
Jewish Art Calendar
It is calendar season! Yes, we are running a bit late thanks to our ubiquitous friend the coronavirus. But never fear; we will again offer our gorgeous Jewish Art Calendar! Those who wish to sponsor the calendar, or run an ad/s, or dedicate a date are encouraged to reach out to our Rebbetzin Nechama via email at [email protected], or simply reply to this message for the calendar form.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Easy Fundraising Opportunity
First, let us take this opportunity to thank all of those who have had Facebook Birthday Fundraisers for Chabad at La Costa! I cannot tell you how much Nechama & I appreciate it! The money we have received through these fundraisers has helped our shul continue with programming, delivering soup and challah as well as other activities.
Do you have a birthday coming up? We would be honored if you would consider making our shul the recipient of your birthday fundraiser. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to celebrate your birthday and do a wonderful Mitzvah at the same time? Thank you for your consideration and Happy Birthday!
Chicken Soup, Challah Available
Those who live near Chabad at La Costa are welcome to let us know if you want some delicious Challah and/or Chicken Soup delivered to you on Friday to help you celebrate Shabbat in the most delicious way possible.
Please note that all food is prepared and delivered using recommended safeguards.
Sponsors Appreciated (And Needed)
These are extraordinary times. Many people are reaching out for help and, Baruch Hashem / thank G-d, we are HERE to help! ‘We’ means YOU and US, TOGETHER. It is an amazing partnership that we have!
We are extremely grateful to those who have reached out to help fund us, enabling us to serve others.
We would like to specifically acknowledge at this time:
Channah Hale for her generous sponsorship of the Challos. Channah has been absolutely phenomenal in her generous sponsorships! We thank her for her kindness and love.
Marie Herz for her sponsorshp in memory of Dr. David Herz.
Nathalie and Valerie, and Pasha and Valeria Mushinsky in honor of our beloved Michael We are seeking additional sponsors for the following dedications:
Next week’s Loaves of Love.
Next week’s Chicken soup.
Next week’s Torah classes.
Note About Sponsorships
You may have noticed that we seek multiple sponsors for the Challah, Soup, and Torah classes. We do this because we need to find ways to cover our budgetary shortfall that has been caused by the coronavirus. The donations coming to the shul have been dramatically reduced. We greatly appreciate those of you who are still supporting us! G-d bless you! We greatly appreciate your understanding as we seek ways of propping up the income necessary to keep things afloat. Your ideas about additional income streams are likewise greatly appreciated!
Ways to Give
We would be nowhere without the generous support of our community. Please know that your support is profoundly appreciated!
There are many ways to donate besides for checks and cash. Following please find a list of the various other ‘platforms’ that are available for secure donations that go directly and entirely into the synagogue account.
1. PayPal [email protected] or PayPal.me/Neilfort
2. Venmo @Nechama-Eilfort
3. Cashapp $nechamae
4. Zelle (Bank of America) [email protected]
5. Personal credit card chabadatlacosta.com/donate
Havdala Live with Rabbi Yossi
Join Rabbi Yossi Rodal on Facebook Live on Saturday night at 8:30pm for a meaningful Havdalah service. Following Havdalah Rabbi Yossi will share an uplifting Chasidic story as is traditional on Saturday night.
A Word of Torah
Living with the Times
Parshat Va’etchanan – And I Beseeched
By: Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort
A Word of Torah
Living with the Times
Parshat Ekev – Because (You hearkened…)
By: Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort
This week we read the portion titled, “Ekev,” which means ‘Because’ (you hearkened). The portion begins by articulating a very interesting proposition as the Almighty offers the Jewish people a deal in which He promises all sorts of beautiful blessings because they listened/followed the Divine Commandments (aka Mitzvos). Being that this portion is in the Book of Deuteronomy we understand that this is Moses conveying his impression of G-d’s word. Moses is reminding the people that we have entered into a contract with the Master of the Universe; a contract that stipulates since we will do what we need to, the Creator will reciprocate with all manner of blessings.
There is an alternative translation of ‘Ekev’ that has great significance as well. The word ‘Ekev’ means heel. The commentaries explain that we are being promised that if, or better yet since, we will follow all commandments, even those that often get trampled underfoot because they seem less important, we will be blessed in wondrous ways.
The world has a saying, “The devil is in the details.” That is understood to mean that those details that many feel are minutiae, are actually quite important – essential even to achieving success. As Jews we look to the Torah for life-guiding wisdom. In this case we are saying that, “The G-dliness is in the details!” When we are mindful of the fine points of a Torah observant life we will indeed experience incredible blessings.
Can we take a moment and imagine an insignificant sounding Mitzvah that can actually bring us meaningful blessings?
Let us use an extremely straightforward commandment – to say a blessing when we enjoy something; for instance before eating a fruit we say the blessing thanking G-d for the fruit of the tree. We Jews are actually expert ‘blessings sayers’ as we have almost limitless opportunities to say blessings. Throughout the day we put many things, all Kosher of course, into our mouths. Due to the regularity of the activity many may come to take the food for granted. How many of us eat mindlessly?
If we can train ourselves to be more self-aware and to carefully acknowledge the Source of the sustenance that we are enjoying, that will certainly positively affect our outlook on life. The more grateful a person is the more joyful that person will be. The more joyful a person is the more blessings he will see, as he sees the world through ‘rose colored glasses’.
We understand from this that the blessing on the food has far-reaching and deeply profound consequences. The simple act of acclimating ourselves to acknowledging the Source of our blessings will cause us to perceive more and more blessings, which will turn any pessimist into an optimist!
Let us endeavor to be more mindful of the Divine Commandments, and not to, G-d forbid, trample any of them underfoot. Let us embrace the manifest blessings in our life and ride the joyous feeling transforming our landscape from darkness into light and from negativity into the ultimate positivity!
Wishing everyone an uplifting, joyous, and HEALTHY Shabbos!
Haftarah Thought From: Chabad.org
Isaiah 49:14 - 51:3
This week's haftorah is the second of a series of seven "haftorot of Consolation." These seven haftarot commence on the Shabbat following Tisha b'Av and continue until Rosh Hashanah.
The exiled Jewish people express their concern that G‑d has abandoned them. G‑d reassures them that it is not so, comparing His love and mercy for His people to that of a mother for her children, and even greater than that, too.
The prophet Isaiah then touchingly describes the ingathering of the exiles which will occur with the Messiah's arrival and returning to the initial subject matter of this haftorah, that of the Jewish people's complaint of being abandoned by G‑d, he reminds them of their rebellious behavior that brought about the exile and suffering. He concludes with encouraging words, reminding us of what had happened to our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah. Just as they were blessed with a child when they had all but given up hope, so too, G‑d will send us the Messiah.
