Dear Friend,
We can give our kids an education, but it's not enough. We must also raise them.
Wait, isn't this the same thing?
In ancient Egypt when Pharaoh decreed that all Jewish boys be drowned in the Nile river, the wording in the Torah goes like this: “All males that are born shall be drowned, and all the females shall live.”
This was not simply a decree against boys, it was also against the girls, that girls shall be made to live by Egyptian standards, the girls shall be raised to be Egyptian rather than the way they were born as Jews.
Back then, our ancestors did not only have to fight to save their boys from death, they had to fight to keep their girls living as Jews.
Life is made up of two parts, physical existence and spiritual awareness and action. Pharaoh understood that, but so did our ancestors.
We can send our kids to schools, extra classes and keep them busy but as Jews we must also raise them so that they know who they are, what they stand for and how they should live.
For if we don’t actively raise our children, Pharaoh will.
Wishing you a good Shabbos!
Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman
Shabbos Times
Friday, December 24
Candle Lighting: 4:15pm Evening service: 4:20pm
Saturday, December 25
Morning service: 10:00am
Kiddush Brunch: 12:00pm Evening service: 4:20pm
Shabbos ends 5:20pm
KIDDUSH SPONSORED BY Irina and Mark Mordukhayev
In honor of the birthdays of their children Itai and Zahava
Mazal Tov!!
Thursdays 4pm- 5pm Geared for boys and girls in grades 6th - 8th, MVP is volunteering and Mitzvah madness, while connecting with other pre-teens and having a meaningful impact!
MVP is open to all junior teens free of charge!
A BISSELE HUMOR
After seventy years of communist oppression and seven hours of flying, Boris, a burly immigrant from Moscow steps off the plane in a free land to begin his new life in his new home, Israel. Standing at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, a young and enthusiastic Israeli reporter plunges a microphone in front of him with a level of excitement that is only seen when an inside scoop is about to be caught. The reporter asks with focus: “Tell me, what was life back in Russia like?”
To which the Russian immigrant replies: “I couldn’t complain.”
An obviously unexpected answer, the young reporter continues to probe: “Well how were your living quarters there?” To which the Russian responds “I couldn’t complain.”
Not expecting this answer either, the reporter decides to hit him with a question that is bound to get the answer he is looking for: “What about your standard of living?” To which the Russian replies again: “I couldn’t complain.”
At this point, the reporter’s frustration with the new immigrant’s answers reaches a crescendo, and so in a derogatory tone the reporter yells out, “Well, if everything was so wonderful back in Russia, then why did you even bother to come here?” To which the new immigrant replies with gusto: “Oh, here I can complain!”
WEEKLY eTORAH
The second book of the Torah is called "Shemot"—the Book of Names. The simple reason for this unusual name is that this book opens with the word "names" in its opening line: "Now these are the names of the children of Israel..." (Exodus 1:1).
Now this is quite intriguing. Why name an entire book after the seemingly coincidental use of a word in its opening line? Wouldn't it be more logical to name it after its storyline and theme, as it is referred to in most English bibles: the Book of Exodus?
But here lies an important lesson about the Jewish approach to the individual member of the community. The second book of the Torah introduces us to very first Jewish community—the new nation of Israel. This book's narrative tells how in a very short period of time the relatively small family of Jacob described in the previous book, Genesis, successfully transformed and proliferated into a quantitatively fruitful nation. Yet, despite this amazing numeric growth, the Torah reminds us not to forget that each individual person has a name and must be recognized and respected. Maturing into a large nation should not translate into, G‑d forbid, neglecting the needs of the individual, or treating him or her like a number or statistic.
Like the young boy who learned that his name was David, we too must treat each and every one of our children as a unique personality and help them discover their uniqueness. They each have a name and talents that are uniquely theirs. We should never lump our children together. Likewise, when dealing with the greater community, we must appreciate the diversity of the different members that make up the community and find creative ways to utilize and enlist the diverse talents of the community.
This all begins with viewing each individual as a person with a name, not just a number!
