1 Adar I 5771 PARASHA TERUMAH 5 February 2011 Working ORG . Together Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Chief Rabbi Great Britain KAHALJOSEPH . As soon as we read the opening lines of Te- WWW rumah we begin the ● massive shift from the intense drama of the Prayer Schedule exodus with its signs and wonders and epic events, to the long, de- 310.474.0559 ● tailed narrative of how the Israelites con- structed the Tabernacle, the portable sanctuary , CA 90025 90025 , CA that they carried with call that the mishkan SHABBAT & them through the desert. was not a permanent feature of the spiritual ROSH HODESH NGELES By any standards it is a life of the children of Is- PARASHA TERUMAH A part of the Torah that rael. It was specifically Friday, February 4th OS cries out for explanation. designed to be carried Minhah & Arbit 5:00 pm , L The first thing that on their journey through Candle Lighting 5:08 pm strikes us is the sheer the wilderness. Later, in Saturday, February 5th length of the account: the days of Solomon, it EVASSER Shaharit 8:30 am one third of the book of would be replaced by OULEVARD Teen Shabbat 11 am –2 pm Shemot, five parshiyot – the Temple in Jerusa- B Tehillim before Minhah Terumah, Tetsaveh, half lem. What enduring Minhah & Arbit 4:30 pm of Ki Tissa, Vayakhel message are we sup- ONICA and Pekudei, interrupted posed to learn from a Motzei Shabbat 6:12 pm M only by the story of the construction that was EEKDAYS golden calf. not designed to endure? W ANTA Sunday, February 6th This becomes even Even more puzzling is Shaharit 7:30 am M more perplexing when that fact that the story is Monday to Friday 10505 S 10505 ● we compare it with an- part of the book of Shaharit 6:30 am other act of creation, Shemot. Shemot is namely G-d’s creation of about the birth of a na- TALMUD TORAH CLASSES the universe. That story tion. Hence Egypt, slav- Tuesday & Thursday 4:00 pm is told with the utmost ery, Pharaoh, the EREV SHABBAT brevity: a mere thirty four plagues, the exodus, the ONGREGATION verses. Why take some journey through the sea PARASHA TETZAVEH C Friday, February 11th OL fifteen times as long to and the covenant at tell the story of the Sanc- Mount Sinai. All these Minhah & Arbit 5:00 pm OSEPH tuary? things would become Candle Lighting 5:14 pm J part of the people’s The question becomes Please confirm daily prayer times with AHAL harder still when we re- (Continued on page 2) minyan leaders. K K P a ge 2 5 February 2011 (Continued from page 1) go together. They ex- water but it was bitter. If miracles, the division of pected someone else, Then there was no food. the sea and the revelation collective memory. But Moses or G-d himself, to The Israelites said to at Mount Sinai fail to trans the Sanctuary, where provide them with food them, “ If only we had form the Israelites, what sacrifices were offered, and water, lead them to died by the Lord’s hand will? There are no greater surely belongs to Vay- safety, and take them to in Egypt! There we sat miracles than these. ikra, otherwise known as the promised land. around pots of meat and Torat Kohanim, Leviticus, ate all the food we That is when G-d does the book of priestly At every setback, they wanted, but you have the single most unex- things. It seems to have complained. They com- brought us out into this pected thing. He says to no connection with Exo- plained when Moses’ first desert to starve this en- Moses: speak to the peo- dus whatsoever. intervention failed: tire assembly to death .” ple and tell them to con- (Exodus/Shemot 16: 3) tribute, to give something The answer, I believe, is “May the Lord look on you of their own, be it gold or profound. The transition and judge you! You have Soon Moses himself is silver or bronze, be it from Bereishit to Shemot, made us obnoxious to saying: “What am I to do wool or animal skin, be it Genesis to Exodus, is Pharaoh and his officials with these people? They oil or incense, or their about the change from and have put a sword in are almost ready to stone skill or their time, and get family to nation. When their hand to kill us.” me.” (Exodus 17: 4) them to build something the Israelites entered (Exodus/Shemot 5: 21) together – a symbolic Egypt they were a single By now G-d has per- home for my presence, a extended family. By the At the Red Sea they com- formed signs and won- Tabernacle. It doesn’t time they left they had plained again: They said ders on the people’s be- need to be large or grand become a sizeable peo- to Moses, “Was it be- half, taken them out of or permanent. Get them ple, divided into twelve cause there were no Egypt, divided the sea for to make something, to tribes plus an amorphous graves in Egypt that you them, given them water become builders. Get collection of fellow travel- brought us to the desert to from a rock and manna them to give. lers known as the erev die? What have you done from heaven, and still rav, the “mixed multitude.” to us by bringing us out of they do not cohere as a Moses does. And the Egypt? Didn’t we say to nation. They are a group people respond. They What united them was a you in Egypt, ‘Leave us of individuals, unwilling or respond so generously fate. They were the peo- alone; let us serve the unable to take responsi- that Moses is told, “ The ple whom the Egyptians Egyptians’? It would have bility, to act collectively people are bringing more distrusted and enslaved. been better for us to serve rather than complain. than enough for doing The Israelites had a com- the Egyptians than to die the work the Lord com- mon enemy. Beyond that in the desert!” (Exodus/ And now G-d does the manded to be done ” (Ex. they had a memory of the Shemot 14: 11-12) single greatest act in his- 36: 5), and Moses has to patriarchs and their G-d. tory. He appears in a say, Stop. They shared a past. What After the division of the revelation at Mount Sinai, was to prove difficult, al- Red Sea, the Torah says: the only time in history During the whole time the most impossible, was to “When the Israelites saw that G-d has appeared to Tabernacle was being get them to share re- the mighty hand of the an entire people, and the constructed, there were sponsibility for the future. Lord displayed against the people tremble. There no complaints, no rebel- Egyptians, the people never was anything like it lions, no dissension. Everything we read in feared the Lord and be- before; there never will What all the signs and Shemot tells us that, as lieved in him and in be again. wonders failed to do, the is so often the case Moses his servant” construction of the Tab- among people long de- (Exodus/Shemot 14: 31). How long does this last? ernacle succeeded in prived of freedom, they But after a mere three A mere forty days. Then doing. It transformed the were passive and they days they were complain- the people make a people. It turned them were easily moved to ing again. There was no golden calf. into a cohesive group. It complain. The two often water. Then there was (Continued on page 4) 5 February 2011 P a ge 3 In Memoriam Community News It is customary to light a memorial candle in the evening and to donate SEUDAH tzedakah. Family members are WELCOME encouraged to attend prayer ser- SHLISHEET Guest Speaker vices in honor of loved ones. Rabbi Seidenfeld The Zekaria Family Shabbat / 1 Adar We look forward to your Yosef ben Eliyahu would like you to join them Dvar Torah on the topic of Sunday / 2 Adar this Shabbat “How Are We a Light Abraham ben Meneshe Aslan February 5th, 2011 Unto the Nations?” Aharon ben Yosef at 4:30 pm Yoseph Faraj ben Yoseph Haim and to your teen program Monday / 3 Adar In memory of Maurice, z’’l “Sticking Out—The Challenges Yoseph ben Abraham of Beign a Jewish Teen Sponsored by Alice Zekaria Farang Jahanbani and Family in Los Angeles” Herschel Tzvi Sarne Abraham Shalom ben Shaul Sopher Tuesday / 4 Adar Simy bat Mesody WRITING DOWN YOUR Baacker ben Avraham THANK YOU LIFE : M EMOIRS Wednesday / 5 Adar Sholeh & Moussa Shaaya Sami Dallal A W ORKSHOP FOR ALL LEVELS Ruth & Edmond Hagooli Leah bat Mozli 8 Tuesday Afternoons for the generous donation of Thursday / 6 Adar February 15 to April 5, 2011 games and equipment Mazeltov bat Sara KJ Library, 12 to 2 pm and Shabbat / 8 Adar $160 non-members/$60 members for the wonderful Avraham ben Yosef For information contact Dafna at arrangement & set-up Yaacov Binyamin Elias [email protected] or David ben Yaacov Yehuda Yehezkel of KJ’s new Teen Room Joe Samuels at [email protected] To update, please call the office at 310.474.0559 . SHABBAT MITZVOT We offer for dona- Refuah Shlemah tion the following Mitzvot. 1. Petichat Hechal Please Read Tehillim opening of the ark; 2. Carrying of the Sefer We have a number of individuals in our Yonatan ben Alizah ▪ Mazal Tov Torah & Sefer Haftara; 3.