Weekly E-News 5785

March 7 - March 13, 2025

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Thank you to Eva Locker for preparing kiddush this week!

Sunday, March 9^th             Susan Slotin

Monday, March 10^th           Linda Hoffman, Eva Locker

Wednesday, March 12^th    Donna Cohen, Toby Hollenberg

Thursday, March 13^th         Nancy Feldman, Ken Hoffman, Lynn Spector

Ladies' Bathroom Renovation

Renovation of the ladies' restroom is 85% funded, but we still need your help! If you haven't yet donated to the project, please use the button below to make your commitment. Thank you!

Our synagogue will be awarding scholarships to young people interested in attending a Jewish summer camp!

We are providing financial assistance to support our belief that participation in Jewish summer camp is vital to the spiritual development of our youth.

Would like to be considered for one of the AA Jewish Summer Camp scholarships? Please call the synagogue at 912-352-4737 if you need more information and to request an application.

The deadline for consideration is Sunday, April 14th. 

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, March 19th.

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

A large amount of this week’s Torah portion is dedicated to describing the garments that the priests, especially the high priest, will wear. It takes up so much space in the parsha, and so many images of the priestly garments have become famous in their own right (especially the breastplate of the high priest, with its twelve stones with the names of twelve tribes of Israel, that has become a catch-all Jewish symbol), that we often don’t stop to think about why the priests need special garments. Why the need for the all the pomp and circumstance? Why the showmanship and grander? Isn’t the worship of God, especially a God beyond the material plane, invisible and indescribable, more important than wearing fancy clothes? And if the Israelites are a nation of priests, as the Torah repeats many times, why do the actual priests have to dress nicer than them?



Luckily, the Torah gives us an answer. וְעָשִׂיתָ בִגְדֵי־קֹדֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ לְכָבוֹד וּלְתִפְאָרֶת, God tells Moshe. “And you shall make holy garments for Aharon your brother, for glory [kavod] and for splendor [tiferet].” This seems straightforward enough, if maybe a little unsatisfying. As Ibn Ezra comments, apparently the purpose of the priestly garments is for the glory and splendor of the priests, to raise them above other men, so that the Israelites would respect and admire their work. But Ramban, often mystical, takes a different approach. In Kabbalistic tradition, kavod and tiferet can refer to different attributes of God. Thus, Ramban reads the verse not as “And you shall make holy garments for Aharon your brother for [his] glory and splendor,” but as “and you shall make holy garments for Aharon your brother for [my] glory and splendor.” If Aharon wants to serve God, he needs to take his position seriously. He needs to not dress for the everyday, but mindful that he is directly serving the Source of all life. And so, the priestly garments are not to uplift Aharon in the minds of other people, but to uplift Aharon’s mind so that he can properly serve God.

But for us non-priests, who don’t offer sacrifices but do pray and serve God in other ways, are we to dress with respect to God’s glory and splendor? Of course! One of the garments the high priest wears is the tzitz, a golden frontlet suspended on a cord of techelet, or light blue. You may recall that every Israelite is commanded to attach tzitzit to their four-cornered garments, fringes made with a cord of techelet. This tzitzit is like a little tzitz, and we all mimic the holy garments of the high priest. In that way, we truly are a nation of priests—each of us is supposed to think, whenever we look on those tzitzit, about our service to God, and how we want to do better in God’s service. We all wear holy garments for God’s glory and splendor. Each of us is magnified in our service to God, and each of us, just like a high priest, has the power to have a relationship with God, and do holy work here on Earth.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Gelman

This Shabbat

2025 | 5785

Tetzaveh/Shabbat Zachor

Candle Lighting: 6:09 pm

Havdalah: 7:04 pm

(all times are for Savannah)

Annual Torah reading: Exodus 27:20-30:10, Deuteronomy 25:17-19

(Etz Hayim pp 503-518, 1135-1136)

Triennial Torah reading: Exodus 29:19-30:10, Deuteronomy 25:17-19

(Etz Hayim pp 513-518, 1135-6)

Haftarah: 1 Samuel 15:2-34

(Etz Hayim pp 1281-1285)

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.

Megillah Reader Sign Up

In Person Service Times

Tuesday: 7:30 AM

Wednesday: 8:00 AM

Friday: 8:00 AM

Shabbat: 9:45 AM

Yahrzeits

Thursday night/Friday, March 7 – 7 Adar

Esther Kaminsky – grandmother of Toby Friedman,

Danny Kaminsky, Myron Kaminsky

Abram Rubin – brother of Elise Shernoff

Friday night/Saturday, March 8 – 8 Adar

Marsha Haysman – aunt of Michelle Heyman

Paul Madison – uncle of Gerald Caplan

Chaim Melamed – grandfather of Lisa Kaminsky

Sunday night/Monday, March 10 – 9 Adar

Celia Hirsch – aunt of Arthur & Melvin Haysman

Gabriel Maglione – father of Ida Zeger

Paul Ratner – father of Allan Ratner

LaBelle Tenenbaum – mother of Cookie Gale

Monday night/Tuesday, March 11 – 11 Adar

 Karen Friedenberg – sister of Amy Rosenthal

Laurette Sussman – mother of Harvey Sussman, aunt of Richard Bodziner

Mayer Tenenbaum – grandfather of Cookie Gale

Tuesday night/Wednesday, March 12– 12 Adar

Aaron Haysman – father of Melvin Haysman

Jeannie Stein – grandmother of Martin Melaver

Wednesday night/Thursday, March 13 – 13 Adar

Abraham Feiler – father of Preston Feiler

Faye Schwartz – mother of Sandy Seligman

Mose Simmons – Dorothy Stock

Rose Zeger – mother of Warren Zeger

Thursday night/Friday, March 14 – 14 Adar

Joyce Bonder – wife of Michael Bonder

Pesil Sherman – grandmother of Bunny Montag

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

Community Events

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

Gerald Caplan

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