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27th February 2021 / 15th Adar 5781
Tetzaveh

Dear Member,

 

Please see below for our weekly e-newsletter.

 

The Shul will reopen for Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday 5th March at 5.30pm and for Shabbat on 6th March at 10am.

Bookings will close at 5pm on Wednesday 3rd March.

 

We will also be opening on Pesach for morning services, booking will be available shortly.

 

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
Martin and Estelle Silver on the occasion of their
Diamond (60th) wedding anniversary.

Details of our Weekday Zoom services are detailed below.
 

Shabbat Shalom

 

Cranbrook US

News and Views
 

We are just about to celebrate the festival of Purim and I thought it appropriate to look at the story in a bit more detail.

 

The story of Purim is one which happens to have many coincidences in it. Achashverosh, the King of Persia, happens to need a new wife, and Esther, a Jewess happens to be the woman whom he marries. The king’s guards plot to assassinate the king, and Mordechai, who happens to be Esther’s uncle hears about it, tells Esther, and the plot is foiled. The King appoints the evil Haman to be his prime-minister, and he happens to hold a personal vendetta against Mordechai, and through Mordechai to all the Jews, as Mordechai did not bow down to him. Haman and Achashverosh plot to commit genocide against the Jews, and Haman builds a gallows to hang Mordechai. The plot of Haman is exposed, and Haman is hanged on the very tree that coincidentally he planned to hang Mordechai. There are so many things in this story which just coincidentally ’fit’ together to create the final curtain call in which the Jews are victorious and Haman and his followers are destroyed. 

 

When there are so many coincidences which happen to snowball to create a final desired result, we need to start thinking that perhaps all of these things are not coincidences, but exquisitely crafted scenes which have been planned by the master playwright of all time, G-d himself.   He is behind the scenes, motivating the actors to act in the way they do, engineering the circumstances that enable the players to react and effect the grand play with our lives.  The Jews who lived through this incredible experience, were awake to the fact that they were being moved as pieces are moved on a stage. The Megillah states: “the Jewish people had light and splendour”. When we are in the light, we can see everything as it truly is. We can see the reality, and the Jews saw the reality of G-d with every movement that they made, every breath they took.

 

Haman on the other hand wanted to believe that there was no-one pulling the strings. His motif was the lottery. He believed life was like a lottery. If things go your way it is luck. If things don't go your way, then your luck is out. Haman does not believe in a universe which is planned. He believed in a world of chance, of percentages of likelihoods, but never one in which there was someone larger than he pulling the strings of his life. He was the master, and therefore any choices that he made were the right ones. There is no room for wrong or right, of morality where you are the ultimate captain of your own ship. There is just chance.

 

As Jews, we need to take this idea to heart - that ultimately there is no concept of chance- that our lives have purpose. It is up to us to find and define that purpose further, and that ultimately the fulfillment of that purpose is the script that G-d has in mind for every single one of us.

 

I wish you all a very good Shabbos.

 

Rabbi Steven, Siobhan, Maya and Talia Dansky.

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 13th, 20th & 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:

 

Tracy Rose on the loss of her father, Monty Shoben.

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

Audrey Allen, Brian Angel, Dena Aronberg, Susan Bass, Shirley Benton, Garry Bloom, Harvey Bourne, Renee Bravo, Karen Brent, Norma Burns, Valerie Caine, Rafi Caplin, Menashy Cohen, Natalie Conroy,
Carole Finkletaub, Angela Fox, Austin Friddin, Barbara Goldman,
Gerald Goodman, Melvyn Goodman, Barbara Grossman,
Pamela Halawi, Anita Haring, Heather Hawkes, Maurice Herman,
Pearl Hiller, Sharon Joseph, Sharon Kantor, Tania Kaye, Cyril Keizner,
Fay Knott, Sylvia Kopkin, Sally Leigh, Edward Leon, Linda Levene,
Carla Levene, Leonard Lewis, Kim Mcnally, Michelle Mervish, Frank Morris, Kay Nathan, Matthew Noble, Leslie Palmer, Mavis Pinner, Irene Placks,
David Rappaport, Gerald Reisman, Geoffrey Riesel, Sarah Roat,
Gerald Robins, Ruth Rose, Lisa Rosenberg, Ruth Russell, Neil Ryner,
Virginia Salamon, Janine Saunders, Clive Schaller, Linda Schaller,
Sandra Senjack, Beverley Sennett, Rosalie Shaffron, Yvonne Shoshan,
Alan Sidloff, Shirley Slipman, Vivienne Springer, Cyril Stitcher,
Iris Taylor, Robert Torz, Helen Tranis, Adrienne Trayman,
Louis Vitow, Monty Vitow, Henry Waldman, Frances Wallace,
Jeffrey Wiseman, Josette Wolffe and Sandra Young.

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