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   Oct / Nov / Dec 2002                                                                                   

In the past, Shabbat Kiddush was entirely taken care of by Rebitzen Becky, and was sponsored by our Synagogue. This past year, we began a sponsorship program, whereby congregants sponsor the Kiddush to honor a loved one, or special occasion.

To make it easier to sponsor a Kiddush, you may now either have it catered (by H&E Deli), or you may bring in the food yourself.   If catered, the synagogue will handle all arrangements including having the food delivered on Saturday morning. There are two catering menus available to offer an affordable choice.

As always, you can still make the Kiddush arrangements yourself.  Please note that as is our custom, only Dairy or Parve is permitted, and all food must be commercially prepared, except for baked goods, which may be homemade.

Mazel Tov to our Bar Mitzvahs
Mark Knezevic        8/3/02	Jonathan Seeman 10/19/02

Our 2^nd Annual Break-the-Fast Dinner was held on Monday Sept. 16, 2002.

Due to last year’s overwhelming attendance, this year’s dinner was held in the banquet room at Southpoint Condominium, overlooking the ocean.  This new location accommodated all who wished to attend, and allowed us to double attendance from last year.

The menu consisted of traditional bagels and lox, white fish, assorted salads and spreads and beverages. Coffee and dessert was also served.

The Dinner was a smashing success, and we are sure that next year will be even bigger and better!

Special thanks to Marty & Shelly Glazer, and all those whose helped to set up the room and coordinate the event, especially Yvonne Williams for her beautiful table decorations.

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Why write an article on etiquette?  After all, don’t we all know the proper behavior when attending Services?  The answer is probably yes, but we all tend to forget.   The purpose of this article is to serve as a reminder.

Synagogue is a house of G-d, a place to feel G-d’s presence and worship, and a place to join the community in prayer.  Etiquette and decorum will help facilitate praying and meditation.  What is etiquette?  Per Webster’s dictionary: “the forms prescribed by custom or authority to be observed in social, official or professional life”.

10 Rules of Shabbos Service etiquette:

1) Arrive 5 to 10 minutes early to greet fellow congregants, take a prayer book and a seat.  (Services begin at 10 am).

2) Do not leave or enter the sanctuary when the Ark is open.

3) Never put prayer books on the floor, as they are holy books.

4) Turn off your cell phones and set your pagers to vibrate if you must wear one.

5) Limit chatting to after the Service (you might think you are whispering, but others can hear you. 

6) Since children are welcome in the Synagogue, recognize that they may get restless sitting through a long service.  Bring books and quiet toys to keep them amused and busy.  In the event that your child becomes “too restless” and louder than comfortable for the other congregants, please take them out of the sanctuary for a “cool down” time.

7) Although our Services are casual, there is a certain level of respect that is reflected by the clothes our children wear.  As a rule, our children should not wear playground attire to Shul (shorts, t-shirts, dirty sneakers, etc.).  Tank tops, halters, mini skirts, hip-hugger jeans and similar attire that expose areas of the body inappropriate in a Synagogue, should also not be worn. 

8) No eating or drinking is allowed in the sanctuary (that is at all times!).

9) No running or horse-play is allowed in the sanctuary (that is at all times!).

10) And lastly, some congregants suffer from asthma and/or allergies and therefore may be sensitive to heavy perfume. Limit or avoid the use of strong perfume when attending services.

See you at Services. Shalom!
                                      -  Lucie Rousse

Friday afternoon, a few hours before the first Shabbat after Yom Kippur, I find myself driving home after an exhausting week.  Yom Kippur, with its richness of color, sound, and moments of poignant emotion, has been left behind too quickly.  Once upon a time, we could absorb all the sensations of the High Holidays, its joys and its somberness. Then, we would take a collective breath, and immerse ourselves in the preparations for Succot.  But now, for most of us, as we break our fasts and welcome the New Year, our minds are moving forward to the routines of daily life.  By Friday morning, I am kicking myself for being so unprepared for Succot.

“Should we take the children to the synagogue,” I ask my husband who himself is exhausted after the workweek and has stretched out on the couch like an oversized cat. “I don’t know, it’s up to you,” he mutters absent-mindedly.  In a split second I make up my mind.
I bark like a drill sergeant at the children and finally horde them into the car while my husband tags behind still complaining about being tired.

We are all irritable with each other as we drive down to the synagogue.  Even as we park, the children are squabbling in the back seat.  By this time, I am ready to turn around and stare them down. They hate that.

It has often delighted me to realize how much Jews, when thrown together, act as a family.  We are not tied only by faith or a set of beliefs, we are tied by history - we are still the children of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Jacob, of Rachel and Leah. 

And while we may raucously disagree with each other more often than not - we love each other.  That love is the glue that has held us together through the dark times of our history.  That love is what raises us in laughter, song, and dance on this evening.  And, that love is what transcends time.

I open my eyes and see my Sarah still involved in her coloring and singing Hinei-Mah-Tov at the top of her lungs.

Joy abounds… 

This year, Hanukkah arrives earlier than usual.  The first night of Hanukkah is Friday evening, Nov. 29^th. 

As always, our synagogue strives to provide our children with the same fun and experiences we had when we were younger.   Holiday celebration is a large part of a child’s understanding and enjoyment of Jewish history and heritage.

Over the past few years, the community has joined together to celebrate Hanukkah at a festival held on Las Olas Blvd. Unfortunately, this year there will not be a Las Olas celebration.  Therefore, we have decided to open our doors to our community, and expand our Hanukkah celebration to allow local residents to join us in an afternoon of fun and celebration.

We will be holding a Hanukkah Festival on Sun. Dec.1, from 11am until 5pm. We plan to set up tables and areas throughout the synagogue and outer courtyard offering foods, games, song, dance, and all the excitement of a Hanukkah festival.

This day will also serve as our second Open House. Photographs and literature will be displayed to welcome visitors, and to invite new members. 

A special committee has been formed to run this event.  We need volunteers to help run the Festival and the Open House.  Please contact Yvonne Williams to lend your support.   A sign-up sheet is posted on the events board at the synagogue.  Please help us make this a special day for our children and our community.

                                         - Alec Messeroff

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The festival of Chanukah is one of the best-loved and most widely observed holidays in the Jewish calendar.  The powerful images of the miracles of the Jewish victory over the Selucid Greeks in the 2nd Century BCE, and the miracle of the one-day supply of oil burning eight days in the re-dedication of the Temple, are an annual inspiration to Jews everywhere.

Like every mitzvah, Chanukah has its special laws and customs. A closer examination of the laws and customs of Chanukah yields some surprising insights.

1) A Mitzvah of Sharing
In the old days, if a person had only enough oil for himself for the eight days of Chanukah, and his impoverished neighbor had none, he would share with him, even though he would not have enough left for all eight candles to be lit at the end of the festival.  The idea of adding a candle each night until we reach eight is what is known as Hiddur, a beautification of the Mitzvah.  Since the essential Mitzvah is just one candle per night, better to share your oil and enable another Jewish person to fulfill the essential Mitzvah along with you, than to beautify your own while he has nothing.

2) A Time of Assimilation
The candle lighting was originally to be performed outside in the doorway or courtyard at sunset.   This was done so that people coming home from work would see the festival lights. Chanukah is unique in this respect.  We have no other commandment in Judaism, which requires such public display.  This is because during the era of the Hasmoneans, there was rampant assimilation among the Jewish people due to the influence of Greek culture. The Sages instituted the candle lighting for outdoors to publicize the miracles that God had done for His people, and to serve as a way of inspiring all of the Jewish people to return to their tradition.

3) A Unique Blessing
Most of us are familiar with the blessings said by the person lighting the candles.  What is less well known, is that there is also a blessing for those who are not lighting.  Upon seeing the Chanukah candles burning, they make a blessing "on the miracles that were done for our fathers."  This, too, may be explained by the special concern that the Sages felt for all Jews, including the non-observant.   The  candles  were made a public

display for their sake.  Therefore, when a Jew who, upon seeing the lights burning, is aroused by them to take a renewed interest in his Jewish identity, that special dimension of the mitzvah has been fulfilled, and a blessing of thanks to God is in order.

4) Priorities

The Talmud raises the question regarding a person who has only enough oil for either Shabbat or Chanukah candles, but not both.  Which takes precedence?  The Talmud determines that Shabbat takes precedence because of “Shalom Bayit” family harmony.  The Chanukah candles publicize the miracle of the oil, but the Shabbat candles illuminate the home.  It is deemed more important that there be light in the home for the enjoyment of the Shabbat meal.

5) God's Business

The candle should contain sufficient oil (or wax) at the time of lighting to burn until at least 30 minutes after the stars come out.  In the event that the light is extinguished before the prescribed time, it is proper to re-light (without a new blessing).  However, one is not obligated to re-light; he has fulfilled the mitzvah with the original lighting.  This is an application of the principle that "the lighting makes the mitzvah."  This symbolizes the Jewish view that in life generally our responsibility is to make our decisions and act to carry them out; but if, in the end, the bright dream of success is extinguished, it does not mean we have failed.  Our job is to decide and to act.  Success or failure is God's business.

6) Jewish Ambition

In spiritual matters, there is the principle of Ma'alin B'Kedushah, ascending in holiness.  This is exemplified by the way in which we light Chanukah candles.  We light one candle on the first night, two on the second, and so on, until we conclude the festival with eight candles burning.  On Chanukah, it is meant to convey the specific message of the increase of the miracle, as the one-day supply of oil continued to burn and burn for eight days.  In a general sense, though, it expresses the Jewish concept of ambition: that we should always strive to attain greater and greater appreciation of the miracles that God does for us, and to reach for ever higher levels of spirituality.

7) Great and Small

8) Souls on Fire

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From the Rabbi’s Desk…

In the world of medicine there is a term used more frequently today than it was a generation ago.  That term is "deficiency diseases."   Medicine has made remarkable strides in remedying deficiencies in the human body through the use of various vitamin and trace element supplements. 

Just as there can be physical deficiency, so also can there be deficiencies in the spiritual realm.  I believe that a good part of our problem in the Jewish world today is a dangerous shortage of knowledge and understanding of our faith and heritage.

I recently came across a survey taken among 180 Jewish teenagers, one-third indicated that they did not know what being Jewish meant, another third said that being Jewish means "it's a religion", while the final third indicated that it is something "to be proud of."

Our Jewishness, our “Yiddishkeit”, is more than just a creed - it is our self, our totality.  Judaism is not just a beautiful picture to look at during rare moments; it is really a tapestry for everyday enjoyment, a tapestry that we never tire of looking at.

The very word "Yiddishkeit" implies a sense of the importance of Jewish

learning, and of obligations of living our lives within a Jewish context.    As   the   famous   writer   Mendele Sforim wrote, "The Jewish community has a remarkable past.  It walks around with two thousand years history on its back."

We do not forget our past.  We are continually involved in retelling its story, and in so doing; offer examples of the men and women who have exemplified the true meaning of our community. 

The stories that make up a tradition contain lessons of character, of what a good person is like, and of the virtues that define such character.  But the stories are not all just the good ones with happy endings.  A genuine community of memory will also tell the painful stories of shared suffering.  The memories that tie us to the past also turn us toward the future; they can allow us to connect our goals to the goals of a larger whole.

The tension between Abraham and Sara; the rivalry between Jacob and Esau; the dream of Joseph; the courage of Moses  (all of which are renewed during the Torah readings during the Jewish year) serve as reminders of who we are and help us to define our identity.

That is why the reading of the Torah is so essential.  As we reflect upon the
lives of our Biblical ancestors, we