נא לא לדבר בשעת התפילהPLEASE NO CONVERSATION DURING SERVICES

Rabbi Ely Shestack President Aryeh Brenenson

בס”ד

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שבת פרשת כי תבאSHABBAT PARSHAT KI TAVO

18 ELUL/SEPTEMBER 9Haftorah is Isaiah 60:1-22 אורי) .(קומי

Pirkei Avot Chaps. 3 & 4.

FRIDAY NIGHTCANDLE LIGHTING - 6:58 PM MINCHA - 7:00 PMTZAIT - 8:02 PM

SATURDAYHASHKAMA/YOUTH - 8:20 AMSHACHARIT MAIN - 9:00 AMLAST KRIAT SHEMA - 9:42 AMGEMARA SHIUR - 5:45 PMMINCHA - 6:45 PMSHKIA - 7:15 PMMAARIV/HAVDALAH - 8:00 PM

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BULLETIN INFORMATIONTO REQUEST A BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT (BY 7:00 PM WEDNESDAY) OR DEDICATE A BULLETIN FOR $36 ($54 W/PHOTO), EMAIL SEPLOTNICK@GMAIL.COM.

CONGREGATION AHAVAT ACHIM18-25 SADDLE RIVER ROADFAIR LAWN, NJ 07410-5909201-797-0502WWW.AHAVATACHIM.ORG

THE BULLETIN IS DEDICATED BY SARAGAIL CHESSIN CARPE TO WELCOME GRANDDAUGHTER TIFERET TZIPORA, BORN SEPT. 1, 2017 IN JERUSALEM TO LEAH & RAV DOV CARPE (SIBLINGS AHAVA AND SHLOMO YISRAEL ARE DELIGHTED)!

Sunday (9/10)

Monday (9/11)

Tuesday (9/12)

Wednesday (9/13)

Thursday (9/14)

Friday (9/15)

Earliest Talit 5:34 AM 5:35 AM 5:37 AM 5:38 AM 5:39 AM 5:40 AM

Shacharit 8:15 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM 6:25 AM 6:15 AM 6:25 AM

Gedolah 1:25 PM 1:24 PM 1:24 PM 1:23 PM 1:23 PM 1:22 PM

Mincha - Maariv 6:50 PM 6:50 PM 6:50 PM 6:50 PM 6:50 PM 6:50 PM

Shkia 7:14 PM 7:12 PM 7:10 PM 7:09 PM 7:07 PM

Tzait 7:59 PM 7:57 PM 7:55 PM 7:54 PM 7:52 PM

Yomim Noraim are almost upon us, Email Marty at thegabbai@aol.com to arrange for High Holiday Seats.

Thank you to Randi Spier for arranging this Shabbat’s dinner at the shul!

Elul Matters, Part II & III: Keeping Kosher On-The-Go (shiur by Rabbi & Rebetzin Shestack), Sunday, Sept. 10, 10:00 AM; and Keeping Kosher on Shabbat (shiur by Rabbi Shestack), Wednesday, September 13, 8:00 PM.  Please submit Kashrut questions for the program to rabbishestack@gmail.com.

Bask, Banter and Befriend during “PEREK ON THE LAWN” in the Beautiful Bernstein Backyard, 13-03 Tanis Pl., with Rabbi Shestack, this Shabbat, at 5:00 PM. Light refreshments will be served.

YOUTH KICKOFF EVENT, this Sunday, 10 AM, in the Schwitzer social hall. Welcome our new Youth Director

Chad Shapiro, and enjoy events for children of all ages, including Shalom Baby (newborns to 3), Minute to Win it (5 to 12), and NCSY Meeting. Ice cream will be served!

Tzedakah Committee: The Jewish community in Houston has again found itself in the wake of a devastating storm. Donate online by clicking: OU Relief Fund.

We regret to inform you of the passing of Eita Latkin’s brother, Dennis Freilich. Eita will sit Shiva at her home Motzei Shabbat, and then will be at  her brother’s home, 120 E. 81st  St., NY, Penthouse H, until Wed. morning. To partake in Chessed, call Sophie at 201-791-5518.

המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים

Shirley Vann has dedicated this week’s Covenant & Conversation (used with permission of the Office of Rabbi Sacks) in memory of her beloved mother Necha bat Yitzchokע”ה.

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Kiddush InformationIf you are around when the Rabbi says “על המחיה”, your assistance in clean up would be appreciated. Kiddush setup for this Shabbat: Borsuk, Kwestel, Smedresman Kiddush setup for next Shabbat: Oppenheim, Oster, Sonnenblick To sponsor a Kiddush ($1000/$613/$318 plus scotch) send an email to gplotnick@aol.com.

Community EventsSept. 17 – Sofer Day, Sunday, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM, YOUNG ISRAEL OF FAIR LAWN. For details, click here: Sofer Day. Nov. 5 - Mikvah Gala Evening. For more info contact Dossy Brandstatter at 201-401-2386 or mikvahfairlawn@gmail.com. 

Book ClubWant to read ahead, the next book will be A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

Gita Cooperwasserע”ה

Youth ProgramPlease contact Melanie

at mkwestel@gmail.com and volunteer to host Chad (our Youth

Director) for shabbat and/or meals. Youth groups begin at 10:15 AM. Tot

Shabbat in the playroom. Parents, ensure that your children are

in groups or with you at all times. NO FOOD DURING GROUPS!

Adult Education

CHUMASH CLASS - Shabbat morning before Shacharit. GEMARA SHIUR with Rabbi Josh

Abramson - One Hour Before Mincha on Shabbat. DAYTIME TORAH VOYAGES -

Thursdays at 1:00 PM. FUNDAMENTALS OF JEWISH

THOUGHT - After Kiddush, but on hiatus this Shabbat. PEREK ON THE LAWN, Pirkei

Avot Monthly Shiur.

Ahavat Achim Future EventsSept. 16 - Seudat Shilishit sponsored by

the Agress family on Yahrzeit of Amy’s father Ha'Rav Yisroel Yehuda Ben Ephraim Michal Ha'Levi Pruzanskyז”ל. Oct. 1 - Sylvia Latkinע”ה Sukkah

Construction/Arba Minim Sale, 9 AM Oct. 6 - Kiddush is sponsored by the

Winchester family on the Yarhtzeit of Steve’s mother Helen Winchester, Miriam Hendl bas Shimonע”ה Oct. 20 - Oneg Shabbat series in

memory of Jonathan Garfunkelע”ה resumes at the Garfunkel home, 8:00 PM. Oct. 21 - Edie Fontaine Bat Mitzvah Oct. 21 - Suedah Shlishit sponsored by

David & Lori Garfunkel in memory of Jonathanע”ה, and Betsy & Marty Sonnenblick on Yahrzeit of Betsy’s father ע”הHoward Perlmutter ,חיים יהודה בן ירמיהוNov. 11. - Kiddush sponsored by the

Sonnenblick family in honor of Elie's Aufruf and upcoming marriage to Samara Kandelshein. Nov. 18 - Andrew Wechsler Bar Mitzvah Feb. 10 - Yachad Shabbaton Mar. 17 - Kiddush sponsored by Agress

family in honor of Josh's Aufruf and upcoming marriage to Bronia Goldman

Answers to Points To Ponder 1st aliyah: "Arami oveid avi" (the statement that the person who brings his first fruit makes) is the same sequence of verses that we

expound upon in the hagada on Pesach. The use of these verses in the hagada is odd because the story is told when the Jews actually leave Egypt in Exodus, and yet these verses are chosen to tell the story.  4th aliyah: Moshe's continuous speech ends. This sections includes narration and instructions, but it is not spoken to the entirety of the

Jewish people 6th aliyah: "V'halachta b'drachav", imitatio Dei, following in God's ways (28:9) 6th aliyah: Twice (see 28:69) 7th aliyah: Hashem didn't give you the mind to understnad, the eyes to see and the ears to hear until today.

Points To Ponder (Answers Below) 1st aliyah: What section of this aliyah should stand out from the rituals of the holidays? What is odd about the connection between this

aliyah and the prominence of the section of pesukim in the holiday ritual? 4th aliyah: What shift occurs at the beginning of this aliyah? 6th aliyah: What general imperative, that could perhaps sum up the entire ideology of the commandments is found in this aliyah? 6th aliyah: How many times was the "tochacha" told to the Jewish people in the desert? 7th aliyah: What does the reading of the tochacha "give" the people? Discussion question: How so? What does this verse mean?

From the Sisterhood- Get Sisterhood Member Renewal & Rosh Hashana Scroll info in by Sept. 10 to Natasha Borsuk, 82 Garwood Rd., Fair Lawn, NJ.- Send Order forms for Rosh Hashanah bouquets (Sept. 20 delivery) by Sept. 12 to Elfie Eisman, 41-28 Matule Dr., Fair Lawn, NJ.

Hi,everyone!MynameisChadShapiro,andIamsoexcitedtomeetallofyouandlookforwardtoafantasticyearasyouryouthdirector.IwasbornallthewaydowninSouthAfrica,but,attheageof4,myfamilymovedtoAtlanta,Georgia,whereI’velivedeversince.AfterhighschoolIattendedYeshivatEretzHatzviinJerusalemforayearandahalfwheremypassionforTorahledmeontoYeshivaUniversitywhereIcurrentlystudypoliticalscienceandEnglishliterature.AfterYU,Iplanonpursuingacareerinlawand,finally,makingaliyah.Additionally,someofmypreviousyouthexperiencesincludeworkingatmycommunityshul’sHebrewschoolforthreeyearsanditssummercampfortwosummersaswellasworkingatCampYavnehfamilycampasaRoshEidah.I’vealwaysbeenahugesportsfan,particularlyloyaltomyhometownAtlantaBravesandFalcons,andsomeofmyotherhobbiesincluderunning,playingtriviagames,andcooking(IcangrillsomeseriousSouthAfricanmeat).Withtheendofthesummeraroundthecorner,Icannotwaittogetstartedhavingthemostexcitingyouthprogramyet!I’llseeyouallverysoon!

בס״ד

Congregation Ahavat Achim’s Sisterhood

Membership Renewal & Rosh Hashana Scroll

Yes, please enroll me as a Sisterhood member.

Yes, please include me/us on the Rosh Hashana Scroll.

Please PRINT my/our name(s) as follows:

• Scroll @ $10 per family _________

• Sisterhood dues for 5778 are $36 _________

(Dues increase to $45 after December 31st)

Total Enclosed: $________

Please return this form and your check to:

Natasha Borsuk

82 Garwood Road

Fair Lawn, NJ 07410

nbnadler@gmail.com

917-796-9933

Please make your check payable to SISTERHOOD OF AHAVAT ACHIM.

Kindly respond by September 10th. Thank you for your participation.

May Hashem grant us all a happy, healthy & peaceful New Year.

SISTERHOOD WISHES YOU AND

YOUR FAMILY A YEAR OF GOOD

HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND PEACE!

ORDER YOUR BOUQUETS FOR

ROSH HASHANAH

The arrangements will be created by

Jimmy of the Empty Vase in Closter, NJ.

You can order beautiful seasonal bouquets for your table in three categories:

A: $55 B: $45 C: $35

Price includes delivery to Fair Lawn and Teaneck.

Orders must be received by September 12th for delivery on September 20th for

Rosh Hashanah.

*30% of proceeds go to support Sisterhood programs.

Please print out the order form below (make check payable to Sisterhood of Ahavat Achim) and send it to Elfie Eisman, 41-28 Matule Drive, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410

For additional information, please contact Elfie at 201-794-6170 or eism@verizon.net

(Arrangements may not be identical to pictures shown.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name (Please Print)

_______________________________________________________________

Delivery Address (Please Print)

_________________________________________________________________

Town____________________________ Tel #__________________________

Please deliver: (qty) _______ A: @ $55 $___________

(qty) _______ B: @ $45 $___________

(qty) _______ C: @ $35 $___________

Enclosed is my check for total $___________

 SISTERHOOD  OF AHAVAT ACHIM 

 

ANNUAL COAT DRIVE   

FOR  

Center For Hope And Safety (Formerly Save Our Sisters Shelter) 

 

We are collecting outerwear   (gently worn, but not torn)  

for the  Center for Hope and Safety Shelter in Bergen County.  

 This organization houses and supports  abused women and their families. 

All sizes are needed.  

Bring your donations to the Bickel garage: 

36‐02 Hale Place, Fair Lawn  

Sunday, November 19, 2017 (Mitzvah Day in Bergen County) 

8 a.m.—5 p.m.    

For more information, contact Audrey at bickelar@aol.com.  

Covenant & Conversation Ki Tavo 2017 / 5777

In two sentences in this week’s sedra, the Torah summarises the entire relationship between God and the people of Israel:

You have affirmed [he-emarta] this day that the Lord is your, God, that you will walk in His ways, that you will observe His laws and commandments and rules, and that you will obey Him. And the Lord has affirmed [he-emirkha] this day that you are, as He promised you, His treasured people who shall observe all His commandments. (Deut. 26:17-18)

Here, set out with disarming simplicity, is the dual relationship, the reciprocity, at the heart of the covenant. It is an idea made famous in the form of two jingles.

The first, that of William Norman Ewer:

How odd / Of God / To choose / The Jews

And the second, the Jewish riposte:

Not quite / So odd – / The Jews / Chose God

Between God and the people is a mutual bond of love. The Israelites pledge themselves to be faithful to God and His commands. God pledges Himself to cherish the people as His treasure – for though He is the God of all humanity, He holds a special place in His affection (to speak anthropomorphically) for the descendants of those who first heard and heeded His call. This is the whole of Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. The rest is commentary.

The English translation, above, is that of the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh. Any translation, however, tends to conceal the difficulty in the key verb in both sentences: le-ha’amir. What is strange is that, on the one hand, it is a form of one the most common of all biblical verbs, lomar, “to say”. On the other, the specific form used here – the hiphil, or causative form – is unique. Nowhere else does it appear in this form in the Bible, and its meaning is, as a result, obscure.

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The JPS translation reads it as “affirmed”. Aryeh Kaplan, in The Living Torah, reads it as “declared allegiance to”. Robert Alter renders it: “proclaimed”. Other interpretations include “separated to yourself” (Rashi), “chosen” (Septuagint), “recognised” (Saadia Gaon), “raised” (Radak, Sforno), “betrothed” (Malbim), “given fame to” (Ibn Janach), “exchanged everything else for” (Chizkuni), “accepted the uniqueness of” (Rashi to Chagigah 3a), or “caused God to declare” (Judah Halevi, cited by Ibn Ezra.

Among Christian translations, the King James Version has, “Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God”. The New International Version reads: “You have declared this day that the Lord is your God”. The Contemporary English Version has: “In response, you have agreed that the Lord will be your God”.

What is the significance of this unique form of the verb “to say”? Why is it used here? The use of language in the Torah is not vague, accidental, approximate, imprecise. In general, in the Mosaic books, style mirrors substance. The way something is said is often connected to what is being said. So it is here. What we have before us is a proposition of far-reaching consequence for the most fundamental question humanity can ask itself: What is the nature of the bond between human beings and God – or between human beings and one another – such that we can endow our lives with the charisma of grace? The answer given by the Torah, so profound that we need to stop and meditate on it, lies in language, speech, words. Hence the singling out, in this definitive statement of Jewish faith, of the verb meaning “to say”.

We owe to the later work of Wittgenstein, developed further by J. L. Austin (How to do things with words) and J. R. Searle (Speech Acts), the realisation that language has many functions. Since the days of Socrates, philosophers have tended to concentrate on just one function: the use of language to describe, or state facts. Hence the key questions of philosophy and later science: Is this statement true? Does it correspond to the facts? Is it consistent with other facts? Can I be sure? What evidence do I have? What warrant do I have for believing what I believe? Language is the medium we use to describe what is.

But that is only one use of language, and there are many others. We use it to classify, to divide the world up into particular slices of reality. We also use it to evaluate. “Patriotism” and “jingoism” both denote the same phenomenon – loyalty to one’s country – but with opposite evaluations: Patriotism = good, jingoism = bad.

We use language to express emotion. Sometimes we use it simply to establish a relationship. Malinowsky called this phatic communion, where what matters is not what we say but the mere fact that we are talking to one another (Robin Dunbar has recently argued that speech for humans is like “grooming behaviour” among primates). We can also use language to question, command, hypothesise and imagine. There are literary genres like fiction and poetry which use language in complex ways to extend our imaginative engagement with reality. The philosophical-scientific mindset that sees the sole significant function of language as descriptive – taken to an extreme in the philosophical movement known as “logical positivism” – is a form of tone-deafness to the rich variety of speech.

The Mosaic books contain a deep set of reflections on the nature and power of language. This has much to do with the fact that the Israelites of Moses’ day were in the place where, and the time when, the first alphabet appeared, the proto-semitic script from which all subsequent alphabets are directly or indirectly derived. Judaism marks the world’s first transition on a national scale from an oral to a literate culture. Hence the unique significance it attaches to the spoken and written word. We discover this at the very beginning of the Torah. It takes the form of the radical abandonment of myth. God spoke and the world came into being. There is no contest, no struggle, no use of force to subdue rival powers – as there is in every myth without exception. Instead, the key verb in Genesis 1 is simply leimor, “God said [vayomer], Let there be . . . and there was.” Language creates worlds.

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“The use of language in the Torah is not vague, accidental,

approximate, imprecise. The way something is said is often

connected to what is being said.”

That, of course, is Divine — not human – speech. However, J. L. Austin pointed out that there is a human counterpart. There are certain things we can create with words when we use them in a special way. Austin called this use of speech performative utterance (more technically, illocutionary acts). So, for example, when a judge says, “This court is now in session”, he is not describing something but doing something. When a groom says to his bride under the wedding canopy, “Behold you are betrothed to me by this ring according to the laws of Moses and Israel”, he is not stating a fact but creating a fact.

The most basic type of performative utterance is making a promise. This is the use of language to create an obligation. Some promises are unilateral (X commits himself to do something for Y), but others are mutual (X and Y make a commitment to one another). Some are highly specific (“I promise to pay you £1,000”), but others are open-ended (“I promise to look after you, come what may”). The supreme example of an open-ended mutual pledge between human beings is marriage. The supreme example of an open-ended mutual pledge between human beings and God is a covenant. That is what our two verses state: that God and the people of Israel pledge themselves to one another by making a covenant, a relationship brought into existence by words, and sustained by honouring those words.

This is the single most radical proposition in the Hebrew Bible. It has no real counterpart in any other religion. What is supremely holy is language, when used to create a moral bond between two parties. This means that the supreme form of relationship is one that does not depend on power, superior force, or dominant-submissive hierarchy. In a covenantal relationship both parties respect the dignity of the other. A covenant exists only in virtue of freely given consent. It also means that between Infinite God and infinitesimal humanity there can be relationship – because, through language, they can communicate with one another. The key facts of the Torah are that [a] God speaks and [b] God listens. The use of language to create a mutually binding relationship is what links God and humankind. Thus the two verses mean: “Today, by an act of speech, you have made God your God, and God has made you His people”. Words, language, an act of saying, have created an open-ended, eternally binding relationship.

Hence the name I have given to my series of Torah commentaries: Covenant and Conversation. Judaism is a covenant, a marriage between God and a people. The Torah is the written record of that covenant. It is Israel’s marriage-contract as God’s bride. Conversation – speaking and listening – is what makes covenant possible. Hence the dual form of Torah: the written Torah, through which God speaks to us and the Oral Torah through which we speak to God by way of interpreting His word. Judaism is the open-ended, mutually binding, conversation between Heaven and earth.

Despite the deep influence of Judaism on two later faiths, Christianity and Islam, neither adopted this idea (to be sure, some Christian theologians speak of covenant, but a different kind of covenant, more unilateral than reciprocal). There are no conversations between God and human beings in either the New Testament or the Koran – none that echo the dialogues in Tanakh between God and Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Hosea, Jeremiah, Jonah, Habakkuk and Job. Judaism, Christianity and Islam – the religion of sacred dialogue, the religion of salvation and the religion of submission – are three different things. The use of language to create a moral bond of love between the Infinite and the finite – through covenant on the one hand, conversation on the other – is what makes Judaism different. That is what is set out simply in these two verses: Speaking a relationship into being, le-ha’amir, is what makes God our God, and us, His people.

Shabbat Shalom.

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“What is supremely holy is language, when used to

create a moral bond between two parties.”

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