Bulletin March 17
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Double Torah Portion<br />
Preview for Vayak’heil/P’kudei<br />
Shabbat beginning <strong>March</strong> <strong>17</strong>, 2023<br />
Vayak’heil , Moses “assembled” the community to tell them of the death penalty<br />
for working (including lighting a fire) on the Sabbath and command them to<br />
donate precious metals, textiles, skins, wood, oils, spices, and gems. Then, Bazalel<br />
and the artisans constructed the tabernacle, ark, utensils, lampstand, priests’<br />
garments, altar, and enclosure.<br />
P’kudei “records” detailed where the materials were used and ends describing<br />
how God entered His new dwelling place while His cloud hovered over it until<br />
lifting to indicate that the community should move.<br />
Rabbi Noa Kushner reminds us that the cloud is a manifestation of God. With<br />
today’s observable universe being 93 billion light years wide, it is hard to imagine<br />
God dwelling in the tabernacle. When a Torah scribe from Yemen (on the Red<br />
Sea) showed us how heating a pebble from his homeland created a cloud that<br />
hovered below the ceiling of his small apartment, I could not help envisioning it<br />
over the tabernacle. But Rabbi Kushner urged us to seek God wherever we are.<br />
Recapturing the awe of the ancient Israelites enables us to keep alert for yet<br />
unexperienced beauty awaiting in every possible scale of experience between the<br />
atom and the most distant star.<br />
We invite all to come to synagogue in person or on Zoom on Friday night to hear<br />
a more in-depth interpretation from Rabbi Meeka (or this Sabbath's lay speaker).<br />
We also invite other views, interpretations, reflections, and even poems on each<br />
Torah portion. If you have something to contribute, please email it to<br />
RPC@templeadasshalom.org. This and prior previews can be found at Dr. David<br />
Dirlam's website by clicking on Changing Wisdoms Projects.