Shabbat Noach, Service at 7pm

Shabbat Shalom. Please join us this evening at 7pm for Shabbat services.

A note from the cantor:

This week we read Parshat Noah, which describes the Great Flood and how humans spread across the world. The Torah describes how God created the rainbow as a sign of a new covenant with humanity, that the world would never again be destroyed by flood. God’s resolve comes from the realization that humans simply have the capacity to do evil-it is in our nature, therefore it is to be expected that evil will sometimes happen. We are also capable of great good and compassion, though, and that is where we should focus our attention and our energy, as well as on repentance, t’shuvah, for our wrongdoings.

The b’rachah for seeing a rainbow is “Baruch Ata…zocher b’rito u’n’eman b’ma’amaro.” “Praised are You…Who remembers His Covenant and is true to His word.”

Shabbat Shalom and Hodesh Tov, a Good Month to all.

Cantor Yitzhak Ben-Moshe
8902 Mesa Drive
Austin, TX 78759

Simchat Torah Service and Baby Naming Thursday at 7

Please join us at Congregation Beth El this Thursday night at 7 as we close out the high holiday season with a Simchat Torah service and the naming of our newest baby congregant.  We will finish the Torah reading for the year, dance, eat, sing, and start reading again from the B’reishit, the Book of Genesis.

Shabbat services will be Friday at 7 and Saturday morning at 9AM, including the reading of the entire portion of “B’reishit”.

Come celebrate Sukkot at Beth El

Come celebrate Sukkot at Beth El with a special Sukkot service at 7pm Wednesday October 12 , immediately followed by snacks in the awesome Sukkah.

Special kudos to Kevin Koeller, Alan Alhades and Cantor Ben-Moshe for building it, the children of the Beth El Religious School (BERS) for decorating it and Bam Rubinstein and Barry Mann for putting up the schach.

We will be having Friday night services at 7pm this coming Friday and again, hope you all can join us then.

Please note that you can use the sukkah during the whole week of sukkot, just come in through the side gate on the main side of the building. There should be a lulav and etrog in the sukkah for your use too.

Chag sameach,

Congregation Beth El

8902 Mesa Drive

Austin, TX 78759

www.bethelaustin.org

Sukkah Building Sunday Afternoon

Dear Congregants,

We are getting together on Sunday October 9th (the day after yom Kippur) at 12 noon at Beth El to help build the Beth El Sukkah and have our kids (or grown ups to help them) make and hang up sukkah decorations.

There are also two lovely families in our wider Beth El (Austin) community who have recently had a baby so if anyone would like to sign up to make a meal, please reply to this e-mail.

Finally, one of our congregants is in hospital recovering from surgery and then going to a nearby nursing home for a couple of weeks to recuperate, and again, if anyone is interested in visiting, please let me know and I will give you the address and further information.

Gmar Chatima Tova,

Congregation Beth El

Yom Kippur message from Cantor Ben Moshe

Cantor Ben-Moshe’s weekly message:

We are about to enter Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.  Yom Kippur is called by the Torah Shabbat Shabbaton-a Sabbath of Sabbaths.  Let us remember that Shabbat is a time of joy.  In ancient times, the afternoon of Yom Kippur was a celebration, and was considered a good time for matchmaking, as the people felt assured of God’s forgiveness.  Similarly, the s’udah mafseket, the meal before Yom Kippur, should be a festive holiday dinner.  Yom Kippur is a serious day, but not a sad one.

I’d like to remind everyone that if you have a medical condition that would make you sick if you fast, please don’t fast.  We are commanded by the Torah to live by themitzvot, not to die by them.  If you are pregnant or nursing, diabetic or hypoglycemic, or if you need to take medicine with food, please eat.

G’mar hatimah tovah-may we all be sealed in the Book of Life.

Cantor Ben-Moshe

www.bethelaustin.org

Kol Nidre

Kol Nidre services will begin this Friday at 6:45 sharp!  The calendar for Yom Kippur (and the next few months) is here, and you can learn more about Kol Nidre and the customs of Yom Kippur here. Customs and blessings for the meal before Yom Kippur are here, and there are notes about the liturgy here.

Yom Kippur Calendar:

Friday: Kol Nidre 6:45 SHARP!
Saturday: morning services at 9 am
Torah service at 10:30 am
children’s service 1t 10:30
Mincha at 5:30 pm
Neilah at 6:45 pm

Special notes:

• Yertzheit candles are lit after the meal at home, but before the holiday candles.
• It is customary to give tzedakah before the holiday.  In addition to your usual tzedakah donations, please consider giving specifically to organizations that help the homeless and hungry.  Our morning haftarah teaches (Isaiah 58):

⁵ Is such the fast I desire,
A day for men to starve their bodies?
Is it bowing the head like a bulrush
And lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call that a fast,
A day when the Lord is favorable?
⁶ No, this is the fast I desire:
To unlock the fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of the yoke
To let the oppressed go free;
To break off every yoke.
⁷ It is to share your bread with the hungry,
And to take the wretched poor into your home;
When you see the naked, to clothe him,
And not to ignore your own kin.

• If you are accustomed to wearing a tallit, please bring one for Kol Nidre.  It is the only evening service of the year when congregants wear a tallit.
• Please plan to park at the office park across the street or a few blocks away at Grace Church.  The driveway is reserved for disabled visitors and the residents of Dominion Cove have asked that we NOT use the north side of their street for parking.  The south side is available but limited.
• Come early!

Did you know ???

This is the only Shabbat of the entire year that does not include a kiddush?  Come anyway!