Shabbat Vayera Oct 26 - 27, 2007 / Cheshvan 15, 5768

San Diego wildfires
Our thoughts and prayers are with all our kehilla and the wider Jewish and general community during this week of natural disaster and loss for so many. If you know of anyone who needs help, please contact Rav Menashe at 858/605-1111.

Shabbat tefilla
Join us this Shabbat to pray on behalf of SD and reconnect with your community. We will make a special blessing from the Torah on behalf of our wellbeing on Shabbat morning.

Open Invitation Shabbat Dinner Debriefing
Come to Rav Menashe and Donna's home for a light Friday night meal while we reconnect as a community after this week's events. Guests are encouraged to bring kosher food before shabbat. Address: 3905 carmel brooks way 92130. RSVP appreciated.

Jewish Family Service Food Pantry
Several of our kehilla teens are involved in JFS Food Pantry. They are collecting donations of non-perishable foods and toiletries, and also asking for volunteers to help pack boxes and distribute food. To make a donation or volunteer, please contact Rafi Lurie at 858-334-5656.

YCT Rabbinical students to lend a hand with relief effort
5 rabbinical students from NY will be arriving Sunday afternoon to lend their support to the SD community. If anyone wants or needs to connect with any of these students, please be in touch with Rav Menashe.

Jewish Community Disaster Fund
The Jewish Community Disaster Fund has been established by the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, UJF of San Diego County, and JFS of San Diego. The Fund's objectives are to provide assistance to those that have been affected by the fires, as well as any rebuilding to the communal infrastructure that will be needed. Funds will be held by the Jewish Community Foundation and administered by a committee representing the three organizations and the Jewish community at large. No overhead costs will be taken from the fund, and all dollars raised will help those in need.
For further information call the UJF office at 858-571-3444

Useful sites for the SD fire relief effort
Donations: www.jewishinsandiego.org; www.jfssd.org; http://www.jcfsandiego.org/Fire_fund.htm www.redcross.org
Blood: www.sandiegobloodbank.org
Volunteering: www.volunteersandiego.org; www.jfssd.org
General Info: www.211sandiego.org


KAY's Torah Study Opportunities

Advanced Talmud Class: Men and Women are invited to study high level Talmud. We will be starting this Class after the High Holiday Season. Please speak to Rav Menashe to inquire further and to vote on what will be this year's Talmud tractate for the Kehilla.

KAY Chavurot: Join an informal, social Chavurah study group this year. We are looking for 4 families to volunteer, to make a guest list and to form a rotation of hosts for once a month social Torah meetings about whatever area of Jewish life you are interested in. Please contact Rav Menashe to volunteer.

Work Person's Shiur: Join us every third week for a lunchtime Torah class at Aubrey Meyerowitz's office. 9863 Pacifc Heights Blvd. Suite E SD 92121

Virtual Beit Midrash
Join Jewish communities from all over America for a
monthly study seminar in conjunction with The Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Please contact Rav Menashe for this very special learning opportunity.

Community events

Plugged in Parenting – An exciting new program for Parents to learn how to more effectively parent. There is still time to sign up. Register online at www.lfjcc.org or contact Glenda Jaffe at Glenda@ajesd.org

JCC Jewish Book Fair. November 1-10 and the 27th
The Museum of Man – Copper Age Exhibit, featuring Archeology in Israel, runs through February.

Museum of Natural History- Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit- runs through December.

Refuah Sheleima
Please contact Rav Menashe to let him know of any family or friends who are ill.


Member news

New members - we are delighted to welcome our new members Alan & Inbar Braude & Family and Lawrence & Andrea Sher & Family!

Happy birthday to Rav Menashe (Oct 27), Irene Gavson (Oct 27), Gady Hoffman (Oct 27), Dani Lurie (Oct 27), Sean Murray (Oct 27), Martin Pamensky (Oct 27), Rebecca Penner (Oct 28), Chaya Zingerevich (Oct 29), Martha Gurwitz (Oct 30), David Gafen (Oct 31), Clive Gurwitz (Oct 31), Ronald Levin (Nov 1) and Neil Rabinowitz (Nov 1)!

Wedding anniversary - mazal tov to Colin & Jill Berman (Oct 28)!

Yahrzeits - we wish a long life to David Ellman (for his mother) and to Colin Berman (for his father).

Levaya - we regret to announce the passing of Marlene Stanger's father in South Africa. May she and her family be comforted amongst the mourners of Zion.


Kiddush
Kiddush is sponsored by the kehilla to wish Rav Menashe a happy birthday - mazal tov!
Please contact Barbara Lurie at barblurie@san.rr.com or 858/792-7942 if you would like to sponsor kiddush on Shabbat morning.

Membership registration
Your support is vital! Please complete and send in your membership form as soon as possible. To discuss your monthly contribution in strict confidence, please contact Geoff Patz at 858/733-3777. All donations are tax deductible and should be made payable to Kehillat Ahavat Yisrael and mailed to 13030 Brixton Place, San Diego CA 92130-1325. Thank you for your support!

Shabbat services
Friday night services: 6.15 pm. Shabbat morning: 9.30 am. Children's service 10.30 am. Services are held every week in the Bet Midrash of the San Diego Jewish Academy's Carmel Valley campus. Please see our web site for more information and directions.

Shabbat times
- Fri Oct 26: Candle lighting 5.46 PM
- Sat Oct 27: Shabbat ends 6.46 PM

Thought for the week

Judaism in Times of Need

This has been a very difficult week for Southern California. Many from our immediate community were evacuated and displaced. And though we have been allowed to return to our homes, many of our neighbors and friends from the larger San Diego community still are living outside the shelter of their homes, surrounded by their immediate family and with little more possessions than the clothes on their backs.

As a Jewish community that lives amongst a larger community, we need to embody the message of a shared human bond. In times of crisis, families unite and care for each other, even if the relationship is often distant and unspoken. For Southern California, this is a time when the overgrown paths to humanity clear and we walk beside one another in concern and support.

For the Jewish community, the sense of shared responsibility is hereditary. Abraham and Sarah, our heroes of loving-kindness, opened their tent to stranger and wanderer, without condition or expectation. This Shabbat, we read the timely portion, Vayeirah, when G-d pays Abraham a wellness visit as he recovers from his circumcision. But while G-d sits with Abraham, three travelers come toward Abraham's tent. Without delay, Abraham, leaves G-d and springs to attention to welcome the weary sojourners. (Genesis 18) For Abraham, caring for the wellbeing of other people is his paramount concern. (TB Shabbat 127a)

Later in this week's portion, Abraham prays for G-d to spare the city of Sodom from destruction. The Sodomites are not covenantal brothers and sisters to Abraham and Sarah, but Abraham understands that they too deserve fairness, they too must be given the benefit of the doubt and they too must be protected and helped. (Genesis 18: 23-33)

As the covenantal heirs to Abraham and Sarah's humanitarian sensitivity, we now face a moment when we must try to live up to and honor our responsibility to the larger community around us. It can come in the form of financial support through our local UJF, emotional support to the displaced, keeping our eyes and ears on the elderly or a sickly neighbor, and bringing groceries to the homebound. Please G-d, we will help douse the flames, smoke and ash of destruction with our love and support.

Shabbat Shalom Umevorach,
Rav Menashe


Kehillat Ahavat Yisrael (Love of Israel - the nation and the land) is a warm, caring Orthodox community welcoming Jews of all backgrounds to personal exploration and growth within Judaism. Our name symbolizes our passionate love for both fellow Jews and the State of Israel. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think might be interested. Let us know at any time if you'd like to be removed from this email list.

Contact information:

Rabbi: Rav Menashe and Donna East 858/605-1111

Board:
- President: Michael Lurie 858/794-8278
- Marketing: Ian Aires 858/481-2706
- At large: Barbara Berkovich 858/353-1420
- Programs: Gary Lewis 858/538-2330
- Programs: Jeff Max 858/481-7627
- Finance: Selwyn Lurie 858/792-7942
- Ladies: Barbara Lurie 858/792-7942
- Membership: Geoff Patz 858/733-3777