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

The Jewish Center SHABBAT BULLETIN

NOVEMBER 17, 2018 • 9 KISLEV 5779 • PARSHAT VAYETZE

WOMEN’S TEHILLIM GROUP: Monday, December 3, 7:15PM

Contact Joyce Weitz for more info. at 212-877-1176

Sunday Nov 18 7:45AM Daf Yomi 8:30AM Shacharit 4:20PM Minchah

Monday Nov 19 – Wed Nov 21 7/8AM Shacharit 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:20PM Minchah

Thur. Nov 22 7:45AM Daf Yomi 8:30AM Shacharit 4:20PM Minchah

Friday Nov.23 7/8AM Shacharit 7:45AM Daf Yomi 4:15PM Candle-lighting 4:20PM Minchah

DAILY SERVICE TIMES

MAZAL TOV Judge Alvin Hellerstein on celebrating his 20th year as a

U.S. District Judge

THANK YOU TO OUR USHERS Barbara Paris and Seth Jonas

Thank you to our CSS members whose efforts help maintain a safe

shul for our community.

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS SHABBAT SCHEDULE

EREV SHABBAT 4:20PM Candle-lighting 4:25PM Minchah 5:00PM Young Leadership Kabbalat Shabbat (1st floor) SHABBAT 7:45AM Hashkama 8:30AM Israel Silverstein Morning Midrash with Rabbi Dovid Zirkind 9:00AM Shacharit 9:15AM Hashkama Shiur with Rabbi Elie Buechler "The First Yeshiva Model: Explorations into Yeshivat Shem v'Ever" 9:12AM Sof Zman Kriat Shema 9:30AM Young Leadership 10:00AM Youth Groups 12:10PM Early Minchah (4th floor, Beit Midrash) 3:00PM Bikkur Cholim/Bikkur in the Home (meet at 730 Columbus Ave.) 4:10PM Minchah Daf Yomi Muktzah 101 with Rabbi Dovid Zirkind Seudah Shlishit Speaker, Ora Weinbach 5:19PM Shabbat Concludes 6:15PM Youth Movie Night 6:30PM Women’s 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament (for those who pre-registered) THANK YOU TO OUR KIDDUSH SPONSORS: Hashkamah Kiddush: Jessica Gross and Larry Klein in honor of Aaron Weitz and all Veterans who are members of The Jewish Center Community Kiddush: Miriam Silverstein & Dan Kimchi in commemoration of the Yahrzeit of Dan's father Shlomo Kimchi/Shlomo ben Yehoshua Harmetz-Rovati Family in commemoration of the Yahrzeit of Roberta Harmetz

Faith, Fertility, and the Future of Parenthood: Abortion in America: Past, Present and Future with Professor Carol Sanger November 19, 2018 at 8:00PM Please visit the jewishcenter.org to register!

Thanksgiving Pack-a-Thon 2018 November 22 at 9:30AM Hosted by Congregation Shearith Israel Building on the success of our last three Pack-A-Thons, Shearith Israel is thrilled to partner again with our local faith community partners. Help us meet our $18,000 goal! For registration, donations and volunteering details visit shearithisrael.org/packathon2018.

Please Join us for Friday Night Dinner & Conversation With Scholar In Residence Mr. Nathan Lewin

Attorney and Legal Scholar Shabbat November 30th Registration now open!

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.

SAVE THE DATE Youth Department Chanukah Dinner

Shabbat December 7th Services at 4:15PM Dinner at 5:30PM

Details and registration to follow.

UPCOMING EVENTS

December 12 at 7:30PM WHY WE CANNOT IGNORE THE UN The Jewish Center and Touro College invite the community to a conversation between Justice Elyakim Rubinstein and Irwin Cotler, moderated by Harry Ballan, Dean and Professor of Law at Touro Law Center. December 15 Teen Boys vs. Clergy Basketball Game. Details and registrations to follow.

The Jewish Center is going to be cleaning out the cubbies and shelves of the Beit Midrash. If you have any personal siddurim or property of any kind in the Beit Midrash please re-move it so it does not get misplaced. Thank you!

TUESDAY Talmud Class Rabbi Noach Goldstein 7:45am–8:30am Nosh and Drash With Dr. Adena Berkowitz Tanach 101: Athens vs Jerusalem: War in Tanach and The Iliad Rabbi Noach Goldstein The Sadye and Henry Bayer Tanach Class 8:00 PM

WEDNESDAY An Introduction To The World of Mussar: The Writings of Rav Eliyahu Dessler Rabbi Dovid Zirkind October 10- December 12 at 11:00 am Talmud 101 Ora Weinbach, Community Educator October 24th, 31st and November 14th and 28th at 8:00pm

SHABBAT Muktzah 101 Rabbi Dovid Zirkind Shabbat Afternoons Between Minchah and Maariv in the main sanctuary

YOUNG LEADERSHIP

Cooper Hewitt Exhibit Tour December 2, 2018 at 11:00AM Exhibit: Joyful Interiors: Rediscovering the textiles of Marguerita Mergentime Registration 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

COMMUNITY EVENTS

The 9th Annual SIGD Celebration! The weekend of November 23-25, 2018! SIGD= an Ethiopian Holiday celebrating their connection to Jerusalem and commitment to Jewish unity. Very Special guests are coming from Israel (Kesseuch/Rabbi’s) for the whole SIGD weekend. Please visit Eventbrite.com for details and registration. For more information you can contact chassidashmella@gmail.com or call 212-284-6532 Matched in the City Pre-Chanukah Mega Bash MO/MM Singles 20-32 December 1, 2018 at 8:00PM Location: The Mansion 107 East 16th Street Music by Roy Baron, Performance by Singer Shauli, Comedian David Weinbach.

SUSHI, COCKTAILS, AND AWESOME ACTIVITIES! RSVP: MATCHEDINTHECITY@GMAIL.COM

Annual Trivia Night Thank you to everyone who participated!

Special thank you to Len Berman and Alex Berman for all their hard work.

Faith, Fertility, and the Future of Parenthood Thank you to Dr. Zev Williams and Yoetzet Halacha Shiffy Friedman

for their presentations. Thank you to everyone who joined us! Please join us Monday night November 19 for our 4th and final session with Professor Carol Sanger, Abortion in America: Past, Present and Future at 8:00PM. To register visit jewishcenter.org

Please drop toys in the Jewish Center lobby! Deadline: November 26, 2018

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

After Yaakov fled his father-in-law’s home, Lavan chased after him, and a heated discussion then ensued between them. Yaakov turned toward La-van and described how for over twenty years Lavan mistreated and underpaid him for his diffi-cult labor and that the only way that Yaakov had survived those agonizing years was on account of the “God of Avraham and and the pachad of Yitzchak” that was with him all of those years (Bereishit 31:42). Why did Yaakov utilize such an odd formulation using the phrase pachad or fear of Yitzchak in this context? Why didn’t Yaakov just mention the ‘God of Yitzchak’ like he did with the God of Avraham? Both the Ibn Ezra and Rav Hirsch suggest that Yaakov used the phrase pachad Yitzchak in order to invoke the intense yirat Hashem that Yitzchak had felt at the moment of the Akeidah. Yaakov chose to recall the episode when his father faced near certain death at the hands of Avraham, yet out of yirat Hashem, willingly allowed Avraham to offer him up to God. Therefore the ‘fear of Yitzchak’ serves to recall the yirat Hashem that Yitzchak embodied, which Yaakov modeled to get through the difficult years working under La-van. The fear of Yitzchak, however, may also invoke the emotions that Yitzchak felt at the moment of the Akeidah. Although Yitzchak devoted himself to God’s will, on an emotional level he still felt an intense fear over his impending death at the hands of his father. Yitzchak may have cognitive-

ly accepted his fate as an offering to God, yet he was nevertheless afraid of the reality of losing his own life. Yaakov referenced the pachad of his father be-cause his father’s experience during the Akeidah reflected his own experience in the house of La-van. That is, both Yaakov and Yitzchak displayed yirat Hashem by going through these challenges and overcoming them even when in so doing they suffered along the way. Yitzchak faced the terri-ble distress of nearly dying at the hands of his father, yet underwent God’s test because he knew that it was God’s will. Similarly, Yaakov experienced the harsh heat of the day and freez-ing nights while working for Lavan in order to cre-ate a future for his family and the Jewish people. Yitzchak was able to model his father’s yirat Ha-shem, both an awe of God, but also a type of endurance that served as his beacon, even when he faced seemingly unbearable challenges. In our own lives, we face challenging moments that are beyond our control and may break us down both physically and emotionally. Yaakov can serve as an inspiration for us to look toward our models in life, whether it be our family mem-bers, friends, or teachers who have faced similar difficult events in their own lives. Their stories and the way in which they overcame their hardships can inform our decisions and can serve as our in-spirations when we face challenges in our own lives.

Finding Inspiration in Challenging Times

Rabbi Eliezer Buechler, William Fischman Rabbinic Intern

ISRAEL UPDATE November 16, 2018

Biggest Israel-Gaza Firefight Since 2014 Ends in Ceasefire

A renewed ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza has brought an end to the most severe

round of fighting between the two sides since the 2014 war, CNN reported. Palestinian factions, including

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, announced the ceasefire in a joint statement. "The resistance will abide by the

ceasefire agreement as long as the Israeli occupation adheres to the Egyptian-brokered truce," it said. Egypt

and the United Nations had been working to bring a halt to hostilities along and around the Gaza border

since Monday evening. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not comment on the ceasefire reports, in line with

its response to previous restorations of the ceasefire. In the largest and longest exchange of hostilities since the

2014 war, Gaza militants fired some 400 rockets into Israel on Monday and into Tuesday, while the Israeli

military struck more than 100 targets inside the coastal enclave.[...] Since the beginning of large-scale protests

along the Gaza border in late March, there have been multiple rounds of hostilities, often in sharp escalations.

But none of these extended beyond 24 hours before the ceasefire was restored.

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.