Last week, in Khi Thisa, we read of how our ancestors made a golden calf, danced around it and even made sacrifices. How could a generation not so far removed from Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Leah and Rachel have been so stupid?  The patriarchs and matriarchs had committed themselves to monotheism, reaffirming their trust in the Eternal One many times. How their souls must have grieved to see the degradation in which their descendants sank. The sin of the golden calf is, though, according to the sages easier to understand when one takes into account the recent history of the children of Israel in Egypt. Deprived of liberty, enslaved and debased, they had been surrounded by idolatry. Wherever they looked, they must have seen statues and carvings of gods and goddesses, many of them curious mixtures of beast and human. Besides, are we today really any better? How easy it is to    s   l   i   d   e     s   l  o  w  l  y   i n to  idolatry. It may start with superstition or a belief in the power of talismans. Even sacred objects associated with deeply held faith may seem to take on a power in themselves, which then becomes divorced from what the objects symbolise. When we touch a mezuzah, do we think of the words inside, or do treat the mezuzah as an object of power in its own right? In our deep reverence for the Sefer Scroll may we not forget the significance of the text is contains? 

Let us hope we can laugh off all superstition, see the talisman for what it is and pop the hollow idol.  Just as I hope, with no touching of wood, no crossing of fingers, no searching for a black cat to cross my path and no avoidance of thirteen of anything, that things will improve for the Israelites this week. I do believe they will, for I am reminded by Adam Feldman, who, together with Melanie, will be leading the service, that this Saturday, 25^th Adar, is also Shabbat Shekalim, being six weeks prior to Pesach. 

To quote our service leaders  “We thought it may be nice if people could bring, in place of half a shekel, an item or two of non-perishable food (tins or dry packets) that we can collect as our Shabbat Shekalim donations, and we’d be happy to pass this to one of the local food bank collection points.”

So come along this Saturday at 10:30 for a super double bill and perform an extra mitzvah at the same time by responding to Adam and Melanie Feldman’s call. 

Starting with T’rumah last week, the final sedrot of Sh’mot deal almost exclusively with the Tabernacle and all its furniture and furnishings. Some sages say that what is happening here is a mirror image of the Creation as described at the beginning of Bereshit. In the latter, God creates the world for us to live in. In the case of the Tabernacle, we create a space for God to dwell in. This is a beautiful idea. There is also a very practical aspect and possible foresight to the extraordinarily detailed instructions for the building and filling of the Tabernacle. The blueprint provided has enabled us, once the second Temple was destroyed, to build synagogues which incorporate aspects of the Tabernacle. There is also another piece of brilliance in the work passed on by Moses from God to the people. Accustomed to relentless years of forced labour, they now find themselves in the wilderness with not a great deal to do beyond the sporadic journeying from one place to another. There is not much point in building houses, nor in clearing and planting fields. Food falls literally from the skies. So much unaccustomed idleness in a strange and sometimes hostile environment could only add to the feeling of insecurity and discontent already bubbling under the surface. What better solution than for the people to be given a task, not this time for the glory of an oppressive regime, but for the glory of God? What is more, rather than toil in the back-breaking and spirit-numbing drudgery of making and carrying endless quantities of bricks, now the Israelites are asked to take part in the creative, fulfilling tasks of carving, sculpting, dyeing and weaving of beautiful, meaningful objects.  

Much of T’tzavveh is occupied with the design of the priestly vestments, which will reinforce the role of the priests as the link between God and the people, for the priests are both “Holy to God” and the focal point of all the tribes. 

Come along this Saturday at 10:30 and share in our creative thoughts, songs, prayers and conversation. Sharim Atilano will bring it all together.