The Stanton Street Weekly Newsletter: Shabbat Noach
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Week of October 8th, 2021 2 Cheshvan 5782 Shabbat Noach
Erev Shabbat October 8th (2 Cheshvan) 6:20p Kabbalat Shabbat IN SHUL. Rabbi Staller will speak before maariv 6:09p Candle Lighting
Shabbat Noach October 9th (3 Cheshvan) 9:30a Shabbat Services IN SHUL 10:30a StantonKids Shabbat IN SHUL 4:30 Stanton Pets Shabbat Party in Siempre Verde Garden 7:06p Havdalah
Tuesday, October 12th (6 Cheshvan) 7p Rabbi Staller's Parshat HaShavuah Shiur via ZOOM
Wednesday, October 13th (7 Cheshvan) 7p Rabbi Staller's Tefillah Shiur via ZOOM
Thank you to this week's valued DONORS! We are grateful to have such a committed community. Brian Shuman • Jessica & Stu Loeser • Elazar Friedman • Felix Wolf Alvin Goldstein • Sandra & Dennis Rosenzweig Kimberly & Daneil Marcus • Julie Wolfe & Michael Gordon for High Holiday Appeal Jacob Lewisfor Out-of-Town Individual Membership Julie Wolfe & Michael Gordonfor Patron Membership
FROM RABBI LEEAD
Drasha This past Thursday, Shoshana and I were lucky enough to attend our first Broadway show in years, because of the pandemic. We saw Hadestown, and while undoubtedly Moshe Bloxenheim can tell you more about the production, the basic gist is a play about the Greek myth of Orpheus, Euridyce, Hades, and Persephone. And while now isn’t the time to get into the details of the story, earlier this week when I was describing the myth to a friend– and how it accounts for the origins of seasons in nature– I couldn’t help but be struck with the familiarity and resonance with the origin myths we’ve been reading about last week and this week in the Parshah.
Unsurprisingly, some modern biblical commentaries read all of the first 10 chapters of Genesis as being God’s polemical response to the myths of the time. For example, Umberto Cassuto, the early 20th century Italian rabbi, understands all of the cryptic references in Genesis to a “Leviathan” or “Behemoth” as being responses and subversions of publicly worshipped Ancient Near Eastern deities. While other entities may worship or fear a Leviathan, our God made it as a play thing. Such satirical subversion serves to polemicize against the popular religious myths of the time while providing Jewish alternatives.
Yet, while the polemical message of rejecting other Gods may be clear, sometimes the function of paralleling popular mythology in the Torah seems less obvious. Perhaps most famously– and most troublingly– our Parshah this week, Parashat Noach, seems to have been almost ripped out of the pages– or, really, tablets– of the Gilgamesh Epic. By far one of the coolest things I got to see in person at the Penn Museum, the Gilgamesh Tablets are an ancient pagan myth, preserved in 4000 year old stone writing, of a world-ending flood sent by the gods, and a hero who is selected to survive the flood in an ark and rebuild the world. It goes without saying that this story calls to mind the Parshah we just read about Noach, before even getting into the more detailed parallels between the two stories, and begs important questions about how we relate to the bible and the stories it tells. Of course, to some extent, we can justify this undeniable parallel by drawing attention to the differences between the two stories. Most prominently, and perhaps most importantly, the cause of the flood, and the goal it’s being brought to accomplish, differ dramatically between the pagan tale and the Jewish account. While we know in the Jewish account, the flood is brought as punishment for moral corruption between humans and their fellows, in the Pagan account, the flood is merely a random and capricious act of the gods– its cause and circumstance so unimportant as to not be directly addressed and justified. Such is the way of pagan gods, ruling the world on their own largely hedonistic whims, as the humans below live with the repercussions... CONTINUE HERE
Stanton Pets Shabbat Party Siempre Verde Garden (Across the street from The Stanton Street Shul) Saturday, October 9th at 4:30 pm
On Shabbat morning, we will read the story of Noah and his ark of animals. Come celebrate our own feathered and furry friends on shabbat afternoon with a Stanton Pets Shabbat Party! Enjoy a light seuda shelishit in the company of your Stanton friends and their beloved animals.
No pets? No problem! Bring your pet peeves, pet projects, or embrace your inner animal!
StantonKids with Morah Aliza 10:30-12pm Saturday, October 9th
MIX and MATCH Shabbat We are starting a new program at The Stanton Street Shul which is run at many other synagogues around the world: Mix and Match. It's a way to celebrate Shabbat, bond with fellow Stantoners, and share a meal at a Friday night dinner or Shabbat lunch.
Our first Mix and Match will be Friday November 5th/Saturday November 6th. Please fill out this form to register for one or both meals, and communicate preferences and food restrictions. The organizer will do the curating and assign you as a guest or a host by email.
All forms must be submitted by noon Thursday, November 4th. Assignments will be emailed by Thursday night at 7PM.
The Rules for Mix and Match Gatherings: 1. All participants 12 and over must be vaccinated. Please show your vaccination card to your host upon arrival. 2. As a host, you must be able to seat a total of 6-8 people (including yourselves) 3. Hosts are expected to serve kosher food using kosher dishware. 4. Guests are expected to bring a gift such as a bottle of wine, challah, or dessert. 5. Friday night dinners begin at 7:30 PM and Saturday afternoon lunches at 1PM. It is best to meet your host at the synagogue beforehand, but if this isn’t possible, please agree before Shabbat on the time when you will meet at the host’s lobby / building entrance. 6. Dinners and lunches are expected to last 1.5 hours but this is flexible 7. Be willing to go where you are assigned. The idea here is to deepen and widen friendships within the synagogue while having some social time -- we all need that! 8. Please do NOT second-guess the organizers, who will create these groups. 9. Cancellations are to be avoided, but email your host by Friday at noon if you can’t make it.
Please submit your form to participate by noon November 4th. Assignments will go out on Thursday by 7PM via email.
We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please participate -- this will be the season to emerge from all the isolation of COVID! Let us know if you have questions.
Save the Date: Rabbi Joe Wolfson is leading the local rabbis in organizing a communal event in honor of Rabbi Sacks' upcoming Yhartzeit, in recognition of the powerful and personal impact he had on our community in the time he spent with us. It will be Tuesday evening, October 26th, at the Sixth Street Shul. Details to follow. Contact Rabbi Joe Wolfson for more information. 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.
Wishing Barry Feldman a speedy recovery after undergoing surgery. Yarzheit Mother of Risa Gerstein: Sarah Gerstein The Stanton Street Shul COVID PROTOCOLS (as of September 1, 2021) We care deeply about the safety of our community. All attendees must wear a mask. Attendees must provide proof of vaccination. Please be considerate of the health of our community.
Security Protocols for Entering Shul: At all times as a security precaution, please use the code to enter the door on the right side of the building. If you do not know the code, knock and someone will let you in.
Parshat HaShavuah Shiur Tuesday, October 5th, 7:00 - 8:15pm via ZOOM To join by phone, dial 1-(929) 205 6099 and enter Member ID: 847 9509 7605
and Tefillah Shiur Wednesday, October 6th, 7:00 - 8:15pm via ZOOM To join by phone, dial 1-(929) 205 6099 and enter Member ID: 894 9535 0094
New Beginner Talmud Class: Needs Your Help! Following the conclusion of our Tefillah class in a month+ or so, we will be kicking off a new class, led by Rabbi Leead with the help of our Rabbinic Intern Emily and others! The class will be an introduction to Talmud, with the goal of giving members exposure to wide areas of Talmud and Talmudic thinking. Each week will be organized around an important idea or concept, and Rabbi Leead or Emily will present everyone with a few different Talmudic passages that address that concept. If this sounds interesting to you, and you'd like to join Rabbi Leead, Emily, and Dan Marcus to brainstorm topics/ideas and finalize a class schedule, please reach out to Rabbi Leead (leeadstaller@gmail.com). All help is appreciated!
For our health and that of our city, country and world -- get vaccinated! Walk-in vaccines are now available throughout the city. Or speak to your doctor. Or call the main vaccine hotline for NYC: 877-VAX-4NYC or 877-829-4692. Or visithttps://vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/or https://www.turbovax.info/
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
