Mivtzoim Help Needed

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 

Scenes from last night's Seudah and Farbrengen לכבוד י"ט כסלו with guest Rabbi Berel Zaltzman

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 

Yud Tes Kislev פארברענגן TOMORROW night (Tuesday)

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.

המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך אבלי ציון וירושלים

Week of וישב

Week of Parshas וישב  starting 17 Kislev / November 25^th

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

Farbrengen לכבוד י"ד כסלו Thursday

Week of וישלח

Week of Parshas וישלח  starting י' כסלו / November 18^th

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

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

Week of ויצא

Shabbos Schedule - שחרית at 9:30 am!

אבות ובנים starts this week!

Week of תולדות

shabbos Mevorchim Parshas חיי שרה

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)