Weekly Newsletter

Week of December 18th, 2020
3 Tevet 5781
Shabbat Miketz

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

The following congregants have contributed to the Eruv Fund:
Peretz Berk & Erik Leung "in Honor of Marc Schwartzberg for all he does to keep the shul going" • Moshe Bloxenheim • Aliza & David Deutsch • Rivky & David Friedman • Edith Honig • Jeff Katz • Paul Ruffer • Margie Segal
The following congregants have contributed to the End-of-Year Fund:
Rivky & David Friedman
The following congregants have contributed to the High Holiday Fund:
Jeff Katz • Rivky & David Friedman
The following congregants have renewed their membership:
Rivky & David Friedman • Neal Picker

Phyllis & Paul Ruffer in Honor of Rachel Frazer for her wonderful teaching series

COVID Protocols
As cases rise nationally, and New York City tightens restrictions, we reemphasize the need to abide by the CDC guidelines. 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.  

Often times, we’re so familiar with the biblical stories that, in anticipation of what is about to come, we don’t stop and reflect on what’s going on right now. When we read about Yosef being brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams, we all already know that Yosef will eventually become the viceroy to Egypt, bring his family down to meet him, and set the stage for the exile in Egypt and the rest of the bible. However, if we step on the breaks and take a moment to reflect on where we are in the biblical narrative, the events that unfold should strike us as unusual and unique. 

After successfully interpreting the dreams of his fellow prisoners, Yosef is brought to Pharaoh to interpret his dreams– something we all take for granted as logical, as Yosef is the great dream interpreter. But at this point in the Torah, we have only just been introduced to this idea of a prophetic dream interpretation! Since when is this a method of divine communication? Granted, we have a few prior cases of divine dreams– Avraham at the covenant of the parts, Lavan during his pursuit of Yaakov– but in all of those cases, there was no “interpretive” element involved! God directly appeared and communicated with the Avraham and with Lavan, albeit while they were sleeping. Since when does God communicate via elaborate charades– hinting to people their future via a complicated guessing game of symbolism? 

While Yosef might be the first biblical figure to primarily interface with God via dreams, he is certainly not the last. Just last week, we read the Hafotrah from the book of Zechariah. Zechariah, the last of the biblical prophets, exclusively communicates with God via symbolic dreams. Throughout the book of Zechariah, the prophet has confusing symbolic dreams and is helped to arrive at their proper interpretation via an assisting angel. By Zechariah, it is clear that God’s shift from direct communication to dreams foretells the imminent end of prophecy and decline of the Jewish people’s relationship with God. In other words, Zechariah, as the last prophet to manage any form of intimate relationship with God, experiences a much more diluted form of prophecy where he only sees vague images in a dream, and a third party– God’s angel– has to help him interpret it. Thus, we see that divine dreams are representative of God distancing himself and opting for an indirect form of communication... continued

Click HERE to read the Rabbi's full Drasha

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. 

Birthdays: Happy Birthday to Risa Gerstein and Moshe Bloxenheim!

Five Years of Art from Yiddish New York
Tine Kinderman and Deborah Ugoretz, participating artists and oft curators of Stanton art shows in partnership with Yiddish New York, have put together a virtual retrospective: "FINF Yor"! Five Years of Art from Yiddish New York.

The show is part of YIDDISH NEW YORK, which will be virtual as well this year and run from December 26th - 30th. 

A Pro-Israel Moment
The United States continues to try to bring more Arab and Muslim countries into the Abraham Accords. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have agreed to normalization with Israel. Normalization talks have advanced with Oman and Indonesia. The Saudis have given tacit approval to many of the provisions of these accords. Although not a Muslim-majority country, Bhutan, a Buddhist county in the Himalayas established full diplomatic relations with Israel for the first time this week. Peace and more open respect for Israel is spreading. We look forward to the months ahead when many more countries will add their names to these historic accords named after our patriarch Abraham, "the father of a multitude of nations."  
--the Israel Awareness Committee 

Re-Cap
WTG Rosh Chodesh: Thank you to Rachel Mincer for organizing and leading services for the Women’s Tefillah Group Zoom Rosh Chodesh services on Wednesday morning. Thank you as well to the women who layned and/or davened--Chavie Sharfman-Sosa, Malka Percal, Ellen Silverstein, Leslie Levinson, Rabbi Melinda Zalman and a special thanks to Brina Chu for her beautiful D’Var Torah.

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Chanukah Party & Housewarming at the Stallers: CONGRATULATIONS to Phyllis Ruffer, winner of The Stanton Street Trivia contest. The competition was fierce and Kahoot has a steep learning curve, but Phyllis triumphed! Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate Chanukah and welcome the Stallers to the neighborhood.

StantonKids Chanukah: All the Stanton kids received a wonderful care package in time for the party Sunday morning. 

ERUV FUNDRAISER: Our Shul's financial obligation for maintaining the downtown eruv is $3600. We surpassed our goal and are grateful to everyone who supported our larger community via the eruv! Thank you!

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.