Covid updates

Tefillah
​​​​​​​To sign up for Weekday Tefillah February 7 - 12 click here.
To sign up for Shabbat Tefillah December February 12 -13 click here.
6:45am: Shacharit Zoom link to in-person Bayit service or dial-in audio at +1 646 558 8656; Meeting ID: 613 613 3700
7:50am: Shacharit Zoom service or dial-in audio at +1 646 558 8656; Meeting ID: 613 613 3700
5:10pm: Mincha/Maariv Zoom link to in-person Bayit service or dial-in audio at +1 646 558 8656; Meeting ID: 613 613 3700 

BAYIT TOWNHALL (2/6) - RECORDING
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Upcoming Events
Rosh Chodesh Adar Dance Party

This Motzaei Shabbat • February 13 • 8:00pm

Mitzvah Gedolah Lihyot Besimchah Tamid ! Let's start Adar with a celebration of music and dance! All are welcome to join us over Zoom for a fun dance party. Kulanu Chaverim friends from Munson House, Greystone, and Special Services for the Developmentally Challenged will join us as well. Click here to join on Zoom or dial-in audio at +1 646 558 8656; Meeting ID: 613 613 3703 

Today's Way to Help
If you would like to suggest a way to help please email yael@thebayit.org.

A Bat Mitzvah Collection for the BJCC Passover Project Hope 

In honor of my Bat Mitzvah, please help me collect 500 Fresh Direct shopping bags or similar bags for the Bronx Jewish Community Council Project Hope Passover delivery. BJCC will use them to deliver Kosher for Passover food to isolated seniors on Sunday, March 14th. 
To donate by March 7th, just drop off your nearly new bags at one of these locations:

SAR Academy, 655 West 254th Street, Bronx, NY 10471

Westchester Day School, 856 Orienta Avenue, Mamaroneck, NY 10543
BJCC Food Pantry at 2157 Holland Avenue, bronx, NY 10462

Thank you,
Sydney Minkove

Save-the-Date: Passover Project HOPE 

Sunday, March 14 9:00am - 11:30am
There will be distribution sites in Riverdale, AmPark and Pelham Parkway. To volunteer please email Niti Minkove at nminkove@bjcconline.org.

Closing Message - Rav Ezra

An Enigmatic Angel

Perhaps one of the more opaque references in the Torah appears in Parshat Mishpatim. After reviewing the laws that will construct a civil society, Shemot 23:20-21 presents this phrase:

הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י שֹׁלֵ֤חַ מַלְאָךְ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ֖ בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ וְלַהֲבִ֣יאֲךָ֔ אֶל־הַמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֲכִנֹֽתִי
הִשָּׁ֧מֶר מִפָּנָ֛יו וּשְׁמַ֥ע בְּקֹל֖וֹ אַל־תַּמֵּ֣ר בּ֑וֹ כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יִשָּׂא֙ לְפִשְׁעֲכֶ֔ם כִּ֥י שְׁמִ֖י בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃
(20) “Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.(21) Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him...

I arrive at this verse each year, and am constantly befuddled. Which angel? Who angel? Since when is there an angel who leads the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael?

The commentaries present a range of views: Perhaps the angel is a symbolic idea, rather than a physical being. Or maybe the angel is in fact the pillars of fire and smoke which lead and protect the people. Others suggest that the angel is in fact a person -- initially Moshe, and then the angel-status is ultimately transferred to Yehoshua to finish the journey.

This last suggestion is both the most suprising and the most logical. While we don't know of any traditional angels who lead the Jewish people through the Midbar into the land of Israel -- we are familiar with leaders who do: Moses & Joshua. Whereas we typically think of angels as divine-beings, other-worldly, here - the Malach might in fact be humans, flesh-and-blood, playing an angelic role. One of protection, guidance, and leadership. 

Colloquially, we may find ourselves describing helpers, ba'alei chesed, as "angels" -- yet, I think this passage presents a compelling argument, that angel is not merely a metaphor. When we embody angelic qualities: selfless, protective, and carrying God's name in ourselves, we, like Moses and Joshua before us, can become *actual* angels. May it be so. 

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