Candle lighting time is 5:20
Shabbos
This weeks parshah is Yitro, a parshah that include the giving of the Ten Commandments. These are the Commandments as listed in the translation of this parshah at the Jewish Theological Seminary’s web site:
I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods besides Me.
You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the Lord your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God; for the Lord will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.
Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God: you shall not do any work — you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
I have inserted the italics in the commandment concerning the keeping of the sabbath day because this commandment appears to apply not only to the Jews but also to non-Jews who are servants or guests among the Jews. This would seem to contradict the use of the “Shabbos Goy,” a Gentile who is employed by a Jew to perform services such as turning on the lights or lighting a stove on Shabbos. Is the “Shabbos Goy” a violation of the commandment? There are many differing opinions on this. What is yours?
Turkey and Latkes?
Thanksgiving is set as the fourth Thursday in November, meaning the latest it can be is 11/28. 11/28 is also the earliest Hanukkah can be. The Jewish calendar repeats on a 19 year cycle, and Thanksgiving repeats on a 7 year cycle. You would therefore expect them to coincide roughly every 19×7 = 133 years. Looking back, this is approximately correct – the last time it would have happened is 1861. However, Thanksgiving was only formally established by President Lincoln in 1863. So, it has never happened before.
Of course, if the Jewish calendar is never modified in any way, then it will slowly move forward through the Gregorian calendar, until it loops all the way back to where it is now. So, Hanukkah will again fall on Thursday, 11/28…in the year 79,811.
And I leave you with this Jewish Question from my cousin Jack Mallinger:
If a married Jewish man is walking alone in a park and expresses an opinion without anybody hearing him, is he still wrong?