Shavua tov my dear and wonderful TAS family!! I just looked at the calendar and realized that we are only TWO WEEKS away from Rosh Ha-Shanah!! How is that even possible? I guess I got caught up in…”the holidays are so late this year!!” Or maybe, the fact that whenever I walk into any market or store, other than Cambridge Farms of course…they are full of Halloween costumes and candy!! So, I guess I thought that maybe our Holy Days were already over!! Ya right!! Our calendar does change from year to year because it is based on the shorter Lunar year, which changes from month to month. And it does vary in comparison to the Solar calendar that we follow in our ‘regular’ lives. And so, it is true that this year, 5785, is one of the ‘latest’ years that we will ever experience. As another example, Hanukkah will start on the evening of December 25th and continues through January 2nd, a very unique and unusual coming together of the two calendars. And so, now we are getting ready for our New Year, Rosh HaShanah and then Yom Kippur, one of the most sacred days in the year. It is a 25 hour fast day when we ask God for forgiveness for all of the misdeeds that we have done during the past year. Yom Kippur is followed just 4 days later with the joyous holiday of Sukkot which ends with Simchat Torah, the celebration of finishing the reading of the Torah and then immediately starting over again with the Book of Genesis. As we get ready for all of the upcoming events, this year has also been very, very challenging to the Jewish community around the world. The war in Ukraine and of course the very challenging war in Israel for almost one year already. We still pray for the release of all of the hostages who are still being held as captives by the terror organization Hamas which started this horrible war for no reason on October 7th. I visited the Nova Exhibit in Culver City last week. It is a very difficult exhibit to take in, but it is also very important to experience. It goes into great details leading up to the beginning of the attack with a video composite from the Nova site. It then becomes a walking experience which includes more videos of people’s very difficult attempts to run away from the horrible attack by the terrorists. One Israeli man is able to save over 700 people!! At the same time, we also see how many of the Nova attendees were not able to make it away. There are pictures honoring those who passed away and many opportunities to write caring messages to those who passed.
Overall, it was a very important exhibit to take in and try to feel at least some of the experience that so many people gave up their lives for. The exhibit will still be in Culver City through October 8th. You can look up the information online at Nova Exhibit.com. And now, a few words about this week’s parashah, Ki Tavo, “When you enter the land…” We are drawing closer each week to the very end of the Torah readings. Next week we will read two portions and then there is a single portion on the first Shabbat in October. From then on there is no regular portion on Shabbat because of all of the holidays which have particular readings from different parts of the Torah. The reading on Simchat Torah, where we celebrate the last reading of the Torah, followed immediately by reading the beginning of Genesis. This week, Ki Tavo, continues Moses’s final appeal to the Israelite people as they are about to cross over to their new homeland. It is a very specific group of laws for the people once they cross the Jordan River and establish their possession of the land. It is a very long list of laws that are to be practiced in the Land, but that is not the only part of the law that Moses is giving the people. “The laws in all of their detail are now concluded. This passage sums up Israel’s duty to obey them wholeheartedly and underscores the fact that, beyond being mere items of a legal code, they are the very basis of the relationship that God and the people of Israel have established. It not only an emotional or spiritual association but also entails mutual obligations with consequences.” We will take a closer look into this week’s parashah on Shabbat morning. Just a reminder that tonight at 7 we will be having Torah Talk. Unfortunately, I will not be at class tonight but I hope that many of you will be attending. I also want to wish everyone an early Shabbat shalom, I hope that all of us will have a very peaceful and successful week ahead. Rabbi Ralph Resnick