This Coming Shabbat: Mirrors and Memory March 4, 2022
Kabbalat Shabbat: Why Ritual Matters
Our service is on ZOOM and begins at 6:00 p.m. Join us for candle lighting, blessing one another, kiddush, motzei and invoking an angel to bless us during the week ahead. In keeping with the spirit of the celebratory month of Adar I-II we will also take a moment to celebrate our landmark moments and accomplishments. Please come prepared to share anniversaries, birthdays, successes and other happy moments.
This shabbat marks the transition from the Book of Exodus to the Book of Leviticus, from the description of the Tabernacle as a building to review of the rituals that were performed there. At services tonight we will talk about the role of ritual. Some see ritual as routine, the usual, the repetitive. But ritual also connects us to one another, to our past and to our future. It can guide our lives and give direction to our hopes. In an anxious time, join us as we welcome a shabbat of rest and reflection.
Parshat Pekudei ends the book of Exodus with a description of the ritual items in the Tabernacle. At the center of the space was a basin of water used for purification rituals as people moved back and forth from the altar to the Tent of Meeting. We are told that the basin was made from the mirrors that women had used to see their own reflections. Why? What is a mirror and what role does reflection play in our lives? I will share a midrash (rabbinic reflection) on the reason why mirrors associated with vanity played such a central role in the ritual objects of the Israelite community.
NEXT WEEK: please note that our next ZOOM service will be next shabbat on March 12th when we will hear Dr. Norbert Goldfield, founder of HEALING ACROSS THE DIVIDES talking on, “Especially Now: The Long Game of Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – Through Health.”
Zoom link only for March 12th Zoom link| Meeting ID: 858 7693 7057 | Passcode: 183618
A PDF of our siddur is available hereLink to PDFso you can follow from home if you do not have a siddur. If you need a bible, please be in touch with our office or consider purchasing a copy of Siddur Lev Shalem and Humash Etz Hayyim for your home library.
