Parshat B’midbar/Shavuot

This week’s parashah, B’midbar, teaches about the commandments that God gave to Moshe, not on the summit of Mount Sinai but on the desert floor below. “God spoke to Moshe in the desert of Sinai. . . ” The parashah teaches us that revelation occurs not only at the peak moments of our lives but also at the ordinary elevations, where we live day-to-day. The desert floor, like the mountaintop, can be called Sinai if we train ourselves to pay attention.

The purpose of a spiritual community — a community of prayer, learning, and compassion — is to sensitize our hearts so that we can hear God’s wordless call even when we have no mountaintop to stand on. The purpose of Shabbat is to quiet the everyday noise that can so easily drown out that call.

May our community, and the Shabbat that we create together, help to make the world in which we live our ordinary lives a place of revelation.

• The New Shul’s Shabbat services are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The kiddush-lunch this Shabbat, May 19, is sponsored by Alan Stoff in honor of his birthday, and in memory of his wife Rozzi.
  Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.
  Shavuot begins this Saturday night May 19. Join us for our all-night Tikkun Leil Shavuot from 9:30 pm on Saturday night through dawn on Sunday morning. The Tikkun will end with morning prayers outdoors at sunrise.
  The service for the second day of Shavuot, Monday May 21, will begin at 9 am and will include Yizkor, the memorial prayer. The kiddush-lunch on Monday is sponsored by Janette Silverman in honor of Bob Clinton’s retirement from the faculty of ASU.
  Please note that our Wednesday morining minyan will not meet during the summer. After Shavuot, minyanim will be on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, Monday evenings at 7 pm, and Wednesday evenings at 7 pm.
  Join us for Friday night dinner at The New Shul on June 15, after the 6 pm service. The cost is $18 per adult, and $9 per child under 13 (no charge for children under 5). Please make your reservation by sending in your payment by June 8. If you wish to pay on-line, you can do so here.