Weekly E-News 5784
May 3 - May 9, 2024

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Egg Salad
Spinach Pie (regular & gluten free)
Mini-Quiche
Green Salad
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Many thanks to Libby & Bruce for preparing kiddush!

Please consider sponsoring a kiddush, in whole or in part, to celebrate a special achievement or celebration. You may also donate to the kiddush fund in any amount at any time.
Contact the office for more details.

AA Annual Gala - Sunday, June 9th, 5:30.
Week-at-a-Glance
Class Updates
New Class Coming Soon!
Motti's class on the history and culture of Israel will meet on Wednesday,
May 22, 10:30,
at AA.
Special Shabbat Services
5/3 - 6PM - Shabbat PJ Service at the Synagogue

5/17 - 8PM - Shabbat Dessert & Drash at the Parsonage

Please add to your calendar!
Rabbi's Message

There’ s a curious line in this week’s Torah portion that deals with what is dryly called by biblical critics “the centralization of Israelite worship.” God tells Moshe to tell the Israelites that although they may have been offering sacrifices “עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה “ “out in the field,” or not in the tabernacle, from this point on, they need to bring their sacrifices to God’s designated altar in the Tabernacle (or the future Temple). Why? “וְלֹא־יִזְבְּחוּ עוֹד אֶת־זִבְחֵיהֶם לַשְּׂעִירִם אֲשֶׁר הֵם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם” “So they shall no more offer sacrifices to the goat-demons that they lust after.” Wait a second. Goat-demons? What’s happening here? Why are the Israelites offering sacrifices to goat-demons? Wasn’t this law just about making sure that all sacrifices happen at the Tabernacle?

The Talmud, in Tractate Avodah Zarah, takes pains to point out that this law is in effect even if the officiant is making sacrifices to God, not goat-demons, it is “כאילו” “as if” the officiant were in fact making those idolatrous offerings. Still, that is to say the offering sacrifices to God on your own is as bad as worshipping goat-demons? We are allowed to pray on our own-why must all our sacrifices be in one place?

It's a large question. But one thing to think about: consider that sacrifices have a communal dimension. Even personal sacrifices must be offered up by a priest. And many of the sacrifices—especially the pilgrimage festivals—are offered up by the entire community. To offer those sacrifices away from the Temple would be to set oneself apart from the community. We just read about the Wicked Child in our Passover Haggadah, and the sin is the same—the sin of putting oneself apart, of separating oneself, of not being a participant in the community.

And, on the flip side, being in the community to offer sacrifices both provides accountability and makes things easier. There are so many rules for sacrifices, it makes sense to have a dedicated priest conduct the ritual. Sacrifices can be expensive, and while there are various tiers of sacrifices you can bring, you can also for some festival sacrifices (such as Passover, for example) share the financial load with other families. For an Israelite off by themselves, without priests or community members, trying to make their own sacrifices, they might as well be offering sacrifices to goat-demons for all they are accomplishing.

We respect the laws of there being one place to offer sacrifices, which is why we don’t have one today, since the destruction of the Temple. And worship of goat-demons is now definitely passe. But the value of being together in community, both for guidance and accountability, remains. We help others, and our helped ourselves. We don’t have to go it alone. That is what being part of am Yisrael, the people of Israel, is all about.

Shabbat Shalom!


Rabbi Gelman
Service Leader Sign Up

Are you interested in leading services? Reading Torah? You can sign up on our service leader sign up sheet! If you are interested in learning how to read Torah or lead services, contact Rabbi Gelman at rabbi@agudath-achim.com.
In Person Service Times:
Tuesday: 7:30 AM
Wednesday: 8:00 AM
Every Friday: 8:00 AM
1st Friday: 6:00 PM at Synagogue
3rd Friday: 8:00 PM at Parsonage
Shabbat: 9:45 AM
This Shabbat: 

2024 | 5784 

Acharei Mot
Candle Lighting: 7:34 pm
Havdalah: 8:30 pm
(all times are for Savannah)
Annual Torah reading: Leviticus 16:1-18:30
(Etz Hayim pp 679-692)
Triennial Torah reading: Leviticus 17:1-18:30
(Etz Hayim pp 685-692)
Haftarah: Amos 9:7-15
(Etz Hayim pp 706-708)
Birthdays

May 6th
David Aronstein

May 7th
Benjamin Mackowiak

May 9th
Ed Price

Anniversaries

May 3rd
Annette & Stephen Friedman

May 9th
Nancy & Arthur Haysman
Mitzvah Grams

If you'd like to wish AA members Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary, the Sisterhood will be glad to send cards for you!
The cost is just $.75 for individual names or $50.00/ 6 months for all members with a date to celebrate.

For more information or to enroll, call Natalie Hyman at 518-265-6777 or email her at njhyman@aol.com.
Yahrzeits

May 3rd - May 10th

Thursday night/Friday, May 3 - 25 Nissan
Dena Bodziner - mother of Richard Bodziner
William Fisher - father of Paul Fisher
Thelma Landesman - mother of Louise Harkavy,
grandmother of Kelly Gordon
Rachel Marcus - mother of Helen Rosengart

Friday night/Saturday, May 4 - 26 Nissan
Lena Ehrenreich - mother of Sara Jospin
Esther Harkavy - mother of Freddie Harkavy,
grandmother of Kelly Gordon
Harold Hirsch - uncle of Stanley Rosenberg
Myer Sherman - father of Bunny Montag
Morris Vogel - grandfather of Morris & Ted Geffen

Saturday night/Sunday, May 5 - 27 Nissan
Elizabeth Hoffman - mother of Kenneth Hoffman

Monday night/ Tuesday, May 7 - 29 Nissan
Lorna Carroll - mother of Phyllis Aaron
Shirley Hess - mother of Daniel Skidmore -Hess
Ada Kramer - mother of Linda Zoller

Tuesday night/Wednesday, May 8 - 30 Nissan
Abba Weitz - great-grandfather of Stephen Friedman

Wednesday night/Thursday, May 9 - 1 Iyar
Morris Schwartz - father of Sandra Schneider

Thursday night/Friday, May 10 - 2 Iyar
Lester Shernoff - uncle of Victor Shernoff

Commemoration of the Yahrzeit begins the evening of the first noted date.

Community Events
Please join us for a community-wide remembrance program for all faiths and ages at the Jewish Educational Alliance including memorial prayers, songs and awards for the Sherry Dolgoff Holocaust Art & Writing Contest.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER Frank Baker: “The Miraculous Holocaust Story of Bluma and Felix Goldberg”

Mr. Baker currently serves on the Columbia Holocaust Education Commission. For more than 25 years he has taught "media-literacy,” a skill he says too many young people don't possess. He is the author of four books on the subject. In 2019, his lifelong work was recognized and honored with the UNESCO Global Alliance Partnership for Media & Information Literacy. His latest book,We Survived The Holocaust, is a very personal one for him.  
Please make all efforts to attend. 
Donor Dues Program
Rabbi Samuel Gelman
Adam Fins, President
Motti Locker, Executive Director

Congregation Agudath Achim | office@agudath-achim.com | 912-352-4737 | www.agudath-achim.com