Parshat Lekh L’kha

This week’s parashah, Lekh L’kha, begins with God’s call to Avram (who will soon be renamed Avraham) to leave his home so that he and his descendants can become a blessing. “Lekh l’kha” means “Get going!” But God does not tell Avram where he is to go. In fact, throughout the story of Avram’s life-journey, it is never clear exactly what his final destination is.

Perhaps the Torah’s point is that the journey itself is the blessing. Life is about openness, learning and growth. To answer God’s call, to make our lives a blessing, is to keep moving. To get stuck, to stop growing, is to lose touch with the divine spark within us.

At times when life seems to close us in, Shabbat can help. The paradox of Shabbat is that, by pausing once a week, we get ourselves un-stuck. By taking time to stop, we keep ourselves moving. May this Shabbat, and every Shabbat, challenge us, like Avram, to make our lives a blessing.

• Shabbat services at The New Shul are on Friday evenings from 6 to 7 pm, and on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. This Shabbat morning, October 27, we will celebrate the bar mtizvah of Joel Olgin, son of Marc and Melissa Olgin. The kiddush is sponsored by the Olgin family.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am.
• Join us for Friday night dinner at The New Shul on November 2 after the 6 pm service. The cost is $18 per adult and $10 per child or teen under 18 (no charge for kids under 5). Please send in your payment to make your reservation by Tuesday Oct. 30. If you wish to pay on-line, you can do it here (please put “Friday night dinner” in the memo line).
• On Shabbat morning November 10, we will celebrate the bar mitzvah of Aaron Nach, son of Adam Nach and Beth-Jo Zeitzer.
• Finding Our Way, Rabbi Wasserman’s class on Jewish prayer, continues after kiddush on Shabbat afternoon November 17.