Sign In Forgot Password

Standing at the Foot of Sinai

02/07/2019 09:20:36 AM

Feb7

Rabbi Brad Levenberg

In our Torah reading for this week, Terumah, we find the people of Israel standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, offering gifts of importance to help build a Tabernacle, a portable sanctuary. The people assembled were newly-freed slaves with meager resources. But when presented with the opportunity to make a difference, they gave what they could and in turn, created a thing of beauty.
 
We are once again living the words of our historical narrative as we find ourselves standing at the foot of Sinai (though we call it “Dupree Drive”) with the opportunity to participate in a building project that, once completed, will benefit the entire community. Just this week, you should have received an invitation to participate in our 50th Anniversary Campaign, an effort meant to refresh our spaces, make our campus even more accessible to all, regardless of ability, and to enable us to grow our youth and teen programming. The effort will also result in a doubling of our endowment, securing our future and preserving our ability to inspire sacred Jewish living.
 
I do hope that you will consider the information you received. While the first campaign, described in Torah, was a huge financial success, it is held as an example par excellence because the entire community answered the call to participate. The Israelites found the building of the Tabernacle to be a unifying moment to carry them through the next 40 years in the desert (and beyond). I thank God that we have the opportunity to relive that excitement as we live words of Torah today. Separated by time and geography, we have the opportunity now to connect with our ancestors (and our story) in a most meaningful way.

To learn more about our 50th Anniversary Campaign, click here.
 
Thank you for your consideration and I wish you a Shabbat Shalom,

Brad

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784