This Week’s Update

Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Friday, May 27  6:30pm

Please join us for services
27 North Harbor Drive,  Sag Harbor

DIRECTIONS BELOW

also

Shabbat Morning, May 28th
Old Whalers    9:30am
Birchat  HaChodesh Sivan

Celebrating the Rabbi’s return to CSH
and the Auf Ruf* of Jennifer Podurgiel and Ari Rosenberg
who are to be married on June 26th

Kiddush Sponsored by Miriam and David Brous

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Shabbat dinners at the Rabbi’s Home (June 10 and 24; July 8 and 22)

Shavuot (Tuesday night June 7, Wednesday June 8, Thursday June 9), including our all-night (?) study session, 10:00 am sunrise service, and picnic lunch at the Rabbi’s house. 

Friday, May 27, 2011       Candle Lighting 7:54 pm (Sag Harbor)

This week’s Torah reading: Bamidbar
Annual: Numbers 1:1 – 4:20 (Etz Hayim, p. 769)
Triennial: Numbers 1:1 – 1:54 (Etz Hayim, p. 769)
Haftarah: Hosea 2:1 – 22 (Etz Hayim, p. 787)

Musings on Bamidbar – On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying: Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head. 3 You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms. Bamidbar 1:1-3.

It was fitting that the Giving of the Torah took place in no-man’s-land amidst the stark desolation of the Wilderness. Here no temporal king could claim that he played host to the event, thereby meriting a special share in the glory. The Children of Israel were chosen to receive the Torah not because they were the most glorious, but because their hearts had been broken through exile and slavery. For the only way to receive the Torah is through humility, symbolized in the lowly Mount Sinai.

Having been appointed as guardians of the Torah, the task of the Children of Israel was to bring it up from Sinai to the Promised Land, from which they were to shine its light to all the inhabitants of the world. Genesis traces the roots of the Torah and of the souls of Israel who were to be its bearers, and Genesis is thus the “head” of the Torah. Exodus is the “hands”, describing how G-d redeemed the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt “with a mighty arm” and made them into a unique nation through the gift of the Torah and the presence of His Sanctuary in their midst as the focus of their national life. Leviticus is the “heart” of the Torah, setting forth its main laws in all areas of life.

Now we come to the Book of Numbers — the “legs” — tracing the journeying of the Children of Israel on foot through the wilderness to the borders of the Promised Land, with all the accompanying trials and tribulations. Our parshah of BAMIDBAR begins in the Wilderness of Sinai, almost a year after the Children of Israel’s arrival to receive the Torah. By now they had been taught all the main laws of the Torah, and the Sanctuary was in place and fully functional. The next stage was to take to the road and carry the Ark of the Covenant — encompassing the entire Torah — up to the land. The commandment to Moses with which BAMIDBAR opens, to take a census of the people and organize them by tribes, was a preparation for their departure from Sinai, which is narrated in BEHA’ALOSCHA (Numbers ch. 10).

http://www.azamra.org/Parshah/BAMIDBAR.htm

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We start a new book of the Torah this week, The book of Ba’Midbar – this chronicles the Israelites passage through the desert and their growth as a people. The Parsha begins with the counting of the people.

“se’ua” – “take a census of the whole community . . .listing every person by name, one by one.”

Se’ua – translated as census – comes from the root word – to elevate. When we think of counting, we usually think of the individual reduced to a number – yet, in this particular census each person must be listed by “their name” – their individuality.

By taking into account each individual person, the person is then lifted higher into their individuality, revealing their unique potential – the person then truly counts in the bigger picture.

When we see our life as a big jumble of happenings, people, hardships and joys – each thing seems to get lost in the other, and the picture is blurred. A high resolution image is one that has sharply defined pixels – each pixel counting towards the overall clarity of the image. When looking at the picture, we see a high clarity full picture, and zooming in, we recognize each pixel as integral to its overall quality.

Before we move forward into the ‘desert’, the emptiness that precedes the receiving of the Torah, we need to first look back into our past and connect the dots. However, before connecting the dots, we must first recognize each dot as an individual, crucial component of the entire picture.

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At the beginning of Parshat Bamidbar, God asks Moses to “take a census of the whole Israelite community” in the desert as a prelude to the people’s eventual entry into the Land of Israel: The Hebrew word for community, edah, is most often used to mean the entire nation; but here, rather than serving as a comprehensive detailing of the entire people, the census has a narrow focus. Those to be counted are “every male…from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms.” The snapshot of the Israelites that Moses is being asked to take includes only those adult males who can serve in the army. Everyone else just doesn’t count.

Looking at the scope of the census, including the all-male list of tribal leaders who assist Moses in conducting the count,  Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig asks:

Where are the women?…These women also left Egypt and reached this spot in the wilderness. They too collected manna and helped build the Tabernacle. They were there all right, but the omission of their names renders them invisible… All those who are too young or too old to bear arms or serve as active members of the priesthood aren’t worth mentioning by name or number.5

By emphasizing their absence, Wenig invites us to picture those the census leaves faceless. How can we imagine the wandering Israelites in the desert without thinking about the women carrying children, the teenagers becoming the first generation to enter adulthood in freedom, or the elders who had dreamed about living to see the Land of Israel? Those who are marginalized by the counting are still essential to the story. Wenig also encourages us to explore our own experiences of marginalization—times when we were rendered invisible by our religion, gender or race. The experience of not being among those who count allows us to empathize with the counter-narrative of the parshah.

http://werepair.org/blog/dvar-tzedek-parshat-bamidbar-5770/1734

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*Auf-ruf is a Yiddish term, taken from German, which means “to be called up.” Auf Ruf is generally an Ashkenazi or European custom in which the groom and bride is called up to the Torah (aliyah l’Torah) the Torah service generally the Shabbat morning before the wedding to have an aliyah. After the Torah reading, a MiSheBerakh is recited in which members of the congregation ask for God’s blessings for the bride and groom on their forthcoming marriage and life together as husband and wife.

After the Torah reading, members of the congregation traditionally sing “Mazal Tov” and to throw soft candies at the couple-to-be as an expression of the community’s wishes for a sweet start.

Some say that the Aufruf ceremony evolved from an ancient practice in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. According to the Talmud, King Solomon built a special gate in the Temple that grooms would go through on the Sabbath to be greeted by family and friends

In the Sefardi tradition, on the Sabbath following the wedding, the couple comes to the synagogue for Shabbat Chatan (groom) and once again the families have an opportunity to wish the bride and groom well with the recitation of a MiSheBerakh blessing.

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Happenings

May 30   9:00 am:    Sag Harbor Annual Memorial Day Parade
Main Street from Mashashimuet Park. Parade stops at war memorials and the Muncipal Building ending with services at the American Legion on Bay Street.

June 12   12:30- 4 pm:    A Day to Remember – Annual Survivor Family Celebration
at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerence Center of Nassau County
100 Crescent Beach Rd. Glen Cove      (516) 571-8040

June 12   12:00- 4 pm:    Where the Jews Are  …   First Annual Picnic
sponsored by the East End Jewish Council
Orient Beach State Park / Picnic Pavilion
Route 25, Orient Point
Bring lunch .. Beverages and dessert will be provided

June 26     4-6 pm: Minna’s Bromberg’s Voice and Spirituality Workshop
at Temple Adas Israel, Sag Harbor

“Your song is your unique contribution to the weave of creation.  By its integrative nature (connecting body, heart, mind, and soul), singing allows us to embody the wholeness we wish to find in the world.  Deeper connection with your self, with others, and with the Divine are as close to you as your own breath.  This workshop will use tools of singing and songwriting informed by yoga, meditation, and Torah to help you find your most authentic voice, your truest song. It is appropriate for people of all faiths or no faith at all and no previous singing or writing experience is necessary.”

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Yom Huledet Sameach
Bart Farber

Memorial Day End Quote
I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did. — Benjamin Harrison

Shabbat Shalom.

Stacy

DIRECTIONS TO RABBI UHRBACH’S HOME

27 North Harbor Drive, North Haven

From East Hampton and points east (via Route 114)

Take Route 114 north to Sag Harbor. Continue on 114, turning left at the water, past the marina (windmill), which will be on your right. Cross the bridge and follow Ferry Road (Rte 114) for approximately ¾ mile. At the first major intersection, Fresh Pond Road (Peerless Marine Supplies) turn right. Follow directions below.

From Sagaponack, Wainscott, or Bridgehampton (via Sagg-Main or Bridge-Sagg Pike)

Take either Sagg-Main Street or the Sag Harbor Tpke north into Sag Harbor. Go through the village of Sag Harbor to the end of Main Street.  At the marina (windmill) turn left onto the bridge (Rte 114 North). Cross the bridge and follow Ferry Road for approximately ¾ mile. At the first major intersection, Fresh Pond Road (Peerless Marine Supplies) turn right. Follow directions below.

From Watermill (via Scuttle Hole Road)

From 27, turn left onto Scuttle Hole Road. From Scuttle Hole Road turn left on Brick Kiln Road.

At the first major intersection (approx. 1.3 miles), Brick Kiln Road will turn off to the right; continue straight instead, on Stony Hill Road. Continue straight on Stony Hill Road until it becomes

Noyac Road (approx. .7 miles. Noyac Road will join Stony Hill from the right. Do not turn right at the sign for Noyac Road, but continue going straight). Turn right on Long Beach Hwy (approx. .4 miles). At the traffic circle, turn right onto South Ferry Road (sign will say Route 114 South).

Turn left onto Fresh Pond Road (approx. .4 miles, at Peerless Marine Supplies). Follow directions below.

From Southampton, West Hampton, and points west (via Noyac Road)

Take 27 (Montauk Hwy) east. Turn left at the large green sign pointing toward Sag Harbor (just past East End Clambakes). This will be Sandy Hollow Road. Left at the first light onto North Sea Road. Take North Sea Road to Noyac Road –right onto Noyac Road, following signs to Sag Harbor. Turn left onto Long Beach Hwy. At the traffic circle, turn right onto South Ferry Road (sign will say Route 114 South).  Turn left onto Fresh Pond Road (approx. .4 miles, at Peerless Marine Supplies. Follow directions below.

All directions continue here:

From Fresh Pond Road, take the first right turn (about ¼ mile) onto Harbor Drive (there will be a sign for Bay Haven). Follow Harbor Drive (a one-way street) approximately ¾ of the way around (it will begin as W Harbor Drive, then S Harbor Drive, E Harbor Drive, and finally N Harbor Drive). Number 27 will be on your right.

PARKING

If possible, please try to park in the driveway, leaving as much room as possible for other cars. You may park on the street, but please be particularly careful of the neighbors’ lawns and driveways.

Stacy Menzer
President
The Conservative Synagogue
Of the Hamptons
PO Box 1800
East Hampton, NY 11937
631 725 8188
www.synagoguehamptons.org