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6th March 2021 / 22nd Adar 5781
Ki Tisa / Parshat Parah

Dear Member,

 

Please see below for our weekly e-newsletter.

 

Booking is now open for Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday, 12th March at 5.45pm and for Shabbat on 13th March at 10am.

Bookings will close at 6pm on Wednesday 10th March.

 

We will be opening booking for our Pesach morning services on Sunday, 7th March 2021.

 

Normal weekday services will not be resuming at present.

 

The Shul office will remain open for phone calls only. Please do not visit the Shul office for any reason. If you are due to make a payment, this can be done by debit/credit card by ringing Michelle on 020 8629 2783 or by cheque through the post.

 

If you know of anyone that needs our help please contact the Shul office.

This week’s Cranbrook News is kindly sponsored by
Felton Wald, in loving memory of his late father,
Avraham ben Yitzchak z”l, Alfred Wald.

Details of our Weekday Zoom services are detailed below.
 

Shabbat Shalom

 

Cranbrook US

News and Views
 

This week’s Torah portion tells us about how the Jews went from the highest levels of spirituality when they received the 10 commandments from the Almighty, to the doldrums when they served the golden calf. When Moses hears that the Jewish people have broken their covenant with G-d, and sees them prancing around this golden statue he takes the Tablets which were written by the Almighty, and breaks them in front of the eyes of the Jewish people.

 

Now these tablets were no ordinary tablets. The Torah itself describes these tablets as the work of G-d, engraved from both sides, and yet at the same time the letters were embossed on the tablets. Furthermore, the tablets themselves were not made of any stone, it was made out of a solid piece of sapphire, according to the sages. This was clearly no ordinary set of tablets. Why then did Moses break them?

 

The sages set to work trying to understand his behaviour.  According to some, the reason that the Luchot were broken was not a sign of anger from Moses, rather disillusionment. After everything that he had done for them, everything that they had experienced, the people had reverted to the behaviour that they had left in Egypt of serving idols. Moses feels exhausted and disillusioned by the people, and this causes him such weakness, that he actually destroys the tablets, not by throwing them down, but rather because they fell out of his hands. He did not have the strength to hold them anymore.

 

The Talmud takes another view. When Moshe throws down the tablets, Hashem replies Yasher Koach - or good on you! He congratulates Moses for making such a decision. Why should he have been so pleased about the decision to destroy something that G-d himself had made?

 

The Medrash explains as follows: Moses saw that the Jewish people had made a fatal mistake, one which would have required them to be destroyed. He reasoned to himself: “if the Jewish people have sinned, I too will sin”. He therefore broke the Luchot, in a sign of solidarity with them. By breaking the tablets, Moses was “disobeying G-d” and in that moment, in that act of rebellion he placed himself on the same spiritual level as the Jewish people. He was prepared to do that because of his love of his fellow Jews, no matter that they had sinned. He refused to see them obliterated, and was prepared to risk his own spiritual perfection for them.

This show of breaking the Luchot was not an act aimed at the Jews, it was aimed at G-d himself, and this impresses the Almighty that he comments “Yasher Koach - well done” - your action has saved the Jewish people. Moses’s ultimate sacrifice shows the steps a great leader takes to understand and empathise with the needs of his own people.

 

I wish you all a very good Shabbos.

 

Rabbi Steven, Siobhan, Maya and Talia Dansky.

COVID PRECAUTIONS

 

MEN TO ENTER THROUGH THE FRONT DOORS.

 

PROCEED STRAIGHT TO A SEAT WITHOUT STOPPING. AVOID GREETING AND TALKING IN FOYER

 

LADIES TO ENTER THROUGH SIDE DOORS AND PROCEED TO SEATS UPSTAIRS KEEPING TO THE LEFT

 

ALL CLOAKROOMS ARE CLOSED KEEP BELONGINGS WITH YOU

 

NO COMMUNAL SINGING OR CHANTING, RABBI / LEADERS ONLY

 

MEN TO EXIT ONLY THROUGH THE SIDE AND REAR FIRE EXITS

 

LADIES TO EXIT USING THE MAIN STAIRCASE, KEEPING LEFT AT ALL TIMES AND PROCEED SLOWLY DOWN THE STAIRS TO FRONT FORECOURT

 

PLEASE OBSERVE THE 2M SOCIAL DISTANCING RULE AT ALL TIMES

 

WASH HANDS REGULARLY

 

Please remember the Guidelines are there for your protection and safety.

Exercise for members offered by Jewish Care
 

We have the opportunity to participate in the programme offered by Jewish Care, particularly with regard to exercise.

The following is available:-

Monday - Chair Yoga with Dance is held from 12.00pm – 1.00pm
 

If members are interested in this they should contact Jewish Care on 020 8418 2114.

They will then be able to register to receive details of all events being offered and also given guidance to on how to set up a Zoom meeting.

There are occasions that we need men to help make a minyan at a levoya, this is a great mitzvah. We appreciate that during this difficult time men do not want to go out, perhaps some of our younger members would like to help out.

If you are interested please give Harold a call on 07434 580885.

Sponsorship

 

If you would like to mark a birthday or Simcha, or want to commemorate a Yahrzeit, this can be done by sponsoring Cranbrook News. In the forthcoming weeks, there are many dates that are available. The cost of sponsoring Cranbrook News is £15.

 

Sponsorship is available for the on-line version of Cranbrook News on the following dates: March 20th and 27th; April 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th.

 

To book any of these dates please call the synagogue office on: 020-8629 2780 or e-mail admin@cranbrooksynagogue.org.uk

Pesach 5781 - Shalom Magazine

Many thanks to everyone who has submitted articles for the Shalom Magazine. We have now closed entries for the Pesach 5781 edition.

However, if you have any contributions you would like to make, please email them to stanton.philippa@gmail.com and I will keep them on file for inclusion in the Rosh Hashanah 5782 [New Year 2021] Edition.

Philippa Stanton - Editor

Condolences to:

 

Frances Masters on the loss of her husband, Howard Masters.

 

Darren and Scott Masters on the loss of their father, Howard Masters. 

We wish Long Life to everyone who is observing a Yahrzeit this week: 

Barrie Abrahams, Tracy Abrahams, Michael Alexander, Audrey Allen,
Sandra Angel, Maisie Barnett, Cyril Berkeley, Henry Berman,
Maureen Bresh, Jacqueline Brett, Bernard Chaplin, Frederick Cohen,
Barbara Cohen, Sharon Collins, Leila Conn, Miriam Conway,
Hetty Conway, Sandra Fagelson, Manuel Feldman, Ian Fenton,
Nigel Fidlan, Corinne Fishman, David Franklyn, Helen Gilles,
Barrie Gold, Jonathan Gold, Nathan Gold, Karen Goldberg,
Barbara Gordon, Deana Green, Ivor Greer, Michael Griver,
Barbara Grossman, Sara Harris, Heather Hawkes, Pearl Hiller,
Myrtle Holman, Martin Jacobs, Betty Jacobs, Michael Jason,
Rosalind Johnstone, Jessie Kenton, Minnie Kogan, Antony Laiker,
Shirley Leach, Jeffrey Leader, David Lee, Estelle Luton,
Marilyn Mandel, Betsy Mandell, Alan Marcus, Caroline Marcus,
Denise Martin, Joan Masters, Sheila Mednick, Marilyn Mendel,
Peter Mendel, Stephen Mendel, Stephen Messias, Lawrence Michaels,
Shirley Millar, Anita Miller, Rhona Morris, Ethel Moss,
Yaffa Nathan, Diana Neslen, Stanley Oberman, Walter Owen,
Betty Pam, Stuart Pessok, Bernice Phillips, Jeffrey Pinkus,
Maureen Rappoport, Daniel Rose, Graham Rosenberg, Miriam Rosenberg,
Herman Rothman, Noreen Salador, Neil Sapler, Susan Sapler,
Malcolm Schneider, Philip Shaw, Marian Shelton, Hyman Shinett,
Leonard Silver, Helen Silver, Cynthia Simmons, Stanley Simmons,
Shirley Slipman, Michelle Smith, Andrew Stern, Karen Stern,
Rita Stevens, Maureen Summers, Marcia Tomas, Joyce Veronique,
Helen Walker, Barbara Wallen, Josephine Wayne, Gerald Weiland,
Rita Weiland, Norman Whyte and Sharon Wigul.

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