One Torah for All

For directions or more details call 227-0582 or 237-0390.

All are welcome to come to our Shabbat Services at Adele's, 10 am in Chino Valley, June 22nd .  Discussion of Interspecies Communications and lunch included.

Adele will be in NYC until the following Shabbat for her ordination, B'Ezrat HaShem.

 Please call for further details and directions: Please call 928-237-0390 or email ansheitorah@cableone.net .

 "Look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein

"We have not inherited the earth from our ancestors --- we have borrowed it from our children." - ancient proverb

David arranges a monthly guest study session [May 19, noon]with Rabbi Levertov of Chabad in Prescott Valley at the Stoneridge Community. 

!!!  If you wish to be added to our list, please contact us at 928-237-0390 or write ansheitorah@cableone.net so that we can add you to our reconstructed list...!!!

Kosher?   Find out more about our Kosher co-op options: call 237-0390 OR  Write ansheitorah@cableone.net  for information. Note that the newly opened Trader Joe's does regularly carry kosher poultry and/or meat.  Ask for their interesting list of the kosher products they carry.

SOME of OUR ACTIVITIES CONTINUE IN PRIVATE HOMES.  ANY OFFERS OR SUGGESTIONS WELCOME. 

We have a Congregational Mona Maggio Library of Beit Torah.  If there is something of interest to you, call or write and we can arrange for you to borrow.  

CAN YOU HELP?:  

Wish list: 

1- A meeting location for Shabbat and Holy Days that have no locations as yet;

2- Honorable work for all those needing it.

3- A good, reasonably priced, used car for Adele.

We now have access to  prayer booklets complete with translation and transliteration! Please call 928- 237-0390 or write ansheitorah@cableone.net  to volunteer to teach or lead services.

Balak

Summary: Parashat Balak contains one of the most fully developed stories in the entire Torah. The story is really about Bilaam, a prophet who is hired to curse the Israelites by Balak, the Moabite king. Having heard the tales of their other battles, Balak perceives Israel as a threat. HaShem makes it clear to Bilaam that he is not to curse Israel, whom HaShem has blessed. But, after a number of approaches, Balak makes Bilaam an offer he cannot refuse. HaShem permits Bilaam to go, but only with the knowledge that Bilaam will have no control over the words that will come out of his own mouth. On his way to curse Israel, Bilaam's donkey stops and refuses to move. The donkey can see an angel blocking the way which the man cannot see. A conversation results between man and donkey, one of only two talking animals in the Bible (ten points to anyone who knows the other!). Finally, Bilaam reaches his destination and opens his mouth to curse Israel. But instead of curses, words of blessing are spoken. This blessing Mah Tovu is now part of the daily morning service. At the end of the parasha, the Israelites get in trouble by consorting with foreign women and worshipping a foreign deity. Pinchas, Aaron's grandson, known as a great zealot, appeases HaShem's anger over this idolatry by killing an Israelite who was flaunting his salacious activities with a Midianite woman.

In a London department store:

BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

In an office:

WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN

In an office:

AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD

Outside a second-hand shop:

WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING - BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?

Notice in health food shop window:

CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS

Spotted in a safari park: (I sure hope so)

ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

Seen during a conference:

FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN'T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR

Notice in a farmer's field:

THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES.

Message on a leaflet:

IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET LESSONS

On a repair shop door:

WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR - THE BELL DOESN'T WORK)

Please check out recent Folk Insights for a lovely list of 'Proverbs' shared by Pauline.

JEWISH WISDOM:

Fear builds walls to bar the light.  - Baal Shem Tov

Engage in Torah and charity even with an ulterior motive, for that habit of right doing will lead also to right motivation.  - Talmud: Pesahim, 50b

The sword comes into the world because of justice delayed and because of justice perverted.- Ethics of the Fathers 5:8

Ever since Rabbi Akiba used the Passover seder to plan a revolutionary struggle against the Roman occupiers, the Jews have used the seder to begin concrete work on tikkun (healing and transformation).

- Rabbi Michael Lerner, the Tikkun Magazine Passover supplement 2006

To work out ends of righteousness and love are you called; not merely to enjoy or suffer.

- S.R. Hirsch, "Nineteen Letters," 1836

“Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.”  Golda Meir

The worship of God, though desirable as an end itself, can somehow never be in the right spirit, unless it impels one to the service of man.  - Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan

Concentrate on three things and you will not fall into the grip of sin. Know from where you came, where you are going, and before Whom you will have to give account and reckoning.- Pirkei Avot 3:1

We cannot learn from general principles: there may be exceptions.  - Johanan, Talmud: Kiddushin

A truly generous man is he that always gives, whether it be much or little, before he is asked.- Orchot Tsadiqim

The best security for old age: respect your children.- Sholem Asch

 A Jew can be Jewish with God, against God, but not without God.- Elie Wiesel

He who promotes his own honor at the expense of his neighbor's has no portion in the world to come.- Judah b. Hanina, Genesis Rabbah

Even if all the world tells you, "You are righteous," consider yourself a sinner.  - Rabbi Simlai

Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism and falsehood. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, the vision.- Abraham Joshua Heschel, "On Prayer"

Lose with truth and right rather than gain with falsehood and wrong.- Maimonides, "Tzavaah"

Seek the good in everyone, and reveal it, bring it forth.- Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1811), "Likutey Moharan"

Just as we love ourselves despite the faults we know we have, so should we love our neighbors despite the faults we see in them.- Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov

A man should never impose an overpowering fear upon his household.  - Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 6b

If you add to the truth, you subtract from it.- The Talmud

Love unaccompanied by criticism is not love....Peace unaccompanied by reproof is not peace.- Genesis Rabbah 54:3

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