Dear Friends,Over the decades, I have returned countless times to the final verses of this week’s parashah, trying to understand what is happening. "And as Moses came down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, Moses was not aware that the skin of his face was shining/radiant/glowing, since he had spoken with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw that the skin of Moses'...

Beth Tzedec Bulletin - Spring 2023 EditionThe latest edition of the Beth Tzedec Bulletin is available for download. Let's celebrate, learn, pray and connect as a community with the many opportunities offered throughout our quarterly catalogue of programs, events and articles.Don't miss any of the news and excitement, including:Bree-AH: The Arts & Pray/Play Lab (page 2);Open My...

This week’s Torah reading focuses our attention on Aaron, Moses’ brother. In fact, Tetzaveh is the only portion following Moses’ introduction in which he is totally absent!  In the parashah, Aaron becomes the Kohen Hagadol, the High Priest, responsible for the functioning of the Tabernacle and the religious life of the Israelites.God simply appoints him. Our ancestors wanted to know by...

Help Us Make a MinyanDo you live in the shul neighborhood? Please join our new WhatsApp Minyan Group to help us ensure a minyan when we are short. Once a week, once a month – it’s really up to you!You will fulfill several mitzvot. You will make a minyan. You will give yourself time to engage with God. You will enable others to recite Kaddish. And you will strengthen our Beth Tzedec community...

We don’t revere a mountain. It is a distinct part of the Jewish narrative that, although the giving of Torah happened at Mount Sinai, we do not make a pilgrimage to or revere the mountain. Rather, the experience at Mount Sinai was an interaction with holiness, with the Divine, and so the Israelites set about creating an indwelling place for that Divine that could travel with them in the desert....

We will be reading this Shabbat from Parashat Mishpatim which expands upon the ten commandments. Among the many laws that instruct us how to create a faithful, responsible and caring community is this law about how treat strangers and makes the connection to our experience of being othered in Egypt.You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger (ger), for you were strangers in the land of Egypt...

When teaching the revelation at Sinai to children, I help them try to connect to the experience as described in the Torah by saying that it was the greatest sound and light show ever. There was lightning, smoke and thunderous noise, an experience that would overwhelm the senses of sight and hearing. For adults, take the most over-the-top rock show you’ve ever seen, complete with the...

February starts, and we are getting closer and closer to Tu B'Shevat (ט"ו בשבט), that this year falls on February 6! Tu B'Shevat is a day when we appreciate and celebrate the trees and nature in Israel.. That's why the song "Brosh—Cypress" by the Israeli artist Ehud Manor is the perfect song for this month! Cypress trees are very common in Israel, you can see...

The Song of the Sea (Shirat Hayam, Exodus 15) is chanted publicly from the Torah twice a year on Shabbat Shirah (Parashat Beshallaẖ) and on the seventh day of Passover. It is also recited publicly in our morning prayers every day of the year in the Preliminary Service. Shortly after Shirat Hayam, we say the following between the Shema and the private devotion of the Amidah:שִׁירָה...

This week’s parashah Bo contains the last three plagues afflicted upon Egypt. Before the eighth plague, Pharoah temporarily agrees to let the Israelites go, and he asks Moses whom he wants to take along into the wilderness to serve God. He phrases the question using the word “Who” twice: “Who and who is going?” Moses replies: “With our young and old we will go, with our sons and our...

Beth Tzedec is excited to partner with UJA and USY to help Toronto teens in Grades 10 & 11 save over $5,000 for EPIC Israel trips this summer! (Teens in Grades 12 are eligible for $1,600 in scholarship funds.)In this unique three-week Israel trip, participants will build a community unlike any other, experience the Jewish homeland, and take part in all the country has to offer...

Dear Friends,In this week’s parashah, God asked Moshe to go to Pharaoh and try again to demand that Israel be freed. Even though Pharaoh did not budge the first time Moshe went to see him, God doesn’t give up on Moshe.In a fit of frustration Moshe said to God: “If the Israelites do not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, I am aral s’fatayim—a man of uncircumcised of lips.”...

Beth Tzedec's REDI CommitteeJoin the work of Beth Tzedec's REDI CommitteeREDI stands for anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Our committee consists of members of the Beth Tzedec community who work passionately to promote an inclusive, anti-racist, safe and welcoming environment for all.Our mission is to champion the inclusion of all members of the Jewish community at Beth...

Moses eyes the Burning Bush and approaches it. God charges him with going to Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery. Miracle after miracle occurs, and what is Moses’ initial response?“Please, O my Lord, I have never been a man of words—kabed peh u’khvad lashon Anokhi—I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (Ex. 4:10)Did Moses have a speech impediment? That’s certainly how...

At shul last Shabbat morning, Reb Steve noted the pending secular New Year, inviting us, as we do for the Jewish New Year, to take the opportunity for heshbon hanefesh—a spiritual accounting of sorts.  “How have I lived this past year?” I always appreciate a nudge toward greater awareness. At that moment, however, I noticed a kind of fatigue at the prospect of further recounting...