5 Sivan 5779 June 8, 2019

* * * PRIDE OF ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

59 Lissom Crescent, North York, ON M2R 2P2 (416) 226-0111; Fax: (416) 226-0128

Office hours Monday to Thursday 9-5, Friday 9-1. Closed Jewish and statutory holidays.

Website: www.prideofisraelshul.org

Bamidbar Torah reading Page 568

Haftarah Page 582

Weekly Service Times Shabbat Morning 8:45 a.m. Evening 7:15 p.m.

Sunday Morning 8:45 a.m. Evening 8:30 p.m.

Monday Morning 8:45 a.m. Evening 8:30 p.m.

Weekdays Morning 7:30 a.m. Evening 6:30 p.m.

Rabbi Sean Gorman

Cantor Charles Weinberg

Ritual Director Larry Spring Synagogue Chairman Steven Bloom

Society President Hymie Blum

Ritual Chairman Eric Sunshine

Sisterhood President Carol Arshoff

Candle Lighting June 7 – 8:38 p.m. June 14 – 8:42 p.m.

Shabbat Shalom & Good Morning

Welcome to our synagogue. We hope you have a meaningful and enjoyable experience. If you have any questions, please ask any of the clergy, shul officials, or members – we’d be pleased to help. At certain times during the service please try to avoid talking or moving around: when the ark is open, when the congregation is standing, and particularly during the private Amidah and the Kedushah at the beginning of the repetition of the Amidah.

PLEASE turn off cell phones, pagers, and all similar devices. Use of electronic equipment is prohibited on synagogue property on the

Sabbath.

GABBAIM: Barry Barnes, Peter Leighton, Marty Risen,

Jeffrey Sherman, Jack Steinmetz and Carl Zeliger

CHEESECAKE!

ANNOUNCEMENTS The Congregational Kiddush will be held in the Torno Hall.

An online version of Shabbat Matters is available every

week in colour on the synagogue’s website at https://bit.ly/2Arvqrx

THANK YOU We would like to recognize the following individuals/families who sponsored a breakfast for morning Minyan this past week. We appreciate your recognition of the strength of our Minyan group and the role they fill during our time of need:

Dr. Irwin & Joan Keltz on the occasion of the yartzheit of his mother, Fanny Minnie Keltz (Faiga Mindel).

Ami & Shari Freiberg & Sam Freiberg on the occasion of the yartzheit of Ami & Sam’s father, Max Freiberg.

SHABBAT MONTHLY

TORAH & TANGENTS

Join Rav Jennifer Gorman for a lively and open discussion on the weekly parashah. All ages 9:45 a.m.

Will Return in the Fall

***

ASK THE RABBI

Enjoy lively discussion on current topics following Kiddush. Bring your questions.

Will Return in the Fall

Special thanks go out to all of our members who actively participated in our Congregational Shabbat Service two weeks ago and to all of our volunteers who organized and ran our annual Sick Benefit Society BBQ Picnic this past Sunday. Yasher Koach to you all. In addition, I would like to thank Cantor Weinberg and his family for their generous donation of our new Yahrzeit Board, donated in memory of Lynda Weinberg. Shabbat Shalom

Steven Bloom

Did you know...?

Now you know!

Rav Sean Gorman

You will call me my spouse, and you will no longer call me my master. (Hosea 2:18)

Today we enter the wilderness. In that wilderness, we evolve from a group of slaves to a free nation. We journey out of the known through a crucible of challenges to emerge whole and stronger on the other side. In doing so we also begin an ever-maturing relationship with God. Our ancestors’ relationship was one-sided. God was active, our patriarchs, passive. Even now, we followed no more in control than under our taskmasters in Egypt. Throughout the book of Shemot, the Israelites were reactive. God was the active party, controlling the Israelites, and moulding them through shared experience and covenant. In the wilderness, the Israelites transition from reactive to proactive. They mature from a nascent people to a nation able to stand on their own with responsibilities. God makes promises to the Israelites, and the Israelites fulfill promises in return. That maturation continues. As we attain new understanding, we are also changed. In those moments, God is no longer our master, but an equal spouse, a partner in life. It is a fascinating concept. After all, how can we expect to

be equal with God? However, equal need not mean the same. It is a value statement, not an imperial one. The Talmud, Baba Metzia 59b, tells the story of an argument among our Sages regarding the purity of an oven. Rabbi Eliezer calls upon trees, a river, the walls of the beit midrash, and finally a bat kol, a voice from heaven, to prove his point. All these agree with him. However, Rabbi Joshua reacts with a quote from D’varim (30:12), “The Torah is not in Heaven.” That is to say, the Torah was given to us at Mount Sinai, and now it is ours to interpret for every generation. The passage in the Talmud continues on teaching that Rabbi Natan later met Elijah. He asked him, “What did the Holy One do at that moment?” Elijah responded, “He laughed [joyfully] saying, ‘My children have overcome Me.’” To grow we must wander into the midbar and reach for our potential. Only then can it be realized. Though we begin our journey with God as our master, when we reach for that potential, we can complete it as equal partners.

Parashat Bamidbar is Rav Jen’s bat mitzvah. She was the first young lady to celebrate her bat mitzvah on Shabbat morning at her childhood shul. The last lines of the haftarah are recited as we wrap the tefillin around our fingers. The connection with my necktie is in the third Aliyah.

Shabbat shalom. Rabbi Jennifer Gorman Executive Director, MERCAZ-Canada & Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism

Shabbat Shalom to everyone and thank you for joining us today for services.

Whether you have been coming to us for quite a while for High Holy Days, attending our daily minyan, or just enjoy spending Shabbat with the Pride of Israel family, we`re so happy you`re here!

Don’t be shy! Learn more about our membership incentives. Make our synagogue your synagogue. We’d be pleased to take your call, or you could send an email to membership@prideofisraelshul.org to learn more. Shabbat Shalom

Membership Committee

MAY THE SOULS OF OUR LOVED ONES REMAIN FOR AN

ETERNAL BLESSING

Sponsor an upgraded Kiddush or

refreshments for Torah and Tangents

and get a tax credit! Please call the office.

YAHRTZEITS FOR THE WEEK OF: June 8-14

Evelyn Abraham Joseph Samuel Brown William Dover Raia Erdman Esther Gelber Annie Blackman Goldenberg Rachel Goldstein Ida Goodman Allen Israel Harry Kirshenblatt Errol Lindo Nathan Mendrowski

Harry Mutiger Ida Pasternack Rose Persin Sam Pinsky Sabina Pisarek Arlene Robinson Ruth Scheinman Mark Silverstein Archie Stone Meyer Warren Gordon Zaretsky

December 3 – December 9, 2016