Tag: Chavurah Beth Shalom

Bergen County Rabbi, Jewish Education, Jewish Survival

Yom Hazikaron

This evening will begin Yom Hazikaron, a day we honor the fallen soldiers of Israel.
To allow us all to understand the importance of this day, we share with you the words of Ryan Greiss, originally from Cresskill, NJ. and a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces’ Golani Brigade. I was honored to perform Ryan’s Bar Mitzvah many years ago and his family were members of our Chavurah for many many years. Thank you Ryan for allowing your moving words to be shared with our Chavurah.

  • A lot of Americans think of Yom HaZikaron as Israel’s Memorial Day, but it’s really so much more than that.
    How many of you are soldiers?
    How many of your children have you worried would fall on the field of battle?
    How many people do you know who have served in the military?
    Could you count them on one hand? In Israel, everybody serves. In Israel, everybody has lost friends and family to acts of war or terror. So in Israel, Yom HaZikaron isn’t just a state holiday; it’s a national day of mourning.

It’s a metaphorical yahrzeit that every single person commemorates together, all at once. When the sirens sound, one at 8 p.m., Tuesday night and the other at 11 a.m.,Wednesday morning, the entire country will literally stand still:
Cars on the highways will grind to a halt and remember all the people who laid down their lives so that they could live free in the Jewish state.

When the siren sounds:
I remember Max Steinberg, usually over a glass of bourbon. Originally from Los Angeles, Max struggled to learn Hebrew but was strong as an ox and never stopped smiling until he was blown up in an armored personnel carrier during Israel’s 2014 war with Gaza.
I remember Oron Shaul, another soldier from Golani’s 13th Battalion, who was riding with Max and whose body is still being held for ransom by Hamas.
I grieve with my friend Shai Amichai, whose little brother took his own life with his service weapon, and with Mikhael Precel, who’d just walked out of the Sbarro in Jerusalem when it exploded, killing 15 people — including his friend — and wounding 130 — including Mikhael. He was only 16 years old.

After a day full of grief, in a uniquely Israeli way, Yom HaZikaron flows right into Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day.

It’s a doubleheader: Memorial Day and July 4th, one after the other.
We remember the price and then we celebrate the rewards.

This Yom HaZikaron I ask you to remember my friends and all the heroes who paid the ultimate price to preserve the only Jewish state, and I wish you a very happy Yom Ha’atzmaut. –

Thank you Ryan
Rabbi Nat Benjamin
Chavurah Beth Shalom

Bergen County Rabbi, Chavurah Beth Shalom, Jewish Education, Jewish Survival, Judaic Studies, New York Rabbi, Rabbi Nat Benjamin

Chavurah Beth Shalom Virtual Seder, 2nd Night of Passover

We cordially invite you to our Chavurah Beth Shalom’s virtual second night Passover Seder, Saturday, April 16, at 6:00 pm via Zoom online.

Passover is a time of remembrance of those Jews in the past who did so much to ensure that we would survive as a people and be free to celebrate our Passover Seder.  It is also a time of renewal when we celebrate the Exodus from slavery and our love of freedom. As we wish to preserve this freedom, it is important for us to do our part to preserve those institutions that help guarantee Jewish survival.

Our Chavurah works relentlessly to educate our children and adults, to celebrate the holidays and to serve the community. As always, we are available to you for your life cycle events and pastoral needs. We are ever mindful of your continued friendship and generous support, which have enabled us to succeed and serve our community.

Come and celebrate our virtual Passover Seder on Zoom with your wonderful friends from our Chavurah, your out of town family members, and special guests.

This year, we need your help more than ever and so we have inaugurated a Passover Appeal which we hope will meet with the same generous response from our members and friends as in the past.

Whatever you contribute would be deeply appreciated and in the spirit of Passover.

Passover is a time when we say memorial prayers for our departed loved ones. Please email us the names of your dear ones and they will be read at our special memorial service along with the candle lighting. 

Family, Life Cycle, Rabbi Nat Benjamin

Robert Benjamin, A Tribute : In Memory Of My Brother

Rabbi Nat Benjamin
One of the only images I have of Robert as a teenage

My brother Robert and I were close despite the ten year difference between us. As a child he displayed a great love of music, literature as well as a great aptitude for science and mathematics. He shared these with me as an older brother and teacher.  I find my love and aptitude for music was his gift to me. He took me everywhere: baseball, football and basketball games and to concerts and the opera.  My memories of our camaraderie are as vivid today as when I was eight years old.

 During his first year in college my brother Robert experienced what we now refer to as a nervous breakdown. He spent the remaining years of his life being treated for schizophrenia in hospitals and nursing homes. With mental illness parents do not know what to do to seek effective treatment and Robert’s condition worsened continually. As a child, I always grew up hoping that my older brother would return to a normal life with school, leading to an occupation and eventually a normal family life but such was not meant to be.  As years went by I visited him weekly in assorted nursing homes and psychiatric facilities. Robert passed away in April at the age of eighty four.  My strongest regret is that he had an unhappy life. But when I think of my childhood years I remember how much he gave me.

Rabbi Nat Benjamin
Celebrating Robert’s Birthday in 2018

 

Bergen County Rabbi, High Holy Days, Jewish Education, Jewish Survival, Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, Tenafly, Yom Kippur

High Holy Days at Chavurah Beth Shalom

Chavurah Beth Shalom Yom Kippur ServiceRosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — days of sweetness and atonement – are the culmination of a month-long process of coming back to God. During the High Holidays, we embrace the study and beauty of the Torah and rejoice with prayer and song.

2019 / 5780 HIGH HOLY DAYS INFORMATION

We are pleased to announce that our 2019 High Holy Days Services will be held at the Clinton Inn Hotel and Conference Center, 145 Dean Drive, Tenafly, NJ. 07670 on the following dates and times:

Sunday, September 29, 2019:  Clinton Inn & Conference Center
Erev Rosh Hashanah, 7:30 pm
Monday, September 30, 2019:  Clinton Inn & Conference Center
Rosh Hashanah, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Children’s Services, 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Tuesday, October 1, 2019:  Alpine, NJ. Community House
Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day, 10:30 am
Tuesday, October 8, 2019:     Clinton Inn & Conference Center
Kol Nidre – Erev Yom Kippur, 7:30 pm
Wednesday, October 9, 2019:  Clinton Inn & Conference Center
Yom Kippur Morning Service, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Children’s Service: 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Afternoon & Yizkor Service : 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm

We request that you send in your ticket requests early. Your membership dues include tickets for you and your children through college age.

For more information, contact the Chavurah at 201.567.7806 or email ChavurahBethShalom@gmail.com or see our home page under what’s new for all of our High Holy Day information.

Rosh HaShanah History
The origin of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, is Biblical (Lev. 23:23-25): “a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts (of the Shofar, the ram’s horn).” The Bible refers to the holiday as Yom Teruah.
(the day of the sounding of the Shofar) and Yom Zikaron Teruah (the day of remembering the sounding of the Shofar).

In Talmudic times, Rosh HaShanah became a celebration of the anniversary of the world’s creation and a day of self-examination, repentance and judgment. While the day was called Yom HaZikaron (Day of Remembrance) and Yom HaDin (Judgment Day), the name Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year) was first used in the Mishnah has become the most prevalent.

Rosh HaShanah is both a solemn and happy day.
It is a time for introspection, asking for forgiveness, giving forgiveness, resolving to do better, remembering God is our King and Judge, and praying for a healthy and happy year to come. We are solemn in our repentance, but happy in our confidence that God is merciful and good.

Yom Kippur History
Repentance (Teshuva) is the theme of Yom Kippur.
While our sins alienate us from God, our repentance reconciles us with God.
On Yom Kippur, we ask for God to forgive us for our sins.

The first Yom Kippur occurred when Moses descended Mount Sinai with the second set of Tablets, a symbol of the renegotiated covenant between God and the Jewish People.
The Israelites alienated God by worshiping the golden calf. Moses ascended Mount Sinai to ask God for forgiveness. The Israelites repented by fasting during the day while Moses was on the mountain. On the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei (Yom Kippur), Moses descended Mount Sinai with the second Tablets.

God decreed the tenth day of the month of Tishrei as a day of atonement:

“Let it be a statute for you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall starve your vital energies and do no manner of work…. For on this day it shall bring atonement upon you, to purify you, before God shall you become pure of all your aberrations.” (Vayikra/Leviticus 16: 29-30)
Just as the Israelites alienated God with their unfaithful behavior, some of our behavior during the year has also alienated us from God.
Just as the Israelites repented for their sins, we also repent for our sins.
Praying and fasting enables us to envision the divine image that lives in each of us.
Just as God forgave the Israelites on the tenth of Tishrei, it is our hope that God will forgive us on Yom Kippur.