Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisadesשבת זכור פרשת תצוה

Shabbat Zachor Parashat T’tzavehFebruary 24, 2018 | Adar 9, 5778

TORAH STUDY

For haftarot, we follow S’fardi custom.

CBIOTP STANDARDS & PRACTICES

1. Men must keep their heads covered in the building and must wear a talit when appropriate. Women may choose to do either or both, but it is not mandatory.2. Anyone accepting a Torah-related honor must wear a talit, regardless of gender.3. Only one person at a time may take an aliyah.4. No one should enter or leave the sanctuary during a K’dushah.One should not leave the sanctuary when the Torah scroll is being carried from or to the ark.5. No conversations may be held in the hallway outside the sanctuary, or while standing in an aisle alongside a pew.

6. The use of recording equipment of any kind is forbidden on sacred days.7. Also forbidden are cell phones, beepers and PDAs, except for physicians on call and emergency aid workers (please use vibrating option).8. No smoking at any time in the building, or on synagogue grounds on Shabbatot and Yom Kippur.9. No non-kosher food allowed in the building at any time.10. No one may remove food or utensils from the shul on Shabbatot. An exception is made for food being brought to someone who is ailing and/or homebound.

THE AMALEK OF YESTERDAY, AND THE AMALEK OF TODAYAmalek was an ancient Middle Eastern nation that had an inborn hatred towards Israel. The Amalekites

took any opportunity to attack Jews for absolutely no reason. There was no land dispute or provocation that caused this hatred; it was an intrinsic pathological need to destroy God’s people. Such hatred cannot be combatted through diplomacy. There was no option to re-educate the Amalekites or review their school curricula. Their hatred was not taught; it was ingrained. As long as an Amalekite walked the earth, no Jew was safe. It was a clear case of kill or be killed. A Jew had to take the command to kill Amalek quite literally—his life depended on it.

In time, the Amalekite nation assimilated into the people around them. Their inborn hatred became diluted as their national identity dissolved, and the command to kill them became impossible to fulfill. This was no accident of fate. God decided the time had come that this command to obliterate Amalek should no longer apply in its literal sense. It was time for the Jewish people to move on.

But this does not mean Amalek disappeared. Amalek is alive and well today, albeit in a different form. No longer a foreign nation, today’s Amalek is an internal enemy. We each have an Amalekite lurking within our very self. The inner Amalek is unholy cynicism. That little voice inside each of us that derides, belittles, and attacks truth and goodness; our irrational tendency to mock people who act morally, to be cynical when we see altruism, to doubt our own or other’s sincerity—these are the modern day Amalekites. They wage a lethal war with our soul. If we let it, cynicism can kill our every attempt to improve ourselves and smother any move towards refining our character and expressing our soul.

—Adapted from a commentary by Rabbi Aaron Moss

Next Week: Shabbat Parashat Ki Tisa Sh’mot 30.11-34.35, pages 523-546

FIRST ALIYAH: Why was Israel punished when King David took a census, but there was no punishment for the census that begins this week’s parashah?

SECOND ALIYAH: When “that man Moshe” fails to appear, the people demand of Aharon to “make us a god” as Moshe’s replacement. Or is that really what they asked for, or simply what Aharon decided to give them?

The haftarah, M’lachim Alef 18.20-39, begins on Page 549.

This Week: Shabbat Zachor Parashat T’tzaveh Sh’mot 27.20-30.1, pages 485-498

Additional Reading: D’varim 25.17-19

FIRST ALIYAH: What is the point of Moshe having to command Israel to bring old for lightiong lamps that have not even been created yet?

SEVENTH ALIYAH: Moshe clearly is in this week’s parashah, but never by name. This is the only time from Sh’mot Perek Alef on that this is so. Why is his name missing?

The haftarah, Sh’muel Alef 15.1-34, begins on Page 1281.

THE IMAHOT:Following is the text adopted by the Ritual Committee for use by the Prayer Leader in reciting the Amidah, and those wishing to insert the Matriarchs in their Amidot:

This week’s Shabbat Booklet is being sponsored by

THE MASSUDA FAMILY to mark

NADIA AND JOE’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY!

MITZVAH MEMODo you have enough food to eat?

Too many people in our community do not.Help them; bring us your non-perishable food items.

* * *Do you know someone who is homebound?

Let us know, so we can put ourChesed & Bikur Cholim committee on the case.

While you are at it, consider joining the committee.

Присоединяйтесь к нам дл освящение и обед

This week’s kiddush and luncheon are sponsored by

VIKTOR DAVID to mark the end of Sh’loshim

for his late wife, SUSAN JANE GREENBERG, ז״ל,

may her memory be for a blessing.

MAZAL TOV [If we don’t know about it, we can’t print it;

if we can’t print it, we can’t wish it.]

HAPPY BIRTHDAYFriday Karen Luchs

HAPPY ANNIVERSARYMonday Nadia and Jose Massuda

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

THE SOFER'S APPRENTICES

Sofer Neil Yerman is seen here with two of his apprentices, Ayelet Perl and Elliot Deal, working to determine which of CBIOTP’s scrolls are in need of repair, and which are beyond repair. We will have more on his effort in coming weeks.A sofer—a scribe in English—is someone who masterd the art of writing and restoring Torah scrolls and other sacred documents.Sofer Yerman is also an artist specializing in creating one-of-a-kind illustrated documents for life cycle events, creating ketubot for weddings, scrolls for b'nai mitzvah, and illustrated family trees.Photo courtesy Rabbi Engelmayer

CRUSHED FOR THE LIGHTThere are lives that are lessons. The late Henry Knobil’s was

one. He was born in Vienna in 1932. His father had come there in the 1920s to escape the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Poland, but he found that he had fled one danger only to arrive at another.

After the Anschluss and Kristallnacht, it became clear that, if the family were to survive, they had to leave. They arrived in Britain in 1939, just weeks before their fate would have been sealed had they stayed. Henry grew up in Nottingham, England. There, he studied textiles, and eventually started a highly successful textile business.

He was a passionate, believing Jew, and loved everything about Judaism. He and his wife Renata were a model couple, active in synagogue life, always inviting guests to their home for Shabbat or the chagim. Henry believed in giving back to the community, not only in money, but also in time and energy and leadership. He became the chairperson of many Jewish organizations.

He loved learning and teaching Torah. He was a fine raconteur with an endless supply of jokes, and regularly used his humor to bring “laughter therapy” to cancer patients, Shoah survivors, and the residents of Jewish nursing homes. Blessed with three children and many grandchildren, he had retired and was looking forward, with Renata, to a serene last chapter in a long and good life.

Then, seven years ago, he came home one morning from the synagogue to find that Renata had suffered a devastating stroke. She survived, but their life was changed. Henry became Renata’s constant care-giver and life support. He was with her day and night, attentive to her every need.

The transformation was astonishing. He who had been a strong-willed businessman and communal leader was now a nurse, radiating gentleness and concern. Their love for each other bathed them in a kind of radiance that was moving and humbling. And though he might, like Job, have stormed the gates of heaven to know why this had happened to them, he did the opposite. He thanked God daily for all the blessings they had enjoyed. He never complained, never doubted, never wavered in his faith.

Then, a year ago, he was diagnosed with an inoperable ailment. He had only a short time to live. What he did then was a supreme act of will. He sought one thing: to be given the grace to live as long as Renata did, so she would never find herself alone. Three months ago, Renata died. Shortly thereafter, Henry joined her Rarely have I seen such love in adversity.

Henry taught us about the power of faith to turn pain into chesed, loving-kindness. Faith was at the very heart of what he stood for. He believed God had spared him from Hitler for a purpose. He had given Henry business success for a purpose also. I never heard Henry attribute any of his achievements to himself. For whatever went well, he thanked God. For whatever did not go well, the question he asked was simply: what does God want me to learn from this? What, now that this has happened, does He want me to do? That mindset had carried him through the good

years with humility. Now it carried him through the painful years with courage.

Our parashah this week begins with the words: “Command the Israelites to bring you clear olive oil, crushed for the light, so that the lamp may always burn” (Sh’mot 27.20). The Sages drew a comparison between the olive and the Jewish people. “Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked, why is Israel compared to an olive? Just as an olive is first bitter, then sweet, so Israel suffers in the present but great good is stored up for them in the time to come. And just as the olive only yields its oil by being crushed—as it is written, ‘clear olive oil, crushed for the light’—so Israel fulfils [its full potential in] the Torah only when it is pressed by suffering.” (Midrash Pitron Torah to B’midbar 13.2)

The oil, of course, was for the menorah, whose perpetual light—first in the Sanctuary, then in the Temple, and now that more mystical light that shines from every holy place, life and deed—symbolizes the Divine light that floods the universe for those who see it through the eyes of faith. To produce this light, something has to be crushed. And here lies the life-changing lesson.

Suffering is bad. Judaism makes no attempt to hide this fact. The Babylonian Talmud tractate B’rachot 5b gives an account of various sages who fell ill. When asked, “Are your sufferings

precious to you?” they replied, “Neither they nor their reward.” When they befall us or someone close to us, they can lead us to despair. Alternatively, we can respond stoically. We can practice the attribute of g’vurah, strength in adversity. Yet there is a third possibility. We can

respond as Henry responded—with compassion, kindness and love. We can become like the olive which, when crushed, produces the pure oil that fuels the light of holiness.

When bad things happen to good people, our faith is challenged. That is a natural response, not a heretical one. Avraham asked, “Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” Moshe asked, “Why have You done harm to this people?”

Yet in the end, the wrong question to ask is, “Why has this happened?” We will never know. We are not God, nor should we aspire to be. The right question is, “Given that this has happened, what then shall I do?” To this, the answer is not a thought, but a deed. It is to heal what can be healed, medically in the case of the body, psychologically in the case of the mind, spiritually in the case of the soul. Our task is to bring light to the dark places of our and other peoples’ lives.

That is what Henry did. Renata still suffered. So did he. But their spirit prevailed over their body. Crushed, they radiated light. Let no one imagine this is easy. It takes a supreme act of faith. Yet it is precisely here that we feel faith’s power to change lives. Just as great art can turn pain into beauty, so great faith can turn pain into love and holy light.

—Adapted from the writings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

When you experience suffering, the question to ask is,

“Given this has happened, what then shall I do?,” for this has an answer

not of thought but of deed.

THIS Wednesday, at 7:00 P.M.

in our Fort Lee Sanctuary

(Reading the Megillah will be

Rabbi Sandy Davis,back by popular

demand)

THEN JOIN US FOR SOME HAMANTASCHEN AND OTHER GOODIES

AND FOR KIDS WITH COSTUMES—PRIZES!

May He who blessed | מי שברךMay He who blessed our ancestors bless and heal all those whose names are listed here, those whose names will be called out,

and those whose names we do not know because either we are unaware of their illness or they are.We pray He mercifully quickly restore them to health and vigor. May He grant physical and spiritual well-being to all who are ill. אמן

Sydelle KleinBonnie Pritzker AppelbaumDeenah bat Sarah LeahRut bat EstherMiriam Zelda bat Gittel D’vorahMiriam Rachel bat ChanahHarav Mordechai Volff ben Liba MiryamM’nachem Mendel ben Chaya DinaSimchah bat ZeldaAdina bat FreidelBaila bat D’vorahChavah bat SarahChayah bat FloraDevora Yocheved bat YehuditEsther bat D’vorahHaRav Ilana Chaya bat Rachel EstherMasha bat EtlMasha bat RochelMatel bat FrimahMindel bat D’vorahNinette bat Aziza Pinyuh bat SurahRachel Leah bat MalkahRita bat FloraRifkah bat ChanahSarah bat Malka

Sarah Rifka bat SarahShimona bat FloraSura Osnat bat Alta ChayahTzipporah bat YaffaYospeh Perel bat MichlahMichelle BlatteisDiane FowlerMarj GoldsteinRuth HammerGoldy HessFay JohnsonMicki KuttlerKatie KimElaine LaikinMira LevyRobin LevyLani LipisKaren LipsyKathleen McCartyGail SchenkerLinda StateMary ThompsonMichelle LazarNorma SugermanJulia YorkeAvraham Akivah bat Chanah Sarah

Avraham Yitzhak ben MashaAharon Hakohen ben OodelChaim ben GoldaEzra ben LuliGil Nechemiah ben YisraelaMordechai ben AlmahMoshe ben ShimonHarav R’fael Eliyahu ben Esther MalkahHarab Shamshon David ben Liba PerelHarav Shimon Shlomo ben Taube v’AvrahamYisrael Yitzhak ben ShayndelYitzchak ben TziviaYonatan ben MalkaYosef ben FloraZalman Avraham ben GoldaLarry Carlin Harry IkensonShannon JohnsonItzik KhmishmanBurt FischmanAdam MessingGabriel NeriJeff NicolMark Alan Tunick

We pray for their safe return...May He who blessed our ancestors bless, preserve, and protect the captive and missing soldiers of Tzahal—Ron Arad, Zecharia

Baumel, Guy Chever, Zvi Feldman, Yekutiel Katz, and Zeev Rotshik—as well as those U.S. and allied soldiers, and the civilians working with them and around them, still missing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and all other areas of conflict, past and present.

And may He bless the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and Tzahal, and those who serve the United States and Israel in foreign lands in whatever capacity, official or unofficial, members of our community or related to members, and their colleagues and companions. Guide them in peace and return them speedily to their families alive and unharmed. אמן

Are we in your will? Shouldn’t we be?When people prepare their wills, they usually look to leave a mark beyond the confines of their families. Thus it is that general

gifts are left to hospitals, and other charitable organizations. All too often ignored, however, is the synagogue, even though its role in our lives often begins at birth, and continues even beyond death. We come here on Yom Kippur and other days, after all, to say Yizkor, the prayer in memory of our loved ones. Our Virtual Memorial Plaques remind everyone of who our loved ones were, and why we recall them. All of us join in saying the Kaddish on their yahrzeits.

Considering this, it is so unfortunate that, in our final act, we ignore the one institution in Jewish life that is so much a part of us. The synagogue is here for us because those who came before us understood its importance and prepared for its preservation. By remembering it in our wills, we will do our part to assure that the synagogue will be there for future generations, as well.

Think about it. We have always been here for anyone who needed us in the past. Do not those who need us in the future have the same right to our help? Of course they do. Do not delay! Act today! Help secure the future of your communal home.

yahrzeits for today through next FRIDAY!May their memories be for a blessing — זכרונם לברכה

24 Ethel Block, mother of Frances Elkes Henry Bakhash, Linda Bakhash’s father Fred Eiser* Lillian Bazer*, mother of Roselyn Rauch Jack Tillim* Gertrude Tiffany* Mother of Sophia Oran Mollie Shechter, mother of Nanette Matlick25 Dora Rothblat Jeanne Stein* Jerome Bilus* Molly Kotkin, mother of Stanley Kotkin Lillian Bergman* Ralph Braitman* Fannie Haber* Mae Sude* Pearl Goodman* Minnie Lewis Farber* Ida Silverstein* Bella Baer, mother of Rochelle Hoff Altoon Dweck, grandmother of Stephanie Rosenblum Ruth Granek, mother of Anne Slater Jennie Schiff, aunt of Dr. Sidney Simon26 Craig Saikin, son of Steve Saikin Paula Ambrosio, mother of Michele Hirsch Harriet Gordon-Lubetkin, aunt of Phyllis Schreiber Gerald Potack, father of Debrah Fingar-Siegel Michael Soussa, brother of Ken Soussa Jacob Carl Sawyer* Henry Weintraub*27 Lili Gershon, mother of Niko Gershon Rebecca Levine*, aunt of Ros Lobel

27 Edward R. Hollender* Lillie Lazarus* Margaret Gutman* Fannie Gartner* Michael Joseph Dale* Joseph Mezei* Louise Zipser* Gitel Scheiner* Meyer J. Levine Mary Sohmer, aunt of Harvey Sohme28 Jacob Brown*, father of Emanuel Brown Samuel Glassner* Joseph Ellis* Lillian Sudack, aunt of Lynda Sussman Hanna Gottlieb, mother of James Gottlieb Tzippa Giller* Frances Phillips1 George Tischler* Sarah Barnett* Abraham I. Safro* Yaffa Weiss Irving Dickens* Abraham Dworkin* Estrella Reichick Melvin Poster, Susan Poster’s brother Joseph Rosenbluth, Bert Rosenbluth’s father2 Leah Bergen* Dr. Ashur Massarsky* Joseph Sakofs* Harry Pozner*

* A plaque in this person’s name is on our memorial board.

Is there a yahrzeit we should know about?

Kaddish listRobert CohenFrancine FederNancy FriedlanderBlanche FriedmanJay GreenspanSusan Jane GreenbergJeanette Shandolow HermanLisa Beth HughesHarvey JaffeHaviva Khedouri

Judith LorbeerQingshui Ma Norman Harry RiedermanDavid RosenthalEvan SchimpfPaul SingmanLeah SolomonRandolph Tolk

Haviva Khedouri

Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisadesק״ק בית ישראל של הפליסד207 Edgewater Road, Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-2201

207 Edgewater Road

Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-2201

Office: 201-945-7310;

Fax: 201-945-0863

websiteL www.cbiotp.org

general e-mail: shul@cbiotp.org

Shabbat ends Saturday night with havdalah at 6:27 p.m. EST

Shammai Engelmayer, Rabbi rabbi@cbiotp.orgNadia Massuda, Co-President nadia@cbiotp.orgCraig H. Bassett, Co-President craigbassett@cbiotp.orgJudy Golub, Vice-President judygolub@cbiotp.orgErrol Kaget, Secretary membership@cbiotp.orgAl Glick, Co-Treasurer alglick@cbiotp.orgGarrison D. Miller, Co-Treasurer garymiller@cbiotp.org

PURIM IS UPON US! CAN PESACH BE FAR BEHIND?

Remember to sell your chametz, and to donate to the annual

MATZAH FUND. Watch for details.

Attention All Vets!If you’re not yet a member of

JWV Post 76,YOU SHOULD BE!

For more information, call 201-869-6218