Rosh Hodesh Tammuz takes place this coming Thursday, June 10th and Friday, June 11th
This Shabbat Shalom is sponsored by Beverley Zacks in loving memory of her nephew Marc Cooper and in honour of the birth of her great granddaughter Summer Brooke Goldberg. & Silvia Lulka & Marc Sharrett and Sam Sharrett in honour of Matthew and Renee Sharrett becoming B'nai Mitzvah. ~ ~ ~
Candlelighting June 4th: 8:37pm
Parashat Sh'lach
~ ~ ~ Kabbalat Shabbat Fri. June 4 at 6:00 pm Kabbalat Shabbat is sponsored by Karen Shane in honour of the Beth David clergy.
The Wednesday, June 9th morning minyan is sponsored by Esther Tozman, Frances Kraft and Karen Reinblatt in loving memory of their husband and father Eugene Tozman. ✺ The Wednesday June 9th afternoon/evening minyan is sponsored by Doreen & Paul Bornfreund in memory of Doreen's father Morris Sherman on the occasion of his 50th yahrzeit. ✺ The Thursday June 10th morning minyan is sponsored by Silvia Lulka & Marc Sharrett and Sam Sharrett in honour of Matthew and Renee Sharrett becoming B'nai Mitzvah. ✺
Morning Minyan: Sunday, June 6 at 8:30 am
Morning Minyan: Mon, June 7 to Fri, June 11 at 8:00 am
Evening Minyan: Sun, June 6 to Thurs, June 10 at 7:00 pm
Kabbalat Shabbat: Fri, June 11 at 6:00 pm Pride Shabbat
There’s the old joke about the person who goes to the dry cleaners with his Tallis and asks to have it cleaned and the cleaner says, “Sure, it’s $10 for cleaning and $40 to take out all of those knots.”
What is the meaning of the commandment of tzitzit found in this week’s parsha?
We wear tzitzit or fringes, as described in the translation, as a constant reminder of our obligations to G-d and our strong relationship with G-d. We must always be aware of our allegiance to G-d and Torah and demonstrate total faith in the importance of fulfilling G-d’s commandments. The numerical value of the Hebrew word for tzitzit is 600. When we add five knots plus eight threads, we get the sum of 613, the exact number of biblical commandments. I say biblical commandments because there are many more commandments that are not in the Torah. An example is the mitzvah of lighting Hanukkah candles, which happened post biblically.
Part of the commandment of tzitzit in the Torah is to incorporate a blue coloured thread. What is the source of the blue dye used to colour the thread?
The sages say that this dye comes from the chilazon (fish). The Talmud describes the chilazon as a rare fish with bluish-green blood that surfaces once every seventy years and cannot be harvested easily. Approximately 120 years ago a group of Chassidim from the Polish city of Rodzin announced that they had discovered the chilazon in a river in Italy. It is referred to as a ‘deyonon havrochim’, which is not actually a fish but a slug type crustacean (shabluliah). The process of harvesting the dye is similar to milking venom from a snake. To this day, the Rodzin Chassidim incorporate this into their tzitzit. Sixty years ago, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Y. Herzog, proclaimed that the chilazon discovered off the coast of South America was the biblical chilazon.
At the present time, there is a company in Israel that claims to have the source for this dye and manufactures tzitzit with a blue thread. So one may ask why, if this dye exists and is readily available, is it not universally accepted and used in all of our tallitot. The answer is that the Talmud states that one must hunt this rare crustacean. The modern process utilizes a crustacean that is readily available and gathered easily along the shoreline. As a result, not all rabbinical authorities accept this process.
As is often the case, if you ask for two rabbinic opinions, you may very well get two completely different ones.
Shabbat Shalom,
Marshall Loomer cantor@bethdavid.com
We remember with reverence and love those for whom Yahrzeit will be observed this week.
Annie Applebaum Rodie Atkin Max Baine Hilda Bell Vivian Berish Jacob Birbrager Lily Brudner Rachel Charendoff Stanley Davis Sam Davis Olga Elizabeth Eisen Israel Ellenberg Etta Rose Epstein Simon Fischer Annie Fox Katie Funger Osios Galler Max Garshowitz Molly Glatt Jerry Goldberg Jack Granek Harvey Gruneir Bonnie Herman Harry Hiller Joseph Hoch John Hoffman Myer Jacobs Jack Jacobson Abraham Kaplan Kitty Karstadt Sheldon Kirsh Dorothy Korman Marshall Korn Harry Kushnir Hertzel Leibovici Leo Marcus
Zelik Muskat Martha Pomerantz Jack Reiber Helen Risman Lillian Rosen Marilyn Rosenblum Pearl Rosenfeld Gladys Rubin Harry Selick Molly Shaw Jeffrey Sherkey Morris Sherman Louis Shimbart Anne Shulman Israel Silver Anne Silverstein Percy Singer Marilyn Snow Sam Solomon Seth Soroka Max Starkman Mae Stein George Steiner Peter Stern Charlotte Till Marc Topplin Eugene Tozman Sonia Udell Irving Verman Jacob Weinberg Leon Weltman Leon Wetstein Philip White Zehava Yerushalmi Sam Yuchtman
CONTACT THE SHUL For emergencies please call the office at 416-633-5500 and listen to the instructions.
