Weekly Newsletter

Week of December 4th, 2020
18 Kislev 5781
Shabbat Vayishlach

Thank you to this week's DONORS
We are grateful to have such a committed community

William & Dory Bergman for Eruv Fund
Ethan Ellenberg for High Holidays Campaign
Dana Friedman for Eruv Fund
Karen Hausman for Eruv Fund
Nathan Janette for Eruv Fund
Jeff Katz for High Holidays Campaign
Rita Lourie for General Fund
Donna Lippman in honor of Jessica Spector and Raffi Abelson
Joshua Mermelstein for Eruv Fund
Rachel & Allen Mincer for Family Membership
Diane & Jerry Reich for Eruv Fund
Phyllis Ruffer for General Fund
Margie Segal for Refuah shelama to Raffi Abelson - Rabbi Discretionary Fund;
Mazel Tov to Eric & Peretz new baby boy- StantonKids;
Mazel in your new home Rabbi and Shoshana Staller - Eruv Fund; and
Sponsor Rachel Frazer’s class in Memory of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Ellen & Paul Silverstein for Women's Tefillah Group in honor of Margie Segal's Birthday, and General Fund
Mayer & Malki Sinensky for Eruv Fund
Maxbetter Vizelberg for General Donations
Felix Wolf for Eruv Fund

ERUV FUNDRAISER
Please support the downtown Eruv and donate here!
Our Shul's responsibility for the Eruv is $3600. Thus far, we have raised about $1100. Every little bit of support helps.
Consider becoming a $180 Sponsor.
Watch a Recording of our Giving Tuesday ERUV EVENING 
including a wonderful lecture by Museum Curator Zachary Levine on the History of the Eruv

COVID Protocols
As cases rise nationally, and New York City begins to tighten it's restrictions with the onset of winter and the holiday season, we reemphasize the need to abide by the CDC guidelines. If you traveled beyond tri-state area or hosted for Thanksgiving, or were in a high risk situation recently, please take the appropriate measures to ensure everyone's safety. And as always, if you feel sick, please stay at home. If you attend in-person services, please wear a mask and register for services in advance. Thank you everyone for your cooperation as we all work together to ensure a safe service. 

Because many of us are not able to attend shul in person, the Rabbi has agreed to share his shabbat morning drashah in advance. Here is the first half of it. To read the full drashah, click here and it will take you to what will become a rich archive of all of Rabbi Staller's drashot.  

One of the Torah’s more puzzling stories, Jacob’s struggle with an angel before meeting his brother Eisav poses many difficulties. Why is an angel mysteriously appearing just to wrestle with Yaakov? Why is his name changed? What was Yaakov doing alone at night? Why is Yaakov injured, why is that injury so momentous it is commemorated for all of Jewish history in the laws of Gid HaNasheh, the prohibition to eat the sciatic nerve? The entire story begs for explanation. 

Our rabbis picked up on this ambiguity and tried to fill in some of the blanks. One famous Midrash explains that Yaakov had crossed his entire family over the Yabok river, but had forgotten some small jars for which he would have to return. While the imagery of Yaakov returning in the dark of night for small jars invokes the later themes of the Maccabees lighting up the long winter night with a small jar of pure olive oil, the text does not seem to be as supportive of the seasonal connection. Indeed, the text seems to indicate that Yaakov and his entire camp went to bed that night, and Yaakov alone awoke in the middle of the night to cross the Yabok river. The text tells us that Yaakov went to sleep with the rest of the camp and awoke in the middle of the night. Unless Yaakov was so wracked with anxiety over those jars that he couldn’t fall asleep, this hardly seems like the description of a quick trip to pick up a forgotten jar. So why is Yaakov sneaking around at night? 

The Rashbam sees Yaakov’s sneaking around alone at night as the key to understanding this entire story. According to the Rashbam, the Torah emphasizes that Yaakov is alone at night as a way of communicating that Yaakov was trying to flee from Eisav in the middle of the night, when no one would see him run. Indeed, this read makes sense with the flow of the story as, until Yaakov’s unexpected nighttime river-crossing, the reader had been given a very clear and detailed description of Yaakov’s preparations and three-part plan for meeting his brother Eisav. After detailing that meticulous plan and its reasoning, all of a sudden we are surprised with an impromptu scene of Yaakov sneaking around at night. Rather than assume that this too was part of the plan, but we merely didn’t hear about it, it makes sense to read this passage in light of the Rashbam. Yaaov wakes up in the middle of the night in a panic, and, despite his planning and previous composure, gives in to his weaker urges and attempts to flee in the cover of dark, leaving his family behind him..... continued

Click HERE to read the Rabbi's full Drasha

FROM RABBI STALLER:
This Wednesday night at 7 PM, instead of my regular Tefillah Shiur there will be a special mental health event on Zoom with Dr. Michelle Friedman.
We will discuss together as a community some of the struggles we have experienced so far, talk about tools and ways to cope in preparation for the potential many more months of COVID winter, and strengthen the bonds and ties that form our community. I urge everybody in our Stanton community to make every effort to attend, as the subject matter is so important for all of us, and as these are the moments that truly define what kind of community we choose to be. Hopefully this week’s Parshah will inspire us to live up to our namesake as the children of Israel, and to develop the courage to have hard conversations and struggle with tough realities, but without the need to go it alone. 

Please take a moment to fill out the Chesed/Social Action Committee's Survey. Share your interest, with Committee Chairs, in chesed, or acts of kindness, including volunteer opportunities and providing support to community members during lifecycle events; and educational opportunities for social action, specifically focused on racial justice efforts.

Misheberach: We pray that all who are sick may have a full recovery. To add a name to our communal misheberach prayer list, email us. 

Condolences: It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Phyllis Sauerhaft Gottlieb, daughter of past Stanton Street Shul President Benjamin Sauerhaft, sister of Stanton member Dr. Solomon (Sonny) Sauerhaft, and mother of Adam Gottlieb. May her memory be for a blessing. Due to COVID there is no in-person shiva. Sonny can be reached at 212-677-2107. May the entire Sauerhaft and Gottlieb family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.  

SPONSOR A CLASS
Please sponsor a virtual class in honor of oneself, the Shul, a yahrzeit, an anniversary, a birthday, or in the name of a friend or someone who sustains the Shul with their hard work.  Sponsorships begin at $36, but there is no maximum. All sponsorships benefit the Shul and are very much appreciated. 

ONLINE ARCHIVES
Click HERE for an archive of shiurim by Rabbi Staller
Click HERE for an archive of drashot by Rabbi Staller
Click HERE to go to our YouTube Channel for an archive of our ZOOM classes

Rabbi Staller Encourages and Welcomes Your Feedback and can be reached by email or by phone/text at (917) 282-7643. Alternatively, you may reach out, confiedentially, to our Rabbinic Advisory Committee. Contact committee chair Jeff Katz or committee members Paul Ruffer, Margie Segal, Marc Schwartzberg, and Ellen Silverstein. We welcome your input.

We at The Stanton Street Shul and beyond have the incredible opportunity to learn Torah from the comfort of our own homes every week! Hear Rabbi Staller's fresh perspective on the weekly parsha on Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM and his innovative approach to understanding Tefillah (prayer) on Wednesdays at the same time. All Stanton classes are free and recorded for your review, but it is the live interchange between rabbi and participants that energizes these classes and makes them special. 

For important resources during this COVID-19 era, please  CLICK HERE.