Midway Jewish Center
56 Years Bold: 1953-2009 !
THE CYBERSHUL

330 South Oyster Bay Road
Syosset, NY 11791
www.mjc.org
cyber shul archives

This CyberShul has been dedicated by:

Shabbat	Toledot
Parashah	Toledot
Secular Date	November 21, 2009
Jewish Date	4 Kislev 5770
Shabbat Begins	4:14pm
Shabbat Ends	5:16pm
MJCyber Shul Minyan	14010
Last Week’s Minyan	1407
Upcoming Holiday	THANKSGIVING. This is one holiday that is so American yet so Jewish. What day shouldn’t we be giving thanks?! But it speaks to the spiritual and moral fiber of a nation that can dedicate one day of the year to an expression of gratitude for all that which is ours, and all that which we anticipate will come our way! May God continue to bless us and we may forever be grateful for those blessings!

TORAH READING

Toledot

Toledot—meaning “story," and the story in this parashah is good! After a difficult pregnancy, Rebekah gives birth to twins, Jacob and Esau. The two boys are quite different. The older one, Esau, sells his firstborn privileges and status for a bowl of lentil stew. Isaac’s family must move due to a famine. Nevertheless, wherever he goes, he is blessed with rich harvest and tremendous wealth. Isaac, now older, ill and with his vision seriously impaired, blesses Jacob with the firstborn’s blessings leaving his older son, Esau, with a blessing of diminished worth. Esau is furious and plans to kill his brother. Jacob runs away. Esau marries, though his choice in mates distresses his parents

A SHABBAT THOUGHT

If you can’t make a mistake, you can’t make anything. . 

~~ Marva ~~

WEB OF THE WEEK

Now this is how to do Adon Olam!!

AURAL TORAH

Mentally Stable Murderers

Just click on the picture on the left hear this week’s Aural Torah!

A Great Vacation

This April celebrate a special journey in the footsteps of Herzl to help celebrate his 150th birthday. The journey begins in Paris and continues to Vienna, Basle, Budapest and ends up in Jerusalem for Israel’s 62nd birthday. Meet and hear from top leadership! Travel by plane, bus and train. Visit sights that bring us back in history and back to the future.

This trip is open to a limited number of participants. Don’t be left out. Apply today. You can reach us by going to www.doingzionism.org.il where you can get more information and an application form.

Honor or Memorialize Loved Ones for a New Lower Price

THIS IS THE CYBERSHUL ECONOMIC STIMULUS PLAN!!

For a Few Dollars You can Touch Someone in a Beautiful Way
A CyberShul Dedication—Only:

$100

Send your name, location, and a $100 check made payable to:

Midway Jewish Center
330 South Oyster Bay Road
Syosset, NY 11791

Send CyberShul to All Your Friends!

GOTTA QUESTION?
THE CYBER RAV HAS AN ANSWER AND GOOD NEWS--
THE CYBER RAV IS ALWAYS IN
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO rafirank@mjc.org
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DEAR CYBERAV… I’VE GOTTA QUESTION

THE HALAKHAH OF TUMMY TUCKS

Dear Cyber Rav,

I truly enjoy your pulpit, CyberShul and synagogue news commentaries. They are uniformly insightful, succinct and entertaining (even if I don’t always agree). Your recent comments on the Jewish view of tattoos “spiked” my interest. I am curious about the current Jewish philosophical view of cosmetic plastic surgery. Aren’t all those tummy tucks and facelifts that are not medically necessary also considered defiling the body? I am of course, not referring to reconstructive surgery due to injury, cancer or congenital anomalies.

Or does it fall under the mitzvah of taking care of one’s health, including psychological and emotional health?

An MD with Curiosity

CYBER RAV ANSWERS

Dear MD,

This is a very interesting question. As far as I know, I have never heard it asked and I've never heard any rabbi prohibit such cosmetic surgeries. Cosmetic surgeries are probably more tolerated (as opposed to fully accepted) as they may be more intimately connected to a person's selfperception and their anxieties about how others may see them. Tattoos, in contrast, are merely faddish and therefore completely gratuitous. If someone were to ask me about cosmetic surgery, I don't think I would conclude it to be assur or prohibited, but I might venture a discussion about why this person thinks it necessary. What is it about her/himself that finds it necessary to undergo such surgery? Is the person succumbing to societal pressures which are vain, youth-oriented, and as deep as a sheet of paper? Who actually defines what true beauty is in our world? And if others are defining it, what authority do they have to define it and who is forcing us to actually listen? Those are the issues I would want to explore with them and although they don't, prima facie (no pun intended), sound like Jewish issues, on a deeper level they very much are.

Just to make things messy--for such is life--I recall seeing a documentary on tattoos in which a woman having undergone a double mastectomy, and having rejected reconstructive surgery for fears of what such surgery might entail, decided to have her chest tattooed in order to render it beautiful again. Here again, I think the above questions as well as a discussion about the nature of beauty, how we perceive our own wholeness, the extent to which we regard the perceptions of others as critical, would be important. But as I thought through her situation, I think I would have had a harder time saying "Don't do it," especially if I failed to convince her that it was unnecessary. 

Rabbi Rafi Rank
CyberRav

Shabbat Shalom Everyone!!

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