Classes 7:30am: Daf Yomiwith Eli Oberstein or dial-in audio at +1 646 558 8656; Meeting ID: 613 613 3702 8:00pm: Parenting Without Fear Book Discussion Groupwith Dr. Michelle Jasper-Brody and Dr. Hillary Lewin Tuvia or dial-in audio at +1 646 558 8656; Meeting ID: 613 613 3703
Upcoming Events Save the Date: Motzaei Shabbat Name Tag Mixer • January 9 • 8pm Throughout this pandemic, we've seen each other on the street, not always recognizing who it is behind the mask. We've also had a chance to see other members of our community over Zoom, but not to sit and have a short conversation as we do when we see each other in shul! Join us over Zoom on Motzaei Shabbat Parshat Shemot for a virtual version of Name Tag Shabbat including breakout rooms for fun activities. More details TBA.
Today's Way to Help If you would like to suggest a way to help please email yael@thebayit.org.
Message from Uri L'Tzedek Supplies are URGENTLY needed at the border to help Asylum-seeking families. Help us keep the light of hope lit for hundreds of people!Uri L’Tzedek has been working with volunteers in a small border town in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, that houses more than 1,798 families seeking asylum, of which 30% are children. Watch our update on their Facebook Live post here. Donate to the program’s GoFundMe page HERE.
Closing Message - Rav Steven View video version here.
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
This quote from a late 90’s rock song “Closing Time”, attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca, far predates them both. It is a basic truth.
Our basic understanding of the cyclical nature of life is so deeply embedded in the wisdom of our Jewish text and tradition. I noticed it most powerfully this past Shabbat, reading the beginning of the fourth aliyah of parashat Miketz. Two successive verses toward the end of Bereishit 41 describe the transition between the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine:
“The seven years of plenty ended (vatikhlenah)” “The seven years of famine began (vatchilenah)”
The almost identical sounds of ending and beginning in Biblical Hebrew invite us to understand through the Torah’s lens that every end is a beginning and every beginning marks an end.
This is so powerfully expressed in our tradition on Simhat Torah when we conclude and immediately begin anew the whole Torah and in the Ashkenazic custom of naming children for our deceased loved ones - their ends becoming new beginnings.
Many have called the arrival of the Covid vaccines “the beginning of the end” of this terrible pandemic. I hope and believe that that's the case - although of course there is still caution and care ahead in these coming months as, God willing as many of us as can be, will be vaccinated.
And - if this is the beginning of the end, for me it's time to take back off the shelf questions I was asking months ago:
If we will finally have this terrible pandemic in the rearview mirror, how will the world left in its wake be different?
What could a beginning of a kinder, healthier, safer, more connected, more sensitive, more just world look like?
In recognizing the juxtaposition, the deep connectedness, the almost identical nature of ends and beginnings, I look forward to the opportunity to have this conversation with you in the days ahead. May we invest time and thought – and action – to envision a beautiful beginning coming from the end of something terrible. May we build it and create it together.
Reminder to all to take good care of ourselves and each other. Try to do something specific today that strengthens you, and something else that strengthens someone else.
Hebrew Institute of Riverdale - The Bayit 3700 Henry Hudson Parkway Bronx, NY 10463
