Edmond J. Safra & Joseph S. Jemal Synagogues
Turnberry Village & Porto Vita Minyan
Purim Schedule
PLEASE JOIN US FOR A COMMUNITY PURIM PARTY
Hosted by
OHEL YAACOB and EDMOND J. SAFRA SYNAGOGUES
At the LAWRENCE AVENUE SYNAGOGUE
4 OCEAN AVENUE
WEDNESDAY MARCH 20, 2019
6:30 THRU 10:00 PM
Baloonist & Face Painting 6:30-8:00 pm
More Face Paint! 7:30 – 9:00 pm
Magic Show! -8:00 – 9:00 pm
DJ! Music! Fun!
Megilah reading at 7:00 pm
Fast Ends 7:37 pm
Hot Dairy buffet & full salad bar!
JOIN US FOR AN AMAZING PURIM CELEBRATION!!
Purim schedule 2019
Taanit Esther – Wed. March 20th Deal Aventura
Fast begins 5:37 a.m. 6:16 a.m.
Shahrit 6:50 a.m. 8:00 a.m.
Minha with Tefilin 6:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m.
Megila -Lawrence Ave Shul 7:00 p.m. 7:45 p.m.
Fast ends 7:37 p.m. 7:53 p.m.
All Evening Services in Deal will be held
in Lawrence Avenue Shul
Purim Day – Thurs. March 21st
Shahrit 6:50 a.m. 8:00 a.m.
Megilah reading 7:30 a.m. 8:30 a.m.
Second Megilah reading 10:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m.
Minha & Arbit 6:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m.
We are pleased to announce that we will Be"H have a minyan daily for Minha & Arbit
Shahrit
Sunday Gemara Megillah Class 7:00 am followed by prayers 8:00 and breakfast (wiht Hok Le'Yisrael class)
Monday & Thursday 6:50 am
Tuesday, Wed, & Friday 7:00 am
Followed by breakfast & class
Minha & Arbit:
NEW!! Sunday through Thursday - 6:45 pm
Shabbat Prayer & Class Schedule
Shabbat Sav
Friday March 22nd Deal Turnberry Village
Shir Hashirim & Minha 6:30 pm 6:45 pm
Candle Lighting 6:51 pm 7:14 pm
Shabbat March 23rd
Shahrit 8:30 am 7:45 am
Rabbi’s Class 5:30 pm 5:50 pm
Minha followed by Seuda Shelisheet 5:30 pm 6:50 pm
Arbit 7:30 pm 7:55 pm
Shabbat Ends 7:51 pm 8:14 pm
Shabbat Sav
Purim - 14 Adar II 5779 - March 21, 2019
Status: The Currency of Today
The spirit of Amalek is hauntingly relevant for us today. The primary currency of American society is status, and by our association with various people and things, our status is always rising or falling.
The pursuit of status raises an existential question: Is it better to look good or to be good? We confront this question almost daily. Are we sharing a genuine depiction of the reality of our lives, or do we share only those items that gain us status – i.e., an inflated version of "looking good" that we falsely project ourselves to be?
It's a vicious cycle. In order to constantly prop up an inflated ego, we seek adulation.
Perkei Abot asserts that "status-seeking removes a person from the world." When self-esteem depends on adulation from others, linked to external circumstances beyond our control, it is a losing proposition.
When we worry about being accepted by others, we judge ourselves by the opinions of those whose moods, attitudes, and values are constantly changing. We place our happiness in the hands of people who themselves worry about how others judge them.
We constantly invest great amounts of energy into pleasing first one person, then another. We try to be one person in the morning, another during the day, and yet another at night. Sometimes, under pressure from others, we act in opposition to our true inner nature – leaving us empty and degraded.
Inevitably, we can never win this game. Someone will always have more status than us. While physical desires have a saturation point, the desire for honor is based on falsehood and illusion. No amount will ever be fully satisfying. When an honor-seeker lacks the approval of just one person, he feels bereft.
So despite all the status and power, as long as Mordechai the Jew refused to bow, Haman was unsatisfied. That is why Haman's wife Zeresh tells him (Esther 6:13): "If that's your attitude, you are destined to fail." You will never have everything, because when it comes to honor, appetite is insatiable.
When the battle was finally over, the Jewish nation emerged victorious. It was a time of true Jewish unity, a dramatic reversal of the description Haman used to denounce the Jews as "a nation scattered and split” (Esther 3:8). Jewish division and strife is what fueled Haman's confidence; thus prior to her risky unannounced visit to the king, Esther told Mordechai to "assemble all the Jews” (Esther 4:16) – i.e. we will succeed in counteracting Haman only if the Jews come together in unity.
This idea of a shared destiny was formalized in the Purim traditions (Esther 9:22). We send Mishloach Manot, gifts of food one to another, to engrain in us the message: To prevail, we must unite together. The primary path to Jewish unity is Torah study, which is the blue print for our lives. At the end of the Megillah it is written “the Jews had light" (Esther 8:16). This, is the light of Torah, the guidepost for every generation of Jews.
Having witnessed the degradation of Haman – a madman bent on world domination – the Jews in Persia accepted the Torah anew. They understood with renewed clarity that Torah stands against the corrupt drive for "status at all costs."
Haman's plan was overthrown because Mordechai the Jew would not budge from his stiff-necked loyalty to the monotheistic message. In the process, he saved humanity from barbarism. As it was true and relevant back then, As Jews we believe, so it is today.
Happy Purim,
Rabbi Isaac Farhi
Special Misvot of Purim
Zecher Le’Mahaseet Hashekel
In remembrance of the Half Shekel that was given in the time of the Bet Hamikdash, as an atonement or a Kaparah. According to Hagaon Harav Obadia Yosef Shlita, it is proper to give the equivalent of ten grams of silver for 13 year olds and older.
Additions to our Prayers
~ In the Amidah and in Birkat Hamazon we add Al Hanissim. If one forgets to say it He does not have to repeat the prayer.
~ No Hallel is said on Purim.
~ Tahanun is not said.
~ From the Torah we read “Vayabo Amalek” (the end of Perashat Beshalach) The Torah is read before the Megilah.
4 Misvot of Purim
Mikrah Megilah
Megilah- Times
- Megilat Esther must be read twice on Purim, once in the evening and once during the day. * It is best to read the Megilah in a Minyan.
2. The proper time for reading the Megilah is after the stars become visible. However one is allowed to read the Megilah any time during the night.
3. During the day the Megilah may be read from sunrise all day until sunset. If a person forgot to hear the Megilah during the day and remembered at twilight, He should read it then without a beracha.
• One may read the Megilah standing or seated.
• The Megilah should be unrolled and folded like a letter.
• The Megilah must be read word for word and not said by heart.
• A person is obligated to hear every word of the Megilah, even if he does not understand it. (it is praiseworthy to review the Megilah beforehand so that one can understand)
• At the mention of Haman’s name we stamp our feet and make noise to blot out his evil name. (Caution!) One should be sure to stop making noise when the reader is ready to continue!
• The Hazan recites three Berachot before the Megilah.
•A final beracha is recited after the reading and rerolling of the Megilah. We must pay careful attention and say amen after each blessing. (we do not answer Baruch Hu Baruch Shemo to these blessings) No one should talk from the beginning of the first set of blessings until after the concluding beracha.
• No Sheheheyanu is said for the daytime reading of the Megilah
Matanot Le’ebyonim
– gifts to the poor are given to two different people. It is best to give ready-made food or money that can be used to buy food. According to the Rambam, this misva is even more important than a Purim meal and Mishloah Manot because there is no greater joy than to gladden the hearts of the poor. It is a special Misva to give generously on Purim.
Mishloah Manot
1. One should give Mishloah Manot to at least one friend.
2. The Mishloah Manot should include two different kinds of foods that are ready to be eaten on Purim.
3. Each of the two required items should be enough so that the receiver may make a concluding Beraha after eating. (example: several cookies and a bottle of grape juice) A bottle of wine and a lollypop would be questionable because the lollypop is not enough to make a final blessing.
4. Women are also obligated to give gifts to the poor, send Mishloah Manot and participate in the Seuda.
Purim Seuda
– A joyous and lavish meal should be eaten on Purim; it should be eaten before sunset.
Fourieh – Sephardim have a custom to make Purim especially happy for youngsters. We buy our children gifts. Fourieh –is the gift given on “Four” the Arabic word for Purim.
Who is Obligated to Hear Megilah?
1. All men older than Bar Misva
2. Although women are exempt from most time related Misvot; they are nevertheless obligated to hear the Megilah. This is because they too – men, women and children were threatened by Haman’s plot. This also serves to remind us that one of Hashem’s messengers in our deliverance was from a woman–Queen Esther.
3. Children under the age of thirteen should be brought to shul to hear the Megilah. This is important in educating them to do Misvot. Young children should be supervised so they do not interfere with others listening to the Megilah reading.
The Fast of Esther
On the day before Purim, the 13th day of Adar, Haman planned to kill the Jews. This year the fast is on Wednesday March 20th.
- Esther and her maidens fasted and did teshuba three days before her attempt to convince the king to cancel this evil decree. The Jewish people have observed the practice of fasting whenever they were faced with war and calamity. The idea of fasting re-inforces our understanding that man does not prevail by his own physical or military strength alone, but rather we must turn to Hashem in his mercy to overcome our problems. In remembrance of Esther’s fast, we too fast and ask Hashem to help in overcoming the “Amaleks” of today who seek to destroy the Jewish People.
Children’s Prayers
After Haman had made the gallows, he went to Mordechai and found him teaching Torah to twelve thousand children who gathered around him.
“Tomorrow,” said Haman, “I shall kill these children first and then I will hang Mordechai.”
Though their mothers brought them food the children refused to eat. They wept and wept until their cries reached the heavens. Hashem heard their weeping and He said, “What is the great cry I hear as of kids and lambs.”
“The cry is not from kids and lambs” said the ministering angle “it comes from the little Jewish children who have fasted for three days and tomorrow are to be killed as if indeed they were kids and lambs.”
Then Hashem took the decree that He sealed against Israel and tore it up. This teaches us how special and important are the prayers of little children. Hashem hears their prayers offered with sincerity and sends them his bountiful blessings.
THE TRAP OF WANTING IT ALL
Haman, the villain of the Purim story, lived a thousand years after the Torah was written. Yet with timeless vision, the Gemarah (Chulin 139b) asks: Where is Haman's name hinted in the Torah?
It is cited in Beresheet 3:11, where Hashem confronts Adam in the Garden: "Did you eat from this (hamin) forbidden tree?"
This is more than just clever wordplay. The deeper connection between Adam and Haman, explains the Maharsha is that both Adam and Haman lacked only one thing –and it drove them over the edge.
What was Adam's "one thing"?
Adam was given free reign in the Garden of Eden; the entire world was created for him alone. G-d designated only the Tree of Knowledge off limits – His way of drawing a line, of making clear to humanity: You are not G-d. There is only one G-d.
When the Snake suggested that eating from the Tree would transform "human" into "deity," Adam went for the bait and ate from the tree.
Fast forward to Haman, Prime Minister of a 127-country global empire, who fancied himself as a supreme being. Everyone bowed to Haman. Except for one. Mordechai the Jew.
Haman had everything – power, privilege, and prestige. Yet upon seeing Mordechai refusing to bow, Haman became enraged. "None of this power means anything to me, as long as I see Mordechai the Jew sitting at the king's gate" (Esther 5:13).
Haman's ego was in need of constant validation and he could not bear such rejection. Tormented, he vowed to destroy the Jewish people – every man, woman and child. What is the root of Haman's vicious reaction?
Mordechai, as leader of the Jewish people – representatives of monotheism – embodied the "one thing" that drove Haman crazy.
To silence this truth, Haman obsessively targeted Mordechai and the Jews. He built a gallows 80 feet high that could be seen throughout all of Shushan. More than simply hanging Mordechai, this was to be the ultimate statement of victory over the Jewish ideal. Then, everyone would acknowledge Haman's unparalleled superiority. His ego could accept nothing less.