Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk explained the phrase in this way:   Throughout history, the greatest thinkers have attempted to understand God intellectually, but they could comprehend only what the human mind is able to grasp.  The way of mitzvah is different.  To do a mitzvah is to find God not in abstract thought but in concrete action.  It is to comprehend what the mind alone cannot.  Hence “We will do and we will understand.”

Why is action able to take us to a level of understanding that intellect alone cannot?  Because action involves the whole self, body and heart as well as mind. The more of ourselves we commit, the closer we can come to God. The more we give, the higher we reach.

The Kotzker Rebbe’s point is one that we verify through our own experience. Thinking is important. We do not wish to be uncritical followers. But through mitzvah, sacred action, we come to understand the meaning of holiness in a way that we cannot through detached thought alone.  May the life of mitzvah that we build together help us to achieve that deeper understanding.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Yaneav and Michele Cohen.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Children’s services this Shabbat are: Beyond Bim Bom II for grades 2 to 3 from 10:15 to 11:00 am, and Tween Tefillah for grades 4 to 6 from 10:15 to 11:30 am.
• If you would like to participate in The New Shul’s Purim shpiel, please stay for rehearsal after kiddush this Shabbat.
• This Saturday night, Feb. 18, join us for a screening and discussion of the film Campfire by Yosef Cedar (2004).  Please note that the time been moved from 7:30 to 8:00 pm.
• Minyanim at The New Shul during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7:00 am.
• On Presidents’ Day, Mon. Feb. 20, The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson St. dining room.  Please let us know if you can help.
• There is still time to RSVP for The New Shul’s 10th Anniversary celebration on Sunday Feb. 26 at 6 pm at the Hilton Scottsdale. Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $54 per person. To RSVP, please reply to this email by Monday Feb. 20.
• Erev Purim is Wednesday Mar. 7. Join us for our megillah reading and shpiel beginning at 7:00 pm. On the morning of Purim, Thursday Mar. 8, join us for minyan, including another reading of the megillah, at 7 am.
• The New Shul will host a blood drive on Sunday Mar. 11, beginning at 8:15 am and continuing through the day. To sign up to donate, or for further information, please call or email.

The S’fat Emet noted that the first letters of the Hebrew words “you will truly hear my voice” [shamoa tishma b'koli] are the letters of the word Shabbat.  On Shabbat, our day of quiet, we can hear God’s voice more clearly than at any other time.

The ancient rabbis taught that the voice of Sinai calls out every minute of every day.  But it is a “still-small voice,” deeper than a whisper.  The stresses, tensions and distractions of the work week easily drown it out.  But on Shabbat, when we turn down the volume of the world around us, we can hear God’s call from deep within ourselves.  We feel commanded once again to make our lives a source of blessing.  May this Shabbat, and every Shabbat, help us to remember what our lives are ultimately for.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Ben and Beverly Smolensky.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Children’s services this Shabbat are: Munchkin Minyan for ages 2 to 4 from 11:00 to 11:30 am, Beyond Bim Bom I for grades K to 1 from 10:15 to 11:00 am, and Beyond Bim Bom II for grades 2 to 3 from 10:15 to 11:00 am.
• Our guest this Shabbat, Feb. 11, is Dr. Joel Gereboff, the chair of Religious Studies at ASU. Dr. Gereboff will teach during shul and after kiddush on the sin of sin’ah (hatred) as the ancient rabbis understood it.
• The New Shul’s 10th Anniversary celebration is on Sunday Feb. 26 at 6 pm at the Hilton Scottsdale. Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $54 per person.
• Erev Purim is Wednesday Mar. 7. Join us for our megillah reading and shpiel beginning at 7:00 pm. On the morning of Purim, Thursday Mar. 8, join us for minyan, including another reading of the megillah, at 7 am.
• The New Shul will host a blood drive on Sunday Mar. 11, beginning at 8:15 am and continuing through the day. To sign up to donate, or for further information, please call or email.

The Slonimer Rebbe taught that it can also work the other way around.  Just as song can be a way of responding to God’s nearness, it can also be a way of bringing God near, by opening our hearts to the transcendent. Sometimes we sing not because the sea has divided for us, but because we wish to make the sea divide, to feel God’s presence as our ancestors did.  In our services each Shabbat, we use melody in that way, to open our hearts as words alone cannot.  In our life as a community of prayer, may we always know the power of song to bring God near.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Michael and Sharon Klausner in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.  Beyond Bim Bom, for grades K to 3 is from 10:30 to 11:15 am.  
• Our guest this Shabbat Feb. 4, in honor of Shabbat Shirah, is Yisroel Juskowicz, a singer and song writer from New York.  He will lead us in song over seudah sh’lisheet (the third Shabbat meal) beginning at 6 pm at The New Shul   At 7 pm, he will perform his music.  There is no charge, and everyone is invited.
• Minyanim at The New Shul during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am. \
• Next Tuesday Feb. 7 at 7:30 pm, Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom in L.A will lecture at The New Shul on “A Curriculum of Wonder:  The Genius of Abraham Joshua Heschel.” His lecture is co-sponsored by the Valley Beit Midrash and the Women’s Jewish Learning Center, and is free and open to all.
• On Shabbat morning Feb. 11, and on Shabbat afternoon after kiddush, Dr. Joel Gereboff, the Chair of Religious Studies at ASU, will be our guest teacher.
• The New Shul’s 10th Anniversary celebration is on Sunday Feb. 26 at 6 pm at the Hilton Scottsdale. Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $54 per person. For further information please visit our website.  You can RSVP by replying to this email (the deadline is Feb. 13).
• The New Shul will host a blood drive on Sunday March 11, beginning at 8:15 am and continuing through the day.  To sign up to donate, or for further information, please call or email.

Rabbi Yehoshua of Belz interpreted the passage differently. He read the first clause as dependent on the second, rather than the other way around. If we want our children to truly hear what we teach them, then we ourselves must first “know that I am YHWH.” We can transmit to our children only what we sincerely believe. The purpose of God’s signs and wonders was to convince the teachers, not the students.

Rabbi Yeshoshua of Belz reminds us that the work of educating the next generation is not primarily about our children but about ourselves. The real task is to clarify where we ourselves stand, what we are prepared to commit to. Only then will our words truly be heard.

May we, as a community of Torah, help each other to grow as Jews, so that our children and our grandchildren will learn from our words, and our deeds.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Jeffrey and Francine Buchhalter in memory of Jeff’s mother Irene Buchhalter, and by Rabbi Shamai and Jeannette Kanter in honor of their 55th wedding anniversary.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.  Learning services for children this Shabbat are:  Munchkin Minyan for ages 2 to 4, 11 to 11:30 am; Beyond Bim Bom for grades K to 1, 10:15 to 11 am; Beyond Bim Bom II for grades 2 to 3, 10:15 to 11 am; Tween Tefillah for grades 4 to 6, 10:15 to 11:30 am.
• After kiddush this Shabbat, Jan. 21, Ann Polunsky from the Arizona Jewish Historical Society will teach about the early history of the Jews of Arizona. Childcare will be provided.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am. \
• Join us for two guest lectures at The New Shul:  On Tuesday Jan. 31 at 7:00 pm, Dr. Wendy Zierler of Hebrew Union College: “And Rachel Stole the Idols:  The Emergence of Modern Jewish Women’s Writing.”  On Tuesday Feb. 7 at 7:30 pm, Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom in L.A:  “A Curriculum of Wonder:  The Genius of Abraham Joshua Heschel.” Both lectures are co-sponsored by the Valley Beit Midrash and the Women’s Jewish Learning Center, and are free and open to all.
• Join us at The New Shul on the afternoon of Shabbat Shirah (The Shabbat of Song), Feb. 4 at 6 pm for Seudah Shlisheet, the third Shabbat meal. Yisroel Juskowicz, a singer/song-writer from New York City, will lead us in song over the meal. After havdalah at 7 pm, he will perform his music. The concert is free and open to all.
• On Shabbat morning Feb. 11, and on Shabbat afternoon after kiddush, Dr. Joel Gereboff, the Chair of Religious Studies at ASU, will be our guest teacher.
• Please remember to RSVP for our 10th Anniversary celebration on Sunday Feb. 26 at 6 pm at the Hilton Scottsdale. Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $54 per person. You can get further information here.

Patience is not always a virtue, if it means accepting the unacceptable.  Sometimes we get used to circumstances that we should not get used to, and the beginning of liberation is to get un-used to them.  Sometimes it is our own habits that we have learned to tolerate, and the first step in changing is to stop accepting the status quo in ourselves.

Shabbat, a day to step back and remember our ideals, can be a day of liberation every week, if it reminds us that what is is not what has to be.  May this Shabbat, and every Shabbat, help to make us more free.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Jonathan and Dion Zuess.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.
• After kiddush this Shabbat, Jan. 21, Ann Polunsky from the Arizona Jewish Historical Society will teach about the early history of the Jews of Arizona.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am. \
• This Saturday night Jan.21 is the second in our series of Israeli film nights. The film is Beaufort (2007) by Yosef Cedar. Screening at 7:30 pm, followed by discussion.
• The annual meeting of The New Shul community is on Sunday Jan. 22 at 10:30 am.
• Join us for two guest lectures at The New Shul:  On Tuesday Jan. 31 at 7:00 pm, Dr. Wendy Zierler of Hebrew Union College: “And Rachel Stole the Idols:  The Emergence of Modern Jewish Women’s Writing.”  On Tuesday Feb. 7 at 7:30 pm, Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom in L.A:  “A Curriculum of Wonder:  The Genius of Abraham Joshua Heschel.” Both lectures are co-sponsored by the Valley Beit Midrash and the Women’s Jewish Learning Center, and are free and open to all.
• Join us at The New Shul on the afternoon of Shabbat Shirah (The Shabbat of Song), Feb. 4 at 6 pm for Seudah Shlisheet, the third Shabbat meal. Yisroel Juskowicz, a singer/song-writer from New York City, will lead us in song over the meal. After havdalah at 7 pm, he will perform his music.  The concert is free and open to all.
• On Shabbat morning Feb. 11, and on Shabbat afternoon after kiddush, Dr. Joel Gereboff, the Chair of Religious Studies at ASU, will be our guest teacher.
• Please remember to RSVP for our 10th Anniversary celebration on Sunday Feb. 26 at 6 pm at the Hilton Scottsdale. Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $54 per person. You can get further information here.

Why does it take so long for us to cry out? — and why does God not help us until we do?

Perhaps, until the death of Pharoah, we did not cry out because we knew no god to cry out to except Pharoah himself.  We were enslaved not only on the outside but on the inside as well, in that we could not even imagine being free.  Pharoah’s power was the only power that we knew.   But Pharoah’s death enables us — if only for a moment — to envision a different reality.  It makes it possible for us to dream.  Then, and only then, can God begin to help us.

Liberation always begins on the inside, with an act of imagination.  That is what Martin Luther King, whose birth we celebrate this weekend, taught us as well.  To free ourselves from the status quo, we must begin by daring to have a dream.  May Shabbat, our weekly foretaste of redemption, challenge us to envision a better world, and inspire us to work together to create that world.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. This Shabbat morning, Jan. 14, we will celebrate the bar mitzvah of Avery Polster, son of Jeremy and Virginie Polster. The kiddush is sponsored by the Polster family.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am. \
• On Monday Jan. 16 (Martin Luther King Day), The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson St. dining room. Please let us know if you can help.
• Saturday night Jan.21 is the second in our series of Israeli film nights. The film is Beaufort (2007) by Yosef Cedar. Screening and discussion begins at 7:30 pm.
• The annual meeting of The New Shul community is on Sunday Jan. 22 at 10:30 am.
• Join us for two guest lectures at The New Shul:  On Tuesday Jan. 31 at 7:00 pm, Dr. Wendy Zierler of Hebrew Union College: “And Rachel Stole the Idols:  The Emergence of Modern Jewish Women’s Writing.”  On Tuesday Feb. 7 at 7:30 pm, Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom in L.A:  “A Curriculum of Wonder:  The Genius of Abraham Joshua Heschel.” Both lectures are co-sponsored by the Valley Beit Midrash and the Women’s Jewish Learning Center, and are free and open to all.
• Join us at The New Shul on the afternoon of Shabbat Shirah (The Shabbat of Song), Feb. 4 at 6 pm for Seudah Shlisheet, the third Shabbat meal. Yisroel Juskowicz, a singer/song-writer from New York City, will lead us in song over the meal. After havdalah at 7 pm, he will perform his music.  The concert is free and open to all.
• On Shabbat morning Feb. 11, and on Shabbat afternoon after kiddush, Dr. Joel Gereboff, the Chair of Religious Studies at ASU, will be our guest teacher.
• Please remember to RSVP for our 10th Anniversary celebration on Sunday Feb. 26 at 6 pm at the Hilton Scottsdale. Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $54 per person. You can get further information here.

Why does Yaakov recall that gift now?  It has been many years since he and Yosef have been reunited and since he has met his grandsons.  The author of the the Divrei Yirmiyahu answered that Yaakov, having just recalled the death of Rachel, needs to raise his mood before he can properly bless his grandsons, because it is only in a state of joy that one can be a source of blessing.  Yaakov consciously reminds himself of how fortunate he is so that he can give more of himself.

The Divrei Yirmiyahu reminds us that we have more control than we often think over how we feel, and over what we have within ourselves to give.  We cannot choose our mood directly.  But we can choose which facts in our lives to focus on:  those that make us feel empty and in need, or those that make us feel full and able to give.  We can help to make ourselves a source of blessing, as Yaakov does, by remembering the blessings that we ourselves have received.  May Shabbat, our day of fullness, help us to remember what we have, and what we have to give.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Fay and Aubrey Palestrant in honor of the engagement of their daughter Sarah to Noam Belkind.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Beyond Bim Bom, our learning service for grades K to 3, is from 10:30 to 11:15 am.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am. \
• On Shabbat morning Jan. 14, we will celebrate the bar mitzvah of Avery Polster, son of Jeremy and Virginie Polster.
• On Monday Jan. 16 (Martin Luther King Day), The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson St. dining room. Please let us know if you can help.
• The annual meeting of The New Shul community is on Sunday Jan. 22 at 10:30 am.
• Join us for two guest lectures at The New Shul:  On Tuesday Jan. 31 at 7:00 pm, Dr. Wendy Zierler of Hebrew Union College: “And Rachel Stole the Idols:  The Emergence of Modern Jewish Women’s Writing.”  On Tuesday Feb. 7 at 7:30 pm, Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom in L.A:  “A Curriculum of Wonder:  The Genius of Abraham Joshua Heschel.” Both lectures are co-sponsored by the Valley Beit Midrash and the Women’s Jewish Learning Center, and are free and open to all.
• Join us at The New Shul on the afternoon of Shabbat Shirah (The Shabbat of Song), Feb. 4 at 6 pm for Seudah Shlisheet, the third Shabbat meal.  Yisroel Juskowicz, a singer/song-writer from New York City, will lead us in song over the meal.  After havdalah at 7 pm, he will perform his music.  The concert is free and open to all.
• On Shabbat morning Feb. 11, and on Shabbat afternoon after kiddush, Dr. Joel Gereboff, the Chair of Religious Studies at ASU, will be our guest teacher.
• Please remember to RSVP for our 10th Anniversary celebration on Sunday Feb. 26 at 6 pm at the Scottsdale Hilton.  Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker.  The cost is $54 per person. You can get further information here.

Is Yosef trying to excuse what his brothers did? — and if so, how does this excuse it? Just because evil may ultimately lead to good, it does not mean that the evil was not real.

Perhaps Yosef is trying to help his brothers in a different way — not by excusing their sin, but by helping them to move on to the next step in the process of teshuvah.  Regret is where the process starts. But if we get so bogged down in regret that we cannot move forward, then regret becomes a trap, an obstacle to growth.  The next step in the process is to realize that the world did not end with our sin, that there are opportunities in front of us to help make the world a better place, and that we are still needed.  Maybe that is what Yosef is trying to help his brothers to see — that life goes on and that we all have work to do.

At times when our regrets keep us from moving forward, may Yosef’s words help us as well.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Marni and Ariel Anbar, who are leaving for Israel next week for a semester sabbatical.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Learning services for children this Shabbat are: Munchkin Minyan for ages 2 to 4 from 11:00 to 11:30 am, and Beyond Bim Bom for grades K to 3 from 10:30 to 11:15 am.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am. \
• On Sunday Jan. 1 and on Monday Jan. 16 (Martin Luther King Day), The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson St. dining room. Please let us know if you can help.
• The annual meeting of The New Shul community is on Sunday Jan. 22 at 10:30 am.
• On Tuesday Jan. 31 at 7:30 pm, our guest lecturer will Dr. Wendy Zierler of Hebrew Union College. Her lecture is co-sponsored by Valley Beit Midrash and the Women’s Jewish Learning Center.
• Please remember to RSVP for our 10th Anniversary celebration on Sunday Feb. 26 (6 to 8:30 pm) at the Scottsdale Hilton.  Rabbi David Wolpe will be the keynote speaker.  The cost is $54 per person. You can get further information here.
• In case you missed The New Shul’s Hanukah Coffee House, you can catch up on the two Latke Fairy songs by Marni Anbar here and here (the first one begins about a minute and a half into the video).

The ancient rabbis taught that the purpose of the Hanukah lights is pirsum ha-nes, making the miracle known. The same can be said of all mitzvot. The greatest miracle of all is that each human being has a spark of the divine within. Through every sacred deed that we perform, we increase awareness of that miracle and bring light into the darkness.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Jason and Carey Lamm and by Esperanza Andujar in memory of Esperanza’s parents and in honor of her birthday.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Learning services for children this Shabbat are: Beyond Bim Bom for grades K to 3, from 10:30 to 11:15 am, and Tween Tefillah for grades 4 to 6, from 10:15 to 11:30 am.
• This Shabbat afternoon Dec. 24, after kiddush, Rabbi Yosef Garcia of Congregation Avdey Torah Hayah will speak about his work with descendents of Crypto Jews in the Latino community who are returning to Judaism. Childcare will be provided.   Chil   C
• This Saturday night Dec. 24, join us for our annual Hanukah Coffee House at 7:30 pm. The cost is $5 at the door.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am. \
• On Sunday Dec. 25, The New Shul community will participate in a valley-wide social-action day, sponsored by a consortium of local synagogues. Please contact us for information on how you can participate.
• On Sunday Jan. 1, The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson St. dining room. Please let us know if you can help.
• The annual meeting of The New Shul community is on Sunday Jan. 22 at 10:30 am.

One way to understand Rashi’s comment is that the ease with which Yosef spoke about God was evidence of his closeness to God.  How we speak is a reflection of who we are.  But there is another way to understand what Rashi said:  that the fluency with which Yosef talked about God was the source of his closeness to God.  Yosef’s use of sacred language was what brought him close to God in the first place.  The more we speak of God, the more we make God a living reality in our lives.  Words that begin in our mouths end up in our hearts.

One reason why we feel God’s presence on Shabbat more intensely than on other days is that Shabbat is so full of sacred language.  On Shabbat we take extra time for prayer and the study of Torah, and, as a result, we feel that we are spending the day in God’s presence.  By filling our Shabbat with words of prayer and words of Torah, may we help ourselves to feel God’s presence more intensely.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon.  The kiddush this Shabbat is sponsored by Bonnie Price and Jack Hirsch in honor of their wedding anniversary.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.  Beyond Bim Bom, our learning service for grades K to 3, is from 10:30 to 11:15 am.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am.
• This Saturday night Dec. 17 at 7:30 pm, join us for the first in our series of three Israeli-film nights.  The film is Jaffa (2009) by Keren Yedaya.
• Next Shabbat afternoon, Dec. 24, Rabbi Yosef Garcia will speak at The New Shul after kiddush.  Rabbi Garcia is rabbi of Congregation Avdey Torah Hayah in Chandler.  He will speak about his work with descendents of Crypto Jews in the Latino community, who are returning to Judaism.
• The New Shul’s annual Hanukah Coffee House is on Saturday night Dec. 24 at 7:30 pm.
• On Sunday December 25, The New Shul community will participate in a valley-wide social-action day, sponsored by a consortium of local synagogues.  Please contact us for information on how you can participate.
• On Sunday January 1, The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson St. dining room.  Please let us know if you can help.
• The annual meeting of The New Shul community is on Sunday January 22 at 10:30 am.