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Shabbat, 18th July 2020 / 26th Tammuz 5780
Matot-Masei / Pirkei-Avot: Chapter 1
Mevarachim HaChodesh

Dear Member,

 

Please see below our weekly e-newsletter.

 

We are very delighted to inform you that we are in the final stages of organising the re-opening of the Synagogue for both weekday and Shabbat services which will be commencing with the Weekday services on Monday, 27th July 2020.

 

Weekday Shacharit service will take place Monday – Friday at 8.00am, Sunday, 8.30am and Weekday Mincha/Ma’ariv at 7.30pm.

The first Shabbat services will be on 1st August Parashat Vaetchanan.

 

Commencing on Friday, 31st July with Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat at 7:30pm, and then Shabbat, 1st August, Shacharit at 10:00am, with Mincha at 8:30pm, Ma'ariv 9:36pm. In the following weeks please see the website for future times.

 

We appreciate that due to the lockdown those of you who have had a Yarzheit and especially those who have suffered a bereavement have not had the opportunity of saying Kaddish.

 

The first Shabbat of the Shul is on 1st August and we would like to give priority to you, so if you would like to attend please contact the Shul office or use the link that was sent out in the recent email.

 

For both weekday & both Shabbat services; members with internet access should be booking in online via the United Synagogue Website using the following link: https://myus.theus.org.uk/events. select Cranbrook United Synagogue and tick Prayer Services.

 

If you are not able to book online then please contact the Shul office on
020 8629 2780 to book in for the services you wish to attend.

 

This week’s Cranbrook News is kindly sponsored by
Barbara, Steven and Bradley Mervish in loving memory of
Annie Symons Channa bat Benjamin z”l,
their Mother and Grandmother.

 

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 double sedra, parshat Matot - Masei tells us of all the journeys that our people took as they wandered to the desert, moving from one place to the next, until finally, after 40 years of wandering, they arrive at the borders of Israel. Why did it take them so very long? What was G-d’s plan in making them move from one destination to another? Furthermore, in the first verse, we are told that they left Egypt. Surely that too is obvious! Any child could tell you that the Jews started their journey in Egypt. Why bother with this superfluous piece of information?

 

The Malbim explains that the journey from Egypt was more than just a physical journey. It was a process of removing the Egyptian philosophies and beliefs from the Jewish people, of making the Jewish people realise that Egypt and its mode of living was not the be all and end all of life, and that their dependence was purely upon G-d. This journey couldn’t take one year, it couldn’t. G-d needed to acclimatise them to a different way of being.  The Malbim provides a parable of a camel who is used to the heat of the Sahara and putting him into a much colder environment, say the Antarctic Zoo. If you move the camel directly from the heat and aridness of the Sahara into Antarctica, said camel is very likely to die on the first night of its arrival. The answer therefore is to acclimatise the camel, to slowly move from one environment to the next, slowly to ensure that the animal can actually live in its final environment.

 

It was the same with the Jews. They needed to travel slowly into the new environment, and sometimes, even though they were in new and different environments, they slipped back a step, thinking back as to how things were better in Egypt, how good the food was, how little their responsibilities were.  It was only after 40 years that they acclimatised, and it is at this moment that G-d tells them - G-d didn’t give you eyes to see, and ears to hear and a heart to understand until this day. This is the day that you are free from your past and you are ready to go into the future.

 

This brings home very powerful lessons for all of us. If we want to move forward into the future, we can’t stay in the past.  We are moving away from the past, and it is only when we leave the past can we experience newness. 

 

Shabbat Shalom

 

Rabbi Steven, Siobhan, Maya and Talia Dansky

Rosh Hashanah 5781 - Shalom Magazine

 

Many thanks to everyone who has submitted articles for the Rosh Hashanah 5781 Shalom Magazine.

 

We still have some space available and would be delighted to receive more contributions from our members.

 

Please email your articles to stanton.philippa@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.  

 

Philippa Stanton - Editor

Condolences:-

 

Tarnia Gladstein, and Marcel Flateau on the loss of their mother, June Segal.

 

Wendy Bullen on the loss of her sister, June Segal.

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:

August 8th,15th and 22nd; September 26th,

October 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st.
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:

Daniel Abrahams, Kitty Adleman, Martin Altman, Cynthia Ballin,

200 Club Winners

 

JUNE 2020: Eli Shear & Freda Cowan
MAY 2020: Peter Spill & Howard Johnstone
APRIL 2020: Ivor Barwin & Dean Jayson
MARCH 2020: Barry Gelkoff & Albert George

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