בס"ד VAYEIRA | NOV 6, - NOV 13 2020 | 19 CHESHVAN - 26 CHESHVAN | CANDLE LIGHTING 4:28 PM | HAVDALAH 5:30 PM SHABBAT THIS SHABBAT ing will be directed to enter through the back door so that they do not need to touch any doors to enter the shul or FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 Minyan Registration Policy: Registration for indoor minyan only; outdoor minyan sanctuary. does not require registration. Contact SHACHARIT 6:30AM the Rabbi to be added to the outdoor THIS WEEK shabbat minyan WhatsApp group. Every MINCHA / MAARIV 4:30PM minyan participant still agrees by virtue Adult Education: of attendance to inform the rabbi/ Rabbinic Intern R' Yair Lichtman will be president about any exposure to COVID. continuing an exciting series exploring CANDLE LIGHTING 4:28PM 'In the event of rain, persons normally Responsa literature from current lead- attending the outdoor minyan may join ing Poskim to COVID Halachic inquir- the indoor minyan without separate pre- ies. Look behind the curtain to see the SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 registration (assuming sufficient space is halachic process of using precedent in available). To register, click on the fol- the midst of the "unprecedented". SHACHARIT 9:00AM lowing hyperlink https://forms.gle/ Don't miss this fascinating opportunity to qDg5C7mgkZRBdu6m6 or visit our web- learn with your families and Rav Yair. site at https://www.ahavatachim.org/ Please contact Rabbi Shestack to spon- LAST KRIAT SHMA 9:07AM tefillah/shabbat/. sor a session. The series will continue on Sunday, November 8th at 9 AM on MINCHA 4:25PM IN OUR SHUL Zoom. * https://zoom.us/j/7291311899 We are rolling out a new and improved Password: 112233 MAARIV / HAVDALAH 5:30PM calendar experience on our website! This will allow us to improve communi- The Beginners Gemarah Shiur will take is recited at Mussaf place on Monday, November 9th at אב הרחמים -is recited at Mincha cation about classes, zemanim, and min צדקתך צדק yanim. Be sure to stop by 8:15pm with Rabbi Shestack and will www.ahavatachim.org and check it out continue in Brachot. (Daily Minyanim and the Class Calen- * https://zoom.us/j/7291311899 WEEKLY PARSHA QUESTION dar) ! Both can be synced to your Password: 112233 WITH RAV YAIR phone! Fundamental Texts of Jewish Thought "Why does Avraham object so strenuous- We are in the process of reviewing Rab- will continue this week on Thursday, ly to the destruction of Sodom, while re- bi Shestack's contract for renewal. Any November 12th at 9pm on Zoom with maining silent when God asks him to give and all feedback would be appreciated. Rabbi Shestack. We will read & discuss up his son, Yitzchak?" Please direct the feedback to Stephen essays by great Jewish thinkers on their Agress or David Garfunkel. approaches to some of life's biggest * Each week we will feature a question questions. Going forward, this will be on the parsha. The answer will be post- In the interest of improving COVID safe- weekly on Thursday nights. ed in the “Torah For Your Commute” ty inside, we will be keeping the side * https://zoom.us/j/7291311899 WhatsApp group on motzei shabbat. door open with a fan blowing outwards, Password: 112233 combined with keeping the interior and back outside doors open during daven- ing. People entering the shul for daven- ZEMANIM SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 11/8 11/9 11/10 11/11 11/12 11/13 Shacharit 8:15 AM 6:30 AM 6:30 AM 6:30 AM 6:30 AM 6:30 AM Mincha/Maariv 4:32 PM 4:31 PM 4:30 PM 4:29 PM 4:28 PM 4:25 PM Earliest Talit 5:39 AM 5:40 AM 5:41 AM 5:43 AM 5:44 AM 5:45 AM Gedolah 12:05 PM 12:05 PM 12:05 PM 12:05 PM 12:05 PM 12:05 PM Shkia 4:44 PM 4:43 PM 4:42 PM 4:41 PM 4:40 PM Tzait 5:29 PM 5:28 PM 5:27 PM 5:26 PM 5:25 PM 5:24 PM בס"ד VAYEIRA NOV 6, 2020 gghgh UPCOMING EVENTS IN OUR FAMILY Thank you to everyone who helped make our first Kinder Mazal tov to Seymour Wigod on the birth of a grandson, GOGO (Give One Get One) event a success. Be on the look Yehoshus Natan, to Tali and Neal Wigod. Mazal tov to aunt out for information about the next Kinder Share Event com- Kira and uncle Andrew Wigod, and to great uncle Ron Sokol- ing soon! 18-25 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 off. 201.797.0502 The Bris wasWWW.AHAVATACHIM.ORG this past week. גדלוהו לתורה ולחופה ולמעשים טובים May they raise him to Torah, chuppah and good deeds. Parents of Ahavat Achim Youth: Let’s connect via WhatsApp on the new AA Youth WhatsApp group! Have news to share in the bulletin? Send an email to edi- [email protected] with the information. THE MIDDAH OF SODOM By Rabbinic Intern Yair Lichtman The Mishna in Avot (5:10) presents a confounding dispute. In describing a variety of attitudes that one can have with regard to their money, the Mishna states: האומר שלי שלי ושלך שלך זו מדה בינונית ויש אומרים זו מדת סדום “One who says, ‘what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours”: this is an average attribute. Some say that this is the attribute of Sodom.” How can it be that some sages view this personality type as moderate, while others see it as thoroughly wicked, reminiscent of Sodom, a society so corrupt that it was unable to furnish a mere ten righteous people to justify its existence? Moreover, why precisely is this trait viewed as “the attribute of Sodom”? Surely it’s fair that each of us is entitled to our own property and not to others’! The commentators on this Mishna take two general approaches in explaining the apparent dispute. Rabbi Yisrael Hofstein, in his Avodat Yisrael, (1737-1814) and others argue that the appearance of debate is misleading. In truth, all agree that the respect for personal property is appropriate in business relationships. At the same time, all agree that our obligations of charity and generosity to the poor and disadvantaged demand that we give of ourselves to those who don’t deserve it. Others, like Rabbi Yisrael Lifschitz, see the two in a chronological progression. Financial independence and treating others fairly are not, in and of themselves, evils. But they can very easily become them. By neither giving nor taking from others, the bonds that hold us together weaken, and cruelty inevitably results. attitude in their commercial lives, while avoiding the pitfalls of שלי שלי ושלך שלך It may be that one can maintain a miserliness and cruelty. But this Mishna reminds us that the line between fairness and cruelty is a fine one, and we toe it at our own peril. Our Parasha reminds us as well that our nature is fundamentally opposed to that of Sodom. In contrast to their cruelty, we are told of Avraham that (Bereishit 18:19) “he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of God, to practice righteousness and justice.” Righteous and justice, Tzedakah and Mishpat, are the hallmarks of our national identity, and provide a powerful antidote to the Middah of Sodom. Shabbat Shalom! ע״ה Shirley Vann has dedicated the attached Covenant & Conversation (used with permission of the Office of Rabbi Sacks) in memory of her beloved mother Necha Bat Yitzchok This year’s Covenant & Conversation series on “Lessons in Leadership” was originally published in 5774 and subsequently published as a book. Answering the Call Vayera 5781 Te early history of humanity is set out in the Torah as a series of disappointments. God gave human beings freedom, which they then misused. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Cain murdered Abel. Within a relatively short time, the world before the Flood became dominated by violence. All fesh perverted its way on the earth. God created order, but humans created chaos. Even afer the Flood, humanity, in the form of the builders of Babel, were guilty of hubris, thinking that people could build a tower that “reaches heaven" (Gen. 11:4). Humans failed to respond to God, which is where Abraham enters the picture. We are not quite sure, at the beginning, what it is that Abraham is summoned to do. We know he is commanded to leave his land, birthplace and father’s house and travel “to the land I will show you,” (Gen. 12:1) but what he is to do when he gets there, we do not know. On this the Torah is silent. What is Abraham’s mission? What makes him special? What makes him more than a good man in a bad age, as was Noah? What makes him a leader and the father of a nation of leaders? To decode the mystery we have to recall what the Torah has been signalling prior to this point. I suggested in previous weeks that a - perhaps the - key theme is a failure of responsibility. Adam and Eve lack personal responsibility. Adam says, “It wasn’t me; it was the woman.” Eve says, “It wasn’t me, it was the serpent.” It is as if they deny being the authors of their own stories – as if they do not understand either freedom or the responsibility it entails. Answering the Call 1 Vayera 5781 Cain does not deny personal responsibility. He does not say, “It wasn’t me.