Weekly Message 11.07.2025 Parashat Vayeira
- jccwestpasco
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
Parashat Vayeira (And He Appeared) Genesis 18:1 - 22:24
HafTorah Kings II 4:1 - 37
Dear friends,
Thanks to all who made last Sunday's wonderful and nostalgic car show such a great success! It is one of the many cultural and social events and volunteering opportunities that your synagogue is sponsoring this fall season. See below for a full schedule and try to attend as many as you can to support these efforts.
This Shabbat, our triennial Torah reading will be Chapter 18 of the Book of Bereshit (Genesis) which features our patriarch Abraham's pleading with Hashem to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah even though they are plagued with immorality and wickedness. Abraham knows that despite all of the conflicts and polarization in those cities, there are honest people within them who are already suffering and who will be destroyed along with the cities if they are obliterated. Today, we are living in a period fraught with distrust and enmity towards those who might have different political outlooks than our own and this is reflected in our society and our government To quote Rabbi Michael Dolgin of Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto:
"Despite this season of great tension and conflict, Abraham’s example must guide us: We must seek mercy, forgiveness, and justice for all. Though we might not understand those whose worldview seems to be 180 degrees from our own, that does not make them beyond redemption. We must demand mercy and model it on this Shabbat and beyond."
Please join me this evening at 7 pm (note new starting time) for our Kabbalat Shabbat service in-person and virtually on Zoom and tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 9:30 am for our Shabbat morning service when we will be reading and discussing the lessons learned in Chapter 18.
And I am happy to report that we have been invited by Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen, NJ to attend virtually, the annual Global Day of Jewish Learning on Sunday, November 9th between 10 am and 12 noon. I hope that many of you will join me in taking advantage of this unique opportunity to participate. Please read the description below and then let me know via email rbecker@emeritus.rutgers.edu or phone/text 813-585-2286 if you are able to join in so that I can provide you with the Zoom link. Looking forward to sharing this with you on Sunday!
Study groups around the world will host concurrent learning programs, joining together more than 10,000 Jews of all stripes and backgrounds in collective study.
The Global Day of Jewish Learning began in 2010 as a celebration of the’ monumental work of translating the Talmud. It is now an annual celebration bringing Jews across the spectrum of beliefs and backgrounds together through our shared love of learning.
This year, we dedicate our learning to a theme that seems particularly pressing these days - 70 Faces of Torah. At a time when disagreement so easily becomes disagreeable, we have chosen to focus this day’s learning on the Jewish imperative to recognize the multiplicity of truth and see divinity even in those ideas with which we disagree.
Here are the two topics we will be covering:
These and These - The schools of Hillel and Shammai disagreed vociferously in approaches to law and observance. The Talmud records more than 300 instances of their debates, detailing both sides of each argument. In almost all instances, the School of Hillel’s argument prevails, and Jewish practices follows their approach. What might we learn from the essence of their disagreements, and the tendency of Jewish law to follow one approach, while also recording both sides of the debate?
What Was Heard at Mount Sinai? - We first turn to the great moment of revelation at Mount Sinai as told in Exodus 19. As the Torah describes, it was certainly a tense and awe-inspiring scene, causing the people to tremble throughout the camp. How might we understand what Moses heard, and what the people present heard as well?
Jewish learning should be a long commitment. Please join me for this worthwhile and unique experience!
Shabbat Shalom!
Ron Becker,
Spiritual Leader
Friday, November 7 and forward Kabbalat Shabbat service time will now be 7 pm instead of 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 9 Global Day of Jewish Learning, 10 am-12 noon virtually on Zoom. See description above!
Monday, November 24 Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at Temple Beth David at 13158 Antelope St, Spring Hill, FL 34609, 7 pm. We will organize a carpool from our synagogue.
Tuesday, November 25 Volunteering at the Metropolitan Ministries Holiday Tent on the grounds of Generations Church at 1540 Little Rd, Trinity, FL, 11:15 am-2:30 pm. Sign up at:
Jewish Community Center Group Link: https://vhub.at/1L1BLIK
Saturday, December 6 Pre-Hanukkah party and viewing of the annual New Port Richey holiday boat parade at the Cotee River (Grand Boulevard between Vermont and Kentucky Avenues), 6 pm
Friday, December 12 Pre-Hanukkah Shabbat bring your own dairy casserole dinner—we supply the potato latkes!, following a brief Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6:30 pm
Sunday, December 14 Volunteering to bring Hanukkah cheer (song, food, and candle lighting ) to homebound residents of Trinity Place Assisted Living, 8684 Old County Road 54, New Port Richey, FL 34653, 2 pm
Thursday, December 18 Volunteering at the Metropolitan Ministries Holiday Tent on the grounds of Generations Church at 1540 Little Rd, Trinity, FL, 8:30 am-12 pm. Sign up at:
Jewish Community Center Group Link: https://vhub.at/1L1BLIK
Wednesday, December 31 Casino Night/New Year's Eve Gala, 8 pm-12:30 am
_______________________________________________________________
ZOOM LINK FOR FRI AND SAT: NEW TIME FOR FRI SERVICE 7:00 P.M.
JCC is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Shabbat Services 11/07 @ 7:00 pm, 11/08 @ 9:30 am
Time: NEW TIME 7:00 PM ON FRIDAY
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 497 903 0958
Passcode: 5QdVaA
Join instructions