welcome to the dat minyan!...2018/05/19 · my conversation partners often think i am being...

Welcome to the DAT Minyan! Shabbat Nasso

May 26, 2018 - 12 Sivan, 5778 Joseph Friedman, Rabbi | David Fishman, President

Candle Lighting

Havdalah

7:59pm 9:05pm

DAT Minyan is a dynamic and friendly Modern Orthodox synagogue for all ages and dedicated to meaningful personal spiritual development, community growth, youth involvement, Torah education, and Religious Zionism.

DAT Minyan - 6825 E. Alameda Ave. Denver, CO 80224 - 720-941-0479 - www.datminyan.org

D’var Torah with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

The word Naso that gives its name to this week’s parsha is a verb of an extraordinary range of meanings, among them: to lift, to carry, and to forgive. Here though, and elsewhere in the wilderness years, it is used, in conjunction with the phrase et rosh (“the head”) to mean “to count.” This is an odd way of speaking, because biblical Hebrew is not short of other verbs meaning to count, among them limnot, lispor, lifkod, and lachshov. Why then not use one of these verbs? Why not simply say “count” instead of “lift the head”?

The answer takes us into one of the most revolutionary of all Jewish beliefs. If we are each in the image of God, then every one of us has infinite value. We are each unique. Even genetically identical twins share only approximately 50 percent of their attributes. None of us is substitutable for any other. This may well be the single most important consequence of monotheism. Discovering God, singular and alone, our ancestors discovered the human individual, singular and alone.

This was simply not a value in the ancient world, nor is it one in tyrannical or totalitarian societies today. The ruler might be deemed to have infinite value; so might some of the members of his or her court; but certainly not the masses – as the word “mass” itself implies. Most people were simply regarded as part of a mass: an army, a work force or a gang of slaves. What mattered was their total number, not their individual lives, their hopes and fears, their loves and dreams.

That is the image we have of Egypt of the Pharaohs. It is how the sages understood the builders of Babel. They said that if a brick fell from the tower they wept. If a worker fell and died, they paid no attention. Almost a hundred million people died in the twentieth century in Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s Communist China and Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. We say of such regimes that people became “just numbers.” That is what the Torah is rejecting as a matter of supreme religious principle. At the very moment when one might be maximally tempted to see people as “just numbers” – namely, when taking a census, as here – the Israelites were commanded to “lift people’s heads,” to raise their spirits, to make them feel they counted as individuals, not numbers in a mass, ciphers in a crowd.

In the course of my life I have had several deep conversations with Christians, and there is one aspect of Judaism that they

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Learning Opportunities @ the DAT Minyan • Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: Daily, after Shacharit • Daf Yomi Shiur (30 min): after Shacharit on Sun, Mon and Fri ,

35 minutes before Mincha on Tue, Wed, Thu, and 8:25 am on Shabbat • Mishnayot: Daily, between Mincha and Maariv • Halacha Chaburah: Sun, 10:00 am—11:00 am, new topic, “Women’s

Obligations in Rabbinic Time-Bound Mitzvot” • Rabbi Friedman Wed. Night Series, “The Meaning of Prayer”: 7:30 pm • Thu. Evening Mishmar: 8:00 pm (on break 5/31, will resume 6/6)

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Shabbat Schedule

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the

service.

FRIDAY

6:25 pm: Early Mincha/Maariv

7:45 pm: Pre-Mincha Kiddush

8:00 pm: Late Mincha/Maariv

(Shema should be recited after 9:03 pm)

SHABBAT

Parasha: Page 748/ Haftarah: 181

7:30 am: Hashkama Minyan

8:25 am: Daf Yomi

Tefillah Warm-up with Ellyn Hutt will not take place this Shabbat but will return next week

9:00 am: Shacharit

Our special Graduation Kiddush this Shabbat is generously sponsored by the families listed on

Page 6 of the Newsletter

6:30 pm: HS Boys’ Gemara w/ Nathan Rabinovitch at the Rabinovitch home

6:45 pm: Shabbat afternoon class with Rabbi Friedman, “Nesivos Shalom on Pirkei Avos”

7:45 pm: Mincha, followed by Seudah Shlisheet

Seudah Shlisheet is sponsored by the congregation

9:05 pm: Maariv / Havdalah ——————————————————

Weekday Schedule

SHACHARIT

Sunday - Monday: 8:00 am

Tuesday - Friday: 6:35 am

MINCHA/MAARIV

Sunday - Thursday: 6:30 pm

Friday: 6:30 pm and 8:05 pm

(Pre-Mincha Kiddush 6/1 at 7:50 pm)

DAT MINYAN NEWS, EVENTS AND LEARNING

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service.

All able Torah leiners are encouraged to sign-up to lein one or more aliyot for any upcoming Shabbos. The sign-up website, www.datminyan.org/laining, lists all the open slots up to Rosh Hashanah in need of your ability to help us carry out this central segment of the Shabbos morning service. Sign-up takes about 15 seconds, and can be done weeks in advance, giving you plenty of time to prepare. We have also made advance sign-up easy (via the same website) for those interested in participating by chanting a Haftorah, again allowing plenty of time for those who'd like time to brush-up on a Haftorah previously chanted, or to learn one they've not done yet. Please contact Steve Hutt with questions or for more information.

Please check the lost and found every month to see if any of your lost belongings are there. It is located right near the main entrance doors. The school donates all remaining items at the end of each month.

To view the May 8th Board Meeting notes online: https://images.shulcloud.com/395/uploads/Documents/BoardMinutes/Board-Meeting-8-May-2018.pdf .

Make this weekend a true holiday to remember by joining your friends and neighbors at a community Memorial Day observance on Sunday, May 27th, 1:00 pm at Fairmount Cemetery, with Rabbi Friedman as Master of Ceremonies.

The DAT Minyan, in conjunction with the Vaad Project, Merkaz Torah and The Jewish Experience, hosts an evening with guest lecturer Rabbi Reuven Leuchter from Jerusalem, one of the most recognized voices of our generation in Mussar and the Achievement of Simchah. The event takes place Thursday evening, May 31st, 7:30 pm at DAT and is open to the community at no charge.

The community is invited to a presentation, “The Dead Sea Scrolls-70 Years Later!” by Pnina Shor, Curator and Head of the Dead Sea Scrolls Projects of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who will be visiting Denver from Israel. The presentation takes place Monday, June 4th, 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm at BMH-BJ, and is co-sponsored by the DAT Minyan, Denver Academy of Torah, BMH-BJ, EDOS, Jewish Colorado and Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The DAT Minyan Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, June 4th, 7:30 pm, in the DAT Multipurpose Room. You must be a member in good standing to participate in voting for a new board slate and on the budget. You will have an opportunity to pay any outstanding balance on your account when you check in for the meeting.

The DAT Minyan has a part-time job opening for Executive Director Assistant. A full description of the position is posted online at JewishJobs.com, using the link: https://jewishjobs.com/jobs/view/47997 . Interested candidates should apply through the website.

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

DAT Minyan member Liss Gruen is the featured artist for the month of May at Frame by Frame, 200 Quebec St., #600-125, Denver, CO 80230. Liss’ paintings will be on display through June.

The Jewish Experience and Feldman Mortuary invite the community for a talk by Robin Meyerson, titled “This World to the Next: To Cremate or Not, That is the Question,” on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, at 7pm in TJE Center, 399 S. Monaco Pkwy. Suggested Donation: $10. Please RSVP at www.theje.com/robinmeyerson .

Keshet of the Rockies announces the opening of “Sandie’s Closet,” its community thrift shop located at 4990 Leetsdale Drive, across from the JCC. The store will open the week of June 11th, and will feature new, nearly new and gently used clothing and accessories for men, women, children and infants. Proceeds from sales go to support special needs students and young adults in the community. Keshet is seeking donations of discarded clothing in good condition for use as merchandise at “Sandie’s Closet” and is also looking for volunteers to help in the store. For further information, please call Lola Zussman, 303-961-4186 .

Simply Tzfat, live in concert on Sunday, June 17, at 3:00 pm at BMH-BJ, sponsored by Bais Menachem. Admission in advance: Adults - $17, Children (under 13)/Seniors - $10. Group Advance Discount (10 or more): Adults - $14, Children - $8. At the door: Adults, $22, Children/Seniors, $14. Sponsorship levels available. www.chabadcolorado.com or 303-329-0213 .

Women ages 11 and up are invited to attend the Avanim Adventures Women's Wilderness Trip on June 20th and 21st guided by Dasi Sessel. This is an opportunity to experience the wilderness in a safe and fun way while celebrating Jewish femininity. The low price is made possible by the Bill and Marylou Stockard initiative to support Jews getting in to the wilderness. Registgration by June 10th, by contacting Avanim Adventures at [email protected] .

find very difficult to understand. The conversation usually turns to the central figure of Christianity, and I am often asked, do I believe that he was the son of God. “I do indeed,” I reply, “because we believe that every Jew is a son or daughter of God.” What Christianity applies to one figure in its faith, we apply to all. Where Christianity transcendentalises, Judaism democratises. My conversation partners often think I am being evasive, finding a polite way to avoid answering the question. In fact, though, the opposite is true.

The first words God commands Moses to say to Pharaoh were, “My child, My firstborn, Israel” (Ex. 4:22). In Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the Israelites, “You are children of the Lord your God” (Deut. 14:1). “Beloved are Israel,” said Rabbi Akiva, “for they are called God’s children.” One of the key phrases of prayer, Avinu malkenu, “Our Father, our King,” encapsulates this in two simple words. We are all royalty. We are each children of the King.

To be sure, this is not the only metaphor for our relationship with God. He is also our Sovereign and we are His servants. He is our shepherd and we are His sheep. These evoke more humility than the image of parent-and-child. What is more, when God saw the first human without a partner He said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” The Torah is thus signalling one of the defining tensions of all human life: we are independent but we are also interdependent. Our thoughts and feelings belong to the “I,” but much of our existence depends on being part of a “We.” Despite its unprecedented estimate of the individual, Judaism is at the same time an irreducibly communal faith. There is no “I” without the “we.”

The Hassidic master Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Przysucha nicely summed up the Jewish approach to the value of a life. He said that we should each have two pockets. In one we should place a piece of paper with the words: “For my sake was the world created.” In the other should be the words: “I am but dust and ashes.” We are unique. We each have non-negotiable dignity and inalienable rights. But in and of ourselves we are nothing. Our greatness comes not from us but from God. That is the dialectic of life in the conscious presence of our mortality and God’s eternity.

The point being made by the Torah, though, is that what matters is not how we see ourselves but how we see, and treat, and behave toward others. The world is not short of self-important people. What it is short of is those who make other peoplefeel important – who “lift their heads.”

I will never forget the occasion when Prince Charles, at a banquet given by the Jewish community, spent as much time talking to the young schoolchildren who came to sing in a choir as he did to the great and good among the guests, or when he came to a Jewish primary school and lit Chanukah candles with the children, giving each the chance to tell him who they were and what the festival meant to them. That, at least in Britain, is what royalty is and does. Members of the royal family make other people feel important. That is their work, their service, their role. It is the true meaning of royalty. Watching them, you understand Rabbi Yohanan’s fine insight that “greatness is humility.” You understand also Ben Zoma’s axiom: “Who is honoured? One who honours others.”

The challenge that emerges from the way the Torah describes taking a census is that we must “lift people’s heads.” Never let them feel merely a number. Make those you meet feel important, especially the people whom others tend to take for granted: the waiters at a communal meal; the woman who takes your coat in a cloakroom; the shammas in the synagogue; the people doing security duty; the caretaker; the most junior member of the office team, and so on. Make eye contact. Smile. Let them know you do not take them for granted. You appreciate them. They matter as individuals.

For this is the life-changing idea: We are as important as we make other people feel.

Rabbi Sacks (Continued from page 1)


MORE DAT MINYAN EVENTS AND LEARNING

LIFTOFF FOR THE LEGACY SOCIETY

With the recent launch of our Legacy Society, we are delighted to announce the first members of the DAT Minyan who have joined the Society by making a legacy gift to the congregation. We are most grateful to Steve and Ellyn Hutt and Rachel Rabinovitch for recently finalizing their gift commitments. Each legacy gift has a meaningful impact on our synagogue and will ensure that the vitality and growth of our Jewish and spiritual offerings will continue to live far into the future, even beyond the life of the Legacy Society member who gave it.

If you have already included us in your estate, we are most appreciative. Please let us know so you can officially be added to the DAT Minyan Legacy Society.

Please remember DAT Minyan with a gift in your will, trust, retirement account or life insurance policy.


MORE DAT MINYAN EVENTS AND LEARNING

Calendar of Events

May: 27th: Leetsdale Latte N’ Learning 29th: Beit Midrash Night 30th: Belleview Latte N’ Learning

June:

2nd: Shabbat w/ DeNCSY 3rd: Leetsdale Latte N’ Learning 6th: Belleview Latte N’ Learning

Thursday Night Mishmar

Join us from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm for an hour of learning - and choose your options:

Tanya Class, led by Rabbi Mendel Popack

Mussar Chaburah (Madreigat HaAdam, by the Alter of Navardok), led by Rabbi YD Schwartz

Samson’s Secrets: Interpreting Judges 13-16 With the Help of Modern and Medieval Commentary, led by Rabbi Seth Herstic )

Or bring a Chavrusa and learn on your own!

Please note that this program will be on a break May 31st, but will resume June 6th

The Vaad Project, Jewish Experience, DAT Minyan and Merkaz Torah cordially invite the community to hear special guest, Rabbi Reuven Leuchter, one of the foremost Mussar personalities of our generation, who will discuss “Achieving a Life of Simchah,” Thursday, May 31st, 7:30pm at the DAT Minyan. The presentation is for men and women, and there is no cost to attend.

DAT MINYAN MEMBER MILESTONES


The DAT Minyan wishes to acknowledge the following milestones* of our members in the coming week:

*These details were obtained from the DAT Minyan database, which contains information provided by the members when they joined. We apologize for any omissions or mistakes. For corrections or additions, please log on to your account and update the information, or contact

the synagogue office at 720-941-0479.

Refuah Shelayma Please include the following names in your prayers. May each be granted a Refuah Shelayma. Names are kept on the list until the next Rosh Chodesh. Help us keep the list accurate by verifying the necessary details each month on the Cholim Document

at https://goo.gl/aeyJG2.

Baruch Getzel ha Cohen ben Esther Batsheva bat Esther Bella bat Malka Carmel ben Tirtza Chaim Shmuel ben Miriam Chaim Tuvia ben Dina Chana Yetta bat Bryna Channa Bat Henny Rus Chaya bat Malka Chaya Chanah Elisheva Rivka bat Sarah Chaya Miriam bat Shoshana Chaya Orah bat Sarah Chaya Rochel bas Miriam Chaya Sarah bat Tzirel Devorah Leah bat Chanah Dinah bat Chayala Dovid ben Laya Eliyahu Chaim ha Cohen ben Sara Rifka Eliyahu Dovid ben Ita Sheiva Ephraim ben Henna

Faige bat Sarah Feigie bat Sarah Geula bat Chana Guy Chaim ben Rita Hadassah bat Fruma Rahel Hillel Yerachmiel ben Ariella Ilana Dintza bat Ita Mirrel Kalia bat Miriam Leah Devora Kivitiya bat Chaya Leetal bat Tzofit Levick Yitzchak ben Bracha Leya bat Sara Malka bat Sarah Margola Hadassah bat Gitel Sarah Michel ben Leah Michoel Zisel ben Barbara Miriam Tova Chaya bat Chanah Mirtha bat Isabel Mordechai Lev ben Frumah Moshe Feivel ben Rose

Nataniel ben Elisheva Natanya bat Itel Noa Shani bat Chaya Bracha Pinchas ben Beula Batya Raphael Yotam ben Efrat Rifka bat Leah Rina bat Lea Roshka bat Bryna Sara bat Chana Sara Chana bat Shaina Sarah Shoshanna bat Sarah Shashi bat Batya Baila Shifra Hadassah bat Chaya Leah Shira Chana bat Sara Shirley bat Hasia Devorah Shoshanna bat Liora Shoshanna bat Smadar Shoshanna Miriam bat Chanah Shulamit Leah bat Chava Simcha Shaya ben Leiba Leah

Surah Basya bat Freida Tirtza bat Sarah Tomas ben Galit Tova bat Nechama Tziporah Rut bat Cissie Tzvi Gershon ben Shaindel Shaina Raizel Yakir Ephraim bat Rachel Devorah Yasmine bat Miriam Yehuda Leib ben Bayla Yehuda Mordechai Shrage ben Roiza Feige Yehudit bat Leah Yisroel Yaakov Moshe ben Sarah Yochanan ben Sarah Yona Malka bat Pola Yonah Mordechai ben Shprintze Breindel Yonatan Zeev ben Netaa Yosef ben Bruria Katrina Yosef ben Malka

This Day In Jewish History - 26 May / 12 Sivan May 26, 1894 - 26-year-old German Emanuel Lasker becomes the second official World Champion chess player, defeating

reigning World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz. The son of a Jewish cantor, Lasker was sent to Berlin at the age of 11 to study mathematics. He lived there with his brother, who taught him how to play chess. Lasker held the title of World Chess Champion for 27 years, losing to Jose Raul Capablanca in a match in Havana, Cuba. Lasker died of a kidney infectiion in 1941 and was buried at Beth Olom Cemetery, Queens, New York.

12 Sivan, 1913 - The World Agudath Israel organization is established by 300 Jewish religious leaders attending a conference in Kattowitz, Poland. The goal in forming Agudath Israel was to create one Orthodox identified central organization that could manage the religious differences of the many traditionally Jewish communities that existed in Eastern Europe at the time. Though fundamentally opposed to secular Zionism, Agudath Israel has continued to exist even till today, functioning as a lobbying group for non-Zionist Orthodoxy and serving as a political party in Israel.

May 26, 1948 - By order of the provisional government of Israel, the Zionist military organization Haganah is dissolved and becomes the national army of the newly formed State of Israel. Originally organized to combat the revolts of Palestinian Arabs over the settlement of Palestine, the Haganah’s activities were moderate until the end of WWII. After that time, when the British refused to open Palestine to unlimited Jewish immigration, the Haganah turned to more violent measures, bombing bridges, rail lines and ships used to deport “illegal” Jewish immigrants. By the time of Israel’s creation as a state, the Haganah controlled most of the settled areas allocated to Israel by the U.N. partition and several Arab cities.

12 Sivan, 1948 - The government of Costa Rica gives diplomatic recognition to the new State of Israel. Due to its political balance, Costa Rica is often referred to as the "Switzerland of Central America." In 1982, Costa Rica moved its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, making it the first country recognizing Israel to also maintain an Embassy in Jerusalem. The Embassy remained there for 24 years, until Costa Rican President Oscar Arias moved it back to Tel Aviv, claiming the previous move was “a historic error.’

Ellyn Hutt, Itai Levy, Yonatan Manor, Alex Polotsky, Shimon Stroll

Alex and Hanah Polotsky - 18 years Michael and Barbara Schwartz - 35 years

In honor of

ALL THE GRADUATES

Mazal Tov!

From Rabbi Joseph and Melissa Friedman

To our daughter LEORA BUSSE on graduating

Thomas Jefferson High School, Valedictorian Class of 2018

From Marcia Chaimovitz and

David Busse

To NATHAN HILL on graduating from the DAT

High School

From Steve and Robyn Hill

To SHIRA HIRSCH on graduating from BMH-BJ Preschool

From Fred and Pia Hirsch

To ROBERT ZIRINSKY on graduating Yeshiva University with a Finance Degree and receiving a

Mazer Award for Talmudic excellence

From Ellice Goldberg

To NAOMI MIRIAM MILLER on graduating Metro State University

with a Bachelors of Social Work Degree,

Summa Cum Laude

From Joseph Miller

To ALANA M. PERLMUTTER on graduating Denver Jewish

Day School

From Joe Wolf

To GAVRIEL ASHER REIFFMAN and RIVKA MIRIAM REIFFMAN

on graduating the DAT High School

From Hyiam and Carolyn Reiffman To JULIA SENKFOR and

MARISA SENKFOR on graduating from Denver Jewish Day School

From Stuart Senkfor and Leslie Stewart

To ESTEE BROOKS on graduating from the DAT High School

From David, Debby Yehudis

and Rachely Kasztl

To ARIELLA ZAZULIA on graduating from the DAT High School

From Glenn and Corina Zazulia

To ALL DENVER NCSY GRADUATES

From Denver NCSY

To DAINA LOEWENTHAL on graduating from the DAT High School and ELLIE LOEWENTHAL

on graduating 8th grade

From Chaim and Bara Loewenthal

To DR. ADRIENNE NARROWE on receiving her PhD

From Lawrence and Lisa Stroll

To Stanley Demain on graduating from Pre-school

From Brian and

Haidi Demain

To DAT HIGH SCHOOL 12TH GRADE on reaching this milestone and

DAT 8TH GRADE on their continuation

From Lawrence and Lisa Stroll

To YAEL POLOTSKY on

graduating Middle School and ELI POLOTSKY on graduating Elementary

School

From Alex and Hanah Polotsky

To my nephew NATHANIEL ALLEN on

completing his Doctorate from Johns Hopkins University School of

Advanced International Studies

From Rob Allen

To ALL THE GRADUATES

With love from The Avners

To daughter SHIRA HIRSCH on graduating Pre-K from BMH-BJ

Preschool

From Philip and Noomi HIrsch

To ADRIENNE NARROWE on obtaining her PhD from the University of

Colorado at Denver

From Joshua Narrowe

MAZAL TOV TO OUR GRADUATES BEING HONORED AT TODAY’S KIDDUSH AND THANK-YOU TO THEIR SPONSORS

To ALANA PERLMUTTER on graduating Denver Jewish Day School

From Jonathan and Lisa Perlmutter

To ESTEE BROOKS on graduating from the DAT High School

From Mark Brooks and Terry Samuel

To EZRA FISCHER on his continuation to the DAT High School

From Aryeh and

Dorit Fischer

To ALL DAT MINYAN

GRADUATES and a special Mazel Tov to those whom Mrs. Lev has been

fortunate to call her students

From Dovid and Naomi Lev

To AVI RABINOVITCH on

graduating Yeshiva University and SUZANNE RABINOVITCH on graduating

from the DAT High School

With love from Mom and Dad

The DAT Minyan and PUAH is proud

to present our Scholar-in-Residence

Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Senior PUAH

Advisor Born in Britain, Rabbi Weitzman

earned his Rabbinic Ordination from the

Chief Rabbinate of Israel. His scholarly

articles on IVF, sperm extraction, and genetic

counseling have been published in The

Journal of Genetic Counseling and The Journal

of Early Human Development. Rabbi

Weitzman is also a regular contributor to the

journal, Techumim, which is dedicated to the

interface between Jewish law and cutting edge

science/technology. Rabbi Weitzman has

lectured at major organizations such as National

Council of Young Israel, the Rabbinical Council

of California, Agudas Yisroel of America, the

Annual Meeting of the American Society for

Reproductive Medicine, Columbia Medical Center,

and Cornell Medical Center.

Rabbi Weitzman teaches in the Gruss Kollel and

the Midrasha College for Women as well as other

educational institutions in Jerusalem and

simultaneously serves as rabbi of the Merkaz

Modiin Synagogue. Rabbi Weitzman published four

books on the philosophy of Chief Rabbi Abraham

Isaac Kook. He has a regular column in Torah

Tidbits and the Jewish Press and answers several

“Ask the Rabbi” websites.

PARASHAT SHELACH

SHABBAT MORNING

After Musaf - Drasha:

“From Moses to Mendel: Genetics, Ethics and

Halacha”

SHABBAT AFTERNOON

5:55 pm - SHAWL:

“Brave New Conception”

6:55 pm - Class:

“‘Playing G-d’: Have We Gone Too Far?”