Shabbat Shalom GRJC

Weekly Emails to the Congregation

Parshat Behaalachta 2007

Shabbat Shalom to the GRJC family,

This evening we light candles at 8:04 PM. We begin celebrating the Bat Mitzvah of Kayla Weinstock during our Friday evening service that begins at 8 PM. We wish an early Mazel Tov to Kayla and her family and friends. Saturday morning services will begin at 9 AM.

JUNE BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES! Come celebrate with us tonight during the Friday night service! Join us for a special blessing and song as we celebrate these simchas together.

We welcome Rabbi Susan Gulack who will be joining us this Shabbat.

This week we read from parshat Beha’alotcha, beginning at the end of chapter 10 and into chapter 11. The Israelites are up to their usual complaining against Moses and God. This time, as we read from chapter 11, we realize just how bankrupt they are in some of their values. The Israelites complain about the manna that God is providing for them in the wilderness, the food that has sustained them on their journey thus far.

For any parent who has tried to get a child to eat fruits and vegetables, take a closer look at chapter 11 verses 5 and 6. The Israelites here are thinking about foods that they ate in Egypt, “We remember the fish we used to eat…the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and garlic!” Now all parents can tell their children that Jews have loved to eat their fruits and vegetables for thousands of years! (But we can leave out the part about the complaining.)

In reality, the Israelites never had such a wonderful diet in Egypt. It is a fantasy that they have concocted to contrast with the dry and empty wilderness where they are now. While fish and these crops may have grown in Egypt, life was not sweet and plentiful as they remember it.

This section leads us to think about how we sometimes idealize or recreate the past in order to advance an argument or idea. We can think about how to be objective as we study the past to plan for the present and future. After all, we all walked to and from school uphill both ways with bare feet in the snow!

MAZEL TOV to GRJC students at the Glen Rock Middle School who were recently inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. (Please let me know if anyone is left out by accident.)

Jessica Bell
Benjamin Gutwetter
Ari Rubin
Jonathan Schneider
Daniele Weiss

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. The final evening of shivah at the Greenberg home in Washington Township will take place Saturday evening, at 8:30 PM. The address is 122 Windsor Circle, in the condominium community on the right hand side, just past the Y-JCC.

2. The Sisterhood sponsored Progressive Dinner will be taking place on Sunday at 5:30 PM, beginning at the home of Gordon and Ellen Remer, 558 Doremus Ave. There’s still room to join in for the dinner.

3. Teacher Appreciation Lunch – We’re thanking our religious-school teachers with a lunch on Sunday at 1:15 PM. Please stop by to say Todah Rabah/Thank you to our excellent teaching staff. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Tow
 

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