Beit HaLev

Beit HaLev will hold Saturday morning Shabbat services at a new time. The service will now begin 30 minutes earlier, at 10 a.m.

Beit HaLev livestream services are on Facebook at Facebook. com/ beithalev and Zoom. To join the Zoomagogue community, go to:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91524 34704?pwd=THJGTE1OUXI5VX FDTWtuZHF4K3VxUT09. The meeting ID is 915 243 4704, and the passcode is RavGalit.

Livestream services are every Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.

Avraham and Sarah welcome their son, Yitzchak into the world in the Torah reading “Vayera” (Genesis 21:1-22:24). The third Triennial Cycle reading is called “The Akeida,” or the “Binding of Isaac,” and it is on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Avraham is instructed by HaShem to take his son, the son he loves, to Mt. Mo- riah, tie him up and sacrifice him to HaShem. Avraham does take Isaac and tie him up, but and as he raises his hand with the knife, an angel stops him and tells him not to harm the boy, to lift his eyes and see a ram caught in a thicket and to sacrifice the animal instead. The controversial account is seen by Jewish sages as an object lesson to never use a human being as a sacrifice. The people of Canaan, where Avraham had settled, commonly sacrificed first-born babies to their idolatrous gods and HaShem would not allow the Jewish people to do the same.

All Beit HaLev services use special prayerbooks, “Lev L’Lev,” which were adapted and abridged for the online services from the Reform Siddur, “Mishkan HaT’filah.” Printed versions of the prayerbooks will be available at Beit HaLev’s in-person Shabbat services.

Beit HaLev is a Jewish Universalist community. It is progressive in thought and traditional in liturgy. The services are joyous, meaningful and musical. Beit HaLev welcomes everyone who seeks a path to the divine and does not believe in labels.

To request a membership form for Beit HaLev, call Rabbi Galit-Shirah at (562) 715-0888 or email duets@icloud.com.