Candle Welcome to the DAT Minyan! Lighting (earliest) 5:54p Shabbat Nitzavim- Vayeilech (latest) 6:55p September 12, 2020 - 23 , 5780 Bara Loewenthal and Nathan Rabinovitch, Co- Presidents Havdalah 7:53p

We invite men and women to sign up for our in person minyanim, located at The Jewish D’var by Rabbi Sacks Experience and the Polotsky residence. For those The gives an ingenious reading to the line, “Moses com- unable to make it, we encourage everyone to manded us a Torah, as a heritage of the congregation of Israel.” join us for our virtual daily davening and Noting that there are 613 commands, and that the numerical value learning opportunities. of the word Torah is 611, it says that in fact Moses gave us 611 All davening times and classes are published on commands, while the other two – “I am the Lord your God,” and, our website and calendar. We currently are not “You shall have no other gods beside Me,” (the first 2 of the 10 offering a virtual option for Shabbat davening. commandments) – the Israelites received not from Moses but

TJE Minyan Shabbat Davening Times: directly from God Himself. Masks required, There is a different distinction the Sages might have made. Moses FRIDAY: gave us 611 commands, and at the very end, in Vayelech, he gave us Shacharit: 6:20 am two meta-commands, commands about the commands. They are Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv: 6:55 pm Hakhel, the command to assemble the people once every seven years for a public reading of (key parts of) the Torah, and “Now write SHABBAT: for yourselves this song” (Deut. 31:19), interpreted by tradition as Shacharit: 8:00 am the command to write, or take part in writing, our own Sefer Torah. Mincha: 6:50 pm These two commands are set apart from all the others. They were Maariv: 7:53 pm given after all the recapitulation of the Torah in the book of Devarim, the blessings and curses and the covenant renewal ceremony. They Outdoor Auxiliary Minyan Schedule: are embedded in the narrative in which Moses hands on leadership Location: Polotsky’s backyard deck. Masks to his successor Joshua. The connection is that both the laws and the required, bring your own Siddur and Chumash. narrative are about continuity. The laws are intended to ensure that FRIDAY: the Torah will never grow old, will be written afresh in every Mincha/ Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:55 pm generation, will never be forgotten by the people and will never SHABBAT: cease to be its active constitution as a nation. The nation will never Shacharit: 9:30 am– 11:15 am abandon its founding principles, its history and identity, its

SHAWL will be taught by Suzanne guardianship of the past and its responsibility to the future. Rabinovitch at 5:30 pm at the Rabinovitch Note the beautiful complementarity of the two commands. Hakhel, home, 151 S Olive St. The title of the shiur is the national assembly, is directed at the people as a “Netzavim: Stepping back in order to move (Continued on Page 2) forward” Daily Minyan Schedule FRIDAY NIGHT: Located on zoom and at TJE (Shema should be recited after 7:54 pm) Note: Shacharit has been moved up due to Selichot SHACHARIT MINCHA/MAARIV SHABBAT: Sunday: 8:00 am Sunday-Thursday: 6:50 pm Parasha (Artscroll Chumash): Monday- Thursday: 6:00 am Friday: 6:45 pm Page 1086/Haftarah: Page 1202 Friday: 5:45 am

To join us virtually, download the ZOOM app to your computer or phone. The computer (Shema should be recited before 9:46 am) log in is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/94819261580? pwd=MXpoOExuVlRubFltZmN5ZGlFQlVaZz09 Meeting ID: 948 1926 1580, Password: dm613

DAT Minyan is a dynamic and friendly Modern Orthodox congregation for all ages and dedicated to meaningful personal spiritual development, community growth, youth involvement, Torah education, and Religious Zionism. DAT Minyan - 560 S. Monaco Pkwy., Denver, CO 80224 - 720-941-0479 - www.datminyan.org D’VAR TORAH (continued)

Rabbi Sacks (Continued from Page 1) totality. Writing a Sefer Torah is directed at individuals. This is the essence of covenantal politics. We have individual responsibility and we have collective responsibility. In Hillel’s words, “If I am not for myself, who will be, but if I am only for myself, what am I?” In Judaism, the state is not all, as it is in authoritarian regimes. Nor is the individual all, as it is in the radically individualist liberal democracies of today. A covenantal society is made by each accepting responsibility for all, by individuals committing themselves to the common good. Hence the Sefer Torah – our written constitution as a nation – must be renewed in the life of the individual (command 613) and of the nation (command 612). This is how the Torah describes the of Hakhel: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for cancelling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place He will choose, you shall read this Torah before them in their hearing. Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the strangers in your towns—so they can listen and learn to revere the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this Torah. Their children, who do not know, shall hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” Deut 31:10-13). Note the inclusivity of the event. It would be anachronistic to say that the Torah was egalitarian in the contemporary sense. After all, in 1776, the framers of the American Declaration of Independence could say, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” while slavery still existed, and no woman had a vote. Yet the Torah regarded it as essential that women, children and strangers should be included in the ceremony of citizenship in the republic of faith. Who performed the reading? The Torah does not specify, but tradition ascribed the role to the King. That was extremely important. To be sure, the Torah separates religion and politics. The King was not High Priest, and the High Priest was not King. This was revolutionary. In almost every other ancient society, the head of state was the head of the religion; this was not accidental but essential to the pagan vision of religion as power. But the King was bound by the Torah. He was commanded to have a special Torah scroll written for him; he was to keep it with him when he sat on the throne and read it “all the days of his life” (Deut. 17:18-20). Here too, by reading the Torah to the assembled people every seven years, he was showing that the nation as a political entity existed under the sacred canopy of the Divine word. We are a people, the King was implicitly saying, formed by covenant. If we keep it, we will flourish; if not, we will fail. This is how describes the actual ceremony: Trumpets were blown throughout to assemble the people; and a high platform, made of wood, was brought and set up in the centre of the Court of Women. The King went up and sat there so that his reading might be heard … The chazzan of the synagogue would take a Sefer Torah and hand it to the head of the synagogue, and the head of the synagogue would hand it to the deputy high priest, and the deputy high priest to the High Priest, and the High Priest to the King, to honour him by the service of many persons … The King would read the sections we have mentioned until he would come to the end. Then he would roll up the Sefer Torah and recite a blessing after the reading, the way it is recited in the synagogue … Proselytes who did not know Hebrew were required to direct their hearts and listen with utmost awe and reverence, as on the day the Torah was given at Sinai. Even great scholars who knew the entire Torah were required to listen with utmost attention … Each had to regard himself as if he had been charged with the Torah now for the first time, and as though he had heard it from the mouth of God, for the King was an ambassador proclaiming the words of God. Apart from giving us a sense of the grandeur of the occasion, Maimonides is making a radical suggestion: that Hakhel is a re-enactment of the Giving of the Torah at Sinai – “as on the day the Torah was given,” “as though he had heard it from the mouth of God” – and thus a covenant renewal ceremony. How did he arrive at such an idea? Almost

Please help make our service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. D’VAR TORAH (continued)

Rabbi Sacks (Continued from Page 2) certainly it was because of Moses’ description of the Giving of the Torah in Va’etchanan: The day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, “Assemble [hakhel] the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, in order that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live on earth, and may so teach their children.” (Deut. 4:10). The italicised words are all echoed in the Hakhel command, especially the word Hakhel itself, which only appears in one other place in the Torah. Thus was Sinai recreated in the Temple in Jerusalem every seven years, and thus was the nation, men, women, children and strangers, renewed in its commitment to its founding principles. Tanach gives us vivid descriptions of actual covenant renewal ceremonies, in the days of Joshua (Josh. 24), Josiah (2 Kings 23), Asa (2 Chron. 15) and Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh. 8-10). These were historic moments when the nation consciously rededicated itself after a long period of religious relapse. Because of Hakhel and covenant renewal, Israel was eternally capable of becoming young again, recovering what Jeremiah called “the devotion of your youth” (Jer. 2:2). What happened to Hakhel during the almost 2000 years in which Israel had no king, no country, no Temple and no Jerusalem? Some scholars have made the intriguing suggestion that the Eretz Yisrael, the custom of Jews in and from Israel, which lasted until about the thirteenth century, of reading the Torah not once every year but every three or three-and-a-half years, was intended to create a seven year cycle, so that the second reading would end at the same time as Hakhel, namely on the Succot following a sabbatical year (a kind of septennial Simchat Torah). I would suggest a quite different answer. The institution of the reading of the Torah on Shabbat morning, which goes back to antiquity, acquired new significance at times of exile and dispersion. There are customs that remind us of Hakhel. The Torah is read, as it was by the King on Hakhel and Ezra at his assembly, standing on a bimah, a raised wooden platform. The Torah reader never stands alone: there are usually three people on the bimah, the segan, the reader and the person called to the Torah, representing respectively God, Moses, and the Israelites. According to most halachists, the reading of the Torah is chovat tzibbur, an obligation of the community, as opposed to the study of Torah which is chovat yachid, an obligation of the individual. So, I believe, keriat ha-Torah should be translated not as “the Reading of the Torah” but as “the Proclaiming of Torah.” It is our equivalent of Hakhel, transposed from the seventh year to the seventh day. It is hard for individuals, let alone nations, to stay perennially young. We drift, lose our way, become distracted, lose our sense of purpose and with it our energy and drive. I believe the best way to stay young is never to forget “the devotion of our youth,” the defining experiences that made us who we are, the dreams we had long ago of how we might change the world to make it a better, fairer, more spiritually beautiful place. Hakhel was Moses’ parting gift to us, showing us how it might be done. Shabbat Shalom

NEW KIDS ART GALLERY Kids are invited to make a piece of artwork using the theme ‘Ahava’ - love. Send your drawing to [email protected] to have your work featured in the newsletter! See page 8 for details.

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. D’VAR TORAH

Dvar Torah by Carmielle Bean Parashas Netzavim is always read the Shabbos before Rosh Hashana. At first glance this might seem coincidental and insignificant, however taking a deeper look into the Meforshim, Parashas Netzavim can transform into a prototype for our Rosh Hashana experience. begins, it is written ששי In Perek Lamed, just as ִִּּ֚כי ַה ִּמ ְצָ ָ֣וה ַה ֹּ֔זֹאת ֲא ֶׁ֛שר ָא ֹנ ִּ ִ֥כי ְמ ַצ ְו ָ֖ך ַה ּ֑יֹום ֹֽלֹא־ ִּנ ְפ ִ֥לאת ִּהו ֙א ִּמ ְמ ֹּ֔ך ְו ִ֥לֹא ְר ֹחָ ָ֖קה ִֹּֽהוא׃ ִ֥לֹא ַב ָש ַ ָ֖מ ִּים ִּ ּ֑הוא... ִֹּֽכי־ ָקִ֥רֹוב א ֶׁ֛ליך ַה ָד ָ ָ֖בר ְמ ּ֑ ֹאד ְב ִּ ִ֥פיך ו ִֹּֽב ְל ָב ְב ָ֖ך ַל ֲע ֹש ֹֽתֹו׃ “For this commandment that I command you today- it is not hidden from you and it is not distant: It is not in the heaven… Rather the matter is very near to you- in your mouth and in your heart- to perform it:” this ,’המצוה הזאת‘This paragraph appears to be out of context. The pasuk refers to ?What commandment is the Torah referring to ?’המצוה הזאת‘ commandment’. What is Many Meforshim grapple with this question. The Talmud, along with several others, as referring to the entire Torah and all its Mitzvos. Ramban, on the ’מצוה interprets ‘this other hand, rejects this understanding and famously answers the following: המצוה הזאת על התשובה והנכון ... “The most sound understanding is… the expression this commandment would indicate a specific commandment and thus refers here to repentance.” He emphasizes that Teshuva is not hidden nor distant from us, rather it is very near and accessible for us perform at any time and any place. Teshuva can be done from the ,בפיך .depths of exile, either internal or physical, and one can never be too late or too lost in your heart, refers to the ,ובלבבך .the confession we say ,וידוי in your mouth, refers to the second step of the teshuva process - returning to Hashem internally. in your mouth, before mentioning ,בפיך The Pri points out that the pasuk says in your heart. The order of this wording seems to be counterintuitive; shouldn’t ,ובלבבך teshuva come from the heart before being put into words? The Pri Tzadik teaches that this wording structure reveals Hashem’s immense mercy on us. Simply by verbalizing the will to do Teshuva, even without internalizing it, causes Hashem to reach out and help us complete the process. Beginning with Rosh Hashana, followed by the Aseres Yemei Teshuva, and finally culminating into the awe-inspiring day of , Teshuva can seem like a daunting task. Looking at Teshuva through Ramban’s interpretation of these Pesukim can give this time period a sense of attainability. Teshuva might seem like an esoteric and obscure Mitzva that is extremely hard to truly fulfill, but the Ramban is telling us that it is completely accessible. In fact, it’s simple, effective, and right in front of us, we merely have to grab hold of the opportunity.

Have a Good Shabbos and Shana Tova!

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

Weekly Learning Opportunities at the DAT Minyan!  SHAWL will be taught by Suzanne Rabinovitch at 5:30 pm at the Rabinovitch home, 151 S Olive St. The title of the shiur is “Netzavim: Stepping back in order to move forward”  Vayikra Voyage for Women: Join Liora Wittlin for a weekly deep dive into the central book of the Torah--which also happens to be the least understood. Contrary to popular belief, Vayikra is anything but boring, and teaches us the very foundations of Avodat Hashem. The class takes place over zoom on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm. Zoom link HERE, password dm613  New Zoom series by Howie Shapiro! Are you looking for ways to enhance your davening at home? Are you finding it difficult to concentrate on davening or even have given up davening all together? Join us for a free Zoom class series on Jewish with a focus on tefilah enhancement, led by Howie Shapiro. The classes will be taking place on September 2nd, 9th, and 16th, at 8pm. To sign up, please send an email to [email protected]. Zoom link HERE, password 248950  Join Ellyn Hutt on Tuesdays from 2 pm– 3 pm for a women's "Words of Wisdom" class. Join Ellyn in delving deeper into the significance of Hebrew words from each week's parsha or related to the upcoming holiday for personal inspiration and spiritual connection. Zoom link HERE . Meeting ID: 884 9530 8316.  Parsha for Women class led by Ellyn Hutt on Thursdays from 11 am– 12 pm. Each week the Torah portion for the week gives us insight into how we can live our lives more meaningfully and mindfully. Join Ellyn as we explore and chart our spiritual journey in sync with the parsha. Zoom link HERE. Meeting ID: 922 119 870  Spiritual Fitness Wednesdays (Women Only) with Chaya Parkoff: Join Chaya Parkoff Wednesday’s at 3pm and pump some spiritual iron together! How can you cultivate an attitude that can allow you to live with mental well-being no matter your current cir- cumstances or the challenges you may face? Join Chaya for a weekly "spiritual fitness" class where you will learn from various Torah sources how to develop and strengthen the two most powerful spiritual muscles we possess: Emunah (faith) & Bitachon (trust). Zoom link HERE.

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. DAT MINYAN NEWS, EVENTS AND MILESTONES

Community Announcements  The DAT Minyan Lulav and Etrog sale is now open. Click HERE to order. Deadline for ordering is September 16th.  Selichot are this Saturday night at 12:50 am at The Jewish Experience. Make sure to sign up if you can make it to the minyan in person. There will be a zoom link for those who cannot make it in person. Additionally, shacharit will be starting earlier for selichot- please see the sign up sheet for updated shacharit times.  For people not going to services on Rosh Hashana but would still like to hear the Shofar, there will be Shofar blowing on the second day Rosh Hashana, on September 20th at these locations (no registration required, and please wear a mask): 1) Winston Downs: 3 pm at the Green school entrance, Shofar by Howie Shapiro 2) Lowry: 3 pm by the Airplane Park at Bayaud and Quebec, Shofar by Chaim Lowenthal 3) Crestmoor Park: 3 pm by the tennis courts at crestmoor park, Shofar by Yitzchak Estreicher 4) The Lex: 2 pm at The Lex at western pond nearing leasing office, Shofar by Rabbi Narrowe 5) Crestmoor Park: 1 pm, at the end of locust street under the trees, Shofar by Rabbi Leban  Merkaz Torah V’Chesed is proud to join together with 9 Denver organizations to present our 12th Annual Evening of Inspiration, featuring the world-renowned speaker Mr. Charlie Harary. Charlie Harary has traveled across the country and abroad, speaking at schools, universities, institutions, and organizations. He is also a senior lecturer for the OU, Aish Hatorah, and NCSY. The virtual Evening of Inspiration will take place Tuesday, September 22, 2020, at 8:00 PM. To register or for more information, visit www.merkaztorah.org.  New Israel Bonds event! Click HERE to view flyer.

DAT Minyan acknowledges the following milestones* of our members this Shabbat and in the coming week:

Zev Arch-Andorsky, Garrett Barter, Elke Barter, Isadora Bielsky, Abigail Fishman, Hanna Fishman, Sophia Gitler, Yotam Khalepari, David Lustig, Avi Miller, Joshua Sharf, David Slamowitz, Max Weiser

Gerald Lampert (Gedalia ben Shmuel Zacharia)- 28 Elul

*These details were obtained from the DAT Minyan database, which contains information provided by our members when they joined. We apologize for any omissions or errors. For changes, please log on to your account and update the information as needed, or contact the synagogue office at 720-941-0479. THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING FUTURE GENERATIONS WITH YOUR GENEROSITY You can add your name to this list with a legacy gift to the DAT We would like to thank our Legacy Society donors for investing in our Minyan. To arrange for your gift or for more information about our future by naming the DAT Minyan with a gift in their will, trust, Legacy Society program, please contact any of the following retirement account or life insurance policy. Our Legacy Society Committee Members: Sarah Raphaely and Steve Weiser. includes:

Rob Allen Nathan and Rachel Rabinovitch

anonymous Mark and Sarah Raphaely Marc and Melanie Avner Harley and Sara Rotbart

Graeme and Irit Bean Stuart Senkfor and Leslie Stewart Myndie Brown Michael Stutzer

Steve and Ellyn Hutt Steve and Lori Weiser

Please help make our prayer service more meaningful by refraining from talking during the service. MORE DAT MINYAN NEWS AND EVENTS

This Day in Jewish History - September 12/ 23 Elul  2105 BCE: On the 301st day of the great Flood, Noah sent a dove for the 2nd time from the ark. This time, the dove stayed away all day; "the dove came in to him in the evening, and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off; and Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth" (Genesis 8:11).  1928: Birthdate of Muriel Faye Sierbert, a legend on Wall Street as the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, and the first woman to head one of the exchange’s member firms.  1935: The New Zionist Organization is founded in Vienna by Zev Jabotinsky.  1957: Birthdate of Academy Award winning composer Hans Florian Zimmer (The Lion King, The Dark Knight Trilogy), whose mother had escaped from Frankfurt to England in 1939 because she was Jewish.

Denver Shabbat Weather Forecast

Refuah Shelayma

Please include the following names in your . 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.

Avraham Mordechai ben Chaya Leah Michel ben Leah Avram ben Golda Simma Michoel Zisel ben Barbara Bella bat Malka Miriam Adina bat Sara Eliyahu Chaim ha Cohen ben Sara Rifka Mordechai ben Chaya Hannah Eliyahu Dovid ben Ita Sheiva Raphael Lior ben Miriam Gershon ben Galina Roshka bat Bryna Guy Chaim ben Rita Sara bat Laurel Leah bat Simcha Shmuel Aharon ben Jenny Levick Yitzchak ben Bracha Yonatan Leib Volf HaLevi ben Altahenya Shulamit Leya bat Sara Yonatan Zeev ben Netaa Malka bat Mazel Tov Chaya Sarah Rivka bat Leah Mascha bat Rus Yossef ben Dinah Mayer Benya ben Nechama Asher Menachem ben Y’shayah Mendel Ila ben Frida Miriam Dovid Mordechai Ben Bayla Rifka Michael ben Kay Borukh ben Eydya

The Rabbis in our community have created a registry for those that are ill with COVID-19. The Denver Cholim Registry can be accessed at www.denvercholimregistry.weebly.com. Should you or someone you know need to be added to this registry, please contact Rabbi Gitler. MORE DAT MINYAN NEWS AND EVENTS