Erev Shabbat, June 18 (Tammuz 8) 6:45am Shacharit 6:30pm Mincha 6:58pm Plag Mincha (one may light from 6:58-7:10pm) 8:14pm Candle Lighting for those accepting Shabbat Bazman
Shabbat, June 19: Chukat (Tammuz 9) 8:30am Main Minyan - Indoors 9:00am Main Minyan - Outdoors- Registration required (weather permitting) 6:30pm Jeff Schwartz Gemara Shuir in kiddush room 8:00pm Mincha 8:30pm Shalosh Seudos/Shiur sponsored by Sandra Crass and Sharon Porup for the yahrzeit of their mother, Golda bat Shmuel, z'L 9:10pm Maariv 9:22pm Havdalah
Sunday, June 20 (Tammuz 10) All Day Event: Father's Day 7:00am Shacharit 7:30pm Gemara Shuir 8:15pm Mincha 8:30pm Connecting our Community - Evan Fishman/Genealogy (Ends at 9:15pm) Meeting ID: 985 4708 6297 Password: 964592
And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank.
We read this Parsha annually, but it does not get any easier to understand. How could it be? The greatest man that ever was who spoke directly to G-d on Mt Sinai for 120 days, who orchestrated the 10 Plagues, the Splitting of the Sea, in his honor the Manna fell, he dealt with the Spies, with Korach, the Erev Rav…WHY DIDN’T HE FOLLOW G-D’S DIRECTIONS?! G-d said to talk to the rock, so why would Moshe hit the rock?!
The Alter of Novardok, Rav Yosef Yozel Horowitz (1847-1919) explains that Moshe determined on his own that if he spoke to the rock, the Israelites could conceive that he was uttering incantations that led to the water flow; therefore he chose to silently hit the rock believing it would cause a bigger splash (pun intended) and establish a more impactful sanctification of G-d’s name.
Moshe was wrong. He miscalculated. He should not have veered off the track and path. Therefore, despite the greatest of intentions, Moshe as well as Aharon suffered the consequence of not being able to enter the Land of Israel with the rest of the Israelites.
The verse states this clearly: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְֹוָה֮ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן֒ יַ֚עַן לֹא־הֶאֱמַנְתֶּ֣ם בִּ֔י לְהַ֨קְדִּישֵׁ֔נִי לְעֵינֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לָכֵ֗ן לֹ֤א תָבִ֙יאוּ֙ אֶת־הַקָּהָ֣ל הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל־ הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥תִּי לָהֶֽם׃
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.”
So let’s all sincerely take this to heart – if the great Moshe Rabbeinu was not able to innovate and deviate from Divine Instruction, how much more so little old us 3333 years later in a world without prophecy and open miracles should we trust the Divine process and not creatively deviate from the ways we have been taught through the ages.
Western progressive thinking just might be far from progress in the eyes of Hashem and His Torah. What might feel like a step forward may actually be a step beyond truth that will certainly lead to distancing from Hashem and eventual demise.
Let’s learn from our teacher Moshe, both his successes and his errors in order that we will successfully achieve Hashem’s will in His world and be the recipients of His kindness and blessings. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Epstein
June Board Update Tuesday night was our transition Board Meeting. Retiring members were thanked for their service and new members were introduced as we all joined together for a marathon night of old and new business. Ilana Weiss started off the evening with an appropriate D’var Torah about parsha Chukat, and she was followed by brief Committee reports.
I would like to give a special shout out to Ilana Weiss. She wrote a grant for Federation for The Covid-19 Relief for SOI Outdoor Services Program and was awarded the highest level. The grant included tents, chairs, packaging, plastic shields, etc. which we needed to purchase to keep our shul safe and open to all our members during this pandemic.
The Membership Committee/Financial Secretaries sent out 2021-2022 membership bills. If you did not receive yours, please reach out to the office at officeadmin@soicherryhill.org. Also, as a reminder, please sign in when utilizing ShulCloud so that everything gets directly credited to your account.
The Welcome Committee also met this week with great enthusiasm. They have been reaching out to all the new families who have moved in during COVID and presenting them with a Welcome Basket. They also made themselves available to answer questions and point our new members in the right direction[DC1] through their transition to Cherry Hill. They are looking forward to the New Family Kiddush on June 26 and hope to see you all there. The New Family Kiddush is a way to welcome all of the new families who have moved in during COVID. Sponsorships are available at https://www.soicherryhill.org/event/welcomekuddush .
We want to welcome back the Sephardic Minyan. They will be davening in Politz’s Beit Medrash starting this Shabbat.
Security is moving forward with their grant and has ordered new doors leading to the sukkah. The next phase will be replacing the front doors, adding a Shabbat lock and adding more cameras and alarms.
Rabbi Davies stopped in briefly this week with his son, Yehoshua. They were able to see their new house for the first time, received a tour of the campus, and Yehoshua was able to meet his new classmates at recess. We discussed renovations to Rabbi’s office and he had some excellent ideas. Ken Panitch and Shari Goldberg will work with him in this endeavor. Their next stop was Bagel Spot and then NY for Yehoshua to get on a bus for camp.
The Programming Committee had a great week with Rabbi Slifkin and Rabbi Shaffer’s shuirs, Teen Minyan, a beautiful kiddush and Seudah Shilishit, and a well-attended Birthdays in the Park. Looking forward to this week, on Sunday, Evan Fishman will be featured on “Connecting our SOI Community” with a program on genealogy at 8:30 pm on Zoom at Meeting ID: 985 4708 6297 Password: 964592 . Rabbi Shaffer’s 2nd class in his Summer Learning Series, “To Argue or Not to Argue…That is the Question” will take place on June 22 at 8:30 pm. Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/92207627759?pwd=VTVuYUlsK3crZmtBUk1ZR0psYUFZQT09 Meeting ID: 922 0762 7759 Passcode: 734387.
NCSY is coming BACK to Cherry Hill. They are very excited to reconnect with the teens and are anticipating having Latte and Learning, Shabbat Meals, Trips, Regional Shabbatons, and Onegs, to name a few. Asaf Mizrachi will be the advisor, and he and his family are moving into the community the end of the month.
I hope this has brought you up to date with all the exciting new things going on at SOI. I will encourage you to get involved. If you’d like to sit and talk about volunteer opportunities, I am readily available….my backyard or yours. Shabbat Shalom
Donna Moskowitz
(I'm up to 30 random acts of kindness - 20 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 _______________________________________________________
Membership Committee Updates: As SOI begins its new fiscal year this month, we would like to remind everyone that while the Synagogue sustains itself on generous benefactors and donors, the yearly membership dues is an essential component as well. Your prompt payment or set up of a monthly payment plan in your Shul Cloud is really appreciated.
Invoices were sent out via email on June 2nd. If you did not receive your invoice or would like to have it sent again, any questions about dues, or help with dues due to your unique situations please do not hesitate to reach out to Heshy Chaitoff, heshychaitoff@gmail.com or Michael Partnow,mrpmjp@aol.com. All communication with the financial secretaries are held with the strictest confidence.
We appreciate your continued support and look forward to another amazing year! Heshy Chaitoff Financial Secretary Michael Partnow Asst. Financial Secretary ______________________________________________________ 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 Heshy Chaitoff heshychaitoff@gmail.com Michael Partnow mrpmjp@aol.com Programming Chani Wiesman 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 Sisterhood sisterhood@soicherryhill.org Youth Sabrina Spector sabrinaspector@gmail.com Suzie Mindel suziepm@yahoo.com Welcome Aliza Chaitoff alizachaitoff@gmail.com
The Sisterhood meeting is scheduled for June 21 at 8:30 pm. 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)
Thank you to Sandra Crass and Sharon Porup for sponsoring the Seudat Shlishet for the yahrzeit of their mother, Golda bat Shmuel, z'L Thanks to Don Becker, Debbie Fineberg, Jeff Liss, and Sam Tilonsky for providing security on Shabbat.
Thank you to Etyan Irwin for the donation of a beautiful Shulchan for enhancing the Outdoor Minyan.
Thank you and farewell to the retiring Board Members - Bruce Goldhagen, Andy Rauer, Dore Provda, Justin Kaufman, Jerry Abramson, and Mayer Milltz
Thank you to Ilana Weiss for writing and submitting a winning grant proposal to the Jewish Federation for COVID Relief _____________________________________________
Fun & Rewarding Job Opening 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. PAID POSITION To apply email president@soicherryhill.org _______________________________________________________________
This week our featured "Neighbors" are Judy and Steve Herzberg. 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 Judy and Steve Herzberg and 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
*********************************************************** Our Jubilee Year is Starting 50 Years in Cherry Hill/Established 1894 We are asking you to submit statements, stories, anecdotes about what you love about SOI. They will all be featured in the newslink and other celebrations throughout the year. See flyer below. ****************************************************************************************
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
