Parshat B’hukotai

This week’s parashah, B’hukotai, begins with the words:“If you will walk in my commandments . . .” Then it lists the blessings that God promises us. Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach pointed out that, just as there are mitzvot that require our mind, our mouth and our hands, there are mitzvot that require our feet, mitzvot that we can fulfill only by walkingin God’s commandments. To be present for each other in times of joy or sadness, to be part of a community of learning and prayer, we have to be willing to get up and move.

We are taught that, when it comes to doing mitzvot, it is the heart that matters. But sometimes what God asks of us is just physically to get ourselves where we are needed. For that, it is the feet that matter most.

May we walk together in responding to God’s call.

• 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, June 4, is sponsored by Ruth Silon in honor of her mother Zera Lipetz’s 90th birthday, and by Zera Lipetz in honor of Ruth Silon’s 70th birthday.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings. Learning services for children this Shabbat are from 11 to 11:30 am for toddlers and preschoolers, and from 11 to 11:45 am for grades 1 to 3.
• Minyanim during the week are on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, Monday evenings at 7 pm, Wednesday mornings at 7 am and Wednesday evenings at 7 pm.
• Shavuot begins on Saturday night June 11. Join us for ourTikkun Leil Shavuot, our all night study-vigil, from 9:30 pm until Sunday morning at dawn. The theme is “Shabbat: A Sanctuary in Time.”