A Taste of Tikkun Leil Shavuot
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May 2020, Volume No. 5 Iyar - Sivan 5780 B E T H E L C O N G R E G A T I O N A Taste of Tikkun Leil Shavuot Thursday, May 28 | 5:45 pm Mincha 6:00pm Megillat Ruth Study with Rabbi Stein Kokin 7:00 pm Ma’ariv Shavuot Services with Candle Lighting SERVICES Shavuot - Day 1 Friday, May 29 Aharei Mot - K’doshim 9:30 am Sha harit with Cantor Angress Saturday, May 2 10:45 am Torah Study & prayers for healing with 9:30 am Sha harit with Cantor Angress Rabbi Stein Kokin 10:30 am Torah Study & prayers for healing with Streaming at: tinyurl.com/radpf3y Rabbi Stein Kokin 5:45 pm Kabbalat Shabbat & Ma’ariv Streaming at: tinyurl.com/radpf3y Live-Stream on YouTube ONLY: tinyurl.com/radpf3y Beth El 7:44 pm Havdalah NOTE: NO Zoom since it is still Yom Tov 1 Services 8:00 pm Havdalah Service & Omer Counting with Rabbi Stein Kokin Shavuot - Day 2 (zoom.us/j/948321834 or tinyurl.com/radpf3y) Saturday, May 30 Anniversary Shabbat Emor 9:30 am Sha harit with Cantor Angress Saturday, May 9 10:45 am Torah Study & prayers for healing with Birthday Shabbat Rabbi Stein Kokin 9:30 am Sha harit with Cantor Angress Streaming at: tinyurl.com/radpf3y 10:30 am Torah Study & prayers for healing with (Yizkor on Thursday, May 28 at 8:00 am) Rabbi Stein Kokin 8:03 pm Havdalah Streaming at: tinyurl.com/radpf3y 8:15 pm Havdalah Ceremony with Rabbi Stein Kokin 7:49 pm Havdalah (zoom.us/j/948321834 or tinyurl.com/radpf3y) 8:00 pm Havdalah Service & Omer Counting with Rabbi Stein Kokin Kabbalat Shabbat every Friday at (zoom.us/j/948321834 or tinyurl.com/radpf3y) 5:45 pm Please note: Kabbalat Shabbat on B’Har - B’ Hukkotai Shavuot, May 29 will be on YouTube live- Saturday, May 16 stream ONLY. 9:30 am Sha harit with Cantor Angress 10:30 am Torah Study & prayers for healing with Candlelighting times: Rabbi Stein Kokin Streaming at: tinyurl.com/radpf3y F r i d a y , M a y 1 | 6 : 5 4 p m 7:54 pm Havdalah 8:00 pm Havdalah Service & Omer Counting Friday, May 8 | 6:59 pm with Rabbi Stein Kokin Friday, May 15 | 7:04 pm (zoom.us/j/948321834 or tinyurl.com/radpf3y) Friday, May 22 | 7:09 pm B’midbar Thursday, May 28 | 7:13 pm Shabbat Ma har Hodesh - Friday, May 29 | 7:14 pm M’varkhim Ha Hodesh Saturday, May 23 9:30 am Sha harit with Cantor Angress HOW TO PARTICIPATE: 10:30 am Torah Study & prayers for healing with Rabbi Stein Kokin Shabbat morning services Streaming at: tinyurl.com/radpf3y S a t u r d a y s | 9 : 3 0 a m 7:59 pm Havdalah Streaming at YouTube: tinyurl.com/radpf3y 8:00 pm Havdalah Service & Omer Counting with Rabbi Stein Kokin Daily Minyan and Kabbalat Shabbat (zoom.us/j/948321834 or tinyurl.com/radpf3y) 7:15 am and 5:45 pm (Sunday morning 8:15) Yizkor Call in: (669) 900-6833 Thursday, May 28 Then put in the Meeting ID: 948 321 834 8:00 am (following 7:15 am Daily Minyan) https://zoom.us/j/948321834 ZOOM on your computer, tablet, or cellphone at the Call in: (669) 900-6833 following link: https://zoom.us/j/948321834 A Taste of Tikkun Leil Shavuot Thursday, May 28 5:45 pm Mincha Counting the Omer with Rabbi Stein 6:00 pm Megillat Ruth Study with Rabbi Stein Kokin - A Mindful Practice Kokin 8:00 pm daily (except Fridays) until Shavuot 7:00 pm Ma’ariv Shavuot Services with Candle Join via Daily Minyan Zoom link or stream through Lighting YouTube at: tinyurl.com/radpf3y https://zoom.us/j/948321834 Call in: (669) 900- 6833 2 3 and they all died in one period of time because Dear Chaverim, they did not treat each other with respect. And the The time period between Passover world was desolate of Torah until Rabbi Akiva and Shavuot is marked in many came to our Rabbis in the South and taught his traditional circles as a time period Torah to them. This second group of disciples of mourning. Joyous celebrations consisted of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi like weddings are halted at least Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben until Lag BaOmer. Some people Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld A. Nitzan Stein Kokin enact mourning customs like not the study of Torah at that time. Although Rabbi Rabbi shaving. The Midrashim tell us that Akiva’s earlier students did not survive, his later these customs came about to re - disciples were able to transmit the Torah to future member the tragic loss of 24,000 students of one of generations.” [bYevamot 62b, translation courtesy the greatest teachers of all times: Rabbi Akiva. Accord - of www.sefaria.org]. ing to one of the opinions in the Babylonian Talmud (Tractate Yevamot 62b), a plague killed them all: The G’mara says that Rabbi Akiva’s first students died be - cause they did not respect or honor each other. They did “It is taught that all of them died in the period not care for each other deeply enough. It doesn’t give us from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Hama bar any detail as to what exactly occurred. In light of COVID- Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Hiyya 19, we certainly understand how important it is to honor bar Avin: They all died a cruel death. What is each and every person's space and safety. We as a society it that is called a cruel death? Rav Nahman need to pull back and shut down in order to reduce to the said: Croup [the Hebrew word refers to “chok- extent possible the further spread of the disease. ing” or “trouble breathing”]. After a month here in Arizona, in other places much I could not help but share this story as we live through longer, we are tired, we are impatient, we are lonely and the COVID-19 pandemic, in which so many have died anxious to get out. Some of us have been hit hard by the from being unable to breathe. It seems to speak di - economic implications of the closures. We want it to be rectly to our current reality. So I’d like to take you on done. To return to normal. But what would happen if we a journey inside this story and its serious, yet encour - put such self-interested thoughts first? Honoring and car - aging, message of hope and resilience. ing for the lives of others means continuing to hold back. The attempt to save as many lives as possible now by shut - The story of Rabbi Akiva and his students is offered ting down the world will cost us tremendously. In one way as an interpretation of a verse from the book of Ko - or another, the world will be “desolate” - just as R. Akiva’s helet: life’s work was initially “wasted.” He had built his student body for 24 years (!), each member of which should have “In the morning sow your seed, and in the carried down the fruit of his hands to the next generations. evening do not withhold your hand; for you do A whole world of (Torah) ingenuity and excellence were not know which shall prosper, whether this or gone! that, or whether they both alike shall be good.” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). And yet - Rabbi Akiva had the courage to continue, to start again and rebuild amidst this wasteland. We are not done. According to the plain meaning of the verse, the au - We will rebuild. We must - but most importantly - we must thor gives advice to a farmer to keep planting crops, rebuild with honor, respect, and care for each other - to since one never knows how the first harvest might turn truly achieve a better, safer, healthier society. out. One cannot become complacent or fatalistic, one has to keep cultivating the land. We have to keep going; our work is not done. Now Rabbi Akiva has a very peculiar way of under - standing this verse. He reads it as referring to spiritual, or some might say educational procreation: “Rabbi Akiva says that the verse should be un- derstood as follows: If one studied Torah in his youth, he should study more Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth, he should have additional students in his old age … They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students, 4 Dear Friends, quarantine. With everything going on, where can we find hope? If we As we continue to navigate our Jewish look at this passage from Akdamut , the answer is very spiritual lives amid the current pan - clear. We can look to God, our Judaism, and ourselves demic of COVID-19, we here at Beth for hope. Our people have been under darker clouds in El are continuously working on pro - the past. We survived slavery and persecution in Egypt. viding as much for you as possible. We evaded eradication in Persia. And we absolutely sur - Between our virtual Zoom minyanim, vived perhaps the worst atrocity in our history, the Holo - Jonathan Angress livestreaming of Shabbat and Festival caust. And if we are to believe that history always repeats Cantor services, and the multiple online itself, then we can be sure we will survive and persevere learning opportunities we have to through this current pandemic.