Shabbat Chayei Sara Week of November 21st, 2024 Cheshvan 5785 Wishing You and your family Shabbat Shalom and a good week!
Erev Shabbat Friday November 22nd , 2024 (21st BeCheshvan, 5785) Candle Lighting at 4:15 pm
Shabbat November 23rd, 2024 (22nd of Cheshvan, 5785) Shacharit Services in Shul at 9:30 am, followed by a Kiddush open to everyone. Women's Tefillah Group: 9:00AM - 12:00 PM
Women's Tefillah Group Thank you to all who have joined us for services this year! Our schedule for 5785 is below: Shabbat Parshat Chayei Sarah - November 23 Shabbat Parshat Beshalach - February 8 Megillat Esther Reading - March 13 Shabbat Parshat Emor - May 17 Shabbat Parshat Nasso - June 7 Shabbat Parshat Korach - June 28 If you would like to layn, lead services, or give a d'var Torah with us, or if you have questions, please be in touch!
COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Events: Board Meeting- Sunday, November 24th, 2024 Birthdays: Happy Birthday to Tracy Fogel and Joann Fassari on their birthday on November 27th, 2024. Hasppy Birthday to Dominik Zakrzewski on his Hebrew birthday on the 26th of Cheshvan Misheberach Rachel Devorah bat Elke Cecile Cohen זיאסל מלכה בת אסתר Manny Kaplan מאיר ראובן בן לאה Chana Mera bat Fruma Henna Gitche bat Honcha Ella bat Leah Chaya Malka bat Esther Leia Nolan Rhodes נתן צבי בן פרידה Ashlynn Elizabeth Helen Coffman Moshe Asher Ben Esther Sarah Reuven ben Rochel Rivka bat Miriam Sara Eliyahu Natan ben Shayndel Shayna bat Chana Kayla Yitzhak Calev ben Leetza Tzvia Ashira bat Yosef Chaim Yonah ben Dubrah Efraim Ben Sore Shimon Sumer HaLevi Ben Malka Jim Lee Leah Zahava Bat Elka Barry Feldman Yaacov Ben Chaya Gitza Rochel Ben Chaya Gitza
We pray that all who are sick may have a full recovery. We are especially sending prayers to those who are wounded and in need of healing in Israel and Gaza, and daven for the safe return of those who are still unaccounted for. To add a name to our communal misheberach prayer list,email us.
If you have a Yahrtzeit, birthday, anniversary or other milestone coming up, please reach out! We'd like to update our Yahrtzeit database. Please send us your yahrzeit details. If you don't know the exact Hebrew date, just let us know the date of passing, and we will figure it out and add it to the Shul Cloud calendar.
Our Annual Membership Drive Is Ongoing!
** Membership Invoices have been sent out to all who held Memberships last year (2023-2024) and have not yet paid for the 2024-2025 year. Please reach out with any questions about renewing your membership or beginning a new membership.** Thank you to all members who have submitted payments. Your dues allow us to be the welcoming place we are.
Dear Friends,
This week we read parshas Chayei Sarah. Counterintuitively, the parshah opens with the death of Sarah and describes Avraham’s arrangements for her burial. Along with Avraham, Sarah has set the stage of Jewish history and altered the course of the world through her acts of kindness, righteousness, and trust in the Almighty. With Sarah gone, Avraham now thinks ahead to the continuation of this legacy and sends his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak. Eliezer travels back to Haran, where Avraham and Sarah’s extended family still resides. It is there by the well outside the city, that we are introduced to Rivka, the second of our matriarchs. Just before she arrives on the scene, Eliezer says to God “Behold, I am standing by the spring of water and the daughters of the townsmen come out to draw water. Let it be that the maiden to whom I shall say ‘please tip over your jug so I may drink’ and who replies, ‘drink and I will even water your camels’, her will you have designated for Your servant, for Yitzchak; and may I know through her that You have done kindness with my master” (Gen. 24:13-14). Rivka appears immediately and gives water to Eliezer. When he finishes, she tells him that she will water his camels as well and she proceeds to draw them water until they have had their fill. Eliezer sees the fulfillment of his request to God and goes with Rivka back to her family's house where they discuss the prospect of marrying Yitzchak. R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch learns two important things about Rivka from this exchange. One is the degree to which she embodies kindness. She eagerly gives Eliezer the water that he needs but her kindness extends even to the camels who have just made a long journey across the desert. Kindness to animals is an important value on its own and shows a sensitivity and recognition of the fact that all of God’s creations are deserving of care and respect. The Torah illustrates the seriousness with which she takes the welfare of these camels when it describes her running back and forth between the well and the troughs, filling and refilling until the camels were satiated. The second point R’ Hirsch picks up on is that Rivka does not immediately tell Eliezer that she will provide water for his camels. She makes sure Eliezer has the water that he needs and only then brings up the camels, after which she immediately starts to draw water for them. R’ Hirsch sees this as an expression of Rivka being a woman of action and not words. She only brings up the camels when she is ready to address their needs rather than flattering Eliezer beforehand with talk of watering the camels. This shows a strength of character and conviction; a willingness to jump right in for an important cause. This is expressed again later on when she is willing to cross the desert to marry Yitzchak even when her mother and brother try to delay their journey. These are two qualities, among many, that highlight why Rivka was the right person to join Yitzchak in continuing the project started by Avraham and Sarah. Like Avraham and Sarah, Rivka embodied kindness and concern for the other. This extended not just to other people but to animals as well. Like Avraham and Sarah, she was eager and willing to take action when action needed to be taken, even when it meant leaving everything she had known behind. At the end of the parshah, Avraham dies as well and is buried next to Sarah by Yitzchak and Yismael. As Avrham and Sarah now fade from the scene, their legacy is ensured, as God had promised, and Rivka and Yitzchak step in. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Birkeland
StantonKIDS Shabbat Programming for 5785 Shabbat Program December 7: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program December 21: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program January 11: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program January 25: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program February 1: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program February 15: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program March 1: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program March 15: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program April 5: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program April 26: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program May 3: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program May 31: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program June 14: 10:30am-12pm Shabbat Program June 21: 10:30am-12pm
We are shaking from the ongoing war in Israel. 101 Israeli citizens, among them 7 Americans, are still hostages in Gaza. You can find information on them and on their families' efforts to release them here. Over 1,200 Israelis are dead with thousands more wounded. There are also innocent civilians caught in the line of fire in Gaza and Lebanon.
This is unprecedented and the most deadly attack on Israel in a generation. We must take action. In addition to our prayers, we ask you to consider making a generous donation to one of the listed causes.
The One who makes peace on high, may He bring peace down below to us. Amen
ONLINE ARCHIVES
If you missed services this past shabbes, or arrived too late to hear the drasha, you can go to our archives and read a copy! Click here for an archive of shiurim Clickherefor an archive of drashot Clickhere to go to our YouTube Channel for an archive of all of our ZOOM classes
