Shabbat Parashat Tetsaveh Shushan Purim Showing Up!

Dear Friends,

There were over 60 Zoom windows for our online Purim celebration on Thursday night! Yasher koach to this wonderful congregation and to all the volunteers who helped make this Purim extra special!!!!

While we are still in the Purim spirit, I note how wonderful this congregation really is by comparing our “showing up” in large numbers to the Purim celebration (as well as to our twice weekly online morning minyanim and to our weekly Torah study session) to the perpetual lighting of the Ner Tamid, the eternal, or perpetual, light described in our weekly Torah portion. No matter the weather, no matter the conditions, no matter the challenges, the High Priest was to light the eternal/perpetual light every single day of the year. The High Priest had to “show up” every single day! The Hebrew word Tamid, in the phrase Ner Tamid, means “always”. The High Priest had to show up, always.

Today, we don’t have a High Priest. We have a congregation filled with wonderful folks. And, what we learn from our weekly parsha is that we really need to “show up” to create a holy space for community….and, I am happy to say that we are blessed because our community does just that!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Gilah Dror