Moses Went and spoke these things to all of Israel, And he said unto them: 'I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in; and the LORD hath said unto me: Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. (Deuteronomy Chapter 31 verse 1-2)
What is a year? A year is more than a specific amount of time: it is a cycle or Machzor :), a sequence of transitions that flow from one to the next only to repeat itself again and again. In the physical world, a year marks the conclusion of the solar cycle as well as the repetition of the cycle of the seasons and various lifecycles they go through i.e. Flowers dying and coming back to life. In the spiritual world, each year takes us on a spiritual journey as we try to get closer to God by means of the various holidays and festivals.
Thus, the Hebrew word for “year,” shanah, means both “change” and “repetition.” For in every year we are changing and growing as people physically, spiritually, emotionally and we are often also repeating the same rituals or routines year after year.. In other words, one can say that we all live for one year, and then relive our lives for as many times as we are allowed to, each time on a higher level, like a spiral which repeats the same path with each revolution, but on a higher plane.. Moses was born on the seventh of Adar and passed away on the same date, as was the case with a number of other tzaddikim (perfectly righteous individuals).
The world we inhabit has both a spiritual and a physical dimension. While these two dimensions live alongside one another they do not always mirror one another. Thus there were many tzaddikim whose lives were “fulfilled” in the spiritual sense—in that the potential in each of their days and moments was optimally realized—yet this “fullness” did not find expression in the calendar dates of their birth and passing. Physically, their final year on earth was “incomplete.” But then there were those great men and women whose physical life was a crystalline vessel of its spiritual content, reflected in the fact that “G‑d fulfills their years to the day and to the month.”
Wishing everyone a relaxing and meaningful Shabbat shuva as we begin to prepare for Yom Kippur.
Cantor Kowitz
Key Parsha Points: Three main points for this week’s parsha. The first is Moshe’s last few days on earth; he transfers his leadership to Yehoshua binun who becomes the leader of Am Yisrael. The second key concept in this parsha is the Mitzvah of hakel. Once every seven years one the sukkot of that cycles shmita (the seventh year in a seven year cycle in which land in Israel must lie fallow and debts are cancelled) the Jewish people gather, all men, women and children, in Jerusalem in the holy temple where the king of that time will read a portion of the Torah to them. The third idea in this week’s Parsha is the predicament that the Jewish people will turn away from G-d, and G-d will hide G-d’s face from us. G-d tells Moshe to write a song which will remind them of what G-d has done for the Jewish people even when they have turned away from G-d.
SERVICES Friday, Sept. 14 - Thursday, Sept. 20
Friday 8:00 PM Kabbalat Service Saturday 9:00 AM Nosh and Drosh Cancelled 9:45 AM Shabbat Shuvah Service Sunday 9:00 AM Minyan Sunday 8:00 PM Minyan requested by Stephen Singer & Wally Feith Monday 6:30 AM Minyan requested by Stephen Singer & Wally Feith Tuesday 6:15 PM Kol Nidre Wednesday 9:00 AM Yom Kippur Service 10:15 AM Junior Congregation (Babysitting Available) 11:45 AM Yizkor; 3:00 Community Yizkor 5:15 PM Mincha/Neila; 7:37 Shofar Blowing Thursday 8:00 AM Minyan
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