aklein's blog

Mishmash•MISHMASH- A Parent-Child Learning Program, 45 minutes after havdala on Saturday night @ DAT

Parents and Children will have an amazing time to learn together, bond, have great nosh, raffles, and prizes. Families are encouraged to learn whatever they would like together. All ages are invited. There will be trivia questions available for those who are looking for something to learn. There are weekly raffles of toys and prizes for those that fill all the spots on their frequent flier punch cards! There are also grand prize raffles every couple of weeks. The first grand prize raffles are Colorado Avalanche tickets!! There is also a special raffle just for older kids with age appropriate prizes. Sponsorships (either monetary or in the form of prizes) would be greatly appreciated. For more information, please speak with Rabbi Klein at rabbi@datminyan.org.

On behalf of the entire shul, we would like to welcome all the guests that are joining us for Shabbos who have descended on our community from both near and far. Denver is very excited to host the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly this coming week and we hope that you have a wonderful time during your stay. We hope that the trip went smoothly and without incident.

In the first words of this week’s parsha, the Torah describes to us how everyone was assembled to hear the words that were about to be disseminated by Moshe. The description of the Torah is quite vivid in describing how the heads of the tribes, elders, officers, woman, children, even the water carriers and wood choppers were all present.
In perhaps his most innocuous comment on the whole parsha, Rashi points out that the torah says “rasheichem shifteichem” (your heads – your tribes) and one letter is missing that clarifies the statement significantly- rasheichem l’shifteichem (your heads to your tribes). All Rashi does is add the lamed that clarifies what the Torah is really trying to say.

We are excited to announce that orders for lulavs and esrogs through the shul will be happening this year. We tried very hard to find a distributor who will supply us with high quality merchandise with excellent rabbinic approbations at a very reasonable rate. Please click here to place your orders.. Each set will arrive with a lulav with a palm holder, esrog, the proper amount of haddasim & aravot, and a basic guide. Also, please note that the distributor will make every effort to ship only esrogim that are grown without a pitom to ensure that your esrog arrives intact and ready to use. An esrog that is grown without a pitom is 100% kosher and acceptable to use on Sukkot.

Furthermore, it is important to note that historically, Egypt has been the prime supplier of lulavs to Israel and the diaspora. This year, Egypt has announced that they will not be exporting any lulavim outside of the country. Suppliers are currently scrambling to find other sources of lulavim to meet the high demand that is in the palm market at this time of year. Our supplier has explained to me that he is trying his best to meet the demand given the circumstances. He will keep me updated, and I will in turn keep you updated as clarity hopefully unfolds. As of now, we are hopeful that all orders will be completed in time for Sukkot. I would be remiss if I did not explain to you the entirety of the situation though. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Have a ketiva v'chatima tova,

Rabbi Asher Klein