Mishpatim (ordinances) Exodus 21:1 - 24:18
HafTorah Jeremiah 34:8 - 22; Jeremiah 33:25 - 26
Dear friends,
Last Shabbat morning, we learned that our cousin's Hanita and Zohar's nephew Saguii Dekel-Chen was released in Gaza along with two other hostages after 498 excruciating days of captivity all the while not knowing if his wife, daughters, and mother-in-law had survived the October 7th attack. We as a congregation had been praying for his release and the release of all hostages together with the end of all suffering and hope that all our prayers will be answered and a period of peace will be at hand, Please read my words in the current issue of the Schrier together with my remarks on Martin Luther King Day and our traditional prayer for peace.
This Shabbat, we continue to read and study the Torah with the portion of Mishpatim which begins to deliver the laws that the children of Israel are commanded to live by and will ultimately result in a just world. These include laws about treatment of servants, damages, loans, returning lost property, the Sabbath, the sabbatical year, holidays, and destroying idolatry. In our Haftorah, Jeremiah continues that theme by prophesizing about the consequences of not following these mitzvot, namely the freeing of those in servitude remembering that we were enslaved "strangers" in the land of Egypt.
Please join me this evening at 7:30 pm and tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 9:30 am to pray together and study the messages given to us in Mishpatim. And please consider helping us to celebrate my wife Chris's birthday with us at Metropolitan Ministries in Holiday as we perform our monthly volunteering to help those in our community who are in need on Thursday, February 27th from 11 am until 2 pm. The work is not strenuous and is critical to our community during this difficult time for many in our midst. Please sign up at this link: https://vhub.at/1L1BLIK
And please mark your calendars for a very special Shabbat morning next week (March 1st) as it marks Shabbat Shekalim, the first of the special Sabbaths that prepare us for Purim and Passover. Coincidentally, this year Shabbat Shekalim coincides with Rosh Chodesh Adar, the month in which we are told to "increase our joy"! This confluence of special days is a rare one and results in our reading from not one, not two, but THREE TORAHS on Shabbat morning! We will honor that day along with Chris's birthday and my Bar Mitzvah anniversary with a luncheon following services. All are invited and encouraged to join us on that day and always!
Shabbat Shalom,
Ron Becker,
Spiritual Leader
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For those joining us virtually on Zoom for services every Shabbat:
JCC inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Shabbat Services 02/21 @ 7:30 pm & 02/22 @ 9:30 am
Time: This is a recurring meeting Shabbat
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Meeting ID: 497 903 0958
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