Tomorrow morning’s Shabbat Service, conducted by Rabbi Dreyfus, will begin at 10:00 am.  Barry Bayer will be the Cantorial Soloist.

This is the festive day of Tu B’Av, a day for couples and commitments — celebrated in Israel as a sort of a Valentine’s Day — and Shabbat Nachamu — be comforted — the reading of the first of Isaiah’s Haftarah readings of Consolation. (After Tisha B’Av).

The Torah reading is Va-et-chanan, Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11.

The Haftarah reading is Isaiah 40:1-26.

For commentary click here.

Or as noted byYosef I. Abramowitz & Rabbi Susan Silverman

Tu B’Av is a great day for weddings, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows, or proposing. It is a day for enhancing current relationships or defining anew what you are looking for in a partner. It is a day for romance, explored through singing, dancing, giving flowers, and studying.

Tomorrow morning’s Shabbat Service will be conducted by Rabbi Dreyfus, beginning at 10:00 am. Niki Cummings will be the Chazanit.

The service will include a Conversion ceremony wherein Mercedes Chuquimia will be officially welcomed into the Jewish Community.. A Kiddush reception in honor of our new member will follow the service. Our congratulations and welcome to Mercedes.

The Parasha is D’varim, Deuteronomy 1:1?3:22. Moses, in the 40th year and 11th month after the Exodus from Egypt, gathers the Israelites “. . . beyond the Jordan in the desert, in the Arabah, opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab” and begins to remind his people of what has happened and what is about to happen.

The Hatarah on this Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, is the Third Haftarah of Affliction, Isaiah 1:1-27.

Youth will be seated at their own tables. High-school students, college students, and adults are invited to this special program on Sunday, August 17 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church, 17100 69th Ave., Tinley Park.

 Tickets are $5.00 and must be purchased one week in advance. Tickets will not be sold at the door. To purchase tickets or for additional information call Brian Zakem at 708-799-3373 or e-mail bzakem@comcast.net.

Tomorrow’s Shabbat service, conducted by Rabbi Dreyfus, will begin at 10:00 am in the Garfein Wing. Carole Fefferman will be the Chazanit.

The Parasha is Mas’ei Numbers 33:1?36:13, as we end the Book of Numbers. A special Maftir for Rosh Chodesh, Numbers 28:9-15, will be read. The Parasha begins with a recapitulation of the travels and travails of the Israelites since leaving Egypt, continues with definitions of lands for the various tribes, the settlement of cities of refuge, dealing with murderer’s. The Book of Numbers ends with the story of Zelophehad’s daughters, Part II, when G-d modified the ruling of a couple of weeks earlier.

The Haftarah readings are Jeremiah 2:4-28;3:4, the second Haftarah from Jeremiah in prepration for TIsha B’Av, and Isaiah 66:1, 23, the reading for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh.

Tomorrow morning’s shabbat service, conducted by Niki Cummings, will begin at 10:00 am in the Garfein Wing.  Barry Bayer will be the Cantorial Soloist.

The Parasha is Matot, Numbers 30:2-32:42, as we move towards the end of the book of Numbers.  In many years Matot is paired in a single Shabbat with the last Parasha, Mas’ey, there being more Parashot than weeks.  But in this leap year we’ll be able to concentrate on just Matot.  The reading begins with the enforcement of vows.  I a man makes a vow, it is binding.  If a young woman or a married woman makes a vow, her father or husband may annul it, on the day he first hears of it, and it is not binding.  A widow or divorcee may make binding vows, having no man to annul them.
, G-d tells Moses to send out men to battle with the Midianites.  They kill all the Midianite men, but merely enslave the women and children.  Big mistake, as the women were the ones who caused the problems, to begin with.  The warriors are instructed to kill the male children, and the women who had been involved with Israelite men.  Instructions are given as to how to divide up the spoils of the war.
Finally, the tribes of Gad and Rueven, cattle owners, want to stay on the East side of the Jordan, and not cross over, because the valleys look like good cattle land.  G-d becomes angry and commands that none of the people who came out of Egypt except Caleb and Joshua shall cross the Jordan, because only they followed G-d completely, and the others, who had done evil in G-d’s eyes, were compelled to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until everyone who had been in Egypt had died off. The cattle owners were given permission to dwell on the east of the Jordan, but the men had to cross the Jordan to fight for the land on the other side.

The Haftarah is Jeremiah 1:1?2:3, the beginning of our preparation for Tisha B’av.