January 2, 2021 • 19 Tevet 5781

Vayechi

Please proceed to WWW.ANSHEEMET.ORG/LIVESTREAM January 2, 2021 • 19 Tevet 5781 to view our services. Vayechi

Shabbat Shalom and Welcome! We welcome you to Anshe Emet Synagogue and hope that you enjoy our worship service. If you are a visitor, please introduce yourself so we may welcome you and wish you Shabbat Shalom. Everyone is invited to join our community for Kiddush lunch following services.

Mission Statement Anshe Emet Synagogue seeks to encourage involvement and create a special sense of belonging. We are committed to meeting the religious, educational, social, and cultural needs of our members within the framework of the Conservative Movement. In keeping with the teachings of Judaism and the spirit of Klal Yisrael, we recognize our responsibility to serve the Jewish community, the wider community and the state of Israel.

Michael S. Siegel • Senior Rabbi, Norman Asher Rabbinic Chair Alberto Mizrahi • Hazzan Emeritus, Arnold H. Kaplan M.D. Cantorial Chair Click above to take survey David Russo • Rabbi D’ror Chankin–Gould • Rabbi Elizabeth Berke • Interim Hazzan Naomi Weiss-Weil • Ritual Director Transliteration of the Prayer for the State of Israel: Art Friedson • President Avinu sheh-bashamayim, tsur Yisrael v’goalo, bareikh et m’dinat Yisrael Boni Fine • Executive Director reishit ts’michat g’ulateinu. Hagein aleha b’evrat chasdekha ufros aleha sukat sh’lomekha, ushlach or’kha va’amit’kha l’rasheha sareha v’yoatseha, Established 1873 v’tak’neim b’eitsa tovah mil’fanekha. Chazeik et y’dei m’ginei eretz kodsheinu, Affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism v’hanchileim Eloheinu y’shua, va’ateret nitsachon t’at’reim. V’natata shalom ba’arets v’simchat olam l’yosh’veha, v’nomar: Amen. 3751 North Broadway • Chicago, Illinois 60613-4104 AnsheEmet.org • 773.281.1423 Parsha Summary Yahrzeits Vayechi • He Lived We remember those of our Anshe Emet family who are no longer with us and whose Yahrzeits we observe this week. Genesis 47:28 - 50:26 May their memory be for a blessing.

Jacob is ill, and Joseph takes his two sons and visits his ailing father. Jacob tells Helen Fannie Adelman Esther Lenet Joseph that he wants to claim Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his Regina Alcheh Melvin Lerman own, because of Rachel’s early demise. Joseph brings them to his father’s bed- Sema Belzberg Solomon Levenstein side, and Jacob embraces the boys, telling Joseph, “I never expected to see you Chava Bensinger Sol Levinsohn Edward Berkwits Steve Levitin again, and here God has let me see your children as well.” Charles R. Bierman Charles Lipscitz He then crosses his arms, blessing the eldest with his left hand and the young- Ruby Blumberg Lillian Lipsey er with the right. When Joseph tries to correct him, Jacob insists, saying that the Martha Burwick Katie Lipstein Hyman Chapman Abraham J. Marcus younger brother shall be greater than he. Jacob blesses the boys, saying, “By you Jack Cohen Joseph Markel shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” Rose Cohen Robert B. Mayer Tracey Copeland Bertha Molotsky Jewish parents use this same blessing for their sons to this day. Irene Cummings Anne Morrison Jacob then summons his sons, and offers them each a blessing in one of the Ephraim David George Must Bible’s finest poems. In his blessing, he does not omit areas of disappointment, Lee Devorkin Ann Myerson Mildred Elliott Herbert Natkin such as Reuben sleeping with his concubine, or Simeon and Levi’s violence Max Elman Bill Neiman against the residents of Shechem. Jacob assigns sovereignty to Judah — “the Simon Engel Arthur A. Newman scepter shall not depart from Judah” — and interrupts his message to his sons to Max Finkelman Bernard Pearlman Kenneth H. Fox Avraham Poznanski exclaim, “I wait for your deliverance, the Eternal One.” Jeanette E. Frank Gerald Resnick Jacob concludes by asking to be buried with Abraham and Isaac in the Cave Bertha Fuchs Sylvia Ritholz of Machpelah. When he dies, Joseph gets permission from Pharaoh to bury his Benjamin Gans Dora Rosenthal Ann Geller Minnie Savitzsky father in Canaan, which he does with the entire court, and there he observes Max Gethner Jon Schab Shiva, the traditional seven days of mourning. Afterward, the brothers fear that Jacob S. Goldenberg Sophie Schneiderman Alice Goldman Gertrude Shapiro Joseph will seek retribution, but he tells them, “Am I a substitute for God?” and Lionel Goldstein Harold Shapiro assures them that they need not fear him. H. Myles Gordon Isadore Jack Silver Joseph lives to be 110 years old. Prior to his death, he extracted a promise from Rose Green Pearl Simon Julius Grodzin Dorothy Singer the Israelites that they are to carry his bones from Egypt and bury him in Eretz Sylvia Grossman Estelle Sklansky Yisrael, when God brings them up from Egypt to the land promised to them. Joseph B. Hamer Chip Smoler Unlike the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), Joseph is buried in a coffin, Jacob Harris Ida Starkman Lenore B. Horwich Mary Stein following Egyptian custom. Charles Iker Hannah Stein Edward Katsovitz Milton Stern Ruth Klein Faye Tatel Jack M. Klempner Esther Tenenbaum Joseph Koenig Lew Warsawsky The Bedside Torah: Wisdom, Visions, and Dream David Kornbluth Fruma Gittel Wineman Rabbi Bradely Shavit Artson Miriam Krampf Annie Witkowsky Harry B. Kulp Irving Yablon Life Cycle • Support HaZaK • Torah Readings

Help Us Be There For You HaZaK • Mondays at 1pm Synagogue is a place where you want to feel at home, nourished, nurtured and spiritually fulfilled; a place where your soul, heart and head are touched. It is a HaZaK is an Anshe Emet daytime program for mature adults with active minds. place where you and your children feel a sense of relevance. It is a place where Co-taught by our clergy and other community educators, this year HaZaK is you are safe, where you are stimulated, and where you will find a welcoming focusing on Jewish Ethics with the Melton curriculum “Ethics of Jewish Living.” community. Generously funded by Beatrice Mayer, z”l. As part of this commitment, the clergy at Anshe Emet are here to help with MONDAY, JANUARY 4 • HAZZAN ELIZABETH BERKE Simchas and crises in your or your family’s life. If you know someone who needs to speak with a member of our clergy, or if you want to add a name to the Mi Visit ansheemet.org/livestream to join | Meeting ID: 663 098 957 Sheberach list, please contact Antoinette (Toni) Nuñez at 773-868-5120 or anunez@ Contact Cantor Liz Berke for Zoom password ansheemet.org. Names will be kept on the Mi Sheberach list for two weeks only and more information at [email protected] unless otherwise specified.

COOKING WITH TAHINI TUESDAY, JANUARY 19 AT 7PM Join us for Cooking with Tahini, with special guest, Amy Zitelman, author of The Tahini Table. Purchase The Tahini Table Book Register for this program here

On-Line Bereavement Group TORAH READING PAGE NUMBERS IN ETZ HAYIM Supporting our community DEUTERONOMY Chapters 49-50 1st Aliyah: p. 298, 49:1-49:4 in times of loss. January 25 • 7:30pm • Via Zoom 2nd Aliyah: p. 300, 49:5-49:7 Please join us, every fourth Monday of the month, for our 3rd Aliyah: p. 300, 49:8-49:12 online support group for adults who have experienced the 4th Aliyah: 302, 49:13-49:15 death of a loved one within the past two years. 5th Aliyah: p. 302, 49:16-49:18 Meeting ID: 170 885 666 6th Aliyah: p. 303, 49:19-49:21 Contact Tamar Brooks 7th Aliyah: p. 304, 49:22-49:26 for Zoom Password: [email protected] Maftir: Numbers p. 310, 50:23-50:26 Haftarah: p. 313, I Kings 2:1-2:12 WHAT’S HAPPENING AT ANSHE EMET?

Learn about more programs at www.ansheemet.org/events

ADULT EDUCATION @ AES THE PEN & THE YAD PODCAST FEATURING RABBI MICHAEL SIEGEL & JONATHAN EIG OMG, CAN YOU BELIEVE? WITH TZIVIA GARFINKEL A MELTON COURSE Parsha Vayechi: BEGINNING MONDAY, JANUARY 11 AT 7PM Joseph vs. Moses / Utilitarianism vs. Ideals In this six-week exploratory course, we’ll seek answers to the BIG questions around God and God’s relationship to Listen at: Ansheemet.org/podcasts Humankind. Take for yourself a Divine moment to uncover and consider many different understandings of God expressed by Jewish thinkers, past and present. This course will give you the tools to continue asking deep questions, probing your own beliefs and rethinking the “God-question” that confronts us through- out our lives. This course will be led by Tzivia Garfinkel. There will be no class on 1/18. HAVDALAH & YOUNG FAMILY HAVDALAH PARTY SATURDAY, JANUARY 2 • 6PM Anshe Emet members receive $100 off with code AE100. Community Havdalah service led by Naomi Weiss-Weil, Members: $79 • General Public: $179 Maxine Handelman and Rabbi Donni Aaron, Click here to learn more and register. followed by Young Family Havdalah Party. This course is offered in conjunction with the Florence Click here to join Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning. For more informa- tion contact Jody Hyman [email protected]. Meeting ID: 160 211 063 | Password: 144222

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE PROPHETS WITH PROFESSOR KEN SEESKIN BEGINNING SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 AT 10AM A six-week class on some of the most fascinating Prophets in our arsenal of study. Join Professor Ken Seeskin, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Emeritus Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization, from Northwestern University as he examines questions such as Does God Experience Emotion? and Why Must God’s Chosen Servant Suffer? and much more. Click here to learn more and register.

Don't miss what's new TALMUD STUDY WITH RABBI JOEL GOLDSTEIN WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20 AT 7PM on Shabbat Evenings! Join us as we study the eighth chapter of the Babylonian Talmud tractate chullin. This chapter begins with the rules of At 6pm, on our livestream page, we will share a warm separating milk and meat and how we react when the two are Kabbalat Shabbat service that includes special guests, great mixed together. Additionally, it will bring us to a discussion of other rituals around a person’s table. Texts will be provided in music and congregant participation! their original languages with a vocabulary guide and english translations for those who would like them. Previous Talmud Spend Friday evenings with your Anshe Emet family! experience is encouraged but not necessary. Click here to learn more and register. Learn more!