נא לא לדבר בשעת התפילהPLEASE NO CONVERSATION DURING SERVICES

Rabbi Ely Shestack President Aryeh Brenenson

בס”ד

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שבת פרשת קרח/א’ דראש חדשSHABBAT PARSHAT KORACH FIRST DAY ROSH CHODESH

30 SIVAN/JUNE 24Maftir reads from Parshat Pinchas, Numbers 28:9-15, השבת וביום and חדשיכם .ובראשי Haftorah is כסאי השמים (Isaiah 66:1-24, repeating verse 23 at the end). Do not say either מלא ,א≠ל הרחמים אב or צדק .צדקתך Pirkei Avot Chapter 4.

FRIDAY NIGHTEARLIEST CANDLES - 6:58 PMMINCHA - 7:05 PM CANDLE LIGHTING - 8:14 PM TZAIT - 9:17 PM

SATURDAYHASHKAMA/YOUTH - 8:20 AMSHACHARIT MAIN - 9:00 AMLAST KRIAT SHEMA - 9:12 AMGEMARA SHIUR - 7:00 PMMINCHA - 8:00 PMSHKIA - 8:32 PMMAARIV/HAVDALAH - 9:17 PM

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BULLETIN INFORMATIONTO REQUEST A BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT (BY 7:00 PM WEDNESDAY) OR DEDICATE A BULLETIN FOR $36 ($54 W/PHOTO), EMAIL SEPLOTNICK@GMAIL.COM.

CONGREGATION AHAVAT ACHIM18-25 SADDLE RIVER ROADFAIR LAWN, NJ 07410-5909201-797-0502WWW.AHAVATACHIM.ORG

Sunday (6/25)

Monday (6/26)

Tuesday (6/27)

Wednesday (6/28)

Thursday (6/29)

Friday (6/30)

Earliest Talit 4:13 AM 4:13 AM 4:14 AM 4:14 AM 4:15 AM 4:15 AM

Shacharit 8:00 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM 6:25 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM

Gedolah 1:37 PM 1:37 PM 1:37 PM 1:37 PM 1:38 PM 1:38 PM

Mincha (Sun/Fri) - Maariv 8:15 PM 8:15 PM 8:15 PM 8:15 PM 8:15 PM 7:05 PM

Shkia 8:32 PM 8:33 PM 8:33 PM 8:32 PM 8:32 PM

Tzait 9:17 PM 9:18 PM 9:18 PM 9:17 PM 9:17 PM

Summer Tea at the Garfunkel home,12-56 Lyle Terrace, at 5:00 PM. Rebetzin Shestack will be speaking!

There will be a special shiur given by Rabbi Dovid Komet, Sunday, June 25, 9:00 AM, to commemorate the first yahrzeit (23rd of Sivan) of his father, Howie Kometע”ה. Sharcharit will begin at 8:00 AM. The shiur will be given in the David Schwitzerע”ה Social Hall, accompanied by a light breakfast. May his neshama have an aliya.

End-Of-Year Teen (13-18) BBQ, at the Shestack home, this Sunday at 6:00 PM.

Mazel Tov to Betsy & Marty Sonnenblick on the engagement of Elie to Samara Kandelshein! יעלה הזיבוג יפה ביבנו בית נאמן בישראל

May the beautiful couple be elevated in the building of a faithful house of Israel.

Shirley Vann has dedicated this week’s Covenant & Conversation (used with permission of the Office of Rabbi Sacks) in memory of her beloved mother Necha bat Yitzchokע”ה.

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Kiddush InformationIf you are in attendance when the

Rabbi says “על המחיה”, your assistance in clean up would be appreciated. Kiddush setup for this Shabbat:

Brenenson, Riskin, Wolfson Kiddush setup for next Shabbat:

Chessin-Carp, Schwitzer, Zezon To sponsor a Kiddush

($1000/$613/$318 plus scotch) send an email to gplotnick@aol.com.

Adult Education

CHUMASH CLASS - Shabbat morning before Shacharit. RETIREES’ SHIUR - Mondays, at

1:00 PM. WEEKNIGHT GEMARA SHIUR -

On Summer Hiatus. FUNDAMENTALS OF JEWISH

THOUGHT - After Kiddush, discussing Reward and Punishment (Part 4). PEREK ON THE LAWN, Pirkei

Avot Shiur, July 15 (weather permitting, otherwise July 22), 5:30 PM, hosted by the Langs.

Community EventsJuly 10, 17 & 24 – Biblical

Scandals, Using the Stories of Dinah, David & Bat Sheva and Achav to Understand Traditional Approaches to Morally Challenging Behavior in Tanach, by Rabbi Hayyim Angel, Monday nights, 7:15 PM, YOUNG ISRAEL OF FAIR LAWN. $45 per household. Register at www.yifl.org/event/TanachSeries, or for more details click here: Biblical Scandals.

Gita Cooperwasserע”ה

Youth ProgramYOUTH GROUPS

RESUME IN THE FALL (BUT TOT SHABBAT

CONTINUES IN THE PLAYROOM). Parents, ensure that your children are

in groups or with you at all times. NO FOOD ALLOWED DURING

GROUPS!

Book ClubJuly 1 - The Tea Girl

of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. Subsequent book will

be Call Me Home by Megan Kruse.

Ahavat Achim Future EventsJune 25 - Teen (13+) BBQ, at the

Shestack home. June 27 - Membership Meeting at 8:45

PM (following Maariv) July 15 - Siyum Bava Batra at Suedah

Shlishit Aug. 26 - Kiddush sponsored by the

Sonnenblick family in honor of Avi's Aufruf and upcoming marriage to Tova Medetsky Sept. 16 - Seudat Shilishit sponsored by

the Agress family on Yahrzeit of Amy’s father Ha'Rav Yisroel Yehuda Ben Ephraim Michal Ha'Levi Pruzanskyז”ל. Oct. 6 - Kiddush is sponsored by the

Winchester family on the Yarhtzeit of Steve’s mother Helen Winchester, Miriam Hendl bas Shimonע”ה Feb. 10 - Yachad Shabbaton

בס״ד

18-25 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn, New Jersey 07410 www.ahavatachim.org Ely Shestack, Rabbi

June 11, 2017

Notice of General Meeting

The annual General Membership meeting will be held on June 27, 2017 at 8:45 PM. The agenda for the General Meeting is as follows:

1. Proposed Budget (7/1/17 - 6/30/18) including the 7/1/16-6/30/17 projected actual financial statements and expenditures.

2. Proposed slate of Officers and Trustees

Officers: President: Aryeh Brenenson

Vice President: Ben Lang

Treasurer: Steven Winchester

Financial Secretary: Lori Garfunkel

Recording Secretary: Amy Agress

Corresponding Secretary: Larry Bernstein

Gabbai: Marty Sonnenblick

New Trustees: Eli Greenbaum

Nathan Schwitzer

Randi Spier

Steve Wechsler

As provided in the Constitution, those physically unable to attend the meeting(s) may be allowed to vote by proxy in the discretion of the President. Absentee ballots shall be permitted only for those members who notify the President in writing, at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting that they will be unable to attend the meeting in person: 1) because they will be outside of the New York Metropolitan area; or 2) due to an unavoidable work-related conflict.

Aryeh Brenenson President

Sisterhood Invites You and your friends to

Shabbat Afternoon Tea

Featuring Chana Shestack

June 24, 2017

5:00 p.m.

Chez Lori Garfunkel

12-56 Lyle Terrace

BIBLICAL

July 10, 17, 24 – 7:15PM

RABBI HAYYIM ANGEL

Using the Stories of Dinah,

David & Bat Sheva, and Achav

to Understand Traditional

Approaches to Morally

Challenging Behavior in Tanach

Rabbi Hayyim Angel is the National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and

Ideals (jewishideas.org). He has taught advanced Bible courses to undergraduate,

graduate, and rabbinical students at Yeshiva University since 1996, and lectures

widely. He has published over 130 scholarly articles, primarily in Bible, and is author

or editor of fifteen books. His scholarship focuses on the interaction

between traditional and academic approaches to Bible study. He previously served

as Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York (1995-2013), and as Rabbinic

Scholar at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York (2014-2017). He received his

B.A. in Jewish studies Summa cum Laude from Yeshiva College, his M.A. in Bible from

the Bernard Revel Graduate School, his M.S. in Jewish Education from the

Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education, and his Rabbinical Ordination from the

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. He lives in

Teaneck, New Jersey with his wife and four children.

Join YIFL for a 3-Part Lecture Series with

SCANDALS:

SPONSORED BY:

Ophira & Josh Abramson

Sarah & Yossi Faber

Elliot & Shira Teichman

$45/Household

Register at www.yifl.org/event/TanachSeries

For questions contact

maury.goldsmith@gmail.com

Young Israel of Fair Lawn | 11-5 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn NJ 07410

A Lesson in Conflict Resolution

Korach 2017 / 5777

The Korach rebellion was the single most dangerous challenge to Moses’ leadership during the forty years that he led the people through the wilderness. The precise outline of events is difficult to follow, probably because the events themselves were tumultuous and disorderly. The narrative makes it clear, however, that the rebels came from different groups, each of whom had different reasons for resentment:

Now Korach, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth – descendants of Reuben – to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute. They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourself above the Lord’s congregation?” (Num. 16:1-3)

Disentangling the various factions, Rashi suggests that Korach, prime mover of the uprising, was aggrieved that Moses had appointed Aaron as High Priest. Moses was the child of Amram, Kohath’s eldest son. Korach was the firstborn of Kohath’s second son, Yizhar, and felt that he should have been made High Priest. The fact that Moses had appointed his own brother to the role struck Korach as unacceptable favouritism.

The Reubenites, suggests Ibn Ezra, felt that as descendants of Jacob’s firstborn, they were entitled to leadership positions. Ibn Ezra adds that the final straw may have been Moses’ appointment

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of Joshua as his successor. Joshua came from the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph. This may have revived memories of the old conflict between the children of Leah (of whom Reuben was the firstborn) and those of Rachel, whose first child was Joseph.

The 250 other rebels, Ibn Ezra conjectures, were firstborns, still unreconciled to the fact that after the sin of the golden calf, the role of special service to God passed from the firstborn to the tribe of Levi.

Each faction had grounds for feeling that they had been passed over in the allocation of leadership positions. The irony of their challenge is unmistakable. They pose as democrats, egalitarians: “All the community are holy, all of them . . . Why then do you raise yourself above the Lord’s congregation?” What they say is that everyone should be a leader. What they mean is: I should be a leader.

As for the timing of the revolt, Ramban is surely right in dating it to the period immediately following the debacle of the spies, and the ensuing decree that the people would not enter the land until the next generation. As long as the Israelites, despite their complaints, felt that they were moving toward their destination, Korach and the other malcontents had no realistic chance of rousing the people in revolt. Once they realised that they would not live to cross the Jordan, Korach knew that rebellion was possible. The people were disillusioned, and they had nothing to lose.

Thus far, the story of Korach is intensely realistic. A leader is able to mobilise a people by articulating a vision. But the journey from the real to the ideal, from starting point to destination, is fraught with setbacks and disappointments. That is when leaders are in danger of being deposed or assassinated. Korach is the eternal symbol of a perennial type: the coldly calculating man of ambition who foments discontent against a leader, accusing him of being a self-seeking tyrant. He opposes him in the name of freedom, but what he really wants is to become a tyrant himself.

What is exceptionally unusual is how the story ends. Moses had initially proposed a simple test. The rebels, and Aaron, were to prepare incense the next day. God would then signal whose offering He chose. Before this could happen, however, Moses found himself unbearably provoked by the contemptuous attitude of Dathan and Abiram. Sensing that the situation might be getting out of control, he sought an immediate and dramatic resolution:

Moses said, “By this you shall know that it was the Lord who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my own devising: if these men die as all men do, if their lot be the common fate of all

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“A leader is able to mobilise a people by articulating a vision. But

the journey from the real to the ideal, from starting point to

destination, is fraught with setbacks and disappointments.”

mankind, it was not the Lord who sent me. But if the Lord brings about something unheard of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that these men have spurned the Lord.” (Num. 16:28-30) No sooner had he finished speaking, than the ground opened up and swallowed the rebels. The miracle Moses had counted on, happened. By any narrative convention we would expect that this would end the rebellion and vindicate Moses. Heaven had answered his call in the most dramatic way. He had been proved right. End of revolt. End of story.

This is precisely what does not happen – a powerful example of what makes the Torah so challenging, its message so unexpected. Instead of quelling the revolt, we read the following:

The next day, the whole Israelites community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said.

This time, it is God himself who intervenes. He tells Moses to take twelve staffs, one for each tribe, and deposit them overnight in the Tent of Meeting. The next morning, the staff bearing the name of Aaron and the tribe of Levi had sprouted, budded, blossomed and borne almonds. Only then did the rebellion end.

This is an astonishing denouement – and what it tells us is profound. The use of force never ends a conflict. It merely adds grievance to injury. Even the miracle of the ground opening up and swallowing his opponents did not secure for Moses the vindication he sought.

What ended the conflict was something else altogether: the visible symbol that Aaron was the chosen vehicle of the God of life. The gentle miracle of the dead wood that came to life again, flowering and bearing fruit, anticipates the famous words of the book of Proverbs about the Torah:

It is a tree of life to those who embrace her; Those who lay hold of her will be blessed. (Proverbs 3:18)

Moses and Aaron stood accused of failing in their mission. They had brought the people out of Egypt to bring them to the land of Israel. After the debacle of the spies, that hope had died. The stick that came to life again (like Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones) symbolised that hope was not dead, merely deferred. The next generation would live and reach the destination. God is a God of life. What He touches does not die.

The episode of Korach teaches us that there are two ways of resolving conflict: by force and by persuasion. The first negates your opponent. The second enlists your opponent, taking his / her

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“This is a powerful example of what makes the Torah so

challenging, its message so unexpected.”

challenge seriously and addressing it. Force never ends conflict – not even in the case of Moses, not even when the force is miraculous. There never was a more decisive intervention than the miracle that swallowed up Korach and his fellow rebels. Yet it did not end the conflict. It deepened it. After it had taken place, the whole Israelite community – the ones that had not been part of the rebellion – complained, “You have killed the Lord’s people.” What ended it was the quiet, gentle miracle that showed that Aaron was the true emissary of the God of life. Not by accident is the verse that calls Torah a “tree of life” preceded by these words:

Its ways are ways of pleasantness, And all its paths are peace. (Prov. 3:17)

That is conflict resolution in Judaism – not by force, but by pleasantness and peace.

Shabbat Shalom

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“That is conflict resolution in Judaism – not by force, but

by pleasantness and peace.”