Seudah Shlishit issponsored by Yaacov Levy in memory of his Mother-in-law, Miriam bat Yona.
SOI Hospitality Shabbat: Parshat Vayera, November 11-12. All are invited to attend a Friday night Oneg at the Davies home at 8:00pm and musical havdallah for children on Saturday night at 6:00pm. Hosts and guests who have signed up for Shabbat lunch have been contacted about arrangements.
A Deep Look at Sefer Bereishit with Rabbi Michael Davies: Mondays at 8:00pm, next class will be November 14, join us live in the SOI Kiddush Room or Click Here to Join the Zoom (Zoom Meeting ID: 882 1104 9415)
Medical Lecture:Prevention - The Best Medicine: Wednesday, November 16 7:30pm-9:30pm | SOI Bikkur Cholim | Free Admission and Light Refreshments | For further information call Janet Miller at 856-667-0860 Sephardic Minyan Hachnasat Sefer Torah:During completion of the Torah light refreshments will be served. Upon completion dinner will be served. Reservation required. Thursday, November 17 3:00pm Register here
Women's Halacha Shiur with Rabbi Davies: ThirdThursday of the Month beginning November 17 8:00pm in the SOI Chapel. For more information Contact Rabbi Davies
Bowling Night for Adults!:Saturday, November 19 8:00pm-10:00pm at The Big Event, 1536 Kings Highway. $15 includes shoes and two hours of bowling. Register here (Registration deadline is Thursday, November 10th)
Shabbat, November 12: Vayera (Cheshvan 18) 8:00am 8AM Minyan 8:30am Sephardic Minyan 9:00am Main Sanctuary Minyan 9:13am Latest Shema 10:00am Youth Groups 10:30am Tot Shabbat 10:30am Donuts and Discussion 11:30am Kiddush 4:05pm Mincha 4:35pm Seudah Shlishit sponsored by Yaacov Levy 5:20pm Maariv 5:30pm Havdalah
Sunday, November 13 (Cheshvan 19) 7:00am Shacharit 8:00am Shacharit 4:25pm Mincha/Maariv 8:00pm In Depth Gemara Shiur
I am very excited for the opportunity to share words of Torah with you. Each week, in this spot, I look to share an idea I've found that speaks to me and that I think will resonate with you as well. This week, I share an excerpt from an article by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen entitled ‘The Curiosity of Lot's Wife’ that elaborates on the positive and negative sides of curiosity. [...] In the midst of the story of the destruction of Sodom, the Torah tells us of the tragic death of Lot's wife; that she turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at the destruction of Sodom. Rashi explains that she turned into salt because she acted cruelly with regards to salt when her husband asked her for salt to give to the guests. Rashi's explanation seems to give rise to a new question: according to the account in the Torah, the apparent reason for her death was that she looked back at Sodom, not because she didn't give salt to the guests. If her cruelty was the true reason for her death, then why was she punished when she looked back at Sodom? It could have happened any other time. It seems that there is some kind of link between her cruelty with regards to looking back at Sodom and not giving salt to the guests. What is the connection?
In order to understand this, it is necessary to understand what motivated her to look back at the destruction of Sodom. Interestingly, she was not the only person to gaze at this tragic event; Abraham also did, but different words are used to describe their looking. With regard to Lot's wife, the Torah uses the word, 'lehabit', which means to stare at something, whereas with regard to Abraham, the word used is, 'lehashkef' which implies looking that is based on deep thought. This is supported by the fact that the Hebrew word for an outlook on life is hashkafa, which comes from the same root word. Abraham's viewing of the destruction of Sodom was one that was full of contemplation. In this vein, the Rashbam writes that he was looking to see if there were ten righteous people in whose merit Sodom would be saved. Thus even in this time of destruction, Abraham's overflowing sense of kindness was apparent.
In contrast, the 'looking' of Lot's wife did not emanate from kindness, as demonstrated by her cruel behavior in the incident involving salt. Why was she looking? Perhaps she was simply looking for the sake of curiosity; not because she cared about the people being destroyed, but because she wanted to see what was happening to them. This in and of itself may well have been worthy of punishment, but it seems that the bizarre nature of her death came as a result of her previous callous actions with regards to salt. This demonstrated that she was not a caring person by any means, and that her 'looking' at the destruction of Sodom did not stem from any sense of caring, rather as a result of pure curiosity.
The curiosity of Lot's wife proved to be her undoing. This teaches us an important lesson about the attitude that we should develop towards the trait of curiosity. In the positive sense, curiosity causes a person to have an interest about the world and expand his horizons. However, if the curiosity is misapplied it can become damaging. Curiosity for the sake of itself at best can lead to a person wasting their time being overly concerned in other people's lives. At worst, it can lead to a considerable amount of negative speech, and involvement in unsavory matters. [...] The story of Lot's wife teaches us an important lesson about how and when it is appropriate to delve into the affairs of others.
Mazal Tov to Rivka & Eli Beck on the birth of a healthy baby girl, Tehilla Maryam, this past Shabbat.
Mazal Tov to Reuven and Ava Pinon and big sister Eliana on the birth of a baby girl this past Shabbat.
Thank you to Devora Schpektor, Alise Panitch, Audrey Dahan, & Donna Moskowitz for helping with the kiddush last week. Thank you to Yoni Panitch for preparing the cholent for last week's kiddush.
Thank you to Bill Jungreis, Debbie Fineberg, Ken Panitch, Debbie Pester, Avi Rynderman, Harvey Chaitoff, Chani Wiesman Berliant, Donna Moskowitz, Andy Rauer, Elon Elisha, Hector from OPS and Sam Tilonsky for providing security on Shabbos.
A very big thank you to Sid Goldberg for walking the perimeter of the building after davening during the recent security threat. His devotion to the safety and security of our campus is exemplary.
We regret to inform you of the passing of Joel Morowitz. The Funeral took place this past Sunday.
Florence Axelrod – Fruma bas Sarah Gavriel Yehuda ben Chaya Sarah David Partnow - David Avram ben Tilla Razel Robert Shapiro - Doniel-Avraham ben Hannah Aaron Moshe ben Ruth Yosef Simcha Chaim Ben Sarah Chana Gaela bas Pinina Jackie Nussbaum - Eta Ruchmam bas Chaya Golda Chayim Gedalya haLevi ben Henya Joan Solomon Weinberg - Yehudit Sarah bat Esther Chaim Leib HaLevi ben Batya Gittel Tobie Cohen, Tova Lieba bas Esther Chaya Alan Friedman - Avraham Pinchas ben Hudda Kayla Chaya bat Bayla
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
Just go to smile.amazon.com, search for Congregation Sons of Israel Synagogue. Every qualifying purchase will send 0.5% of the total to our Shul. Over time, this will add up.
https://www.kosherwine.com/?rfsn=5940204.12e2a2 SOI members and affiliates can click the link to go to the JCommerce websites and purchase their products. You can support SOI through the commission we earn.
Shoprite Scrip Now Available SOI Office Monday-Friday 10-2 Yaeli Sokolic at ycsgraphix@gmail.com Flo Shulman at florence.shulman@gmail.com
All submissions for the Newslink are due by noon on Wednesday
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 General office hours are Monday - Friday 10am-2pm The office will be closed Friday, November 25 - office hours for that week will be Monday - Wednesday 10:00am - 3:00pm Rabbi Davies' general office hours are Monday, Wednesday-Friday 10am-5pm
Congregation Sons of Israel 720 Cooper Landing Road Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
