Parshat Shemot December 25, 2010 18 Tevet, 5771

TORAH
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Parshat Shemot
ARTSCROLL, 292 bathe in the Nile, while her courage of her compassion.
HERTZ, 205 She is one of the most
unexpected heroes of the maids walked along the Nile's She does not flinch. Now
HAFTORAH Hebrew Bible. Without edge. She saw the box in the something extraordinary
ARTSCROLL, 1147 her, Moses might not have reeds and sent her slave-girl to happens:
HERTZ, 225 lived. The whole story of fetch it. Opening it, she saw the
the exodus would have boy. The child began to cry, and The [child's] sister said to
been different. Yet she was she had pity on it. "This is one Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I
not an Israelite. She had of the Hebrew boys", she said. go and call a Hebrew
Times nothing to gain, and woman to nurse the child
everything to lose, by her Note the sequence. First she sees for you?" "Go", replied
Candle Lighting 4:14 pm courage. Yet she seems to that it is a child and has pity on Pharaoh's daughter. The
have had no doubt, it. A natural, human, young girl went and got the
Friday Mincha 4:15 pm
experienced no misgivings, compassionate reaction. Only child's own mother. "Take
Haskhama 8:00 am made no hAesitation. If it then does it dawn on her who this child and nurse it", said
was Pharaoh who afflicted the child must be. Who else Pharaoh's daughter. "I will
Youth 8:30 am would abandon a child? She
the children of Israel, it pay you a fee." The woman
Parsha Shiur 8:30 am was another member of his remembers her father's decree took the child and nursed it.
own family who saved the against the Hebrews. Instantly
Main Minyan 9:00 am the situation has changed. To The simplicity with which
decisive vestige of hope:
Pharaoh's daughter. save the baby would mean this is narrated conceals the
Beit Midrash 9:15 am
disobeying the royal command. astonishing nature of this
Gemorah Shiur 3:30 pm Recall the context. Pharaoh That would be serious enough encounter. First, how does a
had decreed death for for an ordinary Egyptian; doubly child - not just a child, but a
Mincha 4:05 pm so for a member of the royal member of a persecuted
every male Israelite child.
Shabbat Ends 5:23 pm Yocheved, Amram's wife, family. people - have the audacity
had a baby boy. For three to address a princess? There
Sunday Dec. 26 7:30/8:30 am months she was able to Nor is she alone when the event is no elaborate preamble -
conceal his existence, but happens. Her maids are with "Your royal highness" or
Mon, Thurs. 6:35/7:45 am no longer. Fearing his her; her slave-girl is standing any other formality of the
certain death if she kept beside her. She must face the kind we are familiar with
Tues.Wed. Fri. 6:45/7:45 am him, she set him afloat on risk that one of them, in a fit of elsewhere in biblical
the Nile in a basket, hoping pique, or even mere gossip, will narrative. They seem to
against hope that someone tell someone about it. Rumors speak as equals.
Late Maariv 8:15 pm flourish in royal courts. Yet she
might see him and take
pity on him. This is what does not shift her ground. She Equally pointed are the
Mincha Sun./Fri. 4:20 pm follows: does not tell one of her servants words left unsaid. "You
Latest times for
to take the baby and hide it with know and I know", Moses'
Shema/Shmoneh Esrei Pharaoh's daughter went to a family far away. She has the sister implies, "who this
December 25 9:36/10:22 am

January 1 9:38/10:25 am KIDDUSH IS SEUDAH SHLISHIT

Next Shabbat SPONSORED BY IS SPONSORED BY
CHERYL & ROBERT SPERBER
Vaera
GREAT NECK ON THE 30TH YAHRZEIT
OF HER FATHER
Candle lighting 4:19 pm
SYNAGOGUE ISAAC FORST Z”L
(YITZCHAK BEN ZVI HERSH)
Mincha 4:20 pm
26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Parshat Shemot 5771

"child", as in Ramses.
child is; it is my baby brother." She proposes a plan brilliant
in its simplicity. If the real mother is able to nurse the child, Who then was Pharaoh's daughter? Nowhere is she
we both minimize the danger. You will not have to explain explicitly named. However the First Book of
to the court how this child has suddenly appeared. We will Chronicles (4: 18) mentions a daughter of Pharaoh,
be spared the risk of bringing him up: we can say the child is named Bitya, and it was she the sages identified as the
not a Hebrew, and that the mother is not the mother but only woman who saved Moses. The name Bitya (sometimes
a nurse. Miriam's ingenuity is matched by Pharaoh's rendered as Batya) means "the daughter of G-d". From
daughter's instant agreement. She knows; she understands; this, the sages drew one of their most striking lessons:
she gives her consent.
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: "Moses was
Then comes the final surprise: not your son, yet you called him your son. You are not
When the child matured, [his mother] brought him to My daughter, but I shall call you My
Pharaoh's daughter. She adopted him as her own son, and daughter." (Vayikra Rabbah 1: 3).
named him Moses. "I bore him from the water", she said.
Pharaoh's daughter has not simply had a moment's They added that she was one of the few (tradition
compassion. She has not forgotten the child. Nor has the enumerates nine) who were so righteous that they
passage of time diminished her sense of responsibility. Not entered paradise in their lifetime (Derekh Eretz Zuta 1).
only does she remain committed to his welfare; she adopts
the riskiest of strategies. She will adopt it and bring him up Instead of "Pharaoh's daughter" read "Hitler's daughter"
as her own son. This is courage of a high order. or "Stalin's daughter" and we see what is at stake.
Tyranny cannot destroy humanity. Moral courage can
Yet the single most surprising detail comes in the last sometimes be found in the heart of darkness. That the
sentence. In the Torah, it is parents who gave a child its Torah itself tells the story the way it does has enormous
name, and in the case of a special individual, G-d himself. It implications. It means that when we come to people we
is G-d who gives the name Isaac to the first Jewish child; G- must never generalize, stereotype. The Egyptians were
d's angel who gives Jacob the name Israel; G-d who changes not all evil: even from Pharaoh himself a heroine was
the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. We born. Nothing could signal more powerfully that the
have already encountered one adoptive name - Tsofenat Torah is not an ethnocentric text; that we must
Paneakh - the name by which Joseph was known in Egypt; recognize virtue wherever we find it, even among our
yet Joseph remains Joseph. How surpassingly strange that enemies; and that the basic core of human values -
the hero of the exodus, greatest of all the prophets, should humanity, compassion, courage - is truly universal.
bear not the name Amram and Yocheved have undoubtedly Holiness may not be; goodness is.
used thus far, but the one given to him by his adoptive
mother, an Egyptian princess. A midrash draws our attention Outside Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in
to the fact: Jerusalem, is an avenue dedicated to righteous gentiles.
Pharaoh's daughter is a supreme symbol of what they
This is the reward for those who do kindness. Although did and what they were. I, for one, am profoundly
Moses had many names, the only one by which he is known moved by that encounter on the banks of the Nile
in the whole Torah is the one given to him by the daughter of between an Egyptian princess and a young Israelite
Pharaoh. Even the Holy One, blessed be He, did not call him child, Moses' sister Miriam. The contrast between them
by any other name. (Shemot Rabbah 1: 26) - in terms of age, culture, status and power - could not
be greater. Yet their deep humanity bridges all the
Indeed Moshe - Meses - is an Egyptian name, meaning differences, all the distance. Two heroines. May they
inspire us.

Great Neck Synagogue

Shabbat Activities Program

Dale Polakoff, Rabbi

Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi
Dr. Ephraim Wolf ,z”l, Rabbi Emeritus
Michael Bleicher, Daniel Schwechter, Rabbinic Interns
Zeev Kron, Cantor
Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus
Mark Twersky, Executive Director
Joseph Hecht, President
Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board
 GNS Kol Hanearim Tallis – Response Form

NAME____________________________________________________________
ADDRESS_________________________________________________________
PHONE #_____________________
EMAIL_______________________
Tallis Only Dinner + ½ Page Dinner + Full Page
One Name $ 100 $ 600 $ 1,050
Small Stone – 3 Names 250 750 1,150
Large Family Stone + 5 Names 400 800 1,250
Small Family Building + 5 Names 1,000 1,400 1,750 (6 TAKEN)
Large Family Building + 8 Names 1,800 2,200 2,600 (1 TAKEN)
Birchat Kohanim – 1st Passuk** 3,600* 3,900
Birchat Kohanim – 2nd Passuk** 3,600* 3,900
Birchat Kohanim – 3rd Passuk** 3,600* 3,900
All 4 Tsitsis** 5,000 (TAKEN)
Hamalach Hago’el Passuk** 7,500 (TAKEN)
City of Jerusalem** 25,000
*Includes 2 tickets to the dinner & ½ page Journal Ad.
**Includes family name + 8 names

YES! Our family wants to be part of the New Kol Hanearim Tallis project at GNS.
Please fill in the appropriate area for your family below.
One Name (choose one option)
Small Stone – 3 Names
Large Family Stone + 5 Names
Small Family Building + 5 Names
Large Family Building & 8 Names
Birchat Kohanim – 1st Passuk
Birchat Kohanim – 2nd Passuk
Birchat Kohanim – 3rd Passuk
All 4 Tsitsis
Hamalach Hago’el Passuk
City of Jerusalem
Family Name _____________________________________
First & Last Name ________________________________
1. First & Last Name ______________________________
2. First & Last Name ______________________________
3. First & Last Name ______________________________
Family Name _____________________________________
1. First Name ____________________________________
2. First Name ____________________________________
3. First Name ____________________________________
4. First Name ____________________________________
5. First Name ____________________________________
Family Name _______ _____________________
1. First Name ____________________________________
2. First Name ____________________________________
3. First Name ____________________________________
4. First Name ____________________________________
5. First Name ____________________________________
Family Name ____________________
1. First Name ____________________________________
2. First Name ____________________________________
3. First Name ____________________________________
4. First Name _____ _______________________
5. First Name ______ ______________________
6. First Name ____________________________________
7. First Name ____________________________________
8. First Name ____________________________________

All Requests must be submitted on this form.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS
GNS JANUARY RETREAT Within Our Family
Come join Rabbi Jensen & Rabbi Lichter for a special GNS vacation
in Connecticut. There will be food, skiing, snow tubing, outlet malls Mazal Tov to Avigail & Danny Arbusman on the marriage of their
and an indoor water park. We will be sending out a flier with all the daughter Shelli to Michael Borkow.
info and pricing/itinerary very soon. The dates are Wednesday Mazal Tov to Ronni & Louis Davidowitz on the birth of their first
1/26- Sunday 1/30. The program includes all the above and a grandchild, a baby boy born to their children Michelle & Jed Schwartz.
Shabbaton as well. If interested please contact Rabbi Jensen or Mazal Tov to Lauren & Joseph Hyman on their daughter Rebecca
Rabbi Lichter. Hyman Katz passing her CPA exam.
Mazal Tov to Michal & Ronnie Malen on the birth of a granddaughter,
PARENT CHILD LEARNING ON MOTZAI SHABBAT born to their children Susannah & Noah Leibowitz.
Every Saturday evening, there will be a new program at Great Neck Mazal Tov to Carol & David Goddard on the engagement of their
Synagogue, parent-child(ren) learning. From 6:30 – 7:30 pm, parents daughter Debra to Ari, son of Amy & Ronny London.
of middle school age children are invited to come to GNS for this spe- Mazal Tov to Susan (Rabbi’s secretary) & Morris Altintas on the birth
cial program. The evening will begin with a brief shiur by one of the of a grandson Isaac, born to their children Stella & Joe Altintas.
rabbis and will be followed by about 45 minutes of parents and children Mazal Tov to Ruth & Norman Seif on the birth of their great-
learning together. All of the source material will be provided for you granddaughter.
(with translations) and the program is open to parents and children of
different learning levels. There will be refreshments served.
WOMEN’S TUESDAY LEARNING SAVE THE DATE
Women’s Tuesday learning takes place Tuesdays at 10 am in
The Braun Youth Center. Amit Yaghoubi will teaching the Shemoneh GREAT NECK
Esrei from start to finish with commentaries. You may also attend SYNAGOGUE
individual classes at a cost of $ 12.00 per class.
59TH ANNUAL
ATTENTION HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
GNS Talmud Torah is looking for student tutors one hour per week on
DINNER
either Monday or Wednesday between 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm. Chesed GUESTS OF HONOR
hour credits are available. Please contact Rabbi Polakoff at SHARON GOLDWYN
rabbi@gns.org.
AND
AM HASEFER SAVE THE DATES MICHAEL & MINDY
January 11, 2011, Tuesday, 7:45 pm
When They Come For Us, We’ll Be Gone:
LEVENTHAL
The Epic Stuggle To Save Soviet Jewry BONEH HABAYIT AWARD
By Gal Beckerman PHYLLIS WEINBERG
******************************
January 25, Tuesday 7:45 pm
Truth Be Veiled: A Justin Steele Murder Case HUNGER INITIATIVE Regular Food drop off’s continue Friday’s at
By Joel Cohen (author), Carla T. Main (contributor) 18 Birchwood Lane. Drop off hours are between 10 am and 1 pm. Kindly
place your food in the cooler. Also, soup containers are available in the
LATE MINYAN Shul office for those wishing to make soup for the Hunger Initiative for
We need your help in maintaining our weeknight 8:15 pm minyan for Friday delivery to 18 Birchwood Lane. For those wishing to provide food
maariv. Please volunteer for one night a week and help make sure on Sundays, call Jackie Nissan 482-2697.
that those who need to say kaddish have a minyan. To volunteer for
the late maariv minyan, please go to our website and fill out the
online form at: www.gns.org/?page id-322. Thank you for your
help. Saturday, 18 Tevet
Mahin Aryeh for Malka Aryeh
KOL HANEORIM PROJECT Michelle Berman for Naomi Kahn
This year in conjunction with our 59th Annual Journal Dinner we are Trudy Jettelson for Lena Sirota
launching a new and exciting project in honor of our children. Our Leslie Kahn for Naomi Kahn
dinner Guests of Honor, Sharon Goldwyn and Mindy and Michael Sunday, 19 Tevet
Leventhal, grew up in Great Neck and are raising their children here Gladys Moslin for Solomon Moslin
in Great Neck, and the children and grandchildren of Boneh Habayit Monday, 20 Tevet
Awardee Phyliss Weinberg, have also grown up in our community. Vivian Kron for Salim Mahlab
We are very blessed to have a shul with so many families, young and Y Al Leiderman for Ralph Leiderman
old, with numerous children and grandchildren. Each Simchas Torah Grace Oster for Freda Horowitz
our children and grandchildren gather together under a special tallis A Fred Pomerantz for Mina Pomerantz
for Kol Haneorim, an aliyah dedicated to the children. Our project is H Ephraim Slonim for Sara Slonim
to dedicate a new tallis that will be a true piece of art that will be Tuesday, 21 Tevet
used each Simchas Torah as well as displayed throughout the year. R Lev Dynkin for Rashe Dynkin
We have commissioned an experienced artist to design this tallis
exclusively for the families of GNS. We look forward to being able to
Z Semyon Dynkin for Rashe Dynkin
Sarita Greszes for Rifca Rosenberg Keltai
enjoy this special tallis for generations to come. We know that you E Helaine Helmreich for Dorothy Gewirtz
will want to be a part of this unique and historical GNS opportunity. I Arnold Swartz for Irma Swartz
Wednesday, 22 Tevet
There are a limited number of dedication opportunities so
we ask that you to please respond quickly and generously. T Anita Beretz for Seigfried Reischenberg
Arnie Flatow for Miriam Flatow
We encourage all families to participate in the project;
Thursday, 23 Tevet
together we can create a beautiful tallis to cover our children Klara Brand for David Sabov
as they receive their bracha. Please go to the website Linda Bunim for Isadore Shapiro
www.gns.org or use this link http://www.gns.org/ Mel Fox for Leah Solomon
archives/4417 and see the rendering of this tallis and the list Susan Mayer for Hans Abramson
of donation possibilities. Lisa Solemanyan for Charles Lerman
Judith Weinstein for Ruth Kloogman
HELP NEEDED Friday, 24 Tevet
Volunteer needed to help deliver food to needy families’ on Sunday Albert Benak for Esther Benak
mornings. You are needed one Sunday per month. Please contact Jerrald Weinstein for Sara Weinstein
Barry Libin.