Parshat Naso

This week’s parashah, Naso, tells the story of the dedication of the sacrificial altar. The story begins, “This was the dedication of the altar on the day of its initiation.” Later the Torah repeats, in slightly different words, “This was the dedication of the altar after its initiation.”

Rabbi Avraham Mordekhai of Ger derived a lesson from the juxtapostion of those two passages. The commitments that we make at moments of newness and excitement will be short-lived unless we work hard to renew those commitments after the sense of newness has passed. The dedication that matters most is that which comes after the initial inspiration, not during it. To be fully alive is constantly to re-awaken what we felt at earlier peak moments.

On Shavuot, we read the Torah as if we were receiving it for the first time. Our task on the Shabbat after Shavuot, and on every other Shabbat, is to try to hear the Torah’s message with that same sense of newness, to constantly return to Sinai.

• 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 18, is sponsored by Bob Clinton and Janette Silverman in honor of the bar mitzvah of Bob’s grandson Noah Pavelich and in honor of Janette’s 66th birthday. The desserts are sponsored by Gary and Gail Tasky in honor of their birthdays.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.
• Please note that this will be the last e-bulletin until August. Shabbat services will continue throughout the summer as always.
• During the summer, Sunday and Wednesday morning minyanim will continue as always.Monday and Wednesday evening minyanim will be discontinued until August.