Shabbat Shekalim - Obligations

 This week is Shabbat Shekalim, the time we are all called upon to donate machazit shekel, a half-shekel, to the community coffers. Monies were used, among other things, to repair the roads in preparation for the Pesach pilgrimage to Jerusalem. I just competed learning Masechet Pesachim and am half-way into Masechet Shekalim, so these ideas are in the forefront of my mind. 

Here are my shekalim, copied from a Wikipedia photo, complete with the proto-Hebrew letters. 

Money could be drawn from the community funds to redeem captives or feed the poor. There is a continuing tradition, based in the matanot l’evyonim at Purim, of giving tzedakah specifically for this purpose at this time of year. This is weighing heavily on my mind just now as the Russian army moves further and further into Ukraine. The Jewish Agency has a hotline set up to help the Jewish community, especially connecting students in Israel with their families who are likely in danger. They are sending care packages and helping speed up the process for those who wish to make aliyah. And MK Yair Lapid has ordered the Israeli embassy remain open to help those who need it. 

Ukraine also has the fastest growing Masorti/Conservative Jewish community. Masorti Olami has set up an emergency fund to help move people to safety in Western Ukraine, to provide the basic necessities of life, psychological counseling, and care packages and mishloach manot for Purim. Even in the darkest times there should be some joy.

If you’d like to help at this time - 

In Canada- Go to USCJ at Canada Helps. Make sure you scroll to Masorti Canada Ukrainian Relief Fund.  

In the US - Go to Masorti Olami. Make sure to check “specific program or community” and type in Ukraine Relief Fund.

Thank you for you support. 

Our other challot are simply pretty. We all need more beauty in our lives. 

From our home to yours, wishing you a Shabbat shalom, may it be peaceful for all of us soon.

Ki Tissa - All Is Divine

 After last week’s very late post (in the wee hours of this morning), I am trying to be a little earlier this week.

This week’s parasha is chock full, and so there are multiple challah shapes. Thursday has become “Inappropriate Challah Shape Suggestions” Evening. The most popular was a golden calf. I might have considered it, but free form challah shaping is very fickle. I sometimes think about getting molds to shape my challah. Points and corners round out when bread rises. But where would I keep them? Maybe sometime in the future.

Instead, I look to easier shapes. This week I made feet. Some may think it odd to have foot-shaped food. Feet are considered dirty in many cultures. In some, it’s the worst affront to show one’s sole. To wash one’s feet before seeking God, or to have one’s feet washed is a humbling experience. It harkens back to childhood and being cared for and loved. Aaron and his sons, and the those who come after, are cared for by the community. They are provided for. And through them (though not only through them) the community interacts with God.

The other shape is a paintbrush. It is not only Aaron, the kohanim and leviim who do God’s work. Every artisan shares a divine gift with the community. Betzalel, after whom Israel’s art institute is named, provides just as vital a part of our lives as Aaron. What is life without art and creativity?

This week is also the week of the Aseret Dibrot, aka the Ten Commandments (thosugh there are more than ten and not all are commandments, but I digess). 

(Keeping in mind my commends about free form bread rising,) these are the second tablets. The five balls per tablet represent each of the utterances. They sit on the broken pieces of the smashed tablets. God instructed Moshe to put the whole and the broken in the ark together. Both are holy, the broken and the whole, and sometimes we need the broken to be whole.

Finally, it’s not a Gorman Shabbat without a cupcake challah. Both the cupcake challah and the tablets are covered in streusel, For Torah is supposed to be sweet in our mouths. Even though there is much that can frustrated me in our texts and our history, I believe Judaism to be a religion seeking always to be better, and so we balance the bitter with the sweet.

A sweet Shabbat shalom to all.

Tetzaveh & Feeling the Weight on Your Shoulders

 

January/February is always a very busy time for me. There's so much to do to close out one fiscal year for a charity or non-profit and lead into another, to ensure that the funds of one year are distributed to keep the work focused.

Parashat Tetzavah describes the clothing of the kohain gadol, the high priest. Every piece of his outfit is designed with intent. Much of it to ensure that neither the Israelites nor Aharon forgets his purpose. I imagine Aharon, and generations of kohanim after, donning those garments, weighed down as each layer is added to their ritual uniform. They literally wear the weight of their responsibility on their chests and their shoulders. And so last week's round challah was marked in remembrance of the breastplate. Twelve sections to weigh upon Aharon's heart, to be felt with every breath, his obligations to them. 

Last Friday was a workday. It isn't normally. And the work stretched throughout our Shabbat prep to fill the time, as it is wont. I remembered, just before lighting candles, to snap a picture. Ironically, the fourth challah is cut off. It's a section of tzitzit, the strings and knots we tie on our garments that work like strings on our fingers to remind us of the mitzvot. In my rush, I neglected to remember to check the photo, and I cut the tzitzit from the picture. 

I'll try to do better.

More photos tomorrow.

Last Week & Parashat Terumah

 So I missed last week. In the final ten minutes before Shabbat when I wanted to sit down to blog I realized two things. I’d forgotten to take pictures, and something was burning.

Last week’s meals were an ode to Robbie Burns. Missing our annual Robbie Burns Dinner, we had steak pie, barley vegetable soup, and trifle for dessert. There were  scotch and berries, and all sorts of yummy things. And for parashat Mishpatim there was a challah shaped like scales with a heart and a feather to weigh. The heart and feather are Egyptain mythology, but Gavi asked for it, so there you go. I remade a simplified miniature version to show this week. Last week’s larger feather and heart were better, but as long as it’s yummy it doesn’t matter.

This week I made a menorah. No, not the Hanukah one, the one described in the parasha for the mishkan and ancient Temple. The symbol of ancient and modern Israel (and you though it was the star of David - nope).

We mark all our moments with fire, the good -weddings and b’nei mitzvah, the sad - shiva and yahrtzeits, and the holy- Shabbat and holidays. The wonderful thing about flame is that when you take one flame to light another you lose nothing. You illuminate the world and bring warmth and heat. A colleague, Rabbi Geoff Haber, mentioned, at a shiva minyan yesterday, that love is the same. That’s the message for Shabbat. Giving love away illuminates your life, giving warmth and heat. What a wonderful world.

Shabbat shalom.