The Jewish Center SHABBAT BULLETIN NOVEMBER 10, 2018 • 2 K ISLEV 5779 • P ARSHAT TOLEDOT SHABBAT SCHEDULE COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS EREV SHABBAT MAZAL TOV 4:26PM Candle-lighting Kevin Beckoff & Alana Warhit on their engagement 4:30PM Minchah 5:00PM Young Leadership Kabbalat Shabbat (1st floor) 6:00PM Young Leadership Fall Shabbat Dinner (for those who pre- CONDOLENCES registered). Marge Heching on the passing of her father, Mr. Ludwig Ehrenreich 7:30PM High School Oneg at the home of Aaron Solomons, 680 West End Avenue (NE corner of W 93rd St) THANK YOU TO OUR USHERS Len Berman, Barbara Reiss and Amanda Nussbaum SHABBAT 7:45AM Hashkama 8:30AM Israel Silverstein Morning Midrash with Rabbi Dovid Zirkind Thank you to our CSS members whose efforts help maintain a safe 9:00AM Shacharit shul for our community. 9:15AM Hashkama Shiur with Rabbi Noach Goldstein, Negotiating with Avimelech: The Avraham Doctrine and the Yitzchak Doctrine Welcome Back to Rabbi Yosie Levine 9:30AM Young Leadership Shabbat Morning Drasha 9:30AM Teen Minyan "So This Is Israel." 9:39AM Sof Zman Kriat Shema Finding the Promise in the Promised Land 10:00AM Youth Groups 11:00AM Drasha by Rabbi Yosie Levine Seudah Shilshit “So This Is Israel." Finding the Promise in the Promised Land The Battle for Rabbinic Jurisdiction: 12:10PM Early Minchah (4th floor, Beit Midrash) From Prague and Amsterdam to New York and Jerusalem 3:00PM Bikkur Cholim/Bikkur in the Home (meet at 730 Columbus Ave.) 4:05PM Tween Time (5th floor) Teen Minyan: The Sushi Sequel (with special guest stars!) 4:05PM Minchah Daf Yomi November 10 Seudah Shlishit Speaker, Rabbi Yosie Levine, The Battle for Rabbinic 9:30AM Jurisdiction: From Prague and Amsterdam to New York and Jerusalem We know you couldn't get enough of our first Teen Minyan of the year, so 5:25PM Shabbat Concludes we are bringing you even more fun! There will be delightful INSOMNIA cookies available for all those who arrive before 10AM! 7:30PM Trivia Night (for those who pre-registered). Thank you to our sponsors for making this happen! THANK YOU TO OUR KIDDUSH SPONSORS: Trivia Night is this Motzei Shabbat at 7:30PM Community Kiddush: Thank you to everyone who registered for our SOLD OUT Kevin Beckoff and Alana Warhit in honor of their engagement. Trivia Night, hosted by our very own Len Berman. Doors open Alisa & Ben Gadon in honor of the anniversary of Ben's Bar Mitzvah at 7:30PM. Game begins at 8:00PM. We look forward to Parsha & in memory of his beloved parents Lillian & Louis Gadon. seeing you there! Rochelle Tarlowe & Seth Jonas in memory of Eric Jonas. Rona & Ira Kellman in commemoration of the Yahrzeit of Dr. Jules Pearlstein, father of Rona Kellman. Faith, Fertility, and the Future of Parenthood Suzanne & Bill Kukielka in commemoration of the Yahrzeit of Suzanne's November 12, 2018 at 8:00PM father Mendel Leib Mason. Research in Real Time: Arlene & Zvi Lefkovitz in commemoration of the Yahrzeit of Avraham The Latest Advances Yitzchak ben Chaim Zvi. in the Science of Fertility Hedda Rudoff in memory of her dear father, Max Miller and her With Dr. Zev Williams and beloved husband Sheldon Rudoff on his 7th Yahrzeit. Yoetzet Halacha Shiffy Friedman Teen Kiddush Aliza Herzberg November 19, 2018 at 8:00PM Carol & Joseph Tuchman in honor of the anniversary of Sam's bar mitzvah Abortion in America: Past, Present and Future with Professor Carol Sanger Please visit the jewishcenter.org to register! DAILY SERVICE TIMES Sunday Nov 11 Monday Nov 12 – Friday November 16 7:45AM Daf Yomi Thur Nov 15 7/8AM Shacharit 8:30AM Shacharit 7/8AM Shacharit 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:25PM Minchah 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:20PM Candle-lighting 4:25PM Minchah 4:25PM Minchah WOMEN’S TEHILLIM GROUP: Monday, November 19, 7:15PM Contact Joyce Weitz for more info. at 212-877-1176 The Jewish Center - The Modern Orthodox Center for Jewish Life and Learning 131 W. 86th Street, New York, NY 10024 • www.jewishcenter.org • 212-724-2700 YOUTH EVENTS SAVE THE DATE November 22 Thanksgiving Pack-a-thon (see page 3 for more details). Shabbat November 30th Scholar in Residence Mr. Nathan Lewin Attorney and Legal Scholar Friday Night Dinner Conversation: The Future of Religious Liberty in America: The Supreme Court and the Jewish Community. Shabbat Morning Public Lecture: A Religious Jew in Washington: Opportunities and Experience. December 12 at 7:30PM WHY WE CANNOT IGNORE THE UN A Conversation Between Justice Elyakim Rubinstein and Irwin Cotler. December 15 Teen Boys vs. Clergy Basketball Game. Details and registrations to follow. AIPAC Policy Conference 2019 Sunday March 24-26, 2019 in Washington, DC Registration for the conference costs $599, but if you purchase a ticket through The Jewish Center, you will pay $399, a $200 discount. Contact the Jewish Center office for more information and to purchase your ticket. YOUNG LEADERSHIP Women’s 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament November 17, 2018 at 6:30PM (JC Gym). Young Leadership invites the women of the community to a Motzei Shabbat Basketball Tournament. To register your team visit Jewishcenter.org. Registration includes a jersey, pizza, water and trophies for the winning team! For questions contact [email protected]. TUESDAY WEDNESDAY SHABBAT Talmud Class An Introduction To The World of Mussar: Muktzah 101 Rabbi Noach Goldstein The Writings of Rav Eliyahu Dessler Rabbi Dovid Zirkind 7:45am–8:30am Rabbi Dovid Zirkind Shabbat Afternoons October 10- December 12 at 11:00 am (time changes throughout the season) Nosh and Drash November 17- December 22. With Dr. Adena Berkowitz Talmud 101 Ora Weinbach, Community Educator The Jewish Center is going to be Tanach 101: October 24th, 31st and November 14th cleaning out the cubbies and shelves Athens vs Jerusalem: and 28th at 8:00pm of the Beit Midrash. If you have any War in Tanach and The Iliad personal siddurim or property of any Rabbi Noach Goldstein kind in the Beit Midrash please re- The Sadye and Henry Bayer Tanach Class move it so it does not get misplaced. 8:00 PM Thank you! Rabbi Noach Goldstein, Assistant Rabbi Yosie Levine Rabbi Rationalization and Response Dovid Zirkind As Yitzchak’s wealth grew thanks to divine blessing, local Pelishti shepherds fight over it and claim owner- Associate Rabbi the Chumash tells us first that the Pelishtim grew jeal- ship for themselves. A disgusted Yitzchak names the Noach Goldstein ous, then that they sealed the local wells that Avraham well “‘ Eisek ,’ for they contended (“ hitasku ”) with him.” Assistant Rabbi had dug, and finally that they expelled Yitzchak from Various commentators note that the term “ eisek ” spe- Gerar. The obvious inference is that there is a causa- cifically means legal contention, e.g. in Bava Kamma Chaim David Berson tive relationship: their jealousy motivated them first to 9a where “ asikin ” sue the buyer of a field, claiming Cantor seal the old wells, and then to expel Yitzchak. that the seller had previously stolen it from them. They Ora Weinbach explain that once again the Pelishtim concocted a ra- Community Educator However, Rashi comments that the Pelishtim did not tionalization for their behavior, that since Yitzchak’s simply seal the wells, but that they provided an ex- well lay in the valley, any groundwater must have Eliezer Buechler William Fischman planation. They informed Yitzchak that the wells Av- descended from the city above, which, they claimed, Rabbinic Intern raham had dug in their arid land made them an invit- gave them permanent rights to the water wherever it ing military target, so it was too risky to allow their ended up. Aaron Strum continued operation. The argument may sound plausi- Executive Director ble, but when we pause to consider that, A) a nation Interestingly, these Pelishti rationalizations grow pro- Batsheva Leibtag living in the Negev can never have enough water; B) gressively absurd. The first one was at least a quasi- Director of the Pelishtim in Avraham’s day tried to steal the wells coherent argument, the second could make some sense Programming and for themselves (21:26), we realize that this was mere- if taken completely out of context, and the third one Communications ly the flimsiest rationalization for them to act on their over the new well is just laughable. Unsurprisingly Sarah Cromwell jealousy. then, when Yitzchak digs a second well, the pattern Youth Director reaches its natural conclusion. The Malbim and Netziv R. Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg (Königsberg, 1785– note that this time the Pelishtim do not even bother to OFFICERS 1865) in his Haketav Vehakabbalah argues that make a legal challenge, simply demanding that he Andrew Borodach Yitzchak’s expulsion involved similar spin. What did hand it over; Yitzchak memorializes this by naming the President the Pelishti king Avimelech mean when he told well “ Sitnah ” (hatred). The Pelishtim’s dishonest ration- Mark Segall Yitzchak, “Go from us, for you have become far too alizations and excuses for acting on their jealousy and First Vice President great for us”? R. Mecklenburg explains that Avimelech hatred become thinner and thinner until they finally Len Berman informed Yitzchak that their land no longer had the deem them altogether unnecessary. Vice President resources to support his massive herds of sheep and Aliza Herzberg cattle. We could imagine Avimelech, an experienced Last week Avraham faced Efron the Hittite, the para- Vice President politician, telling Yitzchak in the passive voice, “Sadly, digm of dishonesty motivated by greed. Now Yitzchak Michael Jacobs since the wells have been sealed, there is not enough faces dishonesty motivated by jealousy. There is much Vice President water here to support your flocks.” Galling chutzpah to learn from the moral decay evidenced by each.