Parshat D’varim/Shabbat Hazon

This week’s parashah, D’varim, begins:  “These are the words that Moshe taught to the whole community of Israel.” As his death approaches, Moshe begins to teach the Torah one last time to a new generation. And he does it with great power and  eloquence. The Moshe that we hear now is a stark contrast with the young Moshe who complained that he was “not a man of words.” Between then and now, how did Moshe find his voice?

The Sfat Emet explained that, in his youth, Moshe had not been able to express himself because he had not yet received the Torah. It was the Torah that unlocked his voice, that enabled him to say what was inside him.

It is the same with us. We all have moments of expanded vision, moments when we sense that we are in this world to serve a larger purpose. But often those insights remain locked away inside us because we have no language to express them, even to ourselves. Torah is a language that enables us to give voice to those insights. It has the power to unlock our hearts. And when it does, then our words become words of Torah too.

• 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, August 13, is sponsored by Norman and Hana Kahn.
• Childcare is available from 10 am to noon on Shabbat mornings.
• Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple, begins this Saturday night August 13. Join us at The New Shul at 8:30 pm for the reading of Eikhah, the book of Lamentations. Afterwards, we will study and discuss the mitzvah of comforting mourners.
• Monday and Wednesday evening minyanim at The New Shul resume next week at 7 pm. Join us also for morning minyanim on Sundays at 9:30 am and on Wednesdays at 7 am.
• On Labor Day, Monday September 5, The New Shul community will serve meals to the hungry at St. Vincent de Paul’s Jackson St. dining room. Please let us know if you can help.