he first portion of Dvarim (Deuteronomy) is always read right before Tisha B'Av. Indeed, part of the Torah reading and almost the entire Haftarah is chanted like we chant Eicha (Lamentations). This Shabbat is named after the Haftarah which begins with the words Chazon Yishiyahu (the vision of Isaiah). This theme is even stronger considering that this Shabbat is actually the calendar date of the 9th of Av, albeit the fast, etc. is pushed off until the conclusion of Shabbat. Thus, the reality of Tisha B'Av intrudes on the holiness of the Sabbath as it does throughout the year in many other ways.

We complete the Book of Numbers this weekend with a double portion but tonight and tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Av beginning the 9 days of intense mourning culminating with Tisha B'Av. Throughout this period we forgo wine and meat and bathing for pleasure.

The sign for Av is Aryeh/Lion and one could suggest that this refers to the fact that the Messiah is born on Tisha B'Av heralding our ultimate redemption. The Messiah is a descendant from the House of David from the tribe of Judah whose symbol is indeed a lion.

Tisha B'Av is observed Saturday night July 21st through Sunday evening July 22nd because we don't observe rabbinic fasts on Shabbat. At TriBeCa Synagogue we will provide a basic Seudah Shlishit 7/21 at 8pm with evening services to be held 9pmfollowed by Eicha (Lamentations).

Besides the drama of Pinchas and Zimri, etc. this week's portion is known for all the calendar events throughout the year. Parts of this portion are read constantly as the maftir during holidays and on Rosh Chodesh. 

The Talmud poses a question as to the most important verse in the Torah and while one suggestion is the Shma and another is Love your neighbor as yourself, the conclusion is a passage from our reading. Namely: and a lamb you will bring in the morning and a second in the afternoon. 

On the surface we scratch our heads trying to find the significance but the sages explain that what this verse emphasizes is RELIABILITY and constancy. These sacrifices were brought 7 days a week, 354 days a year without fail. As a matter of fact, one of the harbingers of the impending disasters of this time of year was "bitul haTamid", the cessation of this sacrifice.

In our own lives we should take this a call for our own consistency in practice. While we may not always be in a position to be effusive in our practice of Judaism, we must be reliable!

Even in summer time the minyan is dynamic

Robert Berger receives the gift of Techelet from his brother

Magnificent spread by Ken Rosenblum

This week's portion presents us a fascinating examination of the extent of free will. Balaam is told by God not to go with the representatives of Balak nor to participate in their nefarious proposal, but he doesn't take no for an answer! Instead he waits a day and asks again and it seems that God relents, at least in part. Still and all, upon beginning the journey Balaam is met by an Angel expressing God's wrath and warning, but doesn't stop him from continuing. As a result Balaam does what he really wants to do with disastrous results for himself and Balak. Based on this, the Talmud states "in the path a person wants to go, we 'escort' him". 

People often ask in the aftermath of horrible human behavior "how did God 'let' this happen". Such a question is appropriate in the aftermath of a natural disaster but the story of Balaam teaches us how far our responsibility goes for our own behavior. Free will is a precious gift for which we must be prepared to accept its consequences, both good and bad.

Sunday is the fast day of the 17th of Tamuz which is the calendar date of the sin of the golden calf but commemorates the breach in the wall around Jerusalem heralding the eventual destruction of the Temple and exile. It begins the 3 weeks of mourning culminating with the 9th of Av falling this year on July 22nd

Mazel Tov to Isaac Feldman and Janna Kaminsky for the birth of their daughter who will be named at the synagogue this Shabbat.

A year's journey is completed

Last day of TriBeCa Torah Hebrew School

A new journey begins!

Hebrew Reading for Beginners

This week we are confronted with the challenge of understanding why Moses was denied entry into the promised land. On the surface we read that since he hit the rock instead of speaking to it he was “punished” quite severely.

One way to diminish the harshness of the story is to focus on the symbolism of the staff versus the spoken word. The staff represents how Moses had to lead the generation leaving the slavery of Egypt while the spoken word represented how he was to deal with the new generation ready to enter the new land. These were 2 very different generations requiring very different leadership styles all symbolized by Moses being told to hit the rock to bring forth water 40 years earlier while now he is told to speak to the rock.

The fact that he was not able to manage the crisis with this new leadership style revealed that he could no longer maintain his effective authority and would have to yield to Joshua. Hence what we have is more of a revelation of a new reality as opposed to a punishment.

TriBeCa Synagogue acknowledges the following individuals whose enormous efforts created our spectacularly fun and exciting evening this past Tuesday:

Benefit Chairs - Isaac Fuhrmann & Rabbi Jonathan Glass

Dolores Wine, Alexander Glass, Toby Turkel, Allan Englander, Beth Lieberman and Debra Moezinia

Also helping were Gabe Lieberman, friend Shelley and Sam Kulok for the fabulous music

The great George Braithwite with his patented Double Sax!

Amazing children’s program with The Bubble Show and Mezuzah Project

Hebrew Reading For Beginners!

You can still join this Friday morning at 11:30am

Read Dr. Freema Gottlieb featured in the current edition of the Jewish Week!

One of the midrashim describing the debate between Korach and Moshe has them contending about the mitzvah of mezuza. Korach points to a house full of Torah and asks whether it needs a mezuza. When Moshe responds in the affirmative Korach and his minions laugh at the lack of logic: if all a house needs is a small parchment on the door post then certainly a house full of Torah fulfills the requirement!

One of the earlier commentators makes a startling claim regarding the failed mission of the spies, for which we suffer even to the present day. He stated that the reason the mission failed was because Moses didn’t include a woman in this group of 12!

Our tradition has it that the exodus from Egypt was justified primarily because of the righteousness of the women of that generation, and this included their unconditional love of the land of Israel. Indeed, we are told that not one female participated in the sin of the spies and as a result no female passed away in the desert the entire time they were there. Thus, they all merited to enter the promised land.

HELLO SUMMER! A Benefit for the TriBeCa Synagogue

Tuesday, June 19^th 5:30pm -For the entire family!

Register here

BBYO Teen Shabbat!

Regional Director Jon Zeftel will address the congregation, teen activities following services

Congratulations to Zach Epstein-Peterson and Ariella Goldman

Wedding at Liberty Warehouse, Red Hook

Bar Mitzvah at TS June,2000 – Aufruf at TS June, 2018

Club Latino in SoHo screening “The Last Suit”

With Director Pablo Solarz,

Rabbi Glass’s Dvar Torah in Spanish!

Thank you Belkis Hirsch, Allen Hirsch and Jim Stark

At the end of the portion the Torah describes God’s mode of communication with Moses as on a higher level than other prophets and as such Miriam, although a prophet herself, didn’t have the authority to criticize him. But, as high as this sounds, everything in the Torah must have practical value so we can use this as a model for our communication.

God speaks to Moses “mouth to mouth”, meaning face to face and without an intermediary. While some prophets only heard from God in their sleep at night, Moses was always awake.  And finally, receiving prophecy for Moses was a normal experience,  without the physical reactions common to other prophets.

In this digital age of devices, we must take care to insure our communication with those in our life remain personal, focused and calm.

SAVE THE DATE – HELLO SUMMER!

 TriBeCa Synagogue Benefit

Tuesday June 19th

Wedding season for the TriBeCa Synagogue community:

Aufruf today for Zach Epstein-Peterson

Marrying Ariella Goldman this Sunday

David Mishkin and Ariel Ratner

Summer wedding.

Aufruf at TS

Ben Daniels and Amanda Bores

Planning a fall wedding at TS

This week’s portion features more repetition than anywhere else in the Torah. Specifically, in donating to the dedication of the Tabernacles, the 12 tribes presented the exact same set of gifts. According to tradition we are told that this was miraculous as the 12 tribes didn’t consult with each other beforehand and still came up with the exact same combination of items and amounts.

Still, the bigger question is why the repetition? The Torah could have described the first one and simply stated that the other 11 were identical. One answer proposed is that even though they were externally identical, the Torah is implying they were still different from each other by virtue of the fact that they were presented by different groups.

And to this very day, even though millions of Jews practice the identical set of rituals and recite identical prayers, each of us put our own unique stamp on these rituals and prayers.

The TriBeCa Synagogue expresses its deepest appreciation to Joel and Lynsey Plasco for our tremendously successful Scholar in Residence of 2 weekends ago.

We also thank the 3 young students from YU Torah Tours who deeply enriched our Yom Tov weekend and all the sponsors who made it possible.

Finally, the TriBeCa Synagogue takes this opportunity to recognize the accomplishments so far of our basketball team – Isaac’s Lions, which achieved the best regular season record in the history of our  program.

 Isaac’s Lions are named in memory of Isaac Goldberg Volkmar, a sweet soul dedicated to all youth and are generously sponsored by Neil Wallin and Eve Goldberg.

The midrash says that Torah is acquired through fire, water and wilderness, the source for the latter is our portion this week which begins: “And the Lord spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai saying...” Fire and water represent the opposite emotions of passion and deliberation necessary for the mastery of Torah, while, in a modern context, one could suggest that wilderness refers to focus-the ability to clear away all the distractions we face on a daily basis. We are coming upon 3 consecutive days when we are supposed to be free from devices, the news and everything else. What a wonderful opportunity for growth and introspection!

TriBeCa Synagogue welcomes Josh Leichter, Phillip Nagler and Shayna Weiss from YU’s Torah Tours for this entire weekend helping get the most of our Yom Tov experience. Remember to register here for dinner Saturday evening.

Congratulations to Ben Zion Glass for achieving his MSW from LIU this past Sunday!