We’re midway through June and the June Appeal. While we are most grateful for the gifts and support that we have received so far, we are concerned about our goal, our “promised land.”
We’re midway through June and the June Appeal. While we are most grateful for the gifts and support that we have received so far, we are concerned about our goal, our “promised land.” In order to serve you and fulfill our mission in the larger community we need to reach $40,000.
Although the High Holidays are in early September, some of you have been asking about the them. Yes, I will be leading once again. We are negotiating with MCPS about the use of Walter Johnson High School. We hope that a large number of our attendees will be in person while at the same time providing a virtual live stream of our services as we did last year. Stay tuned!
This weeks Parsha Hukat, addresses the subject of death and the ways in which we, as individuals and as a people respond to death. The Parsha opens up with the sacrifice of the Red Heifer as a unique purification ritual from death. While not exactly clear how that works neither is the reality of death for most of us. How do we approach death and how do we respond to death?
The Parsha also takes us close to the end of the journey in the Midbar and relates the death of Miriam and then, at the end of the Parsha, Aaron. How the people respond to her death is indeed a tragedy in and of itself. There is no mourning period for Miriam. Instead the people angrily confront Moses demanding water. For more about this please check out the Dvar Torah of Ella Matkeff, who, this past Shabbat afternoon, became Bat Mitzvah. Follow the link.
We have witnessed and experienced so much death this past year. How we live with our own mortality has risen in our consciousness. We are evermore aware of the fragility of the human race as well as all life on earth.
Parshat Hukat teaches us a lot about perseverance and hopefulness.
B’Shalom,
Reb David