Shabbat Shalom GRJC
Weekly Emails to the Congregation
Sefer Vayikra 2008
Shabbat Shalom to the GRJC family,
We light our Shabbat candles this week at
7:57 pm. Friday night services will begin at 8 pm, and
Saturday morning services will begin at 9 am. Joshua Samels
will become a Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat. The Samels family
invites the congregation to join in Friday and Saturday services.
Before we get to Shabbat this week, we will celebrate the re-opening
of the newly renovated GRJC library on Thursday at 7 pm. We
are pleased to host author Eva Etzioni-haLevy, from Israel, who will
be speaking about her new book “The Garden of Ruth.” Books
will be available for purchase and signing. The entire
congregation is welcome to join in this simcha for the GRJC.
This Shabbat we will read from the last parashah in Sefer Vayikra,
the Book of Leviticus. At the end of this week’s reading, we
will recite, “Chazak, Chazak, ve’nitchazek!”, meaning, “Strength,
Strength, and may we all be strengthened!” We say this line as
the last verse of Leviticus is read in order to get ourselves ready
to continue reading the next book from the Torah, Sefer Bemidbar,
the Book of Numbers.
The last parasha in Leviticus begins with the blessings that God
will give to the Israelites if they will follow God’s commandments.
Then we have after that what is called the “Tochecha”, the “Rebuke”.
The “Rebuke” is the section that tells the Israelites what
will happen if they do not follow God ’s commandments. Since
we hope that none of these consequences will befall us, the
tradition has been to read the Tochecha in a soft voice.
It can be difficult to reconcile the idea that God is loving and
compassionate with the terrible consequences listed in this parasha
for not following the commandments. However, we do know from
other rebukes in the Torah that God will punish but never give up on
the people of Israel.
We also know that any society that lacks a mechanism for enforcing
its laws becomes anarchy. We see an awareness of this reality
in the Book of Judges. In Judges, the commonly repeated phrase
is, “Each person did what was right in his/her own eyes.” We
also know this is true from what we see in families and in the
workplace. At home, if children can do whatever they want,
then they never learn that there are boundaries and rules in the
world. In the workplace, every person must adhere to policies
of conduct and business practice in order to ensure that all workers
are safe and able to effectively do their work.
How has living without a centralized Jewish community to legislate
and judge affected our sense of “living under God’s
mitzvoth/commandments”? What does it mean for God to address
the entire nation about reward and punishment, rather than
individuals, in this week’s reading?
With wishes for a Shabbat full of inspiration,
Rabbi Tow
MAZEL TOV:
To Rachel Schwartz who will be ordained as a Rabbi this Thursday at
the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thursday, May 22
9:45 am: Senior Aerobics (Social Hall)
7:00 pm: Author Visit and “Grand Reopening” of the GRJC Library.
Israeli “noshes” will be served. (Social Hall and Library).
Please RSVP to Michelle Strassberg at mstrassberg67@hotmail.com
Sunday and Monday, May 25 and 26
Office closed; no Religious School, Nursery School or Melton Class
(in observance of Memorial Day).
Wednesday, May 28
9:30-10:45am: Mommy & Me (lst floor classroom)
Thursday, May 29
9:45 am: Senior Aerobics (Social Hall)
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