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Weekly E-News 5785

January 31 - February 6, 2025


Menu


Salad Niçoise

Green Salad

Assorted Crackers

Assorted Cookies

Fruit


Thank you to

Libby Waldman-Strugatch & Bruce Strugatch

for preparing kiddush!



Join Sisterhood Today!


If you have already joined, thank you!

If you haven't, please send your membership form and payment to the synagogue today. Make checks payable to Agudath Achim Sisterhood.


$36.00 Annual Dues

$54.00 Donor: Annual Dues plus Chai ($18.00)

$72.00 Sweetheart: Annual Dues Plus Double Chai ($36.00)


New Course: Intro to Talmud: The Wayward and Rebellious Child



Does the Talmud seem overwhelming and confusing? How do you even learn a page of Talmud? How do the rabbis of the Talmud look at the Torah, how do they interpret Jewish law, and is it still relevant today? Over the course of several weeks, we will learn the answers by taking a deep dive into a section of Talmud dealing with the laws of the wayward and rebellious child. Deuteronomy commands that a wayward and rebellious child be stoned to death in front of the entire community, but is that really the law? What do the rabbis have to say? Come and learn! No Hebrew or Aramaic necessary! If you are interested, please RSVP to Rabbi Gelman at Rabbi@agudath-achim.com. Class will be Tuesdays at 4:00 PM on Zoom, and Thursdays at 10 AM in person. We hope to see you there!


Motti's class on the Days of Awe.


The next class will meet at 10:30 on Wednesday, February 5th.

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SHABBAT PRAYER STUDY @ 10 AM SATURDAYS

Ever wanted to learn a little bit more about what we say and do during our prayers? Wanted to know what prayer is in Judaism, or why we say the Mourner’s Kaddish at the end of the service, or why we stand during the Amidah? Do you have questions about our prayers, but never wanted to take a full class? Rabbi Gelman is here to help! Starting this week, after our normal Psukei Dzimrei at 9:45, every Shabbat service from 10-10:10 will be dedicated to going over a little piece of prayer knowledge. Learn the meaning of the prayers, the order of the service, and more! The Shacharit morning service will always start at 10:10 to make sure we end on time, so make sure you get to services by 10 AM to learn a little more about our prayers!

Rabbi's Message

In many conversations about the Ten Plagues, we ask about the justness of God hardening Pharoah’s heart. Was it fair of God punish Pharaoh for something that, in the end, Pharoah had no control over? This is a good question, and it has its fair share of answers (God only hardened Pharoah’s heart for last five plagues, God hardened Pharoah’s heart so that he would receive punishment for enslaving the Israelites, and so on). But the opening of this week’s parsha also poses another, not as frequently asked question: was it fair to Moshe?


בֹּא אֶל־פַּרְעֹה כִּי־אֲנִי הִכְבַּדְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ, God tells Moshe at the very beginning of the parsha. “Go to Pharoah, for/because/although I have hardened his heart.” Why tell Moshe this? Ibn Ezra understands that God is warning Moshe to not be surprised that his message to Pharoah won’t work, because God will harden Pharoah’s heart. So, if Moshe’s message won’t work, why should Moshe go at all? Why should Moshe place himself once again in danger, bearing the difficult message of liberation, if he knows for a fact, if he has been told by God, that no one will listen to it? Sure, this is not fair to Pharoah, but how is it fair to Moshe to go on an errand this is pre-destined to fail?


But Moshe does. Consistently throughout the story of the Exodus. He tries to change Pharoah’s ways, tries to secure the liberation of the Israelites, calls out the Egyptians’ sins, even though he knows it will be fruitless. But he still he tries, because the quest for justice is important, because the act of standing up for what is right matters, even if the end result is not guaranteed. Moshe models for us what doing the right thing looks like.



There is a story in the Talmud of the one time that God changed his mind. Based on a verse from the book of Ezekiel, it imagines that God instructed the angel Gabriel to travel through Jerusalem and separate with marks the wicked from the righteous, so the wicked may be destroyed and the righteous saved. The attribute of Justice then protests that there is no difference between the wicked and the righteous, since the righteous could have protested the actions of the wicked but chose not to. God responds that He knows that even if the righteous protested the wicked, nothing would have changed. The attribute of Justice responds, “It is revealed before You, but is it revealed before them?”


It WAS revealed before Moshe, and he still tried to warn the wicked, to do what was right. We do not have that burden. It is not revealed before us if our efforts will fail. All the more so we should follow the example of Moshe, and stand up for what is right, and work to bring justice to this world. If Moshe can face the certainty of defeat and still stand up to Pharoah, we can face the uncertainties of this world and stand up for what is right.


Shabbat Shalom!



Rabbi Gelman

This Shabbat


2025 | 5785


Bo

Candle Lighting: 5:40 pm

Havdalah: 6:37 pm

(all times are for Savannah)

Annual Torah reading: Exodus 10:1-13:16

(Etz Hayim pp 374-394)

Triennial Torah reading: Exodus 12:29-13:16

(Etz Hayim pp 387-394)

Haftarah: Jeremiah 46:13-28

(Etz Hayim pp 395-398)


Service Leader Sign Up


Are you interested in leading services? Reading Torah? You can sign up on our service leader sign up sheet! If you are interested in learning how to read Torah or lead services, contact Rabbi Gelman at rabbi@agudath-achim.com.

February - June Sign Up

In Person Service Times


Tuesday: 7:30 AM

Wednesday: 8:00 AM

Friday: 8:00 AM

Feb 8th, 6:00 PM, With Guest Rabbi

Shabbat: 9:45 AM



Birthdays


January 31st


Richard Bodziner


February 2nd


Monique Mayo


February 3rd


Dorothy Stock


February 4th


Frank Slotin


Jennifer Tillinger


Rhoda Weiland


February 5th


Michelle Heyman


February 6th


Helene Friedman



Anniversaries


February 6th


Sandy & Marcus Seligman



Yahrzeits

 

January 31 – February 6, 2025

 

Thursday night/Friday, January 31 – 2 Shevat

Jonathan Blumenfeld – brother of Brian Blumenfeld

Bertram Freed – father of Suzanne Konter

Joseph Geffen – father of Morris & Ted Geffen

Friday night/Saturday, February 1 – 3 Shevat

Sam Elman – grandfather of Brenda Salter

Lester Swallwood – father of Steven Swallwood

Fanny Zoller – grandmother of Michael Zoller

Saturday night/Sunday, February 2 – 4 Shevat

Yafa Ehrlich – grandmother of Motti Locker

Sunday night/Monday, February 3 – 5 Shevat

David Fiegleman – father of Arlene Ratner

Goldie Schmalheiser – grandmother of Lynn Reeves & Paul Cranman,

 great-grandmother of Kasey Berman & Morgan McGhie

Monday night/Tuesday, February 4 – 6 Shevat

Arhtur Holstein – father of Douglas Holstein

Sandra Samuels – mother of Scott Samuels

Tuesday night/Wednesday, February 5 – 7 Shevat

Abraham Kamine – father of Roberta Kamine-Haysman,

grandfather of Michelle Heyman, uncle of Arthur Haysman

Joseph Kaminsky – grandfather of Toby Friedman, Danny & Myron Kaminsky

Anna Kaufman – great-aunt of Marilyn Farley

Jerome Tillinger – father of Marcus Seligman & Arnold Tillinger

Harry Zoller – father of Michael Zoller

Thursday night/Friday, February 7 – 9 Shevat

Harry Landesman – father of Louise Harkavy

Julie Metzger – wife of Buddy Metzger, sister of Merry Bodziner

 

Commemoration of the Yahrzeit begins the evening of the first noted date.


Community Events

RSVP & Donate to Hadassah 

Montag Gallery

February 1-28, 2025 - Bryan Wilson


Opening Reception: Sunday, February 2, 3-5pm


Artist Bryan Wilson said of his upcoming show “The world is a beautiful place where you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch many things. What people find beautiful is different. Some find food with its taste and smell to be beautiful. Others find their loved ones to be the most beautiful and precious. In this world, for me, I find environments to be that. I have always been awestruck by both the natural world and architectural world so I decided to draw with the part of the world I find to be most beautiful and hope to share that with all of you.”


January 1-31, 2025 - Grenville T. Emmet IV


Better known as Sean, he grew up in Manhattan and attended Saint David's School in NYC and The Canterbury School in Connecticut before receiving his diploma from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. Following graduation in 1988, he spent time living in Europe and California. In the mid 1990s he drove across the country and made many stops in picturesque Rocky Mountain towns including Aspen, Telluride, Crested Butte and Colorado National Park. Of this experience he said “The groves of aspen trees took my breath away. Their white bark and leaves were exquisite. The Rocky Mountains abounded with beautiful walks. The abundance of glistening peaks rivaled any natural aesthetic that I had seen in Europe.”

Twenty years ago Sean moved to Savannah where he lived until 2021. Now a resident of Amelia Island, Florida, he traveled back to the Rockies in 2023 and 2024 and is where his photographs from this show were captured.

The JEA will partner with The Blood Connection on Friday, February 14th from 9am-2pm to fulfill the greatest mitzvah- saving a life. Donors can be 16 or 17 with signed parental consent. 


All donors will receive $40 in rewards.

Register Here

Brendan Murphy To Present “Why The Jews?”


A Multimedia Presentation On The Long And Tragic History Of Antisemitism on February 26th and 27th at the Jewish Educational Alliance

 

The entire community is invited to join on Wednesday, February 26th from 6:00-8:00pm and Thursday, February 27th from 10:00am-12:00pm at the Jewish Educational Alliance, 5111 Abercorn Street, for a two-part lecture from Brendan Murphy, award winning educator as well as gifted and highly sought-after speaker. The lecture is free and open for the community, but donations are appreciated.

 

Brendan Murphy

Mr. Brendan Murphy is the founding director of the Bearing Witness Institute for Interreligious and Ecumenical Dialogue at Marist School. With a distinguished career at Marist since 1994, Mr. Murphy has significantly contributed to the school’s endeavor to live its Catholic values through promoting dialogue and education that encourage mutual respect. Mr. Murphy is a dedicated history teacher and advocate for interfaith dialogue, notably creating the “History and the Holocaust” seminar and leading international field trips to Holocaust sites in Europe. Beyond the classroom, he moderates the Peace by Piece group, uniting students from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim schools to build friendships and understanding—a model soon to be replicated nationwide. His work, including community presentations on antisemitism, laid the foundation for the Bearing Witness Institute.

Mr. Murphy’s commitment to interreligious education has earned him accolades such as the Outstanding Educator Award from the Anne Frank Center and the ADL’s Abe Goldstein Human Relations Award. His excellence in teaching has been recognized with awards like the Goizueta Chair of Excellence and the Faber-McKinley-Stadler Award. Recently, he was selected for Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2025.

 

Congregation Agudath Achim

Donor Dues


                    

Benefactor

$9,999 - $5000

Melvyn & Eleanor Galin

 

Leader

$3,599 - $1,800

Stephen & Annette Friedman


Patron

$1,799 - $720

Aaron & Dayle Levy

Allan & Arlene Ratner

Sherwin & Sara Robin

Sol & Stephanie Zerden


Chai Member

$719 - $360

Michelle & Matthew Allan

Linda & Joe Cooper

AM Goldkrand

Paul & Harriet Kulbersh

Andrew & Leslie Walcoff

Michael & Linda Zoller



Supporters

 $359 - $100 

Lynn Berkowitz

Adam & Lauren Fins

Ted & Adelle Geffen

Doug & Lisa Goldstein

Lynn Goodman

Seth Grenald

Steve Herman

David & Gale Hirsh

Jonathan & Tova Javetz

Harriet Karlin

Michael & Suzanne Konter

Larry & Betsy Lehner

Rene Lehrberger

Steve & Linda Sacks

Victor & Elise Shernoff

Judy Todtfeld

Ed Wexler

 

Thanks to these donors for going above and beyond by participating in the Donor Dues Program this 2024-2025 fiscal year.

 

If you would like to participate by making this additional commitment, please contact the office. 

Rabbi Samuel Gelman

Morgan McGhie, President

Motti Locker, Executive Director


Congregation Agudath Achim | office@agudath-achim.com | 912-352-4737 | www.agudath-achim.com

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