Potluck Dinner and Friday Night Service 10/19

Please join us this Friday night, October 19th, at 6:30 pm for Friday night services followed by a pot luck dinner. What better way to end the hectic week than good food, company, and conversation.

Our potlucks are dairy or parev and if you have any questions, please contact us at bethelaustin@yahoo.com

Cantor Ben Moshe Message: This week’s parashah is Noah, which recounts the famous story of the Great Flood and its aftermath, as well as the story of the Tower of Babel, when humanity fails to prevent dispersion all over the world. The early humans in the story wanted to build the tower to unite themselves, to keep themselves in one place. As Rabbi Dr. Daniel Gordis puts it, that isn’t what God wants of humanity. God wanted humanity to spread out, to create different cultures, to diversify. As the Talmud puts it, God is greater than a human king, who when he makes coins with his image, he makes them identical. When God made humans in the Divine Image, each was different from the other. Human diversity is part of God’s plan, and should be celebrated. We should be glad that different people have different cultures, different languages, different ways of looking at life, so that we can learn from each other. Shabbat Shalom.

Parasha B’reshit

Congregation Beth El we will be having services both Friday night, 10/12, and services this Saturday morning, 10/13.  Friday night services start at 7:00 pm and Saturday morning services start at 9:00 am with the Torah reading around 10:00 am.

 

Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message  This Shabbat we begin again the yearly reading of the Torah with Parshat B’reshit.  We will read of the Creation of the Universe, and especially of humanity.  Our Parshah also speaks of the creation of the Shabbat, the Queen of Days.  Perhaps the most important creation was that of rest-the idea that we were not created to labor unceasingly, but to rest and just *be*.  This is the gift of Torah to us, and from us to the entire world.