Shabbat Shalom GRJC

Weekly Emails to the Congregation

Parshat Naso 2007

Shabbat Shalom to the GRJC family,

We light candles this evening at 7:58 PM. We begin celebrating Stephen Rubin’s Bar Mitzvah at our Friday evening service beginning at 8 PM--Mazel Tov! Saturday morning services will begin at 9 AM and during our services we will celebrate the aufruf of Amy Spindel and Joshua Belkin.

This Shabbat we read from parshat Naso. We will be reading about the gifts that the heads of each tribe brought upon the completion of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was the Temple that the Israelites carried through the wilderness, rebuilding it at each stopping point along their route to the Holy Land. 

The reading of the gifts is among the sections of the Torah in which the chanting is uniform. Each chief, each head of a tribe brings the same gifts, and so we chant each passage about the offerings in the same way. At the same time, even though each chief brings the same offerings, each individual chief is different and each tribe is different. When we turn back to the end of Genesis (See chapter 49) we see that Jacob blesses his sons who will become the tribes of Israel, and in giving these blessings he emphasizes the characteristics of each tribe. As we review the Torah reading this Shabbat we can turn back in our chumashim to find out more about the personality of each tribe, and then, based on what we know, we can think about what might have been each chief’s unique personal prayer in bringing the offerings to the Mishkan.

We also have an important text in this week’s parasha, the text of the priestly blessing that can be found in Numbers chapter 6, verses 24-26. Take a closer look at how many words are in each verse in this elegant prayer that the kohanim (priests) gave in God’s name.

This coming Monday we will observe Memorial Day. It is a day when we remember and honor the sacrifice that our fellow citizens have made in fighting for our country. Yehey Zichram Baruch, May their memory be for a blessing.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Memorial Day – Please join us at the Glen Rock Memorial Day observance on Monday. Marching will begin at 10 AM. The event is organized by American Legion Post 145 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 850.

2. Next week we will be celebrating Kayla Weinstock’s Bat Mitzvah, and on Friday evening, June 1, we will also be giving special blessings to all upcoming June birthdays and June anniversaries. Please join us so that we can celebrate these upcoming simchas with you!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Tow
 

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