Dear Interfaith Families and Friends,
A New Year’s Resolution for 2008
Time - our most precious possession
A friend of mine has a new baby. Everyone says to her, “treasure this time, it goes so fast.” My twenty-one year old daughter looks at a picture of her “little” brother as a six year old and says, “Oh, mom, look how cute he was!” Those delightful times with cherub faces.
Yes, there are the long agonizingly moments too, when a child is sick or miserable. The endless nights of homework wars or timing soccer practice or making the 100,000th peanut butter sandwich. But those times too are quickly past.
Judaism makes time sacred. It sets aside one day a week to BE instead of DO. If you have children I urge you to make this a ritual in your week. Make the most of Shabbat. Use as many of those 25 hours (yes, Judaism wants you to get a little extra) as you possibly can.
If you don’t have children don’t you still deserve to enrich your life with precious moments, moments worth remembering? Of course you do.
Turn off your computer and TV. Ignore the phone. Invite friends over. Play charades, tell tale tales, read aloud. I promise you won’t regret it.
What are all the Jews around the world Reading this Week?
If you go to synagogue on Shabbat (Sabbath), any synagogue, the service will have a section of the Torah (Bible) assigned to THAT particular Shabbat. Every synagogue in the world will be reading the same section. Each section has a name, usually picked as the first NOUN used in the text. A child who is having their bar or bat mitzvah will chant from that section (called a Torah portion or, in Hebrew, parshat. Ask any Jew who has had a bar or bat mitzvah, “what was your Torah portion?” and they will have an answer. You may get, “Oh, it was horrible! All about boils!” Or “I got lucky! Breshit, the creation story!” But no matter the portion, each child (or now adult) will have learned and taught something from the text.
The Torah portion for Shabbat, week beginning Feb. 1 at sundown and continuing till Feb. 2 at sundown.
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Weekly_Torah_Commentary/mishpatim_summary.htm
