Schedule 9. Nov, Friday

Candle Lighting 4:25 pm Evening Service

4:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 10

Morning Service 9:30 am

Evening Service 4:25 pm Shabbos Ends 5:25 pm

WEEKLYNEWSLETTER Shabbos November 10, 2018 2 Kislev 5779

Parshas Toldos

Weekly Schedule of Services:

Morning Services: Sunday- Friday: 8:15 am

Evening Services:

(Mincha & Maariv) Sunday: 4:25 pm

Mon - Thurs: 4:30 pm

Office Hours H-School Sunday: 9:00 am - 1:00 Pm

Monday - Thursday: 9:00am - 3:00 pm

Friday: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm

UPCOMING EVENTS Kiddush Sponsored by

Sholom Khobot in honor of his upcom-ing Chupah this Sun-

day.

In this week's parshah we read of the birth of twins to Isaac and Rebecca. Jacob and Esau are very different from the moment they leave the womb. As they grow older, their disparate personality traits become increasingly ob-vious. Jacob is the "dweller of tents," a dili-gent Torah scholar, while Esau is a "skilled hunter" and a man of violence. We also read how one day, when Esau returns from the hunt, exhausted and starving, he finds Jacob cooking a pot of lentils. Esau wants the beans; Jacob offers to give him the pottage in return for Esau's birthright. As the first-born twin, Esau would have been the one chosen to minis-ter in G‑d's temple. Esau ac-cepts the offer and the deal is done. Fast-forward some 275 years. We're in the Book of Exodus now (4:22), and G‑d is sending Moses to Pharaoh to redeem His peo-ple. He describes them as b'ni bechori yisrael — "My son, My first born, Israel." Rashi, quot-ing the Midrash, comments: "Here the Holy One Blessed is He affixed His seal to the sale of the birthright which Jacob purchased from Esau." Here? It took G‑d so long to put His stamp of approval on a deal that was entered into hundreds of years earlier? Why only now? The late Israeli Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi M.Z. Neriyah, offered this explanation: You can sell your birthright for beans, but you can't buy a birthright for beans. To throw away one's

holy heritage is easy, but to claim it takes years of effort and much hard work. He used the analogy of a war hero who earned a row of medals for bravery and cour-age under fire. Sadly, in his old age he was forced to sell his medals in order to survive. So someone else walks into the pawnbroker's and finds these war medals for sale, buys them and pins them to his chest. He might walk down the street, proud as a pea-cock. But does it have any meaning? We all know that this man is no hero. In fact, he is nothing more than a pa-thetic fool! To wear the badge of "My firstborn Israel," the Jewish people had to be worthy of the honor. It wasn't enough that their father Jacob had pur-chased the birthright from an unworthy but willing seller. The children of Jacob needed to demonstrate that they un-derstood what it meant to be Children of Israel. When Jacob bought the birth-right from Esau it was a legal deal. One wanted the beans, the other wanted the birthright. Fair and square. But did Jacob earn that hallowed title, or was he like the fellow who bought the war medals? Gen-erations later, when his chil-dren had gone through the "smelting pit" of the Egyptian bondage and still, with amaz-ing faith and tenacity, kept their heritage — then they were deemed worthy of the honor of the birthright. Now, after the trial by fire, after the blood, sweat and tears of slav-ery, the great Notary on High,

the heavenly Commissioner of Oaths, takes out that ancient document, the yellowed deed of sale that had been waiting for generations, and puts His offi-cial stamp and the wax seal on that document, and says, "Now now you are worthy of the birth-right. Today you are My Son, My Firstborn, Israel." There's a famous graffiti ex-change that has much truth in it. Someone not too partial to our people had scrawled, "How odd of G‑d, to choose the Jews." And one of our own responded, "Actually, the Jews chose G‑d." Being Jewish is indeed the birthright of every Jew. But it's not enough that G‑d chose us, we must choose G‑d. We need to earn our birthright by living as Jews. Chosenness is not li-cense to snicker or condescend to others. It is far more respon-sibility than privilege. It's not good enough that our parents and grandparents were good Jews, that my Zayde was a rabbi or a schochet and my Bobba made the world's best blintzes. What are we doing to earn our stripes? Indeed, you can sell your birth-right for beans. But you can't buy a birthright for beans. -adapted from www.chabad.org

A Word Of Torah

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town that I can fix?” Whatever knowledge a human being is given in this world, what-ever wisdom, enlightenment or inspiration, it is all only and ex-clusively for one purpose: To assist him to fix up this world.

Isaac and Rebecca are mar-ried for twenty long years without having children. Fi-nally Rebecca gets pregnant with twins. As the kids grow inside her belly they con-stantly kick around, so Re-becca goes to visit a great rabbi by the name of Shem to ask him for advice. Shem tells her that there are two children in her womb who will be the fathers of two nations, and the younger one will eventu-ally rule the older one — that’s why they were fighting even before they were born. Esau is born first. He is hairy and red-headed. Then fol-lows Jacob, who is holding Esau’s heel as he is born. Esau and Jacob are quite different: Esau is sly and loves to hunt, while Jacob is peaceful and spends most of his time studying Torah. On the day that Abraham is bur-ied, Esau goes hunting while

Jacob stays home and cooks a pot of lentils for his father to eat (a person who is mourning a loved one eats round foods when he or she comes back from the funeral). Esau comes home and is very hungry, so hungry that he sits next to Jacob and says: "Give me to eat!" He wants Jacob to pour the food down his throat. Jacob says yes, on condition that Esau sell him his birthright, his right to be the firstborn. (Why did Jacob want Esau’s birthright? Jacob knew that in the future the firstborn would be priviledged to serve in the Holy Temple, but Esau didn’t behave like a person who will serve in G‑d’s temple should — he hunted and killed, and didn’t have respect for life — so Jacob asked him to sell his birthright, which he did.) Isaac ages and becomes blind. He wants to bless his children before he dies. Esau goes to hunt for a couple of animals to

prepare food for his father. In the meantime Rebecca dresses Jacob as Esau. She covers his arms and neck with hairy goat-skin so that he should resemble Esau and sends him into Isaac’s room to get the blessings which were destined to the firstborn son. When Esau returns and discovers that Jacob got the first blessings, he becomes very an-gry and wants to kill his brother. So Jacob runs away to Charan, his mother’s birth-place, where he will also look for a wife whom we will meet in next week’s parshah. By Chani Benjaminson

facts of life. So, she told Little Rivka how the expression of love resulted in the beginning of life, how life de-veloped in the womb and finally how a child was born. As her mother explained to her the story, Rivka’s

One day little Rivka went up to her mother and asked, "Mommy, where did I come from?" Her mother stammered a bit, but finally got her composure. She explained to her daughter the

eyes got wider and wider. When she was finished, Little Rivka said "Wow, that's really neat. That sure beats what Uncle Shlomo told me. He said that he came from Po-land."

Kids Parasha Lesson

A Biselleh Humor

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Daily Dose

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai hid from the Romans in a cave for thirteen years. There he was visited by heavenly beings, by Elijah the prophet and even by Moses. It was there that he composed the holy Zohar.

When he left the cave and came to a town, he did not say, “Let me enlighten you with the inner light of Torah, the light that has been hidden since the six days of creation.” He said, “What is there in your

Rabbi Berel & Leah Zaltzman Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn 30-02 Fair Lawn Avenue. Fair Lawn, New Jersey 07410 201-791-7200 | Office@JewishFairLawn.org www.JewishFairLawn.org • www.Facebook.com/BrisAvrohomFairLawn

Ingredients: 2.5 lb. (1 kg.) first-cut brisket

1 tbsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp. paprika

1 tsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 onions

4 carrots

2 parsnips

4 celery stalks

1 turnip

1½ cups vegetable broth 1½ cups dry red wine

ject or matter you may be dealing with, our Holi-day programs will allow you to celebrate your Jewish pride with your family and friends. Our fun Hebrew School and Day Camp will fill your chil-dren with an educated sense of what it means to be Jew-ish and our synagogue services will give you the opportunity to pray,

We are your center for every-thing Jewish, whatever your need may be, do not hesitate to contact us. Our ever popular holiday celebrations will enable you and your family to celebrate the Jewish holidays in style, with fun and educational ideas helping to make Judaism rele-vant to our youth. Our Torah classes will give you a second opinion on any sub-

be inspired and experience spirituality. From pregnancy and baby celebrations to weddings and after life services including Kaddish and unveiling, we will be there for you and help cre-ate a meaningful and memora-ble experience. We are here to help you and serve you and look forward to seeing you soon!

Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn

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Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls By Miriam Szokovski

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

2. In a small bowl combine the salt, paprika, pepper and garlic powder.

3. Pat the meat dry and cover on all sides with the spice mixture.

4. Peel and dice all the vegetables.

5. Place ¾ of the vegetables in a deep baking dish. Place the meat on top, followed by the remaining vegetables, and bake, uncovered, at 450°F for 30 minutes.

6. Remove pan from the oven and add the wine and broth. Turn the oven down to 250°F. Cover the pan tightly, and return to the oven for 4-5 hours, until a fork goes into the meat with virtually no resistance. (If you remember, halfway through the cooking, take the pan out and turn the roast over, then return to the oven).

7. Refrigerate overnight, then slice thinly against the grain and return to the pan. Reheat with the vege-tables/sauce.