David Bassous - Rabbi
Ray Morris - President
Visit our Website at http://etzahaim.org for the latest news
Friday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Mincha: 7:00pm
- Candle lighting: 7:36pm
Saturday - Parashat Achare
Full Range of Children's Groups: 9:45am - 11:30am
- Boys 6 and up in the Library.
- Girls 6 and up upstairs left classroom.
- Boy's tefilla group meeting at 9:30am
- Children 3 - 5 upstairs right classroom.
- Rabbi Hakakian's Parasha Class: 8:00am
- Shacharit: 8:45am
- Latest Shema: 8:41am
- Special Kiddush in Memory of Esther Arouh
- To sponsor a kiddush, go to our Kiddush webpage.
- Zera Shimshon: 5:00pm with Rabbi Weintraub
- Women's Tehillim Group: 5:00pm
- Morality a Jewish Ethic with Rabbi Bassous: 6:00pm
- Mincha: 7:15pm
- Seuda Shelishit
- Sponsored by Dr. Haim and Rahel Baruh & Family in memory of his Father
- Arvit: 8:36pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:36pm
Sunday
- Shacharit: 8:30am
- Women's Class: Pirke Avot: 10:00am
- Rabbi Weintraub Origins of Tefillah 10:00 am
- Shulchan Aruch: 7:00pm
- Mincha and Arvit: 7:30pm
- Nefesh HaChaim Class: 8:10pm
Monday - Thursday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Mishna-a-Day: 7:20am
- Shulchan Aruch: 7:00pm
- Mincha and Arvit: 7:30pm
- Tuesday: Talmud for Men: Berachot: 8:00pm
Next Friday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Mincha: 7:00pm
- Candle lighting: 7:43pm
News and Events From our Webpage
The following events and news items can be found on our webpage at http://etzahaim.org
- Help Us Welcome New Members to Our Community - HP/Edison Connection welcomes new members to our community. Our laison is looking for people to host new community members for Shabbat dinner. Please sign up to help out.
- Help Us Replace Our Women's Seating in Our Sanctuary
- Stand Tall and Come to Shul this Shabbat to Strenthen the Community -- An Important Message from Rabbi Goldstein of the Chabad of Poway
- Laws of the Omer
- Purchasing Chametz on Pesach -- One may not benefit from chametz owned by a Jew on Pesach
- May 15: Names, Not Numbers -- A movie by the 8th Grade Class at RPRY
- May 19: RPRY Annual Dinner -- Honoring Holocaust Survivors
- May 21: Join Rabbi Basous for This Year's NORPAC Mission to Washington
- May 24: Rabbi Stephen Baars -- Scholar in Residence -- Join us and help us welcome Rabbi Stephen Baars this Shabbat. Registar Now!
- If you have an outstanding balance with Etz Ahaim, please send in your payment to help the Synagogue. Your help is appreciated.
- If you are the last person to leave the building (except on Shabbat and Chaggim) make sure all the lights are out.
- If you are celebrating a simcha or want to remember a loved one, sponsoring a kiddush is one of the best ways to mark the occasion. To sponsor a Shabbat Kiddush, please go to our Kiddush Sponsorship Page on our website and fill out the on line form.
- To sponsor a seuda or a Sunday morning breakfast, call the shul at 732-247-3839.
Bikur Cholim of Congregation Etz Ahaim
- Contact Rose Reiss at (732) 828-7415 in order to volunteer.
- Seeking volunteers to visit: Shirley Cohena and others at the Regency Nursing home on DeMott Lane in Somerset. For more info, contact Rahel Baruh.
- Drivers and coordinators needed. Call (732) 572-7181 for more information.
The congregation extends refua shelema wishes to:
- Avishai ben Esther
- Avraham ben Sarah
- Linda Balavram (Emuna bat Sarah)
- Clara bat Rachel
- Cochavit bat Victoria
- David ben Farha
- Esther bat Liba
- Galina bat Riva
- Gittel bat Leah
- Bradley Greenberg (Yehuda Dovid ben Tzvia Sarah)
- Keren bat Orly
- Liba Shaindel bat Chava
- Lidia bat Paulina
- Lita Greenberg (Tzvia Sarah bat Golda)
- Millie Hakim (Miriam bat Sarah)
- Benny Mayo (Bentzion ben Avraham)
- Mary Naar (Miriam bat Yitzchak)
- Miriam Devorah bat Bracha
- Penina Rachel bat Bracha
- Perla bat Leah
- Rosa bat Rachel
- Shaul ben Regina
- Velvel ben Chana
- Yehuda Reich (Yehuda ben Hermina)
- Lilas Saltiel (Leah Saltiel)
- Sheva bat Merel
- Zimbul bat Vida
Community News
Highland Park/Edison Connects invites you to join us for our (free!) weekly Wednesday Lunch and Learn program!! Every Wednesday join other women in our community for words of inspiration and chizuk over a dairy buffet lunch!
Join us Wednesday, May 8 at 12:30PM for the second video of a new Tammy Karmel series on relationships titled Building Worlds with Words. This week's program is sponsored and hosted by Yossi and Ruchi Stern at their home 19 Brookdale Court, HP to mark the first yahrzeit of their sister, Bina Stern Blumenfrucht, A'H.
For more information or to RSVP, please email Rachelle Stern or visit the HP/Edison Connect Website
The ACTT (Achieving Change Through Torah) program helps individuals succeed in making meaningful and lasting changes in their lives.
- Module: Ahavas Chessed -- Loving Kindness (Module 5)
- Source book:
- The Glittering World of Chessed by Rabbi Paysach Krohn
- Speaker Rabbi Yizchock Fingerer, Rabbi at Aish HaTorah in New York
Download or listen to from the Audio page of the ACTT web site. For more info, email or call Phil Rosen (732) 572-8762.
Rebbitzen Eichenstein’s classes for women:
- Tefillah class on Sunday, May 5. Refreshments at 10:45am, Shiur at 11:00am in the basement of the Aguda shul as shiur is being dedicated in loving memory of the mother of Judy Tannenbaum, Mrs. Marion Pianko, Mahriam Ruchel b-s Yaakov Bentzion, upon her sheloshim. All women are encouraged and welcome to attend this shiur.
- Parsha class on Monday, May 6 at 8:00pm at Congregation Ohr Torah.
- For more info, please call/text Aviva at 732-672-7104 or siegelmom@gmail.com
Women's Learning Initiative:
- Offers customized Torah learning partners / chavrusas! For a personalized study program of your choice, email your contact information to womenslearninginitiative@gmail.com
- Parsha class by Mrs. Miri Cohen: Tuesday, May 7 at 9:30 AM at the home of Leah Epshtein, 253 Lawrence Avenue, Highland Park. Please call / text Leah at 917-763-1848 to confirm.
- Shimiras Haloshon class by Mrs. Leah Drillman: Class on Monday, May 6 at 7:30 PM at the home of Ellen Smith, 407 North 8th Ave, Edison. For more info, please call Ellen at 201-410-1893 or 732-777-6787.
Tiferes: Weekly teleconferences with topics such as shalom bayis and parenting are available to Tiferes members. Current teleconferences: “If I Am Not Me, Who Is?” with Mrs. Yael Kaisman, "Parents & Children, 3 Pillars of a Great relationship" with Mrs. Rochel Benstein, "The Giving Tree" with Mrs. Chaya Breindy Kenigsberg, and "Shalom Bayis - Getting it Right" with Mrs. Rivka Katz.
Weekly teleconferences with topics such as shalom bayis and parenting are available to Tiferes members.
For more info or to become a member, please contact Aviva Siegel.
The Highland Park / Edison group of Tiferes is zecher l'nishmas Malka bas Shalom.
Rabbi Eli Reisman will be speaking for men and women on The Community Eruv in Modern Times on Shabbat, May 4th at 6:20pm at Khal Chassidim, 46 N. 8th Avenue. Topics will include how does it work, one of the religious women's rights to have an eruv on Shabbat, and how to make your very own eruv. For more information, please contact Marsha Eiserman at 347-203-7906.
Park Mikvah:
- Hours: Sunday - Thursday hours are 9:00pm – 11:00pm.
- Friday night or out of hours appointment via the website.
- Motzi Shabbat:
- May 4: 9:45pm - 11:30pm
- May 11: 10:00pm - 11:30pm
- May 18: 10:00pm - 11:30pm
- May 25: 10:00pm - 11:30pm
- For the mailing list for mikvah updates and hours subscribe on the website.
The Women's AMEN Group meets monthly on the Sundays following the Shabbos in which one bensches Rosh Chodesh, at 9:30 AM in a downstairs classroom at Congregation Ohr Torah. The group meets in the zechus of a refuah shelaimah for Menachem Mordechai ben Ophira and the other Cholim in the community.
Bikur Cholim OWLS (Overnight Women Labor Support): A complimentary service for maternity situations whereby volunteers will come to stay with your kids during the night. For more info on receiving this service or becoming a volunteer, please contact Rikki at 732-249-5116. Thank you.
Donations of diapers, pull-ups, and wipes are currently being accepted for the new HP/Edison Diaper Gemach. Please email diapergemach@gmail.com for more information.
Appeal from an OE Member Family: Update - Thank you to all who have contributed to raise funds for a community member to attend a rehab program. This person has completed the first and most expensive part of the program, and is, thank G-d, doing well. Even with the generous donations shared by community members, the family was forced to borrow thousands of dollars each month to pay $6,000 monthly for the program. They are struggling with significant accumulated debt, and our help is still needed. Please help this local family recover from extreme financial burden. They have generously supported our community in the past and never though they would need to ask for themselves. Please visit https://thechesedfund.com/cause/please-help-us-afford-rehab-to-save-our-son to donate by credit card or if you wish to make out a check instead of contributing online, please make it out to Congregation Ohav Emeth and in the memo write Rabbi’s Charity Fund. On a separate note (NOT IN MEMO), write that it is for the rehab campaign.
ERUV: The Highland Park Eruv has a webpage which includes a map and the most recent status of the eruv. You can even use the webpage to find out if someone’s house is inside the eruv. You can get automated notifications of the eruv’s status each Friday via Twitter, text, Facebook, or email.
Gemachs Abound in Highland Park: A Gemach is sometimes thought of a free loan organization, but these organizations can lend way more than just money. For example, if you have a large simcha at your house and need tables, center pieces, and tablecloths, a gemach can help you out. Etz Ahaim has a complete listing of all local area gemachs.