Being a half is tough, we all want to be complete, full, and wholesome, yet in this week’s Torah portion the Jewish people are told to each give a half Shekel to the Temple.
Why a half Shekel? Moses had the same question!
G-d’s answer, building a temple is easy, making ourselves holy is difficult and the only sure way to do so is to achieve completeness through seeing ourselves as a half and it is the other who completes us.
This is the path to real holiness and G-dliness.
When each individual approaches the divine with the feeling of “I want to be holy” while leaving others out, one has not yet understood or experienced holiness. It is only after we act in unity understanding that we are only half when we stand alone, and how it is only possible to achieve wholesomeness through togetherness, that is when we are able to reach the divine.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman
Directors
------------ Purim at Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn was enjoyed and celebrated with the entire community as hundreds attended Hamantashen baking, Purim parties, celebrations and activities.
Enjoy the pictures by clicking below.
Shabbos Times
Friday, March 10 Candle Lighting: 5:39pm
Evening service: 5:40pm
Saturday, March 11 Morning service: 10:00am
Kiddush Brunch: 12:00pm Evening service: 5:45pm
Shabbos ends: 6:39pm
Kiddush sponsored by Vadim and Lilly Shelomyanov
in memory of Vadim's Grandmother Zabela Bas Mark
May her memory be a blessing
Peter and Alla Khait
in honor of the birth of their daughter Aria
Mazal Tov!!
Shlomo and Polina Khobot
in honor of the 15th birthday of their son Benjamin
Mazal Tov!
Daily Minyan Times
March 12- March 17
Sunday Morning: 8:00am
Monday- Friday Morning: 7:00am
Sunday- Thursday Evening: 6:50pm
A BISSELE HUMOR
Yankel of Chelm was always very busy and was always tired. He always told his friends that when he retires, he will finally have time to rest. When the time of retirement came, he was very excited.
A few days later, his friend sees him walking around town yawning loudly. When asked why he is still so tired, Yankel responds: "When you are not working, you don't have opportunities to take a break!
WEEKLY eTORAH
This week's Parshah tells the story of the Golden Calf, the worst national sin in the history of the Jewish people. Frankly, if I were the editor of the Bible I'd have left that part out. How humiliating to the Jews! Just weeks after the greatest revelation of all time, when they saw and heard G‑d up front and personal, they go and bow down to a cow?! How fickle can you get? But the Torah is unflinchingly honest and records this most unflattering moment of ours in all its gory detail.
Why?
Perhaps the very important lessons we need to draw from this embarrassing episode are, firstly, that people do sin, human beings do make mistakes, and even inspired Jews who saw the divine with their own eyes can mess up — badly. And, secondly, that even afterwards there is still hope, no matter what.
In the very same Parshah we read how G‑d tells Moses to carve a second set of tablets, to replace the first set he smashed when he came down the mountain and was shocked by what the Jews were up to. The Torah does not intend to diminish our respect for that generation, but rather to help us understand human frailty, our moral weakness and the reality of relationships, spiritual or otherwise.
G‑d gave us a perfect Torah. The tablets were hand-made by G‑d, pure and sacred, and then we messed up. So is it all over? Is there really no hope now? Are we beyond redemption? After all, what could possibly be worse than idolatry? We broke the first two commandments and the tablets were shattered into smithereens because we were no longer worthy to have them. It was the ultimate infidelity.
So Torah teaches that all is not lost. As bad as it was — and it was bad — it is possible for man to repair the damage. Moses will make new tablets. They won't be quite the same as G‑d's, but there will be Tablets nonetheless. We can pick up the pieces.
It is possible to pick up the pieces in life. Whether it's our relationships with G‑d, our marriage partners, our kids or our colleagues, we can make amends and repair the damage.
If the Jews could recover from the Golden Calf, our own challenges are small indeed.
