We are looking for volunteers who can help Rabbi Werner with lighting the public Chanukah Menoroas. Offering compensation.
Please contact via email ncfjersw@gmail.com or call 845 356 3850
Happenings of the Chabad Lubavitch אנ"ש community of Rockland County, New York
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Mazal Tov Rothsteins!
With tremendous hakaras hatov to Hashem Yisborach, we joyfully announce the engagement of our dear son, Rabbi Yeshaya Yosef (Isaiah) Rothstein to Ms. Leah Gottfried of Passaic, NJ.
May Hashem bless them to build a בית נאמן בישראל ובנין עדי עד!
Mazel Tov to the Rothstein and Gottfried-Fink families.
May we continue to celebrate many simchas together.
Details of the Vort to follow.
Mr. and Mrs. Yaakov Rothstein
May Hashem bless them to build a בית נאמן בישראל ובנין עדי עד!
Mazel Tov to the Rothstein and Gottfried-Fink families.
May we continue to celebrate many simchas together.
Details of the Vort to follow.
Mr. and Mrs. Yaakov Rothstein
Monday, November 26, 2018
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Siegels Sitting Shiva
We are saddened to inform you of the untimely passing of Mrs. Aliza Siegel. Her husband and children are sitting shiva at the home of her daughter Tovah Hott 45 Fawn Hill Drive in Airmont, N.Y. 10952.
Shiva is over Thursday morning after shacharis.
Davening times are: Shacharis 8am, Mincha 4:20pm followed by maariv.
Visiting hours are anytime during the day before 6pm and after 8pm until 10pm. Please refrain from visiting between 6-8pm.
Shiva is over Thursday morning after shacharis.
Davening times are: Shacharis 8am, Mincha 4:20pm followed by maariv.
Visiting hours are anytime during the day before 6pm and after 8pm until 10pm. Please refrain from visiting between 6-8pm.
המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך אבלי ציון וירושלים
Friday, November 23, 2018
Week of וישב
Week
of Parshas וישב starting 17 Kislev / November 25th
שחרית Sunday 8:00, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00am
Monday
thru Friday 6:48, 7:00, 8:00, 9:30am
מנחה Sun. - Thurs. 4:20pm
מעריב Sun. - Thurs. 5:05, 8:30, 9:30pm
Farbengenלכבוד חג הגאולה י"ט כסלו Tuesday after the
8:30 Maariv
Schedule for שבת פ' וישלח for K'hal Tzemach Tzedek
Schedule
for שבת פ' וישלח
Friday
Licht Bentchen 4:13pm
מנחה Erev Shabbos 4:25pm
Kabbolas Shabbos 5:00 pm
No
Kiddush between 5:42/6:00pm
– 6:42/7:00
pm
שבת קודש
Chassidus Shiur 8:45am
Sof Zman Krias Shma/ 9:18am
שחרית
9:30am
Mincha Gedola 12:12pm
Rov’s הלכה שיעור 3:45pm
מנחה
4:15pm
Motzoei Shabbos/מעריב 5:16pm
אבות ובנים 7:00pm
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Week of וישלח
Week
of Parshas וישלח starting י' כסלו / November 18th
שחרית Sunday 8:00, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00am
Monday
thru Friday 6:48, 7:00, 8:00, 9:30am
מנחה
Sun. - Thurs. 4:20pm
מעריב Sun. - Thurs. 5:10, 8:30, 9:30pm
Farbengen לכבוד י' כסלו Sunday after the 8:30 Maariv
Farbrengen לכבוד י"ד כסלו Thursday after the 8:30 Maariv
Friday, November 16, 2018
Parsha Perspective
By Rabbi Yisroel Shusterman
This
week’s Parsha Perspective is dedicated in
memory of Elka bas Zisel OBM
And
in memory of Leah bas Rochel OBM
After Jacob and his family fled Laban's home,
Laban took chase and apprehended them at Mount Gilead. "The daughters are
my daughters and the sons are my sons," he claimed. "What would I do
to these daughters of mine today, or to their children whom they have
borne?"
The Torah is multi-layered, and even seemingly
simple statements contain deeper meanings. Laban's words to Jacob were also
intended to convey a deeper, and much more sinister message. Jacob at this
point in time was an elderly Jew, nearly one hundred years old. He had received
his education in the houses of Abraham and Isaac, and had spend the
greater part of his life in "the tents of learning"– the prototypical
old-generation white-bearded Jew. Laban represented the opposite extreme; a
crafty, worldly businessman who spent his entire life chasing the dollar. When
Laban saw that Jacob was intent on educating his children in the ways of
Abraham and Isaac, as a concerned grandparent he gave Jacob some unsolicited
advice.
"Your ways were fine for the 'old generation,' but
the children are mine. The new generation must be properly educated
to be successful professionals, without wasting their time by teaching them
laws and philosophies which won't help them earn a nickel."
Jacob, however, understood that business acumen alone is not
the key to success. Yes, the Torah says that "G-d will bless you in
all your endeavors," meaning that G-d expects us to work, not to rely
on manna from Heaven, but our work is merely the channel through
which G-d's blessings flow. Strengthening our connection to G-d through the
study of Torah and observance of mitzvot increases the flow of
blessings. If the pipes aren't connected to an existing source of water,
expanding the size of the pipes won't solve the problem!
True Jewish education instills within the children this
vital understanding. This imbues the children with the strength to go out into
the world, but not be intimidated by it, for it is merely
a G-dly tool which provides us with the sustenance which is already
preordained for us.
(Excerpts from Chabad.org - by Rabbi Naftali
Silberberg)
May you have a meaningful and uplifting Shabbos!
Shabbos parshas ויצא
Schedule
for שבת פ' ויצא
Friday –
Licht Bentchen 4:18pm
מנחה Erev Shabbos 4:30pm
Kabolas Shabbos 5:05pm
No
Kiddush between 5:41/6:00pm
– 6:41/7:00
pm
Shabbos Day
Chassidus Shiur 8:45am
Sof Zman Krias Shma/ 9:13am
שחרית 9:30am
(Kiddush) Farbrengen following davening
Mincha Gedola 12:11pm
מנחה
4:20pm
Motzoei Shabbos/מעריב 5:20pm
אבות ובנים 7:00pm
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Friday, November 9, 2018
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Friday, November 2, 2018
Parsha Perspective
By Rabbi Yisroel Shusterman
This
week’s Parsha Perspective is dedicated in
memory of Elka bas Zisel OBM
And
in memory of Leah bas Rochel OBM
This week's Parshah Chaye Sarah (Bereishis
[Genesis] 23:1-25:18) contains the most serene description of old age and
dying anywhere in the Torah: “Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a
good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people”
(Gen. 25: 8). There is an earlier verse, no less moving: “Abraham was old, well
advanced in years, and God had blessed Abraham with everything” (Gen. 24: 1).
Nor was this serenity the gift of Abraham
alone. Rashi was puzzled by the description of Sarah –
“Sarah lived to be 127 years old: [These were] the years of Sarah's life” (23:
1). The last phrase seems completely superfluous. Why not just tell us that
Sarah lived to the age of 127? What is added by saying that “these were the
years of Sarah’s life”? Rashi is forced to the conclusion that the first half
of the verse talks about the quantity of her life, how long she lived, while
the second tells us about the quality of her life. “They – the years she lived
– were all equal in goodness.”
Yet how is any of this conceivable? Abraham and Sarah
were commanded by God to leave everything that was familiar: their land, their
home, their family, and travel to an unknown land. No sooner had they arrived
than they were forced to leave because of famine. Twice, Abraham’s life was at
risk when, driven into exile, he worried that he would be killed so that the
local ruler could take Sarah into his harem. Sarah herself had to say that she
was Abraham’s sister, and had to suffer the indignity of being taken into a
stranger’s household.
Then there was the long wait for a child, made even more
painful by the repeated Divine promise that they would have as many children as
the stars of the sky or the dust of the earth. Then came the drama of the birth
of Ishmael to Sarah’s servant Hagar. This aggravated the
relation between the two women, and eventually Abraham had to send Hagar and
Ishmael away. One way or another, this was a source of pain to all four people
involved.
Then there was the agony of the binding of Isaac.
Abraham was faced with the prospect of losing the person most precious to him,
the child he had waited for so long.
Neither Abraham nor Sarah had an easy life. Their lives
were lives of trial, in which their faith was tested at many points. How
can Rashi say that all of Sarah’s years were equal in goodness? How can the
Torah say that Abraham had been blessed with everything?
The answer is given by the Parsha itself, and it is very
much unexpected. Seven times Abraham had been promised the land. Here is just
one of those occasions:
“The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted
from him, “Raise your eyes, and, from the place where you are now [standing],
look to the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west. All the land
that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. . . . Go, walk
through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you” (Gen.
13: 14- 17).
Yet by the time Sarah dies, Abraham has no land at all,
and he is forced to prostrate himself before the local Hittites and beg for
permission to acquire even a single field with a cave in which to bury his
wife. Even then he has to pay what is clearly a massively inflated price: four
hundred silver shekels. This does not sound like the fulfillment of the promise
of “all the land, north, south, east and west.”
Then, in relation to children, Abraham is promised four
times: “I will make you into a great nation” (12: 2). “I will make your
offspring like the dust of the earth” (13: 16). God “took [Abram] outside and
said, 'Look at the sky and count the stars. See if you can count them.' [God]
then said to him, 'That is how [numerous] your descendants will be.'” (15: 5).
“No longer shall you be called Abram. Your name shall become Abraham, for I
have set you up as the father of many nations” (17: 5).
Yet he had to wait so long for even a single son by Sarah
that when God insisted that she would indeed have a son, both Abraham (17: 17)
and Sarah (18: 12) laughed. (The sages differentiated between these two
episodes, saying that Abraham laughed with joy, Sarah with disbelief. In
general, in Genesis, the verb tz-chk,(to laugh) is fraught with
ambiguity).
One way or another, whether we think of children or the
land – the two key Divine promises to Abraham and Sarah – the reality fell far
short of what they might have felt entitled to expect.
That, however, is precisely the meaning and message of
Chayei Sarah. In it Abraham does two things: he buys the first plot in the land
of Canaan, and he arranges for the marriage of Isaac. One field and a cave
were, for Abraham, enough for the text to say that “God had blessed Abraham
with everything.” One child, Isaac, by then married and with children (Abraham
was 100 when Isaac was born; Isaac was sixty when the
twins, Jacob and Esau, were born; and Abraham was 175 when he died)
was enough for Abraham to die in peace.
Lao-Tzu, the Chinese sage, said that a journey of a
thousand miles begins with a single step. To that Judaism adds, “It is not for
you to complete the work but neither are you free to desist from it”
(Avot 2: 16). God himself said of Avraham, “For I have chosen him, so that
he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the
Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for
Abraham what he has promised him” (Gen. 18: 19).
The meaning of this is clear. If you ensure that your
children will continue to live for what you have lived for, then you can have
faith that they will continue your journey until eventually, they reach the
destination. Abraham did not need to see all the land in Jewish hands, nor did
he need to see the Jewish people become numerous. He had taken the first step.
He had begun the task, and he knew that his descendants would continue it. He
was able to die serenely because he had faith in God and faith that others
would complete what he had begun. The same was surely true of Sarah.
To place your life in God’s hands, to have faith that
whatever happens to you happens for a reason, to know that you are part of a
larger narrative, and to believe that others will continue what you began, is
to achieve a satisfaction in life that cannot be destroyed by circumstance.
Abraham and Sarah had that faith, and they were able to die with a sense of
fulfillment.
To be happy does not mean that you have everything you
want or everything you were promised. It means, simply, to have done what you
were called on to do, to have made a beginning, and then to have passed on the
baton to the next generation. “The righteous, even in death, are regarded as
though they were still alive” (Berachot 18a) because the righteous leave a
living trace in those who come after them.
That was enough for Avraham and Sarah, and it must be
enough for us.
(by Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of
England and the British Commonwealth)
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