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Shabbat, 20th June 2020 / 28th Sivan 5780
Shelach Lecha / Pirkei-Avot: Chapter 3
Mevarachim HaChodesh

Dear Member,

 

Please see below our weekly e-newsletter.

 

On the advice of the Chief Rabbi's Office, please note that all services at the Synagogue have been cancelled until further notice.

 

We hope that where possible you will keep to the Government's advice regarding self isolation and avoiding non-essential gatherings. 

 

https://chiefrabbi.org/all-media/principlesforexitinglockdown/

 

If you are in need of anything then please ring the Synagogue Office on: 0208 629 2780 and we will try to assist you.

 

This week’s Cranbrook News is sponsored by
Irene & Max Placks in celebration of their Golden Wedding.

 

Shabbat Shalom,

 

Cranbrook US

Clarification regarding the Shabbat times during the summer months

 

Ordinarily Shabbat begins 18 minutes before sunset. However, as we enter the long days of summer in our community we will be bringing Shabbat in at the earlier time of 7.40pm.

 

This will allow our members to have their Friday night meal at a more convenient hour.

 

For the benefit of our members who are unable to light candles with the rest of the community at 7.40pm, we will publish in the newsletter the latest time for candle lighting.

News and Views

 

This week’s parsha deals with the spies, and how they are sent into the land of Canaan to bring back a report for the Jewish people. The Torah tells us that 10 out of the 12 spies returned with a negative report about the land of Israel.  They said that the land of Canaan has strong armies, that they were barricaded by defences up to the heavens. There are giants in the land, the spies claimed, and the land will literally consume them all. The Jewish people hear this negative report, and they cry. They say: It is because G-d hates us” - that G-d took us out of Egypt, only to get us destroyed by the Emori, one of the nations that live in the Land of Canaan.

 

There is a major question which needs to be dealt with here. G-d had promised the Jewish people that they would be able to conquer the land of Israel from their enemies. They had seen G-d’s power, his ability to crush the most powerful nation in the known world of the time - the Egyptians were completely wiped out as a military force single-handedly by G-d. Why did the Jewish people not trust that G-d would do the same thing again?  After everything that they had seen, everything that they had experienced, why did they lack faith? 

 

The commentators all pick up on one issue - the spies were scared. They were frightened of going from the known - the comfortable, into the unknown. In the desert, as miraculous as their existence was, it was comfortable - it was known - it was the status quo. Now, they were being asked to move to a place in which they no longer got food from heaven, no longer had clothes which never needed washing, no longer had direct contact with G-d. They were moving into the unknown, and this caused them to have incredible terror. Fear debilitates. It weakens us. It stops us thinking. It stops us being logical. It destroys our sense of self-worth. The antidote to fear is trust - faith that G-d can take and will take care of us.  

 

This faith is something which we need to hold onto during these difficult and challenging times. Finding our faith will dissolve our fears, and G-d willing we will come out of this situation a stronger and braver people.

 

Shabbat Shalom

 

Rabbi Steven, Siobhan, Maya and Talia Dansky

Shalom Magazine, Rosh Hashanah 5781 Edition (September 2020)

Bored?

Fed up with being stuck at home?
Looking for something to do?
Why not contribute to the Rosh Hashanah Edition of Shalom, your Shul Magazine?  “Anyone can Write”, so put pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard - and produce an interesting article, preferably with a Jewish content!
Please email articles by 10th July 2020 to stanton.philippa@gmail.com or, if you aren’t on email, post your written work to Philippa Stanton, 39, St Peters Close, Newbury Park, Essex, IG2 7QL giving your telephone number.

All contributions will be acknowledged either by email or by telephone.

I look forward to hearing from you. - Philippa Stanton - Editor

Click on the image to join Men's Virtual Happy Hour

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Condolences:-

 

Barbara Robinson on the loss of her husband, Jeffrey Robinson.

 

Craig and Russel Robinson on the loss of their father, Jeffrey Robinson.

 

Manny Robinson and Gilda Melnick on the loss of their brother, Jeffrey Robinson.

 

Sheila Graham on loss of her husband, Aubrey Graham.

Marina Graham and Dawn McNeille on the loss of their father, Aubrey Graham.

 

Karla Austin and family on the loss of her husband, Michael Austin.

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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, July 25th; August 8th,15th & 22nd; September 19th & 26th.
To book any of these dates please call the synagogue office on: 020-8629 2780 or e-mail admin@cranbrooksynagogue.org.uk

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

Vera Aarons, Barrie Abrahams, Robin Abrahams, Marian Arbiter,

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