Upcoming events

 · Chanukah Boys Choir - Let your children come and join the choir led by our experienced yeshivah boys! There will be weekly practice sessions. This week will be on Thursday and from then on,  every tuesday until Chanukah (Dec 26th) at 4:30 pm at JBC. Ages 6-12. For more info contact David or Yisrael

· JLI: come and join the second session of thesix week course on “fascinating Facts”: exploring the myths & mysteries of Judaism, we’ll share a treasure-trove of ideas & insights on such diverse topics as ‘the evil eye’, ‘what kind of tree was the tree of knowledge’ and do jews believe in satan’.   Monday 14th of November at 8:30 pm at JBC(5th floor)

 To Register, visit www.myjli.com

  · Last Monday there was a fund raiser for a home for children at risk in Israel "Or Simcha". I would like to thank the community for all the help, giving me the opportunity to organize this event. I would like to thank each and every one of you who donated, participated, and showed support to the cause, doing the important mitzvah of giving tzedaka, from me, and from the children of Or Simcha. Baruch Hashem we have collected just over 6000 shekel, aiming at 10,000 shekel to be donated. The donations will be transferred next Tuesday, and any contributions before hand are welcome, contact me at  ben@milsteins.net

Parasha in a Nutshell

 Vayeira: Genesis 18:1–22:24

G-d reveals Himself to Abraham three days after the first Jew’s circumcision at age ninety-nine; but Abraham rushes off to prepare a meal for three guests who appear in the desert heat. One of the three—who are angels disguised as men—announces that, in exactly one year, the barren Sarah will give birth to a son. Sarah laughs.Abraham pleads with G‑d to spare the wicked city of Sodom. Two of the three disguised angels arrive in the doomed city, where Abraham’s nephew, Lot, extends his hospitality to them and protects them from the evil intentions of a Sodomite mob. The two guests reveal that they have come to overturn the place, and to save Lot and his family. Lot’s wife turns into a pillar of salt when she disobeys the command not to look back at the burning city as they flee.While taking shelter in a cave, Lot’s two daughters (believing that they and their father are the only ones left alive in the world) get their father drunk, lie with him, and become pregnant. The two sons born from this incident father the nations of Moab and Ammon.Abraham moves to Gerar, where the Philistine king Abimelech takes Sarah—who is presented as Abraham’s sister—to his palace. In a dream, G‑d warns Avimelech that he will die unless he returns the woman to her husband. Abraham explains that he feared he would be killed over thebeautiful Sarah.G-d remembers His promise to Sarah, and gives her and Abraham a son, who is named Isaac (Yitzchak, meaning “will laugh”). Isaac is circumcised at the age of eight days; Abraham is one hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, at their child’s birth.Hagar and Ishmael are banished from Abraham’s home and wander in the desert; G‑d hears the cry of the dying lad, and saves his life by showing his mother a well. Abimelech makes a treaty with Abraham at Beersheba, where Abraham gives him seven sheep as a sign of their truce.G‑d tests Abraham’s devotion by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac onMount Moriah (the Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. Isaac is bound and placed on the altar, and Abraham raises the knife to slaughter his son. A voice from heaven calls to stop him; a ram, caught in the undergrowth by its horns, is offered in Isaac’s place. Abraham receives the news of the birth of a daughter, Rebecca, to his nephew Bethuel.

Weekly Shabbat lunch sponsor

This week's Shabbat lunch is sponsored by :

Bruce and Rivka Goldsteinin memory of
Bruce's brother Pinchas ben Avia o.b.m. and also in honor of the first
birthday of  their son Yosef Pinchas Goldstein.

Our Shabbat lunches offer a beautiful opportunity to meet fellow
Jews from all over the world as well as much needed hospitality to
young students, guests and visitors who would not otherwise enjoy
the Shabbat experience. We hope that you will partner with us in
sponsoring these lunches and help us provide much
needed hospitality every Shabbat. Please contact us at :enquiries@jwb.org.sg

Main article

                                         The Life of Sarah

What is life? This week's Parshah begins by telling us that Sarah passed away. It then describes how she was buried in the special Jewish burial cave in Hebron. Although the opening topic is the fact that Sarah had passed away, the Parshah is called Chayei Sarah, "The Life of Sarah." What indeed was the life of Sarah, the first mother of the Jewish people? What does her life teach us about our lives today?

There is no doubt that Sarah had to face many challenges. As a young woman, married to Abraham, she discovered that she could not bear children. Despite this she devoted herself to the spiritual task of teaching people about the existence of G-d, together with her husband.

Rashi tells us that Abraham taught the men and Sarah taught the women.1Presumably, even in those days one did not simply assume that the women would follow the wishes of their husbands. Women themselves had to discuss and think about the nature of life, in their own right. Sarah inspired women who, together with their husbands and families, became followers of the new teachings of Monotheism.

The task of teaching that there is one G-d, Creator of Heaven and Earth, was highly dangerous. The norm was to follow a variety of idols. The Sages tell us that on account of Abraham's and Sarah's belief Abraham was arrested by King Nimrod and was thrown into a furnace. We can only imagine Sarah’s feelings. Did she feel foreboding, or trust in G-d? Miraculously Abraham was not harmed. After this escape, Abraham and Sarah were commanded by G-d to travel westwards towards the Land ofIsrael. At this time Abraham was seventy-five years old and Sarah ten years younger.

When they reached the Land of Israel they continued their work of teaching people about Monotheism. Sarah knew that it was essential for Abraham to have a successor, and yearned that this would be a child from her womb. In expression of a plea to G-d, she gave her handmaiden Hagar to Abraham. Perhaps through that she would merit to bear a child herself. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

Later G-d gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. His physical body thus attained a new level of holiness. With that came a promise of a miracle, that he and Sarah would bear a child together. At this point, aged ninety, Sarah was beyond childbearing. She laughed at the idea of having a child, but in fact gave birth a year later to Isaac, whose name means "laughter."

Sarah saw that the key question, strangely topical today, was going to be: who is the true inheritor of Abraham. G-d said clearly that His unique Covenant would be with Isaac. Yet Ishmael posed a grave threat to Isaac’s life, and today, over three millennia later, Ishmael is claimed as an icon by some Islamists hostile to the Jews.

Abraham, the living expression of Kindness, was at first unwilling to send Ishmael away. Sarah did all in her power to protect her son Isaac from Ishmael, both physically and morally. G-d told Abraham to follow Sarah’s advice: she had greater prophetic power than her husband, and account of her efforts the Jewish people eventually came into being.

In our Parshah we see, after the passing of Sarah, the initial success of her endeavour. Indeed it is Isaac who carries forward the special Jewish covenant with G-d. The central topic in the Parshah is his marriage to Rebecca. His young wife, Rebecca, became the living expression of Sarah.

Thus, through Sarah’s effort, the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, began to be formed. For this reason our Parshah is called “The Life of Sarah”, even though it concerns the time after she had passed away. For it is with the focus on Isaac and his marriage that we see the continuity of Sarah: just as her descendants  are alive, so too is Sarah herself alive.

This is Sarah’s message to us, her descendants: to bring Jewish children into the world, whether through teaching others, or with G-d’s blessing, teaching and guiding our physical progeny, thus continuing life for us and our people.

Elite kosher shop

The Kosher shop stocks a wide range of products such as meats (imported from Australia),
poultry, dairy products, as well as a large variety of wines. 

                        
The Kosher Shop also just received a wide range of products form Israel at very affordable prices such as popular snacks (Bissli etc…), canned foods and much more.

 The Awafi Restaurant

Open for Lunch and Dinner To make a reservation call 6336. 5166
Also serving breakfast every morning after Shacharit.Awafi also provides for outside catering.
 Feel free to contact us at: 6336 5166 

Halacha Corner

 The Prohibition of Rechilut

3. Regardless of IntentionThe prohibition of Rechilut applies even if the speaker did not intend to provoke ill will in the listener's heart against the subject, and even if the speaker believes that the subject's actions were correct and just. For example, Shimon criticizes Reuven for something Reuven said about him or did against him, and Reuven asserts that he was right in what he said, and in fact that Yehuda said the same thing. Even if as a defense of his own actions, he has caused Shimon to feel hatred against Yehuda, Reuven's statement is called as Rechilut. 
4. The severity of stirring up hatred between friends

The parameters discussed in the paragraphs above apply even if all the information is completely true, without any trace of falsehood - speaking Rechilut is prohibited.

It does not matter if they were friendly and someone told what one said about the other - the speaker is called a "rasha" (evil person), and his actions are an abomination, as stated in Proverbs (ch. 6): "Six are hated by G-d and seven are abominations ... one who places disputes between friends." The Sages say that the seventh [Rechilut] is the most severe.

Also, even if they were already bitter enemies, and someone hears one speaking against the other and he goes and tells him, it is called Rechilut (and forbidden). 

Growing Each Day-With Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski

"I have placed before you life and death...and you shall choose life(Deuteronomy 30:19)."

How can a lobster grow? After all, its shell is rigid and cannot expand.

When the lobster feels itself compressed within its shell, it retreats to a crevice in one of the underwater rock formations, sheds its shell, and grows a new one. When it outgrows this shell, it repeats the process and continues doing so until it reaches its maximum size.

During the stage when it is without its shell, the lobster is in great danger. A predatory fish may eat it, or a strong current may dash it against a rock. In order to grow, the lobster must risk its very life.

It is impossible to achieve success without risking failure; sometimes life can only be lived by risking death. Since life consists of growth and progress, we must learn to live with risk.

People for whom failure is devastating may never try anything. They will never grow.The greatest failure of all is the failure to grow and to maximize one's potential. This passive failure is even more serious than active failure.

We must develop sufficient courage and self-confidence to not retreat from taking risks (though reasonable ones) in order to progress.

Arseth

 14  November/17 Cheshvan

Shlomo Raphael ben Toba

16 November/19 Cheshvan

Rabbia ben Mordecai

17 November/20 Cheshvan

Esther bat Mitana

Rahel bat Tefaha

May Their Memory Be A Blessing

Today in Jewish history...

14 Cheshvan

Final British gov't. approval for Balfour Declaration, 1917.

The declaration took the form of a letter from Arthur Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Rothschild, who had once been a member of the British Parliament. In 1922, the United States Congress formally endorsed the Balfour Declaration. In the ensuing decades, the British would slowly whittle away at their commitment -- first lopping off 80 percent of the land east of the Jordan River to create the Kingdom of Transjordan , and then restricting Jewish immigration and rights to purchase land to the west of the Jordan River. The volatility of the situation ultimately forced the British to withdraw from the region in 1948.

15 Cheshvan         

Yahrzeit of Matityahu b. Yochanan Kohen Gadol, 166 B.C.E.

Matityahu bravely resisted the attempts to spread secular-Hellenist culture throughout the Land of Israel, and with his five sons, started an uprising. The revolt continued after Matityahu's death in 139 BCE, and successfully concluded with the rededication of the Holy Temple and the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days.

16 Cheshvan

the night of Kristallnacht ("Night of the Broken Glass") in 1938, when Nazis destroyed almost all of the 1,600 synagogues in Germany, as well as thousands of Jewish businesses and homes. Similar violence was carried out in Austria. Kristallnacht ushered in a new phase of anti-Semitic decrees, and was for many the first major warning sign of what would become the Holocaust.

 The Jews of Singapore

A history of the Jews in Singapore Now available in the Elite Kosher Shop
2nd Level, JBC Or call Kosher Shop 6337 2189

Ongoing Events & Programs

Weekly Minyan, stories and snacks for children after reading of the Torah. For more info contact The boys.
One on one learning with the Yeshiva Boys for adults and children. Contact Mrs. Rivni@ 92327095.
Lunch & Learn Tuesdays at Awafi, JBC. Contact Rabbi Abergel
Talmud class every Wednesday@ 9:00pm in tractate Sanhedrin. Contact Rabbi Abergel
Mikva: Mrs. Simcha Abergel 9673 9184
Mrs. Odelia Rivni 9232 7095
(Appointments at least one day before)

Yeshiva Boys

• Mendy Ash: 9459 8690
• Yisroel Drihem: 9459 8125
• Dovid Knapp: 9459 8152
• Sroli Gutnick: 9384 3236
• Mendel Kranz : 9488 8610
• JWB Offices, Julia: 6337 2189 ext 103
• Awafi Restaurant, Sushil: 6336 5166
• Kosher Shop, Maya: 6337 2189 ext 107

www.singaporejews.com
enquiries@jwb.org.sg