Parashat Bo
See you TONIGHT Friday January 19, 7 PM for song and soul filled Kabbalat shabbat services.
Next Shabbat morning services are a week away and kindly sponsored by Bob Halperin. Happy birthday Bob! Until 120! Bob’s famous cholent will be served.
Cantor Yitzhak Ben-Moshe weekly message:
The great sage RaSH’I famously stated that the Torah could have begun with this week’s parshah, Bo. This week we read about the Divine command to Moshe to establish a calendar, decreeing that the month of Aviv (which we now call by the Babylonian name of Nissan) should be the first month of the year. By establishing our own calendar, we became not merely a tribe, but a people. This was the real beginning of Israelite culture, which evolved into our Jewish culture of today. Even today, the Jewish calendar sets the rhythm of our lives, as we observe our holidays based on the cycles of the moon, while taking into account the earth’s revolution around the sun. As we enter into the new month of Sh’vat this week, we can pause to reflect on how much our calendar really affects our lives as Jews. Shabbat Shalom.
Sunday School with the BERS
resumes THIS Sunday January 21 with the amazing Ms Carol at 10 AM. Chai Mitzvah teens are also meeting.
Candle lighting in Austin is at 5:38p.m.
Please hold the date for Sunday January 28 from 2-4 PM and plan to attend an exciting Beth El meeting. All ideas welcome and we really hope to see you!
Sunday school resumes this Sunday January 21 at 10 AM. We will have special guest and friend Ms. Carol Rubin and celebrate all things Tu Be Shevat!
Pictured is Morah Iris Daniel Kita Alef making a tree with plant items collected on the grounds. This week the children will be singing and dancing as well as planting in our Beth El gardens.
Sisterhood Crochet Class!
Please join the sisterhood on Tuesday February 13 at 7PM as we learn the basics of crocheting and basically have an amazing time together. All are welcome. From beginner crocheters, to advanced, as well as those who just want to hang out. It will be at the home of Ruth Stavchansky, and we look forward to seeing you! RSVP to Shereen Russo Canady
shereen@homewyrks.com
Parashat Hashavuah with Rabbi Peter Tarlow:
This week we compare the Parashah (Bible portion) for the week of January 19, “Parashat Bo” (Exodus 10:1-13:16) with the Parashah for the upcoming week of January 28, (Parashat B’Shlach: Exodus 13:17-17:16). Although these two long parashiyot (plural of parashah) may at first seem disconnected, if we carefully examine their themes, we see that the two sections are, in many ways, mirror images of each other.
Parashat Bo deals with the theme of death, it speaks of the last three plagues to consume Egypt, culminating in the death of its first-born sons. Throughout the parashah there is a sense of turning to the past, of wondering about the future, and of living in a present marked by fear.
Parashat B’Shlach, on the other hand, is about the act of taking risks as part of life. This parashah is the first section in the Bible where Israel is now a free nation taking its first “baby steps” away from the ‘”paradise of Egypt’ toward individual and national responsibility. The people of Israel can no longer cling to the “flesh pots” of Egypt, (although as slaves they would not have had great meals). Now they enter the “Midbar” meaning: the “wilderness of time and space” that is to say, they would have to forge their own destiny.
Both Bible sections deal with bread, symbolizing the substance of life. In the first section, the bread is “matzah.” baked in haste and without leaven. It is called the bread of affliction, the bread of slavery. How typical of slaves that after nine plagues and all that has happened, the people are now first baking bread!
In the second section, Parshat B’Shlach, the bread is called “manna.” This is the bread of freedom, the miracle bread, the bread of many different tastes. Manna is a gift of G-d, and unlike matzah that tastes the same to each person, the manna of freedom offers uniqueness of taste to all who eat it.
Perhaps these two types of breads symbolize the difference between slavery and freedom, between being an infant and becoming an adult. The slave is the eternal child. Being afraid to plan for the future he/she lives shackled by the past and in an ever-present state of fear. The free person, the adult, sees the present as gift and looks out at the emptiness of time viewing that space as hope for a future in which he/she has a role to play in its unfolding.
These two Biblical sections pose a challenge to each of us. Each person must decide if he or she wishes to be a slave in an “Egypt of his own making,” shackled by a lack of reality and fearful of building a future as partners with G-d. Or each person must decide if s/he is a person of faith, building e bridge upon which he can cross the Red Sea, and begin his own journey across a desert of fear to the a personal promised land? Which of these two states best describes you? Do you live as a slave to the past or as a free person headed toward the future?