David Bassous - Rabbi
Ray Morris - President
Visit our Website at http://etzahaim.org for the latest news
Friday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Mishna-a-Day: 7:20pm
- Mincha and Arvit: 7:00pm
- Candle lighting: 7:15pm
Saturday - Parashat Metzora / Shabbat HaGadol
NOTE: It's a mitzvah for everyone to listen to this week's special Torah reading of Parshat HaGadol
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: 9:00am
- Kiddush sponsored by Jose Mitrani and Albert Levy Mitzner
- In memory of their grandfather, Albert Levy Avraham Ben Yosef
- To sponsor a kiddush, go to our Kiddush webpage.
- Zera Shimshon: 4:45pm with Rabbi Hakakian
- Women's Tehillim Group: 4:45pm
- Shabbat HaGadol Drasha with Rabbi Bassous: 5:45pm
- Mincha: 6:45pm
- Seuda Shelishit
- Sponsored by Solomon and Violetta Silfen & Family in memory of her Father
- Sponsored by Dr. Isaac and Barbara Edery & Family
in memory of his father
- Class: Pesach Free-will and Hardening Pharoh's heart with Dr. Isaac Edery
- Arvit: 8:15pm
- Shabbat Ends: 8:15pm
Sunday
- Shacharit: 8:30am
- Women's Class: Pirke Avot: 10:00am
- Shulchan Aruch: 6:50pm
- Mincha and Arvit: 7:20pm
- Nefesh HaChaim Class: 8:00pm
Monday - Thursday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Mishna-a-Day: 7:20am
- Shulchan Aruch: 6:50pm
- Mincha and Arvit: 7:20pm
- Tuesday: Talmud for Men: Berachot: 8:00pm
Next Friday
- Shacharit: 6:30am
- Followed by Siym for the Fast of the Firstborn: Around 7:20am
- Finish Eating Chametz: by 10:42am
- Burn Chametz: by 11.49am
- Mincha: 7:00pm
- Candle lighting: 7:22pm
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
- Tomchei Shabbos Pesach Campaign -- Help those who don't have the funds to have a seder.
- Sell Your Chametz -- We're the only Congregation in town where you can sell your chametz over the Internet.
- Star-K's Allowed for Pesach Pet Food -- Your pets should be chametz free too.
- Congregation Netzach Israel's 2019 Pesach List and Guide
- JSOR's Sepharidic Kosher for Pesach List -- The Jersey Shore Orthodox Rabbinate.
- The Laws of Pesach -- Now that Purim is over, we can start thinking about Pesach.
- April 19: Burn Your Chametz
- 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 get-well wishes to:
- Avishai ben Esther
- Avraham ben Sarah
- Amos ben Galina
- Linda Balavram (Emuna bat Sarah)
- Chaim Yaakov Ben 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)
- Penina Rachel bat Bracha
- Perla bat Leah
- Rosa bat Rachel
- Shaul ben Regina
- Yehuda Reich (Yehuda ben Hermina)
- Lilas Saltiel (Leah Saltiel)
- Sheva bat Merel
- Zimbul bat Vida
Community News
Make the calls that make the difference at Jewish Federation in the Heart of NJ Spring Super Sunday, this Sunday, April 14! To sign up to make calls and/or make your 2019 Spring Super Sunday gift now, visit: https://jewishheartnj.org/ ways-to-give/spring-super-Sunday. Flexible shifts available anytime from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. at 230 Old Bridge Turnpike, South River.
RPRY+ will hold a Pre-Pesach Pasta Party this Tuesday, April 16. We all know what the week before Pesach looks like! Take a break from cleaning, and let RPRY take care of dinner! Cost: Adults $12; Early Childhood students $6; Family Max $60; order forms and menu to follow. RPRY+ members get a special discount!
For over 88 years, the JBI Library has enabled visually impaired people all over the world to participate in the most treasured of Jewish rituals, the Passover Seder, by providing FREE Large Print Haggadot.
If you or someone you know needs a Large Print Haggadah this year, please call JBI 800-999-6476 by this Friday, April 12 and they will be happy to send you a Large Print Haggadah, completely free of charge. Enjoy the Seder! JBI is the largest library of Jewish interest in the world for visually impaired individuals with over 13,000 Talking Book titles.
All JBI services are free to the user and are delivered to the individual at his/her home.
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 after Pesach, on Wednesday, May 1 at 12:30PM for the first video of a new Tammy Karmel series on relationships titled "Building Worlds with Words." This week's program is sponsored and hosted by Esty Schwimmer, 474 Lincoln Avenue, HP in the zchus for a refuah shelayma for Yosef Chaim Ben Shoshana Menucha.
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:
Classes will continue after Pesach
For more info, please call/text Aviva at 732-672-7104 or siegelmom@gmail.com
The Kinder Fund in memory of Dina Eisner, a"h, is selling Purim Mishloach Manos cards for $2.00 each. The cards are perfect to send to all friends & relatives. All proceeds from the sale enable The Kinder Fund to help subsidize needed services for many local children. To obtain cards, contact Tova Josefovitz at 732-572-9432, Shoshana Diskind at 732-572-7755, Lani Eisner at 732-572-1087 or Janice Lustiger at 732-819-4919 or email your request to thekinderfund@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 will resume after Pesach
- Shimiras Haloshon Class by Mrs. Leah Drillman will resume after Pesach
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 Weiss' shiur on Tehillim will resume after Pesach
Park Mikvah:
- Hours: Sunday - Thursday hours are 8:30pm – 10:30pm.
- Friday night or out of hours appointment via the website.
- Motzi Shabbat and Holidays:
- April 13: 9:15pm - 11:15pm
- April 19 and 20: By Appointment Only
- April 21: 9:30pm - 11:30pm
- April 25 and 26: By Appointment Only
- April 27: 9:30pm - 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.