Shabbat Blast

Shabbat Blast!

Erev Shabbat – July 22, 2016

Candle Lighting: 8:00 pm

Maariv: 6:30pm

Shabbat, July 23

Parshat Balak

Nosh and Drosh 9:00

Services 9:45

Check us out on Facebook, (Congregation Beth Ohr) Twitter (@BellmoreJC) and Instagram (congbethohr)!!!!

7/23/16-7/30/16

Birthdays:

Mark Wilenkin

Glen Schneer

Matthew Nachamie

Mary Schwartz

Rachel Rabinowitz

Daniel Rabinowitz

Jessica Schoenberg

Debbie Ring

Craig Ringel

Anniversaries:

Jonathan & Lisa Israel

Scott & Jacqueline Brecher

Sam & Iris  Astrof

Dear [first_name],

Ma tovu ohalekha Ya'akov, mishkenotekha Yisrael!

How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!

CLICK HERE [https://soundcloud.com/cantor-sarah-myerson/ma-tovu-hassidicfolk] to listen to Ma Tovu (Lubavitch Hassidic/folk melody)

Recording and arrangement by Cantor Sarah Myerson (voice and banjolele)

So proclaims the pagan prophet Bilaam in this week's Torah portion, Parashat Balak. This verse (Numbers 24:5) is especially familiar to us because it appears at the beginning of our morning services. You can find it on page 61 in the Shabbat edition of our siddur Sim Shalom, and page 1 in the weekday edition.

Why this verse? Lawrence Kushner and Nehemia Polen imagine walking into the synagogue in the morning; seeing those assembled wrapping themselves in their tallitot. While each person sees only the inside of their own tallit, the onlooker surveying the scene is reminded of a sea of Jewish tents. What beautiful imagery.

The verse serves a practical function, because the first phrase has 10 syllables:

1-ma, 2-to, 3-vu, 4-o, 5-ha, 6-le, 7-kha, 8-Ya, 9-a, 10-kov

We Jews have an aversion (dating back to Torah times!) to counting ourselves directly, using numbers. But we need to know if we have the 10-person minimum present to constitute a minyan. One way to count Jews indirectly is to recite this phrase while looking at each person in the room. If you can make it to the end of Ya'akov, you know you have a minyan.

Last week I sent out a survey to help me learn more about the interests in our community. In case you missed it, here's the link again [https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Y6LCWDD]. There are only five questions, and I would love to hear from more of our members.

Looking forward to welcoming Shabbat together at Congregation Beth Ohr tonight at 6:30pm. Hope to see you there,

Shabbat Shalom,

Cantor Myerson