Parashat P’kudei
Friday Night Shabbat Services Tonight 3/11, at the regular time of 7:00 PM.
Shabbat morning services tomorrow, March 12 at 9AM, with the Torah services at around 9:45, and a children’s story time and kidish lunch.
Candle lighting in Austin is at 6:19 PM
SAVE THE DATE FOR PURIM- March 23 at 7:30 PM – Klezmer Music with Los Klezmeros and much more!
Huge thank yous to all who attended Shabbat Across America! We filled the house, had a great shabbat dinner cooked and sponsored by the Aguilars, Javis Howeth, the Rodriguez, the Butlers, the Koellers, the Stavchanskys and many others who came and brought kosher items for the dinner. We were part of 633 shuls across America that proudly participated!
Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week we conclude the reading of the Book of Exodus with Parshat P’kudei. For weeks we have been reading about the component parts of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. Now we read about the assembly of these components. There is a refrain that runs throughout-as each section is assembled, the Torah says “and the Mishkan became one”. The important lesson is not from the different materials-wood, cloth, metals, precious stones-but how all of these came together to form one whole. The Mishkan was greater than the sum of its parts. Similarly, when the People of Israel come together, no matter how different we may be one from another, we are greater as a kahal, a community. May we always be able to look past our differences to see unity. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe
Next sisterhood event: March 27! 12: 00 noon. Passover baking with THE CHEMIST IN THE KITCHEN. We will have a hands on baking class with Tamar Wiener, blogger at “Chemist in the Kitchen”,
http://chemistinthekitchen.com/
who will be sharing her culinary skills with the sisterhood and Beth El Sunday school. Tamar is a biochemist by day and food enthusiast by night. Event is open to all!
BERS, Sunday school class is off for Spring Break. We will see you all March 27. Don’t miss the Purim party though.
Are you ready for Purim at Beth El – we are gonna rock the house. Special treats in store for Wednesday March 23, 7:30 PM. Entertaining Megilla reading, music, delicious hamentaschen, some L’ Chaims and a few surprises – such as….. KLEZMER MUSIC with LOS KLEZMEROS!
Happy birthday to our dear congregants
Morris Shapiro and Barbara Cramer. Until 120 in good health to you both! Let us know if you have an upcoming birthday.
A refua shlema to Fred Miller who is in hospital at Seton Main. Please have a speedy recovery Fred.
Rabbi Peter Tarlow’s Weekly Parasha – The Center for Jewish-Latino relations
This week we bring the Book of Exodus to its conclusion. This section, the final weekly section of the Book of Exodus, is simply not easy to read. There is no doubt that many readers would prefer to skip it. Beginning at Exodus: 35:21 until the book’s end, the reader goes through a great amount of detail regarding the sanctuary, the clothing to be used in it, the materials for the priestly breastplates, and the holy table. The text ends this litany of detail with a cloud hovering over the “ohel-moed/ the meeting tent,”. The whole scenario seems to be more than a bit confusing. Furthermore, the Hebrew reader cannot help but note the linguistic similarities between this section and the beginning of the book of Genesis. Just as in Genesis, we now read about a self-generating light. The fire (energy and matter mixed as one) in Exodus is no different from the earth’s ultimate power generator, the sun. And just as in Genesis, power can be both proactive (the sun) and reflective or reactive,( the moon) or in Exodus’ case the cloud. Again the Hebrew reader will see the similarity between the words anan (ayin-nun-nun: cloud) and the verb anah (ayin-nun-hey meaning to force an answer, to torture). Is the cloud symbolic of the fact that the people still do not understand freedom, that they seek the easy rather than the correct? Just as in Genesis we learn that energy can go to waste or energy can be harnessed to create. Energy can be destructive or it can be liberating. Is the text teaching us that the choice is ours as to whether our own lives are dynamic or passive?Exodus is more than a book of historical hope. It is a book of “hope in action.” It opens with the people being in a state of slavery and degradation, and it ends with a call for doing. At Exodus’ conclusion Israel is no longer a slave people, but the question remains, is it yet a free people? Has it accepted the responsibilities of freedom or simply escaped slavery?The tabernacle was the very symbol that Israel would have no place for pessimism or despair. The lesson of Exodus is that freedom requires more than mere hope it also requires actions, hard work, and commitment. Have we learned the lessons of Exodus or are we still between Egypt’s slavery and the freedom of the Promised land?
Community News: The Mysteries of the 613 Commandments.
Beth El is proud to be a host and sponsor of this fascinating educational program. Wednesdays 12-1:30 PM $18/class or $50 for the entire three part series.
By tradition, there are 613 commandments, or mitzvot, in the Hebrew Bible. For Jews, these mitzvot – taken together – inform the life by which God calls us to live. Jews have all sorts of differing ideas about which of these mitzvot should actually be followed and how. But rarely do we give them a fresh look to study and discuss how they might give guidance to how we live in our own time. This session will attempt to begin that discussion in our community by exploring a way of examining the mitzvot as classified by Maimonides. Taught by Sandy Kress. This is a lunch and learn, please bring only dairy, parve or veggie.
Series 2: “Our Relationship with Others”: March 23, 30, April 6 at Congregation Beth El, 8902 Mesa Dr.
Series 3: “The Requirements of Justice” : April 20, 27, May 4 at Congregation Agudas Achim, 7300 Hart Lane To register please go to:www.shalomaustin.org/jll
