I want to thank everyone who joined us for Shavuot last Sunday!  It was a beautiful event and we had an amazing number of people to celebrate with. We began with a short Torah reading service in our synagogue, where we heard the Ten Commandments and learned about the experience our ancestors witnessed on Mount Sinai. Followed by Kiddush, everyone enjoyed a delicious dairy lunch (including three varieties of cheesecake!).  It is very moving to see such a vibrant celebration of a sometimes overlooked holiday.    If you couldn’t make it this time, I want to invite everyone to visit us for a Shabbat or for an upcoming program. 

     This week’s parsha is called “Naso”, which literally means “to lift”. As this portion is always read in conjunction with Shavuot, the day the Torah was given on Mount Sinai, there is a special lesson we can learn about our relationship to the Torah.  Our Torah learning is not meant to remain academic or even educational. When a Jew learns Torah, he or she is bringing G-dly wisdom into their life. And the main thing, our sages tell us, is action. What comes about through our learning, how it affects us, and how we use our knowledge to better the world.  Torah is meant to “lift” us beyond our  natural limitations and restrains, to make us holy and to allow us to achieve holy things. Therefore, the Torah portion read after Shavuot, is called “Naso”, reminding us to use what we received on Shavuot to “lift” us in the days ahead.

 
    Over the summer, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering a multi-week course on reading Hebrew. We are planning to begin in mid-July. More information will follow in the weeks ahead. Please let me know if you or someone you know would be interested In attending.


Wishing you and your families a Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Akiva

This week we have a special edition of our weekly Torah thought! Rabbi Hall was invited to do an article on the weekly pasha in the national newspaper "The Jewish Press." Please click the article below and go to page 99 to see his article. Shabbat Shalom!

     No one likes to be criticized. Even from a family member or close friend, being told (however politely) that you could have done better, is usually hard to swallow.

  Especially after working hard and doing our best, it can be demoralizing if not hurtful. However, a mature person realizes, that there are others who know better than him, and at times, it is valuable to set aside the ego, and take some constructive criticism.  Indeed, the Torah recognizes this concept, as the verse says in Leviticus 19:17 “You must rebuke your neighbor”. When we witness someone committing a negative act, it is a mitzvah to rebuke him. 

    But if only it were so simple. Recognizing human nature, our sages have qualified this idea of “rebuking”, and have given us several guidelines before we set about “putting others in their place.”  First off, the Code of Jewish Law is clear, we must approach the person in private, with gentle words, telling him that we are  genuinely concerned for him. And even more than this, if you know that your friend will not listen to you, and will continue with his bad ways, it is better that you do not rebuke him at all.

 There are certainly times when it is a person’s duty to speak out about injustices he witnesses. Obviously when others are being hurt or mistreated. Or when there are people publicly fighting against and ridiculing Torah observance. But to strongly criticize an individual, a person must make sure he is approaching this in an appropriate, gentle manner.

  The Parsha this week discusses different laws applying to a Kohen, the decedents of Aaron who served in the Holy Temple. One of these laws is that a Kohen is not allowed to come in contact with a corpse (except under extenuating circumstances). The verse reads, “Let no (Kohen) become ritually impure with a person amongst your people.” 

   The Maggid of Mezritch, Rabbi Dov Ber, who was the successor of the Baal Shem Tov and the second leader of the fledgling Chassidic movement, offers an allegorical interpretation of this verse. The Kohanim were an exceptionally kind group, who devoted much of their time to helping to guide the rest of the Jewish people. But this job entailed occasionally rebuking them as well. Therefore, the verse warns them that when they are “amongst their people”, rebuking them for their sins, the Kohen must not have any ulterior motives when being harsh to them (such as making personal attacks, or venting anger.) If the rebuke is performed for ignoble or sinister reasons, the Kohen will have “made himself ritually impure.” 

    If the Torah takes such pains to warn the Kohanim, whose job it was to rebuke others, about acting appropriately, how much more so should we all take this warning to heart, and be very careful when offering criticism to our friends and neighbors.

 

  Shavuot is coming! The process our ancestors began on Pesach, by leaving the Land of Egypt, came to its epic conclusion forty-nine days later with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.  Join us on May 24, as we relive this special day by hearing the Ten Commandments read from the Torah, and enjoying a special dairy lunch and ice cream buffet.  We need a minyan to read from the Torah, so if you are able to attend, please do.

    The first night of Shavuot it is the custom to remain awake learning Torah late into the night. Saturday night the 23rd , we will be having dinner at 8:00, followed by a class at 10:30. Everyone is invited to attend!

 Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom,

 

In this week’s double Torah portion, the laws of the Temple service for Yom Kippur are spelled out in great detail. The Kohen Gadol (High Priest) would carry out the service in the same way described for over a thousand years, until the Temple’s destruction in the year 70 CE. Nowadays, we read the details of this procedure on the morning of Yom Kippur, in a special section of the service called “The Avodah” (“The Service”).

   The remainder of the Parsha describes various laws of offerings, the prohibition of consuming blood, and the various guidelines of sexual morality. Also included is the famous dictum, to “Love your fellow as yourself.”

   Our tradition tells us that Shabbat influences the coming week, and can share a similar theme or connection with any upcoming special days. Indeed, this upcoming Thursday is Lag B’omer.

     This is the 33rd day since we began counting during Pesach (the Omer), and a day when many special occurrences happened.  During the life time of Rabbi Akiva (around 100 CE) one certain year, after Pesach, 24,000 of his students passed away from an epidemic. On the 33rd day of the Omer count, they ceased dying. Hence the day became somewhat celebratory. One of his chief students (who was spared from the plague) was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who was the first person to reveal the secrets of the Kabbalah, (mystical interpretations of the Torah), and who’s teachings were collected in a book called the Zohar. He happened to pass away on the 33rd day of the Omer, and since he had completed his G-dly mission in this world, he instructed the Jewish People to always celebrate on the day of his passing.

    Therefore, until today, this day is marked by great celebrations, especially at his grave in Meron, Israel. Widespread customs include making bonfires, holding outdoor events, and singing special songs composed in Rabbi Shimon’s honor. Anyone who would like to join us, we will be having a Bon- fire, and refreshments at our home on Wednesday night at 8:30.  

Trivia: This was also the day the Manna began falling for the Jews in the desert.

   Mark your calendars! The major holiday of Shavuot, (when we commemorate the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai) is May 24-25.  Sunday morning. May 24th we will be having a special Service where we will read the Ten Commandments from the Torah scroll, followed by a dairy Kiddush Lunch and ice cream buffet! Don’t let this important holiday pass you by! We need a minyan to read from the Torah, so if you are able to come, please do.

Wishing you and your family a shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Akiva Hall