Parashat Terumah
6 Adar 5777 / 3-4 March 2017
Torah: Exodus 25:1 - 27:19
Haftarah: 1 Kings 5:26 – 6:13
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Candle lighting: 5:33 pm
Friday – Shabbat Across America Service and Dinner – A guitar-led family and learners’ service at 6:00 pm, followed by Shabbat dinner at 7:00 pm. Reservations for dinner a must! ASAP - Contact the Beth Meier office for details.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday – Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew class – 10:00 am. Israeli Wine Tasting and Tapas – 3:00 pm. Reservations appreciated, higher price at door – contact the Beth Meier office for details.
Tuesday – Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Thursday, 9 March: Ta’anit Esther (Fast of Esther)
Friday, 10 March – Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 11 March – Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows. Purim at Temple B’nai Hayim - 7:00 pm. Light dairy dinner (reservations, please!), followed by Purim Shpiel and Megillat Esther. Check your mail or call Beth Meier office for details. Turn clocks ahead one hour tonight!
Sunday, 12 March – Purim at Beth Meier – Haman Lunch 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Songs, games, costumes, lunch (reservations please!) Adult Hebrew class – 10:00 am.
Tuesday, 14 March – Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon.
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Sarah bat Devorah, Susan Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky (Serach bat Miriam), Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Beth Goldstein, Myra Goodman, Simon Hartman (Shimon ben Serach), Fouad Kay (Yehoshua ben Salima), Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek, Toni Linder, Roy Miller, Carol Rosen (Tsharna Aliza bat Leah), Deborah Schugar Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), and Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina).
Please let me know if there is anyone you would like to add to this list or if there is anyone who may be removed from this list.
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YOU GOTTA WANT IT!
“And you shall make a menorah of pure gold; of hammered work the menorah shall be made, its base and its shaft; its cups, its calyxes and its flowers shall be of one piece with it... Look and do; according to their pattern which is shown to you on the mountain.” Exodus 25:31, 40
"'Look and do.' Look here, on the mountain, the pattern that I show you. This tells that Moses was perplexed by the construction of the menorah, until the Holy Blessed One showed him a menorah made of fire.” Rashi, citing B. Talmud Menachot 29.
“'Of hammered work the menorah shall be made' - of itself (i.e., it was spontaneously created by itself, and not by humans). Moses was so perplexed by it that the Holy Blessed One said to him: 'Cast the gold into the fire’ (i.e., the fiery pattern on the mountain); thus it is not written, 'You shall make’ but ‘it shall be made’." Rashi, citing Midrash Tanchuma.
Yehudah Aryeh Leib (the Sefas Emes) asks in his book Gur Aryeh, “If the menorah was made spontaneously, why did God show Moses a menorah made of fire (as a pattern for making it)?” He answers that human beings are unable to completely fulfill the will of God. But through a person’s innermost and heartfelt yearning to fulfill God’s will, God helps in fulfilling the desire. The Gerer concludes, “The yearning of a person influences a given undertaking so that it can actually complete itself.”
If you really want to fulfill a mitzvah that is difficult for you, it will in the end seem to happen by itself - but only if you try, only if you want it, and only if you let God meet you halfway, to show you how to complete it. If you want it, here it is, come and get it.
Have a Shabbat of light and happiness - it's Adar!
HaRav HaGa’on Abba Reuven ben Menachem Mendel Flom, Sh’lita
Av Beis Din – Chelm
Slivovitz Taste Tester
משנכנס אדר, מרבין בשמחה
From the beginning of Adar, we increase joy.
BT Ta’anit 29a
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