3 Iyar ● Parshat Tazria-Metzora
SHABBAT SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, April 28
7:16pm
CANDLE LIGHTING
6:30pm
MINCHA/KABBALAT SHABBAT
SATURDAY, April 29
8:30am
RABBI’S GEMARA SHIUR
9:15am
SHACHARIT
6:30 pm
Pre-Mincha Shiur
7:15 pm
MINCHA
7:35pm
SEUDAH SHLISHIT
8:15 pm
MAARIV
8:20pm
SHABBAT ENDS
Weekday Davening Times
Sunday April 30
Monday May 1
Tuesday May 2
Wednesday May 3
Thursday May 4
Friday May 5
8:00am & 7:20pm
6:20am & 7:20pm
6:30am & 7:20pm
6:30am & 7:20pm
6:20am & 7:20pm
6:30am & 6:30pm
YOUTH GROUP SCHEDULE
10:00
10:50
11:10
11:15
12:00
Free play, games & books.
Parsha story & questions
Into shul to kiss the Torah
Circle time - davening, singing,
Shabbat songs & games.
Kids service ends
TEEN MINYAN THIS WEEK
Teen boys & girls are welcome
Special Teen Kiddush
will follow the minyan
~Save The Dates ~
May 2nd– Yom Haatzmaut Israel Night
May 4th—Shiur with Rav Rimon
May 6th—Scholar-in-Residence Rav
Yosef Rimon, and Kiddush
Luncheon sponsored by Mark &
Amy Kestenbaum
May 13th– Scholar-in-Residence Judy
Klitsner
May 20th—Extended Kiddush Sponsored
by Yonatan & Devorah Bryant
May 30-31st—Shavuot Learn-a-thon
Next Shabbat...
Mark & Amy Kestenbaum
will be sponsoring a Kiddush
Luncheon to commemorate
the yahrtzeit of Mark’s
father, Emil Kestenbaum,
Menachem Mendel ben
Mordechai Gimpel z”l.
RSVP to [email protected]
Dearest Members and Friends,
April 28-29, 2017
This week, a remarkable breakthrough in the field of premature childbirth was
announced. An artificial womb – a plastic sac, filled with temperature controlled amniotic
fluid to mimic the mother’s womb – has apparently been successfully used in trials with
premature sheep. The team behind the new technology believes these “wombs” could soon
be used to transform the lives of newborn human babies.
The details of the project seem more science fiction than real science. Lambs were
“hatched” at the equivalent of 23-weeks in a human pregnancy, and kept alive in artificial
wombs until they were “born” at full term, delivered out of the artificial wombs into the real
world. While floating inside the transparent sacs, the lamb fetuses developed normally, and if this
technique could indeed be used for humans, it would radically improve the prospects for babies born so
early in a pregnancy that they cannot breathe on their own, nor feed, or fight infection, without intensive
and extremely invasive medical intervention, which scars the babies for life and often causes severe
disabilities.
Currently, what is known in medical terminology as the “limit of viability” -- namely the earliest time
during pregnancy that a newborn baby has at least a 50% chance of survival -- is 24-weeks. But the risks of
serious brain damage and other potential long-term handicaps at 24-weeks are extremely high, even if the
babies survive. The new technology will not only bring the ‘limit of viability’ to an earlier point, but will also
reduce the long-term health complications so common in pre-term babies.
It is hard for us to comprehend that until just a century ago, the chances of survival for a baby born a
few weeks early were almost zero. In the late 1870s French obstetrician, Stephane Tarnier, invented an
incubator for pre-term babies, inspired by chicken egg incubators he had seen at a farming exhibition.
Suddenly, babies born too early began to survive into childhood, no different than their full-term
counterparts.
Here in the United States the most outstanding premature baby pioneer was an enigmatic GermanJewish immigrant, Dr. Martin Couney, a man who may not even have been a medical doctor, but whose
determination to ensure the survival of premature babies was streets ahead of mainstream medical
practice. By the time he died in 1950, Couney had helped over 6,500 babies survive life-endangering
premature birth during over fifty years of dedicated work in the field.
In the early days, when most ordinary parents were unable to pay for the cost of the intensive care
required to help the babies survive, Couney funded his incubator ward by setting it up as a sideshow
exhibition in Coney Island, New York, with visitors paying twenty-five cents to see the miniscule babies in
their individual incubators. He was widely ridiculed, even criticized, for his efforts, and the New York
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children publicly accused him of exploiting the babies and
endangering their lives by putting them on show. But history judges him differently, and today Couney
and his fellow pioneers are revered for their efforts.
It is serendipitous that the news of the artificial womb development was released this week, when
we read in our weekly portion, Tazria, of a mother’s duty to separate herself from her husband and any
holy object for a prescribed period after giving birth, and then to bring a penitential offering. I have always
found these laws troubling. Surely giving birth should elevate one’s level of sanctity, not reduce it? After all,
why would childbirth render a mother ritually impure, forcing her to separate from her husband and God?
And why is the period of ritual impurity twice as long after a girl is born than the time required after a boy?
I don’t profess to fully understand the reasons behind our ancient laws of ritual purity and impurity,
most of which do not apply nowadays, as we do not have a Temple in Jerusalem. What I do know with
great certainty is that these laws have nothing whatsoever to do with cleanliness or hygiene, nor is a
ritually unclean person considered a pariah, or sinful. Rather, they are expected to separate themselves and
go through a process of ritual self-cleansing that is distinctive in each situation.
The most compelling explanation for ritual impurity is that a required period of separation, along
with physical acts of self-cleansing, will undoubtedly involve much time for self-reflection and introspection,
creating a closer bond with God once the process of purification is complete. Similarly, the monthly
separation required by Jewish law between husband and wife compels a regular reignition of the
relationship with one’s spouse, which, if managed properly, will refresh the mutual connection, creating a
deeper bond with one’s life-partner.
Perhaps the lengthy ritual impurity period after childbirth is a reflection of the great stock Judaism
places in procreation. Although it is no longer the case, this week’s news serves to remind us of the great
risks associated with childbirth. With medical technology having profoundly reduced those risks, we have
forgotten that until very recently many women were doomed never to have children, and many that did
either died in childbirth or shortly afterwards, as did their newborn children.
We are all familiar with the Jewish idea that “someone who is engaged in a mitzva is exempt from
doing other mitzvot.” Could it be that God wishes for a mother who has just given birth to be devoid of
any external obligations for an extended period? Is it the biblical version of mandated maternity leave? For
forty days in the case of a boy, and for double that time with a girl, God expects nothing of the mother
besides for the nurturing of herself and her newborn baby. Rather than wasting time on ritual duties, or on
her marital relationship, she must devote every minute to herself and her new baby.
And yet, though there is nothing more holy than ensuring a newborn child and its mother are as
healthy as possible, everyone has to go back to normal life eventually, and this is marked with a penitential
sacrifice -- not because childbirth has sullied the mother, but because rejoining society has as an inevitable
consequence a reduction of the mother’s attention to her newborn baby. And while the mother’s
attention to a baby boy is important, it is superseded by the mother’s duties to a newborn girl, who will
herself one day be the mother of newborn children.
Wishing you Shabbat Shalom and a wonderful week ahead,
Rabbi Pini Dunner
Sisterhood Corner
The Sisterhood proudly presents the following upcoming events!
*See flyers for additional info
MAY
Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israel Night
Tuesday evening, May 2 at 7pm
Israeli movie, “Beneath the Helmet”
Popcorn and Israeli Bites!
YINBH Social Hall
Sign up ASAP! Seats are limited!
JUNE
Our long-awaited Sisterhood Tea!
A chance to schmooze and get to know your
Sisters!
Thursday evening, June 22
The Samuel Home
805 N. Camden
More details to follow
Shabbat Shalom !
Cecile & Ruthie
Sisterhood Co-Presidents
Shiur for Ladies
Samuel Garshofsky
Shmuel ben Chaim Eliezer z”l
Father of
Larry Garshofsky
Yahrtzeit— 6 Iyar
Isadore Finkel
Oyzer ben Pinchas Halevi z”l
Father of
Harry Finkel
Yahrtzeit—8 Iyar
Richard & Shawney
Fine on the
birth and
brit of their
first greatgrandson,
Ezra Feld, born to
parents Eliana and
Moshe Avraham Feld
in Cleveland.
Debbie Cohen
Elissa Czuker
Sol Dunst
Shirin Fialkov
Aviva Harari
Danielle Morrow
Don Rivani
Steve Shrier
The weekly Parsha Shiur
will be Wednesday,
May 3rd at 8:30am
Paul Feder z’’l
Gemara Shiur
Join Rabbi Dunner
for his weekly
Gemara shiur on
Shabbat morning
at 8:30 am
‫לע''נ פנחס אליהו בן‬
‫שמשון הלוי‬
EXPLORING HALACHA
Join Nati Baram every
Shabbat afternoon
45 minutes before mincha
as he explores an interesting
topic of Jewish law
with the aid of ancient and
contemporary texts.
Mazal Tov
Max Fogelman on
passing his driving test
Chavi Hertz on the
Bar Mitzvah of her
grandson, Chaim Hertz,
son of Yitzi & Jael Hertz
Film Screening: Beneath The Helmet
From High School to the Home Front explores five young
soldiers personal lives, dreams, fears and dilemmas,
revealing the human side of Israel's military and the inspiring
young people who make up the IDF.
Beverly Hills Synagogue 9261 Alden Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 90210
[email protected]
310-276-7650 Beverlyhillssynagogue.org
Judy Klitsner
Shabbat, May 13th
Judy Klitsner is a senior lecturer at the Pardes
Institute of Jewish Studies where she has been
teaching Bible and biblical exegesis for more than
two decades. A disciple of the great Torah
teacher Nechama Leibowitz, Judy has had a
profound impact on a generation of students,
many of whom now serve as teachers and heads
of Jewish studies programs in the US, the UK,
and Israel.
In her teaching and in her writing, Judy weaves
together traditional exegesis, modern scholarship
and her own original interpretations that are informed by close readings of the
biblical text. She lectures internationally at synagogues, campuses and adult
education programs that span the denominational spectrum, and she holds a
visiting lectureship at the London School of Jewish Studies.
She will be speaking following services (approx. 11:30am)
Who matters in your life?
Celebrate someone you love or commemorate the Yahrtzeit of a
departed loved one.
Kiddush……………………………………...$500
Kiddush with Cholent……......................$650
Kiddush w Cholent & Sushi………….….$775
Seudah Shlishit…….…..$360
Siddur………………..…….$50
Chumash……………..……$75
Extended Kiddush……………………......$1250
Kiddush Luncheon………………………...$3000
Please contact the shul office
for details and to find out
what weeks are available
FIND OUT ABOUT SPONSORING TEFILLA
NOTEBOOK! Contact Office for Details.
Why not sponsor one of our weekly Tefilla Notebooks in memory of a loved
one, or to celebrate a birthday or anniversary?
YOUR NAME HERE
Email or call the office for details 310-276-7650 [email protected]