Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Keeping the Shabbat


Shabbat Ki Tissa
Torah: Exodus 30:11 - 34:35 / Haftarah: I Kings 18:1 - 18:39

“Keeping the Shabbat”

Dear Friends,

This week’s Torah portion teaches us to keep the Shabbat throughout all the generations. Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, in his book, “The Bedside Torah,” gives a beautiful description of Shabbat and what it can mean to us in contemporary times.  Let me share it with you:

“Shabbat offers a period of sanity, a time for centering, that is otherwise absent in our culture.  Shabbat assures each observant Jew that there will be twenty-four hours in which nothing will interfere with spiritual growth, strengthened community, and family. Chores and obligations can wait; cultivating family ties and spiritual values cannot…

Shabbat is our eternal sign with God, a timely reminder of a timeless bond.”  [The Bedside Torah. Page 152]

This weekend, and every weekend, find some time to explore and enjoy the power and meaning of Shabbat.  It is a special part of our Jewish tradition and heritage that makes Judaism and Jewish life so special.

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

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