The Stanton Street Weekly Newsletter: Shabbat Vaera
Author
Date Added
Automatically create summary
Summary
Week of January 15th, 2021 24 Tevet 5781 Shabbat Vaera
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Erev Shabbat January 15th (2 Shevat) 4:35p Candle Lighting
Shabbat Vaera, January 16th (3 Shevat) 9:30a Shabbat Services IN SHUL Register Here 5:38p Shabbat Ends. Gut Vuch and Shavua Tov! 6:15p Havdalah FROM YOUR HOME TO OURS via ZOOM Tuesday, January 19th (6 Shevat) 7p - 8p Parshat haShavuah with Rabbi Leead Staller via ZOOM Wednesday, January 20th (7 Shevat) 7p - 8:15p Rabbi Leead Staller's Tefillah shiur via ZOOM
Scroll down for class and event details.
Thank you to this week's DONORS We are grateful to have such a committed community
Rachel Frazer Membership The following congregants contributed to the End-of-the-Year Fund: Paul & Phyllis Ruffer • Elaine & Norman Teitcher Solomon Sauerhaft in memory of Phyllis Sauerhaft Gottlieb Mark Stein contributed to the Building Fund Jeff Katz Class Sponsorship Neil Picker
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.
From Your Home to Ours Stanton's ZOOMing Havdallah
Let's celebrate the end of Shabbat and the beginning of the work week together! ZOOM INat 6:15pm on Saturday night Please invite your friends and neighbors, and volunteer to lead us next week!
THE RABBI'S DRASHAH
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.
For a religion, we certainly do not talk about theology very often. I’ve read countless articles about how Orthodoxy doesn’t mention God enough. And yet, while we might shy away from the big picture questions in favor of Halakhic minutia and clever insights into the Torah reading, a few times a year the Parshah calls our bluff and doesn’t let us hide from the ever-lurking big questions. Perhaps the most famous– and most troubling– will come up later in the year, when we read about wiping out Amaleik and the Canaanite nations. But while Amaleik might win the grand prize as the Parshah’s most prominent theological/philosophical issue, Parashat VaEra presents us with what must surely be the runner up: Pharaoh’s lack of free will. God warns Moshe early on in our Parashah (Shemot 7:3):
וַֽאֲנִ֥י אַקְשֶׁ֖ה אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהִרְבֵּיתִ֧י אֶת־אֹֽתֹתַ֛י וְאֶת־מֽוֹפְתַ֖י בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.
And God is good on his promise. Following the fifth of the ten plagues, we start to see regular reminders of “God hardening Pharaoh’s heart” before each plague, as the Torah seems to imply that, were it not for God’s intervention, the Exodus would have ended well before the tenth plague. Why was God interested in prolonging the production? Rashi explains that God wanted to use the opportunity of the exodus from Egypt not just to free the Jews and to punish the Egyptians, but rather, God saw the exodus as the Jewish people’s introduction to the global stage, and as such, wanted to leave an impression. Thus, God forced Pharaoh to drag it out to ten plagues, giving God ten opportunities to perform open miracles for the Jewish people, demonstrating His power and their standing to the nations of the world.
But this presents a major theological and philosophical difficulty: What ever happened to free will? It seems like God is removing Pharaoh’s free will when he hardens his heart and forces him to keep the Jews enslaved in Egypt! Does God remove people’s free will? And if that is indeed what is happening here, to what end is God doing that? If the goal is to prolong the exodus to put on a better show for the global audience, how can God punish Pharaoh with additional plagues when He knows that Pharaoh’s refusal comes against his will? How can Pharaoh be held accountable when God is hardening his heart? ...continued
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.
Happy Birthday to Shlomo Sternberg! Parsha Anniversary for Dana Friedman!
VIRTUAL LEARNING
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.
Rabbi Leead Staller hosts weekly Parshat haShavuah Vaera Tuesday, January 19th, 7:00 - 8:00pm via ZOOM To join by phone, dial 1-(929) 205 6099 and enter Member ID: 847 9509 7605
AND Tefillah Shiur Wednesday, January 20th, 7:00-8:15pm via ZOOM To join by phone, dial 1-(929) 205 6099 and enter Member ID: 894 9535 0094
StantonKids Tu B'Shvat Seder Sunday, January 24th at 10am via ZOOM Morah Leslie and Morah Aliza will lead children in traditions, rituals, and song for this environmentally-focused holiday. Sponsored by Liz & Jon Miller in memory of Rochelle Miller.
David Deutsch's Three-Part Lecture Series: From Antisemitism to Extermination - the Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy
Although it is believed by many that the Final Solution was the culmination of a decades-long plan on the part of the Nazi leadership, the consensus of modern historians is that it arose out of wartime circumstances.
January 25th Germany and Hitler's Antisemitism: The Place of Jews in Weimar Germany and the Nazi Consciousness
February 1st Judenfrei: Nazi Jewish Policy in the 1930's
February 8th German Military Ambitions, Failures, and the Adoption of the Final Solution
To participate by phone, dial 1 929 205 6099 and enter Meeting ID: 845 3085 7476
Richard McBee's Pre-Purim Art Lecture
February 22: Artemisia: Esther and Women Artemisia Gentileschi's Esther Before Ahasuerus in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a paradigmatic example of this 17th Century female artist’s oeuvre. More than a quarter of her paintings aggressively depict Jewish heroines in a Baroque era rock-star career. We shall explore her feminist Jewish treasures.
CHESED OPPORTUNITIES
The Weekly Chesed Roundup Looking for a local or remote chesed opportunity this week? Here are some ways you can help individuals in need:
Create handmade cards for homebound seniors with DOROT Sign up for volunteer opportunities with Repair The World Participatein a volunteer project with New York Cares Donate food or clothes to The Bowery Mission Feed the hungrywith City Harvest (for folks under 65) Volunteer at a food bank with Food Bank for NYC Take care of the earth by volunteering with GrowNYC Take actionfor NYC refugees and asylum seekers with HIAS Knit and send a winter hatto an IDF soldier --brought to you by our Chesed/Social Action Committee
ONLINE ARCHIVES Click HERE for an archive of shiurim by Rabbi Staller ClickHERE 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 Katzor 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 parshaon 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.
RESOURCE HUB
For important resources during this COVID-19 era, pleaseCLICK HERE.