Dear Families,
Yasher Koach, your kids did such a lovely job on Saturday at Youth Shabbat. It was so wonderful to see so many of you there. Thank you.
Enjoy the long weekend, no class Sunday.
The Tikvat Israel Purim Carnival is back! Families are invited to join us Sunday, March 4 from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the social hall for games, food and prizes. This event is being organized by Tikvat Israel USY and the Men’s Club. Stay tuned for additional details.
http://jewishjourneyproject. weebly.com/parshat-terumah. html (includes a video about the parsha!)
This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Terumah, is about building a home for God. This home is called a mishkan or Tabernacle or sanctuary. A sanctuary is a holy place where God and human beings meet. God’s home is a beautiful place, made with precious materials of gold, precious stones and wood. The Israelites left Egypt with precious materials: gold and other jewels along with fabric and building supplies. They used these beautiful things in two different ways in the desert. The first way is what we learn about this week – they build this spectacular portable tabernacle, a mishkan, to protect God’s presence and other valuable ritual items. The second way we’ll read about in two more weeks when we read about how they used their gold and jewels to build a golden calf while waiting for Moses to return from Mount Sinai.
(Now, just as an aside, you should know that the golden calf incident is related to us out of order it the Bible. It didn’t happen after they built the mishkan but actually before this week’s parsha. The rabbis teach us that there is no “before and after in the Bible” meaning that sometimes episodes are related out of chronological order.)
Let’s focus on the lesson at the end of this video commentary on our parsha. We learn that the Israelites use gold and other precious items to construct both the golden calf and the mishkan. What can we learn from this? We learn that there is nothing inherently wrong with beautiful, precious metals. However, the choices that we make on how to use these materials matters. Those who chose to build the golden calf used the people’s beloved rings, necklaces and other items to build an idol. This questions God’s existence. Those who used the people’s precious jewelry and other items to build the mishkan to create a holy sanctuary for God. Their first choice denied God while their second choice made a way to house God’s presence.
Now we may not have gold and precious jewels at our disposal, but we do make decisions about how to use the our precious time and energy. Talk to your family about ways you decide to use money to “build idols” sort of like constructing modern day golden calves, and how you use it to create holy and good things. There is nothing inherently bad about money. It is how we choose to use it that matters.
Summer Fun at Capital Camps
Don’t miss out on summer fun for children and/or the whole family at Capital Camps! Experience our challenge course, lake and aquatics center, sports fields, arts offerings, and more with traditional 2, 3 and 4 week sessions and during Family Camp (August 17-19). New camper grants are available! Learn more at 301-468-2267 or on an upcoming tours: 2/11, 3/4, 3/25, 4/15, 4/22. Visit capitalcamps.org for more information or to RSVP for a tour.
Shabbat shalom,
Luisa Moss, Director of Education and Youth Programming
