YOUNG ISRAEL OF WEST HARTFORD 2240 ALBANY AVENUE WEST HARTFORD, CT 06117 860-233-3084

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Individual and Collective Responsibility Rabbi Jonathan Sacks I once had the opportunity to ask the Catholic writer Paul Johnson what had struck him most about Judaism during the long period he spent researching it for his masterly A History of the Jews? He replied in roughly these words: There have been, in the course of history, societies that emphasised the individual like the secular West today. And there have been others that placed weight on the collective communist Russia or China, for example. Judaism, he continued, was the most successful example he knew of that managed the delicate balance between both giving equal weight to individual and collective responsibility. Judaism was a religion of strong individuals and strong communities. This, he said, was very rare and difficult, and constituted one of our greatest achievements. It was a wise and subtle observation. Without knowing it, he had in effect paraphrased Hillels apho to Rabbi Brahm & Elana on the birth rism: If I am not for myself, who will be (individual reof their son Yosef Asher. to proud sponsibility)? But if I am only for myself, what am I grandparents Morrie & Lynn Weinberg, and (collective responsibility)? This insight allows us to see the argument of Parshat Noach in a way that might not Howard & Miriam Rosenblum. May he grow have been obvious otherwise. LTorah, LChupah, u'L'Maasim Tovim The parsha begins and ends with two great events, the Flood on the one hand, Babel and its tower on the other. On the face of it they have nothing in common. The failings of the generation of the Flood are exYIWH LEGACY TALLIS plicit. The world was corrupt before God, and the land Thank you to the families who added names to was filled with violence. God saw the world, and it was our YIWH legacy Tallis this year. Ten additional corrupted. All flesh had perverted its way on the earth (Gen. 6: 11-12). Wickedness, violence, corruption, names were added and we look forward to perversion: this is the language of systemic moral failure. adding many more in years to come! The Babel by contrast seems almost idyllic. The enBernstein, Ulreich, Loew, Luger, Pava & Moss tire earth had one language and a common speech (11: 1). The builders are bent on construction, not destruction. families. It is far from clear what their sin was. Yet from the ToA special thank you to the dedicated members rahs point of view Babel represents another serious who volunteered their time to help make wrong turn, because immediately thereafter God summons Abraham to begin an entirely new chapter in the it happen! religious story of humankind. There is no Flood God had, in any case, sworn that He would never again punish humanity in such a way (Never again will I curse the soil because of man, for the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth. I will never again strike down all life as I We regret to inform you of the passing of have just done, 8: 21). But it is clear that after Babel God comes to the conclusion that there must be another and Jack Slomovic, beloved husband of Rena; bedifferent way for humans to live. loved step-father of Vivian (Ted) Zablotsky; beBoth the Flood and the Tower of Babel are rooted in actual historical events, even if the narrative is loved grandfather of Kenny, Alex, Brian & Amy. not couched in the language of descriptive history. MesoMay Hashem comfort Rena, Vivian, and their potamia had many flood myths, all of which testify to the entire family among the mourners of Zion & memory of disastrous inundations, especially on the flat . Yerushalayim. Dvar Continued on page 3
Editor: Judie Patel E-mail: bulletin @youngisraelwh.org Editors Emeritus: Sam Leichtberg & Moish Trencher Rabbi Brahm Weinberg 860-233-3084 or rabbi@youngisraelwh.org Judith Hessing, Coordinator 860-233-6042 or judith.hessing@gmail.com

YOUNG ISRAEL OF WEST HARTFORD

SHABBAT ROSH CHODESH CHESHVAN Parshat Noach October 29th, 2011 1 Cheshvan 5772 Kiddush this Shabbat Is Sponsored by Juanita & Yitz Moss In memory of Juanitas mother Devora Lieberman and As a thank you to the Community for a warm welcome!

Affiliate of the National Council of Young Israel Synagogues, Member of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Sponsor of West Hartford NCSY, National Conference of Synagogue Youth, Kashrut Commission of Greater Hartford, Mikveh Bess Israel of Greater Hartford, Eruv of West Hartford

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HHNE OPEN HOUSE Sunday, October 30th at 9:30 AM HHNE will be hosting an Open House for prospective students (grades 6, 7, and 8) and their families SAVE THE DATE! YIWH is excited to announce a very special evening honoring the dedication, commitment, and service of Steve and Debbie Luger, and Tsion and Anita Cohen on March 11, 2012. Please mark this date on your calendars. More details coming soon..... Dinner Committee - Harriet Rosenblit - Chair

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Acknowledgment donations should be sent to Debbie Luger at 37 Miamis Road Tsion & Anita Cohen Mazal Tov to David & Susanne on the birth of Twin grandchildren Condolences to Juanita Moss and family on the loss of her grandmother. In memory of Vivian Zablotsky's Step father Jack Slomovic Helen Weisel David & Sharon Goldfarb In honor the birth of a new grandchild Zvi and Sarah Elbaum on Rivkie's engagement Jason Wolfe & Vera Schwarcz Mazal Tov to David & Susanne on the birth of twin grandchildren In honor of Moshe Bernsteins Upsherin Debbie & Steve Luger In honor of Moshe Bernsteins Upsherin Susanne & David Gelb In memory of Vivian Zablotsky's Step father Jack Slomovic DOR LDOR Dont miss this opportunity for Quality time with your child. Come & learn in a Chavruta format with your future. There are many books to learn from, or use the provided materials to help you learn. Door prizes, raffles, snacks & Refreshments! Where: Chabad House Time: 7:00 PM Date: Motzaei Shabbat, November 12th Grades: 1st 8th Coordinator: Rabbi Jaffee Dates for 2011 November 12th @ 7:00 PM December 3rd & 17th @ 7:00 PM Dates for 2012 January 7th & 21st at 7:00 PM February 4th & 18th at 7:00 PM March 3rd at 7:00 PM

BUY SCRIP! BUY SCRIP! SHOP RITE, BIG Y, CROWN & STOP & SHOP ALL AVAILABLE NOW! Big Y Scrip (we get 6% with a check & only4% when paying by credit card) When you shop at any of these supermarkets, you can use their scrip to buy many other stores scrip! Let's support our Shul by buying scrip! Every dollar counts! Contact: Joan & Hal Kadish 523-4635 100 Mohawk Drive SODA BOTTLE COLLECTION Eliza Katz is collecting bottles, cans, and glass to raise money for the Rabbis Fund. Please bring empties to: 24 Miamis Road; 860-680-9847

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INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY Rabbi Jonathan Sacks - Continued from page 1 of the Tigris-Euphrates valley (See Commentary of R. David Zvi Hoffman to Genesis 6 [Hebrew, 140] who suggests that the Flood may have been limited to centres of human habitation, rather than covering the whole earth). Excavations at Shurrupak, Kish, Uruk and Ur Abrahams birthplace reveal evidence of clay flood deposits. Likewise the Tower of Babel was a historical reality. Herodotus tells of the sacred enclosure of Babylon, at the centre of which was a ziqqurat or tower of seven stories, 300 feet high. The remains of more than thirty such towers have been discovered, mainly in lower Mesopotamia, and many references have been found in the literature of the time that speak of such towers reaching heaven. However, the stories of the Flood and Babel are not merely historical, because the Torah is not history but teaching, instruction. They are there because they represent a profound moral-socialpolitical-spiritual truth about the human situation as the Torah sees it. They represent, respectively, precisely the failures intimated by Paul Johnson. The Flood tells us what happens to civilization when individuals rule and there is no collective. Babel tells us what happens when the collective rules and individuals are sacrificed to it. It was Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), the thinker who laid the foundations of modern politics in his classic Leviathan (1651), who without referring to the Flood gave it its best interpretation. Before there were political institutions, said Hobbes, human beings were in a state of nature. They were individuals, packs, bands. Lacking a stable ruler, an effective government and enforceable laws, people would be in a state of permanent and violent chaos a war of every man against every man as they competed for scarce resources. There would be continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Such situations exist today in a whole series of failed or failing states. That is precisely the Torahs description of life before the Flood. When there is no rule of law to constrain individuals, the world is filled with violence. Babel is the opposite, and we now have important historical evidence as to exactly what was meant by the sentence, The entire land had one language and a common speech. This may not refer to primal humanity before the division of languages. In fact in the previous chapter the Torah has already stated, From these the maritime peoples spread out into their lands in their clans within their nations, each with its own language (Gen. 10: 50. The Talmud Yerushalmi, Megillah 1: 11, 71b, records a dispute between R. Eliezer and R. Johanan, one of whom holds that the division of humanity into seventy languages occurred before the Flood). The reference seems to be to the imperial practice of the neo-Assyrians, of imposing their own language on the peoples they conquered. One inscription of the time records that Ashurbanipal II made the totality of all peoples speak one speech. A cylinder inscription of Sargon II says, Populations of the four quarters of the world with strange tongues and incompatible speech . . . whom I had taken as booty at the command of Ashur my lord by the might of my sceptre, I caused to accept a single voice. The neo-Assyrians asserted their supremacy by insisting that their language was the only one to be used by the nations and populations they had defeated. On this reading, Babel is a critique of imperialism. There is even a hint of this in the parallelism of language between the builders of Babel and the Egyptian Pharaoh who enslaved the Israelites. In Babel they said, Come, [hava] let us build ourselves a city and a tower . . . lest [pen] we be scattered over the face of the earth (Gen. 11: 4). In Egypt Pharaoh said, Come, [hava] let us deal wisely with them, lest [pen] they increase so much . . . (Ex. 1: 10). The repeated Come, let us ... lest is too pronounced to be accidental. Babel, like Egypt, represents an empire that subjugates entire populations, riding roughshod over their identities and freedoms. If this is so, we will have to re-read the entire Babel story in a way that makes it much more convincing. The sequence is this: Genesis 10 describes the division of humanity into seventy nations and seventy languages. Genesis 11 tells of how one imperial power conquered smaller nations and imposed their language and culture on them, thus directly contravening Gods wish that humans should respect the integrity of each nation and each individual. When at the end of the Babel story God confuses the language of the builders, He is not creating a new state of affairs but restoring the old. Interpreted thus, the story of Babel is a critique of the power of the collective when it crushes individuality the individuality of the seventy cultures described in Genesis 10. (A personal note: I had the privilege of addressing 2,000 leaders from all the worlds faiths at the Millennium Peace Summit in the United Nations in August 2000. It turned out that there were exactly 70 traditions each with their subdivisions and sects represented. So it seems there still are seventy basic cultures). When the rule of law is used to suppress individuals and their distinctive languages and traditions, this too is wrong. The miracle of monotheism is that Unity in Heaven creates diversity on earth, and God asks us (with obvious conditions) to respect that diversity. So the Flood and the Tower of Babel, though polar opposites, are linked, and the entire parsha of Noach is a brilliant study in the human condition. There are individualistic cultures and there are collectivist ones, and both fail, the former because they lead to anarchy and violence, the latter because they lead to oppression and tyranny. So Paul Johnsons insight turns out to be both deep and true. After the two great failures of the Flood and Babel, Abraham was called on to create a new form of social order that would give equal honour to the individual and the collective, personal responsibility and the common good. That remains the special gift of Jews and Judaism to the world.

YIWH Schedule of Services October 28th - November 4th, 2011 Shabbat Parshat Noach Friday, October 28th - Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan Shacharit Candle Lighting Mincha/Maariv Shabbat, October 29th - Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan Rabbi Sheinkopfs Mishna Brurah Class Shacharit Sof Zman Kriat Shma Shabbat Morning Youth Groups Mincha followed by Seudah Shlishit & Maariv Shabbat Ends Sunday, October 30th - Thursday, November 3rd Earliest Tallit & Tefillin Shacharit... Sunday ShacharitMonday - Thursday Mincha/Maariv Friday, November 4th Shacharit Candle Lighting Mincha/Maariv 6:30 a.m. 5:34 p.m. 5:39 p.m. 8:00 a.m. 8:45 a.m. 9:56 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 5:15 p.m. 6:33 p.m. 6:27 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 6:45 a.m. 5:35 p.m. 6:30 a.m. 5:25 p.m. 5:30 p.m.

It is easy to sponsor a Kiddush Or Seudah Shlishit! Shul handles set up & Clean up! Contact Judie Patel at 236-4178 or judiep@gmail.com to check the availability of the date you need & call Fran Wittenberg 860-232-2320 to make the arrangements for the type of Kiddush you want to sponsor. Checks need to be received the Sunday prior to your Kiddush date. Send to David Cohen at 19 Mansfield Avenue. There are three types of Kiddushim: Standard for $150, Semi-Deluxe for $250 & Deluxe for $350 With supplements available. For Seudah Shlishit contact Stan Rutstein at 232-3369 KIDDUSH SCHEDULE
10/29 Moss

Check out the weekly Schedule on the YIWH Website http://go.youngisraelwh.org/timesTimes from: www.ou.org/holidays/calendar For Eruv Information: http://twitter.com/WHartfordEruv or http://youngisraelwh.org/index.php/en/home/the-eruv
(Hotline - 860-232-6417)

Ner LaMaor Lights Judy & Sam Leichtberg and Batsheva Goldfischer in memory of their parents and grandparents, Israel Weiss Frida Weiss Abraham Leichtberg Yayin l Kiddush Ve'Havdalah Wine for Kiddush & Havdallah Betty & Irving Wizenfeld in memory of Bettys Parents, Tobias & Esther Spira
Irv s father, Sam Wizenfeld

Pat LaOrchim Challah rolls for Seudah Shlishit Fran & Gene Wittenberg in memory of Frans father, Tvi ben Yitcha Meir HaCohen

& Genes father, Binyamin ben Moshe

Seudah Shlishit Supplement

Donna & Barry Gordon

5772 Candy Man: Rabbi Mordechai Weiss Handy Man Steve Bernstein Good Humor Man Debbie & Steven Luger Ata Hareita Elie Wolfe

You-Dah-Man Judy & Sam Leichtberg

Want to join the Listserve? If you are interested in subscribing to the yiwhevents listserve, send an e-mail to webmaster@youngisraelwh.org and he will add your name. If you are a member of the group, you can send an e-mail to the entire group by addressing your e-mail to yiwhevents@yahoogroups.com .

YIWH Schedule of Services November 4th - 11th, 2011 Shabbat Parshat Lech Lecha Friday, November 4th Shacharit Candle Lighting Mincha/Maariv Shabbat, November 5th Rabbi Sheinkopfs Mishna Brurah Class Shacharit Sof Zman Kriat Shma Shabbat Morning Youth Groups Rabbi Weinbergs Shabbat Afternoon Class on Melachim I Mincha followed by Seudah Shlishit & Maariv Shabbat Ends Sunday, November 6th - Thursday, November 10th Earliest Tallit & Tefillin Shacharit... Sunday Followed by Rabbi Weinbergs Gemara Shiur on Masechet Maot ShacharitMonday - Thursday Mincha/Maariv Friday, November 11th Shacharit Candle Lighting Mincha/Maariv 6:45 a.m. 5:25 p.m. 5:29 p.m. 8:00 a.m. 8:45 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 4:25 p.m. 5:10 p.m. 6:23 p.m. 5:35 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 6:45 a.m. 4:25 p.m. 6:45 a.m. 4:17 p.m. 4: 22 p.m.

It is easy to sponsor a Kiddush Or Seudah Shlishit! Shul handles set up & Clean up! Contact Judie Patel at 236-4178 or judiep@gmail.com to check the availability of the date you need & call Fran Wittenberg 860-232-2320 to make the arrangements for the type of Kiddush you want to sponsor. Checks need to be received the Sunday prior to your Kiddush date. Send to David Cohen at 19 Mansfield Avenue. There are three types of Kiddushim: Standard for $150, Semi-Deluxe for $250 & Deluxe for $350 With supplements available. For Seudah Shlishit contact Stan Rutstein at 232-3369 KIDDUSH SCHEDULE Gelb

11/26

Check out the weekly Schedule on the YIWH Website http://go.youngisraelwh.org/timesTimes from: www.ou.org/holidays/calendar For Eruv Information: http://twitter.com/WHartfordEruv or http://youngisraelwh.org/index.php/en/home/the-eruv
(Hotline - 860-232-6417)

Ner LaMaor Lights Pat LaOrchim Challah rolls for Seudah Shlishit Yayin l Kiddush Ve'Havdalah Wine for Kiddush & Havdallah Seudah Shlishit Supplement 5772 Candy Man:

Want to join the Listserve? If you are interested in subscribing to the yiwhevents listserve, send an e-mail to webmaster@youngisraelwh.org and he will add your name. If you are a member of the group, you can send an e-mail to the entire group by addressing your e-mail to yiwhevents@yahoogroups.com .

YIWH Schedule of Services November 11th - 18th, 2011 Shabbat Parshat Vayera Friday, November 11th Shacharit Candle Lighting Mincha/Maariv Shabbat, November 12th Rabbi Sheinkopfs Mishna Brurah Class Shacharit Sof Zman Kriat Shma Shabbat Morning Youth Groups Mincha followed by Seudah Shlishit & Maariv Shabbat Ends Sunday, November 13th - Thursday, November 17th Earliest Tallit & Tefillin Shacharit... Sunday Followed by Rabbi Weinbergs Gemara Shiur on Masechet Maot ShacharitMonday - Thursday Mincha/Maariv Friday, November 18th Shacharit Candle Lighting Mincha/Maariv 6:45 a.m. 5:25 p.m. 5:29 p.m. 8:00 a.m. 8:45 a.m. 9:04 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. 5:16 p.m. 5:35 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 6:45 a.m. 4:20 p.m. 6:45 a.m. 4:11 p.m. 4: 16 p.m.

It is easy to sponsor a Kiddush Or Seudah Shlishit! Shul handles set up & Clean up! Contact Judie Patel at 236-4178 or judiep@gmail.com to check the availability of the date you need & call Fran Wittenberg 860-232-2320 to make the arrangements for the type of Kiddush you want to sponsor. Checks need to be received the Sunday prior to your Kiddush date. Send to David Cohen at 19 Mansfield Avenue. There are three types of Kiddushim: Standard for $150, Semi-Deluxe for $250 & Deluxe for $350 With supplements available. For Seudah Shlishit contact Stan Rutstein at 232-3369 KIDDUSH SCHEDULE Gelb

11/26

Check out the weekly Schedule on the YIWH Website http://go.youngisraelwh.org/timesTimes from: www.ou.org/holidays/calendar For Eruv Information: http://twitter.com/WHartfordEruv or http://youngisraelwh.org/index.php/en/home/the-eruv
(Hotline - 860-232-6417)

Ner LaMaor Lights Judy & Sam Leichtberg and Batsheva Goldfischer in memory of their parents and grandparents, Israel Weiss Frida Weiss Abraham Leichtberg Yayin l Kiddush Ve'Havdalah Wine for Kiddush & Havdallah Betty & Irving Wizenfeld in memory of Bettys Parents, Tobias & Esther Spira
Irv s father, Sam Wizenfeld

Pat LaOrchim Challah rolls for Seudah Shlishit Fran & Gene Wittenberg in memory of Frans father, Tzvi ben Yitzchak Meir HaCohen

& Genes father, Binyamin ben Moshe

Seudah Shlishit Supplement Donna & Barry Gordon 5772 Candy Man: Rabbi Mordechai Weiss Handy Man Steve Bernstein Good Humor Man Debbie & Steven Luger

You-Dah-Man Judy & Sam Leichtberg

Want to join the Listserve? If you are interested in subscribing to the yiwhevents listserve, send an e-mail to webmaster@youngisraelwh.org and he will add your name. If you are a member of the group, you can send an e-mail to the entire group by addressing your e-mail to yiwhevents@yahoogroups.com .