Shabbos in Boynton Beach during vacation weekend - "A+"

What a beautiful Shabbos!

My wife and I took our kids (well, we can't just leave them) to Boynton Beach for Shabbos - what an enjoyable weekend! I blogged about why we enjoy Shabbos there once before, so we need not repeat.

But - man! Now that we are in the dead of winter here in Florida (not that we would know because it's in the 80s during the day and 60s at night), people are starting to come down to visit. Frequently. And with their families.

This Shabbos, the shul which had thirty people in attendance (men and women altogether) on Rosh Hashana, had approximately 75 adults and 30 kids! To make the point of the influx of numbers in attendance, the gala kiddush - which was indeed gala - was so good, there was no food leftover. And no one walked away hungry either. (Though I am sure everyone went home to enjoy lunch). My 4 year old son asked me, "Abba, was there any cake?" No - not a single birthday. Thank God for lollypops!

Speeches

I spoke 5 times: Friday night, pre-davening parsha class, Morning Sermon, pre-Mincha afternoon class, and at Seudah Shlishiss.

Friday night

Two approaches to what happened when Yehuda approached Yosef:
1. Went close to speak with him softly - as Koheles says "The words of the righteous are heard when spoken gently." Yehuda wanted to make sure Yosef would hear him out. If they would resort to a shouting match, nothing would get accomplished.

2. The Kotsker rebbe says, "Vayigash Eilav Yehuda" means "Yehuda approached himself." Before a person presents himself to royalty or any figure in a powerful position, it is important to be true to yourself, to know who you are and what you want out of your next human encounter. Yehuda needed to come close to his own true identity to be able to approach Yosef.

Sermon

The gyst of the sermon boiled down to two points:

1. The reaction of Yosef''s brothers to his revealing his identity is one of pure stupefication. They have nothing to say. The Talmud (Chagiga 4b) says Rabbi Elazar would cry when he read this verse because of the scary nature of its consequences. Imagine how embarrassed Yosef's brothers were, when he, a brother, reminded them of their evil deed of selling him. That embarrassed feeling is what it is like - though much worse - when God "calls us" on our inconsistent behavior.

2. To improve our overall relationship with God through prayer, we ought to follow Yosef's lead when he cleared out the room to address his brothers. Yosef wanted to achieve a unique spiritual connection with his brothers, and anything which would stand in the way or distract him needed to leave the room. The Slonimer rebbe says this is how a person must pray.

Think of what it means to take out all people from our presence, all distractions - and now we are more ready to pray to God.

The Parsha Drama Experience

(Parsha Drama is a dramatic presentation of the Torah reading, aimed at children of all ages)

I heard I heard... Someone (we won't mention who) got a little excited when playing Yaakov finding out that Yosef is still alive. And the whole shul heard it in the middle of the announcements. We'll try to tone it down next time. No promises.

Feedback

The entire effort is worth every minute because people give the most genuine and appreciated feedback on the Torah and thoughts I prepare and share.

And the compliments we've gotten about our kids (so cute! you have a beautiful family! "kein yirbu!" etc etc) make my wife and I want to come back for more.

Overall

What a genuine and friendly place. We are glad to be having this experience this year. It is tremendously rewarding to prepare classes and sermons. I enjoy the work, and the payoff (what can I do? - as an actor I enjoy a good performance, especially when audience members tell you how much they enjoy), and look forward to our next visits - still during the January break times when we will continue to enjoy larger crowds - which only enhance the davening - and the warmth of the community that is Anshei Chesed of Boynton Beach.

Important Final Thought

This past Thursday was the first yahrzeit of David Bilowit, ע"ה. The president, Adam Rosen, gave a warm and heartfelt tribute to his memory, not only on account of his special status as a founding member of Anshei Chesed, but as the most senior member of Anshei Chesed. Rabbi Kossowsky also spoke warmly to David's wife, expressing the need to celebrate his life and all that he meant to everybody, even as we are saddened at his no longer being with us.

It was a fitting and heartwarming tribute to a man who meant a lot to the shul.

Parsha Drama - Chayei Sarah

After Sarah's death and funeral (of which we, strangely, have no photos), Avraham tells his servant (standing) to go find a wife for his son, from the land where Avraham grew up.



We try very hard to get the instructions clear... Avraham grew up in Charan!



I (Midrash identifies me as Eliezer) arrived at a well and made a condition. If a girl at the well gives me a drink, and then, on her own decides to give water to my camels, I'll know she's kind, sensitive, caring, thoughtful, sincere, and she even likes animals! Here I am drinking the water she gave me.




And here she is filling her bucket from the well while I am explaining to everyone how much water ONE camel drinks. And she's shlepping water for TEN camels. Unbelievable!





Her brother Lavan (which means white) noticed the jewelry I gave her, and he wants to know if I have any more...


While he's pretending to hug me, he's really checking my pockets to see if I'm hiding anything.


After I proved to her family my noble intentions, even Lavan sent Rivkah off with a blessing...





When we got back to the place where Avraham lived, the first person we saw was Yitzchak. Out of awe, Rivkah fell off her camel, and then covered her face so Yitzchak could not look at her. This just proves how modest she was.

Yitzchak was a little concerned that he could not see her face, (he even wondered if she was hiding her face to hide the fact that she isn't so pretty...)


But I sure showed him! She is actually very pretty.
So they got married, and Yitzchak was finally comforted over the loss of his mother - who had died three years earlier.
Avraham continued his life, getting married to Keturah and having six more sons (aside from others he may have had with different concubines), and he lived to the ripe old age of 175. [He didn't want pictures taken from his second wedding because he didn't want photo documentation that he ever lived with a wife other than Sarah.]

Parsha Drama - Noach

What an experience I had! Five hundred years old! Spending a hundred years building an ark! And all to let my seven family members (eight, once you include me) along with a bunch of animals, live on a boat for a little over a year.

No matter. I built the ark, by myself, and proved I was devout and believed in God.
It was a little cold due to all the rain, so all the ladies huddled under a blanket to share warmth.

And we needed to wear a little gear to protect us from the rain (or at least a hat).

It's incredible when you consider the amount of water it takes to fill the world, rising 15 cubits higher than even the tallest mountains.

After the whole ordeal, I offered some animals as sacrificial offerings, I saw the rainbow in the sky, and I planted a vineyard from which I took grapes and made wine.

There's nothing like a glass of wine to get you a little tipsy. And if you know what I've been through, you understand why I had a bit to drink.

Nonetheless, getting drunk and taking off clothes is not very modest or decent. Luckily two of my sons covered me with a blanket.

Which caused me to wake up and realize what had happened. My sons were partly responsible, partly not responsible. But they did try to cover me and were, for the most part, successful at protecting me. Except for Cham, who has his own issues to deal with.

We concluded with the story of the Tower of Babel, and a preview to our next story, which is that of our patriarch Abraham. We'll learn more about that in Parshat Lekh Lekha!

Parsha Drama - Bereishis/t

Now that the holidays are over, we can now get back into the swing of things with PARSHA DRAMA!!! Starting with the first parsha in the Torah, the BMA students had a blast this week, learning about Creation, Adam and Chava (Eve), the original snake, Kayin and Hevel, and the generations from Adam to Noach.



Here are some photos from one of the classrooms.

First there was darkness (the dark shirt), then God divided between the waters (blue shirt), and then the dry, grassy (presumably green-colored) land.

Here are our models of Adam and Eve - sideways - following the opinion that the first human was made with two faces, and that woman was created by splitting the original human in half, closing the flesh around the open wound from detachment surgery.

The snake entices Eve, who stands under the tree of knowledge. (There are differences of opinion as to what kind of fruit was on the tree. Some argue it was one of the seven species of fruit of the land of Israel. Others say it may have been an etrog...)

"Go on! EAT IT!"

Adam and Eve cover themselves when they realize they're not wearing clothing.

After the banishment from Gan (Garden of) Eden, a flaming sword was placed in front of the tree of life, so one would get a chance to come close to it.

Kayin and Hevel demonstrate their fighting moves

Kayin is given his punishment for having killed Hevel.

Stay tuned for future updates, as we hope to take more pictures in other classes and get many more children involved.

Parsha Drama progress

I spent a portion of today calling schools in Miami Dade to offer them our Parsha Drama program. Some sounded interested. Others need a call back (I left a few messages). We'll see how this pans out.

The program was a tremendous success in Brauser Maimonides Academy this past year. We're hoping it will catch on elsewhere as well.

Here I am (as the serpent) offering an etrog (one interpretation of the forbidden fruit) to "Chava/Eve" last year.