Yavneh > Announcements > 3/31/2006

Chodesh Tov,

There’s a great email coming your way to get you going for the big weekend coming up. This weekend we have baseball’s opening night, the NCAA championship, April FoolÂ’s Day, Wrestlemania, and Sir Isaac Newton’s Yahrzeit.

Which brings us to:

a) Shabbat Times, etc.
b) Yiddish Tish
c) Chulent and Foosball Competitions
d) Pesach Info
e) WomenÂ’s Learning Think Tank
f) IMPORTANT Info for FIRST-YEARS
g) Yavneh Circus Outing
h) Rabbi Saul Berman Lecture
i) NYU/OCC Battle of the Bands
j) Make a Senior's Day!
k) Factoid of the Week
i) Joke of the Week

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a) PARSHAT VAYIKRA SHABBAT TIMES:

Yavneh-

Candle Lighting: 6:01
Friday Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:05
Shabbat Morning Shacharit: 9:15
Shabbat Mincha: 5:45
Havdalah: 7:03

Friday Mincha: 6:05
Shabbat Morning Shacharit: 10:00
Shabbat Mincha: 5:35

Friday Night Dinner: 7:35
Shabbat Lunch: 12:30

This week Shiur by Your Peers will be given by Becky Abrams on the topic of “Kol Isha” on the fourth floor of the Kraft Center ½ hour before Shabbat Mincha.

Kiddush this Shabbos is sponsored by the purple team (or ‘Yareach’) in honor of the yellow team in color war. It is also sponsored by a new Kiddush fund via a generous alumni donation. ‘Who cares?’ you may ask. Well, this means that Kiddush will now be much cheaper to sponsor. Thank you generous alumni.

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b) Yiddish Tish

Come party with the Yiddishists! We know what "tish" means, and we know how to do it right...
Friday March 31, 9pm, 5th floor of Kraft
Free Food!
Brought to you by the Yiddish Club, the Culture/Education Va'ad, the Religious Life Va'ad, and the Social Va'ad.

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c) Chulent and Foosball Competitions

Got skills? Prove it. Next Saturday before Shabbos Mincha we will be having a chulent-making and a foosball-playing competition. Prizes will be awarded to winners. Email Gaby at glr2102@columbia.edu if you are interested in participating in either competition.

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d) Pesach Info

JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT GOING HOME FOR PASSOVER DOESN'T MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE A HOME ON CAMPUS FOR THE SEDER! JOIN US FOR THE FIRST NIGHT SEDER, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 12 8:15 PM. REGISTRATION IN ADVANCE REQUIRED. $18 FOR STUDENTS, $25 FOR GUESTS. REGISTER, STARTING MONDAY, APRIL 3, AT HEWITT DINING OFFICE (BARNARD) OR AT THE HILLEL OFFICE (3RD FLOOR KRAFT CENTER). CALL 212-854-5111 FOR MORE INFO.
Rabbi Almog will be selling people’s chametz for them if they would like on Monday April 10th between 1:30pm-6:30pm and Tuesday April 11th between 10-2. Anyone selling Chametz should be prepared with the following:
1) a set secure place or places where they will be storing their chametz, whether in food, medication, liquor, or cosmetic forms, or that attached to pots, oven wracks or other utensils
2) if you will not be available to grant access to the secure place for any significant portion of Passover (e.g. going away for the seder), please provide the name of someone who can and is willing to grant such access (e.g., someone in your dormitory)
3) a rough estimate of the value of the everything being sold
If you cannot make it for those times but are still looking to sell your chametz, please contact Rabbi Almog at rabbi@hillel.columbia.edu.
Yavneh will not be having services over Yom Tov or Shabbos on Pesach. If you need help finding a place to daven or just general questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Yavneh Board.

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e) Yavneh Think Tank

On Wed April 5, Yavneh’s Think Tank will be focusing on the obstacles that Orthodox women face in today’s Torah learning world, and what can be done to improve the situation. Come with questions, ideas, and determination. Men are welcome to attend. This Think Tank will be co-hosted by world-renowned Think Tanker Reina Potaznik at 10 PM, in a Café Nana tent on 2nd floor of Kraft.

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f) Important Info for First-Years

For those first year Columbia students who are concerned about a conflict between registration on April 19th and Yom Tov, please contact John Carter in the registrarÂ’s office at jpc11@columbia.edu. John will be able work out your registration issues in a fair and respectful manner. If you have any problems in this regard please let Rabbi Almog know about it as soon as possible.

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g) Yavneh Circus Outing

Wanna come to the circus with Yavneh? April Fools! Gotcha! We are not actually going to the circus (but feel free to go on your own if youÂ’d like). Oh, and Dave Berman still thinks we are all monkeys...

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h) Rabbi Saul Berman Lecture

Rabbi Berman will be speaking on “Seeking 'Chumros' and Seeking Spiritual Growth - Are They Identical?” to kick off Yavneh’s Modern Orthodoxy Lecture Series, which begins with this lecture next Monday night, April 3 @ 9 PM on the 5th floor of Kraft.

Rabbi Berman received semicha from YU, a JD from NYU, and an M.A. in Political Science at Berkeley. He has taught at Columbia Law School and is currently the director of Edah.

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i) NYU/OCC Battle of the Bands

NYU and the OCC are hosting a battle of the bands on April 8th (Saturday Night) at 9:15pm at the Kimmel Center at NYU- for more info contact Jeremy at job2101@columbia.edu. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at door.

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j) Make a Senior's Day!

DOROT is looking for volunteers for this Sunday's 30th Annual Passover Package Delivery to deliver a holiday package and share a visit with seniors on the Upper West Side. Over 500 seniors in the community have requested a food package and a visit from volunteers. Volunteers may visit individually or with friends and family. Just a couple of hours of your time will make a difference in the life of a senior this holiday. Please join us: This Sunday, April 2nd from 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. Click on the link for more information about this event:

To sign up, please contact Rachel rhc2106@columbia.edu or Taryn ts2133@barnard.edu

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k) Factoid of the Week!

This weekÂ’s factoid features Barnard freshman, Nina Cohen.

The most important (at least for Daniel Friedman) thing you should know about Nina is that she is from Ir HaKodesh, or Woodmere, Five Towns, New York. Although this status does grant one automatic access to Olam Habah, she has used and abused this privilege. She had the audacity to steal a toe from a seven-toed kid and took it for herself, giving her 6 toes on her left foot. She also uses this theft to her advantage. She blames her lack of basic arithmetic skills on her toes, since she lost all faith in math when her kindergarten teacher refused to accept that the number of fingers plus the number of toes is really 21. Nina also feels she has the right to put whatever she wants in her chulent, even chicken wings! (Watch out if she signs up for the chulent competition next shabbos) Lastly, she refuses to sing except in harmony despite her incredible performance on SKAcapella- the SKA acapella CD. Despite all this, her favorite compliment is that she is not a five-towns girl.

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l) Joke of the Week (Passover-themed)

Morris, a retiree who just moved to Florida, calls his son in NY and says, "Benny, I have something to tell you. However, I don't want to discuss it. I've made up my mind, I'm divorcing Mama."
The son is shocked and says "But Dad, you can't decide to divorce Mama just like that after 44 years together. What happened?"
Morris says, "I don't want to get into it. My mind is made up."
"But where's Mama? Can I talk to her?"
"No, I don't want you to say anything to her about it. I haven't told her yet." says Morris.
"Dad, Don't do anything rash. I'm going to take the first flight down. Promise me that you won't do anything until I get there."
"Well, all right, I promise. Next week is Passover. I'll hold off seeing the lawyer until after the Seder. Call your sister in NJ and break the news to her. I just can't bear to talk about it anymore."
A half hour later, Morris receives a call from his daughter who tells him that she and her brother were able to get tickets and that they and the children will be arriving in Florida the day after tomorrow.
"Benny told me that you don't want to talk about it on the telephone, but promise me that you won't do anything until we both get there."
Morris promises.
After hanging up from his daughter, Morris turns to his wife and says, "Well, it worked this time, but what are we going to do next Passover to get them to come to the Seder!?"

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Have a Good Shabbos!

Jeremy, Taryn, Shira, Gaby, and Eric