Friday, March 27, 2 Nisan 6:00 Kabbalat Shabbat Services Please join Rabbi Plumb and Cantor Elana Rozenfeld for a virtual "From Our Home to Yours"
Saturday, March 28, 3 Nisan 9:30 - 10:30 AM Shabbat Morning Services Please join Rabbi Plumb and Cantor Ellen Band for a virtual "From Our Home to Yours" Rose Spitzer, daughter of Toni Spitzer, will be chanting Torah
The Parasha is Vayikra Leviticus 1:1-4 The Haftarah is Isaiah 43:21-44:23
This week, we read the first parasha in the book of Leviticus. The first line is a powerful guide for us as we continue to stay at home to protect ourselves and others.
The first line of Parashat Vayikra tells us that God spoke to Moses from within the Tent of Meeting.
Rashi, the 9th century commentator, asks, ‘Why did God speak from inside the Tent of Meeting? God usually spoke to Moses in the wildernesss, out in the open. Why did God choose to speak from within the Tent?’
Rashi suggests that this means that God promises that "all your entrances will be holy and I shall dwell therein as though it were the Ark of the Covenant.” In other words, all our homes are holy, and God dwells in each of our homes, as if the Ark of the Covenant resides within our houses. Just as the Mishkan of the Bible had different rooms so too do our homes. Every room in our homes is sacred; every room contains the Divine Presence that fills our spaces with love, comfort and compassion. Imagine that when we step into each room, we too are infused and surrounded with that same love.
Rashi continues by saying that if all our homes are sacred Tents of Meeting, then all of humankind is a holy nation. Every person is a ‘high priest’ in their sacred home.
Judaism has adopted Rashi’s belief that our homes are spiritual centres. Since the destruction of the Second Temple, the synagogue became the place where we gather all our prayers together and lift them up. But in this unique time, Zoom has become our new universal Tent of Meeting that has brought all humankind together. Through the combination of tragedy and technology, we are all connected in a way that we have never experienced before.
We have risen to the challenge to be a universal holy nation by working hard to look after each other, and to sacrifice our own individual needs for the sake of the society as a whole and the greater good for all.
This Shabbat, may we find comfort in our homes, and sacredness in each room. May we feel the holiness within us and around us.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
