Erev Shabbat, June 11: Rosh Chodesh Tammuz (Tammuz 1) 6:30am Shacharit 6:30pm Mincha 6.56pm Plag Mincha (one may light from 6:56-7:10pm) 8:11pm Candle Lighting for those accepting Shabbat Bazman
Shabbat, June 12: Korach (Tammuz 2) 8:30am Main Minyan - Indoors 9:00am Main Minyan - Outdoors- Registration required (weather permitting) 9:15am Teen Minyan - Kiddush Room - kiddush following in sukkah 10:00am - Tot Shabbat and K-3rd grade Groups 11:00am Kiddush - Sponsored by Jane & Charlie Basch in honor of Charlie’s mother’s Yarzeit (Leah bat R’Chaim) 4:00pm Birthdays in the Park 6:45pm Jeff Schwartz Gemara Shuir at SOI 8:10pm Mincha 8:30pm Shalosh Seudas - Dan Malamud is sponsoring, in loving memory of the first Yartzeit of Ester Matilde Nurit bat Izthak, z'L.,Shalosh Seudos in the tents by the succah. (All food and drinks will be in individual portions) 9:05pm Maariv 9:19pm Havdalah
Happiness = Fulfillment The great quest in our tattered world is happiness. People search for happiness with hobbies, relationships and pleasures; but it is so fleeting and when we actually feel happy, it is difficult to maintain once achieved. The largest industry in the western world is the Entertainment Industry. Billions of dollars are spent regularly for the express purpose of having a good time and achieving happiness. Sadly, it does not work.
In our Parsha this week we meet Korach, the Master of Machlokes. The Talmud explains that despite his wealth and high social status he was incredibly jealous of his cousin Moshe and launched a rebellion with the hopes of a takeover. He gathers a willing group of followers who stage a protest that leads to a showdown where G-d opens the ground and swallows up the rebels. This is a fitting consequence for those that aim to artificially raise their position in G-d’s world; the result is they are diminished to a place of anonymity. Korach and his followers pined to be leaders and they are remembered as failures that got buried alive.
The question is Why? Ostensibly Korach had a fine and good life with meaningful work for his people. So what prompted Korach to knock on destruction’s door?
Answer: He wasn’t happy. He wasn’t fulfilled. He looked outside of himself to find meaning instead of inside himself where it truly matters. The place one needs to focus on to achieve happiness is inside himself. Only when one feels fulfilled are they able to successfully share with another without feeling insecure, jealous and unhappy.
The Torah advances a commandment – Don’t be like Korach. On the surface this means don’t start a Machlokes; but underneath it means to learn to live a fulfilled and happy life. Then and only then can there be peace. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Epstein
“You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” —Tina Fey
So many people were involved to make this an amazing week. Starting on Shabbat with the beautiful Graduation Kiddush - thanks to all the sponsors and Sisterhood, Sunday with Rabbi Slifkin from the Biblical Museum of Natural History in Israel - sponsored by the Lindenbergs, to the inaugural meeting of the SOI Historical Society, productive Welcome Committee meeting, New Board Member Orientation and new summer learning series by Rabbi Ian Shaffer.
We are slowly but surely making our way back to normalcy. Masks are only required if you are not fully vaccinated. Sign up sheets are kaput. I am excited to share information about the following programs and initiatives with you and look forward to seeing you soon.
The SOI Historical Society had its inaugural meeting this past week. Our goal is three-fold: *Memorialize SOI history *Promote member engagement *Share lessons learned from the past Some things we are looking into are videoing/interviewing long time and new members for a montage video. Chemmie Sokolic is formulating questions for interviewing. Larry Miller is creating lists of past presidents of the shul and Sisterhood. Helen Baker is reaching out to the Camden County Historical Society for records and the possibility of a program at SOI. Avi Rynderman will be researching the possibility of creating a book celebrating our history and looking towards the future as we commemorate 50 years in Cherry Hill. Ken Panitch is looking to see if any grant money is available. We would like to have a working TV monitor to display the interviews and images from the past.
If you have any images from the past of SOI, we would love to make copies for display. You can drop them off in the office M-F 10-2 or send them directly to me.
BH, there have been many new families moving into Cherry Hill. Due to COVID it has been very difficult making them feel welcome. The Welcome Committee has been working very hard to hurdle this obstacle. They have provided welcome baskets and will be having a Newcomers Kiddush on June 26th. Sponsorships are available. If you are aware of new families moving in, would like to volunteer, or would like to be a host/hostess to visitors for Shabbat, or provide meals to new families, please reach out to Aliza Chaitoff - alizachaitoff@gmail.com, Aliza Sadiky - alizasadiky@gmail.com or llana Weiss - weiss.ilana@gmail.com.
Birthdays in the Park will be this Shabbat at Ivy Lane at 4pm. Come and celebrate May, June, and July birthdays, get to know new people and SOCIALIZE!!!! I hope to see you there.
Rabbi Shaffer will be leading a summer series entitled, “To Argue or not to Argue…That is the Question” on alternating Tuesday evenings. The next class will be June 22 at 8:30pm on zoom. Exploring ancient and modern debates in Jewish History is the main gist of the program and a different topic will be explored each week. I will leave you with this quote from the shiur this week, “Disagreement is fundamental but the way it is presented is a remarkable expression of a true ‘machloket Iesheim shamayim’”. With discussion with my son today, he pointed out that the root of ‘machloket” , disagreement, is separated/divide and /or part of. His conclusion was that we should not be separated but have unity in our community. My father would have said, there is a need sometimes to agree to disagree…in a respectful way. Shabbat Shalom
Shabbat Shalom Donna Moskowitz SOI President
(I'm up to 26 random acts of kindness - 24 to go)
Please Note: Highlighted section reserved for social distancing and unvaccinated people
SECURITY GREETER VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Volunteers needed for 1 hour shifts on Shabbat from 8:30-11 Training Provided Contact: Sam Tilonsky at drsamod@gmail.com _______________________________________________________
SOI Committees 2020-2021 Advertising Chemmie Sokolic chemsok@aol.com Bikur Cholim Larry Miller twinks-3043@msn.com Fundraising Dore Provda dore_provda@yahoo.com Historical Society president@soicherryhill.org Jubilee Helene Raush raushfamily@comcast.net Sabrina Spector sabrinaspector@gmail.com Helen Baker bakera412@comcast.net Membership Ilana Weiss weiss.ilana@gmail.com Heshy Chaitoff heshychaitoff@gmail.com Programming Chani Berliant chaniwiesman@gmail.com Sabrina Spector sabrinaspector@gmail.com Suzie Mindel suziepm@yahoo.com Ritual Heshy Chaitoff heshychaitoff@gmail.com Security Sam Tilonsky drsamod@gmail.com Shalom Bayit Ken Panitch ken.panitch@gmail.com Sisterhood sisterhood@soicherryhill.org Youth Sabrina Spector sabrinaspector@gmail.com Suzie Mindel suziepm@yahoo.com Welcome Aliza Chaitoff alizachaitoff@gmail.com
The Sisterhood meeting originally scheduled for June 10th has been re-scheduled to June 21 at 8:30 pm. to avoid scheduling conflicts. We will be voting on our proposed board slate, discuss committee opportunities for getting involved, and to discuss our exciting July membership program! The link to join the meeting is: https://tinyurl.com/SOIsisterhood The proposed board slate is as follows: President: Karen Cohen Vice President of Administration: Debbie Fineberg Vice President of Programming: Aliza Sadiky Treasurer: Hannah Kaufman Recording Secretary: Open (Contact Karen Cohen if interested in this position)
Mazel tov to the entire Epstein family on Nachi's Graduation from Mesivta of Greater Philadelphia Yocheved's up coming Bat Mitzvah
Thanks to Noah & Shaindy Lindenberg for sponsoring the well attended program on Sunday with Rabbi Slifkin.
Thank you to Jane & Charlie Basch for sponsoring kiddush on in honor of Charlie’s mother’s Yartzeit (Leah bat R’Chaim)
Thank you to Dan Malamud for sponsoring Shalosh Seudas in loving memory of the first Yartzeit of Ester Matilde Nurit bat Izthak, z'L.
Thanks to Don Becker, Debbie Fineberg, Jeff Liss, Donna Moskowitz and Sam Tilonsky for providing security on Shabbat. _____________________________________________ GABOYIM NEEDED The Gaboyim supervise religious services in the Shul every morning, evening and Shabbat. They designate people to lead the services, distribute aliyot and other Shul honors and are custodians of all religious articles and books. If you are interested, please contact president@soicherryhill.org. ______________________________________________________________ HELP WANTED Children’s Group Leaders. Shabbat mornings 10-11 am. Must be good with children. Duties include davening and creative programming/learning about the parsha each week. To apply email president@soicherryhill.org _______________________________________________________________
This week, our featured "Neighbors" are Chani Wiesman & Yoni Berliant. We are optimistic that we will all soon be able to return to shul together, however as of yet, things are not quite back to normal. Many of us have not seen our friends from shul for months. Additionally, many new families have moved to the community, but due to the pandemic, we have not had a chance to meet and get to know each other. To help us stay connected, we are bringing a new feature called "Won't you be my neighbor". If you would like to be featured here, please contact Chani Wiesman. In this feature, you will get to meet new families as well as become reacquainted with familiar faces.
Click here to meet Chani Wiesman & Yoni Berliant and to see past submissions
Florence Axelrod – Fruma bas Sarah Estelle Lerner- Esther Ethel bas Rochel Andy Rauer – Avigayal bas Peshe Ella Bruce Goldhagen - Berel Dov Ben Chia Sheryl Malamud Yoni Yares Amy Goldwasser Gavriel Yehuda ben Chaya Sarah Binyamin Yedidya Nachshon ben Shira Ruth Robbie Friedner Raphael Shraga Ben Dina Sarah
Since the tehillim group is not meeting again until after COVID, following is a link to the prayers for good health and healing that you can recite for our ailing members
There are many ways to support our Shul: Yartzeit Plaque ($400) Shabbat Security ($180) Chumash for the sanctuary ($75) Newslink ($72) Siddur for the sanctuary ($50) Welcome Basket ($18) Bottle Club ($36) https://www.soicherryhill.org/sponsor
Reminder: If your mailing information has been changed, please update it on our website by logging on at soicherryhill.org If you know someone who is not receving our weekly email, please let the office know
Office Hours Next Week for Jean Klein: Monday to Friday 10:00am - 2:00pm
Congregation Sons of Israel 720 Cooper Landing Road Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
