Minyan Schedule at Chabad of NCI
| Sundays | 8:15AM |
| Monday - Friday | 7:00AM |
| Friday Night | 6:00PM |
| Shabbat Day | 10:00AM |
B'H Chabad of North County Inland has now become the only Shul in our area that has Minyanim everyday. I want to thank everyone for their commitment to making the Minyanim at Chabad of NCI so strong. A Minyan is the Backbone of a Shul and is the Collective Soul of the Community.
Sukkot 2024
Israel in a Changing World - Nov 20
CAN (Combat Anti-Semitism Now) in collaboration with SAJAC (South African Jewish American Community) is honored to host Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a distinguished scholar of Arabic culture and Middle Eastern politics, on Wednesday, November 20th, 2024. Dr. Kedar will deliver an insightful lecture in La Jolla, at 7:00 PM. Register now, as space is limited. Exact location will be sent to you once you are registered.
To find out more and reserve you spot visit: https://sajac.com/events/dr-mordechai-kedar/
Torah & Tequila
Torah and Tequila classes will resume after Rosh Hashana.
Message from the Rabbi
Dear Friends,
This week’s double Torah portion, Nitzvaim-Vayelech, contains in its name a seeming paradox. The first word, Nitzavim, means “standing firm,” while the second, Vayelech, means “going.”
Both readings are part of the final speech Moses gave to the Jews in the days before his passing, entreating the people to stay steadfast in their commitment to G-d. Even in the inevitable event of sin and straying from the correct path, we are guaranteed that all is never lost and the door to repentance is always open.
Combining these two readings with their seemingly contradictory titles reminds us that the Jewish soul is dynamic. We are always moving, growing and looking to put the past behind us. But that doesn’t mean that we do so with uncertainty; in fact, the only way to truly grow and expand our horizons is through commitment and certainty in our ways. When we stand firm and believe in who we are as Jews, that is how we are guaranteed to continue climbing higher.
When reading this portion on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, we look back at the past year. We acknowledge that it was a difficult year for the Jewish people in Israel and around the world, and we are more than ready to “Vayelech” to move on to better and brighter times—with the certainty of Jewish pride—knowing who we are and what we represent.
That commitment to our Jewish identity ensures that we are here to stay, and we will indeed have a blessed year to come!
Wishing you a Shabbat shalom and a shanah tovah umetukah — a happy and sweet year,
Rabbi Dr. Trestman
Rabbi Moss Question of the Week
Question of the Week:
With Israel at war for a year already, will the upcoming Jewish New Year be celebrated differently? I’m thinking instead of eating all the traditional sweet foods, maybe we should eat bitter herbs? Or change a few things to be more relevant to today?
Answer:
We don’t need to change anything this Rosh Hashana. We will repeat the same prayers, eat the same foods, and blow the same Shofar. And yet, none of these will be anything like they were before. Because we have changed.
The events of the last year have strengthened our resolve, sharpened our faith, and deepened our connection to each other and to Judaism. Old Jewish practices have taken on new meanings. Our Judaism is more personal than it may have been before, and we can find renewed relevance and depth in our ancient traditions.
Here’s one example.
There is a custom to eat the head of a fish at the Rosh Hashana dinner. It expresses our prayer that we be the head and not the tail, that we lead rather than follow.
This message takes on new urgency this year. There is no greater moment than this for the Jewish people to lead. Now is the time for Israel, and Jews worldwide, to be the head, not the tail.
In its war against Islamic terror, Israel cannot look to the world for advice, and cannot look to history for precedents. No one has done this before. Israel must lead the way. We can’t take our cues from international bodies or world opinion, but rather from our own moral tradition, the Torah and its ever-relevant values. Israel must be the head that teaches the world how to fight evil, not the tail that gets told what to do.
The same goes for Jewish communities around the world. We can’t let others determine how Jewish we can be. It is time we took control of our destiny and not be intimidated. If we avoid Jewish venues, skip Jewish events, or hide our Jewish identities, we are allowing our enemies to choose how we live. That’s being a tail, not a head.
A tail is reactive. It goes where it is led. The head is proactive. It calls the shots and decides the next move. The world is looking to the Jewish people for leadership now. Because our enemies are not just ours, they are enemies of all good people. How we deal with them will determine which way history turns. Who will be the head? That’s up to us.
Good Shabbos and Shana Tova!
Rabbi Moss
Parsha in a Nutshell
Deuteronomy 29:9–31:30
The name of the Parshah, "Nitzavim," means "Standing," and it is found in Deuteronomy 29:9. The name of the Parshah, "Vayelech," means "And [Moses] went," and it is found in Deuteronomy 31:1.
The Parshah of Nitzavim includes some of the most fundamental principles of the Jewish faith:
The unity of Israel: “You stand today, all of you, before the L‑rd your G‑d: your heads, your tribes, your elders, your officers, and every Israelite man; your young ones, your wives, the stranger in your gate; from your wood-hewer to your water-drawer.”
The future redemption: Moses warns of the exile and desolation of the Land that will result if Israel abandons G‑d’s laws, but then he prophesies that in the end, “You will return to the L‑rd your G‑d . . . If your outcasts shall be at the ends of the heavens, from there will the L‑rd your G‑d gather you . . . and bring you into the Land which your fathers have possessed.”
The practicality of Torah: “For the mitzvah which I command you this day, it is not beyond you, nor is it remote from you. It is not in heaven . . . It is not across the sea . . . Rather, it is very close to you, in your mouth, in your heart, that you may do it.”
Freedom of choice: “I have set before you life and goodness, and death and evil: in that I command you this day to love G‑d, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments . . . Life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. And you shall choose life.”
The Parshah of Vayelech (“and he went”) recounts the events of Moses’ last day of earthly life. “I am one hundred and twenty years old today,” he says to the people, “and I can no longer go forth and come in.” He transfers the leadership to Joshua, and writes (or concludes writing) the Torah in a scroll which he entrusts to the Levites for safekeeping in the Ark of the Covenant.
The mitzvah of Hakhel (“gather”) is given: every seven years, during the festival of Sukkot of the first year of the shemittah cycle, the entire people of Israel—men, women and children—should gather at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, where the king should read to them from the Torah.
Vayelech concludes with the prediction that the people of Israel will turn away from their covenant with G‑d, causing Him to hide His face from them, but also with the promise that the words of the Torah “shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants.”
Haftorah Commentary
Haftorah Commentary - Nitzavim-Vayelech
(Isaiah 61:10-63:9)
This is the seventh and last of the haftaros of consolation in which Hashem announces His personal return to His people.
This will not merely reflect our feelings towards Hashem but will even encompass Hashem’s feelings towards us. The words of the prophet indicate that Hashem Himself will forever rejoice over us with the sensation of a groom over His newly acquired bride. From this we discover that Hashem’s feelings towards His people are literally boundless. Even after all our straying, Hashem still desires to unite with us. He seeks to erase the past and establish a perfectly new relationship, so perfect and fresh that it will continuously produce the heightened emotions of a bride and groom for eternity. The joy of young newlyweds is used by the prophet to describe the kind of joy we will experience at the final redemption. The Jewish people will be bound to their land and to Gd with the inseparable bond of a young bride and groom.
These emotions are the hidden message behind the tefillin which we don each day. As we wrap the tefillin strap around our finger we recite special passages expressing our betrothal to Hashem. This experience represents our placing the wedding ring of Hashem on our finger, portraying our perfect relationship with Him. Chazal (see Brochos 6a) inform us that Hashem also wears tefillin. In proof of this they cite a passage in this week’s haftorah which states, “Hashem swears by His right and by the strength of His arm.” (62, 8) Chazal explain that the words, “the strength of His arm” refer to the tefillin worn on the left arm. Maharsha expounds upon this concept and explains that Hashem actually binds Himself to the Jewish people. Hashem’s tefillin, like ours, represent devotion and commitment, His commitment to His beloved people.1
The haftorah states that Jerusalem will be “renamed” in time to come. Jerusalem had been known as a forsaken and desolate place; but at the time of Moshiach any such association will be entirely erased. It will be referred as the very opposite, “Sought after” and “[Hashem’s] desire is in her.”
Throughout the Bible, “Edom” is identified as the nation that brings about the agony of the Jewish exile. In the next part of this haftorah, Hashem is described as a warrior who singlehandedly meets out a devastating blow to this colossus of evil. The prophet pictures an onlooker marveling at this mighty individual who returns from the capital city with bloodstained clothes, and who receives a reply from the “warrior” that He has finally done justice after such a long period of excruciating restraint. Mighty Edom has had its pride and lifeblood entirely drained. The “warrior” emphasizes how he has done this “alone”—referring to the fact that regardless of the apparent merit or fault of the Jews at the time, Gd will do His part, with or without the “help” of meritorious deeds.
The haftorah opens with: “I will rejoice intensely (Sos asis) with Hashem; my soul will exult with my Gd.” The difference between the two is that 'I will rejoice’ denotes a joy that is outwardly and visibly displayed, whereas 'I will exult' is an introverted and deeper feeling of exultation, with little or nothing visibly apparent.
On Rosh Hashana Hashem becomes ”king” of the world: His presence re-enters the entirety of the world for the coming year. There is barely any other response to this than to stand in awe. Deeper down, the heart of the Jew is filled with deep exultation and elation about the cause for all this, Gd’s essential bond that is in him and with him, its revelation elicited by the mitzvah of shofar.
The open joy emerges in the rejoicing of the festival of Sukkot, climaxing in Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Sukkot is the time when the Jew enters a sukkah: Gd “embraces” the Jew entirely and takes him into His presence. The joy now is open and unbounded.
It is these two forms of elation, described in the verse at the beginning of the haftarah, that encapsulate the entire experience of the High Holidays.
In the order the verse has it, the open joy, precedes the hidden joy. The reason for this is that there will always be a level of open joy at all times. The Code of Jewish Law elaborates upon the fact that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are festivals, in honor of which festive clothing should be worn, and—in the case of Rosh Hashanah—festive meals should be prepared. The joy we have in being Jewish and being able to fulfill the Divine intention will always be open and apparent, especially at such a special time as Rosh Hashanah.2
לְשָׁנָה טוֹבָה תִּכָּתֵבוּ וְתֵחָתֵמוּ
(May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!)
1. Netzavim Haftorah Commentary by Rabbi Dovid Siegel
2. Netzavim Haftarah Companion by Rabbi Mendel Dubov
Chai Club
"Chai Partnership" is a unique way to support the work at Bais Betzalel Chabad of NCI. It's a form of collaboration and together, we protect, perpetuate and build the essential identity that has been bequeathed to us by our parents, grandparents, and ancestors. Chai Partnerships are available for anyone that contributes monthly.
Together, we ensure a vibrant and joyful Jewish future!
THANK YOU TO THE CHAI CLUB PARTNERS THAT HELP MAKE PROGRAMMING AT CHABAD OF NCI POSSIBLE.
Michael Palais Oscar and Lynda Stewart
Andrew Kwittken Dr. Rob and Jill Reichman
Michael and Svetlana Kritzer Jonathan and Esther Rosenberg
Ben Bebashkin Moe and Sarah Shemirani
Sol and Ellen Pinczewski Scott and Sarit Reich
Jay Hecht Dr. Roger Acheatel
Jeff Eisman Josh and Rebecca Jacobs
Todd Frank Allen and Carole Lax
Jordan and Debbie Alpert Dr. Gil and Erica Furman
Dr. Paul Neustein Dr. Roneet Lev and Dr Steve Lee
Fred and Mitra Nasseri Norman and Ruth Berger
Michael and Larisa Sosis Dr. Ron Levin
Dr. Phil Wrotslavsky. Danny and Hila Almog
Hannah Kaye in Loving Memory of her Father Dr Howard Kaye OBM
Sam and Joyce Hoffman. Dimitry Tsimberg
Joseph and Minoo Anvari. George and Robyn White
Dr Ori and Amy Raz
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