Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
March 18-19, 2022 / 16 Adar II 5782
Shabbat Tzav
Haftarah: Jeremiah 7:21 - 8:3; 9:22 - 9:23
“Keeping the Fire Lit”
Dear Friends,
When the Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed, how did our ancestors fulfill the mitzvah of keeping the fire on the sacrificial altar lit? The rabbis taught that when the altar was demolished, our dinner tables at home became the new altar. Thus, it is at our dinner tables that Judaism lives on through Shabbat meals, Passover seders, and so much more. But where is the fire? Some say it is in the candles that we light at festival time. Others say that the fire is burning within us. It is the pintele Yid the little Jewish flame that burns in the heart of every Jew. Sometimes the flame burns low like a pilot light. At other times it is fanned into a bright blaze of fervor. Like a coal that burns in a fire, it grows hotter when it is near other coals and cools when separated and apart. Keep in touch with the warmth of the Jewish community and the heat of our Jewish heritage and tradition. Then indeed will we keep the fire lit within ourselves.
Zye a Mentsch – Be a Good Person!
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
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