MAZAL TOV Maureen & Laszlo Marcus on the birth of a grandson

born to their children Moshe & Shoshana Marcus

THANK YOU TO OUR USHERS Amanda Nussbaum and Stephen Rutenberg

Thank you to our CSS members whose efforts help

maintain a safe shul for our community.

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

DECEMBER 15, 2018 • 7 TEVET 5779 • PARSHAT VAYIGASH

The Jewish Center SHABBAT BULLETIN

WOMEN’S TEHILLIM GROUP: Monday, December 17, 7:15PM Contact Joyce Weitz for more info. at 212-877-1176

Sunday Dec. 16 7:45AM Daf Yomi 8:30AM Shacharit 4:15PM Minchah

Monday Dec. 17 7/8AM Shacharit 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:15PM Minchah

Tuesday Dec. 18 Fast of Asarah B’tevet 6:02AM Fast Begins 6:45/7:45AM Shacharit 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:05PM Minchah 5:00PM Fast Ends

Wednesday Dec. 19-Thursday Dec. 20 7/8AM Shacharit 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:15PM Minchah

Friday Dec. 21 7/8AM Shacharit 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:13PM Candle-lighting 4:20PM Minchah

DAILY SERVICE TIMES

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS SHABBAT SCHEDULE

EREV SHABBAT 4:11PM Candle-lighting 4:15PM Minchah 5:00PM Young Leadership Kabbalat Shabbat (1st floor) 7:30PM-9:30PM Middle School Oneg (see page 2 for details) 7:45PM-10:00PM High School Oneg (see page 2 for details) SHABBAT 7:45AM Hashkama Rabbi Israel Silverstein Morning Midrash with Rabbi Dovid Zirkind 9:00AM Shacharit 9:15AM Hashkama Shiur with Rabbi Elie Buechler , The Enduring Legacy of Serach bat Asher 9:12AM Sof Zman Kriat Shema 9:30AM Teen Minyan (4th floor, Beit Midrash) 9:30AM Young Leadership (1st floor) 10:00AM Youth Groups 12:25PM Early Minchah (4th floor, Beit Midrash) 2:45PM Bikkur Cholim/Bikkur in the Home (meet at 730 Columbus Ave.)

4:00PM Minchah Daf Yomi Muktzah 101 with Rabbi Dovid Zirkind will resume next week Seudah Shlishit Speaker, Mrs. Esti Rosenberg, Hashem will not forsake His People – Wife, daughter and sister; Destruction and Comfort 5:12PM Shabbat Concludes THANK YOU TO OUR KIDDUSH SPONSORS: Hashkamah Kiddush: Joyce & Aaron Weitz to commemorate the Yahrzeits of Aaron's father, Rev Samuel Dov Weitz and Joyce 's mother Gertrude Cohen Community Kiddush: Pamela & David Neikrug in honor of Ezra & Dafna's first birthday Cecile & Irving Skydell in commemoration of the Yahrzeit of Irving's mother, Henya Dina bas Rev Yaacov Chaim Teen Minyan Kiddush Sponsors Paulette & David Meyer Rona & Andrew Steinerman

Teen Boys vs. Clergy Basketball Game December 15 at 7:00PM The showdown we have all been waiting for has finally arrived. Come watch the Teen Squad take on the Clergy Crew in a basketball battle royale this Motzei Shabbat.

Thank you to our sponsors: Marnie & Scott Black, Lori Zeltser & Len Berman, Rachel Stone &

Robert Bernstein, Rachel Wolf & Andrew Borodach, Dana & Adam Fine, Evelyn & Moshe Fruchter, Rochelle Tarlowe & Seth Jonas Leslie

Cohen & Jeffrey Lang, Paulette & David Meyer, Chani & Mark Segall, Avi Schwartz,

Welcome to Scholar in Residence Mrs. Esti Rosenberg Shabbat December 15th Seudah Shlishit at 4:30PM Topic: Hashem will not forsake His People – Wife, daughter and sister; Destruction and Comfort Mrs. Esti Rosenberg is the Rosh Beit Midrash of the Stella K. Abraham Beit Midrash for Women of Yeshivat Har Etzion at Migdal Oz.

Rabbi Jung Fund Appeal Thank you to all those who have already contributed so generously to our Rabbi Jung Fund Appeal. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to participate before the end of the year. Checks to the fund may be mailed to The JC office or you may contribute online by visiting our website. Please be sure to earmark your donation to the Rabbi Jung Fund.

BEIT MIDRASH UPDATE

JEWISH CENTER UNIVERSITY FALL SEMESTER RUNS THROUGH DECEMBER

For more information visit our website or contact Rabbi Dovid Zirkind at dzirkind@jewishcenter.org

The Jewish Center is going to be cleaning out the cubbies and shelves of the Beit Midrash this week. If you have any personal siddurim or property of any kind in the Beit Midrash please remove it so it does not get misplaced. Thank you! In addition, anyone who has borrowed books from the library, kindly return them soon so we can asses what needs to be replaced in the coming weeks.

TUESDAY Talmud Class Rabbi Noach Goldstein 7:45am–8:30am Nosh and Drash (with no nosh) With Dr. Adena Berkowitz 10:15AM-11:30AM Tanach 101: Athens vs Jerusalem: War in Tanach and The Iliad Rabbi Noach Goldstein The Sadye and Henry Bayer Tanach Class at 8:00 PM *will resume next semester

WEDNESDAY An Introduction To The World of Mussar: The Writings of Rav Eliyahu Dessler Rabbi Dovid Zirkind at 11:00 am Talmud 101 Ora Weinbach, Community Educator at 8:00pm

SHABBAT Muktzah 101 Rabbi Dovid Zirkind Shabbat Afternoons Between Minchah and Maariv in the main sanctuary *will resume next week

Thank you to all those who joined the Conversation between Justice Elyakim Rubinstein and Irwin Cotler, moderated by Harry Ballan, Dean and Professor of

Law at Touro Law Center.

Friday Night December 14th Middle School Oneg Be a part of history with your pals from The JC at the FIRST EVER Middle School Oneg from 7:30-9:30PM at the home of Ezra Marcus, 225 W 86th St. Snacks, games, and hanging with friends. If you need further convincing, think of it this way: some day you'll be able to tell your grandchildren that you were present at this landmark event. Also, CANDY. Please be sure to RSVP in advance on The JC website! Thank you to our sponsor Alessandra Rovati & Lloyd Harmetz High School Oneg What better way to wrap up the 2018 Oneg season than with a High School Oneg at the home of Josh Milstein? Swing by any time (but ideally the whole time) from 7:45-10PM at 100 W 89th St. Will there be candy, you ask? We ask you a question with the same answer: are there tourists in Midtown this time of year? (Hint: yes. More than you can count). Shabbat December 15th Teen Minyan: Carbo-Loading Edition Join all of your favorite friends at 9:30AM on the 4th Floor of The JC for Teen Minyan. And following davening, we will give thanks for the fact that (at least for now) Entenmann's donuts will be keeping their hechsher and celebrate with a revolutionary DAIRY Teen Minyan kiddush! Fear not, there will still be sushi (B"H). Thank you to our sponsors for making this possible! Saturday Night December 15th The showdown we have all been waiting for has finally arrived. Come watch the Teen Squad take on the Clergy Crew in a basketball battle royale this Motzei Shabbat at 7PM in The JC Gym!

Questions? Email sarah@jewishcenter.org

TEEN WEEKEND EXTRAVAGANZA

A Tour of the extraordinary and popular Holocaust Tapestry Series of

Shoshana Comet (z"l), given by Ted Comet. January 6 at 10:30AM-12:00PM Coffee and pastries will be served.

SAVE THE DATE

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. Only 7 tickets left!

Yosie Levine Rabbi

Dovid Zirkind

Associate Rabbi

Noach Goldstein Assistant Rabbi

Chaim David Berson

Cantor

Ora Weinbach Community Educator

Eliezer Buechler William Fischman Rabbinic Intern

Aaron Strum

Executive Director

Batsheva Leibtag Director of

Programming and Communications

Sarah Cromwell Youth Director

OFFICERS Andrew Borodach

President

Mark Segall First Vice President

Len Berman Vice President

Aliza Herzberg Vice President

Michael Jacobs Vice President

Scott Black Treasurer

Daniel Solomons Assistant Treasurer

Naomi Goldman Secretary

LOCAL RESOURCES Yoetzet Halacha Shiffy Friedman

nycyoetzet@gmail.com 646-598-1080

Jewish Center Chevra Kadisha

212-724-2700 x555

UWS Mikvah 212-579-2011

Hatzoloh 212-230-1000

Eruv Status 212-724-2700 x4

The sale of Yosef is one of the great injustices perpetrated in Sefer Bereishit. The time that Yosef spent incarcerated in Egypt and as a slave to Pharaoh was a direct result of his brothers’ misdeeds. What is therefore striking in this week’s parsha is that when Yosef finally revealed his identity to his brothers, Yosef spoke words of comfort and of reassurances, not anger and revenge. Yosef announced “Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life” (Bereishit 45:5). How can we make sense of Yosef’s conciliatory remarks? Does he truly believe that his brothers are not culpable for their actions because it was divinely ordained? One approach to these questions is explained by the Ralbag, who interpreted Yosef as attempting to mollify the anxieties and guilt that his brothers were feeling at that moment. Yosef knew that his brothers were the ones who threw him into the pit and sold him into slavery, but it was now many years later and the time now called for a different approach. Yosef understood the importance and significance that his actions in this very crucial moment would have for their family, and he decided to make peace and support his brothers during the famine. Yosef was not conceding that his brothers had acted properly by selling him into slavery. Rather he understood the reality that they were facing during the famine, and desired to reunite with his brothers and father after so many years.

A second approach to understanding Yosef’s conciliatory words to his brothers is provided by Rav Hirsch, who interpreted Yosef’s words along similar lines as the Ralbag, yet added another important piece to this approach. Rav Hirsch explained that through his words, Yosef was teaching a valuable lesson to his brothers about perspective. Certainly the brothers were wrong when they sold Yosef into slavery, yet only God could have foreseen such an astounding outcome wherein Yosef would become the Viceroy of Egypt and end up saving his entire family from starvation. Therefore, Yosef told them not to be upset or angry with themselves because only the hand of God could have brought them to this powerful moment in time where Yosef was the Viceroy in Egypt and had the opportunity to support his family. Rav Hirsch notes that the term used by Yosef to tell his brothers not to be angry with themselves is ‘nor angry be’eineichem,’ literally do not have anger in your eyes. From this word for ‘eye,’ Rav Hirsch suggests that Yosef wants his brothers to have a totally new perspective on the situation that transpired. The brothers were worried and upset because they sold Yosef and were now caught, but Yosef told them to look at the situation with a new set of eyes. Yosef encouraged them to look at it from the perspective of God and in the context of the history of his family, and the Jewish people. Yes, the brothers had acted improperly, but God had another plan in mind, which ultimately reunited Yaakov’s family and set the stage for the unfolding of Jewish history.

Rabbi Eliezer Buechler. Rabbinic Intern Parshat Vayigash

From God’s Perspective

ISRAEL UPDATE December 15, 2018

Congress Backs Bill Targeting Hamas and Hezbollah for Using Human Shields The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that would target for sanctions Hezbollah and Hamas for using civilians as human shields, guaranteeing that it will become law, The Times of Israel report. “This critical and timely legislation mandates new sanctions against Hamas, Hezbollah and foreign state agencies that use civilians as human shields or provide support to those doing so,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in a statement Tuesday after the House passed the bill. The Senate passed the measure in October. The bill castigates Hezbollah, a terrorist Lebanese militia backed by Iran, and Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group controlling the Gaza Strip, as “repeated” practitioners of an action that violates international law. It notes reports that Hezbollah is concealing missiles in villages in Lebanon and that Hamas routinely launches missiles at Israel from densely populated areas. The bill, which had bipartisan backing, now goes to US President Donald Trump for his signature. Israel last week launched a military operation to find attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah under the border with Israel. Operation Northern Shield has so far uncovered three such tunnels, one of which originated in the Lebanese village of Kafr Kila and another in the village of Ramiyeh. Our synagogue partners with AIPAC, America’s pro-Israel lobby, in educating our community on issues affecting the U.S.-Israel relationship. We encourage you to learn more by contacting AIPAC at (202) 639-5200 or by visiting www.aipac.org.