The Best is Yet to Come

March 21-22, 2014 / 20 Adar II 5774

Shabbat Shemini – Parah

Torah: Leviticus 9:1 - 11:47 / Maftir: Numbers 19:1 - 19:22 (Parah)

Haftarah: Ezekiel 36:16 - 36:38 (Parah)

“The Best is Yet to Come”

Dear Friends,

Now that we have moved from reading Exodus to Leviticus, there is a break in telling the story of leaving Egypt and moving towards the Promised Land.  There’s a break in all the complaining, too… “Where is the water? Where is the food? Where is Moses? How will we live out here? Shouldn’t we pack it in and return to Egypt?” There is so much fear, anxiety, struggle, fracturing of our people in the book of Exodus.

So, along comes Leviticus to advance the topic of holiness, asking - How will we become a holy people?  How will we bring our holy sacrifices of thanksgiving to God?  How will our actions in fact become a statement of the holiness that we hope to bring to the world of tomorrow?

With the break in the narrative, the Torah is making a point. It says, now that we are out of Egypt, now that we have received the Torah at Mt. Sinai, now that we have a taste of freedom and independence – we are never going back!

On our way to the Promised Land, we have shown ourselves to be alive, independent, and relevant.  Those around us have noticed us.  We are the up and coming next best thing.  We are on our way to the Promised Land. We are players on the world stage; we are a people; we are a nation; we are Israel!

That message should resonate for us today at Shir Hadash. For we, the Shir Hadash family, we have gone through a most dramatic transformation over the past year from a wandering shul to our own building.  We have offered our sacrifices of thanksgiving to God. Our members have contributed so much – money, effort, energy, time, love, and more.  We are bringing added holiness through our vastly expanded program. And look where we are. We have our own synagogue building and our own sanctuary.  Do not take this moment lightly.  This is a wonderful miracle. Lots of hard work has gotten us this far.  And lots more holy work will move us forward to the next stages of our Shir Hadash journey.

And that’s the message of Leviticus:  As we take the next steps in the growth and development of Shir Hadash, there is no need to look back.  Rather, we will look forward with confidence and determination. Our future is bright and the best is yet to come.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow