Weekly Newsletter

Parshat Ki Tavo
Week of September 12, 2025
19 Elul 5785
Wishing you and your family 
Shabbat Shalom!

Friday, September 12, 2025   •  19 Elul 5785

• Candle lighting at 6:52 pm 

• Join us for a lively kumzits (communal singing) at 10pm, followed by introductory remarks from Rabbi Ben Birkeland
• ​​​​​​​Selichot services will take place at 10:45pm and will be led by Rabbi Bellino

The High Holidays are coming up soon, and we hope you'll spend them with us at Stanton! Please Find Our Full High Holiday Schedule Below:



Register for all FREE services and meals here.

*Please note that while all High Holiday services are always free of charge at our Shul, donations are encouraged and appreciated for those who are able to contribute.*

Rosh Hashana:
Monday, September 22nd, 6:30pm Evening Services 
Tuesday, September 23rd, 9:30am Shacharit Services
A Festive Kiddush will be held following services.
Wednesday, September 24th, 9:30am Shacharit Services
A Festive Kiddush will be held following services.
Childcare will be provided from 10:30am - 1pm on both days of Rosh Hashana, with programming happening from 11:30am - 12:30 pm
Fast of Gedalia:
Thursday, September 25th
Fast begins at 5:25am and ends at 7:29pm
Yom Kippur:
Wednesday, October 1st, 6:15pm Kol Nidre Services
(Please refer to myzmanim.com for local fast beginning and end times)
Thursday, October 2nd, 9:30am Services in Shul, 4:30pm Mincha & 6pm Neilah Services, followed by Maariv, Havdalah & a Light Break-Fast
Childcare will be provided from 10:30am - 2pm, with programming happening from 11:30am - 12:30 pm
Sukkot:
Sunday, October 5th, Sukkah Decorating Program for Children & Caregivers with StantonKIDS at Siempre Verde Garden (Community Garden Across from the Shul), 10am - 12pm
Tuesday, October 7th, 9:30am Shacharit Services
Wednesday, October 8th, 9:30am Shacharit Services
Shemini Atzeret:
Tuesday, October 14th, 9:30am Shacharit Services
Yizkor will be recited after 11am
Simchat Torah:
Tuesday, October 14th, 7pm Maariv Services
Wednesday, October 15th, 9:30am Shacharit Services in Shul/Women’s Tefillah Group Torah Reading & Shacharit Services
A Festive Kiddush Lunch Will be Held at Approximately 1pm Following Services.

*PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL TIMING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR ANY UPDATES VIA EMAIL.

Visit stantonstshul.org for more information and updates.

Need a refresher on the High Holidays or just want some Torah Inspiration?

Join Rabbi Ben Birkeland for:
A High Holiday Overview Class (On Zoom)


We'll go over essential laws and customs of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.
Wednesday, September 17 at 7pm ET
Join the Meeting Using This Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88477276168

Dear friends,

This week we read Parshas Ki Savo. It is an eventful parsha which starts with the laws surrounding the first fruits and tithes that the Children of Israel must bring to the Mikdash. It continues by discussing the unique relationship between HaShem and the Jewish People and, within this discussion, the parsha rehashes all of the good and bad things that will befall us if we listen to or stray from the Torah that God has given us, respectively. The blessings are profound and the curses are deeply disturbing. Though these blessings and curses make up the bulk of the parsha, I want to focus on an interesting verse that comes right after them. 

In the final aliyah of the parsha, “(1) Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, ‘You have seen all that HaShem did before your very eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his courtiers and to his whole country; (2) the wondrous feats that you saw with your own eyes, those prodigious signs and marvels. (3) Yet HaShem has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day’” (Dev. 29:1-3). It is deeply significant that the Children of Israel have seen everything that God did to the Egyptians. The plagues and terrors of Egypt are referenced in the enumerated curses and the fact that we bore witness to them directly serves as a further warning of God’s seriousness.  

Additionally, the experience of Sinai was one that was “before your very eyes”. We are told, back in Exodus, “And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they were shaken, and stood afar off” (Shem. 20:15). Our origins as a distinct people hinge upon the signs and wonders that we experienced; both the plagues and terrors of Egypt and the revelation at Sinai. We entered into our covenant not through an idealism or theoretical conviction but rather through a knowledge derived from first hand experience. What we saw served as the impetus for everything that has come since and yet Moses tells us in verse 3 that we were not given the heart to perceive and the eyes to see until 40 years later, at the end of our wanderings in the wilderness.

I am reminded of an explanation I once heard regarding the gemara in Shabbos (21B) which discusses the origins of Chanukah. After asking “what is Chanukah?” the gemara gives a brief overview of the victory of the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil. Interestingly, the gemara says that the Sages did not institute Chanukah as a holiday until at least a year later. Why the delay? One answer is that the Sages recognized that the events that had just transpired were significant but they needed time to understand their full implications and ramifications. Similarly, the Talmudic Sage Rabbah learns from verse 3, above, that it takes a student 40 years to fully understand an opinion of their teacher. You can latch on to a basic truth but it will take time to fully grasp and internalize it.

We are living through a time of significant upheaval, to say the least. Lessons we have been taught, assumptions we have made, all are being tested and reevaluated. Lessons that we are learning today, convictions buttressed by everything we see around us, are real and important and are at the same time woefully incomplete and often confusing. This cannot stop us from doing our best to understand and respond to the needs of the moment but it is simply true that murky waters take time to clear and we really do not know what lies underneath. Our parsha stresses, though, that our Torah provides a means to navigate these waters and that if we hold fast, we are guaranteed to make it through.

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Birkeland

Join Us for StantonKIDS This Year!




Shabbat Programming for 5786

Shabbat Program September 13: 10:30am-12pm
Rosh Hashana September 23 and September 24: Childcare provided from 10:30am-1pm, programming from 11:30am-12:30pm
Yom Kippur October 2: Childcare provided from 10:30am-2pm, programming from 11:30am-12:30pm
Sukkah Decorating October 5: 10:00am-12pm
Shabbat Program October 18: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program November 8: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program November 22: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program December 6: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program December 20: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program January 17: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program January 24: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program February 7: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program February 28: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program March 14: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program March 28: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program April 18: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program April 25: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program May 9: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program May 16: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program June 6: 10:30am-12pm
Shabbat Program June 13: 10:30am-12pm

Women's Tefillah Group Programming Schedule

Come Daven With Us!



Our schedule for 5786 is below:

Simchat Torah - October 15
Parshat Chayei Sarah - November 15
Parshat Shemot & Slater Schwartzberg’s Bat Mitzvah - January 10 
Parshat B'shalach - January 31
Megillat Esther Reading - March 2
Parshat Emor - May 2 
Parshat Nasso - May 30 
Parshat Korach - June 20

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!

Happy Birthday, Malka Percal! (September 9)
​​​​​​​Happy Birthday, Jason Nagel! (September 13)

We Remember:

Murray Nusbaum, husband of Risa Gerstein (September 9)

A big yasher koach to our new and returning Board members:

Ethan Ellenberg 
Marc Schwartzberg 
Mona Klaber
Michael Gordon
Lina Morales 
David Deutsch 
Judy Josephs

Honorary Trustees:
Barry Feldman 
Alvin Goldstein 

ONLINE ARCHIVES

If you missed services this past Shabbos, 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
Click here for an archive of drashot
Click here to go to our YouTube Channel for an archive of all of our ZOOM classes