Parashat Yitro 11-Feb-12

  Candle lighting time for Friday, February 10, 2012, 5:24 p.m.

1. (18:1-12) Jethro comes to visit his son-in-law Moses, bringing Zipporah, Moses’ wife and his two sons.  He rejoices at the rescue of the Israelites and acknowledges the greatness of God.
2. (18:12-27) Jethro advises Moses to appoint officers and judges to help him lead the people, thus providing a structure of authority that will enable the Torah to be implemented.  Jethro then returns to his home.
3. (19:1-6) The people prepare to accept the covenant and receive the Torah at Mount Sinai, where they will become a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
4. (19:7-15) Moses tells the elders to prepare the people to receive the revelation.
5. (19:16-25) Dramatic phenomena accompany God’s manifestation at Mount Sinai.  Moses ascends the mountain.
6. (20:1-14) The Ten Commandments.
7. (20:15-18) The people are terrified by God’s power, and they beg Moses to mediate between them and God.
8. (20:19-23) More commandments concerning the altar.

The kineticism of “Standing” at Sinai
Rabbi Philip Ohriner

Exodus 20:15-17
All the people saw the voices and lightning, the sound of the shofar and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. “You speak to us,” they said to Moses, “and we will obey; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.”  Moses answered the people, “Be not afraid; for God has come only l’nasot you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray.”

Mechilta d’ Rabbi Ishmael, Bachodesh chapter 9
…and stood at a distance: They fell back 12 miles and returned 12 miles equaling 24 miles for each commandment. Therefore, they traveled 240 miles in one day! At that moment God spoke to the ministering angels, “Go down and help your brothers!” and not only the ministering angels, but God, Himself also went down to help them.

 Avivah Zornberg, The Particulars of Rapture p.264
A certain human standing (ma’amad), an existential posture is disrupted at the very moment that is called ma’amad har sinai: the Standing at Sinai. This becomes stance as oscillation, a motion that rocks them to the very roots of being. The Torah was given, says the Talmud (Berachot 22a) “in dread and fear and trembling and shuddering”: this was the foundational experience of their encounter with the Torah and, since these emotions can be experienced at all times, the Torah may be learnt at all times, even in periods of impurity. This terror, however, which is registered in the spontaneous recoil of a nation which had recently been avid with desire, becomes, in Rashi’s account (citing the midrash), part of a vital dialectic. Like the systolic and diastolic rhythm of the heart, the people oscillate: angels are at work, perhaps God Himself assists in the reconstitution of the human position.

Rashi on Exodus 20:17
l’nasot: an expression of exaltation and greatness, similar to “lift up a banner” (Isaiah 62:10)

Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, Ha’emek Davar, (19th C Poland)
For God has come only to exalt you: At Sinai God recognized that this “standing” (of Israel) was not about God’s power. Rather, this “standing” was about exalting the Israelites (as Rashi writes). In essence the purpose of this event was to elevate the capacity of each individual. This is one form of the way God tests us. For we are like a piece of good flax that is repeatedly beaten to elevate its worth and praiseworthiness. This “standing” happened in order to expand their capacity to stand with all of their strength in preparation for a point in time when they must uphold Torah. For when this moment comes one will find in the elevated capacity of their soul the heart to do so, just as they stood  with all of their strength to receive the ten commandments.

Avivah Zornberg, The Particulars of Rapture p.264
The extreme polarities of their (the Israelites’) response to Revelation are seen by Ha-amek Davar as expressing a moment of immense growth. The people are stretched to the limits of their strength. The effect is to release a new sense of their own capacities, a new awareness of their ability to contain previously unknown extremes… it is human spiritual greatness that is God’s purpose in revealing Himself—the ability to endure suffering, in the immense amplification of inner resources that is the heritage of the ordeal of Sinai. The implications of this reading are quite radical: the purpose of Revelation is to develop human qualities. What is enacted at Sinai is the revelation of the human being in larger range and strength. A new consciousness is born in this revelation; the Israelites endure an initiation that ensures them against the extremities of history. God comes at Sinai, so that the human may come fully into its own.

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Mitzvah a Month

UPCOMING EVENTS

Saturday, February 11: Jewish Book Discussion Group - at approximately 1:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 12: “Calling Gabbaim” Camp for Past and Prospective Gabbaim - 10: 00 am. – 12:00 p.m.

Monday, February 6: Three Short Books of the Bible - 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, February 16: Career Chavurah - 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 18: Donor Shabbat – 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 18: Shabbat Afternoon Torah Discussion - 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, February 21: Conversations in Jewish Learning: The Kabbalah of Creativity - 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 22: Jews’ Next Dor Volunteer Meeting - 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Friday, February 24: Wine? Cheese? Shabbat? Why Not? – 6:00 p.m.

Friday, February 24: Jews’ Next Dor Shabbat Hop with TKEYA - 6:00 – 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 25: Wisdom and Witdom with Doug Brook: What’s in a Name? – After Shabbat Kiddush lunch (about 1:15 p.m.)

Saturday, February 25: Sausy Chopped – Candy Edition email for more information – 8:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 26: “Pointing Gabbaim” Camp for Past and Prospective Gabbaim – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 26: Mah Jongg Tournament – 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 26: Jews’ Next Dor Hamantaschen Baking - 1:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 26: Sunday Night Sitcom: Ramzor (Traffic Light) - 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Friday, March 2: S’more Shabbat and Family Service – 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 4: Purim Sing-Along and Carnival - 11:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 7: Family Purim Celebration – 6:15 p.m.

Saturday, March 10: Beth David Hamantaschen Ball - 7:00 – 11:00 p.m. RSVP
        Sunday, March 4: Get ready for the Ball, join us for FREE swing dance lessons – 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 10: Young Adult Purim Ball - 9:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.

Daily Minyan – Sunday 9:30 am & Monday – Thursday 7:00 p.m.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Tuesday, February 21, PJ Library Presents: Trees, Trees, Trees - 4:00 – 5:15 p.m.