David Bassous - Rabbi
Ray Morris - President
Visit our Website at http://etzahaim.org for the latest news
Friday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Shir Hashirim: 6:30pm
- Mincha and Arvit: 6:48pm
- Candle Lighting: 6:48pm
Shabbat Day
Shabbat Day Parashat Ki Tissa - Para Everyone should come to hear Parashat Parah
Full Range of Children's Groups: 9:45am - 11:30am
- Boys 6 and up in the Library
- Girls 6 and up upstairs left classroom.
- Children 3 - 5 upstairs right classroom
- 8.00 am Parasha Class with Rabbi Ben Hakakian
- Shacharit: 8:45am
- Everyone -- Men and Women -- need to attend to hear Parashat Parah
- Latest Shema: 9:24am
- Kiddush: Sponsored by Ibeth in memory of her son.
- The Northern Kingdom of Israel of the Ten Tribes: Rabbi Bassous: 5:30 pm
- Mincha: 6:35pm
- Seuda Shelishit after Mincha
- Sponsored by Albert and Dr. Leora Levy Mitzner and family imo his stepfather
- Talk by Dr. Elisha Russ-Fishbane
- Arvit and Shabbat Ends: 7:48pm
Sunday
- 8.00am Class with Rabbi Ben Hakakian
- Shacharit: 8:30am
- Women's Class "Happiness" at 10.00 am
- Shulchan Aruch Class: 6:20pm
- Mincha and Arvit: 6:50 pm
- Rav Kook's Orot Teshuvah 9.00 pm
Monday - Thursday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Shulchan Aruch Class: 6:25pm
- New Mincha Minyan: 6:50pm
- Arvit: Right after Mincha
Next Week - Friday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Shir Hashirim: 6:40pm
- Mincha: 6:55pm
- Candle lighting 6:55pm
Classes
- Parsha and Halacha: Shabbat and Sunday: 8:00am
- Nach: Shabbat: 5:30pm
- Woman's Class: Happiness: Sunday: 10:00am
- Mishna-a-Day: Monday to Friday: 7:20am
- Halacha-a-Day: Monday - Thursday: 7:00pm
- New Class - Jewish Meditation Mondays: 8:00pm
- Talmud Berachot: Tuesdays: 8:00pm - Chapter Two
- Rav Kook's Orot Teshuvah Sundays 9.00 pm
Weekly Bulletin
New Class - Jewish Meditation
Rabbi Bassous has started a new class called Jewish Meditation. The class will cover the history of meditation, prophecy, and Ruach Hakodesh. It will explain the why and how to meditate in a Jewish fashion and demonstrate a simple, but powerful meditation technique of the Ben Ish Chai. Mondays at 8:00 pm at Congregation Etz Ahaim. Everyone is welcome and admission is free.
Please join Rabbi Bassous on the NORPAC trip to Washington DC
Israel and the US-Israel relationship face increasing challenges and uncertainty. With ever-mounting pressure at the UN to impose a peace settlement on Israel, continued threats and ballistic missile testing by Iran, the need to authorize over $3.8 billion in aid each year, BDS bullying its way onto more American college campuses, and the numerous new Members of Congress to inform about our issues, this will be an extremely important year for us. Please join Rabbi Bassous on the NORPAC trip to Washington DC on Wednesday, May 17th, 2017 for the single most important day of US-Israel relations advocacy!
Help Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of United Jerusalem
The Afikim Foundation in cooperation with the Israel Ministry of Diaspora Affairs has commissioned the writing of this unique and historic Torah and invites Jews across the globe to acquire its 304,805 letters, share via social media, and reveal hundreds of thousands of ways that goodness can elevate lives and give honor to Jerusalem.
Congregation Etz Ahaim has reserved a block of 200 letters for members of the congregation. Select your letter, and make a pledge to do an act of kindness/chesed for this letter. Fulfill your act, and mark your act as complete. That's it.
You can win a trip to Israel in order to attend the special ceremony on Yom Yerushalayim, May 24, 2017.
For more information, visit our webpage.
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 for 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. Please contact Yvonne at 908-227-5194. Our go to our webpage and fill out the form. To sponsor a seuda or a Sunday morning breakfast, call the shul at 732-247-3839.
Bikur Cholim of Congregation Etz Ahaim
Our Congregation has its own Bikur Cholim Committee. If you know of a congregant who is in the hospital or a nursing home and would like a visit, please let us know. If there is a Home-bound congregant who is in need of a visit or assistance, we can help. We may also be able to make contact with a Jewish Agency which may be able to provide additional services. Please call Rose Reiss at 732-828-7415.
Nursing Home Visitation: Seeking volunteers to visit Mollie Reuben, Esther Tucker, Shirley Cohen, and others at the Regency nursing home on DeMott Lane in Somerset. For more info or an updated list of residents requesting visitors, please call Rahel Baruh at 732-672-4673 or email rbaruh@yahoo.com
Transportation Committee: Drivers and coordinators needed. Coordinate rides to and from medical appointments - match requests with an available driver. Each coordinator serves for two weeks at a time. To volunteer to coordinate or to drive, please call Bikur Cholim hotline at 732-572-7181 or fill out the volunteer form on the website bikurcholimrv.com
The congregation extends get-well wishes to:
- Al Benzilio
- Soroh Rosen
- Viktorya Koen
- Avishai ben Esther
- Galina bat Riva
- Joey Cenci (Yoseph Michael ben Yael Rut)
- Linda Balavram (Emuna bat Sarah)
- Esther Tucker
- Nancy Reich
- Yehudah Reich
- Benny Mayo
- Mary Belsky
- Esther Arouh
- Lilas Saltiel
- Donna Bardy
- Mary Naar
- Lita Greenberg
- Bradley Greenberg
- Marcelo Schor
- Sarah bat Naava
- Perla bat Leah
Community News
Request for Assistance
We realize there are many requests for Tzedaka, all heart wrenching. However, the rules of Tzedaka are to first help your family, then help your community, then outside the community. Here is a campaign started by longtime members of our community, who are presently struggling with the serious issue of having a family member trying to recover in rehab. They need to raise about $6,000 a month and rehab can take about a year.
Please search Thechesedfund.com and put in the name of the campaign which is please help us afford rehab to save our son. Please open up your hearts and help this local family keep their son in rehab. They have been generous in the past in supporting our community and never thought they would need to ask for themselves.
(Please note: Rabbi Kaufman and Rabbi Kaminetzky have reviewed this issue and the great need of the family and encourage all to help in this extremely worthy and lifesaving effort.) If you wish to make out a check instead of contributing online, please make it out to Congregation Ohav Emeth, in the memo write Rabbi's Charity Fund. On a separate note (NOT in memo) write that it is for the Rehab campaign"
Classes and Meetings
Women's Learning Initiative: Mrs. Leah Drillman’s Shimiras Haloshon class will resume after Pesach. For more info, please call Ellen at 201-410-1893 or 732-777-6787.
Rebbitzen Eichenstein’s classes for women: Tefillah class on Sunday, March 19 at 11:00 AM at the Aguda shule; Parsha class on Monday, March 20 at 8:00 PM at Cong. Ohr Torah. For more info, please contact Aviva at 732-572-4408 or siegelmom@optonline.net
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 theother Cholim in the community.
The Highland Park mikvah is ready to be transformed into a most beautiful, inviting facility, one which the entire community can be proud of! It is now closed; anticipated reopening before Pesach 2017. The Young Israel of East Brunswick will be extending their hours throughout the duration of Park Mikvah renovations: Saturday – Thursday: 8:00 – 11:00 PM. Please check their website for more info regarding fees, and for changes in schedule due to inclement weather. YIEB: 193 Dunhams Corner Road, East Brunswick, 732-257-4121 or http://www.yieb.org/mikvah.html The YIEB mikvah strongly encourages women to prepare at home, due to the expected high volume of patrons. Pending volunteer availability, Park Mikvah will endeavor to provide transportation to or from the YIEB mikvah, as a free service. Please email Aviva at siegelmom@optonline.net to volunteer as a driver, or 2 days prior to your visit, to request a ride to the mikvah. Fundraising campaign to finance the renovations has begun! Dedication opportunities are now available! To make a donation, checks can be mailed to Park Mikvah, 36 Skyview Terrace, Highland Park, NJ 08904 or payment by credit card or PayPal via PayPal.Me/parkmikvah For more info, email hpmikvah@gmail.com or www.parkmikvah.org.
Tiferes DVD for women Motzai Shabbos, March 18 at 9:00 PM, at the Siegel house: “Peer Pressure – Does it ever end?” Speakers: Rabbi Ariel Shoshan and Mrs. Ayala Berney. Weekly teleconferences with topics such as shalom bayis and parenting are available to Tiferes members. Current teleconference: “Smile- A Happiness Plan for You and Your Family” with Mrs. Chani Juravel, LCSW. For more info, please contact Aviva siegelmom@optonline.net. The Highland Park / Edison group of Tiferes is zecher l'nishmas Malka bas Shalom.
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.