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A H A V A T ' S N U ? A Monthly Publication of Ahavat Torah Synagogue Issue #18 May 2000/5760 (702) 242-2111; Fax: (702) 242-3979 P.O. Box 370373, Las Vegas, NV 89137 Craigaudrey@worldnet.att.net 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH' From the Desk of: Rabbi Craig Rosenstein, J.D. When Patrick Henry spoke pas-sionately in 1776 to the Virginia As sembly at the outset of The Ameri-can Revolution, uttering the immor-tal phrase, "Give me liberty or give me death," he either knowingly or unknowingly was enunciating a basic precept of Judaism ? that freedom is a precious commodity, one that must be preserved, pro-tected and embraced with one's heart and soul. The Torah recounts the story of the slave, who in the Sabbatical Year was offered his freedom and refused, preferring the safety and security of servitude to the uncertainty, but responsibility of freedom. Judaic law then provided that a slave refusing freedom was branded with an awl shoved through his ear lobe, a visual reminder ( a Judaic version of the Scarlet Letter) to the entire world that a person refused freedom. But most of us recoil in horror at the thought of a generation of peo-ple walking around with large knit-ting hooks sticking out of our ear lobes. Thus, we may never get the true impact of the Torah's lesson on freedom. Such a view of freedom may be more readily understood by nearly all of us in light of the period of 7 weeks between Pesach and Sha-vuota. The period is known as Counting the Omer. The Omer was a measure of grain (barley) which was harvested in time for Pesah. The first few bushels were brought to the Temple as a sacrifice on the second day of Pesah. For the next 50 days, each day was marked off. At the 50th day, Shavuot, the next crop (wheat) was brought to the Temple for sacrifice. Now again, we today have about as much connection with wheat and barley harvests and sacrifices as we do with awls through ears. So what does Counting the Omer have to do with freedom? (Continued on pg. 2) FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT |ack K a u f m a n AT LAST I 'M PLEASED T O REPORT THAT, O N MONDAY EVENING, May I, at a special meeting of the Board of Directors, the go-ahead was given to sign a lease for a home of our own. The property, located in Desert Shores, are the side-by-side units that many of us have looked it. As of the day of this writing, a few minor details in the lease are to be resolved but the lease should be signed shortly and our buildout efforts will begin post haste. We will (continued on page 3) CALENDAR OF EVENTS First Friday of Every Month a Family Service from 6:00?6:30 pm. Shabbat services at 7:30 pm See Calendar inside for this month's events Shabbat Candle Lighting Times: May 5 7:22 p.m. May 13 7:27 p.m. May 20 7:32 p.m. May 27 7:37 p.m. If you plan to observe Havdalah any of the following Saturday evenings, use the same candle lighting times , and then I add any I where from 12 minutes to 72 min-utes after-wards to be I sure of ob-serving proper sun-down times. Faith Stadlmaur & Evelyn Goldstein saying blessing at seder. RABBI'S Article (Continued from pg I) That answer was left to the great Medieval Jewish philosopher Mai-monides. Maimonides said, "Just as one who awaits a most intimate friend on a certain day, counts in ardent expectation the days and even the hours till his coming, so we count the days from the anniversary of our departure from Egypt till the Festival of the Giving of the Torah." Maimonides is teaching us that having received freedom, we should have been eagerly awaiting some end result of our long sought and hard fought release from bondage. Just as American democracy and liberty languished in the post-Revolutionary period until the adoption of the United States Constitution, so too would our freedom have been meaningless, Maimonides believed, without some law to give it shape and definition. Freedom, Maimonides taught is not an end of itself. Tradition teaches that the Israelites eagerly counted the days from the Exodus until we received the law at Sinai. Thus do we honor their experience by counting the days from Pesach to shavuo each day in the Synagogue. We set each new day as a benchmark of where we were the day before, and where we will be the next day, just as the Israelites marked where they were when they acquired freedom, and where they would be when they acquired law, where they were when they left Egypt as a rabble of ex-slaves, and where they would be when they would emerge from Sinai a newly disciplined nation. They learned at Sinai, as we learned in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, that freedom without law is anarchy?and law without free-dom is tyranny. nniatsn IGXOUS SGHOOfc NEWS J f f i l M F i Having returned from Pesach Break, fthavat Torah s Reli-gious School enters the remaining Four weeks of school. The class will concentrate on learning about Israel, and the holidays of Vom Ha-Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance) and Vom Ho-atz-ma-ut (Israel Inde-pendence Day) They will also resume Torah Study and will finish the Book of Leviticus. In conjunction with the Torah, the dass will also hear about the holiday of Shavuot (which commemorates the giving of the 10 commandments. The student have o wonderful end of the school year planned for all the members of the synagogue. On ?reve Shabbot, June 2, the students will enjoy an end of the school year Si yum, a festive meal to both demonstrate what they have learned during the year, and to celebrate the end of their studies. Each student will be responsible for a short D'vor Torah lesson delivered during the meal. The entire Synagogue is of course invited to attend and give their support to the class. Following the Siyum, the class of 1999-2000 will lead the Congregation In worship at Shabbat services, each student taking responsibility for teaching and reciting our Shabbat liturgy. The evening promises to be joyful and informative. Please mark your calendars. PRAYER OF INSPIRATION The secular month of May commemorates the Holocaust and Israel's Independence, and continues the Counting of the Omer as we prepare for our spiritual and legal inde-pendence with the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. We are confronted by a multitude of heroes who are responsi-ble for our survival and villains who pledged themselves to our destruction. For the heroes, both Jew and non-Jew we say, "Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam, sheh-natan me-e'vo-do I'vah-sawr vaw-dawm..Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the Universe, Who has given of His glory to human being." SCENES FROM A SEDER CI RCLE OP FRIENDS TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO (continued from page 1) Target an occupancy date of July 1 or sooner. Our ability to secure this property is due to the efforts and contributions of many of you in this synagogue. We have no sugar daddies, no major benefactors, no sources of large amounts of money. What we do have is a group of sincere people who know what they want and are willing to step up to the plate and give when giving is necessary. My yarmulke is off to everyone in this syna-gogue. I must ask now that, for those of you have made pledges but have not paid as yet, please do so just as soon as possible. I will keep everyone advised as we progress through the signing of the lease, construction and the anticipated occupancy date. Now is the time to talk our synagogue up to friends, family, and everybody else that you think may be interested in joining us. The future should see many programs being offered at the site. Any feedback or ideas for such programs would be greatly appreciated. After all, this is your synagogue. B-Shalom, Jack Kaufman BROTHCRHOOD/SISTCRHOOD PICNIC A Brotherhood/Sisterhood picnic will be held on Sunday, June 4 Warn to 4 pm at Floyd Larrb State Park. You bring ipur own food and drinks. Brotherhood will supply the paper goods and charcoal and tine Sis-terhood will supply the dessert. The Park Service charges $5.00 per car. RSVP to Leon or Evelyn at 242-5768 no later than May 26. Top;L.to R; Kim Wilks, Cheryl Rosenszweig, Lynn Fletcher, Debbie Fitzmeyer, Karen Viola, Front: Lisa Lloyd, Evelyn Craik Eight of us departed by limousine to McCarran Air-port for our trip to San Francisco. We arrived to a beautiful day, crisp & sunny, NO RAIN. We checked into our hotel, immediately put our walking shoes on and started out on our adventure. Breakfast, sightseeing & shopping, lunch, sightseeing & shop-ping, dinner & more sightseeing became our daily routine. The words "charge it & ship it" soon be-came the most fre-quently used phrase by some of us. "I'm taking a taxi" be-came the favorite phrase of those who felt, "we cannot climb another hill." We ate Chinese food, Japanese food, Italian food and Seafood. Breakfast consisted of either a muffin and coffec, supplied by the hotel or, for those of us who required something more substantial, eggs and the works at the famous Buena Vista Restaurant. There were plenty of snacks in be-tween, such as ice cream, crepes and chocolate candy to keep us fortified for our hectic schedule of sightsee-ing & shopping. One of the high-lights of the trip was our ferry ride to Sausalito for more sightseeing, food and shopping. The ferry ride was fun and Sausalito is beautiful. Of course our last and most important stop Kim Wilks and Evelyn Craik before returning home was to Boudin Bakery for sour dough bread. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we are already planning for our next trip to?????? Debbie Fitzmeyer, Cheryl Rosenzweig & Lisa Pavelka AHA VATS NU? Page 3 GET WELL AND SYMPATHY CARDS available from Ray Ber-man? Call him at 233-0474. MAY YAHRZEITS Henry Rudacevsky (Shirley Cudish's Nephew 5/1 Elaine Diamond (Lynn Fletcher's Mother) 5/3 Tillie Kaufman (Jack Kauf-man's Mother) 5/6 Marvin Rosenker (Lenore Kerner's Brother) 5/6 Eileen Rosenker (Lenore Kerner's Mother) 5/16 Joe Mirsky (Jeannie Rappa-port's Father) 5/16 Israel Samft (Shirley Cudish's Father) 5/19 Bernice Bard (Norman Bard's Mother) 5/20 Anna Davis (Kenig Family's Grandmother) 5/25 Alexander Baskin (Bernard Baskin's Father) 5/27 Ralph Oberstein (Doris Ober-stein's Father) 5/29 M A y B I R L T f - f D A y S Jennifer Weinberger 5/1 Bess GofTstein 5/2 Allen Pavelka 5/15 Derek GofTstein 5/16 Zach Grobstein 5/17 Nicholas Pavelka 5/18 Cliff Cudish 5/22 Barbara Berg 5/23 Taylor Rosenstein 5/23 Cheryl Rosenzweig 5/23 Ken Margolis 5/27 Abby Rosenstein 5/28 Prayer of Healing: "B'yaw-do af-keed roo-he, b'ate ee-san v'aw-ee-raw, v'eem roo-he g'vee-yaw-tee, Adonai lee v'loh ee-raw...My spirit I commit to You, My body, too, and all I prize; Both when I sleep and when I wake, You are with me. I shall not fear." (Adon 01am) , A N N I V E R S A R Y Kenny and Nadolyn Karchmer May 29 Get -wellwishes to (Ray (Berman ShirCey CudusH Suzanne e? Marty Myers Tomi <Petz (Fran SchofeC (Rod <Wa[ters (Date Weitzner oNEg sHAmM CaffCookie (Brusfo, Oneg Chairperson, 255-9475, to re-serve your speciaf occasion. Do you have news? An engagement? A trip to an ex-otic location? New baby? New house? The Ahavat's Nu would like to print your announcement. Send an e-mail to: Leker@aol.com, fex: 648-6392 or just call me. Editor: Lenore Keraer, 648-6392 Pa??4 MARK TWAIN Written by: Mark Twain?Harpers, September 1899 everyone. If you have time on your hands, this is a great place to vol-unteer. One youngster told Barbara Berg houu much they appreciated this party. Rebbitzen Audrey giving out balloons. CHILD HflVCN Our monthly 'Birthday Party' for Child Haven was a smashing success. The Hrispy Hreme donuts continue to be a big hit along with the hats, bal-loons and juice. This month uue had a Tunny lady clown who painted Taces on the kids. UJhen the waiting line became too long, the older kids also began painting the Taces and it be-came a creative project Tor "If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebu-lous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extrava-gantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the worlds list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and obtuse learning are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made marvelous fight in this world in all the ages, and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, and faded to dream stuff and passed away. The Greeks and the Romans followed and made a vast noise and they are gone. Other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time. But it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all. Beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he remains What is the secret of his immortality?" KIM WILKS Tax Specialist/Financial Advisor Specializing in Home Appointments 4343 N. Rancho U\3?-?7Q Los Vegas, NV 89130 0 Securities offered through HoycI Alliance Associates, Inc Member NASD and SlFC OtliCfi <70?> 656-9747 Fa* (702) 656-9553 Pager (800") 476 7878 FIRST CITY INSURANCE ST & FINANCIAL SERVICES Leon Goldstein (702) 243 2965 Dus. & Fax 3105 Hiren/i: Court. U s Vegas, Nevada 89128 AHA VATS NU? Page S May 2000 AHAVAT TORAH SYNAGOGUE Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 JENNIFER WEINBERGER BDAY MAXENE GOLDSTEIN BDAY 7 BESS GOFFSTEIN BDAY YOM HASHOAH 3 4 : 3 0 - 6 : 0 0 PM RELIGIOUS S C H O O L 4 5 6 : 3 0 PM FAMILY SERVICE 7:30 PM NEWCOMER SERVICE 6 / / CAROUSEL OF LOVE GALA 5 9 BOARD MEETING 10 4 : 3 0 - 6 : 0 0 PM RELIGIOUS SCHOOL Y O M H A ' A T Z M A U T 11 12 7:30 PM TOPICAL ISSUES SERVICE ONEG SPONSORED BY RAPPAPORTS IN HONOR OF DEBBIE & ANTHONY'S UFF RUFF 13 14 15 ALLEN PAVELKA BDAY 16 DEREK GOFFSTEIN BDAY 17 4 : 3 0 - 6 : 0 0 PM RELIGIOUS SCHOOL ZACHARY GROBSTEIN BDAY 18 NICHOLAS PAVELKA BDAY 19 7:30 PM HEALING SERVICE 20 21 ??W 2Am / CLIFF CUDISH BDAY 23 BARBARA BERG BDAY CHERYL ROSENZWEIG BDAY 24 4 : 3 0 - 6 : 0 0 PM RELIGIOUS S C H O O L 25 26 7:30 PM TORAH SERVICE 27 CHILD HAVEN KEN MARGOLIS BDAY 28 ABBY ROSENSTEIN BDAY 29 KARCHMER ANNIVERSARY 30 31 RELIGIOUS SCHOOL LAST DAY April ?S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 IS 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 June S M T W '1 F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ' 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 .30 5/5/00 Ahavat Torah Synagogue P.O. Box 370373 Las Vegas, NV 89137 Phone: (702)242-2111 Fax:(702)242-3979 Email: Craigaudrey@wor1dnetatt.net AhaVat Torah Synagogue Friday Evening Shabbat Services are Held at: 7:30 pm Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church 1811 Pueblo Vista Drive For information, please call the synagogue office at 242-2111 Ah aval's Nu? Editor Lenore Kerner President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Sisterhood President Brotherhood President Director Director Director Director Jack Kaufman Lisa Lloyd Mark Rosenzweig Alan Jacobs Fran Schofel Leon Goldstein Mort Berg Ray Berman Lew Stadtmauer Kim Wilks