Parshat T’rumah

In this week’s parashah, T’rumah, God explains to Moshe in loving detail how to build the mishkan, God’s dwelling place on earth. The point is that, when it comes to making room for God in our lives, the details count.

We know that that is true for us as well. The details of how we construct our spiritual lives– how we set the Friday evening table, how we sing the prayers, how we greet one another in shul — make all the difference in the world.

But the details count only to the extent that they express an openness of heart. The parashah begins by reminding us of that. The work of building the mishkan starts with “all whose hearts are willing.” At the deepest level, God’smishkan is the human heart. The purpose of the outer details, the spiritual disciplines that we build into our lives, is to open our hearts so that God can find a way in.

May the life of Torah that we build together help to make our hearts a dwelling place for God.

• 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, February 16, we will celebrate the bar mitzvah of Julien Polster and the marriage of Ruth and Ira Joseph. The kiddush is sponsored by Virginie and Jeremy Polster, and by Elana and Danny Storch.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Children’s services this Shabbat are: Munchkin Minyan for ages 2 to 4 and their parents from 11 to 11:30 am, and Beyond Bim Bom II for grades 2 to 3 from 10:15 to 11:30 am.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am and on Wednesday mornings at 7 am.
• On Presidents’ Day, Monday February 18, The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson Street dining room. Please let us know if you can help.
• Purim begins on Saturday night, February 23. Join us at 7:30 pm for our Megillah reading and shpiel (“The Blues Brothers Purim”)