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Dear Friend, What?? You really do that?? Yes, I do. But guess what, so do you. Even if not for the same purpose.. A "Thought for Shabbat" continued below .
In today's Weekly Email:
1. Shabbat and Weekly Times. Shabbat @ The Shul begins Friday 7 October with candle lighting at 6:15 pm (final candle lighting time is 18 minutes before sunset at 6:36 pm) and ends on Shabbat 8 October at 7:28 pm. The Torah portion this week is Parshat Vayeilech also referred to by the name Shabbat Shuva, after the Haftorah of Shuva Yisrael - Return oh Israel, in the spirit of the High Holidays. For a fascinating journey through the infinite messages of the Parsha this week, visit www.TheShul.co.za/Parsha. Shul Services:
Jewish Life and Learning:
Yom Kippur @ The Shul begins on Tuesday 11 October with candle lighting at 6:15 pm and ends on Wednesday 12 October at 7:32 pm. For more insights, holiday e-cards, stories, kids page, articles, customs a full how-to guide through the holiday, and more visit www.TheShul.co.za/YomKippur. Shul Yom Kippur Services:
2. What's Happening @ The Shul
But this year it felt like while our tent was opened ever wider, to bring in even more souls (like the lady who swerved a u-turn when she saw Rabbi Shlomo and Grahame Bobrow crossing Porterfield Road while walking back from their Shofar-visit to the Netcare Hospital, and followed them in to Shul, where she shared her childhood memories from Chassidim Shul on Harrow Road and her forty year journey that saw her moving to Blouberg a year ago, and coming in to Shul today for the very first time), at the same time the space at the centre of the tent was full of genuine and deep heartfelt prayers and soul. The beautiful prayers led by Rabbi Shlomo and Zalman Jacobson, both the joyful and somber melodies with a chorus from a room full of people harmonizing in song and spirit, the energized Teen Service and Youth Services, and just the whole atmosphere, had a sense of matured appreciation for the true depth of what our High Holidays truly offer us.
But it was the Pre-Yom Tov "Haktail" Reception which really got things off to an amazing start. The Pre Rosh Hashana Cocktail Reception and the final moments of the year of Hakhel - Jewish Unity, gave us the "HAKTAIL RECEPTION".
The beautiful event, put together by Morahs Mushka Wolff and Chaya Ciment enabled us to 1. Write notes to be placed at the Western Wall, 2. Prepare for the holiday joy with family pictures at the Wall, 3. Get Toy ARKs which after the holiday can be filled with Acts of Random Kindness, 4. Make blessings on delicious H'or Douveres and Absolut New Year Cocktail Drinks, 5. Put on Tefillin at the Wall (thank you Zalman Jacobson and Aron Harman of CTeen Cape Town) and 6. Meet and Greet lots of fellow Bloubergers as we entered the New Year.... Click here for the whole album of beautiful photos) L'chaim - to life and a Sweet New Year!
Houmous in the Hut and Boerewors in the Booth! (Ok, this is getting a bit corny but on) Shmini Atzeret Night, Sunday 23 October at 6:30 pm we have our Israeli Hakafot Celebration and Dinner (with Falafel, Houmous, Pickles and all...), Monday 24 October, 10:30 am, is our Dairy and Fish Lunch Buffet in honour of the CJSA West Coast, Monday 24 October 6:30 pm is our Simchat Torah Braai and Hakafot and on Tuesday 24 October, at 10:00 am, is the Simchat Torah breakfast and lavish lunch given by our Chattan Torah and Chattan Bereishit. If you would like to consider a sponsor investment for any of the above please visit www.TheShul.co.za/IPO
3. What's Nu in The Shul Family
We wish happy birthday to: Daniel Jacobson 8 October; Graeme Galansky 9 October; Mandy Lipman 9 October; Daniel Singer 10 October; Joan Sher 12 October We wish long life to: Leon Maltz for his late Mother 11 Tishrei/13 October We wish mazeltov to: Ian and Andrea Maltz for their anniversary on 9 October Celebrate with the Family!: The Brocho this week is still available for sponsorship Did you know that right here in Cape Town there is a massive Pagan Temple of marble and stone where they slaughter animals to their gods with the animals crying, blood spilling, and flesh being joyfully offered on altars of glass and steel while soft music plays in the background? True, the gods that inspire these pagan rituals may seem like far-fetched fantasies to some clear minded individuals. But the well nurtured obsession of their ardent following (and the huge sums of money the followers (yes, local Capetonians!) fork over to these gods) keeps the Temple busy year round, and only growing with time. The name of this temple is Woolworth's (or Checkers or Pick n Pay or any store with a fresh meat aisle for that matter). The gods of hedonistic pleasure, human carnivorous addiction, and alcohol saturated braai parties sustain an industry, that no matter how soft the music is in the meat aisle of your local supermarket, and how slick the marketing of buffalo wings may be, survives on the brutal loss of sentient life. While the clear cellophane wrap on the chicken breasts may commercialize the cold brutal realities of what goes on in the slaughter-house, the hard obvious facts will be there forever. Until Kaparot on Erev Yom Kippur. Once a year, many Jewish people have a custom to reverse the otherwise successful trends of a profit driven global food industry that has dulled our sensitivity to the sacred value of life, even that of a nameless chick en. As Erev Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, approaches, we reflect on our actions, our words, and even our thoughts. We are responsible for all of them. The time that I embarrassed a colleague at work? True it was a mistake, and even they laughed with everyone else. But doesn't the Talmud say that if I make someone blush in public it's as if I've "killed them"? Really? Does Jewish tradition take the blood draining from someone else's face that seriously? Or what about when in a moment of instant-pleasure-seeking I ignored a precious Torah value of Prayer or Shabbat or Kosher, at whatever level I would have normally observed them, because the TV Series, or H'or Douvres at a reception made my blood bubble with excitement, that in hindsight I would have preferred to avoid? Did I really compromise the divine life-blood of my soul? Or what if it was just the heart beat of my spouse, or child, or someone close whom I love and loves me dearly which skipped one or two beats out of rhythm because my instinctive attachment to the iWhatevers in my life made them feel less valued than they really are? Has their blood flow taken a backseat to my WiFi connection? And so once a year we do something, as painful and gut wrenching as it may be, to give ourselves a frontal exposure to the the natural realities of life; we pull away the curtain. We clear the fog of a fabricated social norm, and brace ourselves to face the truths behind the life we live every day. By taking a deeper look at what would otherwise be just a nice chicken soup with perogen, the impact of the shiver going through us at the moment the Shochet's swift movement ends the chickens life, stays with us long after the Shishkebab Skewer has been licked clean. Perhaps this is why Mark Zuckerberg's birthday resolution a few year's back was to only eat meat that he killed himself, taking his chef's advice about "the most kind way to do it" similar to Kosher slaughter. But on the morning before Yom Kippur we don't just watch or facilitate the slaughter of an animal that we eat. More importantly, we first connect with it. In the moments before the animal is killed for our physical benefit (or that of the needy and poor) we raise it, gently (and every time I've held the animal in my hands I've felt it calm and at peace), and as we raise it above us we pray; "Dear G-d, For all the times that I've been insensitive to the physical or emotional blood of others, or even that of my own soul and its connection to you, and for all of the consequences that I should truthfully be carrying on my own conscience, even to the point of death itself, I (have asked the forgiveness of the others and) pray for my own atonement. While I normally wouldn't think twice about enjoying a chicken burger, today I am making myself vulnerable to the value of life, even that of a chicken. And as I watch this chicken being killed today (in a world where billions are killed annually without anyone, including myself, thinking twice about it) I hope that you accept my commitment to being more sensitive to the sacred value and values of life as you have taught us in your Torah. If I have to look back honestly at the year that passed, I may have done, said or thought things for which I should endure what this chicken is about to experience. I may have even made others actually feel that way. But as I stand here today I hope you will accept my commitment to making this a truly transformative moment. While this chicken's life will end today, mine will become more sensitive, to the life of everyone around me, even the chickens,and even my own soul's, "to a good, long, life and peace." -- For those of you who are vegetarian and disagree with any human consumption of animal life, including everything I've written here, I totally respect that. I only ask that you refocus your Kaparot resentment to the general meat industry where the pain and suffering of animals far outweighs anything involved in Kaparot (and fulfill the custom of Kaporot by raising money above your head). For those of you who do eat animal flesh but think that it just comes down from heaven in plastic wrap with a Kosher seal, and think that Kaparot is an archaic custom for radical religious fundamentalists, I only ask that you respect the fact that others feel quite the opposite to you. And for those of you like me (and you?) who do observe Kaparot I hope that when we hold the innocent little bird in our hands this year let's make sure it helps us be a little more sensitive to the lives and feelings of others, even those who consider themselves anti-Kaparot or anti anything else we hold sacred. I'll conclude with one of my favourite Baal Shemtov stories as told by Rabbi Freeman in answering Susan G.'s question of what gives us the right to kill animals; The Baal Shem Tov, in the years that he was a hidden mystic, would make his livelihood slaughtering chickens and beef for Jewish communities before a festival. When he left this occupation, a new slaughterer took his place. One day, the gentile helper of one of the Jewish villagers brought a chicken to the new slaughterer. As the new man began to sharpen his knife, the gentile watched and began to laugh. "You wet your knife with water before you sharpen it!" he exclaimed, "And then you just start to cut?" "And how else?" the slaughterer asked. "Yisroelik" answered the gentile (using a casual reference to the great Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov) "would cry until he had tears enough to wet the knife. Then he would cry as he sharpened the knife. Only then would he cut!" May our tears this Yom Kippur, from early Tuesday morning, bring us all the best blessings of Hashem, and best character refinement of ourselves, for a Shana Tova, for us, for our families, and all of Hashem's creatures, Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom and Well over the Fast, Rabbi Oshy and Zeesy Deren
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Wow, what a Yom Tov it was. I have always been very proud of our Shul services being very warm, user-friendly, and providing meaningful depth to a part of Jewish life that others (especially kids) often find boring and monotonous. 
Sushi in the Sukkah and Pizza in the Hut! Make sure to mark your calendars. Monday 17 October, 10:30 am, a delicious Sushi in the Sukka Bar will
delight your senses (including vegetarian Sushi), and on Tuesday 18 October 10:30 am it's Pizza (with all the toppings!) in the Hut. We look forward to celebrating with you.