Friday, April 21, 2017 / 26 Nisan 5777
Light Shabbat candles at 6:46 p.m. |
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RABBI SHARFMAN'S
WEEKLY MESSAGE
and CANDLE LIGHTING REMINDER
Dear Congregation Kehillah and Friends,
Parashat Shemini contains a description of events that happened on the eighth (shemini) day, following seven days of ordination of Aaron as High Priest and his sons as kohanim/priests. The Torah relates a difficult episode about the deaths of Aaron's eldest sons, Nadav and Abihu, while in service and we learn that Aaron's response, perhaps surprisingly, was silence (numbness?). Also included are the laws of kashrut specifying which species are kosher ('fit') for consumption and which are not. Animals must have both split hooves and chew their cud; fish require both fins and scales. Did you know that some insects (such as four species of locusts) are kosher???!!! The parasha concludes with the introduction of mikveh and the command to differentiate between pure and impure. Note: Impurity is not 'bad' or immoral...it's part of the cycle of life, largely tied to biological rhythms.
The Torah's lesson is about working toward holiness which is not a state of being, but a process whose purpose is to teach us to make distinctions and choices for the enrichment and elevation of life. In a modern sense, how do we choose to go about healing and growing? What do we do to remind ourselves of who we want to be in the world? What steps or practices help us to actualize/to live in that way?
And, one more: modern kashrut is also about our ethical obligations for fair treatment and concern for people and animals - what did it take to get our food to the table? What practices are we supporting through our consumption choices?
How can we live more mindfully and in doing so, elevate life?
A
kavannah for candle lighting for
Shabbat Shemini:
Holy One, as I kindle these Shabbat lights, please help me to distinguish between what is good and pure and what needs to be 'made clean' in my life so that I might be an instrument for bringing holiness into the every day, increasing light in the world and elevating life.
Next Sunday, the 27th of Nisan, has been designated as Yom HaShoah, Holocaust and Bravery Day (read below* for more).
Rosh Chodesh (the new month) of Iyar starts this Wednesday night.
Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day, is Sunday night, April 30th and Monday, May 1st. As soon as it ends, Israel's Independence Day begins.
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*The Israeli government chose 27 Nisan as the day of Holocaust Remembrance as it corresponds to the date of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. From an underground bunker at 18 Mila Street, 24-year-old Mordechai Anilevitch led the rebellion that lasted for 27 days and succeeded in driving back the Nazis until the third of Iyar.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman
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